CCEDC, contractors working to secure tenants

Covington County Economic Development Commission President Rick Clifton said his organization is working diligently to secure tenants for the twin hangars.

Clifton said that he has been working with Ronnie Kearns and another consultant to make this happen.

He said they have been talking to the U.S. Coast Guard about a potential job or the overflow from it.

He said they had also been talking to companies like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, AAR, DRS, and more.

They are also looking at the difference between a military and civilian contract for the local facility.

Clifton and Kearns will attend the Hercules Operators Conference in Florida.

“Anybody dealing with C130s will be at that conference,” he said. “Ronnie will be there all week and I will be there some.”

Clifton said that Kearns was participating in industry day in Ohio to look at some contract supplies, and would attend the National Business Aviation Association Conference as well.

Clifton said they had prepared a microsite, or small web site, devoted to the facility.

There was also an industry cluster meeting Monday morning in which they are working to development clusters for the area.

“One is aviation,’ he said.

Clifton talked about some potential big contract deals that they are hoping to score for the area. They mainly deal with aircraft maintenance and would be somewhat long-term heavy duty contracts.

“We have to be patient and try to get those in,” he said. “For the jobs and for the money for the entities.”