Forty CenturyLink employees found out Friday that the company is closing its regional dispatch operation in downtown Columbia.

The elimination of the center means 40 union employees at the 625 Cherry St. location, who dispatch technicians in 11 states, will lose their jobs Jan. 15. About 150 employees will remain at the Cherry Street office doing other jobs. The rest of CenturyLink�s Columbia employees report to a location on LeMone Industrial Boulevard.

Spokesman Mark Molzen said laid-off workers can take a severance package or apply for another job within the company. Molzen said he did not know how many, if any, employees would be applying for other CenturyLink jobs, nor did he know how many open positions the company has. He did say CenturyLink had �positions that are open throughout the country.�

This spring, the company announced the pending layoffs of 107 union-represented network and equipment-installation technicians, though none of them was in Missouri, according to The Denver Post. In March, more than 100 people in Oregon found out they would lose their jobs this summer when the company closed a call center there, The Oregonian reported.

�It certainly wasn�t a decision that we took lightly,� Molzen said of closing the Columbia location. �CenturyLink, as all businesses do, continues evaluating cost structure as well as business practices and makes adjustments to our business to meet needs� of the business and customers.

CenturyLink, the third-largest telecommunications company in the country, has 240 employees in Columbia, including the 40 at the Cherry Street dispatch center, and 2,200 in Missouri. CenturyLink is headquartered in Monroe, La.

Amy Susan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Economic Development, said in an email that �our Employment Transition Team is always ready and available to meet with the company and affected workers to help with reemployment services.�

This story was first published online on Monday, November 17, 2014 at 2:43 p.m.