Jul. 30--The beginning of pre-bid planning for a $5.75 million expansion of Cooper Tire's 1,200-employee Tupelo plant moves the Ohio-based manufacturer toward fulfilling its end of an incentive/retention agreement struck with the city and the state earlier this year.

Potential contractors met in City Hall on Tuesday and then visited the sprawling South Green Street complex of the auto and light truck tire-manufacturing operation, whose work will grow to include some operations at its to-be-closed Albany, Ga. plant.

Cooper officials announced in the late fall of 2008 that the company would close one of its North American plants and consolidate operations in the surviving plants. It sought retention packages from the economic development officials of Tupelo, Texarkana, Tex., and Albany, Ga.

Mississippi, acting through the Legislature and the Mississippi Development Authority, structured a $30 million, 10-year incentives package in exchange for Cooper's commitment to retain at least 1,200 employees in Tupelo and expand its operations.

The deal was negotiated as the bottom fell out of the North American automobile market and the economy plunged into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Gov. Haley Barbour signed the state's $19 million share of the incentives package on Feb. 3.

The Community Development Foundation's David Rumbarger said in February the expansion would bring 50 to 150 new jobs to Tupelo. Cooper operates with direct employee and contract workers in its Tupelo operations.

Under the incentive legislation, Cooper will get a $7 million building, a $6 million loan, and a rebate of up to $6 million for its payroll taxes in Mississippi.

Barbour, who supported the special legislation, said the first rule of economic development is retention of jobs in place.

Cooper will continue operating two other plants -- Findlay, Ohio, and Texarkana.

Rumbarger, president and chief executive officer of CDF, said the manufacturing jobs at Cooper Tire pay about $45,000 a year and managers earn more. Cooper's employees come from 17 counties, mostly in Northeast Mississippi.

No strong economic fix happens overnight. Cooper, Tupelo and the state acted for the long term.

Construction of the 32,000-square-foot addition in Tupelo is a visible commitment to stability and prosperity in one of our region's keystone industries.

Its direct economic impact -- payrolls and purchasing -- is calculated at $100 million for the Northeast Mississippi economy. An expansion linked to jobs growth means the probability of expanded impact, including payrolls that turn over quickly in retail sales, service spending, and, not unimportantly, tax revenue directly and indirectly for cities and counties.

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