On June 11, the parent company of Cody Labs, the Philadelphia-based Lannette Company announced it will be closing down its operations in Cody. This came as a shock to the community. The business development agency Forward Cody was at the forefront, trying to keep the company open.
But James Klessens, the director of Forward Cody, said after weeks of negotiations, the final offer to keep Cody Labs open was rejected this on Friday, July 26. He said it will be hard to keep the 80 employees in the community.
"We anticipate a very large percentage of them will leave because they own skill sets that are not readily employable in the Cody community."
He said the community will soon feel the effect of these employees leaving.
"It's like throwing a rock in a water. You see a ripple spread out, and that ripple will spread out to not only the direct employees, the spouses they may have, their children, and the schools that they participated in," said Klessens.
Klessens said the only public money used towards Cody Labs was a $2.5 million state grant to build a hazardous material warehouse but that money should be reimbursed. He said no public money from the city was used. He said he's working with the affected families to try to help them find new opportunities in the community.
