By 2018, the Polaris Industries building in Milford, Iowa will be turned into a warehouse, meaning more than 300 people who work there will lose their jobs.
“They close up and then they move and then you leave all these jobless people and then they have to relocate because there’s not enough jobs around here,” says Susan Ritzer, Milford resident
“I hate to see it close because we are going to have a lot of people unemployed and hopefully, they will get somebody else in here because it’s too good of a building to let sit empty,” says Janice Wilson, Milford resident
Polaris opened its doors for business in 2013, and just four years later, they’re closing them. The next closest Polaris location is in Spirit Lake which currently employs more than 600 people. Other locations available include plants in Alabama, Minnesota, and California; but more than 275 of those employees won’t be able to transfer at all.
“It really sucks. I know quite a few people that work for Polaris and for them to go and find another job with such short notice is going to be hard,” says Liliana Anguiano, Milford resident.
Polaris corporate would not give any further comment outside of the number of employees that would lose their jobs, but Milford residents were a bit more vocal about the economic impact this will have on the community.
“I’ve seen them speaking on Facebook and they are very distraught. They’re fearful that they’re going to be losing their house now. They’re also fearful that they might just have to relocate to a different state, like California. So this is a very scary thing,” says Ritzer.
