During its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, the Bartlesville City Council approved an economic development agreement between the City of Bartlesville, the Bartlesville Development Authority and Service and Manufacturing Corporation. The measure will allocate up to $150,000 from the economic development fund upon the formal approval of the BDA Board of Trustees for local company SMC.
In June of 2013, the Bartlesville Development Authority recommended that the City Council appropriate $130,000 from the Economic Development Fund to pay for the installation of a higher-capacity water line to support the expansion of Service and Manufacturing Corporation. Consistent with established practice, the targeted ratio for use of the economic development funds is $10,000 per job created.
“So the targeted break-even was an additional 13 jobs over SMC’s baseline of 40 employees,” said BDA President David Wood in a report to the City Council. “As of August 2019, SMC employed 68, an increase of 28 manufacturing jobs, and anticipates adding 15 more in the months ahead.”
However, additional expansion and workforce cannot be accommodated on SMC’s site without connection to the city’s sanitary sewer system, Wood said.
“Given SMC’s additional 28 employees since 2013, total economic development fund allocation for infrastructure would justify $280,000,” he said. “Having utilized $130,000 for the water line, $150,000 remains available under policy guidelines for assistance with installation of the sewer line.”
Wood said that typically, any economic development fund contribution is predicated on anticipated job growth.
“In this case, SMC has already met the job creation break-even point associated with this request, and this infrastructure extension makes 15 additional jobs possible without future economic development fund allocation.”
The council voted 5-0 to approve the BDA request.
Other action
In other business, the council took the following actions:
- The council also voted to approve a HUD Hope VI Main Street Grant Redevelopment Agreement between the City of Bartlesville, the Bartlesville Redevelopment Trust Authority and Johnstone OK Partners LLC to revitalize The Apartments at Hotel Phillips, located at 821 S. Johnstone Ave. The $500,000 grant was initially to be used to revitalize the former Jane Phillips Memorial Hospital for apartments; however, the project never materialized. According to BRTA Director Chris Wilson, once complete, The grant funding will be used to create 100 one- and two-bedroom apartments at The Apartments at Hotel Phillips.
- Approved a resolution for the selection of an engineering consulting firm, Guy Engineering, to perform bridge inspections between April 2020 and April 2022. The City has contracted with Guy Engineering several times in the past. The firm has been approved by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and has been contracted to perform bridge inspections in Washington County outside the city limits.