Business View Civil and Municipal | March 2021

147 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MARCH 2021 TOWN OF ESSEX & ESSEX JUNCT ION, VERMONT its microchip manufacturing facility, sparking rumors of a plant shutdown. “IBM was in the village, but it benefited the town as well,” Tyler explains. “The Chair of the Town Selectboard and I worked very closely together because we understood the gravity of the situation; if all those jobs were lost, what it was going to mean for the community. We did a lot of hand wringing. We called a lot of meetings with state officials, non-profits, and IBM people. Thankfully, GlobalFoundries took over at the very last minute, but that taught me the absolute necessity for the village and the town to approach economic development from a united front.” GlobalFoundries, a privately held, California- based multinational company, is Vermont’s largest private manufacturer, with 2,300 workers. Its “Fab 9” facility, the Essex Junction foundry, still prints microchips that power consumer and commercial electronics. “In the town, we’re fortunate to have light manufacturing and