Collinsville’s Teklab brings 40 jobs, boosts environmental sector, Pritzker says

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker visited the metro-east on Thursday to celebrate the opening of Teklab’s new environmental testing laboratory in Collinsville.

Pritzker heralded Teklab Inc. — which analyzes air, wastewater, drinking water, oil and more — as one of the state’s examples of successful economic development.

The new 36,500-square-foot facility has created 40 new jobs and plans to add more, said its CEO, John Riley. It also allows the company to serve clients in a larger geographic region, now including Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.

“There’s almost nothing that is more satisfying to me as governor than to see a great business expanding and employing more of our people, that, of course, and the idea of getting to cut things with really oversized scissors,” Pritzker said.

Riley said expansion would not have been possible without state and local development initiatives. He specifically mentioned regional enterprise zones that offer sales tax relief and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s EDGE Tax Credit Program.

EDGE stands for Economic Development for a Growing Economy Tax Credit Program. Under its agreement with DCEO, Teklab committed to investing $10 million and creating 40 new jobs in exchange for the state providing payroll tax credits, Riley said.

“(EDGE) is one of the most impactful tools in our economic development toolbox, coupled with our world-class workforce,” said Lisa Clemmons Scott, DCEO’s chief business attraction officer. “It ensures that Illinois remains competitive when companies are deciding where to invest, expand and create jobs.”

Investing in education to create that “world-class workforce” Clemmons Scott mentioned is one of Illinois’ points of pride, Pritzker said. He highlighted Southern Illinois University Edwardsville officials’ presence at the event and how their chemistry department has produced graduates who work at Teklab.

“I would point out that we are one of the best workforce development states in the entire country, and it’s one of the principal things that businesses tell me about why they want to move to Illinois,” Pritzker said. “We are training skilled laborers, and we have a lot of skilled laborers that they want, and so I’m going to continue to invest in education, whether it’s at community colleges, vocational training or at our universities like SIUE.”