
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993                   TAG: 9304280192
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

APCO LAUNCHES ITS OWN JOB STIMULUS

Appalachian Power Co. on Tuesday announced a broad program planned to stimulate long-term growth in the economy of its two-state region.

The utility's Operation Job Start includes spending more than $160,000 for finance charges for shell industrial buildings, supplementary advertising and direct-mail campaigns, mini-grants for economic development training and a computerized data base of material for prospective employers, the company said.

Apco said it also will provide export information, and its managers will help other companies in job retention and use of a data base listing of area suppliers.

Apco is "tightly focusing attention on a variety of efforts," said President Joseph Vipperman.

H.E. Rhodes, a vice president at Apco headquarters in Roanoke, will lead the program in Virginia; and Thomas A. Rotenberry, a vice president at Charleston, will direct the operation in West Virginia. The Virginia efforts will be implemented by Apco's economic development consultants Charles R. Saul of Roanoke and Franklin E. Crockett of Pulaski.

Apco will help pay finance charges for shell buildings of 20,000 square feet or more through interest-free loans of up to three years from a $25,000-a-year fund.

The plan is needed to help development groups meet "the big expense of carrying charges for financing" new structures, said Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership.

Supplementary funding from $50,000 allocated in each state will be used to help advertising and direct-mail campaigns promote industrial sites and available buildings. Six $950 grants in each state will be available for development initiatives and training programs by economic development organizations.

Saul said the utility will help communities in such areas as target marketing and initial evaluation of environmental problems. His office also plans export-assistance workshops for companies.

Rhodes said Job Start includes new efforts and some continuing activities. Among the ongoing efforts are a direct-mail campaign by Apco's parent, American Electric Power Co., to more than 15,000 U.S. and international companies and a marketing program that visits eight U.S. cities.

Economic development incentives are common among utilities, said Gloria Quinn of the Edison Institute. Their help is especially significant for communities when state budgets are cut back, she said.

Power companies "realize our well-being has close ties to the economy in the regions we serve," she said.

by CNB