There wasn’t much economic development news coming out of Limestone County last year, but officials this week said the tide is turning because of efforts being made by local school systems.

During Thursday’s annual Limestone County Economic Development Association meeting, LCEDA President Tom Hill credited Limestone’s previous successes to efforts being made at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

LCEDA partnered with Limestone County Schools to produce a video promoting the Limestone County Career Technical Center. The video — aimed at students and parents — is designed to illustrate the potential of landing above-average wage jobs through technical education.

“Our career tech program … is one of the best in the state,” Hill said. They’re up to almost 1,000 students and that’s what we need to keep growing. … We’ve got to have our children workforce ready and career ready.”

Further illustrating Hill’s thoughts on preparing students of today for the jobs of tomorrow was Calhoun Community College President Dr. Jim Klauber, who was the guest speaker at the annual meeting. A report on his comments will appear in Tuesday’s edition of The News Courier.

As part of the annual meeting, outgoing LCEDA Board Chairman Bryan Johnstone passed the gavel to incoming Chairman John Lucius of Steelcase.

“We should all be partners in education,” Lucius said. “Whether at the high school or tech school, we are furthering economic development.”

Brief downturn

Despite positive steps being made in the school systems, there was little economic activity in Limestone County over the previous year. Hill blamed the lack of movement on the fact it was an election year.

“In a presidential year it’s slow because corporate investors like to be certain what they do with their money,” he said. “We had a pent-up demand and the activity level continues to be steady.”

Last year wasn’t a complete wash, however. The Woodbridge Group, which is based in Mississauga, Canada, plans to hire about 164 employees for a $17.3 million manufacturing facility in the SouthPoint Business Park.

Hill said the building is nearly complete with renovations and should begin hiring employees in June.

He explained Woodbridge makes foam seating for cars, which will be manufactured here before being shipped to another company to be covered in fabric. From there, the seat would go to the assembly plant.

Another highlight from 2016 was HDT Global’s expansion at the SouthPoint Business Park. The company announced it would hire 123 employees as part of a $4.1 million investment into its existing operation. The company manufactures large state-of-the-art mobile shelters.

Other job creators were Triad Packaging, which hired seven people after a $1.4 million expansion. Asahi Kasei hired 15 new employees after a $3 million expansion, while Lee Precision Machinery added eight employees after a $628,763 reinvestment.

Expansions that resulted in no new direct hires were Carpenter ($9.4 million), Steelcase ($5.4 million), Turner Medical ($1.5 million) and Westwood Manufacturing ($32,000). The total industrial investment into Limestone over the past year was $43.1 million, while an estimated 317 new jobs were created.

“We have a lot of good things going on in the county and city,” Hill said. “Our economy is stable now and — barring any unforeseen blips — we’re in for several years of improvement in economic development.”