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06/23/16 MINUTES PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MONTHLY MEETING Paris City Council Chambers 107 East Kaufman St. Paris, Texas 75460 Thursday June 23, 2016 4:00 O’CLOCK P.M. MINUTES Board Members Present:Staff Present: Richard Manning, Chair Michael Paris, Executive Director John Brockman, Vice-Chair Paula Brownfield, Administrative Assistant Don Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer Chris Stout, Office Assistant Ray Banks David Turner Ex-Officio Members Present:Guest(s) Present: John Godwin, City Manager Connie Beard, The Paris News Pam Anglin, PJC President Billy Trenado, City Council Deanna Manning Louise Moseley Anna Spencer Legal Counsel:City Council Liaison: Stephanie HarrisSue Lancaster Call to Order: The June 23, 2016 meeting of the Paris Economic Development Corporation was called to order by Mr. Manning at 4:00 p.m. Citizens’ Input Mr. Manning invited citizens’ to speak during the Citizens’ Input. Mr. Trenado came forward to speak about the property at 2305 NW Loop 286. He asked why the PEDC bought this property for over a quarter of a million dollars when we have an Industrial Park that is a much better location and we already own the property. Mr. Trenado kept the questions coming and finished with the opinion that we were not spending the taxpayers’ money wisely. Discuss and possibly approve Minutes of the May 17, 2016 Meeting. Mr. Manning asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the May 17, 2016, meeting. No additions or corrections were made. Mr. Banks made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Mr. Turner seconded the motion and it carried with a vote of 5 to 0. t95/.š©7a;;·z“maz“Ò·;­ Wғ; r  tm; šE Discuss and possibly approve May 2016 Financials. Mr. Wilson asked if there were any questions on the financials. Mr. Banks said he did not see Mr. Paris’ health insurance listed for May. The explanation was the May insurance payment had been paid in April, so it did not show in the May financials. Mr. Turner made a motion to approve the May 2016 Financials. Mr. Brockman seconded the motion. The vote was 5 to 0. Special Recognition. Mr. Paris recognized Mr. Turner for being part of the Paris Economic Development Board for three years. He thanked Mr. Turner for his service and as a token of the Board’s appreciation presented him with a plaque engraved with the Board’s thanks. Discuss and possibly approve starting the Request for Bids process on the build-out of the property at 2305 NW Loop 286. Mr. Paris started the conversation by saying that the plans have been received for the spec building and now we can start the request of materials and labor. This will be done through the RFB process since we are a public entity. We have a few minor things to take care of with the City; this will only be to make sure we are following City Code. Mr. Wilson confirmed that this will be a shell building with no electrical and no plumbing. After the shell is complete the City will issue a permit based only on the concrete and the steel. At that point marketing of the building will be at full force. Mr. Wilson went on to say, that in answer to one of Mr. Trenado’s questions; this was the best way to get a spec building; the concrete slab, the building infrastructure, the base for the parking lot, the base for the streets are already in place. 10,000 square feet will be added to the existing slab expanding the square footage to 38,000. The ceiling height will be 28 feet; Mr. Wilson explained that the taller ceiling height is very crucial for stacking in today’s industrial buildings. Mr. Paris told the public that a lot of thought has gone into the planning and the decisions that were made for this spec building. A brand-new building at the Business Park will have a fair amount of cost to tie into existing infrastructure at the Business Park. The cost is $75-85 a square foot to build a new building. You can build a shell building for less, but you would still need to pour a concrete floor which adds to the cost. When you look at refurbishing a building you are looking at costs of $35-$55 a square foot. Mr. Paris went on to say “In trying to be good stewards of the taxpayer money, what we’re trying to do is find the best way to get a spec building up. We have found through statistics and also through site selection surveys that over half of site selector consultants would like to have a building already built and it speeds the process up.” Also, we looked at the hyper growth that is happening in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and wanted to have the quickness of getting a building up and getting it completed. Mr. Paris stated that “at the end of the day it’s about expediency, it’s about being good stewards of the taxpayer funds, and it’s about being efficient to the consultants who are looking to try and fill that space”. Mr. Trenado asked if we already had plans drawn up for the building. Mr. Wilson said we did and explained how we decided on the steel building. He also stated that the existing slab value was about $524,000 and the 10,000 square foot of slab we are adding to the building will cost about $18.00 a square foot. Mr. Wilson added the Texas Economic Development statistics showed in the last five years that 75% of the manufacturers t95/.