Community Profile
Right: A line of newly-assembled backhoes at Caterpillar
Inc. in Clayton is evidence of big business in Johnston County.
On the Right
Path
Johnston County benefits from its
Triangle location and interstate access,
but it's most important asset is its
people and schools
By Lisa H. Towle
In
Johnston County, the road to prosperity, while not always paved, has
always been clear. An Indian trade route led the first settlers to the
area. In colonial times, a path cut by the troops of a royal governor
would become Clayton, the fastest growing municipality in the county.
The promise of growth rolled in with rail lines in the 1800s, and some
expert lobbying in the early 1900s resulted in two state highways.
Never, however, has it been more evident that roads are Johnston’s
lifeblood. Today four major corridors — Interstate 95, Interstate
40, U.S. Highway 70 and U.S. Highway 42 — and myriad lesser ones
easily funnel people and products throughout the county and beyond.
Way beyond.
These transportation corridors also have attracted dozens of new
businesses and tens of thousands of new residents to Johnston, the
fastest-growing county in North Carolina over the past decade. A prime
example is Caterpillar Inc.
It was in 1990 that the stretch of I-40 through Johnston County east
to Wil-mington was opened. A year later Caterpillar Inc. consolidated
its building construction products business from England and Canada
and relocated it to Clayton. Robert Ronna, the company’s operations
manager in Clayton, ticks off the reasons the move was made: work
force availability, nearness to the customer base in the United
States, and ease of access to ports in Wilmington, Charleston and
Norfolk.
Soon, 75 employees, working in just a portion of a building vacated by
Data General, began producing the backhoe loaders and small wheel
loaders used during road and housing construction. At the time, the
thinking was that the North Carolina facility would peak at about 300
employees. Eleven years later some 700 people work at the
300,000-square-foot, Class A facility. All of North America and the
Caribbean as well as parts of Latin America are served from this
wooded 144-acre site, which sits on Highway 42, not far off U.S. 70.
“Both the state and the county were very forthcoming in working to
attract us, and all the commitments that were made were fully honored.
We’ve never felt anything but welcome,” allows Ronna. “North
Carolina and Johnston County,” he continues, “have been very good
to us, and vice versa.”
Catepillar’s move to Johnston County has gone so well that it
spawned eight other facilities in the state, including one in
Smithfield. On top of that, about 10 companies — suppliers of
hydraulic parts, for example — were created or moved to the Johnston
County area because of Caterpillar’s presence.
And the multiplier effect continues. While the original management
came from corporate offices in the Midwest and Canada, hiring for most
management as well as assembly and engineering positions is now done
locally. And the relationship is symbiotic. “We support a lot of
community activities. Corporately, there’s the Clayton Cultural Arts
Center project, the Capital Area YMCA’s We Build People program, and
Relay for Life to name a few. Personally, I’m on the board of the
Clayton Area Chamber of Commerce,” says Ronna.
The roaring 1990s brought a flood of positive media attention and
people to the Piedmont and the six-county Triangle region centered
around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, named by Money
magazine as the nation’s best place to work and live. Naturally,
much of that positive vibe was felt in Johnston County, Wake
County’s neighbor to the east. The county’s population exploded by
50 percent during the decade, the fastest rate in the state, to nearly
122,000. Its median household income shot up as well, increasing 25
percent to $40,872.
Developers, seizing an opportunity, bought up thousands of acres in
the county, where land was much cheaper than neighboring Wake. But the
once-rural county, which at 795 square miles makes it 10th in size
among North Carolina’s 100 counties, began filling up in an uneven
fashion. The former farm fields in western Johnston adjoining Wake
County now blossom with housing developments and commercial centers,
while the eastern section remains largely agricultural, devoted to
those crops which put it on the map: sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans
and tobacco.
Location, Location, Location
Anchoring the eastern end of the Triangle is an asset, but the
interstates remain Johnston’s prime attraction because they have a
national reach. A case in point is the area encompassing Selma and
Smithfield, the county seat, whose location astride I-95 puts those
towns in the enviable position of being midway between Florida and New
York. Each day thousands of travelers spill off the interstate eager
for a place to eat, sleep and sightsee.
“Do we promote our location? We sure do,” says Rick Childrey,
president of the Greater Smithfield-Selma Area Chamber of Commerce.
And obviously to great affect, he adds: “Smithfield has a permanent
population of 11,510. Selma’s is about 6,000. During weekdays
Smithfield has a population of approximately 50,000 people because
it’s a regional commerce center. Selma has dozens of antique
dealers. Smithfield has the Carolina Outlet Center and more. Retail
sales account for almost 50 percent of those for the entire county.”
