“They changed the Economic Development Corporation into a not-for-profit entity.” “It is independently owned but somewhat affiliated with Toyota Motor Company. They make parts. So right now they make airbag components, steering wheels and interior trim pieces for automobile manufacturers, most notably Toyota. And they started chroming, so many of the chrome parts that you see on cars are often made here in Perryville. The company is up to 1,900 employees here. So for a town of 8,400 people, it’s great to have two major employers supplying well over 3,000 jobs.” “I believe the City’s location is one of its greatest strengths,” exclaims Buerck when asked about enticing people to apply for one of the many available jobs and move to Per- ryville. “We are about 80 miles from downtown St. Louis, we’re 35 miles from Cape Girardeau which is a city of about 40,000 people. There’s a university and two large hospitals there. And we also have a small community hospital that is absolutely thriving. They have completed a couple of major expansions over the last few years. So for health related jobs, our location is really key.” One of Perryville’s major selling points revolves around glistening community safety numbers and how it is contrib- uting to a higher quality of life and a family-oriented life- style. In fact, the City is continually recognized as one of the safest communities in Missouri, with a reputation for having a second-to-none school system. Buerck also emphasizes that key infrastructure investments have improved the quality of life for residents. ”We have a park system that we have invested heavily in here in the community. We have a 105,000 ft.² recreation center that features an Olympic size swimming pool, a 400-seat theatre that shows first run movies, it has a large gym, racquetball, a walking trail and a library. In addition to that, we have a soccer park sponsored by the Bank of Missouri. The Opti- mists built 10 soccer fields on what used to be a floodplain. I think it’s probably the nicest park between St. Louis and Memphis for soccer.” “For a town of 8,400 people, it’s great to have two major employers supplying well over 3,000 jobs.” Fun activities include an annual Mother’s Day weekend festival in Perryville’s downtown core. “Mayfest” has been taking place for the past 30 years. “We have a soccer tourna- ment that coincides with “Mayfest” that will have anywhere from 90-100 teams depending on the weather so that’s thousands of parents, grandparents and kids that come to Perryville for the weekend. We are doing a lot of those kind of activities, baseball tournaments, volleyball tournaments,
The success of Gilster-Mary Lee and other investments made by the Perryville Development Corporation invari- ably made their stock much more valuable than their earlier door-to-door value. Buerck offers that this is where the story shifts. “At some point, and I think this is the most important part of the story of Perryville, these business leaders that had invested in their community with the original purpose of trying to make a little money and provide some jobs in Perryville, made enough money that they decided to start forgoing profits and they changed the Corporation into a not-for-profit entity. So they turned what was originally profit that they could’ve put in their pockets, and walked away from it in favor of an investment into the community — an investment that wound up becoming the purchase of the industrial park property. Today there is still a 20 person Board of Directors that oversees the assets of the Perryville Development Corporation and they continually invest in the community.” As one might imagine, the economies of small cities can be greatly impacted over many generations by the hard work of their economic development leaders and their ability to draw international corporations to town. Thirty years ago this past year, the Perryville Economic Development Cor- poration started working with a Japanese company called Toyoda Gosei.
Buerck explains that bringing Toyoda Gosei to the City was another game-changer.
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DECEMBER 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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