O.C. Boosters Persuade Manufacturer to Stay Put : Employment: Knight Equipment was being wooed by other states, but sweet talk keeps the company’s 100 jobs in Costa Mesa.

Orange County economic development groups scored a win Wednesday as Knight Equipment International, a maker of commercial dishwashing and laundry equipment, decided to keep 100 manufacturing jobs here.

William Russell, chief executive of Knight Equipment, said the company had seriously considered moving its headquarters out of California. After coaxing from various Orange County boosters, however, Russell decided to keep operations here for at least three more years.

“As a management team, we looked seriously at a number of different alternatives, and our Costa Mesa site simply offered us the very best value,” Russell said.

In October, Russell wrote a letter to Gov. Pete Wilson complaining of various obstacles in the state and said that his company was being wooed with offers of cash and land by other states, North Carolina in particular.

California’s “red team”--an economic development task force assigned to deal with such threats to the state’s manufacturing base--responded with a series of meetings. Together with Costa Mesa and Orange County officials, the state subsequently promised enough relief to persuade Knight to renew its lease for three years, said Charles Wilson, public affairs manager for Southern California Edison and a member of the red team.

Knight, which had a litany of complaints ranging from high workers’ compensation costs and property taxes to the region’s crime rate, was able to negotiate a lower lease and win promises of help with equipment financing.

While businesses do continue to move out of state, Wilson said, local efforts managed to prevent the exodus last year of 12 companies with a total of 3,000 employees.

The struggle isn’t over. In a survey released this week by UC Irvine, 38% of Orange County businesses said they are somewhat or very likely to move away, while 62% said they are not likely to move. That compared to 30% that said in last year’s survey that they were somewhat or very likely to leave.

“The key is trying to get an early-warning system to find out when companies are dissatisfied,” said Ken Moore, president and chief executive of the Orange County Economic Development Consortium.

Russell said he hopes to see the state Legislature take further steps to reduce costs of making goods in California.

“This is not a guarantee for life,” Wilson said. “We have bought three years as a window of opportunity to show that the state is serious about economic development.”