The Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, Ohio
Monday, September 8, 1997

When jobs left town, OU came in

By Eileen Dempsey
Dispatch Staff Reporter

WELLSTON, Ohio — In an area of southern Ohio already fraught with high unemployment, this city lost its pants when the Kuppenheimer Men’s Clothiers trouser factory laid off its work force.

Nearly a year later, Wellston still is recovering from the staggering loss.

"We lost about 100 jobs," Mayor Edgar "Butch" Hayburn said. "That doesn’t sound like much for a city the size of Columbus, but for a place the size of Wellston, that’s quite a jolt. It hurts."

However, things are looking up for Wellston — population 6,000 —thanks to a marketing plan recently completed by a group of Ohio University business students.

They worked on the report with OU’s Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development.

The marketing plan for Wellston includes potential uses for industrial sites and ways to promote the community by advertising in trade journals, site selection magazines and on billboards. The marketing report suggests telemarketing or packaging companies would be suitable fits for the Jackson County city.

After Kuppenheimer closed, Hayburn and Sherrie Lanier, Jackson County’s economic development director, scrambled to find an industry to fill the void. But they couldn’t do it on their own, Lanier said.

That’s when Lanier and state Rep. John A. Carey Jr., R-Wellston, contacted the Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development, which is part of the OU Center for Public and Environmental Affairs, to assist in developing a plan to promote the area.

"The timing was just perfect, and it was a godsend for our organization," Lanier said. "We are a small county, and we didn’t have the extra money to hire a consultant."

The institute employs eight people who work with OU faculty and about 30 undergraduate and graduate students. It provides technical assistance, training and research reports on environmental, human resource, health, housing, education and technology issues.

As part of a 10-week class project, six QU students met with Hayburn, Lanier and other officials to figure out a marketing strategy for Wellston, about 80 miles south of Columbus on Rt 93.

Their report, which the community is using to market itself, suggests focusing on community strengths that would make it attractive to industry, like the fact the city does not have an income tax.

Unemployment rates in Jackson County hover at 10 percent, more than twice the state’s unemployment rate. That means workers are readily available, the report stated.

The marketing plan also touted the now empty 36,000-square-foot Kuppenheimer building on 3.97 acres of land as a prime location for manufacturing or light industry.

"Wellston should actively promote itself as a safe and affordable community which is strategically located in southeastern Ohio," the report stated.

The report also suggested more than a dozen possible advertising slogans, including "Welcome Home to Wellston," "Wellston: Quality Life, Quality Price," and "Wellston: Try It, You’ll Like It." As far as Hayburn is concerned, he likes what he has seen from the report, although no new industry has moved in because of it.

"It’s been very good for us," Hayburn said. "We’ve just had some feelers out, and we know that something good will happen. It’s just a matter of timing."

The institute serves Ohio’s 29 Appalachian counties, from Belmont to Clermont counties, spokeswoman Terry Murphy said.

The organization has created a comprehensive development plan for Jackson County. It also is writing a "village source book" — a reference guide for municipal officials across the region, particularly newly elected ones.

And the institute also is in the process of creating detailed, computerized maps of St. Clairsville and Nelsonville.

"We just help local, regional and state officials function better and provide the expertise of the university," Murphy said. "Ohio University has an obligation to the communities in the area to reach out and offer what assistance we can."

For information on the institute, call 593-4388, or visit its Web page at www.ilgard.ohiou.edu