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1996-11-20-Minutes 272 MINUTES OF THE PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION REGULAR MEETING November 20, 1996 The Paris Economic Development Corporation met in their regular meeting on Wednesday, November 20, 1996, at 4:00 P.M., in the City Hall North Annex Fire Training Room, Paris, Texas. President Curtis Fendley called the meeting to order with the following boardmembers present: Dick Amis, Michael Rhodes, Barney Bray and Leon Williams. Also present at this meeting were ex-officio boardmembers Carl Cecil, Ike Jewett, Gary Vest, City Engineer Earl Smith, City Manager Michael E. Malone, and City Attorney, T.K. Haynes. President Fendley stated the next item on the agenda was approval of the minutes from the previous meeting of the Paris Economic Development Corporation. He asked if there were any corrections or additions to the minutes of the previous meeting and there were none. President Fendley stated since there were no corrections or additions to these minutes, they stood approved as presented. President Fendley asked Boardmember Dick Amis to give the financial report in the absence of Mr. Gene Anderson, Director of Finance. Mr. Amis gave the report. Mr. Fendley called for questions. Boardmember Barney Bray stated he would like to discuss how the funds are allocated at this time and funds which have not been committed at the present. The Board discussed the regular expenses incurred each month. Boardmember Michael Rhodes questioned the Fund Balance - reflected on the Balance Sheet. After discussion, it was the consensus of the boardmembers that they would like the funds on the Balance Sheet clarified by Mr. Anderson. Boardmember Michael Rhodes made a motion, seconded by Boardmember Barney Bray, that the report be approved as presented. The motion carried unanimously. 273 President Fendley stated that there would not be a President's Report given at this time. President Fendley asked Mr. Vest to give the Director's Report. Mr. Vest advised that due to advertising they had received fifty-seven responses since the last meeting. He stated that he had met last week with several people from Campbell Soup, and they had discussed the Skills Development Fund under the Texas Workforce Commission which was approved this week. He said this fund will go to Paris Junior College to be used primarily in buying equipment and providing training for workers at Campbell Soup. He said that Campbell Soup also has a Smart Jobs Application that is about ninety percent complete and that amount will flow directly to Campbell Soup. President Fendley called for questions concerning Mr. Vest's report and there were none. President Fendley asked the City Engineer to discuss the next item on the agenda concerning Cox Field. Mr. Smith said that the taxiway improvements, drainage improvements, navigational aids and terminal reconstruction is currently a project in the preliminary design phase. He said the preliminary design is complete and based on our approval, it will be forwarded to the Texas Department of Transportation for their approval prior to initiating final design. He said there is a meeting scheduled with TxDOT on December 17, 1996, at which time they will schedule advertisement for bids some time in the Spring. He said that this project had been presented to the Board at an earlier date. President Fendley called for questions concerning this agenda item. The Board discussed their contribution to the project and TxDOT's contribution to the project. City Engineer Earl Smith discussed the various stages of the project. Mr. Smith stated the next project in Agenda Item 6-B is a large project with an estimated cost of two point four million dollars which is TxDOT's estimate. He said we are in the process of selecting a consulting engineer to do this work. President Fendley called for questions concerning this information. City Manager Malone stated that TxDOT has a multi-year plan and that basically, as long as you participate in their plan and carry through year-after-year, then you stay in the program. If you ever opt out of program then they go past you and give the funds to someone else. City Manager Malone said this was probably the largest grant that we will receive for some time. He said that he didn't believe that they would see an expenditure of this magnitude for many years. He said there will probably be subsequent grant amounts, but they will be smaller projects: He sald that this project is basically a rebuild and maintenance effort on the primary runways, taxiways, lighting system and all the items needed for jet traffic. He said it was not something that the City could do and would just have to let the project go if the Board did not participate. Boardmember Amis stated that he had some concerns in relation to the project being in the gray area of being economic development. City Manager Malone stated he could not think of any reason to have an airport unless it was to meet the transportation needs for industry in Paris. President Fendley there would be an action item later in the agenda, but the Board could discuss this item at this time. Boardmember Bray said he was concerned about expending these funds and the amount that would remain if we needed to do a large infrastructure job or funds were needed in the relocation of a new industry to Paris. Boardmember Rhodes questioned our initial commitment to Cox Field. He stated that he thought our initial commitment to Cox Field was well founded and certainly within the scope of our authority. Boardmember Bray questioned the 274 City's monetary participation in some of these projects. City Manager Malone stated . · ~' that the City consists of citizens that voted for the tax to pay for the infrastructure to serve industry. Boardmember Bray said he was speaking about funds that the City has available in bonds that haven't been used versus the Board's funds available and the capacity to use those funds in other areas. City Manager Malone stated this Board is a part of City government. City Attorney Haynes said it was discussed at the end of the first year when the board