Box Elder 'win' praised

Wednesday's announcement that Procter & Gamble picked Box Elder County for a new paper products manufacturing plant was greeted with praise and pride by Utahns who worked to make it happen.

"This is a huge win for the state of Utah, and the positive impacts of it are going to be felt for generations to come," said Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. "This is the kind of company that really builds communities, it trains our work force and, through our experience and what we know of them, creates management personnel to go throughout the entire world. Procter & Gamble is known as one of those great companies that really produces some great CEOs.

"It's going to have a great impact on our schools, our work force and our entire economy. The impact of a great company like this moving here really can't be overstated."

Jeff Edwards, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corp. of Utah, said P&G's decision represents "a vote of confidence" that "just speaks volumes about our state." EDCU had its first contact with a P&G site selector — though it did not know P&G's identity — in September 2006.

"If I was picking, they certainly would be on the list of top companies that we'd ever hope to bring here, and we were so impressed that they would even look here," Edwards said Wednesday. "When they called me yesterday (Tuesday), I was really speechless. I didn't even know quite what to say. To hope for it for so long and then have it finally happen is really amazing."

Various officials on Wednesday were heaping praise on several Utahns who helped woo P&G to the state: Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.; GOED; EDCU; Box Elder County Commissioner Clark Davis; Susan Thackeray, project coordinator for Box Elder County Economic Development; Box Elder County School District Superintendent Martell Menlove and Brigham City Mayor Lou Ann Christensen.

Edwards, in particular, praised the county and local officials.

"The real key to this was finding the right site," he said. "I have to give profuse credit to Box Elder County to be willing to step up for this. This is a really huge project and to have a rural community with a small population, to have them even feel like they could even be in the running for this was a challenge, to provide the resources for a global company like this to come into their market."

"The people really make something like this go," he said. "You can put numbers on paper, and incentives are an important part of this ... but, really, I think at the end of the day it was the fact that they (P&G) found people they thought they could do business with."