Go Daddy will pick Hiawatha or Cedar Rapids today to add jobs; Cedar Rapids' late play for Go Daddy has angered Hiawatha

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Go Daddy is bringing more jobs to the Cedar Rapids metro area, and company CEO and founder, Bob Parsons, will announce to which metro-area city that is in a telephone conference call between 5 and 6 p.m. today.

Go Daddy has its headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a presence now in Cedar Rapids, and it bills itself as the world's largest Web host provider and domain name registrar.

Parsons ran a software company in Hiawatha in the past and, in January, the company announced that Go Daddy would bring 60 jobs to Hiawatha with the promise of more. In fact, Parsons has purchased the same building he once occupied in Hiawatha and has been refurbishing it, mayors in both Hiawatha and Cedar Rapids have said.

Earlier this month, the Hiawatha City Council was prepared to sign off on a $125,000 incentive package for Go Daddy when the council suddenly pulled the matter from its agenda.

An agent for Go Daddy had informed the Hiawatha council that Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett had made a play with some attractive incentives for Go Daddy to come to flood-hit downtown Cedar Rapids rather than to Hiawatha.

With Parsons' announcement today, the speculation is that Go Daddy likely will follow through with its original plan to go to Hiawatha because any offer from Cedar Rapids is still in the formative stage.