Businesses avoid area,
Kleppinger says
By Hilary Craig
After 11 years
of trying to bring new industry to Rockbridge County, David Kleppinger
questioned whether the county he recently left is becoming too old for
change.
“You don’t find too many retirement communities that have economic
developers on staff,” said Kleppinger, who resigned in July as executive
director of the Rockbridge Partnership.
According to Kleppinger, it’s difficult to bring new businesses into
Rockbridge County because of the strong influence of elderly residents.
Nearly 16 percent of the population in the county is age 65 and older,
compared to 12.4 percent nationally.
“Many people who move to Rockbridge County move away from suburban
sprawl and new development,” he said. “For the most part, they don’t
want to see the area change.”
The partnership’s primary purpose is to attract new industries to the
area.
Not everyone sees the influx of older residents as a hindrance. Chamber
of Commerce Executive Director Sammy Moore said that those residents add
life to the area.
“It’s an aging population, but I also think it’s an active population,”
said Moore. “Some people come to retire, but they also want to give back
to the community.”
Earlier in the year, Kleppinger was offered an economic development job
in Alleghany County. He gladly accepted, ready for change.
“I was sort of at a point where [their offer] was music in my ears,”
said Kleppinger. “It’s much more fun to work in an area where they want
what you do.”
In the seven weeks he has worked in Alleghany, Kleppinger said, he has
more prospects for new businesses than he did in Rockbridge when he
left. Unlike Rockbridge, he said, Alleghany has “rolled out the welcome
mat and let people know that [they] want and need new jobs.”
Rockbridge, he said, might be getting a bad reputation among businesses.
As executive director of the Rockbridge Partnership, he said, he found
new industries to fill every vacant building that existed in Buena Vista
when he arrived. In addition, he said, he helped secure the future of
Mohawk Industries in Glasgow, the county’s biggest employer.
Despite such successes, Kleppinger said, he faced a citizen uprising
after the Buena Vista City Council agreed to allow MeadWestvaco, a
paper-products company, to open a 600,000-square-foot distribution
center in the city.
“MeadWestvaco walked out of a public hearing and turned to me and said,
‘It looked like an AARP convention in there,’” said Kleppinger. “What
was that going to do for them?”
The citizen protest led Buena Vista’s City Council members to “change
their mind,” said Kleppinger. MeadWestvaco has since sued Buena Vista
for $7 million, alleging that the city backed out of its agreement to
allow the company in. The suit was turned down twice by a circuit judge, but the company will argue its appeal of that decision
before a state Supreme Court panel on Oct. 17, according to Mayor Todd
Jones.
Officials with the Rockbridge Partnership agree that the county needs
more industries, but according to Carroll Comstock, a member of the
partnership and a county supervisor, the overall economic condition of
the county is promising.
“We’ve not been as successful as we’d like to be with landing businesses
around the area,” said Comstock. “But we’re moving in the right
direction. We’re in a pretty competitive marketplace to get businesses
in here.”
Robert Lucas, vice chair of the partnership, said that while the county
has a lot of small businesses, few local industries have any size or
significant tax base. He added that most young people raised in the
Rockbridge area must move elsewhere or take a job that doesn’t pay
enough for them to live in the county.
The Chamber of Commerce’s Moore agreed that it is tough for young people
to start careers in Rockbridge, which has one of the largest income gaps
of any county in Virginia.
“We have the haves and the have-nots,” said Moore. “It makes it tough,
with real-estate values being what they are, for two young people to be
able to afford property.”
The partnership is looking primarily to attract retail businesses. One
reason, Lucas explained, is that many larger manufacturers are
outsourcing overseas.
Also, big industry brings complaints.
“You get a little grumbling when you start saying trucks and
distribution centers,” Lucas said. “But you have to take advantage of
what’s offered, especially if it’s a decent paying job.”
Comstock blamed some of the area’s economic problems on large employers
leaving. For example, Dana Corporation, a car-parts manufacturer, pulled
out of Buena Vista a couple of years ago, leaving 300 workers
unemployed.
Still, the county’s unemployment rate of around 4 percent is low
compared to the rest of southwest Virginia.
“We’re doing really well, but we’re not the best,” said Comstock.
The partnership’s primary focus now is finding a replacement for
Kleppinger. Businesses interested in locating to Rockbridge are being
referred to either Lexington City Manager Jon Ellestad or County
Administrator Don Austin. Both Ellestad and Austin are performing
“double duty,” Lucas said.
“They’re doing their regular job plus Kleppinger’s old job, but not to
the extent he was doing it or to the extent it needs to be done,” he
said.
The new executive director, while trying to persuade new businesses to
come, might also have to persuade residents to trust his or her
judgment. Lucas emphasized that without the support of residents, the
executive director cannot generate the industrial development needed to
solve the county’s economic needs.
“The citizens of the county have to get behind [the director] or he’s
not going to be a success,” Lucas said. “In my opinion, there’s no sense
in having an economic director if the county isn’t going to back him.”
According to Valerie Lewis, secretary for the partnership, members hope
to have their current draft of the advertisement for the new director
approved at the group’s next meeting on Oct. 9, and start advertising on
Oct. 10. The advertisement would appear in several state-level websites
and newsletters, including those of the Virginia Association of
Counties, the Virginia Municipal League, and the Virginia Economic
Development Association. Lewis said that the Partnership would likely
advertise for six weeks.
Kleppinger’s post-Rockbridge assessment was not entirely negative. He
said the county has strong resources, including Southern Virginia
University, Virginia Military Institute, and Washington and Lee
University, that will help maintain its economic vitality.
“The universities make Lexington and Rockbridge County very recession
proof,” he said. He also said that the Virginia Horse Center is a
tremendous asset that brings in a lot of tourist dollars. In addition,
he noted that Rockbridge is strategically positioned at the intersection
of Interstates 81 and 64.
Lucas echoed that mixed view.
“Rockbridge County has a lot to offer,” he said. “We just need somebody
to get us in the playing field instead of sitting on the sidelines right
now. We have to decide if we’re going to be a retirement community or
have some kind of business merit.”
Local business legacy
The Rockbridge Partnership
Seasoned Voices
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd