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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpecial City Council Minutes 11.27.1981Minutes of the City Council of Laurel November 27, 1981 A special meeting of the City Council of the City of Laure2; Montana, was held in the Council Chambers and called'to order by Mayor Larry D. Herman, at 4:05 p.m.~, bn November 27, 1981, for the purpose of discussing the grain proces- sing plant proposed for Laurel and the Riverside Park Change House. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Albert Ehrlick Harold Burns Donald Meyers {Iate) Duane Behm Bill Brennan Susan Carter Terry Fink Ervin Metzger GRAIN PROCESSING PLANT: Mayor Herman stated that he wanted to brief the Council on a recent press release by International Food and Fuel., Inc. (IF&F}, regard- ing a grain processing plant. The Billings Gazette basically outiined the plant itself and the two areas being looked at by IF&F are Laurel and Great Falls. There are advantages and disadvantages in both places. Basically the plant, when it gets going, will use about 42 million bushels of wheat a year. That is approximately 1/3 of the entire Montana grain production. So you see it is not a small operation. They have got their financing put together, amounting to $250,000,000.00 -- now that's not all for plant construction but also for other aspects of the processing plant. Potentially 350 employees will be involved. The emphasis at this point in time appears to be in three areas -- glutten, bran and germ mill, and fructose. Gasohol is considered but it is not the primary objective at this time. Although if they do go into gasohol it would be potentially important in this area because of the three refineries. Our concern, or at least my concern, is that it is a type of industry that would be beneficial to the Laurel area. That's not saying it will be in the City limits, chances are it will be in the county. I had a meeting today with the County Commissioners. Dave Gorton and Mike McCiintock together with Lyle Nelson, Kent Harris, John Smith, John Mac- Martin, Mike Skaggs who is the economic consultant for the Billings area Chamber of Commerce. So the whole valley really is affected by this plant in the sense of 350 workers -- it will affect everybody up and down the valley. And when you're talking about 42 million bushels of wheat, it's going to affect the whole State of Montana. At this point in time the engineering plans are not firm. They haven't got it all put together and really it's just a matter of us trying to entice them to one of the two locations, and my feeling is that we should try to entice them to the Laurel area. The exact site has not been released within the Laurel area, although it would be close by to the west, probably near the refinery. I don't think that is an important factor at this point. I think the real important factor is to encourage that type of industry to the Laurel area. Even if it is not in the City, it is going to increase the tax base with people moving to town, houses being built and it would put a lot of money into the City. The exact amount of dollars that would be generated as far as wages -- I have heard various figures. The Billings Gazette said 4.5 million. When I was talking with one of the promoters he said between 7 and 9 million dollar payroll. page2 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Great Falls is putting on a push at this time for the plant based on the idea that the grain is accessible. We feel that we have some other advantages in the City of Laurel that we will be presenting and trying to get organized. I won't go through all of them at this time. There is no sense in letting Great Falls know all of our plusses at this time. But we do have some plusses that probably exceed the plusses that Great Falls has. We do have the availability of coal and electricity in the area. My concern at this point in time is calling the Council together. I would like to see a resolution by the Council encouraging them to look at the Laurel site. The county will be involved as well as the City-County Planning Board, because I am certain there will be some planning and zoning to look at. I can see that this project will be good not only to Yellowstone County, but the entire State of Montana generally. Because it is on a renewable resource which is grain and with the Yellowstone County area growing as it is, it would certainly be a boon to this area. Lyle Nelson commented that the plant would certainly help the economy in this area and also help to i~ase t~e~ta~ase. The Mayor continued by saying that in terms of the businessmen, I think we certainly wouldn't object to letters of support. We are going to put together our presentation by next Thursday. It is going to be a limited presentation in the sense that it won't be opened up to all of the public. We don't want to overpower these people by having too many present. So there probably will be myself and those who were with me today. But we will keep you informed as to how it goes. They will be bringing probably about 6 or 7 people and if we come with 40 people I think we would overpower them. I think we would be better off by going with a low key and yet highly informed presentation, stressing our plusses as opposed to Great Falls negatives. Terry Fink asked, "How soon will we know?" The money is already approved. They have to make a decision by a week from today. They have to be in London in a week to pick up the money. The Billings area Chamber of Commerce has been very helpful in getting together with us, John MacMartin and the County Commissioners in helping us put this together. We thought maybe we would have to fly up there to make this presentation, but it looks like now they will be coming down here and meeting in the County Commissioners' chambers. Which is probably appropriate in the sense that it is not only the City of Laurel but the county involvement. By the way, also at the meeting today was A1 Thelen, the administrator of the City of Billings. So we are getting good support even from Billings itself. Bob Burns The Mayor dollars. It's area could ever finance it. asked, "Do we know where the money is coming from?" responded by saying Europe. It's European money - 250 million a substantial amount of money. I don't think anybody in this A RESOLUTION FOOD & FUEL, RESOLUTION NO. 1887 SUPPORTING THE LOCATION OF INTERNATIONAL INC. IF&F) IN THE LAUREL AREA. page 3 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Motion by Alderman Meyers that Resolution No. 1887 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Metzger. Carried. BID - RIVERSIDE PARK CHANGE HOUSE; Since the bidder, Iron Horse Construction, did not meet the specifications, nor did they include a bid bond, it is the recommendation of the Park Committee to reject the bid and re-advertise with bid opening to be Reid December 15, 1981, at 7:00 p.m. The committee wants a block building with mortar. Motion by Alderwoman Carter to reject the bid from Iron Horse Construction because it did not meet the specifications and the bid did not include a bid bond, seconded by A]derman Meyers. Carried. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 4:23 p.~~__~ Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, this 1st day of December, 1981.