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03-B PEDC June 16, 2004MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION June 16, 2004 The Paris Economic Development Corporation met in regular session on Wednesday, June 15, 2004, 4:00 P.M., at Paris Junior College, Bobby R. Walters Applied Technology Building, Room 1206, 2400 Clarksville St., Paris, Texas. Director Mike Dunn called the meeting to order with the following Directors present: Sims Norment, Richard Severson and Rodney Bass. Also present were Executive Director Gary Vest, Assistant Director, Erik Roddy, Mayor Curtis Fendley, Tanis Hager, Interim City Manager Terry Townsend, City Attorney Larry Schenk and Assistant City Clerk Sherian Dixon. Director Dunn called for approval of the minutes from the May 19, 2004 PEDC meeting. Director Norment made a motion to approve the minutes, which was seconded by Director Bass. The motion carried unanimously. Director Dunn called for the financial report and Gene Anderson, Finance Director for the City of Paris, came forward. Mr. Anderson stated the sales tax was up slightly in June and had been up for the past 5 months which was a good economic indicator. He stated that the sales tax was up over all 1% over last year. He said in the Cash Flow Statement, there were no unusual items to report. Director Severson made a motion to accept the Financial Report. Director Bass seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Director Dunn called for the Director' s report and Executive Director, Gary Vest, came forward. He indicated that he and Erik Roddy met with Jim Kays, the Sara Lee Plant Manager, last week and learned that there will be an expansion at the plant which will employ about 108 people. He continued that there will also be a one million dollar expansion of the physical, brick and mortar part of the plant for needed space for a particular line they are adding. He reminded them that Sara Lee was the second largest employer in Paris. Mr. Vest said they had also been meeting with We Pack, who is looking to add a possible hundred thousand square foot to their plant on the Loop. He said they have been exploring the loans funds that PEDC has access to, Chapman PEDC Regular Meeting June 16, 2004 Page 2 Revolving Loan Fund that does a maximum loan of $250,000 and the Economic Development Administration Revolving Loan Fund that is also $250,000. He said they have the applications for these loans and are waiting for David Owens of We Pack to let them know if they want to pursue that. He and Erik have also talked again with Olivia Johnston of Brixton-Gill that came to the meeting. Mr. Vest said they have not received any financials and are waiting for financials before they go ahead with anything, so that proj ect is still on hold. Mr. Vest said they will be meeting with Loss Mitigation Services, who are interested in possibly building a warehouse in the Industrial Park. He related that Todd Stephens said they will be poring concrete for the streets in the Industrial Park, next week. He indicated they have had several meetings with TXU on getting the electricity in, now that the TXU has done the engineering work. Mr. Vest said they have had several meeting with Southwestern Bell about getting the telephone service in. He did say the only one he was not making progress with was TXU Gas, but they were trying to get that done. Mr. Vest mentioned that C-Tech has contacted several builders in the area and is seeking to award that bid very quickly. He reminded the Commission about the j oint meeting with the City and County concerning Highway 271. He submitted a formal proposal to TxDOT about the feasibility of Highway 271 being toll viable. Mr. Vest talked to Bobby Littlefield of TxDOT about the proj ect. Mr. Vest said he would be in Austin next week to attend some Texas Economic Development Council meetings and, since the TxDOT Commission meets on Thursday, and Tyler is making a formal presentation for a loop around Tyler, Tom Mullins, his friend from Tyler, has asked him to stay over and attend that meeting. He will then be able to meet the two new commissioners, one from El Paso and one from the Valley. Bobby Littlefield had also given Mr. Vest the PEDC Regular Meeting June 16, 2004 Page 3 name of two TxDOT people that he would like for Mr. Vest to meet with while he is in Austin, James Bass, who is head of all the finance for TxDOT and he handles all the toll feasibilities and pass through tolls, and Phillip Russell, who is in charge of the Texas Turnpike Authority. Mr. Vest admitted that the prospect activity had been a little slow, but it was slow all over Texas right now. Director Dunn called for consideration of and action on approving the Annual Plan of Work outlining the activities, tasks, projects, and programs to be undertaken by the Board during the fiscal year 2004-2005. Executive Director Vest brought the PEDC's attention to the Annual Report. He indicated there was a good advertising campaign for 2003-2004, which generated quite a few leads. The leads they got from trade shows mostly came from the Food & Packaging Trade Show. He said they also advertised in different magazines. He explained this year, the PEDC will not advertise in any of those publications, as a cost cutting measure. He went on to say they will do some direct mail campaigns and will continue to be in the business guides in Dallas. He reminded them that the billboard is still up on Interstate 30 and they plan to keep that up for this next year. Mr. Vest related that he and Erik attended several trades shows on different industries and that they also belonged to several associations and groups that they deal with on a regular basis. According to the report, there were seven (7) prospect leads which generated three (3) visits. He indicated the report was just a summary of last year's activity. He mentioned some of the projects they came up with last year were C-Tech, Campbell's