MASON CITY – There are some out there spreading the word that I.C. System is leaving Mason City as a part of some kind of payback to the city after it forced the company to live up to its end of the deal on an incentive package born in 2003.
These same people are saying that Mason City is losing 95 jobs, and that most of the layoffs at the company won’t come for awhile.
Insiders are telling NIT that this is not the case.
NIT is told that there are not 95 people working at I.C. System at this time. “More like 40 or 50, tops,” said a woman who was released from her employment there this week. “My last day, I looked around, the room was half full or less.”
“They let me and two other people go this week and 12 people were let go last week,” she said.
NIT is further told that the real reason IC Systems is leaving Mason City is that “business is down. Companies are keeping their debt collection in-house instead of coming to us.”
I.C. System has blamed “downturns in the economy” for it decision to consolidate its operation and close the Mason City office.
I.C. System’s office is located at 858 Calmus Ct. in Indianhead Park in Mason City. According to its website, “the company relocated there from the First Citizens National Bank west office complex in 2003 to accommodate expansion. I.C. System began its Mason City operations in April of 1989 with eight employees working out of a small, downtown building.”
The city, in 2007, held I.C. System accountable for not hiring 200 new employees within 5 years as it had promised to, as part of an incentive package from the city to help it relocate. An I.C. System executive presented a check to the city in 2007, as the city required, for failing to live up to its end of the bargain.
It appears that IC System was never going to reach that 200 job mark.
I.C. System only made it to 104 of the required 200 jobs in that famous deal where then- I.C. System manager and later Eric Bookmeyer mayoral campaign member Scott Bultje presented a check to the city for about $177,000. “We no longer have any obligation to the city of Mason City,” Bultje told the city council in 2007.
In a related matter, I.C. System, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, was fined $65,000 in 2011 by that state for “misconduct.”
So would all you complainers that think they got a bad deal buy a car if you made the deal but when you went to pick it up they raised the price. I bet not. If the council would not have acted we would now be stuck losing the entire $370.00.00 of tax payer money. There are too many businesses that operate with the attitude that the community owes them something. Maybe you all could hold a vigil with the Glob staff and cry over spilled milk.
Wow. You are a freaken idiot. Please explain to me how tax payers could have been stuck paying anything. Do yourself a favor and research something before you form ridiculous opinions.
It is sad to see people out of work but this company did not live up to its word when they asked the city for incentives. NIT thank-you for being first to report that this was coming if we waited for the other media outlets in this area they would have reported just what the owners wanted people to hear and not the truth.
Most articles I read on this site are met with a roll of the eyes or maybe a slight shake of the head…but this is ridiculous. I know North Iowa can be a little slow and you need to drum up stories that are a little less than entertaining but there isn’t actually any news here.
A business that has been struggling in the run up to the official closing has slowly been letting people go? Surely you jest.
This isn’t interesting or informative. It isn’t even really news. This is filler. Thanks for wasting my time.
@time better spent-maybe you should do yourself a favor and not come to this site anymore if it is a “waste of your time.” You are probably one of the people who is sneaking in here trying to discredit Matt’s work. So, do everyone a favor and go away.
Matt must not have liked my comment to this person as it was removed. I only used the word idiot.
I’ve seen allot of stupid and desperate stories on this site but this one takes the cake! I’ll give it to you though it’s entertaining which keeps me coming back to this site. I’m an employee and just today we still had over ninty employees so I’m not sure that a terminated employee is much of accurate source for information-probablly one of those who don’tlike showing up for work and deserves to lose their job! Bottom line-the business is closing and any business leaving a city is never good for the city. The majority of the employee do and have always for the ten years I’ve worked here live in Mason City. It’s never a good thing when people lose their jobs through no fault of their own and their income for their families. No scandal just a business closing.
The other factor may be that there are other collection companies beating on doors with alternative collection methods that are less expensive. I.C. System takes a major chunk for their fee. If the debt you are trying to collect is very large, it’s better to spend some money and go to small claims. If you get your money, the debtor has to pay your court fees as well. The other problem is there are so many turnips out there now. There are so many people on the dole that no one has any money for anything but tattoos and TV’s.
a crooked business that in the end did nothing to help its community,and most of the people who worked there didnt live in mason city anyhow. so in the end it will have little impact in MC.
would rather have a business that is not doing its job or the option of bringing in something much more productive and beneficial to the community? if people care about MC like they say the latter seems to be the ideal option.
Your still losing jobs and that takes money from our stores, resturants and our tax base, who gives a hoot how many they had working there, those employees were spending their hard earned money right in our DIEING city.
Bottom feeder business run by a group that never intended to live up to it’s part of the taxpayer funded incentive package. Great job to the three council members who would see through the smoke screen presented by this group and our fire plug mayor. It falls in line with the waste to energy plant BS.