MINUTES
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA |
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS |
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COUNTY OF HENDERSON |
AUGUST 24, 1999 |
The Henderson County Board of Commissioners met for a special called meeting at 3:00 p.m. in the Commissioners= Conference Room of the Henderson County Office Building at 100 North King Street, Hendersonville, North Carolina. This was a workshop with the Greater Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce to discuss Economic Development Guidelines.
Those present were: Chairman Grady Hawkins, Vice-Chair Bill Moyer, Commissioner Renee Kumor, Commissioner Don Ward, Commissioner Marilyn Gordon, County Manager David E. Nicholson, Assistant County Manager/Interim County Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.
Also present were: Bob Williford, Ray Cantrell, Tom Cooper, and Chip Gould from the Chamber of Commerce.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Hawkins called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance.
CHANGE TO AGENDA
Chairman Hawkins asked that the Board allow him to change the agenda to add one item ACancellation of workshop on August 26". He had received a letter from the Sheriff indicating that they would not be able to make that meeting. The workshop was scheduled to discuss the implementation of the legal department with the affected department heads.
Following some discussion, it was the consensus of the Board to hold the workshop and meet with all the departments except the Sheriff and to hold a meeting with him at a later time to discuss this item.
PRESENTATION ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Chairman Hawkins asked Angela Beeker to give an update on Economic Development. She reviewed the following outline with those in attendance:
A. Mission Statement
B. Comprehensive Land Use Plan
III. Board actions - What has the Board done?
A. Overview of Economic Incentives Granted
B. General Guidelines Used
C. Process
IV. Summary of Results
A. Net Economic Incentives Paid/Owed.
B. Summary of Results for 1998 Tax Year
C. FY 1999-2000 Projections
She shared several documents with the Commissioners including one booklet that her office had prepared and is distributing to businesses/industries on Henderson County=s commitment to economic development. She distributed NC General Statutes that are applicable for economic development and discussed those briefly.
Annual Incentive formulas
Chairman Hawkins reminded the Board and the Chamber of other considerations that play into whatever package the Chamber and Board of Commissioners eventually work out:
Unemployment
Point of sale tax
Agriculture
Current incentive balance sheet
Water/sewer
Zone
Quality of Life (tax; education)
Work First
Impact on other County functions
Industrial bonds
Local banks 1/4% loan set aside for small business
Municipal input
Annexation
Jobs created
Amount invested
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Ray Cantrell explained that people think you=re giving something away when you use the word Aincentives@ but you are not, you are investing the county=s money for a return. The Committee of 100 is the focal point for economic development in our county.
They have a new project underway where they call on existing industries. They don=t want our existing industries to feel left out of the process of economic development. He shared several of the items the Committee of 100 had been active in accomplishing in the past year for existing industries.
Mr. Cantrell discussed briefly the Chamber=s assistance with small business bid process.
Tom Cooper discussed briefly the fairness issue concentrating on current or new small industries in our county. He recommended that the Board consider fairness when developing their economic development package.
Chairman Hawkins brought up the fact that many of the small businesses are located in municipalities. He brought up the fact of a lack of participation from the municipalities. He stated that at some point there should be some dialogue between the county and municipalities regarding annexations. If a business was annexed, their tax rate could double. He related this to the fairness issue also.
The Chamber and Committee of 100 would like to have a document in hand that they can distribute to businesses/industries who are interested in locating in Henderson County.
There was discussion of benefit packages that industries offer, discussion of commercial businesses, wages paid to employees, etc.
Following much discussion, the Board gave some direction to Ms. Beeker so she could re-write Henderson County=s economic development package. She will incorporate items discussed at this meeting and then distribute the revised package to the Board for review/adoption.
SMALL BUSINESS BID PROCESS
Chairman Hawkins mentioned Chamber assistance with the small business bid process. Henderson County has had occasion where they felt that when going out for bid for various things, some of the smaller business people have had trouble complying as the responsive bidder. It would probably be beneficial to have some kind of program in place to help with responding to those bids so that they could be competitive. The Chamber was positive about assisting with this problem and asked for a letter from the County asking for a seminar/publication to assist small businesses with the bid process.
There being no further business to come before the Board, Chairman Hawkins adjourned the meeting.
ATTEST:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk Grady Hawkins, Chairman