By Bill Grubb
News Editor

ROGERSVILLE - Hawkins County Industrial Developer Lynn Lawson had hoped to have a new recruiting tool at his disposal next month but constriction of the county's speculative building has fallen victim to uncooperative weather.
    Lawson gave the Hawkins County Industrial Board an update on the spec building at the group's Thursday meeting.
    The building, located on 8.3 acres in the Phipps Bend Industrial District, will contain 67,500 square feet of floor space and an additional 3,100 square feet of office space.  
    Joseph Construction of Knoxville submitted the low bid for the project, $1.2 million, with funding provided by two $300,000 grants from Rural Development and a $700,000 low-interest loan from US Bank.
    A groundbreaking ceremony was held in September 2009 and board members were optimistic the building would be completed by March, optimism that has since been dampened by a rainy fall and cold, snowy winter.
    "Until the weather breaks there really isn't much you can do up there," Lawson explained.  "With all this rain its just a mess."
    He noted the work on the site must be completed before the concrete slab can be poured, although he said the prefabricated building components are scheduled to be delivered to the site later this month.
    "We really aren't sure when it will be completed," he said.
    Lawson said an expansion at Contour Industries, which will create between 30 and 50 new jobs, has also been "shut down" by the weather.
    Board Chairman Larry Elkins also discussed the need to find a way to make certain the industrial board's new Web site, www.hawkinstnindustrial.com, is the destination visitors reach when they go online.
    "I did a search the other day and it took me to the old Web site.  It talked about the Form Rite building still being available and Ronnie Price was the contact person.  I don't know how you get rid of an old Web site but we need to make certain people can find our new one," Elkins said.