In recent weeks, Hartselle has received some good news about new businesses locating to our area. Tractor Supply and Pet Depot are planning to open stores here in this summer.

It seems like the Hartselle Area Chamber of Commerce has been busy as of late with a number of ribbon cuttings at local businesses. In the last week alone, we’ve seen about five businesses that have decided to have a ribbon cutting.

We’ve also been recognized as the 15th most friendliest city for business.

That’s good news on all of those items.

As our local economy is still trying to recover from the Great Recession, however, we’re still experiencing some steps back, as another local business was forced to reduce its workforce.

Cerro Wire LLC confirmed that about 20 workers had lost their jobs during a recent round of layoffs.

“Cerro Wire LLC recently reduced its Hartselle, Alabama workforce to align with market conditions,” Doug Chandler said in an emailed statement. “The company, which manufactures electrical building wire for the construction industry throughout the U.S. and Canada, is well staffed and equipped to meet the needs of its customers.”

While some companies are still cutting back, we hope that in general we can continue to recruit new businesses to offset those job losses. We have to grow just to maintain the level of employment for our area.

One way that can happen is by promoting our Morgan Center Business Park.

The park is ready and we’re hoping to see some businesses that would love to utilize the infrastructure that we have to offer there.

We hope that this will lead to more ribbon cuttings in the near future.