Economic Development Sedalia-Pettis County recognized an individual and a local entity that both contribute to the success of the local manufacturing industry during Thursday night’s Works for You banquet.

Based on the slogan “Economic Development Works for You,” the Works for You award recognizes an individual, group, corporation or organization who have gone above and beyond to support, promote and assist economic development, contributing to EDSPC’s success. This year’s award recipients, who did not know they were accepting an award, were Terry Maglich, of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, and the Sedalia School District 200.

Rusty Kahrs, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Sedalia and Pettis County, noted that the area’s successful companies providing quality jobs gives EDSPC a reason to celebrate each year.

“Some people say the manufacturing industry is in decline. That couldn’t be further from the truth and the numbers I am about to provide you will prove that,” Kahrs told those gathered at the Sedalia Country Club. “Just this week our statewide unemployment rate decreased to 3.9 percent, the lowest it’s been since September 2000. The state’s jobless rate has now been lower than the U.S. jobless rate for 24 consecutive months. Missouri alone added 1,900 manufacturing jobs in March 2017 making it the fastest growing industry.”

Terry Maglich has worked for nearly 20 years with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, holding various leadership and project management positions. Kahrs said the growth in Pettis County wouldn’t have been possible without Maglich as part of the Economic Development team.

“This individual has helped shape the economic development industry throughout the entire state of Missouri and has had a special place in their heart for supporting growth in Pettis County,” Kahrs said. “… Responsible for creating thousands of jobs throughout the state and hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment over their nearly 20-year career in the industry, this person is well respected locally and throughout the state.”

Maglich said that through his work across Missouri, “nothing is as rewarding” as his work in Sedalia and Pettis County.

“It just came to be there was an understanding you have to take care of what you have and allow for growth and there’s no other community than Sedalia that gets that better and it’s an example I use, and I cover most of the state, that I use when I’m talking about what it takes to grow and provide a better place to live and I use Sedalia, Missouri as that example,” Maglich said. “Thank you so much for this, this is one of the most rewarding things that I can ever imagine.”

Kahrs listed a few of the numerous ways Sedalia 200 impacts the local manufacturing community, including making the financial and time commitment to offer internship opportunities for all high school seniors, and inviting local manufacturers into the school system to allow students to learn about careers in the industry.

Sedalia 200 also collaborated with EDSPC to launch Coming Home Sedalia, which is designed to recruit former students back to the community and retain local youth to grow the employment base.

“This award goes to an organization in our community that is forced to change on a constant basis to keep up with the ever-evolving demands placed upon them,” Kahrs said. “This organization is responsible for developing the future generations of leaders and workforce for the very same employers Economic Development works with on a daily basis to foster growth throughout the community.”

Sedalia 200 was represented Thursday night by Superintendent Brad Pollitt.

“We love this community — the community is important to the school district, the school district is important to the community,” Pollitt said. “I think the FIT (Sedalia 40-hour Internship) program is one of the greatest things we’ve had in this community. When we talk about the FIT program, we talk about how all of the industries, all the factories in this community that bring our seniors into their factories, into their workplace and give our students an opportunity to figure out if that’s what they really want to do when they go to college.”