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Holland, MI — Holland city officials are swallowing a bitter pill in a compromise to land 350 previously announced jobs.
A federal grant requirement means 85 of the 125 call center jobs NOVO 1 expects to bring in the first year must go to people from outside the city.
“If this million dollars was not there, this company would not be coming,” City Manager Soren Wolff said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant is a driving factor bringing tele-services company NOVO 1 to Holland, Wolff said.
HUD initially wanted 91 percent of the first 125 people to be from non-entitlement communities. Holland is an entitlement community, which means it receives a set amount of CDBG money for projects each year.
The new requirement is that 68 percent of first-year hires — or 85 of the 125 planned — be from non-entitlement communities, or those that do not otherwise get the annual CDBG money.
Residents of most area townships would qualify.
“Quite frankly, 1 percent is not acceptable,” Wolff said, arguing that any restriction on where the workers come from is burdensome. “It’s one of the more idiotic things I think I have heard in a long time. It makes no sense to me. However, HUD is not budging on this. It is a requirement.”
The city council unanimously approved an agreement with Allegan County to administer the grant, a non-entitlement community allowed to compete for these grants.
It’s a question of glass half-empty or half-full, Councilman Bob VandeVussse said.
“We’re looking at 350 jobs coming to this community and 265 of those will be available to anybody anywhere they live,” he said. The restriction does not apply to additional jobs after those in the first year.
The city will still benefit from people coming to the community to work every day, he said. The requirement is solely that of HUD, not the city nor NOVO 1.
“The grant is a big part of why NOVO 1 is choosing Holland. They’re not crazy about this requirement either,” Mayor Kurt Dykstra said.
NOVO 1’s call center could open in early May.
Registered: Mar 2008
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