PAS Technologies announces Hillsboro expansion WATCH THE VIDEO
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
The phrase "It's a great day for Highland County" was repeated numerous times Thursday when PAS Technologies announced an expansion in Hillsboro that will bring 40 jobs to Hillsboro - with the possibility of more to come.
State and local elected officials met Thursday at the Hi-TEC Center in Hillsboro, joined by PAS leaders and community members for the official announcement that the aerospace technologies manufacturer was bringing jobs to Hillsboro.
Highland County Commissioner Shane Wilkin, who spearheaded the initiative to get all entities working together to bring in the jobs, said, "It's a great day for Highland County. This is one of the times it worked."
In addition to Wilkin, and his fellow Highland County Commissioners Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer, other officials in attendance included U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, State Sen. David Daniels, Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink, representatives from Gov. John Kasich's office, and a representative from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner's Office, along with several county officials and leaders.
PAS President/CEO Phil Milazzo, who made the official announcement, had said in February that the Hillsboro facility, located off Hobart Drive, was in contention for a company expansion that has the possibility of bringing in 170 jobs. The project will be done in three phases, and Thursday's announcement was that phase one was beginning in Hillsboro. The decision regarding the two remaining phases has not yet been made.
In February, the Hillsboro location had 95 employees. Milazzo said that they have already hired around five people for the phase-one projects, with the remaining 35 or so positions still open.
When asked by The Highland County Press how likely it was that phase two, and its additional 20-25 more jobs, would be coming to Hillsboro, Milazzo said that he feels "confident."
"It's a matter of economics," Milazzo said. "We compete on a global footprint. The way the local and state community has supported this, we can go back now with our second phase and continue some strong negotiations. I feel pretty confident about phase two. We've got a lot of different opportunities. And you've got great people here. We're all about being competitive and growth. So I feel good about it."
Sen. Portman, who got involved with the project in January said that being a U.S. Senator in these economic times means working on specific projects to bring jobs to your state.
"In these days, the role of the United States Senator needs to be different. It needs to be rolling up your sleeves and getting involved and trying to help where you can in specific economic development projects," Portman said. "We've probably got 10 or 15 we're working on right now. But none am I more excited about than this one."
Portman said that working with Milazzo has been "a treat" and that he is a class act.
"By making this announcement today, really is showing confidence in the workforce in Highland County," Portman said. "That's what this is about. All the incentives in the world and all the work from those of us in elected office and the (Highland County Chamber of Commerce) and others, are not as important as what the workers in that plant have shown and done through their productivity and hard work. So in a way, this is a tribute to them. It's also important that we retain that competitiveness here in Highland County, create the environment for success and continue to show a multinational company like PAS acknowledges we've got the right stuff. And I believe we do."
Daniels said that the announcement of jobs was especially important for those families who have been out of work.
"This is really a big deal," Daniels said. "When you stop and think about the people who have been affected in our area, and the 13-percent unemployment rate (which was) even higher than that in the past. What we're talking about here is people's lives and their ability to put food on the table and their ability to take care of their families. This is just a real bright spot that people are recognizing Southern Ohio, they're recognizing what we've got - our workforce - the face that we can work together, the fact that we do work together as a team from the federal level to the state level and on down. This should be a day of hope for everybody here."
Highland County Chamber of Commerce President Katy Farber said that Thursday was about "celebrating tomorrow."
"Today is a celebration of a successful, mutually beneficial relationship between private enterprise and multiple government entities," Farber said. "Today is a recognition of commitment and dedication of business leaders and elected officials alike. Today is about working together to strengthen our local economy. In short, today is about tomorrow."
Milazzo said PAS is a global company that is owned by a private equity firm, KRG Capital, out of Denver, Colo.
"We're all about growth. And today, we compete in a global economy," Milazzo said. "When you do that, you think about, 'What do we stand for?' It's simply about growth, being world-class and being known as a world leader in the aerospace industry. You can only do that today - and so many jobs you hear about going overseas, very seldom do you hear about jobs coming back on shore - you can only accomplish that when you have local and state support that Sen. Portman and his team were very instrumental, Shane Wilkin, has given us the support that we need to grow our company. We appreciate the state representatives being here also. The county and community right here stands for growth. We're going to add 40 new jobs to our company here in Hillsboro. That's what we're classifying as phase one."
As each official took the podium to speak on the growth PAS is bringing to Hillsboro, nearly each one praised Wilkin's efforts to make the expansion happen locally, from his organizing events and offices, his one-on-one work with Milazzo, to sitting at the State Capitol and refusing to leave until someone spoke to him about helping bring the jobs to Highland County.
Wilkin thanked the officials for their words, but said that he was just one of three commissioners, and that with Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer, "We have an office of one. They have been kind enough to allow me to kind of run with this, and it's been great."
The phrase "It's a great day for Highland County" was repeated numerous times Thursday when PAS Technologies announced an expansion in Hillsboro that will bring 40 jobs to Hillsboro - with the possibility of more to come.
