JACKSON — Zach Morrow was born and raised in Ackerman, Miss., and has been doing construction work since he was 18 years old. He has worked in and out of the state since graduating in 2010 from Mississippi State University with a bachelor's degree in construction management—until now.

Continental Tire hired Morrow to be on-site construction manager and civil engineer of the tire plant's location in Hinds County. He and a Mississippi-based accountant are the German-based tire manufacturer's only two hires, in-state or otherwise, so far.

"I'm overseeing the daily operations, safety protocols and making sure we're staying within the boundaries of the project," Morrow said. "We're just getting kicked off with the clearing and grubbing stage."

Continental hired a Georgia-based contractor to do the site-clearing and grubbing, said Kathryn Blackwell, vice president of communications and marketing for Continental Tire North America. The company Brad Cole Construction began work on the site in early October located off Interstate 20 between the Norell Road and Bolton exits.

Blackwell said her company wanted to hire a Mississippi-based company for the job, but there were few competitive bidders. Price is not the only aspect to consider, though. Blackwell said contractors must meet certain "internal compliance measures." Only when companies satisfy those criteria does price tag come into play.

"We want to hire Mississippi companies, and we will but at this point, we're seeing bids coming in that are significantly higher than some out of state firms," she told the Jackson Free Press.

Continental Tire did hire a Jackson, Miss.-based company called Embellished Events & Interiors to manage their groundbreaking event scheduled for later in November.

Blackwell noted that the company is an African American, female-owned company, and said if all goes well, more contracts for local, female-owned businesses will be forthcoming.

Those two contracts are the only ones Blackwell knows that the company has awarded so far in the tire plant's construction process.

Continental Tire refers to the Mississippi Development Authority's master list of Mississippi-based companies when considering contractors, and Blackwell encouraged potential contractors to get registered on the mississippi.org/continental website.

As of Oct. 6, 644 companies had registered with MDA, data from the department show. Of those 644 companies, 237 Mississippi companies list "Construction" as one of their specialties, and 161 of those Mississippi companies that list "Construction" have an annual revenue over $1 million.

Investing in Wildlife

To build the tire plant, Brad Cole Construction has to clear a significant amount of trees and brush on the 915-acre land plot. To balance the scales, Continental Tire invested $5 million to restore close to 1,000 acres of land along the Bayou Pierre River, about 40 miles southwest of the tire-plant site.

The corporation is partnering with Wildlife Mississippi, a nonprofit dedicated to conserving natural habitats and species around the state, to facilitate the restoration.

James Cummins, the nonprofit's executive director, said the donation will go toward restoring natural habitat along the Bayou Pierre River to help preserve native species of plants and animals.

Cummins said the plan is to remove invasive plant species like Chinese privet and climbing ferns, replacing them with more than 10 species of hardwood trees native to Mississippi. The work along the riverbank will begin this winter, he said. Most of the restoration project will be in Copiah County, following along the Bayou Pierre River as it runs to Port Gibson and joins the Mississippi River just beyond.

The project will ultimately protect the bayou darter fish, an endangered species that lives in the river.

Cummins said that as the restoration of the riverbank and natural habitat develops, there will be less run-off into the river—run-off that hurts the bayou darter fish and other species struggling to survive in dirty river water.

The restoration project will likely include a combination of land open to the public and wildlife preserve.

"It is such a pretty river; we're trying to establish some blue-water trials (because) kayaking and canoeing have increased in popularity," he said.

Morrow, 28, says that landing the job at Continental helps solidifies things for him career-wise. He lived in Magee currently, but he and his wife will likely move closer to the site.

Continental flew Morrow to Germany for training, and his job will roll into an on-site engineer role once the plant is up and running.

"There's a great opportunity for growth and, as a millennial, Continental has provided that (to me) and encouraged that," he said.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Continental Tire has only hired two permanent employees thus far, in-state or otherwise.

Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @arielle_amara.