Effective Dec. 31, Globe Metallurgical, Inc. will be shuttering its Selma factory, a move that will impact 84 employees.

According to the Alabama Department of Commerce’s website, the layoffs were reported Oct. 30.

The department held a workshop for the employees facing layoffs on Nov. 13, according to Jessica Dent, a Workforce Rapid Response Coordinator for the department, and 66 of the 84 affected employees attended to learn what options they have to stay afloat during the plant’s closure.

According to Wayne Vardaman, Executive Director of the Selma and Dallas County Economic Development Authority, the proposed closure will last six months.

“In manufacturing, nothing’s for sure,” Vardaman said.

Because Globe deals in international markets, the recent flooding of American markets with foreign commodities has caused prices to plummet.

“That changes and they have all indications that things will get better,” Vardaman said, adding that this is the “third or fourth time” the plant has shuttered during his 16-year tenure.

Workers at Miller Lumber are also feeling the heat.

“Miller’s kind of been struggling for years,” Vardaman said, though he couldn’t provide specifics on any layoffs at the plant.

“What we do over here at this company is our business,” a representative from Miller Lumber said when asked about the layoffs.

According to John Grayson, Pastor at Gospel Tabernacle Church of Christ in God, who has been actively assisting struggling families throughout the community, as many as 20 workers have been laid off from Miller Lumber and are seeking assistance from the church.

The Selma Career Center and Unemployment Office also stated that multiple people have come into their office seeking assistance after losing their jobs at Miller Lumber.

Selma City Councilman Carl Bowline, whose ward houses Miller Lumber, noted that the lumber company hasn’t been at full functioning capacity for some time.

“The people here are so shocked with bad news,” Vardaman said. “But there’s a lot of good news out there.”

According to Vardaman, approximately 145 new jobs will be coming to the area over the next couple of years.

“We kind of maintain a good equilibrium,” Bowline said, noting that Selma maintains an unemployment rate of roughly seven percent and was recently recognized as being one of the top 25 cities in the state for job creation.

Zilkha Biomass Energy, which is producing the company’s wood pellets in Selma, has invested $20 million to retrofit the former Dixie Pellet plant near International Paper.

According to Vardaman, the company will be hiring more than 60 new employees over the next two years.

Sunbelt Forest Ventures is building a high tech saw mill in Selma and plans to hire more than 50 new workers over the next year or so, Timewell Drainage is opening its Selma operation next year and plans to hire more than 30 workers and American Plane Painting Company is looking to hire 10 new employees for its Selma operations.

In addition to all of this, International Paper is planning to invest nearly $600 million into its operation.

“We’ve got over 30 manufacturing jobs in this town, but people say we don’t have anything,” Vardaman said. “We’ve got a lot of industry here. We’re losing some jobs, but the good news is that we have some new jobs these workers can go to.”

Vardaman and Bowline noted that the real struggle for Selma is that roughly 5,300 people work in the city but live elsewhere, therefore taking much of their tax and spendable money with them when they leave.

“Everything’s not bad,” Vardaman said.