City spotlight: North Vernon.

• Author: Cone-Ertel, Jennifer
• Position: Jennings County, Indiana

If you haven't been to North Vernon since the '80s, you won't recognize it today.

Since 1990, North Vernon, a town of 5,500 nestled in the center of Jennings County, has annexed more than 360 acres of land for housing development, laid more than 20,000 feet of sidewalk and reorganized the police force and other service agencies. The county has implemented a 911 emergency-response agency, and both water and sewage-treatment services are being revamped.

In just four years, county-wide economic-development efforts have netted the community eight new companies and the expansion of nine, adding a total of 1,200 new manufacturing jobs with more than $66.1 million in private investment. There has been growth in every business sector of the city and county, including in the mayor's office itself. Mayor John Hall in 1990 became North Vernon's first full-time mayor.

When Hall was elected, Jennings County had just lost three manufacturers and a total of 500 jobs. "In a city of 5,500, the loss triggered a staggering economic impact that was felt from here to Columbus," he says. "In the 1980s, all the manufacturers flocked to communities with immediate access to Interstate 65. And away from Jennings County. Now, manufacturers are looking at the big picture, and things like schools, hospitals and community pride are moving up higher in the selection equation."

While Hall has his hands full expanding the city's services and infrastructure to accommodate the new growth, economic-development efforts continue. Previously, the employment base relied on the appliance industry and home/office electronics field. Current manufacturers, however, are tied closely to the automotive industry.

Two new industrial citizens in the automotive industry, NAC and MascoTech, have highly specialized processes that make them resilient to changes in that industry. "Still," says David Koenig, executive director of the Jennings County Economic Development Commission, "the Jennings County economy can strengthen itself by attracting non-durable-goods companies such as food processors, medical-device manufacturers or even more distribution centers such as Lowe's."

Hall cites the community-owned hospital as a drawing card that has helped sell the area to manufacturers. "Immediate medical care was a major deciding factor for most of our new industrial citizens."

Jennings Community Hospital is a 20-year-old, 48-bed hospital offering 24-hour emergency-room care, air-lift services...