NORMAL, Ill. (AP) _ Officials in Bloomington, Normal and McLean County have set up a task force to help Mitsubishi Motors employees who will soon lose their jobs and help the company as it tries to find a buyer for its central Illinois auto plant.

According to The Pantagraph in Bloomington (http://bit.ly/1hclOFy ), the 27-member task force includes Gov. Bruce Rauner, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis.

Mitsubishi announced last month that it will shut down the plant in Normal. The company hopes to find a buyer but the plant’s 1,200 employees will be out of work when the facility closes in November.

The task force plans to start meeting Thursday and hopes to help those workers find new jobs and help look for a buyer for the plant.