Brownwood City Council approved the action of the Brownwood Economic Development Corporation Board, granting a $200,000 business expansion loan to Loadcraft Industries which also contains a job creation credit. The loan will allow the company to also add many jobs in the process.
According to a council briefing sheet, Loadcraft Industries is under contract to purchase the former Fenton building on Hwy 377 and will move the assembly of standard drilling rigs (currently in Brady) and the concrete batch plant (currently in Early) to the Fenton location. The building at the location will require about $400,000 in electrical work to get the building up to code and supply power for new equipment. The company is investing approximately $500,000 in new equipment and facility expansion for the Fenton plant and the existing Brownwood plant.
Loadcraft plans on starting with 25-30 jobs in the Fenton plant and adding 8-12 jobs in the Brownwood plant. BEDC Executive Director Emily Crawford stated that the company is doing well and has hired over 300 people since January 1, 2014. Of those, 119 are out of town contractors working at all three Loadcraft locations. Their employees have an average wage of $15-20/hour.
The loan with the job creation credit has a 5-year term and a $40,000 annual payment, according to Crawford. Job credits are based off of wage for new Brownwood jobs (at both plants) created and retained beginning September 1, 2014, and has a maximum job credit of $30,000 per year.
In other matters on Tuesday’s agenda:
*Brownwood City Council approved the Meet and Confer Agreements with both the Brownwood Municipal Police Association (BMPA) and the Brownwood Professional Firefighters Association (BPFFA) which resulted in the base salary increase for each agency. Both Brownwood firefighters and police officers will receive a 3% increase in their base salaries on October 1, 2014. Firefighters and police officers received a 3% raise in October of 2012 after a two year meet and confer agreement was reached. These raises were given as all city employees received cost of living salary increases.
The current agreement between the city and BMPA also includes a 1 year term of the agreement, redefining the dimensions from which interview questions are asked by the New Hire Board of new hires to make the questions more relevant, and establishes a Chief of Police Advisory Committee (composed of patrol officers, the chief of police and the city manager).
The current agreement between the city and BFFPA is for a term of one year.
*Council approved the BEDC 2014/2015 annual budget.
*A public hearing was conducted and approval granted by council of financings by Clyde Education Facilities Corporation and the Crawford Education Facilities Corporation for the benefit of Howard Payne University in a maximum aggregate principal amount of $11,500,000. This debit is not a debit of the City of Brownwood and no public funds are involved in this financing. City Manager Bobby Rountree explained that this approval was a requirement for HPU to qualify for this debt as tax exempt, the governing body where the University’s project is located must approve the notes refinancing the debt. The approval of the indebtedness will not inhibit the city’s ability to have bank qualified indebtedness in the future, Rountree further explained.
*Council will meet in five sessions in September: September 2, 9, 12 (Friday), 16 and 23.
