Commissioners brainstorm ways to keep the General Motors Lordstown plant’s 1,600 jobs

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Commissioners from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties met Wednesday to brainstorm ways to keep the General Motors Lordstown plant’s 1,600 jobs.

Officials are considering a bus trip early next year to GM’s Detroit headquarters to meet with GM executives “as a unified front,” said Mahoning Commissioner Anthony Traficanti.

Officials also circulated drafts of a collaborative resolution in support of GM workers and the Drive It Home campaign and a letter to President Donald Trump and Ohio’s outgoing and incoming governors.

“Through our community’s recently launched ‘Drive It Home Ohio’ campaign, we have created a public-private partnership that is dedicated to future possibilities, whether those include a new product at the plant or repurposing the facility for an alternative use,” the letter states. “Today, the Lordstown Complex offers many amenities, including a talented workforce, prime geographical location, utilities and many other necessary components for development.”

Commissioners are also seeking companion resolutions and testimony from townships and other entities across the region to send “as a package” to Washington, D.C., and Columbus.

“The state has a lot of things they could offer General Motors as they did in the past under Gov. [Bob] Taft: tax credits, abatements, money, state grants,” Traficanti said. “We just want to show as a region we want those jobs here. ... We can’t afford to lose anybody else.”

Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck, who said he developed a relationship with Governor-elect Mike DeWine after working with DeWine’s local campaign efforts in the early 1990s, said DeWine is “well-informed” on the issue.

Columbiana County is home to about 200 GM employees, as well as three GM suppliers. Halleck said Wednesday those suppliers haven’t yet been impacted by the plant’s idling, “but who knows down the road.”

“I came with the idea of listening to others and sharing some ideas, and I think [the meeting] was productive,” he said. “It was short and to-the-point. I think we all have our work cut out.”

Mauro Cantalamessa, Trumbull County commissioner, said his board sensed trouble at the plant when shifts were cut, but hoped the Cruze’s sales would increase.

“The plant’s unallocated. We just need a product in there,” he said. “GM is unveiling a new product. I think we just need to be poised and ready to be one of those new plants.

“This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. ... This is about your fellow humanity.”

Also in attendance were Ohio 59th District Representative-elect Don Manning and Sarah Lown, Western Reserve Port Authority public finance manager.

United Auto Workers Local 1112 President Dave Green was unable to attend.