Brownwood City Council approved the Brownwood Economic Development Corporation action of funding a grant match of 10% or up to $100,000 maximum for a Skills Development Fund Grant through the Texas Workforce Commission in partnership with TSTC, Ranger College, M&F Gauge and Kohler Company.
City Manager Bobby Rountree explained, in the absence of BEDC Director Emily Crawford, that the BEDC, TSTC, and Ranger College have been working with Kohler Company and M&F Gauge to identify each company’s training needs, primarily related to technical skills. The Skills Development Fund Grant through the Texas Workforce Commission helps companies such as Kohler and M& F gauge develop, implement, and improve training programs, so that they can hire, retain, and advance employees within their companies.
The proposal includes equipment, curriculum, and instructional courses to provide 53,184 hours of training for nearly 1,000 employees, which will include 100 new positions in Brownwood. Rountree explained that this training will be for technical positions and not administrative positions.
Ranger College will be in the fiscal agent of the grant and will work with TSTC to help create the training programs as well as administer the grant.
Ranger College and TSTC are working together to prepare and submit the application for the grant which is expected to be awarded by the end of the calendar year, said Rountree. A grant match in the form of a cash donation from the local community greatly increases the chance of being awarded the grant explained Rountree. The grant match will be applied across the life of the grant and be taken from BEDC funds which are budgeted for job training over the next two fiscal years.
“Emily tells me that the grant could be anywhere from a million to a million and a half dollars, so they are requesting your support for this grant application submission,” said Rountree to the council.
Ruth Willis spoke of the scope of the grant, “The large part of the grant is that you have to show you are hiring new employees but it can be applied to current employees.” She explained that Kohler has about 1000 employees and M&F Gauge has another 25 that will be participating in this technical training. “We are working for a 1.1 million grant, but when we get about halfway through the life of the grant, we can apply for equipment, to be able to set up simulators and things like that (for training) so that they don’t have to have equipment shut down to do the training,” Willis explained.
“I’m pleased to see the BEDC participating in this,” said Jerry DeHay. “This is one of the things that makes us attractive, that we do have a well trained workforce in this area, which continually upgrades us. When you have all your industry and educational resources working together, it is a total enhancement to the community and also positions us very, very well in terms for competing for industry.”
Mayor Haynes asked how this matching grant was found and initiated. Don Bostic, Executive Vice President Ranger College, explained, “the state has $50 million set aside and it is like a knife fight to see who will get this money, it is hard to get and very competitive. It would be a big deal for us to be able to pull this off. I think the $100,000 in matching tips it in our favor.”
In other matters on the agenda:
*Council held a public hearing on a proposal to increase total tax revenues from properties on the tax roll by 6.36% by adopting the proposed tax rate of $0.7463 per $100 valuation. A second public hearing will be held on September 12th. Council will consider adopting the tax rate on first reading September 16th and on second and final reading on September 23.
*Council approved updating the Brown County Mutual Aid agreement for Emergency Services and authorizing the mayor to sign said document.
*Council awarded the Airport Main Hanger re-roofing bid to Lydick-Hooks Roofing in the amount of $96,176. According to Rountree, the hanger has not been re-roofed in many years and has numerous leaks. Bids for the re-roofing were received on August 28th with the low bid being that from Lydick-Hooks. The existing roofing will be removed to expose the existing wooden decking which will be inspected and repaired as needed before the new roofing material is applied. The new roof will be a 45 mill thick single ply flexible membrane fully adhered to a mechanically attached ½ inch underlayment material. The work is to be completed on or before January 1, 2015 and will have a 10-year materials warranty and a 2-year workmanship warranty provided.
The bid amount was $96,176 with an $11.20 per sq. ft. cost for roof deck repair. It is estimated this roof deck repair will be approximately $9,000, bringing the total cost estimated to $105,176. Previously the council had budgeted $89,000 from the Facility Improvement Tax Note that was borrowed last year for the repair and the additional funds will come from reserves as there are no surplus funds available from the other projects included in the tax note.
