4A Wichita Falls Economic Development Minutes - 01/19/2017MINUTES OF THE
WICHITA FALLS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
January 19, 2017
PRESENT:
Dick Bundy, President
Reno Gustafson, Secretary -Treasurer
Leo Lane
Darron Leiker
Dave Lilley
Stephen L.Santellana, Mayor
Jesse Brown, Councilor, District 4
Jim Dockery, Deputy City Manager/CFO
R. Kinley Hegglund, Jr., City Attorney
Linda Merrill, Recording Secretary
Henry Florsheim, CEO
Kevin Pearson, V.P., Economic Development
Travis Haggard, V.P., BR&E
Adrene Wike, Research Associate
Bill Haley, Plant Manager
Glenn Barham
Tom Whaylen
Linda Yeager
John Ingle, Business Editor
Kenzie Meek -Beck
1. Call to Order
§ WFEDC Members
§ Mayor and City Council
§ City Staff
§ Chamber of Commerce and Industry
§ Vitro Architectural Glass
§ Sheppard Military Affairs Committee
§ Times Record News
§ KFDX TV 3
Dick Bundy called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes (October 19, 2016)
Subject to corrections (adding Dr. John Martinez to the list of attendees, and indicating
Reno Gustafson called the meeting to order), Dave Lilley moved to approve the minutes. Seconded
by Darron Leiker, the motion carried 5-0.
3. Financial Report —presented by Jim Dockery
The report shows the Board's funds through January 12. Revenues are conservatively
estimated at $3.9 million.
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Sales tax receipts are a little less than 4% higher than last year's total; however, only two
months have been reported in this fiscal year.
The one project completed thus far in this fiscal year is the Cryovac water project. The
Board was to provide gap financing up to $300,000; only $276,000 was needed.
The Board now pays ad valorem taxes on the Stanley Building and the Atco Building.
Historically, the Board had been reimbursed by Atco for those taxes, but since that industry closed,
those taxes are now the Board's responsibility. Additionally, approximately $1 million has been
spent on roofing and other items at the Stanley Building.
The Board has $16.6 million in cash, of which approximately $8.7 million is reserved for
encumbrances, leaving $7.8 million to use for future projects. Some projects have funds
encumbered, but will likely not materialize. If those encumbrances are released, the fund balance
would, of course, increase.
Kevin Pearson said he received an email from Randy Funston of Excalibur. The extension
granted to his company by the WFEDC expires in February. Employment with Excalibur has
grown, and Mr. Funston thinks he can take advantage of the next $500,000 under the agreement.
Mr. Pearson added, however, that under the extension agreement, the Board has the right to
withdraw the funds if needed for another project.
Mr. Pearson continued, stating that Hunting Titan has been on hold for about three years.
The company had been affected by the oil industry, but is coming back. It has outgrown its current
location and is looking for a temporary site until it can build a larger facility.
4. Discussion and possible action on incentives for Vitro Architectural Glass (PPG).
Bill Haley, Plant Manager for Vitro Architectural Glass, gave a Power Point presentation
on the history of PPG and Vitro. Vitro acquired PPG October 1, 2016. On that day, the company
announced its plan to put a jumbo MSVD coater in North America. Mr. Haley wants to get that
coater at the Wichita Falls plant. He is optimistic that can happen with the incentive package
offered through the WFEDC.
Mr. Haley feels Vitro and PPG are complementary companies, as PPG specializes in
commercial glass, and Vitro in automotive. Vitro is now the biggest glass producer in North
America and wants to continue to grow.
The plant is located on 500 acres, with 34 acres under roof. It has the capacity to make
1,300 tons of glass a day. It uses sand, soda ash, dolomite, and limestone, all of which (except soda
ash) are available in this region. The local plant ships 250-350 trucks a week of finished product
nationwide.
Its major competitors include Guardian (commercial) in Corsicana, and Cardinal
(residential) in Durant, Oklahoma. It had 1,300 employees in 1980. Due to technological
advancements, employment is now at 362 Vitro employees, 100 contract employees, and easily
200 other non -manufacturing jobs that service the industry (truck drivers, mechanics, etc.).
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Mr. Haley said the plant pays taxes totaling $2.4 million, and $60 million in labor and
materials annually. He summarized capital expenditures made at the plant over the years. The
tempering line and the first coater was installed in 2006, for which he thanked the 4A Board and
the City for their assistance. They rebuilt line 1 in 2010 and line 2 in 2014. Three to six million
dollars is invested annually to grow the plant.
Without the jumbo MSVD coater, the Wichita Falls plant cannot maintain its competitive
position in the industry, and will lose business and jobs. The coater they have is 10 years old, and
limited to 13 feet of glass. If another plant gets the jumbo coater, it will cannibalize part of what
this plant does. The plant that gets this coater will be Vitro's flagship plant.
Mr. Bundy asked the time frame for installation of the jumbo coater. Mr. Haley said the
CEO wants it operable April 1, 2018. Mr. Leiker asked how confident he feels that Wichita Falls
will be chosen as the site for the coater. Mr. Haley said it all comes down to dollars and
productivity. He thinks it is theirs to lose. Mr. Dockery asked him about job creation. Mr. Haley
said it would lead to the creation of 50 more jobs, including supervisors and engineers.
5. Discussion and possible action on a $75,000 request from the Sheppard Military
Affairs Committee (SMAC) to support concurrent meetings for the AETC Commander's
Conference and ENJJPT Steering Committee
Glenn Barham said SMAC typically hosts the ENJJPT Steering Committee event in the
spring in Burkburnett. This year, the Senior Leadership Conference for the AETC is having its
conference at Sheppard AFB at the same time, so SMAC decided to host one single dinner.
Initially, $30,000 had been budgeted for the Burkburnett event, but the dinner will now be moved
to MPEC to accommodate the additional guests, and he is requesting $75,000 from the WFEDC
to help fund the event. He distributed an itemized budget of their estimated expenses.
Mr. Barham said this will be a big deal for Wichita Falls, and only the second time that it
has hosted the AETC Commander's Conference. It will be a great opportunity to get Wichita Falls
in the eyes of all those folks and let them find out the missions of Sheppard AFB, and to show
senior leadership how much Wichita Falls supports the base and the Air Force.
Mayor Santellana asked if private citizens are ever asked to contribute to SMAC. Tom
Whaylen said Kay Yeager organizes a capital campaign every three years, and will run another
campaign this year.
Mr. Barham asked that SMAC be allowed to retain any funds left over from this event and
have them be applied to next year's budget to be used for the gala held October 18.
6. Discussion and possible action on deferred maintenance on the ATCO building
Kevin Pearson said ATCO vacated the building they had been leasing from the WFEDC
on November 1. There are several issues to discuss related to that in executive session.
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Mr. Bundy adjourned the meeting into executive session at 4:24 P.m. pursuant to TEXAS
GOVERNMENT CODE section 551.087. He announced the meeting back into regular session at 5:24
p.m. The subjects posted in the Notice of Meeting were deliberated, and no votes or further action
was taken on these items in executive session,
Dacron Leiker moved to approve gp to a $3 million grant to Vitro Architectural Glass under
the terms expressed in the incentive letter dated October 21, 2016. Seconded by Leo Lane, the
motion carried 5-0.
Reno Gustafson moved to approve $75,000 to SMAC for the joint dinner event hosting the
ENJJPT Steering Committee and the AETC Commander's Conference-, further requiring an
accounting of the funds that were spent, and directing that the balance of the unspent funds be
carried forward to the 2017-18 SMAC budget to be used for the October gala. Seconded by Dave
Lillev, the motion carried 5-0.
8. Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 5:28 pm.
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