PONTIAC - The proposed shuttering of Pontiac Correctional Center could have ramifications for businesses and employees in Livingston County and throughout the region.

"This, as well as any downsizing or closure, will have a dramatic impact on Pontiac and Livingston County," said Cheri Lambert, president and CEO of the Pontiac Area Chamber of Commerce. "There will be a unified effort (to oppose) this, and by all means, we will work on this to the end."

The prison is Pontiac's second-largest employer, with 551 workers. The Illinois Department of Corrections said Monday it planned to close the 137-year-old facility and move inmates to a new facility in Thomson by February. It is the second time in four years the facility has been pegged for closure.

But Lambert said under state law, the economic impact on the community must also be studied.

That requirement was put into place after Gov. Rod Blagojevich's first attempt to close the prison in 2004. At that time, studies determined the closure would cost Livingston County $40 million in lost revenue, primarily employee wages.

In 2004, the prison generated about $1.5 million for Pontiac-area businesses, including those in the retail, automotive repair, construction and transportation industries, Lambert said.

But the potential closure should be a concern for every person in the region, business officials said.

"Nobody wants a neighbor out of work," said Mike Malone, executive director of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce.

Mike Neuenkirchen, executive director of the Streator Chamber of Commerce, said closing the prison would "definitely have an impact" on his community, where "at least several dozen" residents are employed.

Malone assumes some McLean County residents work at the prison, but like Neuenkirchen, didn't have an exact count.

Both talked of a ripple effect.

"It's not just the individual employees but their families and vendors," Malone said.

While there is concern in Streator and McLean County, Woodford County Administrator Greg Jackson said he personally knew of only one county resident working at the prison. Most residents who aren't involved in farming work at Caterpillar Inc. or State Farm Insurance Cos., he said.