Fountain Businesses Concerned Over Sanmina-SCI Exit
By Josh Simeone J.Simeone@krdotv.com
FOUNTAIN – Around four hundred people will lose their jobs as a high tech company plant in Fountain is closing its doors for good.
Sanmina-SCI is closing the doors of its Fountain plant on December 31st, 2007, according to a letter sent to its employees on Wednesday, September 12. A spokesperson for the company tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 there is no comment available, but employees say the Fountain plant isn’t doing enough business.
Employees did not want to give their names, but tell NEWSCHANNEL 13 most of the full-time, exempt employees working at the plant will be forced to relocate to other areas. One man says he is already planning his future, as he believes Southern Colorado doesn’t need his technical experience.
Sanmina-SCI came to Fountain in 1996 and once had a plant in Colorado Springs. The company’s Fountain plant once employed nearly one thousand employees before layoffs began in 1998.
Just a few miles away from the Sanmina-SCI plant on Bandley Drive, area business owners along Main Street in Fountain are already feeling the impacts of the company’s exit.
“It really does make a statement that we (Fountain) have a hard time keeping business,” Achievement Gallery owner Lori Brazil says.
Brazil believes the company’s exit from Fountain is a sign of the times, and further evidence that Fountain struggles to attract companies and keep jobs. “We just don’t seem to be creating them here, for now anyway.
Brazil says hearing of Sanmina SCI leaving Fountain is a bitter lesson of the role the community plays in a town’s economy. “You’ve got to support those companies that are here, so that companies we’ll grow and come here because it’s a viable market.”
Sanmina SCI’s exit is also expected to impact the Fountain neighborhoods, as homeowners believe more homes will now be up for sale. One homeowner says there are already many homes up for sale, which has caught her off guard. “All the houses that are selling on our block, we’re just all surprised how many are selling on our block alone.”
