Publisher’s Perspective

Gonzales deserves to pat itself on the back

Posted

One week ago today, the city of Gonzales became a global player in the world manufacturing economy when it lifted the first shovel of dirt on BYK’s $50 million expansion project here in Gonzales.

The city was in active competition for the huge expansion project with global players like China and Germany and was in direction competition with the state of Kentucky.

Yet BYK chose Gonzales, Texas.

As a community, we all should be proud of what our city and county officials did to not only retain the facility we had, but to get the expansion project done. From the hospital district to the Intermediate School District to the county board and to the Gonzales City Council and city employees, everyone came to together and made this project happen.

It was a total cooperative effort, with everyone focused on one common goal: retain BYK, and get the expansion project here.

For over a year they worked on this project, and in the end BYK chose us. I think it is a win-win for both BYK and the community.

With BYK now committed to Gonzales, the city can use its experience to entice other companies to locate here and provide more jobs and a more secure tax base. The new automation at BYK will bring new brain power and skills to our community, diversifying our core economic base and possibly leveraging this to bring even more jobs and investment to our area.

Over the course of the next 18 months, over 180 contractors will be working in Gonzales, which is good news for our hotels, restaurants, convenience stores and other businesses.

Hopefully, this will be the lynch pin in the local economy that we have all been looking and hoping for. It will strengthen our school system, enrich our tax base, help our hospital grow and more importantly provide more opportunities for work and employment for area residents and young people.

This is a huge win for Gonzales, and I just want to offer my personal congratulations and thank you to the many players involved in this, including the city of Gonzales, the GEDC and Genora Young, Judge Bird and the county, the hospital district, Dr. Strozier and the ISD, and the leadership and management at BYK.

This will be a landmark in our community’s business history, and I just think everyone involved needs to take a bow before the real construction work begins.

Well done everyone!

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