Gerber Expansion Could Add 90 Jobs In Fort Smith

More jobs are expected to come to Fort Smith thanks to continued expansion at the Gerber plant on the city’s north side. In fact, the company, which is currently expanding its operations to add a cereal line in Fort Smith, asked for and was granted by the Fort Smith Board of Directors on Tuesday night (June 4) an amendment to a resolution passed in 2010 providing the company industrial development revenue bonds.

The original bond package totaled $90,000,000 while the project taking place at Gerber has grown so much, the company requested an additional $60,000,000, bringing the total bonds issued to $150,000,000.

The new cereal line, which was originally supposed to employ a few dozen employees once completed, is now projected to employee as many as 90 workers, Fort Smith city administrator Ray Gosack said. And the jobs will not be low-paying.

“They’re fairly high-paying jobs for the manufacturing sector,” he said, without going into much detail. “They’re very skilled jobs in the manufacturing plant, so they tend to pay a little more than the typical manufacturing jobs do.”

With the financing now in place, Gosack said construction should be completed within months, allowing the company to quickly staff the new operation and start rolling product out of the plant.

A representative from Gerber was not at Tuesday’s meeting and a call to the company was not returned after hours.

Other city leaders expressed satisfaction with the continued expansion at Gerber.

“This is really good news. It’s a great opportunity for our city,” Mayor Sandy Sanders told the board.

Vice Mayor Kevin Settle echoed those sentiments, saying the bond issuance was a great opportunity for “the city to help companies retain jobs we have here and grow. …It says a lot that they want to invest in our city. This is a great, great thing for our city and I’m very happy that Gerber is investing in our city.”