 Smiley says that for the past couple of months he has been in
discussions with Helitech.
Helitech is a waterproofing and structural repair business, a
division of Slabmasters Inc., with corporate offices in Belleville
and facilities in Bloomington, Cape Girardeau, Mo., Marion, Mount
Vernon and Peoria, as well as a location about two miles outside
Lincoln on Route 121. The company is looking to build a new facility
in Lincoln that would ultimately merge the Bloomington and rural
Lincoln locations into one.
Smiley said that Helitech would require 3.4 acres of building
space and has been shown two potential sites in Lincoln, one off
Sysco Drive and the other being the property owned by the city
adjacent to Wal-Mart. At the moment, it appears that the location
near Sysco is the preferred site.
At the new location, Helitech will build a structure with a value of
approximately a half- million dollars. The site would employ 25 to
35 people, with payroll potential ranging from $25,000 to $60,000
per employee. Of those employees, there are 16 at the Bloomington
business who would be offered the opportunity to retain their
positions at the new Lincoln location.
In addition to industrial growth in the city, having Helitech
come to Lincoln could also have residual effects on the town's
economy. Smiley said there are no guarantees that Bloomington
employees will move to Lincoln, but it is a possibility.
Smiley explained that Helitech had explored Lincoln as a possible
site in the past but found the land prices in the area to be
excessive. He said that in working out an agreement with Helitech,
the development partnership had to find a way to lower the land cost
and has been able to accomplish that.
Another concern of the company is the water tap fee of $5,357
that would be imposed upon them by the city of Lincoln. Smiley asked
that the council consider waiving the fee for Helitech.
Normally, this would not be a city issue, but city engineer Mark
Mathon explained that at the Sysco Drive location, the city had
acted as the developer and had borne the expense of water and sewer
line installation. Therefore, per an agreement with Illinois
American Water, they were entitled to collect a tap fee that would
help recover the cost of the initial installation.
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The company has been in business since 1987 and in 2006 received the
Torch Award from the
Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, in
recognition of excellent customer satisfaction and ethical business
practices. They were honored with this award for "fostering an
environment of ethics and integrity with its clients, employees,
vendors, donors, industry and community," according to a company Web
posting.
Helitech offers residential services such as waterproofing,
foundation repair and stabilization, cracked basement wall repair,
and concrete leveling, otherwise known as "mudjacking." The
commercial services they provide include piering, foundation
stabilization, earth shoring and grouting, waterproofing,
environmental walkways, pipeline and utility shoring, tie-downs, and
underpinning.
While all of this is still pending, with no signed agreement in
place with Helitech, Smiley is hopeful that this project will go
forward. He said that companies such as Helitech are ideal for our
community. "These are the types of companies and types of jobs the
partnership really feels strongly about," he said. "These are
midrange companies with 25 to 50 employees, offering job retention
and creation."
[By NILA SMITH]
To learn more about Helitech, visit
http://www.helitechonline.com/home.html.
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