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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 05/31/1989 - City Council (2)PUBLIC HEARING WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1989 7:30 P.M. Mayor Busse called to order a Public Hearing at 7:30 P.M in city hall. At roll call the following Aldermen were present: Teta, Smith. Donahue arrived at 7:51 P.M. Patterson arrived at 7:56 P.M. Absent Bolger, Lieder, McClatchey, Serritella. City staff in attendance were Clerk Gilpin, Finance and Personnel Director Vitas and Director of Development Greenwood. A sign-up sheet was distributed through the audience for attendance records. Mayor Busse turned the meeting over to Jim Cummings, CDAP Grant Specialist, who was handling the CDAP Grant application in the General Economic Development Category for the McHenry Corporate Center Grant Application. He said that the purpose of the meeting was: 1) obtain citizens suggestions and priorities concerning this grant application project; 2) give the public an opportunity to discuss the project; 3) to provide required program information which was outlined on the Facts Sheet previously handed out; and 4) comments be limited to the economic development for this project. Other items on the agenda which were to be covered tonight regarding the project were: Types of assistance/eligible activities, grant ceiling, fund availability, competition, primary program requirements such as benefit to low and moderate income persons, job creation/retention, leveraging, dollar per job ratio, deadlines and recapture strategies. Cummings referred to the Facts Sheet for General Economic Development Category grants which outlined funding agency source, how it was dispersed, who eligible applicants are and what eligible activities are for this CDAP Grant. He said project was for public facilities to extend water and sewer lines to a building which would create jobs. The facilities installed will eventually be publicly owned extensions of the City's established sewer and water lines. The Facts Sheet also listed ineligible activities for the General Economic Development category, that the grant ceiling is $400,000 and that at least 51 percent of the jobs created or retained must be held by persons whose household incomes for the past year did not exceed the HUD Section 8 limits at the time. Persons can also be referred through the Job Training Partnership Act which would qualify people for that low moderate income benefit determination method. Regarding leveraging, it is preferred that the amount of private funds involved be much greater, or at least two to one, to the public funds involved, Cummings said. If someone is asking for $400,000 in Grant money it is best that they have $800,000 of their own money for the PProject. The Fact Sheet also pointed out that the job funding ratio is $5,000 per job created and it also listed other rating criteria, funding ability and what the competition level was. Cummings pointed out that there is no deadline for this Economic Development Category CDAP Grant. The recapture strategy for grant paybacks has been revised this past year. New standards have been regulated by the State which the City will have to comply with. The City currently has a recapture strategy for the Classic Products Grant but that will have to be now revised to meet the new State standards. The recapture strategy will state what the recapture funds can be used for and how it must be handled. Cummings mentioned that other requirements for the program were minimizing displacement, community development and housing needs and access to public records by the public. Regarding minimizing displacement, Cummings said this had very little to do with this project but the City would have to pass a Resolution adopting a plan for residential anti -displacement and relocation assistance governing the execution of all new Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP) Projects. Since there is no residential areas anywhere in the location of the proposed project for this grant application, this resolution would not pertain to this project but as part of the grant application it must be passed and adopted by the City Council. Concerning community development and housing needs this item was discussed at the prior Public Hearing. Cummings explained that as a part of the grant application, the Mayor must s--,-*it a letter with the application that says these matters were brought up at the public hearing and need attention. The comment made tonight at the Public Hearing regarding the need for water and sewer lines across the river would be a part of that letter. Wednesday, May 31, 1989 page 2 Concerning access to records by the public, City Clerk Gilpin announced that her office is open 8 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday for the general public to obtain access to records kept by the City for financial transactions of the grant. The charge per copy is $.20 for regular size copies and $.25 for legal size copies. Depending on the request the information will be made available immediately or as soon as possible. The next item on the agenda was discussion on the proposed project. The description, the CDAP request, and public discussion either supporting or opposing the project. Cummings reported that Seaquist Pumps, now located in Cary, needs more space and is looking to relocate in the McHenry Corporate Center Park. The Company would bring with it 50 jobs and add another 40 jobs over the next three years. The CDAP Grant is being