Report To The People
Pipe Manufacturer Courted For Tunica Location
By Rep. Tommy Reynolds
The 2009 Legislative Session was gavelled to order on Tuesday, January 5th. On the very first day, the House of Representatives passed House Bill 338 to try to induce a German pipe manufacturer Schulz GMBH to come to North Mississippi at a location near Tunica.
The industry is a supplier of pipe used in oil and gas work and other similar industries. It is hoped that the facility will create five hundred jobs over the next five years. The company’s facility would be it’s first production plant in North America.
House Bill 338 provides state proposed assistance for the 300 million dollar facility just as has been the case for many other manufacturing and business ventures in this State. I supported House Bill 338 which was speedily signed into law as I feel that we need to do whatever we can to promote job creation not only in North Mississippi but in the entire State of Mississippi.
On the same opening day, the House of Representatives also approved Senate Bill 2027 which changed a provision in State law to assure that Mississippi’s fifteen community colleges would continue to receive approximately 20 million dollars annually in workforce training funds.
The workforce training funds available to our community colleges have been of great assistance to industry locating in our State. A trained workforce is a critical ingredient in any industrial or business expansion and our community colleges greatly assist in worker training in this State.
I attended a meeting of the House Universities and Colleges Committee at which Dr. Hank Bounds, head of Mississippi’s universities system, and Dr. Eric Clark, head of the Mississippi community college system, presented an overview of how universities, colleges, and community colleges were fairing this year.
According to Dr. Clark, enrollment in Mississippi’s community colleges was up 13% over last year, and Dr. Bounds stated that university enrollment was also up significantly, though not as much as community college enrollment. I strongly support adequate funding for Mississippi’s community and 4-year colleges as I believe this is necessary for the economic advancement of our State.
During uncertain economic times, many Mississippians are taking advantage of higher education in order to be retrained for jobs that may be available in the future, and it would be a great tragedy if they were prevented from doing so by the lack of adequate funding for higher education.
If I can be of any assistance to you please call on me. My phone number in Jackson during the session is (601) 359-3369. The phone number in my Charleston office is (662) 647-3203, and my residence phone is (662) 473-2571.
I can also be contacted by writing to me at my home address of 15 CR 429, Water Valley, Mississippi 38965, or at my office address of P. O. Drawer 280, Charleston, Mississippi 38921.
