Loading...
2001-08-22-PEDC665 MINUTES OF THE PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 22,2001 The Paris Economic Development Corporation met in regular session on Wednesday, August 22,2001,4:00 P. M., at Heritage Hall, 1009 West Kaufman Street, Paris, Texas. President Mike Rhodes called the meeting to order with the following Directors present: Jay Guest, Don Wall, and Curtis Fendley. Also present were Executive Director Gary Vest, City Attorney Larry Schenk, Director of Finance W. E. Anderson, City Clerk Mattie Cunningham, and ex- officio Board Members Bobby Walters and Terry Christian, President Rhodes announced that the oath of office had already been administered to new Board Member Curtis Fendley and welcomed him to the Board. President Rhodes called for the election of a President of the Paris Economic Development Corporation for the ensuing year and asked for a nominations. Director Don Wall nominated Michael Rhodes for President, Jay Guest for Vice President, and Curtis Fendley for Secretary-Treasurer of the Paris. Economic Development Corporation for the ensuing year. The nominations were seconded by Director Jay Guest and these officers were elected unanimously. President Rhodes announced that the Board of Directors had been furnished minutes of the previous meeting of the Paris Economic Development Corporation and asked if there were any corrections or additions to the minutes. President Rhodes noted that the City Clerk had made a change to Resolution No. 2001-009, correcting the date of April 18,2001, to reflect the date as April 17, 2001. Mr. Walters pointed out that a portion of his name had been omitted and asked that it be corrected. A motion was made by Director Don Wall, seconded by President Michael Rhodes, to approved the minutes as amended. The motion carried unanimously. 666 Minutes of PEDC Regular Meeting August 22, 2001 Page 2 President Rhodes asked Gene Anderson, Director of Finance for the City of Paris, to give the financial report for the month of July. Mr. Anderson came forward presenting the financial report for the month of July. Anderson advised that the sales tax collection of $68,482.69 for the month of July is slightly down from last year's collection. He said for the year the sales tax is up approximately 40%, and he would provide the board updated sales tax revenue information. He advised that the interest earnings and the loan payment for Paris Packaging rounded out the cash inflow. He explained that the "cash out" reflected the payment of the interest on the Chapman note and the TCIM incentive payment, which are the major expenditures for the month of July. A motion was made by Director Jay Guest, seconded by Director Fendley, to approve the financial statement as presented. The motion carried unanimously. President Michael Rhodes read from the letter addressed to Gary Vest from Leo F. Rattigan, Jr., Executive Vice President - Finance and Administration of TCIM as follows: "In view of the substantial number of jobs created at the Paris facility during the last twelve months, as presented to the Board on July 1, TCIM Services, Inc., respectfully requests that the Board approve an additional job incentive for 200 permanent employees at $2,500.00 per job for sixty consecutive months. We will be happy to provide any additional information that the Board requires to consider this request". President Rhodes said that, historically, the Paris Economic Development Corporation has funded projects that are based upon capital improvement and expansion of brick and mortar that lead directly to job creation in Paris and Lamar County. He said the request from TCIM is a deviation from what PEDC 2 667 Minutes of PEDC Regular Meeting August 22, 2001 Page 3 normally approves. President Rhodes said that TCIM is a more technology based endeavor. It has worked well with TCIM and it has worked well for the greater good for Paris and Lamar County. TCIM is currently meeting their obligations relevant to a prior agreement; however, President Rhodes felt it merits some consideration by Paris Economic Development Corporation, due to the type of request that has been made. After a considerable amount of discussion, a motion was made by President Rhodes to respectively decline the request of TCIM Services, Inc., as submitted with further consideration only with additional capital improvement or expansion. The motion was seconded by Director Fendley and carried unanimously. Bobby Walters, ex-officio Board Member, stated that Paris Junior College was working with TCIM with regard to training and that perhaps this was an effort that would retain TCIM. Mr. Walters expressed hope that there would be funds available from the state to get the training that is needed for the TCIM employees. President Rhodes called for discussion of a request for financial assistance from Earthgrains. Mr. Vest called the Board's attention to the letter from Earthgrains for financial assistance. Mr. Vest said he had several meetings with David Owens and his staff members at their plant and they do not expect any adverse change because of the new change in ownership. Mr. Vest advised that Earthgrains is in need of some renovation and expansion at the Paris plant, which would not be brick and mortar, but it would be in excess of one million dollars in equipment that they would be bringing in if they received this expansion. He advised that they are competing not only with the other Earthgrains facilities but with some other Sara Lee facilities. Mr. Vest said if they are able to bring in the 6 6 '8 __ Minutes of PEDC Regular Meeting August 22, 2001 Page 4 new equipment and expand, he said they would add anywhere from 30 to 50 new jobs. Mr. Vest requested permission to continue to negotiate with Mr. Owens for incentives within the guidelines of the flexible incentive plan. A motion was made Director Jay Guest, seconded by Director Curtis Fendley, authorizing Mr. Vest to continue negotiations with Earthgrains, get with City Attorney Schenk to draw up an agreement, and bring it back to the Board for approval. The motion carried unanimously. Under the Director's report, President Rhodes said he did receive financials from Southwest Foundry and they are in their seventh month of profitability. He felt they are in the process of trying to get