Officials from the town of Normal, city of Bloomington, McLean County, and several other stakeholders held a news conference this afternoon about Mitsubishi Motor of North America's decision to close its auto plant here.
Mayor Chris Koos says it's time to move ahead:
"We need to embrace this decision by Mitsubishi as a new opportunity for our community, and to aggressively engage key local, state and federal leaders to help us develop an aggressive strategy to find a new owner for the local Mitsubishi facility."
Mayor Koos also pointed out that although the plant is 30 years old, the technology has been constantly upgraded. He says the closing of the plant was not related to union negotiations.