requested for money to fund water and sewer extensions to serve the site for the Seaquist Pump building. The overall project will involve $6,000,000. That would be $5,000,000 for the building, land and equipment that the Company would put in, about $700,000 by Prime Development for the sewer and water and about $360,000 for a grant from CDAP to fund the sewer and water extensions. The water line would run from Route 31 west through neighboring property and into the industrial property to the plant site of Seaquist. The basic premise for the CDAP grant is that the existing jobs would be lost to the state and new jobs not be created here. Because the Company business has connections, arrangements and a relationship in Wisconsin that they would go to if it wasn't for this particular site and financially this deal is very attractive to Seaquist and if it would not be forthcoming they would not locate here. Cummings said he would prepare the application for the grant in two parts. There are several Federal forms that the State requires that make up the application and the City would have this one file. However, there are some confidential statements that the City would not keep on file. They would go directly to DCCA. One of the primary documents in that application is a letter of commitment from Seaquist addressed to the Mayor and City which contains confidential financial information. The letter serves the purpose to commit the project from Seaquist. Craig Bond, Vice President of Seaquist Pump, was present in the audience to answer any questions that the general public or the City Council might have. Alderman Teta asked if the City was under any obligation in supporting the CDAP grant for Seaquist. Cummings said the City would apply for the funds and then the City would proceed as it normally does for the construction of public sewer and water lines. The City is also responsible for overseeing the expenditure of the Grant Funds as well as overseeing construction of the sewer and water lines. Cummings pointed out there is no financial involvement by the City. If installation of the sewer and water lines is greater than the funds available, there is no exposure to the City to make up the difference. Seaquist would go into the project with the knowledge that if the costs are greater than anticipated the City would not be bearing those costs. The developer or the public entity would bear those costs. In answer to a question, Bond said that Seaquist is a division of the Pittway Corporation. The Seaquist group is part of the packaging group. They are in the dispensing business. They manufacture aerosol valves at the Seaquist plant in Cary. They manufacture closures at the Seaquist Closure Division in Crystal Lake and now they've started a new division, Seaquist Pumps, which is the project planned for McHenry. Presently they have two types of pumps: Fine mist sprayers used in hair care projects and a sprayer used in automotive applications similar to what you see in dispensing Windex. They also will be producing a pump for hand soaps and lotions. In addition to that they also have affiliates in Europe and are in the process of bringing over some of their fine mist sprayers which would be used in the perfume industry. That is where the growth is coming from. Plastic pumps would be assembled at the McHenry site and are presently molded at the site in Wisconsin. Mayor Busse commented that the City has encouraged non-residential development because the preponderance of development in the City has been residential which makes the property tax burden fall on the residential home owner. The City is very much encouraged by this type of development. Wednesday, May 31, 1989 page 3 First, because of its high quality and high standards; and second, it will add taxable property to the City's tax base without adding the impact of bedrooms which have a severe impact on our schools, parks and libraries. He felt that the McHenry Corporate Center was one of the premier parks in McHenry County in that it will have both water and sewer service. Anything the City can do to provide installation of those utilities he felt was a positive move for the City. The Mayor asked if there were any statements or comments from the audience. Mary Kanter asked what types of jobs would be created by this company. Mr. Bond replied that they were full time manufacturing jobs and they would pay the minimum wage. She stated that these were the types of jobs she would like to see in the community. She asked if it was guaranteed that Seaquist would get this grant. Cummings replied that there was never any guarantee on grant applications. She commented that she would rather see TIF money used to let Seaquist in and the CDAP Grant grant go for a Marina because she would rather have Seaquist with full-time jobs that pay well than a marina with service industry jobs. Cummings commented that generally marinas would not be funded under this program. Kanter's closing comment was that she would prefer to have Seaquist come in because they have manufacturing jobs and they pay good money. Cummings said that in stating that there would be no cost to the City, in the Grant they would ask for a certain amount of money for administration costs for the City so that there would be no burden on the City whatsoever. Motion by Smith, seconded by Teta, to adjourn the Public Hearing. Voting Aye: Donahue, Teta, Smith, Patterson. Voting Nay: None. Absent: Bolger, Lieder, McClatchey, Serritella. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:04 P.M. CICLLRK