Clayton, named by Money
magazine in 1996 as one of America’s 50 hottest boomtowns, is
Johnston’s second biggest municipality after Smithfield. It boasts
three of the county’s five golf courses, a 45-acre recreational area
and Clemmons Educational State Forest, with its crowd-pleasing
“talking” trees and rocks. Census 2000 figures show the median
income as $44,750, up from $35,448 in 1990.
Local officials cite Clayton’s quick access to Raleigh and Research
Triangle via I-40 as one of the town’s major draws. However, Sally
Schlindwein, executive director of the Clayton Area Chamber of
Commerce, points out that “Clayton also attracts many newcomers
because of the small town atmosphere, friendly people, strong schools,
a not-so-high tax rate, and prices of homes that are lower than
anything that is in the Research Triangle Park area.”
Moreover, she says, “We have 10 major industries in Clayton.”
Healthcare is among them. Within a mile of each other on Highway 70
are three pharmaceutical plants. German-owned Fresenius Kabi makes
intravenous solutions; Novo Nordisk, whose world headquarters is in
Denmark, produces insulin; and Bayer, also of Germany, calls its
Clayton center the “world’s largest plasma fractionation
facility.”
Like those companies, Johnston Memorial Hospital is always on the
lookout for highly skilled workers. Leland Farnell, president of the
hospital, notes that while competition for qualified personnel is
always stiff, the task has become much easier as the county has grown.
“The rate of recruitment for our medical staff has doubled in 10
years. We now have between 70 and 80 full-time physicians. If you add
consultants that number jumps to 150,” he says. “We’ve been able
to do this in part because of the increasing diversity and prosperity
of the county.”
Sammy Jackson, First Citizens’ area vice president for Johnston and
Harnett counties, agrees. “It’s a plus to have access to big-city
amenities like those in Raleigh while enjoying small town and rural
living. It all co-mingles very well.” And he thinks the 75 or so
people who work in the bank’s nine Johnston County branches feel the
same way. Professionally speaking, Jackson readily acknowledges that
all this forward momentum has created an ever more competitive
environment for service industries like banking. First Citizens, which
began in Smithfield in 1898 as the Bank of Smithfield, must, more than
ever, stay on its toes to retain its 33 percent market share in
Johnston.
Smart
Growth
Those charged with running the county know all about running to stay
ahead of the changes. Says James Langdon, a retired teacher and
administrator who has chaired the county commissioners for four years,
“It’s inevitable, things go up or down. They don’t stay still.
You want to go up because it provides a better way of life. So if you
can’t stop growth what do you do? You can plan for it.”
To him that means directing growth with zoning ordinances, requiring
building setbacks and open spaces for subdivisions, controlling
erosion and the amount of runoff into the ancient and fresh water
Neuse River as it wends its way through the county, creating water
districts countywide, ensuring that more densely populated areas have
paid public safety personnel and that there are enough well-equipped
schools.
Such nuts-and-bolts planning, while necessary to avoid becoming a
victim of your own success, has never been particularly sexy. But
that’s changing thanks to geographic information systems (GIS)
technology. In 1992, Terry Ellis came to work for the county from a
post in state planning. Then-county manager Richard Self, who realized
how much of county government was related to geography issues,
envisioned a department which would help people better understand the
place in which they live and work.
Ellis, a pioneer in the mapping field, was named the county’s GIS
technology director. His office takes the public record laws
seriously, making available to everyone information about everything
from census tract, fire district and water district boundaries to tax
parcels, floodplains and soil. For anyone with a computer, accessing
this data, which includes satellite images, is easy. “You get a
wealth of information at your own speed, you don’t have to wait for
government to respond,” says Ellis. “And you get not just
statistics, you see how it all relates.”
The popularity of this tool can be measured in clicks; the GIS web
site receives more hits than any other county site. Ellis and his team
also work closely with other departments within county government by
producing and packaging data. “GIS is a key part of a network of
support that allows us to respond quickly to questions and
opportunities that present themselves. I daresay we have one of the
most cutting edge, if not the most cutting edge, GIS office in North Carolina,” declares
Michael de Sherbinin, director of economic development for Johnston
County.
In fact, the GIS team’s most recent award came in March when
Johnston was one of 13 counties nationwide — and the only one in
North Carolina — to receive the eGovernance Award of Distinction
from the National Academy of Public Administration and the National
Association of Counties. The eGovernance program is designed to
recognize best practices and innovation in computer-based initiatives
at the county level.
Roads to
Prosperity
There’s no end to how relevant GIS technology can be, insists Ellis.
A current hot topic in the county is the US 70 bypass around Clayton.
The Department of Transportation’s proposed boundaries have been
listed and pictured by GIS so that independent judgments can be made
about the road’s impact.
Durwood Stephenson, president of Johnston-based Stephenson General
Contractors and a former member of the state Board of Transportation,
certainly does not equivocate: “Absolutely no question, the Clayton
bypass is the most important road project pending in the county.”
