The Brownfield Industrial Development Corporation Board of Directors met on Monday afternoon, November 14, in regular session. There were several items on the agenda.
BHS Welding Instructor Shelby Smith gave a presentation to the board on the needs of the welding department. Smith stated there are about 85 students currently enrolled in the Welding program at BISD. His request was for $39,265 for a CNC Plasma Cutting System. This bid was from Lincoln Electric. The board did approve this request.
Smith expressed extreme gratitude to the board for supporting this program. “I am so grateful that you all see the needs we have and are willing to support our students.” The plasma-cutting system should be in place within the next couple of months.
BISD Superintendent Chris Smith also came before the board requesting matching funds for a grant to begin a Certified Patient Care Technician program. Smith stated, “We have had so many requests for a program such as this one. We have the opportunity to receive a grant from LEDA if we can provide matching funds. We score higher when we can show our community, in particular, our Industrial/Economic Development Board is behind us.”
The program will come at a cost of around $100,000. BIDCorp voted to give $25,000 toward the start of this program. BISD will match this with $25,000. This program will not be available until Fall of 2023.
BIDCorp Executive Director Gina Kelly stated, “I have just returned from a Basic Economic Development Class in Richardson. Almost every single speaker talked about the needs of the workforce and pointed to the need for Corporations, such as ours, to partner with the local school district to help with getting graduating students ready for the workforce, if that is their path. They said if our school is not pushing career readiness as a tract, we need to encourage them in that direction. I had to smile because I knew BISD was already well ahead of the curve on this and that we had already found ways to partner with them to increase our skilled workforce in Terry County. We are blessed to have a board that sees the importance in this.”
The board also approved Haden Signs out of Lubbock to do the necessary repairs on the neon at The Rialto. The sign was heavily damaged in the hailstorm that came through. Haden is proposing a rope-like lighting system that will resist hail damage. This neon-like LED will come at a cost of $24,000. Board member Dan Jackson stated, “We have so much invested in this building already and it would be a shame to stop now. It has become a popular place for pictures and the marquee has publicized so many Brownfield events.”
A Haden Signs representative told BIDCorp they would do their best to have the sign repaired and lit up in time for the Christmas Electric Light Parade on December 5.
The board tabled a bid for the construction of a TxDOT-approved driveway for the Cargill Industrial Park at this time. It was felt that the size of the driveway on the bid was not large enough to adequately handle turning truck traffic. More information and perhaps another bid will be sought for this.
On the financial side of things, the sales tax for November was $49,097.15. This was down from $53,489.98 last year. Overall, sales tax is up for Terry County for this fiscal year. Sales tax is the sole funding for projects undertaken by BIDCorp. No property tax dollars are ever used for any project funded by BIDCorp.
The Board also voted to move the December meeting up to December 12 to accommodate for the Christmas holidays.
All members were present with the exception of Michael Franke who had to be out of town.
