FERRIDAY, La. – Local officials will appear before a legislative committee Sept. 29 to lobby for a $100,000 grant to buy a larger building for a Ferriday clothing manufacturer.

Those appearing before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee will include Ferriday Mayor Glen McGlothin, officials of the Macon Ridge Economic Development Region and representatives of the company, Mardy’s Contracting.

&uot;We’ve gotten verbal confirmation that we have the grant, so this just a formality,&uot;&160;said Buddy Spillers, president of the Macon Ridge Economic Development Region.

Currently, Mardy’s 19 employees are located in a 2,560-square-foot building on Louisiana Avenue. The building it wants to move into on Mickey Gilley Avenue is twice that big.

&uot;It’s so crowded in here now that we have hardly any elbow room,&uot; said Judy Cooper, co-owner of the camouflage clothing manufacturer. &uot;If we had that building, we could do at least double what we’re doing now.&uot;

That may actually be a low estimate.

In the past, Cooper has estimated that Mardy’s Contracting could make 4,800 pieces of clothing a week in the larger building, compared with about 500 pieces a week now.

&uot;They have also said they could employ 12 to 15 additional workers if they only had the space,&uot; Spillers said.

That could be a boost for a parish that routinely posts some of Louisiana’s highest unemployment rates.

Concordia Parish’s unemployment rate in July, the last month for which figures are available, was 10.8 percent — the third-highest jobless rate in the state.