Lee Jackson, chairman of the Greater Smithfield-Selma Chamber of
Commerce, echoes that sentiment. He’s been encouraging members of
his chamber to “get back to the visioning process . . . to think of
what you want our community and county to look like 10 years from now
and then ask ‘what can we do to make that happen?’” The bypass,
which has been proposed as a fast-track design and build project, is
to his way of thinking a visionary strategy. “Once the bypass is
completed it will bring a huge influx (of people) to Smithfield and
Selma and also open up the eastern portion of the county to business
and residential growth,” says Lee, a principal in the CPA firm Dees,
Jackson, Watson & Associates.
Deborah Carter is the executive director of the Benson Area Chamber of
Commerce, which sponsors Mule Days, one of the largest festivals in
the Southeast, attracting 60,000-plus visitors annually. She has been
doing some envisioning of her own. “We need hotels, we want more
restaurants, and we have the perfect places for them,” she says.
Why? “I-95, I-40, 301, 50, 27, 242, 210 — they all come together
in Benson.”
Meanwhile, another road improvement project, a cloverleaf interchange,
is scheduled for I-95 at Four Oaks. That pleases Roger Mortenson. As
president, COO and CFO of House-Autry Mills in Four Oaks, he needs to
make sure his products — flavored breaders, corn meal and mixes —
get to retail and food service customers in as efficient a manner as
possible. The six loading bays at the 50,000-square-foot mill
constantly hum with contract and commercial carriers bringing supplies
or taking finished products to market in 23 states.
When Mortenson was considering moving the privately held House-Autry
Mills to Johnston County from Sampson County, where it had been since
its founding in 1812, he gave economic development officials his four
criteria: A facility close enough to Sampson and Wake counties to make
employees’ commutes tolerable. Acreage that was high and dry
(flooding had previously been a problem). Nearness to interstates, and
potential for rail access. What they found for him was an 18-acre
parcel, which was then readily annexed for purposes of water, sewer
and fire protection.
The move was completed by February 2001. Production, warehouse and
silo space offer such economies of scale that the mill has gone from
an operation that had to run 24-hours a day, five days a week to meet
its quota, to one that can achieve its target on a 10-12 hours a day,
four days a week schedule. Mortenson is a happy man. “I have to say
I’m really impressed with Johnston County and the way they do
business. Since being here we’ve grown 20 percent in volume and we
can more than double our physical plant. This is going to help us
reach our ultimate goal, which is to become nationwide and recognized
as the market leader in the grain-based food manufacturing
industry.”
Lessons
Learned
House-Autry employs 53 people, and that number, states its chief
executive with confidence, will go up. Worker notices posted in the
common areas of the facility are printed in both English and Spanish,
a sure sign of the county’s increasing ethnic diversity. Johnston
ranks among the 10 counties in the state that have the largest
Hispanic population.
As of late in the Johnston County Schools, it’s whites but also
Hispanics who account for the swelling student rolls, says James F.
Causby, superintendent of the school district, which, like the county
itself, is the fastest-growing in North Carolina. But the English as a
Second Language instruction as well as the intensive remediation
that’s often required to bring children new to the system up to
speed taxes the resources of what’s a relatively low wealth district
— low compared to other Triangle counties.
But income levels and the tax base will grow over time,
promises Causby.
With a budget of more than $100 million, the school district functions
in many ways as a major industry. While the county’s seven-member
board of education has educational review authority, it is not a
taxing authority for generating revenues. All revenue is derived from
other governmental agencies for both operating and capital outlay
needs. This means a lot of time is devoted to lobbying for funds for
new and improved facilities, textbooks, school buses, mandated
programs for exceptional children and teacher recruitment. About 60
percent of the system’s recently hired teachers come from outside
the state, and are drawn not just by generous signing bonuses and
deals on housing, but also the promise that the district is a
progressive place to work.
“I’m a firm believer in achievement by setting high goals. People
want to be associated with a winner,” says Causby, whose string of
accomplishments includes selection as the 2000-2001 Superintendent of
the Year by the N.C. School Boards Association and being named
Smithfield-Selma Citizen of the Year in 1998. In the past, student
achievement in the county was best described as “almost exactly
state average.” Causby, who recalls that “I accepted this job
because I wanted the opportunity to take a system from being everyday
to premier,” has implemented initiatives which have moved Johnston
County Schools into the top 10 percent in the state.
The serious effort to improve schools began in 1991, two years before
Causby arrived, and it was guided by the principles of Total Quality
Education. A central tenet of TQE is that organizations should
“listen to the voice of their customers.” Among the most important
customers of a school system are businesses and employers in the
community. Surveys of this group indicated a strong need for
improvement in work habits, reasoning, writing, computer, math and
reading skills, and the ability to cooperate with others. Of several
programs in which the system participated during this period, one was
a TQE pilot project funded by the North Carolina Business Committee
for Education. After becoming superintendent in December 1993, Causby
implemented a specific process for school improvement that was
developed by the International Center for Leadership in Education.