š©7a;;·z“maz“Ò·;­ Wғ; r  tm; šE who have relocated to Texas have located to a preexisting building. Our building will be ready to market and the industry can develop the inside the way they want it. Mr. Trenado asked “Why did you build the Industrial Park years ago? I thought this is where we wanted to go there. If you’re bringing this up right now where were you at years ago when you built this park out here for that? It was my understanding that’s what PEDC wanted and that’s what we were going for and all of the sudden we get here and we got all this money.” Mr. Wilson stated that back in 2000 there were more Greenfield Projects than projects looking for existing buildings. Mr. Trenado said “So over the years PEDC just let that run down didn’t take care of it, so is that what you’re saying?” Mr. Paris stated that the Industrial Park is not run down at all. Mr. Wilson answered that we are mowing and taking care of the Industrial Park; and asked Mr. Trenado to go out there and take a look at it. The PEDC is still working on leads that come in, in fact we just offered land in the Industrial Park to a lead but the PEDC did not make the final cut in the process. Mr. Trenado asked “All you’re going to give is just an empty building, is that right?” The answer given to Mr. Trenado was that the building will be in the dry, ready to be built out in 90 to 120 days; the industry can build it out the way they want to. The reason that this building is so great; they will only need to do the buildout. Most buildings need to be modified which takes more time and runs into more problems. Mr. Paris wanted to make everyone aware that we want to be business friendly and letting the customer design the inside of the building is doing just that. Mr. Manning offered up how he had changed his mind after attending the TEDC seminars. He saw how beneficial it was to have a spec building. It is a continuation of our Industrial Park. The people of Paris will benefit from this. We receive RFPs from the state with criteria for companies that want to relocate to Texas and having a spec building will give us a better chance at having companies take a look at us. Mr. Banks stated that the expense of constructing a spec building at the Industrial Park would have been hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the building we currently have. After all the PEDC Board Members were very forthcoming, Mr. Trenado stated “I think one thing the citizens are looking at too is you know we’ve lost a lot of money. The PEDC has. Where’s this twenty million dollars?” Mr. Wilson let Mr. Trenado know that every penny has been accounted for. Mr. Trenado asked if he was willing to let the Texas Comptroller investigate. Mr. Wilson replied back that he could bring anyone in to audit. The PEDC has had certified audits every year. At the end of the discussion of the 2305 NW Loop 286 Property, Mr. Wilson told the Board that we needed to plat the property and also have new survey drawings made in the next 30 days. Discuss and possibly approve a Lead Generation company to work with us finding industries that are a good match to Paris, Texas. Mr. Paris started out by saying we do get leads from the state, but we need to start redeveloping our pipeline. Three companies submitted proposals: Expansion Solutions, Target Industry Prospects, and ROI. Expansion Solutions is primarily a magazine, but they will help with a few leads. The cost of the package is $10,500. This is the traditional or passive style of advertising where you wait for the phone to ring. Target Industry Prospects connect you with consultants in metro areas like Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Dallas, cities in California. Sulphur Springs uses this company to find prospects. The cost is $6000 per event where you are set up to meet with prospects. Drawback, other EDCs are meeting with the same prospects. You pay for the cost of the event plus the cost of the t95/.