For the second time over the pat year Mount Airy has lost out on an Aerial Machine and Tool expansion, with the city’s neighbors to the north, in Patrick County, Va., landing both expansions.

Aerial is based in Vesta, Va., and last year its ownership approached Mount Airy officials with the hopes of expanding here. At the time the company said the expansion would create 40 to 45 jobs, and after the city lost out to the Patrick County community of Ararat there was much finger-pointing locally. Recriminations became even more pointed as that expansion grew beyond those job projects, to an estimated 100 new jobs as of today.

City officials said they pursued the plant aggressively, but implied county and Surry Economic Development Partnership officials dropped the ball. Aerial officials said the partnership gave it a less-than-fulfilling reception, and county and partnership workers alleged the state was slow to come to the table with incentives. That charge was countered by then-Del. Jim Harrell, who said no one locally ever contacted him about getting state help in landing the jobs.

We don’t go into all of that to re-open new wounds, but simply to illustrate how things have changed and, even in loss, the community can take heart in local economic development projects.

There has been a change in the leadership of the Partnership, and Harrell is no longer in office. The city and county seem to be on the same page, working hand-in-hand to bring new jobs to the community.

This latest loss of an Aerial expansion wasn’t so much a lack of performance as it was lack of a building. Stuart, also in Patrick County, simply had a building ready to go for Aerial’s needs, Mount Airy and Surry County did not. We hate to see jobs go to a different community, but the circumstances of this loss are much easier to take than what happened a year ago.

And there is reason for hope. Earlier this month the city approved an incentive package for an as-yet unnamed manufacturer considering locating in Piedmont Triad West Corporate Park. At least two other firms, local officials say, are on the horizon, with the city commissioners slated to consider financial incentives for them. All totaled, local leaders say we could see 300 or so new jobs announced soon.

We hope these figures are not simply numbers being thrown out to keep pressure at bay, but honest-to-goodness prospects. If so, then the prospects for Mount Airy and Surry County are starting to look a lot better.