WATERTOWNDEVELOPMENTCOMPANYNEWS Issue#2,Spring2016

Watertown Development

Company News

Quarterly

ABOVE:SCREENSHOTOFFABER’SFARMEQUIPMENTWEBSITE WDCWINSAWARD

FABER’S FARM EQUIPMENT, an Iowa-

based farm equipment assembler and

dealer of McCormick, Vermeer, Krone

and Versatile farm equipment, is

expanding its operations to

Watertown, a move that will create six

jobs initially, with additional staff

added over the next two years,

according to Watertown

Development Company’s Executive

Director, Craig Atkins.

WDC staff worked closely with the

company to locate their operations in

Pheasant Ridge Industrial Park, just

south of Benchmark Foam. The

company completed the purchase of

eight acres of land to begin

construction of their new building. The

company’s capital investment is

estimated to be over $1.2 million

dollars.

“Faber has experienced significant

growth in the last several years and

Watertown had what it needed in

terms of location, transportation

needs, visibility and workforce

availability,” said Atkins.

Faber’s Farm Equipment will provide

sales, service, assembly, distribution

and repair of their lines.

Wilmer Faber, President of Farber’s

Farm Equipment said, “We have a lot

of customers in northeast South

Dakota all the way up to Canada. A

Watertown location will bring us closer

to them and provide our customers

and potential new customers with

better access to our services.”

The company hopes to be fully

operational in early July.

WDC Recognized For Marketing Effort at MAEDC Conference AnannualreportcreatedbytheWatertownDevelopmentCompanyin2014earnedanawardfromtheMid-AmericaEconomicDevelopmentCouncilAnnualEconomicDevelopmentAwardsCompetitioninDecember.

Winnerswerechosenfromapanelmadeupofsiteselectorsandamarketingexecutive.TheWDCtook2ndplaceduringtheconferenceawardsluncheononDecember7th,2015.

TheMid-AmericaEDCAnnualEconomicDevelopmentAwardscompetitionisopentoalleconomicdevelopmentorganizationsintheMid-AmericaEDC10-stateregion.

ThisisnotthefirsttimetheWDChasbeenrecognizedfortheirmarketingefforts.In2013,theInternationalEconomicDevelopmentCouncil(IEDC)awardedtheWDCthe2013InternationalEconomicDevelopmentCouncilSilverAwardforSpecialPurposeBrochure.

FABER’S FARM EQUIPMENT EXPANDING TO WATERTOWN

WATERTOWNDEVELOPMENTCOMPANYNEWS|Issue#2,SPRING2016

RitalkaInc.,parentcompanyofSpecSysInc.inWatertown,recentlyannouncedthatoneoftheirsubsidiaries,RVIInc.,hassetupoperationsintheSpecSysbuilding.

Thecompanyprovidescomprehensiveelectronicservicesforclientswithcomplexneedsoverabroadrangeofindustries.

CraigAtkins,ExecutiveDirectorfortheWatertownDevelopmentCompanysaid,“We’reencouragedthatRitalkacontinuestomakeaninvestmentinWatertown.Whenwebegandiscussionswiththecompanyoverayearago,thiswasourhope-thattheywouldfindanadditionalbusinesstolocatehereandfilltheirfacility.TheadditionofjobsandotherworkintheelectronicsfieldisacomplimenttoWatertown’sabilitytoprovidethecompanywithaskilledandexperiencedworkforceforthisendeavor.“

ByexpandingtheiroperationstoWatertown,thecompanyexpectstoimprovetheservices

theyoffertotheirclients.ToddOsman,PresidentofRVIInc.,saidthelocationalsoallowsforcontinuedgrowthofthecompany.“Thenewlocationallowsustorespondtoexistingclients’requestswithoutlimitations,regardlessoftheserviceofferingandimprovesresponsetoanynewopportunitiespresentedbyouraccountexecutives.”

ConvertingaportionofthefacilitythatissharedwithSpecSysInc.intoanRVIservicecenterturnedouttobetheperfectsolutionfortheirneeds.Osmansaid,“Watertownhasmajorlogisticscarrierdrop-offcenters,whichgivesustheabilitytobemoreefficientinprocessingfinishedgoodsinventoryforourclients.”

RVIhasalreadyhiredseveralemployeesfor

thenewoperationandisexpectedtoaddover20newemployeeswiththenextyear.

ForMoreInformation

RVI,Inc.isacomprehensiveelectronicserviceproviderforclientswithcomplexneedsoverabroadrangeofindustries.

RVIInc.

304IndustrialDrive

RedwoodFalls,MN56283

www.rvi-inc.com

Whetherit’stimeconsumingorachallengingpositiontofill,manyemployersfacebarrierstofindingtherightpeopleforcontinuedsuccessandgrowth.TheWatertownWorkforceAdvisoryCouncilprovidesemployerswitharesourceforhiringsolutions.

