Stephens Manufacturing has been in the concrete batch plant business since 1957. The Tompkinsville facility employs approximately 140 people.
Mayor Bill Wells told council members last Tuesday night that “...they've told us they need a building of approximately 20,000 square feet and that they wanted to start operations as early as January 2008”.
If they accepted Lafayette's proposal, Stephens Manufacturing would employ about twenty people here at approximately $10 dollars per hour, with plans to eventually grow to forty employees within three to four years.
Stephens Manufacturing management has indicated to Mayor Wells that their operating plan would be to bring in steel parts to the new facility and weld them together here. The Tompkinsville plant would then receive the welded parts at their facility to sandblast and paint them, then ship them on to their customers.
An approximately ten acre tract that would be... suitable for the Stephens expansion is available in the city Industrial Park. However, much site preparation work would have to be done on the property, including rock removal, excavation and drainage improvement.
The Lafayette City Council passed a resolution authorizing Mayor Wells to submit an application to the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development for a fast track infrastructure development program grant and other grants as may be beneficial to assist an industry in locating in Macon County. The city would be required to provide matching funds in the form of a 86-14 percent mix, with the state providing the lion's share of the funding.
“We need the industry, but we don't need to throw the money up
in the air,” stated councilman Ronnie Krantz, at Tuesday night's City
Council Meeting.
“That's why our proposal has to be better than everybody else” stated Mayor Wells. “The only risk we have, is if they (Stephen's Manufacturing) don't buy into our proposal and we might loose our investment from the proposal that Upper Cumberland Resource Agency is drawing up,” Wells added.
Other communities considered for the site include Cumberland, Metcalfe, and Clay County in Tennessee, and Monroe County in Kentucky. The proposals from interested communities must be turned in to Stephens Manufacturing Representatives by Friday, May 25, 2007.
IN OTHER BUSINESS the council approved an ordinance to amend the
official zoning map to add newly annexed property owned by Larry Driver and to include a right of way on Galen Road.
Professional Engineering Services bid was approved to conduct the City of Lafayette's sewer rehabilitation project, initializing smoke testing, flow monitoring, installation of TV equipment to reduce inflow and infiltration in Lafayette's sewer system. The bid on the Brattontown water line was accepted from Bolton Construction to run a six inch water line needed for the growing residential area. Artis Network's bid, on updating the current computer software at City Hall, was accepted.
The council approved the bid from Mach H. Felts Construction to
complete the airport runway extension project. A Jent/Napier settlement of dismissal of prejudice lawsuit was approved, however, city attorney Jon Wells, warned that the agreement was confidential
and all who knew of the monetary amount concerning the settlement must not disclose any information for fear of being sued in a court of law. The council approved April employee evaluation and salary increases for five city employees and the promotion, in the waste water department for assistant supervisor, was approved for Mike Hackett to be promoted to level 9 at $13.88 per hour. “There are a few qualifications that Hackett lacks”, noted Jeff Roark, supervisor of the Lafayette Sewer Plant. The council agreed to grant Hackett two years to take the required courses and obtain the certifications needed.
The council accepted the sale bid from Don Woods on the Sanitation
truck,totaling $15,000.
The council agreed to advertise for bids concerning the basketball
court project at City Park.
Concerning the waste water department, the Lafayette City Council
accepted the bid from Cues out of Orlando, Florida to utilize the CCTV
equipment.
The council also authorized advertising for work to be done at the waste water plant. The first of the bids is for sludge removal of sediment basins and the second solicits bids for water tank inspections.
“This is not going to be a cheap project, because it has been eleven
years since the last time it (the sludge) had been cleaned out', said Lafayette Mayor Bill Wells.
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