4A Wichita Falls Economic Development Minutes - 07/18/2019MINUTES OF THE
WICHITA FALLS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
July 18, 2019
PRESENT:
Leo Lane, President § WFEDC Members
David Toogood, Vice -President §
Reno Gustafson, Secretary -Treasurer §
Darron Leiker §
Stephen Santellana, Mayor §
Bobby Whiteley, Councilor at Large § City Council
Steve Jackson, Councilor District 5 §
Paul Menzies, Assistant City Manager § City Staff
R. Kinley Hegglund, Jr., City Attorney §
Linda Merrill, Recording Secretary §
Henry Florsheim, CEO § CCI
Travis Haggard, V.P., Business Retention & Expansion §
Debbie Dobbins § Members of the Public
ABSENT:
Phyllis Cowling § WFEDC Member
1. Call to Order
Leo Lane called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
2. Financial Report
Paul Menzies noted the Board has $3.4 million in its unreserved fund balance.
Project Status:
SAFB Main Gate: The City has contacted the funding agency regarding timing issues.
The agency has requested a letter from the City, and timing seems not to be a problem. Karen
Gagne will address the Board more fully on this matter at its next monthly meeting.
Owens Corning: They have been paid their $1.2 million as required under the agreement.
Eagle Railcar: They were paid $350,000 as per the agreement last month; they are still
working on the cash for jobs piece of the agreement ($150,000).
Magic Aire: They have been paid $500,000, but he is working on their 20-year, $1 million
agreement from 2010. They are still meeting their threshold requirements.
The July sales tax payment reflective of the May receipts is up .19% from the same period
last year. That is lower than average for the year, but still up from last year by 4%. The annual
revenue is on track to be upwards of $4.1 million.
3. Approval of Minutes (6/20/19)
David Toogood moved for approval of the minutes. Seconded by Reno Gustafson, the
motion carried 4-0.
4. Discussion and possible action regarding Tryer Process Equipment expansion
Travis Haggard introduced Jonathan Tryer to speak on the Tryer Process Equipment
expansion project. Mr. Tryer stated that he and his father, John Tryer, started the company in 2008.
They primarily build natural gas processing equipment for the oil and gas industry. The company
employs 46, with an annual payroll of $4 billion. The expansion project would add a 3,600 square
foot paint facility to double their paint capacity and de -bottleneck their process.
Their plan is to hire three employees per year over five years, if current oil prices remain
stable. He noted that Tryer participated in two previous incentive programs with the WFEDC,
fulfilling its obligations under those contracts.
Kinley Hegglund asked for clarification on the request: in exchange for the $550,000
capital investment made by Tryer and the creation of 15 jobs, is Tryer requesting an amount not
to exceed $150,000 as cash for jobs? Mr. Haggard said the incentive would be $7,500 cash per job
plus a $2,500 bonus if the company hires the employee from outside Wichita County. Mr. Tryer
said the likelihood of fabrication personnel coming from outside Wichita County is very slim. That
bonus would be more for moving expenses for white collar personnel, such as for engineers coming
out of school.
Mr. Florsheim observed, then, that Tryer anticipated some of those 15 jobs are to be white-
collar positions. Mr. Tryer agreed, but noted most would be production. He added that they would
like to see an incentive program to bring engineers to town. They have made offers to half a dozen
chemical engineers over the past couple of years to no avail. It is not a money issue, but rather a
relocation issue.
Mr. Hegglund asked if 66 months would be an adequate length of time for the agreement.
There would be no penalty if the company hires employees at a faster rate, but it would have the
ability to do it in 66 months. Mr. Tryer agreed.
5. Discussion and possible action regarding recommendations from Opportunity
Strategies
Mr. Lane said his goal was to build an outline of not only what Opportunity Strategies
presented, but also include some things that the Board already knew was necessary to be done. He
has a rough draft, and invites everyone's input.
He met with Mr. Toogood to review this, who proposed a different outline. Mr. Toogood
said he converted it into a task list to track items as they are closed out. Each task is numbered,
there is a lead person assigned to each task, with a completion date assigned. He believes he can
complete this chart by the end of next week and they can begin to highlight the most important
items.
Mr. Florsheim said the Chamber needs to base its budget proposals upon the requirements
of the 4A Board. If it gets too close to October, he thinks a temporary budget proposal will be
necessary to keep the contract going while the annual contract is negotiated. Mr. Lane said there
needs to be a collaboration. The Board does not want to impose an arduous requirement on any
agency for reports that do not provide real value.
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Mr. Lane said the 4A Board will need to divide into subcommittees to work on such items
as grant writing or the bylaws. These subcommittees could consist of two Board members and two
citizens. Mr. Florsheim said if there would be no conflict, the Chamber could provide people to
work on those items, as well.
Mr. Lane said there are concerns about Downtown Wichita Falls qualifying except for
marketing dollars, which would mean those dollars would be pulled from economic development
recruitment. The Board has to decide at what point it wants to do that. But this agency is not a
primary job creator. While he is concerned with following the rules, he does not want to chop their
legs out from under them, as they are important to this community.
It was agreed that Mr. Lane and Mr. Toogood would continue to flesh out the structure of
the outline. Mr. Leiker and Mr. Gustafson both expressed their willingness to assist where needed.
The report from Opportunity Strategies will be placed on the Board's next agenda for adoption.
6. Discussion and possible action regarding Wichita Falls Business Park Board
Mr. Gustafson moved to reappoint/atMoint Dick Bundv, Gary Shores, Reno Gustafson,
Darron Leiker, and David Tooizood to the Wichita Falls Business Park Board. Seconded by Mr.
Leiker, the motion carried 4-0.
7. Executive Session
Mr. Lane adjourned the meeting into executive session at 3:57 p.m. pursuant to Texas
Government Code §§551.072 and 551.087. He announced the meeting back into regular session
at 5:09 p.m. The subjects posted in the Notice of Meeting were deliberated, and no votes or further
action were taken on these items in executive session.
8. Motions
Tryer Process Equipment expansion
Mr. Tooaood moved to issue a cash for iobs incentive of $7,500 for each new iob created
for the Trver Process Equipment expansion, and an additional $2,500 for each new iob if the
emplovee comes from outside the MSA of Wichita Countv for a maximum of 15 emp_ lovees for a
total of 66 months. Seconded by Mr. Leiker, the motion carried 4-0.
9. Adjourn
Mr. Gustafson moved to adiourn the meeting at 5:12 mm.
Leo Lane, President