Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project ManagerS. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Dario Orlando, CEO of
Steeda Manufacturing,
which currently makes performance parts for Mustangs,
told the Industrial Authority at its
21 August 2012 Regular Session
that Steeda
is moving into making medical parts, plus selling to GM,
and into new geographical markets.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Allan Ricketts, VLCIA Project Manager, explained that
Steeda had requested a second extension, and an amendment to reduce
the requirement of number of jobs from 40 to 30.
We certainly think that is justified in the very difficult economic climate
and conditions that we’ve had over the past couple of years,
and certainly acknowledging that in that very challenging economic time,
we’ve had steady continued growth by Steeda.
And so now we’re up to about 23 employees there.
I think it is also significant to note […] that
Steeda has now moved its entire manufacturing operation to Valdosta.
That move represents about a million five investment in the community.
Actually specifically it is $1,480,950
in some very unique manufacturing equipment.
I think it is important to understand
that some of this manufacturing equipment provides a great resource here
that two of the current projects that we are chasing are very interested in.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 August 2012.
Dario Orlando then remarked that things were going very well, and:
We’re expanding into other markets
like I’d mentioned before the commencement of the meeting.
We’re moving into medical manufacturing because we do have the most advanced
manufacturing capabilities here in Valdosta.
Furthermore, we’re starting to supply General Motors
with performance parts,
the GM performance brand.
We opened up another company here in Valdosta called LSR Performance.
I was telling Allan this morning… that we’re all going to be looking back at this day.
I plan to have a couple of hundred employees here in the next five years.
I’d heard a rumor that some sort of lawsuit about the biomass site
was the subject of some of the Industrial Authority executive
sessions for real estate discussions.
VLCIA has finally said in public what their position is.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to send a
petition to Lowndes County Superior Court to sue Wiregrass Power,
LLC, for a clear title on the land purchased for the development of
a biomass energy plant.
The Authority believes Wiregrass defaulted on a lease agreement to
build the plant, placing ownership of the 22.22-acre tract back in
their hands, but Wiregrass denies the allegations. This denial casts
“a cloud” of suspicion on the Authority that may prevent
it from re-marketing the property, according to the petition,
leading to the suit.
Sounds like they’re publicizing their intent
to try to scare Sterling off without having to sue.
I’m for that.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority’s Regular Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 5:30 PM at the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street.
Last meeting, VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer told me the results of the focus groups would be presented this month. Maybe she meant at this meeting. On the VLCIA facebook page, there’s this paragraph from 14 August 2012:
We are excited to present our final Target Business Analysis to the community at the end of August. We took at 360 degree approach to targeting economic development activity concentrating on employment, workforce skill, investment, and innovation to identify clusters of economic activity and developing targeted strategies for economic development.
It links to this (unembeddable) video of Andrea Schruijer talking about cluster analysis. It’s good they’re branching out to new ways of doing PR. It would be even better if they also published agendas and minutes with content.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority's Regular Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 5:30 PM at the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street.
The Industrial Authority board at their 19 June 2012 meeting decided to renominate the same officers for another term at the 19 June 2012 Industrial Authority meeting. All their business park projects are ahead of schedule and under budget, although it seems odd to be cutting down trees to detain water. They’re under budget for the entire year, and next year’s budget is less than that for the the fiscal year just being completed. They have hired a website contractor, and they’ve already made extensive changes to their Valdosta Prospector website. The 100% VSEB native grass landscaping project is underway.
Jerry Jennett said the proposed new budget included $31,000 less in general operations, clarified expenditures for example in business retention and expansion, and the total was about $906,000, down from $916,000 for the previous fiscal year. Maybe soon we the taxpayers will get to see this budget that they approved at that meeting a month ago.
