Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan.
DUNKIRK – Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan says he’s been working on finding a new company to fill the void that is being left by ConAgra Foods pulling out of the North County.
Last week it was announced that ConAgara, which operates the Carriage House food processing facilities in Dunkirk and Fredonia, would be closing the operation and relocating it out-of-state. The closure would result in the layoff of more than 400 people.
On Thursday, Horrigan met with representatives of another company, which he says could be willing to relocate into the ConAgra facilities.
“What we want to do is be able to acquire the facility with no strings attached and be able to use the assets we have with the [Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency] and others and be able to market that facility to anther manufacturing, food processing company that would enable use to create as many jobs as possible,” Horrigan said. “We do not want to see a warehouse. What we want to see is jobs and we think we are in a good position for that and there’s very strong interest in these facilities.”
Because no deal is in place and negotiations are ongoing, Horrigan says he’s unwilling to give too many specific details about the replacement business – only to say that it is an established, regional company. He and representatives from the county Planning and Economic Development Department will continue to be in discussions with the unnamed company in the coming weeks.
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