Florida Gov. Rick Scott is touring the state this week, campaigning for his proposed tax cuts.
The latest stop on his “1 Million Miles for 1 Million Jobs” bus tour is a manufacturing plant in Green Cove Springs called Vac-Con.
The governor is scheduled to tour the plant Thursday at 6 p.m.
Vac-Con makes special trucks with water hoses and vacuums on them. Crews use them to keep underground sewage pipes flowing smoothly.
“It’s like the old saying goes: ‘Nobody really thinks about what’s underground until it starts bubbling out, and then they get excited about it pretty quick,’” says plant manager Bob Graden. He says Vac-Con’s job is to cut down on that kind of excitement. But on Thursday afternoon, his team is excited for the governor’s visit.
“We’re a 100 percent employee-owned company, so everyone here that works here is engaged in the continued growth of the company itself. Plus we’re expanding into export markets around the world,” he says.
Already the second-largest employer in Clay County, Vac-Con is building a 60,000-foot expansion and looking to hire up to 40 engineers, welders, mechanics and other positions.
Graden says part of the company’s success can be owed to the state’s recently cutting manufacturing equipment taxes. Scott is pushing to make that cut permanent — among his proposed $1 billion in cuts this year.
