Officials surprised by Rayovac move
10:13 PM 1/13/04
Richard W. Jaeger Wisconsin State Journal

City and state officials say they were left in the dark about Rayovac Corp.'s plans to move its headquarters to Georgia and bring new jobs to Wisconsin. <

The nation's third-largest battery maker said Tuesday it will take some 25 high-level jobs to suburban Atlanta by May 1 and bring a total of 120 jobs to Madison and a manufacturing plant in Portage. <

The headquarters move, which officials in Georgia disclosed to publications there, caught many in Madison by surprise. <

"We had no notification, no discussion and no opportunity to see if there was anything we might do or provide or any incentives we might offer them (Rayovac) to keep them here," said Tony Hozeny, spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. "It obviously was a business decision on their part and unfortunately we did not get a chance to have a discussion with them before they made it." <

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he was just as shocked and surprised by the announcement. <

"We are deeply disappointed that they didn't give us a heads up on this move and any opportunity to respond and possibly convince them to stay," Cieslewicz said. <

However, city officials are still awaiting final details of the company's changes. <

"I'm hopeful that when the dust settles, the net result will be an overall gain in jobs," he added. <

Cieslewicz said that within an hour of hearing reports of Rayovac's plans to move, he asked his recently created "Rapid Response Team" to begin working with agencies, including the state Commerce Department, the governor's office, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the Madison City Council, Legislature and UW-Madison, on the situation. <

Jim Haney, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, said losing a corporate headquarters represents a setback to the state and the local business community. <

"You are probably losing the 30 most high-paying positions in the company and along with that you erode the base of people who serve on your civic and community organizations such as your arts boards and various committees and commissions," Haney said. "The big thing is that when you lose a corporate headquarters, over time, so go a lot of other high-end positions that are easily consolidated into the corporate headquarters." <

David J. Ward, president of NorthStar Economics in Madison, said Wisconsin already lags behind other states in high-paying jobs, so the loss of the leadership positions is significant. <

"More troubling is when a firm leaves the state, whether it goes to Atlanta or Helsinki, the decisions now are made outside the state, and we've lost that connection to the management team that might keep them here," Ward said. "It sounds a bit like Kimberly-Clark," which moved its headquarters to Texas in the 1980s. <

Haney said the addition of manufacturing jobs could, however, help mitigate some of the loss of the corporate offices. <

Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said the administration has worked hard to make Wisconsin's business climate more competitive and to attract and retain "high-end, high-wage businesses. <

"Rayovac was a great Wisconsin company. But, when companies are bought out by other companies, unfortunately, they sometimes move away from their roots." <

Doyle told reporters he wished Rayovac officials had come to him with their concerns so state officials could have tried to help. <

"I think it's pretty clear from the announcement their minds had been made up some time ago," Doyle said. "I'm very disappointed." <

While Wisconsin officials were left out of the loop on Rayovac's moving plans, officials in Georgia were aware of the company's intentions for some time. <

According to a report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Rayovac Chairman and CEO David A. Jones and Kent J. Hussey, Rayovac president, met with Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, on Monday to make their plans known. Rayovac representatives also met with other government officials earlier to outline plans to move into the top floor of the Concourse Corporate Center Six, in suburban Atlanta. <

Wisconsin State Journal reporter Judy Newman contributed to this story. <