JACKSON MAN GETS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOB

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Department of Economic Development will have its seven regional offices staffed by the end of May, with a Jackson resident as director of the southeast district office in Dexter.

Department Director Joe Driskill said Tuesday that Mike Seabaugh of Jackson will have top position of the three-person staff as business development manager.

Seabaugh will work with Karen Golden of Dexter, the community development specialist, and a clerical staffer.

Driskill said more than 1,200 people applied for the jobs in the five regional offices outside St. Louis and Kansas City. Dexter, Houston, Moberly, Trenton and Jefferson City are sites of the regional offices.

Driskill explained the economic development team will not interfere with cities with professional economic developers trying to attract industry, but would offer help for areas without the resources.

"For those areas with part-time specialists, we will work in conjunction with them," said Driskill. "For those areas without anyone, we will work directly with industry."

Seabaugh and Golden are undergoing a training session in Jefferson City this week, an exercise a department spokesman called "the most intense ever developed in the field."

"Next week will be the end of a two-year-long process," Driskill said. "And we have to see if it works. If the offices don't do what they are supposed to do, and end up with overlap and duplication, then that will be our ultimate failing."

John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, said the regional office will help Southeast Missouri. "It's a great thing for the area," Mehner said. "Anything that will give Southeast Missouri a shot is good."