recapitalized by seeking venture capital or by taking on another partner. He felt they were going to make it and be a long-term "citizen". Mr. Vest advised that since the meeting in July, response to the advertising campaign had not been fantastic. He stated that there had been only seven inquiries. During the summer months, he reported, PEDC places fewer ads. He said they were running ads in the Houston Chronicle on the Oliver Rubber Company building and that they have run ads in the Dallas Morning News and the Mercury News, which is a newspaper on the west coast, and they will continue in that effort. Mr, Vest reported on his attendance at the Northeast Economic Development Round Table meeting in Gilmer on August 15th, 2001. From July -18th through the20th, he attended the Texas Economic Development Council's summer meeting, which was in Abilene. Mr. Vest said he would like each Board Member to be a member of the Texas Economic Development Council and represent PEDC. This would mean that each director would get the newsletters so they would know what is going on with the Texas Economic Development - Council. 4 669 Minutes of PEDC Regular Meeting August 22, 2001 Page 5 Mr. Vest reported on a meeting with the Silgan people as they were in a situation of closing down some machinery and shipping it out. He advised that he met with Dwayne Burch and Dale Routton to see if there was anything that PEDC could do to keep that machinery working here in Paris. Mr. Vest said one of the things he did find out was that to replace one piece of machinery would cost about five million dollars, and Silgan needed three machines. Mr. Vest advised that Mr. Burch said he was going to talk to the Silgan people and come back with some ways that PEDC could help them retain some of their workforce. Mr. Vest said that part of the discussion with Mr. Burch was about how PEDC can help to expand the plant, not only to provide products for Campbell Soup, but to provide products to other Silgan plants. Director Wall said another problem is the transportation issue. He was in Austin last week and had people working on a solution to this problem. Mr. Vest reported that the staff is working on a postcard. They plan to take a picture of a tombstone in Evergreen Cemetery at night time and use it to design a postcard. There will be this tombstone and a company name on it; but on the back, they will put terminology about high energy cost, the lack of available kilowatts, and things of that nature, with a statement such as, "Shouldn't you consider Paris, Texas?" Mr. Vest said thirty two thousand of these postcards will be mailed into California. Mr. Vest said they were in the process of updating their website and they were wondering if the Board Members would like that type of exposure. Eric thought about possibly having the Board Members' photographs and information about them placed on the web. President Rhodes told Mr. Vest that it was totally up to him. Director Guest suggested using a video on the website. A discussion ensued concerning the insuring of buildings such as Oliver Rubber Company that are saleable and that do not have a lot of environmental issues. Mr. Vest stated that, in time, it will probably fall to the PEDC to do some of the 5 670 Minutes of PEDC Regular Meeting August 22, 2001 Page 6 cleanup if there are going to be marketable buildings. He advised that one of the bills that went through the legislature this session provided for economic development corporations to do cleanup of contaminated industrial properties. City Attorney Schenk discussed the issue of the City of Paris being able to assist in this matter. Director Guest questioned the status of the Exide Corporation. City Attorney Schenk advised that he did not get a response from his letter and wanted to make some type of informal contact with them before they proceed with legal action. President Rhodes questioned the status of the property on the loop in the squatter situation. Mr. Vest said they have appealed it again and it is pending before the Texas Supreme Court according to attorney Ed Ellis. Mr. Vest advised that they have been talking with Bobby Walters and some of his people that are involved with the jewelry school at Paris Junior College. Mr. Vest said Todd Thompson, who works in economic development at TXU in Dallas, had talked to Eric about attracting jewelry manufacturers. He, said they started having discussions and meetings with Mr. Walters and his staff. Mr. Vest said one of the things that came of this is a letter from Clay Minton with a proposal, which is for a watch repair facility. Mr. Vest said there is a great demand for watch repair. Mr. Vest advised that when Mr. Minton started talking about this with people in the watch repair industry around the country, they went crazy about it, so we have already had offers to provide worktables and parts if we would accept the contracts to work on their watches. Mr. Vest said his feeling regarding this matter is there could be a tremendous demand and this could be a very significant employer in our community. Mr. Vest pointed out that this could help Paris Junior College because of the students they could utilize, and graduates that could work in this industry. Mr. Vest explained that what it is going to take is a creation of a private company, and to create that 6 671 Minutes of PEDC Regular Meeting August 22, 2001 Page 7 private company, they are going to need someone to up-front them with capital and the various resources they will need to get this business up and running. He said that is where PEDC comes in. It is a different concept, it is not like anything that has been done before, but if we could bank-roll this start for this business, he felt it would succeed, then all of the PEDC money would be paid back. Mr. Vest said they had been talking to Chip Harper about possibly putting this in the old Cinemark Building across from Paris Junior College. Mr. Vest said Mr. Harper is also interested in being an equity partner by putting the building up as part of his equity. After discussion, it was the consensus of the Board for Mr. Vest to continue with this project and bring back to the Board a report. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. MICHAEL RHODES, PRESIDENT ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK 7