Eagan Optimistic on Jobs Despite Mesaba Closing

While the Oct. 14 announcement of ’ closing of its Eagan headquarters may have caught city officials by surprise, the move wasn’t totally unexpected according to city administrator Thomas Hedges.

Mesaba informed the City of Eagan they would cease operations on or around Dec. 26 of this year.

“When Delta left Eagan to move to Atlanta a few years ago, we kind of knew  Mesaba, Pinnacle and the commuter airlines were all a piece of that,” said Hedges. Still, he added, “it is a concern.”

Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines acquired Mesaba in July, 2010 for $62 million in an effort to strengthen their commuter airline operation and the company is relocating Mesaba's operations to that city.

Hedges said the city was led to believe that Mesaba would retain their headquarters in Eagan upon Pinnacle's acquisition of the comapany and didn’t learn of the decision until Mesaba sent a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) letter notifying them of their decision to move.  

He said city officials have not had direct communications with Mesaba regarding the decision. Mesaba Airline officials did not return a request for comment prior to publication of this article.

A quoted Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams as saying that closing Mesaba’s Eagan headquarters “was the plan from the beginning.”

The Memphis Daily News was reporting that Pinnacle plans to merge Mesaba with its Colgan Air, which it acquired in 2007 but will operate the new subsidiary under the Mesaba name.

With their move to Memphis, the company is leaving an approximate 193-job void in Eagan, another blow coming on the heels of and elimination of approximately 1,400 jobs in the city.

Eagan Communications Director, Tom Garrison, said Eagan has “certainly taken some hits to the system” but tried to put the Mesaba Airlines announcement in perspective.

“In terms of biggest employers, Mesaba isn’t among the largest,” said Garrison but still indicated losing an employer of any size was unfortunate.

According to the latest figures available Garrison said Thomson Reuters was still the largest employer in Eagan with approximately 7,000 jobs. Other major employers include Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Wells Fargo. Home Depot is the 20^th largest employer according to the 2010 figures with approximately 250 employees.

Hedges agreed Eagan’s job market is still strong, and could get even stronger shortly.

“Every job is important in the City of Eagan,” said Hedges. “We take losing these positions very seriously.”

But Hedges says often times what goes unnoticed are the jobs being added to help offset the headline-grabbing detractions.

“What happens on the quiet is the backfilling that usually follows these announcements,” he said. “Two-hundred jobs may move out, but another business may move in to take their place.”

There is an approximate workforce of 50,000 jobs located in Eagan and Hedges said that number has remained fairly constant over the years with “peaks and valleys” representing a natural ebb and flow in the job market.

According to July 2011 Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development figures, Eagan’s unemployment rate of 6.9 percent was below the Minnesota (7.4), Dakota County (7.5) and National (9.3) averages.

“Eagan has not lost any more jobs than other metro area cities,” said Hedges. “We’re still one of the highest suburban job centers in the region. That’s good stuff and we monitor that very closely.”

Hedges said the Lockheed Martin and Mesaba Airlines announcements haven’t dampened business interest in locating to Eagan. In fact, he hinted that announcements could soon come that could significantly add to the job totals available within the city.

“We’re talking to a couple of companies looking to Eagan,” said Hedges but declined to comment on the identity of those businesses. “Both businesses are serious and could provide some wonderful employee counts.”

The city is actively promoting the as well as their to attract new businesses. It's unclear at this time whether those are the sites being targeted by the prospective business Hedges hinted at.