Council approves PACE buy down for Custom Contracting LLC

The City Council voted 4-1 Monday to approve a $16,000 funding request on a Flex PACE Interest Buy Down for Custom Contracting LLC.

Mayor Clarice Liechty took the item off the consent agenda for the council to reconsider. She said she wanted a separate vote on it. Consent agenda items have been approved in committee and are voted on as a group. The buy down request was approved at the January Finance and Legal Committee meeting in a 4-1 vote, with the mayor voting against it at that time. She voted against the request again Monday.

The Flex PACE request from the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. is for $16,000, with the city’s share at 80 percent or $12,800 and the county’s share $3,200 or 20 percent. Funding for economic development projects comes out of the city sales tax fund and the county’s mill levy. Depending on where the project is located one or the other pays the 80 percent.

Custom Contracting is a start-up business presently working out of the owner’s garage six miles south of Jamestown. The mayor objected at the committee meeting and again at the council meeting that because the business is outside the city “the county should be picking up 80 percent of the cost.”

Councilman Ken Schulz said if this were a grant, it might be an issue, but “it’s a loan to be repaid.” The interest buy down funding will come due for repayment to the JSDC in seven years, after the company’s $225,000 equipment loan is paid off.

Councilman Charlie Kourajian said he thought the owner, Tom Schulz, was looking for a building in town to house his business. Lindsey Larson, JSDC marketing/business development specialist, said that was correct.

“They’ve told us they plan to be in the city within 18 months,” Larson said.

The mayor also pulled off the consent agenda a resolution to go ahead with development of a new Land Use and Transportation Plan for the city. She said she wanted everyone on the council to read the 1994 Land Use and Transportation Plan and discuss it. Then the council could decide if it wanted to go ahead with a new plan.

“Do we want to spend $55,000 if it isn’t required?” she said.

The city only pays 20 percent of the cost. The North Dakota Department of Transportation picks up the rest.

In answer to the mayor, Schulz said “if you don’t plan then you plan to fail. We need to plan for the future. As a council, that should be our mission.”

Liechty said the old plan had to be dug out and the dust blown off and she wondered if it was ever used. Building Administrator Jim Weight said the Planning Commission has used it for years and found it very helpful.

The council voted to put the Land Use and Transportation Plan on the Public Works Committee meeting agenda for more discussion.

Sun reporter Toni Pirkl can be reached at (701) 952-8453 or by e-mail at tonip@jamestownsun.com