Dauphin County Industrial Development Authority 11.15.16
Tuesday February 14, 2017 at 12:54 pm
By James Roxbury

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DAUPHIN COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 @ 12:00 p.m.

112 Market Street - 7th Floor

Harrisburg, PA 17101

Call to Order Mr. Steck, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 12:05 pm

Members Included Matt Steck, Karen Smeltz, Paul Clark and Paul Navarro

Absent: Andrew Johnson

Also present were: George Connor, Executive Director; Bob Wesoloskie, Deputy Director; Mark Stewart, Solicitor; Autumn Gruzlewski and Deb Laudenslager

Public Participation Brad Jones, Harristown Enterprises

Troy Petery, Dauphin County Court Administrator

A motion was made to approve and accept the minutes of the October 18, 2016 meeting as presented. Motion: Ms. Smeltz Second: Mr. Clark Motion passed: 3 – 0, 1 absent

A motion was made to accept the financial statements as presented for October 2016 pending audit. All financials were within budget. Normal activity.

Motion: Mr. Clark Second: Ms. Smeltz

Motion passed: 4 – 0, 1 absent

Nothing to report. Items will be addressed as they come up under new or old business.

Solicitors Report & Action Items

New Business

Market Square Plaza Condominium Association: Mr. Connor was contacted by the Association informing him about the annual meeting. He had some questions about the PMI Management Company and the fees being very high. The fees are the major expense with the parking plaza. Mr. Connor was informed that the Association assesses all of the vendors on an annual basis and make sure that they are getting the lowest rates. The Association is in agreement about the management of the building and trying to save costs wherever able. They will provide a financial audit report which Mr. Connor will review with the Board. It was also suggested that Mr. Connor ask the Association for the bid summary on the management of the property.

Loan Applications: Mr. Connor informed the Board that he received three loan applications. Mr. Jones from Harristown Enterprises is in attendance and will do a presentation to the Board.

Harristown Enterprise: Mr. Jones is requesting from the IDA help to secure a major site in Downtown Harrisburg on Market Street that would be available for a very large new tower of some type. There is a focus on three buildings. The loan that Harristown Enterprises is here to discuss is for the building that Eddie’s Clothing Store is located. It has been for sale for two years. They have received a $270K loan commitment letter from CREDC. He is here today to request $125K which would help Harristown to further offset the acquisition of this property. The loan committee review is recommending 2.5% with a fixed five year term with a second lien on the building. The anticipated use of the tower would be a 10-12 story office tower which will include a few floors of parking, first floor retail and mostly commercial offices. However, because it is in the early stages there are various possibilities.

A motion was made to approve the loan to Harristown Enterprises based upon the Loan Committee’s review and recommendation of $125,000.00 with a five year term at 2.5% interest.

Motion: Mr. Clark

Second: Ms. Smeltz

Motion passed: 4 – 0, 1 absent

Steelton Borough Skate Park: Mr. Connor discussed this project with the IDA Board in October 2016 and notified the Board of the request of the Steelton Borough. This loan request is for a skateboard park. It is located behind I. Abel Hall. The loan request is for $80,000.00. The Loan Committee is recommending 2.8% with a fixed five year term. The collateral would be secured by the revenue tax from the Borough. They have requested some grant funding from other sources. If awarded, they will then pay the loan off, so theoretically they may only have the loan for a year or two pending the grants.

A motion was made to approve the loan to Steelton Borough based upon the Loan Committee’s review and recommendation of $80,000.00 with a fixed five year term of 2.8%. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $120,000.00. They have received a Tourism Grant for design and construction.

Motion: Mr. Clark

Second: Ms. Smeltz

Motion passed: 4 – 0, 1 absent

Opportunity Construction Loan: This will be tabled until all of the information is received which will be necessary to approve it at this time.

A motion was made to table the Opportunity Construction Loan at this time.

Motion: Mr. Clark

Second: Mr. Navarro

Motion passed: 4 – 0, 1 absent

Old Business

Solar Project: Nothing to report since the last meeting. A proposed letter to the PUC was presented to Mr. Connor regarding getting the Solar Farm back on the proper rate class.

Gaming Update: To date, there have been three local share municipal grant hearing meetings and there are two more to go. A concern was brought up that the hearings are public meetings and why the public wasn’t able to comment at the meetings. It was reiterated that the door is open to anyone who would like to attend. At the time that the concern was brought forward, the solicitor informed the individual that a public comment session is only required at meetings where the agency is taking official action and deliberating and that it is not required under the Sunshine Act for a meeting that is informational only where the information is being presented to the agency. It was up to the Gaming Advisory Board’s discretion if they wanted to entertain it voluntarily. The public that brought up the concern then said that they would like copies of all of the applications so that they could make informed comments as they stated. The County’s policy has been that Right to Know requests have to be made for applications. There is an exception that applies to pending applications, but the applications are then available after the County acts upon them.

There was a Memorandum of Understanding that the County entered into with Penn National Gaming to assure at least six months of local share funding for 2017 likely for the whole year.

Veteran’s Building Update: On December 15, the Register of Wills Department will be locating to the offices in the back of the 7th Floor while their current space in the courthouse is being renovated. Upon their departure, the Prothonotary’s office will vacate the same space on the 7th floor until their space is renovated as well. This will cause an increase of traffic flow in the Veteran’s Building in the next five to six months. Additional security has been requested. This will be granted to us. Additional janitorial services for the restrooms will also be needed. Once the temporary moves are complete, there is someone interested in the space for a permanent move.

DCIB: Nothing to report. During the gaming meetings, the Gaming Advisory Board has been telling the applicants about the Infrastructure Bank. There are multiple projects that could apply for this; however, there are not 2too many that want to take the debt. The new application deadline is February 1. There will be a lot of outreach to other municipalities between now and then.

MDJ Lindsey: The bids were open on September 30. There were 9 bids from 9 different construction companies. The high bid was from RE Crawford Construction at $1,529,785.00 and the low bidder was Balton Construction at $1,224,624.00. Balton Construction was the company that constructed the MDJ Witmer building. It was recommended that the bid be accepted of Balton Construction at $1,224,624.00.

A motion was made to award and approve the bid of Balton Construction at $1,224,624.00.

Motion: Mr. Clark

Second: Ms. Smeltz

Motion passed: 4 – 0, 1 absent

Insurance Review: Mr. Enders from Enders Insurance presented to the Board in September 2016. There is a proposal from Enders Insurance and Cincinnati for $48,264.00 for coverage on the Veteran’s Building, the parking garage and the Solar Farm. The quote that was given to us is locked in for three years.

A motion was made to award and approve the insurance contract in the amount of $48,000.00 to Enders Insurance as presented by Mr. Connor.

Motion: Ms. Smeltz Second: Mr. Clark

Motion passed: 3 – 0, 1 absent, 1 recusal

Correspondence/ Miscellaneous Items

Included in the meeting packet for the Board is the Director Activity Report for October 2016.

Board Comments None

Adjournment A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 12:44 p.m.

Motion: Mr. Clark

Second: Ms. Smeltz

Motion passed 4 - 0, 1 absent

 
Tags: , Brad Jones, Harrisburg, Harristown, IDA, Industrial Development Authority, Market Street