Mar. 13—CUMBERLAND — While Hunter Douglas representatives say economic conditions played a big factor in their decision to close its Cumberland plant, state Sen. Mike McKay and Del. Jason Buckel said more needs to be done to make Maryland business-friendly for employers.

Members of the Western Maryland legislative delegation reacted to the plant closure in interviews with the Times-News on Friday. A maker of blinds and shades, Hunter Douglas announced last week that its Cumberland plant will be closed by summer.

"It's very disappointing to lose any type of industry of that nature and that number of employees in a county of our size," said Buckel.

According to Dave Caporale, Allegany County Board of Commissioners president, about 360 employees will be impacted; however about 130 employees, who work phone service from home, will likely retain their jobs.

McKay took to the Senate floor Wednesday to register his disappointment with policies he feels are not business-friendly.

"Colleagues I rise today to inform you, unfortunately, that I have some bad news for Western Maryland and Allegany County in particular," said McKay. "As a senator who represents Appalachia, I must remind the body that the policies we pass here have consequences."

McKay cited issues such as the acceleration of the minimum wage increase, which he says puts strains on businesses. He said the original timetable developed two years ago for increasing the minimum wage to $15 was better than plans developed to speed up the timetable.

"I truly believe Gov. Moore believes his line, 'Leave no one behind,'" said McKay. "It has more meaning to me today than it did 24 hours ago. We talk about struggling families — it is a statewide problem, but it is also an Allegany County problem."

McKay said losing jobs to neighboring states is something Maryland can do something about. He said the level of regulations on Maryland businesses makes it difficult for the state to compete with Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

"A lot of it is the economy, I agree; it's the demand for that product," said McKay. "But, Maryland is not demonstrating itself as business-friendly compared to our neighbors to the north of us and the south of us."

Allegany County, being close to borders of two states, allows businesses to relocate easily. "In our area you can go across the bridge to West Virginia or north six miles to Pennsylvania," he said.

"Trying to help struggling families through the policies that we pass in the General Assembly should not hurt other struggling families from a different region," McKay said on the Senate floor. "Colleagues, policies have consequences, choices have consequences. If Maryland is going to remain business-friendly, trust me, my neighbors, my colleagues back home: Your decisions (in Annapolis can directly) impact their livelihood."

Buckel said Hunter Douglas "has been for several decades one of our larger employers but seems to have been declining in employees for some time. We've had a lot of so-called mid-sized light manufacturers who have come and gone from Allegany County over the last 40 years."

He cited the Kelly-Springfield Tire Co., Bayliner and Biederlack of America as examples.

"We have to recognize, for a variety of reasons, it is difficult to keep and maintain middle-class and upper-middle-class manufacturing jobs with companies of that nature in our corner of our state," said Buckel. "Some of this is cyclical. I don't know if there is anything that could be done for these particular types of manufacturers."

He said larger Fortune 500 companies like Volvo in Hagerstown seem to handle economic change better but mid-level and smaller companies are more susceptible to economic swings.

"We as a county, we've put most our eggs in two or three baskets like light manufacturers and tourism. While tourism is certainly part of the equation for Allegany County ... unless you would get some major private sector investors in tourism, is it something that enables you to grow?

"We've had a lot of tourism assets developed over the last 20 or 30 years but our population and wage growth has remained stagnant or gone backward in some cases. We tried to get a water park interested (in the area), but that didn't gain traction."

Buckel added, "Time was lost in the 1990s and 2000s waiting for Kelly-Springfield to come back. Are we being proactive in thinking forward about this decade or the next decade or are we just trying to keep the status quo? But when you lose someone like Hunter Douglas or Verso (paper mill) we're not even keeping the status quo. We will see how that evolves."

McKay said the $50 million Sen. George C. Edwards Fund awarded to Western Maryland will be beneficial in the future to help bring a company to replace Hunter Douglas.

McKay said it may not matter in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, where employers are plentiful, when one company closes. "But to us, it means the world," he said.

Greg Larry is a reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter

@GregLarryCTN

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