By GINA KINSLOW
GLASGOW — Edmonton city officials are moving ahead with plans to construct a spec building in hopes it will help attract industry to the area, despite the scaling back of production by some area manufacturing companies.
The 65,000 square foot building will be constructed on the city’s industrial site on Ky. 163. The project will be overseen by members of the Edmonton-Metcalfe County Industrial Development Authority.
The city council recently joined forces with the Metcalfe Fiscal Court to officially create the Edmonton-Metcalfe Industrial Development Authority, which is seeking $1.7 million in funding through the Tennessee Valley Authority, the state and a local bank for the project.
Councilwoman Teresa Welsh asked Mayor Howard Garrett on Monday night if it was the right time to go ahead with such a project.
“Well, from what the industrial authority has been told, and this is coming from TVA, if you don’t have anything to show prospective clients, they won’t look at you,” Garrett said.
Welsh pointed out that the city will soon have an empty manufacturing facility on Industrial Drive due to the closing of a factory.
Garrett told her the city has inquired about purchasing the building, but that the company has said it is not interested in selling it.
“We don’t have any buildings to show anyone,” he said.
The council moved ahead with the project by appointing three people to serve on the industrial authority’s board of directors. They were Tommy Nunnally, two years; Mark Linkous, three years; and Joseph Curry, four years.
Until recently only the fiscal court had been making appointments to the organization’s board of directors, but according to an agreement between the city council and the fiscal court, each governing body will now be responsible for appointing three people to sit on the six-member board.
Next, the council adopted a resolution authorizing Garrett to guarantee the indebtedness of the industrial authority for the construction of the spec building.
He explained the resolution was something the TVA has requested.
“TVA has asked for some information from the city,” Garrett said. “They need three years of audits of the city. That’s already been gotten for them. They needed an opinion from the city attorney stating we could guarantee (50 percent of the) debt … and then, also, we needed a resolution guaranteeing the indebtedness of the Edmonton-Metcalfe County Industrial Devel-opment Authority.”
The fiscal court will be responsible for the remaining 50 percent of the debt.
The industrial authority has received a grant for $200,000 to fund infrastructure installation, and a $300,000 grant to cover design and construction costs. Garrett pointed out that the $200,000 grant for infrastructure is not included in the $1.7 million figure.
He also noted that before the industrial authority enters into any loan or finalizes any agreement, there will be a joint meeting of the city council and the fiscal court.
“Once the industrial authority goes to bid and the bids come back in, we will have a joint meeting between city council and fiscal court to show members what is being planned and then the council and fiscal court will know how much money we’re talking about,” Garrett said.
