New manufaturing jobs coming to town...

I spent the early evening last night at the local City Council meeting. I thought that the new P&Z commissioners were to be name and since I was an applicant I figured I should be there. Well the P&Z stuff wasn't on the agenda and so there is no news to report on for that. I still don't know who the current P&Z commission recommended for the next year.

One item at the meeting that did stand out was there is a new company that is coming to make a home in Kingman. I keep saying that jobs are the thing around here (well that and water). The City Council awarded a bid for 30 acres of land near the airport to CANTEX Inc.

A couple of the executives for CANTEX were in attendance and they were welcomed by the council. I didn't quite hear how many jobs would ultimately be created when they are up and running at full speed, but initially there will be 40 jobs for a time period.

This is great for Kingman. I'm sure there will be a few executive level paying jobs among the many that will be employed here.

There is only one worry, I have heard that when new companies come to Kingman in the airport area they come in with plans to pay a higher average wage than the other firms out in the area. But as the current firms find out about the plans of the new firm to pay a higher wage, they raise heck with the new firm and bitch and whine that the new firm will take their best employees and ask that the new firm not pay the higher wages. Apparently new firms have given in to the whiners. Of course I have no proof so I'm not making any real accusations, but I will keep my ear to the ground on this one.

Kingman has seen property value shoot up beyond what most local laborers can afford for housing. Adjusting wages up to a more competitive level would really help the locals in many ways. We'll see what happens I guess.

The other good thing about this new company is that I assume they will have to build a new building on the property that they purchased, which means construction jobs. The housing construction has slowed so this opportunity, and hopefully other commercial construction jobs coming down the pike, will ease the lack of work available for the workers.