Over time, the process has been modified, the community, educators,
parents and students more directly involved. Now, instead of setting
new goals each year, the Johnston County Schools Improvement
Initiatives focuses on and tries to enhance the same six goals: safe
and orderly schools, total quality education, improved student
achievement, school based management, character education, and school
facilities. The system’s winning ways have not gone unnoticed. No
less than the British Parliament sent members of its education
committee to Johnston County to see the schools in action. Last
December the St. Petersburg Times of Florida gave the school district a favorable
and lengthy profile.
A guaranteed attention grabber is the pioneering student
accountability program. In 1996, after several years of improving
student achievement, the board of education decided that a firmer
commitment and effort by parents and students was necessary if the
school system was to continue to improve. The result was something
called the Student Accountability for Academic Achievement Policy,
which establishes very high standards for achievement, requires
additional help for students having trouble meeting those standards,
and then holds students accountable for meeting these more rigorous
requirements. The agreement must be signed by students, parents and
teachers. If it’s not, there are consequences: Report cards don’t
go home; participation in sports and other extracurricular activities
is forbidden; upperclassmen can’t drive to school because
highly-valued parking permits are revoked.
The long-term goal of such policies, of course, is that the learning
and discipline they instill will carry over to college and the work
force. Johnston Community College, which is growing about six and a
half percent a year, effectively straddles both those worlds. Surveys
of its students consistently show that 30 percent are there preparing
to transfer to a four-year school, while 70 percent are interested in
learning for an occupation or trade.
Soon after arriving in 1999 to take the helm of the community college,
Dr. Donald Reichard instituted several changes. One of them was an
ongoing evaluation and participation program. Students, staff and
instructors (104 full-time, 100 part-time) regularly rate the
institution according to a given set of criteria and they’re polled
in order to ascertain if programs are working. If some part of the
curriculum is found to be lacking, it’s reexamined. So, for example,
while the North Carolina Truck Driver Training School, designed to
help individuals handle tractor-trailer rigs, remains very popular,
the auto mechanics program was deemed irrelevant last year and
replaced with even more technology and allied health courses.
“All of education is important,” states Reichard. “But in terms
of economic recovery it’s community colleges that are going to give
you the quickest turnaround.” Keeping with that philosophy, JCC’s
president has led it into several creative partnerships in order to
help it meet the demand for people qualified in the high-skill sectors
of healthcare, information technology and biotechnology. Old Dominion
University of Norfolk, Va., has been licensed by University of North
Carolina’s Board of Governors to offer bachelor of science and
master of science degree programs on Johnston Community’s campus in
Smithfield. Classes are televised live from Old Dominion with two-way
audio. Some web-based and videoconferenced classes are also available.
As part of triangletech@work,
a joint effort by Johnston and Wake counties, the state’s community
college system, Triangle-area businesses and chambers of commerce, and
local and state JobLink Career Centers, JCC will train displaced
workers in areas such as software programming and engineering. The
Raleigh-based Capital Area Workforce Development Board secured more
than $2 million in seed money from the federal government for this
project, whose goal is twofold: help manufacturing workers who have
lost their jobs, and reduce the reliance of high-tech companies on
foreign workers.
BioWorks, created to support the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries, illustrates the nimbleness of the school and its
continuing education program. “Bayer’s CEO said he was not going
to hire employees with less than an associates degree. We heard that
loud and clear. That’s our challenge,” says Reichard. On its
satellite campus in the Cleveland community, located in the western
part of the county where pharmaceutical-related enterprises are
flourishing, JCC spent $150,000 to install a pharmaceutical wet lab in
order to train laboratory managers.
In addition to customized training for the likes of Novo Nordisk and
Bayer, JCC anticipates that several other businesses and industries
“are poised for significant expansion” and it stands ready to help
educate their work forces. Environ of Smithfield may be among them.
Founded in Pennsylvania in 1990, Environ is a leader in the
manufacture of flexible piping and underground containment systems for
the petroleum industry. According to Steve Arnold, the company’s
vice president of operations, last January, after consolidating
facilities in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and another part of North
Carolina, it moved its world headquarters to Johnston County because
it found what it had been looking for: affordable land and utilities,
a lower tax rate, the proximity of major transportation routes, and
skilled workers.
Currently, Environ employs 110 people. “A part of our evaluation of
Johnston County included several options for employee education,”
says Arnold. “These revolved around working with Johnston Community
College. We felt very positive about that and will pursue it when the
time is right. Our industry is a very competitive one. We’re a
leader, we want to stay that way, and on-going training is part of
keeping the edge.”
Such an attitude has been part of the blueprint for success that
Johnston County has utilized during the past decade. And there’s no
reason to believe that anything will change now.
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