A Minnesota company has announced that it will expand its manufacturing operations in Lewis County to a former shoe factory building in Vanceburg.

Northern Contours, the company that located in another former shoe factory building two years ago, has signed a lease with the City of Vanceburg for the former Nin West building on Ky. Rt. 8.

Company President Mike Rone said last week while visiting the facility, and to sign papers with the city, said he is excited with the move that will bring to five the number of manufacturing facilities for the company.

Rone said work has already begun to replace lighting and move specialized equipment into the 40,000 square foot building. He said that he expects production to begin in January with 35 to 40 new employees.

The existing location on Lions Lane, across from Lewis County High School, specializes in veneered panels. The new facility will utilize those panels with other materials to produce components for the housing industry.

Hussein Hammound, local plant manager, said the new location will also feature a showroom of the products made. Hammoud added that the facility may expand again and have as many as 60 employees. The facility on Lions Lane currently has 60 employees.

Vanceburg Mayor W.T. Cooper said that US Shoe started in Vanceburg in 1957 with about as many workers and eventually employed some 500.

Cooper had said previously that attracting employers of such magnitude would be nice, but that a more realistic expectation would be around 100 employees. He added that in the event of losing a smaller employer, the economic impact would be much less than losing ". . . all of the eggs in one basket."

Rone said he is planning a long-term commitment to Vanceburg and Lewis County, and work ethics played a great deal in the decision to expand here.

Rone and Duaine Miranowski, vice president of operations for Northern Contours, said there were two primary reasons for the company to invest in Lewis County.

"Mayor Cooper and his staff understand Northern Contours' needs and have worked diligently and creatively to bring the deal together," he said. "The mayor and his staff extended their services well beyond the building lease arrangements. They've helped us with the building renovation, utility issues, directing us to the proper channels for state training and loan programs, and have supported us on numerous other issues."

Rone added that a second primary reason was the quality and dedication of the employees.

"Our first experience with Lewis County has been excellent and the facility here has grown faster than anticipated," added Miranowski. "This is due to the work ethic and capabilities of our employees."

"They have given us the confidence to move forward," he continued. "We know we'll continue to have a quality workforce as our business grows."

Hammoud said the company will seek employees in the near future and will well advertise when the company will accept applications.

He said that when the company first announced plans to locate here early in 2001, they were inundated with applicants. "Some 500 to 600 people applied for jobs," he said. "We hope to have a pool as vast as that for our new location."

The Vanceburg-Lewis County Industrial Authority met at city hall November 7 to discuss contract change orders and budget changes within the Black Oak Industrial Park project.

The project will allow for a road that will make a U-shape around Hollinee Manufacturing and Coroplast. The road allows easier entering and existing the industrial park with two entrances instead of one.

"We hope to be able to show the interested companies more than just 60 acres of a corn field," said Amy Kennedy, Assistant Economic Development Director for Buffalo Trace Area Development District. "The new road provides utilities for the land, making it ready to build on."

The Vanceburg City Council met in a brief, regular session last week. It had no business, old or new, on the agenda.

Having no new business to attend to, Mayor W.T. Cooper said: "Occasionally we have these months when we don't have any new business."

With that, he asked for the approval of last month's meeting and then made a few announcements.

Cooper reported that the documents to lease the old shoe factory on Rt. 8 are ready and scheduled to be signed within a week (see Northern Contours story above).

He informed council members that city employees have been working in Oakland Park. The area has been ditched and the drainage is in pretty good shape. Workers have Oakland Park ready to be black topped and Jeff Ginn will finish that project as soon as he finishes doing some black topping for the county.

The mayor said that the city is looking for another truck for the sanitation department. He has someone looking for one with steel beds on the sides that don't push out like the old wooden ones do.