POSTED: Monday, January 25, 2010 - 6:22pm
UPDATED: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - 12:42pm
NACOGDOCHES - Fagen Inc., the company managing the construction project of the biomass power plant near Sacul, will be holding a job fair in Nacogdoches next Thursday, January 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The job fair is being held in partnership with the Nacogdoches Economoic Development Corporation and will be held at the Nacogdoches Workforce Center on 2103 South Street.
Diane Fagen, Human Resources Director for Fagen, along with three human resource specialists, will be in Nacogdoches for the job fair and will be taking applications and conducting interviews for construction jobs at the plant.
The types of jobs needed and the construction process will also be discussed at the job fair. Fagen Inc., a family firm with 1,500 employees, has built more than a dozen power plants of varying kinds in the past 20 years.
The construction phase for the $400 million facility will extend throughout the next 32 months. The power plant is scheduled to become operational in mid-2012.
"This is just the beginning of the significant job creation generated by the biomass power plant," said Bill King, president/CEO of the Nacogdoches NEDCO. "The construction phase is expected to create upwards of 300 jobs at any given time over the next couple of years."
The inclusion of a local job fair was one of the county's main reasons for granting the power plant a tax abatement last year.
"We're already seeing increased economic activity in and around Cushing that is tied to the biomass plant," King said. "For example, sales tax revenues for Cushing for November 2009, the month when groundbreaking took place, were up 63 percent over the same period as last year. Work on the new elementary school, as well as improvements to the local athletic facilities, are currently under way. This is just the beginning of what we expect will be a major economic boost, not only for Cushing but for all of Nacogdoches County."