S. Meghan Duke said they had selected Marketing Alliance to update their website and they’d be meeting in July for “a creative brief and a site map”. She said it would go fast, although once again she didn’t actually say when she expected it would be visible on the web. And they’d updated all their other websites, Georgia EMC, Select Georgia, Location Georgia, and Valdosta Prospector. Plus they were developing economic development presentations that officials throughout the county could use, on industrial sites, retail and restaurants, etc.
The nominating committee asked the entire current slate of officers to serve another term and they all said yes: Chairman Roy Copeland, Vice-Chairman Mary Gooding, and Secretary-Treasurer Norman Bennett. Roy Copeland proposed changing the official term length to two years. Attorney Gupton pointed out terms of board members were odd lengths, so one could roll off the board before a two year officer term was up. Jerry Jennett said he’d looked at the enabling legislation (presumably the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Act) and he thought it meant officers were elected every year. Copeland accepted that point, and they voted to accept that slate. They actually elect officers at their next meeting (today). (I’m glad they’re reading their own charter these days, and I no longer have to read it to them.)
Video Playlist Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett, Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton Attorney, Tom Davis CPA, Allan Ricketts Project ManagerS. Meghan Duke Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager, Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 June 2012.
Lots of interesting detail; room for improvement in marketing and high level presentation: Valdosta-Lowndes Prospector website.
S. Meghan Duke gave a lengthy presentation of the GIS website Valdosta-Lowndes Prospector, at the 19 June 2012 VLCIA meeting. Chairman Roy Copeland wanted to know (5:21) whether it showed at the top the industrial parks VLCIA has spent so much time and effort developing, maybe by age, size, in alphabetical order? She indicated you could do all those things, but they didn’t necessarily crop up without somebody selecting filters that caused them to crop up. However they are featured properties, and whenever they are updated, updates show up. Project Manager Allan Ricketts said he’d heard good reactions so far. Executive Director Andrea Schruijer said they could feature parks or whatever through facebook and twitter, too. And yes, they have a floodplain overlay, among many other overlays.
The first 100% VSEB contract, local industry expansion, new prospects,
a bank lost a bond, and new Georgia sunshine laws require attention.
Here are videos of the entire 22 May 2012 meeting
of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) board.
Here’s
the agenda.
Guests included
a camera crew from VSU, one of whom was Cameron Copeland,
Chairman Roy Copeland’s son.
CPA Tom Davis
said the county told him revenues were flat, so VLCIA would get about
the same amount as last year.
Tom Call asked if revenues would catch up over 6 months or 8 months.
Call said they would eventually.
Tom Call reported for the budget committee and said
expenses were projected to be down for the coming year,
plus the budget would be more specific about where revenues
were being spent.
Meghan Duke
reported
they had gotten an article in the newspaper,
and they had held an OSHA training meeting at Wiregrass Tech.
They plan to hold further courses and will send out a survey about that.
She also
expected updates to the land-searching
Valdosta Prospector website
to be ready in a few weeks.
She and Andrea Schruijer had
selected 3 finalists
out of 10 proposals to redo the VLCIA website.
Her only stated criterion for picking one was
New Georgia sunshine laws explained by VLCIA lawyer
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager, Tom Davis, CPA, Lu Williams, Operations Manager, S. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 May 2012.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
VLCIA is even posting notices of committee meetings now!
According to their
website,
the Industrial Authority has two meetings today:
Committee Meeting Notice The Nominating Committee for the Valdosta
Lowndes County Industrial Authority will meet Tuesday, June 19,
2012, 1:00 PM at the Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N.
Patterson Street.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority’s Regular Monthly
Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 5:30 PM at the
Industrial Authority Conference Room, 2110 N. Patterson Street.
The nominating committee is for officers; they elect new ones annually.
Here’s
the agenda.
It has no content, but at least they post one.
Unlike their minutes.
-jsq
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Agenda
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 5:30 p.m.
Industrial Authority Conference Room
2110 N. Patterson Street
Here are videos of the
21 August 2012 Regular meeting.
of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
Here's
the agenda.
.jpg)
