ODC approves $50k

After some discussion Thursday, the board of the Odessa Development Corp. eventually decided to award half of the requested funds for a program to train workers in the city.

Economic development officials were seeking $100,000 for the program, which will provide training grants for half of worker training in manufacturing, fabrication and distribution fields. Arleene Loyd, the Odessa Chamber of Commerce’s director of business retention and expansion, said ODC would pay up to $2,000 for training per employee, which can be in everything from computer software training to learning about quality management. Employers would be responsible for paying the other half.

“Training can be whatever a company needs to give their employer skills,” Loyd said.

The resolution was first discussed at ODC’s October meeting, but the item was tabled because board members thought some of the wording in the agreement was unclear. Loyd said changes made the wording more like programs operated by the Texas Workforce Commission.

Board President Rick Carlton initially moved to table the item again, and instead try a “pilot” program to see if the training works, but claiming that “time is of the essence,” Board Member Tom McMinn said a vote needed to happen right away.

“At the rate we’re going, by the time we get through training, you won’t need training anymore,” McMinn said.

After McMinn’s motion was met with uncertainty, Board Member Dr. Russell Subia suggested starting out by authorizing $50,000 and saying the board would look at paying more money if that is used up.

“I say we fund 50 percent and see how it’s going,” he said.

And that’s what the board supported.

The board also approved an extension of an agreement with Gemstar Inc. that will give it another year to add the 10 more jobs it agreed to provide in exchange for $100,000 in economic incentives it was awarded in March 2008. The company says it has delayed hiring because of setbacks in construction of a $1 million furnace used in heat-treating vessels and other equipment at its Odessa shop.

Also approved was an agreement with Flint Hills Resources that will require the city of Odessa to actively market property at the company’s former petrochemical plant to potential buyers in exchange for receiving 15 percent of any reduction in payments on wastewater and industrial district agreements the company receives from the sale.

“If we’re successful, we get money. If we’re not successful, it doesn’t cost us anything,” Carlton said.