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Ponca City Development Authority

Ponca City
Development Authority
102 S. Fifth, Suite 3
Ponca City, OK 74601
580-765-7070
MERTZ TO ADD 66 JOBS IN PONCA CITY

(Ponca City-October 18, 2004)
    Mertz Manufacturing LLC and the Ponca City Development Authority (PCDA) announced today that an agreement had been reached on a pact that would add 66 new jobs to the company's Ponca City plant in exchange for facility improvements. Hiring for the new positions shall begin immediately while the facility improvements are expected to begin within the next thirty days.
    The agreement won approval by the PCDA Board of Trustees this afternoon, culminating several months of negotiations with the company. Said PCDA Chair Darrell Stolhand, "Working with Mertz has been a real delight. They are fine gentlemen with a strong sense of business and community and I'm so pleased we were able to form this partnership."
    Last spring, Mertz entered into a partnership with Compact Power, Inc., a North Carolina based company, which allowed the company to seek new business and expand its current products. At the time of the acquisition, Compact Power announced their desire to shift manufacturing done in their Australian facilities to the United States.
    In order to handle this expansion and add employees and product lines, the Ponca City plant required certain improvements. Mertz officials began an aggressive program to upgrade the facility in order to convince the company that Ponca City was indeed the best business location for the Australian work in addition to shifting other U.S. work to Ponca City.
    Under the terms of the agreement, PCDA will provide $165,000 for a new roof for the main building. In exchange, Mertz will guarantee that they will add the 66 new positions. All of the new positions will be full time, averaging at least $12.50 per hour and will provide health insurance. Mertz agreed to guarantee the positions for at least three years or pay PCDA back $2,500 per job.
    Mertz was founded in Ponca City in 1927 and earned a national reputation in the design, fabrication and manufacture of innovative and high quality equipment. The President of Mertz LLC is Steve Ballinger. Mertz currently employs approximately 140 people in Ponca City.
    PCDA Executive Director David Myers said that the agreement with Mertz is a good example of how economic development is about more than just industrial recruitment. "By taking care of the companies we already have here, we can grow more jobs and make our community even more attractive to companies seeking new locations. In Ponca City, we've taken business friendly to a new level by sharing our resources with companies that have already demonstrated their commitment to our community."

The Ponca City Development Authority is a public trust financed by a one half cent sales tax fund for economic development. For more information, visit www.goponca.com.
Contact:
David Myers-PCDA
580.765.7070		 Contact:
John Soderstrom-Mertz
580.762.5646

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