decided that they did not wish to set aside funds for accumulation. He said the bylaws provided for setting aside funds. Boardmember Rhodes said the Board must be able to fund a viable request for new industry. President Fendley asked if the Council had discussed participating in funding any of these projects. City Manager Malone advised that the Council expected that the P.E.D.C. would contribute the money for these projects. President Fendley called for any other questions or discussion on this item, and there was none. President Fendley stated that in regard to the next agenda item that Mr. Don Wilson had approached the P.E.D.C. and the City approximately one year ago regarding access for truck traffic to Rogers Wade and also Red River Transport on 4th Street. He said apparently, they have truck traffic of approximately 108 trucks per week and he has asked the City to look at the street behind the jail and along the railway. He said that's when P.E.D.C. asked City Engineer Earl Smith to bring a plan and cost estimate to the Board for consideration. City Engineer Earl Smith said that he had done a general plan which is a straight shot across the back of the jail and straight. through to 4th Street.. Mr. Smith said, keeping the primary purpose in mind, that he estimated this street to be a 39 ft. wide street back-to-back,with 8 inches of thick reinforced concrete. He said after considering right-of-way preparation including engineering costs, if a consultant is needed, he estimated a cost of $260,000.00 for this project. He said that did not consider any substantial drainage problems in this project or problems with utilities. Mr. Smith said that this is wider than your normal residential street but that he had compared what we built at the back entrance of Campbell's Soup, which was more than a regular residential type street. President Fendley asked if the concrete versus the asphalt was a substantial number increase. Mr. Smith said that he has always felt, in a fair evaluation of concrete versus asphalt, that they are about the same costs, especially if there is heavy traffic involved. He said this cost estimate is a little bit high because it would run across the old cotton compress site where there is a large amount of concrete. He said not knowing what the street grade would be, he assumed that a large amount of the concrete would have to be removed, so he hit right-of-way preparation hard in this cost estimate. Boardmember Bray asked Mr. Smith if it would be possible to narrow the road down and have a larger radius down at the street where the trucks turn. Boardmember Bray said perhaps some money could be saved by doing that and probably still go with concrete. President Fendley called for further discussion and questions on this item. Mr. Smith said that the method of determination he used was in accordance with the Master Street Plan where we have 28, 39 and 44 ft. streets. President Fendley said we should look at several different options and come back to this group in one month, possibly get some bids on it and look at it. City Engineer Smith said that this cost estimate does not include the cost of acquisition of right-of-way. President Fendley asked for further discussion and there was none. 275 President Fendley said the next agenda item was approving the City of Paris' request for matching funds necessary for the Texas Department of Transportation airport improvement project at Cox Field Airport. Boardmember Barney Bray stated that he would like to table this item until we know exactly what our commitments are and our availability of our funds before we pledge funds to a project. President Fendley stated he would like Finance Director Gene Anderson to give us a review of the reserve fund, what it is exactly, and what the fund balance. Boardmember Michael Rhodes seconded the motion. President Fendley said the motion was to table this item until we get additional information from Mr. Anderson concerning our fund balances and a projection on our obligations for 1997/1998, The motion carried unanimously. President Fendley stated the next agenda item is 7-B. Boardmember Barney Bray made a motion, seconded by Boardmember Rhodes to table the item, which carried unanimously. President Fendley said that if possible this financial information could be provided at the next regularly scheduled meeting if it is available. President Fendley stated that these two items should be placed on December's Agenda. President Fendley said Item 7-C is approving the City of Paris' request for payment of the membership fee to join the Coalition for Community and Economic Development (CCED). City Manager Malone stated that the City had received a letter concerning this item. President Fendley called for discussion. Boardmember Bray suggested that perhaps this support could come from the private sector. Mr. Vest said that he had gotten funds for a special study to be done by Texas A & M and that study is proceeding at this time. Mr. Vest said he had initially discussed this survey with Mr. Scoff Joslove of the Attorney General's office and he had advised him if they used this study for lobbying purposes, then they would be in violation of the law. Boardmember Amis suggested that we attempt to obtain the funds through the private sector. City Manager Malone suggested that Mr. Vest should handle this request of obtaining funds through the private sector. Boardmember Rhodes made a motion, which was seconded by Boardmember Leon Williams, to table the item until more information is available upon this request. President Fendley called for further discussion and there was none. The motion carried unanimously. After discussion, President Fendley stated that Mr. Vest was going to check with the Attorney General's Office and get a ruling on the item and bring it back to the Board. President Fendley asked if there was any other business. He asked the Boardmembers to note their calendars that the next regularly scheduled meeting for the month of December would be held on December 11, 1996, at 4:00 o'clock, p.m. He declared the meeting adjourned. President Curtis Fendley Assistant City Clerk Barbara Denny