KINGWOOD — An expansion at Superior Fibers will add up to 62 new jobs at the Reedsville plant. Preston County Economic Development Authority Director Robbie Baylor told the Preston County Commission about the expansion this week.
She also got the commission’s endorsement for a grant application to the State Division of Highways (DOH) for funds to redo the industrial access road to the plant. Each county can apply for the road money.
“The existing road runs through the back corner of the expansion,” Baylor said, so the funds will be used to move the road.
The exact cost of the project isn’t known yet, but Baylor said the DOH has already approved the drawings. The grant requires a 10-to-one match by the company. The info Baylor provided said the project will allow Superior Fibers, “to capture additional business in the range of,” more than $10 million over the next three years.
Baylor said the company is adding an additional Fiberglas curing oven and 16 additional spinning drums, along with associated equipment and employee training. The existing plant has one curing oven from 1978, according to the information.
The expansion is 35,000 square feet. Baylor said Superior Fibers is hiring now for existing positions and will hire others after the project completion. It currently has 150-170 employees, she said.
“They are good jobs, union jobs, full-time with benefits,” she said.
The new oven will allow the company a 25 percent increase in speed and new designs.
“Exhaust from the curing oven will be treated with a thermal oxidizer equivalent or superior to the one used with the existing oven.” “People who see the stacks will see steam coming out of them,” Baylor said.
Roads are a recurring topic at commission meetings, and this week was no exception. Tunnelton resident Mark Wolfe said while he is thankful for the work that has been done on the roads, much work remains.
“Why have the roads been let go this far?” he asked, mentioning Raccoon Valley Road, Senior Drive and W.Va. 26 as examples. Commissioner Don Smith said the neglect started years ago.
Wolfe said he blames state, district and county DOH officials.
He recounted watching a crew replace a culvert, cover it with asphalt, then dump the leftover asphalt over the hill instead of filling a large nearby pothole. “I’m frustrated like everyone else in this county is frustrated,” Wolfe said.
Sheriff Dan Loughrie told commissioners cruisers have suffered nearly 30 bent rims, as well as broken struts, tie rod ends and tires. “There’s no end to it, and I don’t see no relief coming soon,” the sheriff said.
“We’ve got nice, leased, low-mileage vehicles, and we’re just tearing them up,” Commissioner Dave Price said.
