23 February 2021 Dearborn County Council Meeting Notes
Present: Liz Morris, President, Dennis Kraus. Sr., Dan Lansing, Kevin Turner, Tim Doll, Alan Goodman, and Glenn Wright.
Also present: Connie Fromhold, Auditor, Sue Hayden, Administrator, and Andy Baudendistel, County Attorney
Title VI Statement read as legally required by Baudendistel
Dormant Fund Elimination- Boston Mutual $11.06 unused for several years. Transferred to County General. Approved
Planning & Zoning- Transfer funds from Part-Time to Planning Consultant Account (contract worker). $3,000 transferred to The consultant account. Approved.
Public Hearing for West Harrison Economic Redevelopment Area Confirmatory - Baudendistel - introduced that there are 2 resolutions for this. Diane Bender President of DCRC presented. They are here for the final step in this process. First request is to establish the ERA- Economic Revitalization Area. Glenn Wright asked why they had not extended the area all the way to Hirlinger property. Bender said they could talk about that in the 2nd part. Council adopted the confirmatory resolution that they discussed last meeting, There were 2 NAYS- Dennis Kraus and Glenn Wright.
Now that the ERA is established , Bender said they want to move forward with the tax abatement. She introduced the company Dyke Industries that does Millwork . They have outgrown their facility n Erlanger KY.
Resolution and Abatement.
Open Public Hearing- Pat Doyle ( general manager) to speak for the company.- 150 year old company, They pre-hang interior and exterior doors. They buy the jambs and assemble them They do not do garage doors. Mostly residential. Labor intensive work.
Cushman Wakefield rep spoke also as they were instrumental in bringing them here. They had done a national site search. They had partnered with a local partner- named Maxwell. They had conversations with DCRC and Mike Perleberg of One Dearborn, They worked with IEDC in a parallel path with One Dearborn to get on this site.
54 new jobs with this business. The skill training will be done on the job floor mostly. Wood shop and milling. Not as easy to find carpentry laborers. Not as many tradesmen who can use bandsaws etc. Math skills, reading tape measure and fractions, train them to saws and routers. More skilled get higher pay. Training will be lower, but after learning can get higher wage. Average is $16/hour. That will be determined by the market. Skills will save them 2-3 months of training. Once they finalize and make a decision on the site, they will look at the schools and the community. That’s why they hired a local contractor ( Maxwell) who knows the lay of the land. Hours are 6 am to midnight. They run 2 shifts. Produce earlier and loading in the evening. Total of 106 employees counting the new ones they plan to hire.
Glenn Wright- asked about the about the site extending to Hirlinger. Perleberg also explained about the 500 year flood plain issues. They picked the section with the least flood plain issues. The latest update came out in 2019 around the Johnson Fork area. The 14 acre site is the highest area there There will be fill and a retention pond for drainage is needed. DCRC is comfortable wit the 80% over a 10 year period per Perleberg. They are buying the land as it is and there are no obligations for DCRC to consider. It is easier for them to front load the cash than to do a TIF. There cash is for road cost etc. This is a simpler process to get an ERA and get an abatement. DCRC still has the capital to balance the site in the back. It’s less expensive than to have had a bond and all los expenses. Lansing asked about making sure the other sites can still get their infrastructure there. Perleberg said yes - they have the frontage. They have alter of intent from Dyke per Andrea Ewan- DCRC Attorney. Lansing asked about how long they will stay. They will have a buy-back provision if they do not build.
Dyke has been in Erlanger since 1953- they are not moving from here per Pat Doyle. They will have annual reporting for public disclosure to show they are meeting their goals. Kraus asked about being sure they have 56 new employees in 3 years. They will have an act of God clause in their contract though in case COVID or whatever interferes with this. IEDC will have the number of employee clawbacks in their agreement with Dyke per Ewan. Ewan said the DCRC is ore interested in the tax base. Glenn asked if the property was appraised. Perleberg said it was averted at $51,000/acre. The land is being sold to Dyke for a discounted price.Wright asked what this would do to the other parts of the property that have 500 year flood plain issues. And what will that do to the price they pay for it? He also asked if the lower price on this sale would affect the ,market rate for the rest of the property.
Liz Morris said that having a strong track record like this - same as with Whitewater Mills and Naegele. They are a150 year old business. They want to get started- they are excited about this and they want to be corporate partner with the county. Abatement does not start until the asset is on the property. Hoping to start building in the spring. Perleberg visited their site in Tennessee. No chemicals- just sawdust and packaging. So no environmental concerns.
No one in the public asked to address the issue.
Close Public Hearing
Council adopted the resolution approving the statement of benefits and SB-1 attached. Approved with Kraus and Wright both Nays
Morris thanked One Dearborn and DCRC for all their work on this.
Auditor- Minutes from January 26th Council meeting approved.
May 25th next meeting Schedule of Council Meetings was changed to 5 PM for start time. November will be at 5:30 as Commissioners precede it. All others will be at 5 PM.
Council signed the salary ordinance.
Meeting adjourned at 6 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