š©7a;;·z“maz“Ò·;­ Wғ; r  tm; šE tradeshow. Mr. Wilson asked who attended the Select USA Investment Summit and if there were people who were actively looking to locate an industry. Mr. Paris said that Select USA was made up of EDCs, states, EDOs, consultants, and private equity; all had booths. TEAM Texas was part of the State of Texas booth and Mr. Paris recruited alongside individuals from the Texas Governor’s Office. The Conference was a foreign direct investment conference that highlighted EB5s and growth in the US. TEAM Texas participants will be at the food industry show in July talking to the food manufacturers. Mr. Banks got back to Target Industry Prospects by asking about the Example Itinerary that shows meeting places and times. Mr. Paris said you are competing with other EDCs and EDOs to meet with these companies. The last one is ROI, they have three different Programs to choose from: 1.The Pilot Program: $20,000 + $500 per meeting, 350 targeted companies, 8-12 leads. 2.Lead Generation Program: $33,500 +$450 per meeting, 650 targeted companies, 20-25 leads. 3. Partnership Program: $68,750 +$350 per meeting, 1250 targeted companies, 45-65 leads. Mr. Paris recommended using ROI’s Pilot Program for Lead Generation. Amarillo uses RIO for their lead generation. Mr. Turner asked Dr. Anglin what she thought about the lead generation. She said that developing connections and a presence need to be made with Paris. Mr. Wilson brought up that we are one of only 22 counties in Texas eligible to take EB5s. Mr. Turner made a motion to approve the ROI Lead Generation Pilot Program. Mr. Brockman seconded the motion. The vote was 5-For 0-Against. Executive Director’s Monthly Report. Project Taste Bud, an RFP we completed a few months ago. This is the feedback we received from the consultant. Four finalists were picked; they were from Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Twelve states participated with 134 communities responding, 53 from Texas, 14 from Virginia, 12 from Arkansas, 12 from Tennessee, 11 from Mississippi, 10 from New Mexico. Of the 134 communities 200 buildings and sites were submitted to this consultant for Project Taste Bud. The investment for Project Taste Bud would have been $17,000.000 and the creation of 100 jobs. The package we submitted was $600,000 cash for jobs, $500,000 for land we would give away, 10-year 100% tax abatement 1.6 million in abatements. It would have been a total of about $2,600.000 for the 100 jobs or about $26,000 a job. The consultant said that decision makers knew where they actually wanted to be. On to Business Expansion and Retention: Potters’ is considering an expansion project. We are taking a tax abatement request for their capital input to city council with them. We are finalizing the training money for The Results Company. They are having a big graduation at the college for the training that took place. They have 700+ employees right now. Kimberly Clark has a new plant manager, James Alspaugh. We met with him and had a great conversation about Huggies Diapers and how the low price gets young moms into Walmart to buy the rest of their family’s needs. Amcor is creating about 12 jobs with an investment of $6.9 million all inside the Campbell’s Soup facility. Dave Parcher has gone to the Campbell’s facility in Ohio and Brett Dunson is the new plant manager. Mayor Hashmi asked for a committee to form to start discussion on what can be done to increase activity at the Airport. There have been a lot of studies accessing the Airport, including capital improvements. We discussed the opportunities at the Airport, including the Greenfields that the City owns. We had a lead that UPS might be looking at a smaller t95/.š©7a;;·z“maz“Ò·;­ Wғ; r  tm;šE airport, but we found out that UPS would only look at airports that were on the Interstate. At one time the Airport was very busy with corporate jets, but that has changed over the years. We also are looking at the question of what would it take to make it a major landing strip for FAA required enhancement or refurbishment. Someone mentioned Mena, Arkansas, a town of 5000 people that has an airport with shops for radio, airframe, engine, and more. Competing airports have an on-line presence that we don’t have. The question we need to answer: Is our Airport sustainable? Forrest Signs: We are redoing the Industrial Park signage. Also, we are working on a sign for the Depot. Sales Tax Workshop: We will send you dates and locations for the workshops. City Council: Will give the PEDC report in July. Select USA: The trip to Washington D.C. went well. He had about 15 contacts and 3 meetings at the conference and he is expecting over 50 leads through our association with TEAM Texas. “It’s good to see the vitality of a global economy.” Convene into Executive Session: The Executive Session convened at 5:16 p.m. Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on item(s) discussed in Executive Session. The Board reconvened into open session at 5:36 p.m. and took no action on any items discussed in Executive Session. Discuss Future Agenda Items. No future agenda items were discussed. Adjourn At 5:38 p.m. Mr. Turner made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Wilson seconded the motion. The vote was 5 – 0. Respectfully submitted, Paula Brownfield Administrative Assistant Paris Economic Development Corporation