OnewaythehiringgapsarefilledisbyutilizingAttract&Enhancematchingfunds.TheprogramwascreatedbytheWatertownDevelopmentCompanyandisinplacetostrengthenandgrowareaworkforcebyassistingwithrelocationexpensesofemployees.Inadditiontorelocationassistance,theprogramhelpsattractnewresidentsbyprovidingtuitionreimbursement

fortrailingspousesorimmediatehouseholdmembersofemployeesnewtoWatertownthatareeitherstartingorcontinuingtheireducationatoneofthelocallearninginstitutions.

Likethenamestates,theprogram’suseisnotlimitedtotheattractionofnewemployeestothearea.Italsoprovidesfundsforthetrainingand/orupskillingofexistingemployees.Thisgivesparticipatingbusinessesanedgeinemployeerecruitmentandretention,andtheemployeetheskillsneededtogrowprofessionally,eitherattheircurrentcompanyoranewopportunityinthefuture.

Sincetheprogram’sinception,10employershavesubmitted24applications.Ofthose,22applicationshavebeenapproved.

Theapplicationsthathavebeenapprovedtotal$21,200.00.NineapplicationsweretorelocateworkersfromotherareasoftheU.S.toWatertown.

Employersthathaveparticipatedintheprograminclude:WatertownMunicipalUtilities,WorthingtonIndustries,Enercept,EscoManufacturing,Persona,WurthElectronics,andDakotaBodies,TwinCityDieCastingsandDacotalandManufacturing.

Visitwww.watertownworks.com/work/workforce-training/tolearnmore.

RVI, Inc. Expands To SpecSys Building

Training Fund Helps Businesses Expand Pool Of Skilled Workers

WATERTOWNDEVELOPMENTCOMPANYNEWS|Issue#2,SPRING2016

GROWTHINNUMBERS

Figure1:CapitalInvestmentDollars(ThroughDecember2015)

Capital Investment Thefinalnumbersareinforlastyear.ConstructionactivityintheWatertownareacontinuedtoincreasethroughDecember.

Figure2:NewSingleFamilyHomeDollarsinthemillions(ThroughDecember2015)

New Single Family Construction Constructiondollarsandpermitsforsingle-familyhousingunitsremainedsteady.

Figure3:NewCommercialConstructionpermitsanddollarsinthemillions.(ThroughDecember2015)

New Commercial Construction BuildingpermitsanddollarsfornewcommercialbuildingsalsocontinuedtoremainsteadyinWatertown.

Figure4:WatertownMiSAUnemploymentRate

Watertown’sMiSAunemploymentrate(Above)for2015averaged3.3percentthroughDecember,accordingtothestateLaborMarketCenter.

Figure5:WatertownMiSAPeopleEmployed

ThenumberofpeopleemployedintheWatertownMiSAroseoverthelastyear,averaging15,004throughDecember.

LaborforcenumbersintheWatertownMiSAalsosawpositivegrowthin2015(Figure6,below).

Figure6:WatertownMiSALaborForcenumbersremainpositive

Accordingtothemostrecentdataavailable,Sperling’sBestPlaces(www.bestplaces.net),reportsthatWatertown,SDtopsthelistinjobgrowthamongstmunicipalitiesofsimilarsizeinSouthDakota(Figures7&8).

Figure7showsWatertownisprojectedtogrowjobsoverthenexttenyearsby41.5%.

Figure7:FutureJobGrowth-Theprojectedchangeinjobavailabilityoverthenexttenyearsbasedonmigrationpatterns,economicgrowth,andotherfactors.Updated:June2014.

Figure8showsWatertowntopsthelistwithanincreaseinavailablejobsovera12-monthperiodinJune2014.

Figure8:Thepercentagesofincreaseordecreaseinavailablejobsoverthemostrecent12-monthperiod.Adecreaseinavailablejobsisrepresentedasanegativenumber.Updated:June2014

$45.8$48.5$46.0$45.0$63.0$65.0

427 486 527 456 484 535

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

$5.0 $5.8 $6.5 $7.0 $6.6$9.4

33 32 37 47 43 49

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

$11.9$26.0

$10.0 $10.7$26.9 $40.0

1218 23 23 21 21

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

54.4 3.7

3.53.3 3.3

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

14,275

14,644

14,902 14,935

14,916

15,004

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

15055

15345

15500

15485

1542015530

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

41.5%

35.6%

38.7%

41%39.7%

38.9%

40.8%40.6%

37.3%

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2.57%

-0.45

0.91%

2.09%

1.52%1.15%

1.8%2.25%

0.44%

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WATERTOWNDEVELOPMENTCOMPANYNEWS|Issue#2,SPRING2016

Watertown Development

Company News Quarterly

WATERTOWNDEVELOPMENTCOMPANYNEWS|Issue#2,SPRING2016

1EastKempAvenueWatertown,SD57201