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Two LaGrange manufacturers were in danger of closing, but with quick negotiation and help from the development authority and development incentives the plants were able to grow and stay in town.

On Friday, the Troup County Board of Commissioners held a called meeting at the Oakfuskee Conservation Center to discuss economic development strategies and projects in LaGrange and Troup County. 

Scott Malone and Kelly Bush from the LaGrange Development Authority provided information on ongoing and upcoming development projects.

Malone, who leads the Development Authority of LaGrange and the LaGrange Development Authority, said they are self-sustained and get no money from the City of LaGrange. 

“When we took over in 2016 we were kind of dependent on [LaGrange]. We didn’t have a lot of money, but a lot of debt where projects had been taken on. We flipped that model within about two years and got out of having dependency on the city,” Malone said. “The biggest beneficiary of everything we do is the City of LaGrange and obviously Troup County, but we don’t get any funding support. That’s important to know for a lot of people. We’re not touching any tax dollars.”

One of their first deals was in 2017 with Duracell. Duracell in LaGrange came to them and said, “We’ve got a $100 million project. It’s going to go to Tennessee, South Carolina or Georgia. Can y’all help us win this project?” Malone said, saying the deal was done within a week thanks to development incentives approved by the tax assessors.

The deal sent a $100 million project to LaGrange rather than Tennessee or South Carolina.

“Why is that important? Well, Lancaster, South Carolina, had the Double-A battery plant. They closed and lost all 600 jobs. One of them was going to close. So fortunately, we didn’t, and we’ve been able to expand ever since then. Now, every Double A and Triple A battery made in North America is made in LaGrange, Georgia,” Malone said.

Kimberly Clark was also in danger of closing, Malone said.

“That plant was on the chopping block and on the verge of being shut down two years ago. Nobody in the community knew that, but we did. They said we got a $65 million project. We need to figure out how to retool this plant, or this plant’s going to be gone,” Malone said.

Malone explained that before the pandemic, Kimberly Clark in LaGrange made diapers but competition with Amazon was severely hurting them. The LDA was able to help them bring a $62 million investment to LaGrange to retool the plant to make masks. 

“They made their money back in like, four months,” Malone said.

Kimberly Clark has since retooled again to focus on being a supplier to four other plants. 

“Now they’re central to the supply chain for Kimberly Clark overall, sending products to Utah, Texas, South Carolina and [other states]. So it went from potentially closing to 200 really good jobs,” Malone said.