Brookhaven’s Delphi Packard Electric Systems facility continuesto produce components for the automotive industry, but one of itssister facilities in the Jackson Metro Area has succumbed to theslow-moving national economy.

Delphi Packard Communications Director Rachelle Valdez announcedWednesday that the company’s Clinton plant is scheduled to close byDec. 31, a victim of decreased consumer demand and overall economicfactors. The facility employs 280.

Valdez said the Clinton facility’s closure will not affect theBrookhaven location, which is the only Delphi plant in the nationthat manufactures bussed electric systems for General Motorsvehicles.

“They have good quality, so it is a good plant,” she said of theBrookhaven facility. “As long as the cars continue to sell for GM,we have something to make for them.”

Some of the Clinton employees will receive separation packages,Valdez said. She did not know if any of that facility’s workerswould be eligible to transfer to Brookhaven.

Brookhaven Delphi plant manager Robert Nye said the closure ofthe Clinton location would not affect business at his facility. TheClinton location is a component plant, he said, while theBrookhaven plant produces parts for GM’s vehicle assemblyplants.

“You can imagine, we have a lot of friends there in Clinton andwe have compassion for their situation,” Nye said.

Though the Brookhaven plant will not pick up any slack from theClinton location, Nye said business at the local facility is steadyafter a lull during the summer. The plant continues to operate twoshifts after eliminating a third last summer, he said.

Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce Executive VicePresident Cliff Brumfield pointed out that, although federalofficials have repeatedly declared the economic recession to beover, recovery could be slow. He warned that further jobs could belost while new jobs are created.

“Although we are certainly seeing positive signs of recoverylocally, there will still be negative fallout for quite some time,”he said. “Many businesses have held on as long as they can, but therecovery simply has not happened fast enough.

“When you don’t have orders from customers or capital to keepoperations going, the time comes when there’s nothing else that canbe done,” Brumfield continued. “With the strong labor base in theClinton area, hopefully there will be jobs created in the nearfuture to help absorb those loses.”

The persistence of Brookhaven’s Delphi plant is proof that thecity has not felt the recession as hard as other places, Brumfieldadded.

“We are very fortunate in these economic times that theBrookhaven community has not lost more jobs than we have,” he said.”It is our understanding the (Brookhaven Delphi) facility willremain open, and we certainly hope to see it remain part of oureconomic future for years to come.”