State and local elected officials met Thursday at the Hi-TEC Center in Hillsboro, joined by PAS leaders and community members for the official announcement that the aerospace technologies manufacturer was bringing jobs to Hillsboro.
Highland County Commissioner Shane Wilkin, who spearheaded the initiative to get all entities working together to bring in the jobs, said, "It's a great day for Highland County. This is one of the times it worked."
In addition to Wilkin, and his fellow Highland County Commissioners Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer, other officials in attendance included U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, State Sen. David Daniels, Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink, representatives from Gov. John Kasich's office, and a representative from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner's Office, along with several county officials and leaders.
PAS President/CEO Phil Milazzo, who made the official announcement, had said in February that the Hillsboro facility, located off Hobart Drive, was in contention for a company expansion that has the possibility of bringing in 170 jobs. The project will be done in three phases, and Thursday's announcement was that phase one was beginning in Hillsboro. The decision regarding the two remaining phases has not yet been made.
In February, the Hillsboro location had 95 employees. Milazzo said that they have already hired around five people for the phase-one projects, with the remaining 35 or so positions still open.
When asked by The Highland County Press how likely it was that phase two, and its additional 120-125 more jobs, would be coming to Hillsboro, Milazzo said that he feels "confident."
"It's a matter of economics," Milazzo said. "We compete on a global footprint. The way the local and state community has supported this, we can go back now with our second phase and continue some strong negotiations. I feel pretty confident about phase two. We've got a lot of different opportunities. And you've got great people here. We're all about being competitive and growth. So I feel good about it."
Sen. Portman, who got involved with the project in January said that being a U.S. Senator in these economic times means working on specific projects to bring jobs to your state.
"In these days, the role of the United States Senator needs to be different. It needs to be rolling up your sleeves and getting in volved and trying to help where you can in specific economic development projects," Portman said. "We've probably got 10 or 15 we're working on right now. But none am I more excited about than this one."
Portman said that working with Milazzo has been "a treat" and that he is a class act.
"By making this announcement today, really is showing confidence in the workforce in Highland County," Portman said. "That's what this is about. All the incentives in the world and all the work from those of us in elected office and the (Highland County Chamber of Commerce) and others, are not as important as what the workers in that plant have shown and done through their productivity and hard work. So in a way, this is a tribute to them. It's also important that we retain that competitiveness here in Highland County, create the environment for success and continue to show a multinational company like PAS acknowledges we've got the right stuff. And I believe we do."
Daniels said that the announcement of jobs was especially important for those families who have been out of work.
"This is really a big deal," Daniels said. "When you stop and think about the people who have been affected in our area, and the 13-percent unemployment rate (which was) even higher than that in the past. What we're talking about here is people's lives and their ability to put food on the table and their ability to take care of their families. This is just a real bright spot that people are recognizing Southern Ohio, they're recognizing what we've got - our workforce - the face that we can work together, the fact that we do work together as a team from the federal level to the state level and on down. This should be a day of hope for everybody here."
Highland County Chamber of Commerce President Katy Farber said that Thursday was about "celebrating tomorrow."
"Today is a celebration of a successful, mutually beneficial relationship between private enterprise and multiple government entities," Farber said. "Today is a recognition of commitment and dedication of business leaders and elected officials alike. Today is about working together to strengthen our local economy. In short, today is about tomorrow."
Milazzo said PAS is a global company that is owned by a private equity firm, KRG Capital, out of Denver, Colo.
"We're all about growth. And today, we compete in a global economy," Milazzo said. "When you do that, you think about, 'What do we stand for?' It's simply about growth, being world-class and being known as a world leader in the aerospace industry. You can only do that today - and so many jobs you hear about going overseas, very seldom do you hear about jobs coming back on shore - you can only accomplish that when you have local and state support that Sen. Portman and his team were very instrumental, Shane Wilkin, has given us the support that we need to grow our company. We appreciate the state representatives being here also. The county and community right here stands for growth. We're going to add 40 new jobs to our company here in Hillsboro. That's what we're classifying as phase one."
Rosenberger said that Ohio is now starting to move "at the speed of business" and is on the path to relighting Ohio.
"We are starting to day by day, brick by brick, to relight Ohio's beacon, and it's really a great thing that we can relight Ohio's beacon right here in Highland County with the announcement of the expansion today with PAS."
Zink said that before he became mayor of Hillsboro, he worked in management manufacturing, and he knows exactly what kind of people PAS will be working with.
As each official took the podium to speak on the growth PAS is bringing to Hillsboro, nearly each one praised Wilkin's efforts to make the expansion happen locally, from his organizing events and offices, his one-on-one work with Milazzo, to sitting at the State Capitol and refusing to leave until someone spoke to him about helping bring the jobs to Highland County.
Wilkin thanked the officials for their words, but said that he was just one of three commissioners, and that with Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer, "We have an office of one. They have been kind enough to allow me to kind of run with this, and it's been great."
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