Pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts will close its 300-worker customer service call center in Pueblo in April, a company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

The move comes as more clients use the company's online services and less utilize call centers, company spokesman Brian Henry said.

"We have improved our website technology capabilities and have more of our members who use websites," he said.

The nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager, Express Scripts provides and manages prescription drug benefit plans for employers and their workers across the U.S. Its call centers field inquires from both clients and druggists.

Employees at the Pueblo call center were notified of the closure at a meeting Wednesday morning, Henry said.

The company will provide job search assistance, he said. The company also will offer qualifying employees a chance to relocate to another of its call centers as openings arise. The center employs slightly more than 300 workers, he said.

"It's unfortunate but it's a business decision we felt we needed to make," he said.

The announcement came as a surprise to Pueblo leaders.

At the Pueblo Economic Development Corp.'s quarterly luncheon, held later in the day, PEDCO President Jeff Shaw said the job creation group was not aware of the decision beforehand.

"It's a shock to us, to the community," Shaw told the estimated 75 PEDCO members gathered for the luncheon at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center. "It really emphasizes what we do and why it's so important and how aggressive we have to be."

".?.?. Our hearts go out to the families and the employees that are losing the jobs over there and we're going to do whatever we can to replace them as fast as we can."

Pueblo City Council President Steve Nawrocki, who attended the PEDCO luncheon, said afterward that the situation shows Pueblo can not ease up on its jobs push.

"We're just going to have to figure out a way to dig a little deeper and step up," he said.

Nawrocki noted the efforts of those who helped recruit Express Scripts, including members of City Council, county government and PEDCO. "These guys worked so hard," he said.

Express Scripts, based near St. Louis, opened the Pueblo call center in 2005 in a large remodeled section of a vacant former Sears store at Midtown Shopping Center.

The center's employment fluctuates. In 2008, it employed 487 workers, according to a news article in The Pueblo Chieftain.

The cost of the remodeling was estimated at $7 million, including $6 million spent by Express Scripts and $1 million by the shopping center owners, according to news stories.

The company received an incentives package that included $5.8 million from Pueblo's half-cent sales tax fund to help it pay for $7 million in equipment used in the new center. The state pledged up to $1 million in training funds while Pueblo County pledged $200,000.

ddarrow@chieftain.com