NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

MINUTES

JANUARY 31, 2008

The Newberry County Council met on Thursday, January 31, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room at the Courthouse Annex, 1309 College Street, Newberry, SC, for a work session.

Present were: William D. Waldrop, Vice-Chairman

Mike Hawkins, Councilman (arrived 6:20 p.m.)

Edgar Baker, Councilman

Henry H. Livingston, III, Councilman (arrived 6:15 p.m.)

Wayne Adams, County Administrator

Gary T. Pope, County Attorney

Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council

Absent: Henry B. Summer, Chairman

John E. Caldwell, Councilman

Press: Cindy Pitts, The Newberry Observer

Heather Hawkins, WKDK

Notice of the meeting was duly advertised as required by law.

Mr. Waldrop called the work session to order.

Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the agenda; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous by the Council members present. (Councilmen Summer, Caldwell, Hawkins and Livingston absent).

Teresa Powers, Economic Development Director, advised that representatives from Alliance Consulting Engineers were present and prepared to discuss issues surrounding the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park as well as to update Council on where we were and where we were going. Also, present was Robin Cooley with Central Midlands Council of Governments, who would discuss a grant through the EDA for which the County had applied, and if approved, the grant would help with phase one of the park.

Ms. Cooley stated the EDA had received the pre-application, which takes approximately 60 days to review. If they consider it a good project, we would then receive an invitation letter by the first or second week of March, which would invite the County to submit a full application. The invitation is not the actual award but indicates how much money they would allocate to the project. The County will then have 30 days from the invitation letter to complete the full application. It will then go through certifications and sign offs and will be sent to Washington, D.C. for them to review and approval, which would be another 30 days before an award letter (approximately the first or second week of May before an actual award).

(Councilmen Livingston and Hawkins arrived)

They are not willing to take a lot of risk, and this project could not go out to bid on anything until you get a grant award or a notice to proceed. Construction documentation will have to be approved by EDA first, which would probably take one week or less.

If the grant is approved, the County could probably go out to id the end of May or first of June. This grant would not reimburse the County for anything prior to the grant award.

EDA looks at the private investment from the company and the number of jobs they would create within three years of the project.

Deepal Eliatamby, Olney England and James Frost, Jr., with Alliance Consulting, then made their presentation to Council. The master plan was presented to the County on May 31, 2007. Alliance Consulting was asked in late June 2007 to proceed with design. Forty-three sheets of plans have been submitted to the agencies for review. The Department of Transportation, the Water and Sewer Authority and DHEC are all currently reviewing the plans.

Nasmyth wants to be in the building in December 2008 or January 2009. Alliance Consulting would be more comfortable with a time line of February or March 2009, and Nasmyth is comfortable with extending the time line to February or March 2009.

The phase one construction period would be 150 to 180 days.

There is actually an existing construction road that goes to the Nasmyth property, and that road would get them to their site for them to begin construction.

Ms. Cooley, when asked our chances of getting the grant, advised we would be competing against an eight state region; however, Nasmyth is in the type of business in which EDA is interested.

Alliance expects the project to be within budget.

Mr. Baker moved to delay putting this out for bid until the County received a decision on the grant; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous by Council members present. Councilman Livingston was out of the room at the time of the motion and vote. Councilmen Summer and Caldwell were absent.

There being no further business, Mr. Baker moved to adjourn; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

______________________________

William D. Waldrop, Vice-Chairman

______________________________

Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council

APPROVED: FEBRUARY 20, 2008