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2002-01-16-Minutes MINUTES OF THE PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION SPECIAL MEETING JANUARY 16, 2002 The Paris Economic Development Corporation met in regular session on Wednesday, January 16,2002, 4:00 P. M., at Heritage Hall, 1009 West Kaufman Street, Paris, Texas. President Mike Rhodes called the meeting to order with the following Directors present: Don Wall, Jay Guest, Curtis Fendley, and Mike Dunn. AlsO) present were ex-officio Board Members Bobby Walters, Mike Graxiola, Executive Director Gary Vest, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham. President Rhodes called for approval of minutes from the December 19,2001 meeting. A motion was made by Director Guest, seconded by Director Fendley, for approval of the minutes as presented. The motion carried unanimously. President Rhodes asked Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, to give the financial report for December. Mr. Anderson came forward presenting the financial statements for December. Mr. Anderson pointed out that there was not a lot of expenditure activity for the month. He said the sales tax of $71,448.97 that was received in December was actually sales tax for the month of October. Mr. Anderson advised that the. key month that he was interested in seeing is the actual December sales, but those nUmbers will not be received until February. A motion was made by Director Dunn, seconded by Director Fendley, for approval of the financial report as presented. The' motion carried unanimously. Gary Vest, Executive Director, advised the Board that he was going to give a summary of the calendar for last year. He said that in their advertising Minutes of thc PEDC January 16, 2002 Page 2 responses for last year, they had 263 responses to their advertisements, which was up fifteen percent over the year 2000. There were five actual prospect visits. Mr. Vest reported that the Paris Economic Development Corporation was able to get the Chapman Revolving Loan Fund for SEASCO. This enabled SEASCO to add a new dryer and building to their facility, and they merged with other investors and became Sesame Solutions. Mr. Vest advised the Board that Paris Packaging, to Mr. Walters credit, received a $289,000.00 grant from the Skills Development fund, because Paris Junior College is doing all the training for this company. -. Mr. Vest said the bad thing that happened last year was the closing of the Oliver Rubber Plant. Mr. Vest presented the Board with a brochure promoting the Oliver Rubber Plant's building. Mr. Vest told the Board that they are still working with Jackson Products to try to close the deal with Cooper Tire and he has been hesitant to offer any type incentive until they receive the best deal they can get because if the Paris Economic Development Corporation gives an incentive to close on the deal, it will eventually be received by Cooper Tire. Mr. Vest informed the Board that Earth Grains was acquired by Sara Lee, which is very important, but at this time, there has been no effect on the plant. He said they were working on an expansion to the plant. Mr. Vest said he, Mike Graxiola, City Manager Malone, Mayor Pfiester, and Mike Rhodes are going to meet with several of the Sara Lee's representatives in the morning. Mr. Vest said the Land acquisition for the Hydro Conduit from Union Pacific property that the Paris Economic Development Corporation worked through the Paris Industrial Foundation was another major protect. Minutes of the PEDC January 16, 2002 Page 3 Mr. Vest said some of the special projects they worked on during the year were the effort to establish Jewelry Manufacturers in conjunction with locations in the City of Paris through Paris Junior College, which is an on going project and will continue that effort. The direct mail campaign into California attempting to capitalize on the energy crisis. Mr. Vest said they mailed out 32,000 post cards promoting the City of Paris. Mr. Vest advised they used d newspaper advertising in the Mercury News in California. He advised they have not received a great deal of results from that effort, but they wanted to try something different in order to bring attention to that facility. Also, they helped start the North East Texas Regional Mobility Council (NETMOB), which Don Wall serves on that board and chaired by David Glass. Mr. Vest said this was a legislative year and during the 77th Legislative Session, there were forty (40) bills introduced that would have directly affected this corporation. Eleven (11) of those bills passed that affected the Paris Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Vest advised the Board that there is a summary of the eleven (11) bills that passed in the packet that he has handed out to the Board. There were three (3) bills that did not pass that was important to the Paris Economic Development Corporation, including the one by Mark Homer. Mr. Vest advised they had attended the National Association of Manufacturers, March 5th through 9th in Chicago. They attended the.. International Food Technology.in New Orleans June 25th through June 27th. The North American Food & Equipment Manufacturers, September 7th through September l0th in Orlando, the Texas Economic Development Conference September 19th through 21st in Dallas, Texas, and the Bio- Technology Briefing in Tyler, Texas November 1st. Mr. Vest said Eric. attended the Basic Industrial Course, which is conducted through Texas A&M, in San Antonio. Eric also attended the Biology Technology briefing November 1st in Tyler, Texas. Minutes of the PEDC January 16, 2002 Page 4 Mr. vest said there are a number of organizations that they are active with and gave the Board a list of those organizations. Mr. Vest said they will be doing a Paris Area Labor Survey to determine the availability of workers, and will also be doing a Wage and Benefit Survey and they will work with the Economic Development Services out of Irving to conduct the survey. Mr. Vest said all of the industries in Paris will receive copies of the survey so they will know what the norm and average is in the community. Mr. Vest told the Board that on February 20th through the 22nd, he will be taking a trip to San Diego, California to attend a group called Market Texas. There will be about twenty-five communities from Texas going and they will be hosting luncheons, a couple of receptions, and meetings to talk to bio- med/bio-tech companies in that area. Mr. Vest said on February 28th, there will be a presentation by Mr. Wall to the TxDOT Commission for the East Texas Green Carpet Route to try to get funding for the four lanes for the Green Carpet Route on Highway 271 between Paris and Mt. Pleasant. Mr. Vest invited the Board Members to attend the presentation. Mr. Vest said that Eric will be going to the Jewelry Manufacturers Trade Show with Paris Junior College in New York. Mr. Vest told the Board that hopefully they will get something going on the development of the Northwest Industrial District in conjunction with the Paris Industrial Foundation. Mr. Vest said the Industrial Foundation has authorized him to act on their behalf to go forward with clearing and fencing the prope .r[y along with putting up a billboard. He said he will be studying the property as to how they might bring infrastructure in and subdivide the property. Mr. Vest said several years ago, this Board gave $60,000.00 to purchase land from the Industrial Foundation with the stipulation that the money would be used 689 Minutes of the PEDC Sanuary 16, 2002 Page 5 to develop the 144 acres that is in the Northwest Industrial Park. Mr. Vest said they were waiting fomotification from the 6th Appellate Court that they have ruled in our favor. Mr. Vest advised that as soon as they get that, they will have the squatters off, and will be able to move forward with this property. Mr. Vest told the Board that he was in a meeting with the Texas Economic Development Sales Tax Association and this organization has been the watch- dog on the sales tax legislation ind he was elected as Chairman Elect of that group. He said this would mean during the next legislative session he will be Chairman, and he wanted the Board to be aware of this and make sure it is alright with this Board. The Board felt this would be good for the Paris Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Vest advised that the Attorney General has decided that Four A Corporation can pursue retail development. Mr. Vest said in the packet there is a list of sales tax cities throughout the state and felt the Board might like to see what is out there. This list shows what the population of the community is and how much they collect. The Board discussed the 144 acre site in the Northwest Industrial Park and how it would be divided and developed. Mr. Vest said this site is good property, it is in an industrial area, and it is in the enterprise zone. Mr. Vest also told the Board that they have fifteen inventoried sites in Paris. After discussing the sale of the Oliver Rubber Plant, a motion was made by Director Fendley to allow Mr. Vest to go forward with an incentive to the prospective buyer of the Oliver Rubber Plant in order to close the deal. The motion was seconded by Director Guest and carried unanimously. President Rhodes said that the Paris Economic Development Corporation's number one priority at this time is the Oliver Rubber Plant, and number two is to get the Northwest Industrial Park land ready to develop. 690 Minutes of the PEDC January 16, 2002 Page 6 Mr. walters advised that Paris Junior College enrollment for the spring is going to be the highest they have ever had. He said they have over 3,000 students registered and that is not all they will be registering. Mr. Walters said it looks like they may be moving in the right direction to get more people involved in their technical program and that is going to really be a benefit because if it can be shown that people are interested in technology, then people are jobs. Mr. Walters also mentioned the Rotary benefit that is coming up in February, which is being done in honor of Daon Wall. Mr. Walters encouraged the Board to participate in this benefit. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. · MICHAEL RHODES, PRESIDENT ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK