Rochester Hill’s Economic Development Team Succeeds

Given these trying economic times for our state and region, every community has turned their focus towards Economic Development. The City of Rochester Hills has been at the forefront of this focus with our Economic Development team led by Dan Casey.

The focus of the Mayor’s administration and the City Council towards Economic Development is beginning to pay off with some great companies deciding to come or stay in Rochester Hills over the last few years. Our city has been aggressive in offering incentive packages in order to bring new jobs and investment to our community.

Recently the City Council approved an incentive package for Kostal Kontakt Systeme, Inc. to invest in our city at a location along Hamlin Road. Kostal will relocate production from plants in Mexico and Germany to Rochester Hills in order to be closer to their customers.

The company specializes in the production of connectors, junction boxes and other equipment to support its solar business. Kostal also has a facility in Troy that will remain open.

During the hearing with Kostal, it was revealed that the company plans to invest over $22 million to improve the building and add special tooling equipment needed for production. Kostal also proposes to create 198 new jobs within the first two years of the projects completion and up to 247 jobs over a five-year period.

This is a perfect example of the type of company that our city hopes to retain and attract. Kostal will bring new, good paying jobs to our city. I supported the incentive package because this was such an important project.

While some do not like these incentive packages, they are needed to compete with not only other cities and states but also on a global level. I believe that we already have a leg up on the competition because of our low tax rate and outstanding services.

I will continue to support these projects and our Economic Development team in bringing and retaining businesses like Kostal to Rochester Hills.   

Michael Webber

Rochester Hills City Council