SALISBURY — The Charlotte Business Journal ranked Salisbury sixth in the 100-499 employees category of its Healthiest Employers awards.

“Year after year our city employees continue to improve their health outcomes through engaging programs at work,” said Salisbury City Manager Lane Bailey. “Our staff focused specifically on the overall health and well-being of their co-workers, not just COVID-19 prevention. Thus, not only are our employees leading healthier lifestyles, our health insurance premiums remain consistent with no increases over the past few years. I’m very proud of our efforts.”

Examples of programs implemented by the city include step challenges, waist and weight management incentives and healthy recipe sharing.

The city’s on-site nurse also has made it convenient to check blood work, manage allergies, and monitor other health issues.

The rankings and scores for the Healthiest Employers competition were provided by a third-party surveying partner, Indianapolis-based Healthiest Employers LLC. Nominated companies completed surveys that were verified, scored and ranked. The companies were divided into five size categories by the number of companywide employees: 2-99, 100-499, 500-1,499, 1,500-4,999 and 5,000 and up.

 

RCCC hosting job training classes 

SALISBURY — With the announcement of new jobs at the Red Bull beverage manufacturing campus, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College is hosting two classes to train individuals for the jobs. Both classes will be free to anyone interested

The first class is for certified logistics technicians. It is a 48-hour course that starts July 26th. The course ends Aug. 13 with meetings every Monday-Thursday 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. It prepares candidates for interviews for various jobs in distribution centers, shipping/receiving departments in manufacturing or medical supply facilities.

The second class is for certified production technicians. It is a 160-hour course that has two separate classes. One class starts on Aug. 30 and ends on Oct. 25. The second class starts on Sept. 13 and ends on Nov. 4. Both sessions meet Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. Classes prepare candidates for interviews for various jobs in manufacturing facilities, including machine operators, quality and production technicians, chemical operators, intrusion/extrusion operators, etc.

For more information on the classes or to sign up contact Donna.Ludwig@rccc.edu.

 

Kannapolis wants public input on development ordinance

KANNAPOLIS — The Kannapolis Planning Department is rewriting and updating the city’s unified development ordinance and the final draft is available for comments from the public.

The unified development ordinance is the adopted law of the city which regulates land use and form, growth and development within the city’s zoning and land use jurisdiction. It includes zoning regulations, which divide the city into different zone districts and governs the location, size, and type of development in each district, as well as subdivision regulations. The UDO also establishes the process for reviewing development proposals and includes standards for different aspects of development such as parking, landscaping, the layout of streets and blocks, lighting, signage, building design and environmental protection.

The current ordinance was last updated in 2000. Land development, population growth and other factors have changed during those 20 years. The unified development ordinance needs to be comprehensively updated to better implement the city’s recently adopted comprehensive land-use plan, “Move Kannapolis Forward 2030.” In addition, this update project will focus on making the resulting ordinance, which will be named the Kannapolis development ordinance, internally consistent, modernized, aligned with contemporary zoning and subdivision best practices, and more user-friendly.

The process for updating this document began in the fall of 2018 and is expected to be completed in fall 2021.

 

EGGER has first retiree at new Lexington plant

LEXINGTON — EGGER, a wood-based materials supplier, is honoring the company’s first retiree from its new manufacturing plant in Lexington.

Hannes Schneider joined the EGGER family of employees in Austria more than four decades ago and ends his career in the U.S. after helping to get operations underway at the company’s first U.S. facility.

Though production in North Carolina started less than one year ago, Schneider played a key role in helping to get the facility up and running over the past year. Some of his responsibilities included ramping up the particleboard production line, working on issues or problems related to line production speed, operating pressures and temperatures, helping to repair equipment as well as monitoring and reporting maintenance issues with the mechanical and electrical teams.

“Hannes has been an essential part of the EGGER family for 41 years,” said Bernhard Ebner, plant manager for technical/production. “His expertise and contributions to Lexington, the company and his colleagues have been paramount to getting this facility where it is today. He will always be celebrated as EGGER Lexington’s first retiree.”

Schneider first began his career in 1980 at EGGER’s Wörgl plant in Austria. Over the last four decades, he has become an expert in particleboard production and manufacturing equipment operation, with a focus on efficiency. Prior to his move to the U.S., Hannes worked with the Wörgl, Austria plant’s thin raw board production line, overseeing the entire process from gluing, pressing, sanding, cutting and trimming to final packing.

“As a long-standing and loyal EGGER employee, I was highly motivated to support the company in their newly built manufacturing facility in Lexington,” Hannes said.

 

North Carolina projected to add 300,000 jobs by 2028

SALISBURY — In conjunction with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the N.C. Department of Commerce released its North Carolina employment projections report, which says the state will add more than 300,000 jobs between 2018-2028.

The Charlotte region accounts for more than a third of that predicted growth, with an anticipated 136,822 jobs coming to the area.

“This report backs up what we’ve been saying the last few years: business is booming in North Carolina,” said Rod Crider, Rowan Economic Development Commission president. “Businesses and individuals are continuing to migrate to our region, and Rowan County is well-positioned to capitalize on that growth.”

The report projects that the industries likely to grow the most include health care and social assistance, as well as professional, scientific and technical services. Other areas of projected growth include accommodation & food services, construction, finance & insurance, education, transportation and warehousing.

Per the report, North Carolina’s total employment rate grew by at least 1.25% each year from 2011 through 2018, the most recent year included.

 

NCcareers.org has had nearly 180,000 visitors

RALEIGH— One year after NCcareers.org launch it has experienced 1.3 million page views with more than 178,000 unique users exploring occupations in North Carolina.

“The new NCcareers.org provides the right information to make the good choices for career paths,” said Gov. Roy Cooper. “As our economy improves and the job market continues to change, this career exploration system will be a great asset for our current and future workforce.”

In addition to exploring occupations and local job openings, NCcareers.org allows users to complete interest assessments, identify training and education options and develop career paths.

With the recent addition of a user log-in and an account portal developed in partnership with the College Foundation of North Carolina, NCcareers.org has made it easier for users to start exploring career paths. Using existing or newly created CFNC.org credentials, users can save assessment results, preferred occupations and career journeys, education programs, and career resources, including CFNC’s wealth of resources detailing college preparation and financing.

For more information visit nccareers.org/one-year-later.

 

North Carolina’s unemployment rate decreased in June

RALEIGH — The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June was 4.6%, down from 4.8% in May.

While North Carolina saw a decrease in the unemployment rate, the national rate edged up from 5.8% to 5.9% for June.

North Carolina’s 4.6% unemployment rate for June is down 4.2 percentage points from last June’s unemployment rate. The number of people employed increased by 12,600 over the month of June and increased by 365,146 over the year.

Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment, as gathered through the monthly establishment survey, increased 41,900 to 4.5 million in June. Major industries experiencing increases were government, 19,800; leisure and hospitality services, 7,300; professional and business services, 4,700; construction, 2,000; education and health services, 1,800; financial activities, 1,700; manufacturing, 1,700; other services, 1,400; information, 900; and trade, transportation and utilities, 600. Mining and logging employment remained unchanged.