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Regular City Council Meeting <br />November 6, 2003 <br />Page 6 <br />Legislature in this last session. It had to be approved by the Governor, Lt. <br />Governor and the Speaker of the House. Mr. Vest said the City Council, Paris <br />Junior College, and Lamar County had proposed tax abatements. They looked <br />at the Enterprise Zone Program such as Sales and Use Tax Refund, Franchise <br />Tax Credit, Job Credit, and the Capital Investment Credit. Mr. Vest advised <br />that they had tapped everything they could in the Enterprise Zone Fund and <br />they also looked at the Skill Development Fund through Paris Junior College <br />for training for the new workers. They put together a package that they felt was <br />extremely competitive. He said that based on the report by Campbell's, they <br />felt that they were at parity as far as the proposals went and Maxton was <br />awarded the project because of the geographic location. Mr. Vest said that <br />40% of their product is distributed on the east coast which gave them an <br />advantage that they could not overcome. <br />Mr. Vest said all was not lost because they have had tremendous prospect <br />activity in the last three months. They have a small distribution center needing <br />65,000 square feet building that they have entered into a verbal agreement with, <br />which will be in the Industrial Park, and they are working out a site plan. They <br />have four local builders that are communicating with the company and as soon <br />as they can get something firm on that, they will have an announcement. <br />Mr. Vest said they also had a prospect visit from a major retail distribution <br />facility, which is going under the name of "Project Reserve." It is a 600,000 <br />square foot distribution center. It is being handled by a site selection <br />consultant out of Tennessee named Mike Mullus. Mr. Vest said he talked to <br />Mr. Mullus today and the City of Paris is still in the running. He has visited 12 <br />sites in Texas and has eliminated 2 sites. <br />Mr. Vest said that he and Erik went to the Food Packaging and Food Processing <br />Show October 13 through October 15, 2003. There were more than 20,000 <br />delegates at that show. He said it was the best show they have ever attended. <br />It was the Paris Texas Booth and they had products displayed from Campbell <br />Soup, Sara Lee, Paris Packaging, Sesame Solutions, Silgan, and WePack, <br />