Soup, the Industrial Park, Hearne Street, and the post card mail out. He explained that they sent out about 20,000 post cards in a direct mail campaign, which generated quite a few leads. PEDC Regular Meeting June 16, 2004 Page 4 Mr. Vest presented before, during and after pictures of the progress on the work done at the Industrial Park to date. He explained that because of some difficulty in getting the grades right for the streets, the project has gone a little slower than it should, but the concrete is supposed to be pouring next week. He continued that while the concrete is being poured, they will be laying conduit and PVC pipe for the electrical and telephone. Hearne Street, which is the entrance into Rogers & Wade, he mentioned is one of the big projects they have been working on for some time. He said the street was cut and the fuel tank they found has been taken care of properly. In the executive summary, Mr. Vest called their attention to the unemployment rate at 5.9%, which is the lowest its been in quite some time. He indicated that the tax revenue had stabilized and is moving in a positive direction. He said they have had five (5) months of increase, and although it has been a great increase, it is an upward trend which is an indication of the economy strengthening. Mr. Vest speculated that in 2005, the unemployment rate will continue to decline and the sales tax will improve. He said the Industrial Park is moving along well and they expect Phase I to be finished by the end of the summer. He cited the cooperative effort with the City of Paris has facilitated this. He stated that C-Tech was ready to start construction in the Industrial Park. He said the building will be about 60,000 square feet, which will be the first building to go up in the Industrial Park. Mr. Vest forecasted that the PEDC will place much of their marketing and advertising emphasis on the Industrial Park in the coming year. He mentioned he would like for Phase I to fill up, then there will be a need to start Phase II in 2005. He also said the Hearne Street project will be finished by the end of the summer. He emphasized that transportation continued to be a big goal for PEDC. He PEDC Regular Meeting June 16, 2004 Page 5 called their attention to Goal #4 in the Program of Work, which is to partner with TxDOT to complete the Southwest Loop, which turns into two-lane just past Kimberly Clark at Highway 137. He confessed that part of the hold up was due to he and Don Wall not wanting to take up the railroad track. He cited the property as being an outstanding site, having great loop access and good gas and electric service on site and also the rail access. He explained that TxDOT wanted to take out the overpass and bring the loop down to grade and take out the railroad tracks. PEDC asked them not to do that. He suggested that PEDC could partner with TxDOT to get this completed. Bobby Littlefield of TxDOT said he liked the idea of partnering. Mr. Vest said maybe they could get another overpass put in, keep the railroad tracks and have a four-lane divided loop all the way back up to Highway 82. Mr. Vest cited the goals for PEDC as being retention and expansion of existing businesses, recruitment of new primary employers, start up businesses and small business development and infrastructure and training. He mentioned PEDC had added two action items under Goal #2, one being to develop advertising material for the Paris Industrial Park, and the other being Erik creating a virtual tour on the PEDC website of available industrial sites. He stated that Erik was working on that and it should be ready in a few months. He explained that Goal #4, Infrastructure, included the work on the Southwest Loop and Phase II of the Industrial Park. Mr. Vest called PEDC's attention to the Financial Statement, where they would find the current budget and the revenue statement. He estimated the PEDC's cash position would be around $483,000.00 by the end of the year and for next year, around $940,000. He reminded them about the change in ownership of Paris Packaging this year, but indicated that would not affect their payment to the PEDC as the contract was made with the corporation. PEDC Regular Meeting June 16, 2004 Page 6 He projected that the total resources for next year should be around $1.8 million, with the commitment of around $1 million, which will leave PEDC with $770,000.00 for projects. For the expense side, he explained they took the $770,000.00 and divided it equally between existing and new projects. For budgets items, he said most remained the same as last year or were reduced. He brought their attention to compensation, where there was a 3% raise proposed for Mr. Vest and a 5% raise for Erik. The administration fee for the Chamber covered them writing checks for the PEDC and for all the other things the Chamber did. He did mention the audit fee went up. On a question about the $388,000.00, Mr. Vest explained it is the amount that is available to help fund improvements and expansion of existing industries. He did say the money was divided equally into new and existing projects and could be move within these two categories as needed. Mr. Vest said he needed the approved budget and program of work by July so it could be included in the budget meetings of the City of Paris. Director Dunn called for further discussion of the Annual Plan of Work. There being none, he called for a motion to approve. Director Severson made a motion to approve. It was seconded by Director Bass and passed unanimously. Director Dunn call for further discussion of the Annual Budget for the fiscal year 2004-2005. There being none, he called for a motion to approve. Director Bass made the motion, which was seconded by Director Norment. The motion passed unanimously. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. PEDC Regular Meeting June 16, 2004 Page 7 MIKE DUNN, VICE PRESIDENT ATTEST: SHERIAN DIXON, ASST. CITY CLERK