for
what we expect to be an amazing
occasion this
morning we've got some business to
discuss related to incentive agreements
related to the county and the town of
Selma so with that I am going to uh turn
it over to Chairman Lauder to see about
an invocation thank you mayor mcau and
thank you for hosting us today is always
good to be in Selma and it seems like the more I'm in Selma the more
special occasions we get to celebrate so
I need to I need to come more um as is
customary for the Commissioners we will
open with the invocation and a pledge so
if you would um and if you feel so LED
please stand for the invocation I've
called on commissioner Stevens to lead
us in the in the
invocation dear friends as We Gather
today let us bow our heads in gratitude
for the growth and opportunity that
surrounds us may this event be blessed
with with a spirit of progress unity and
prosperity let our endeavors bear fruit
and may our community continue to
flourish in abundance under your grace
amen amen and mayor per Tim Scarboro if
you would lead us in the pledge of leg
turn to the flag
please I pledge alance to the flag of
the United States of America and to the
repu for which it stands one nation
under God indivisible Li
[Music]
Justice all
right and with that I'm going to call
the town of Selma special meeting to
order and I will call the meeting of the
Johnson County Commissioners to order as
well
[Music]
if there are any opening remarks from
the public uh we'll take that now take
that time to receive opening
remarks all
right and and I will now open the public
hearing and call on Chris Johnson to
come forward and present a general
summary of the
project good good morning County and
town of Selma leadership um allow me to
First recognize the passing of your
colleague my mentor my boss my friend
and friend of many uh commissioner Tony
brazwell um this is the first meeting
that I've been able to
publicly um pass my condolences along to
the uh the board and also to his family
I'll be ever grateful uh for his support
of me and my role as the economic
developer of Johnston County a job that
I've loved since day one and that I
continue to love today I'm confident
that he's looking down from heaven with
big grin on his face because of today's
project before you he may or may not
have his Bape pin I don't know if that's
allowed in heaven or not but it be uh it
wouldn't be with it wouldn't be him
without that so um now last night I was
typing out this
presentation and uh but when I read my
morning devotion I was hit with the
verse of Ecclesiastes
52 do not be quick with your mouth do
not be Hasty with your heart to utter
anything before God God is in heaven and
you are on earth so let your Words Be
Few now being few
uh I've just received a text about five
or 10 minutes ago stating that uh our
project team um went to the county
courthouse and so that they were seven
minutes away as of two minutes ago so
they may be walking in so
um I'll try to remain few but I may have
to drag this out so if they they walk in
understand that uh they're
coming so at this time allow me to begin
with a quick walk down memory lane
Burlington Mills Phil Crest Mills
channelm eatting Corporation Jared
spinning devil dog Flextronics B&M
Machining KR Edwards
tobacco these are just a few companies
that during the mid90s closed and
relocated outside of the United States
within a matter of three years the
Smithville summer region and communities
along the I95 Corridor lost over 6,000
jobs when you add in data General and
champion in Clayton this figure exceeds
a thou a staggering 885 00 jobs during
this time period now not only did we
lose uh meaningful employment
opportunities for our citizens but we
also lost the important Executives that
were community and Civic leaders leaders
who supported organizations such as the
quanas the rotary JC Lions Club Boy
Scouts and the list goes on and on and if you consider the population of
johnst County at this time this was
nearly 10% of our population not our
Workforce our
population with the labor shed here in
Johnston County that exceeds
115,000 today nearly 70% of our
residents sadly have to get into their
Automobiles and leave our community
daily to find Quality
Employment our office has always lived
by The Motto that nothing empowers a
person more than a good paying job with
a living wage and is because of the
leadership the vision and the
collaboration our citizens will have
that personal empowerment right here in
Johnston County today you have the
ability to change to to to change and
make this happen to make generational
changes for the lives of the citizens
here in Selma in Johnston County it is
Crystal Window and Door desire to
invest and build and create a facility
located in the town of Selma as with any
economic development project it is
always extremely competitive with
potential sites and facilities and other
counties and states in addition to the
$96 million investment and I'll let you
soak that in for a second a
state-of-the-art facility that uh will
be under the construction of Arco design
build and Matt horses has Thomas chin
with them in the call right now um the
$96 million investment will be the
largest in Selma's history to date
crystals windows and doors will also
create approximately 5 00 new jobs with
an average salary of
$56,000 this is in addition to
incredible health coverage for their
employees as I've mentioned before to
the citizens that have contacted the
office and asked about incentives I
would like to reiterate to everyone here
in attendance and turning and tuning in
on the web that any Economic Development
incentive offer comes with no Financial
Risk to the taxpayers these incentives
only come from the company's investment
this this grant equates to a percentage
of the tax taxes Crystal windows will
pay on the personal property portion of
the 96 million investment if the
required benchmarks set forth in the
agreement are not met no incentive again this comes at no Financial Risk to
the taxpayers and citizens of Selma or
Johnston County the return on investment
isn't unbelievable when you put the
agreement in perspective during the
grant period the town of s is projected
to receive and add to their tax base
over
$729,000 for the town during the grant
period after the grant period is
complete the facility become will become
the largest taxpayer for the town for
Johnston County it will receive an add
over 838 th000 during this time as well
again new investment no risk as all in
uh economic develop incentive grants
project clear has been vetted and
approved by the Johnston County Economic
Development board many of them in here
today A board that consists of 14
business Civic and Community leaders
that represents every municipality in
Johnston County as customary the project
and investment projections have also
been evaluated by the by Dr Mike Walden
retired professor and Economist for
North Carolina State University his
reports show that the monetary
investment as well as the jobs and
ancillary job growth is projected to be
in the millions annually for the county
and our communities
as Jennifer Slusher our County attorney
will cover the project checks all the
four legal statutory box with regards to
offering an economic development
incentive one does it meet the job
creation requirement 500 jobs with an
average salary of 56,000 is well above
the county average this is more than
double for the town of
Selma does it meet the investment
threshold yes $96 million exceeds the
County's policy of 5 million does it
meet the competition with other
locations crystals windows and doors
footprint stretches across the US and
was considering investing in other areas
of the US and in North Carolina and does
the project meet the diversification
requirement again with a loss of over
6,000 textiles manufacturing jobs in the
early 90s the Smithfield Selma region
has long been lacking in
manufacturing we resp so the answer to
all these questions is an undeniable yes
and we respectfully ask that the County
Commissioners in the town of Selma
consider the economic development Grant
presented before you and be awarded to
Crystal windows and doors again crystal
is only eligible after the project is
completed and the requirements set forth
in the agreement are met economic
development is a team sport and I'd like
to be and I'd be remissed if I didn't
recognize several individuals and
companies that assisted the county and
the town for this opportunity now I know
I can get in trouble when you start
naming names because I am confident that
I will miss someone and if I do please
accept my apology but the staff would
first of all like to thank the edpnc
staff I saw Austin uh Rouse earlier uh
Miss Ellen Tai who's no longer with EDM
PNC kind of started this project a year
and a half ago I saw Mr Andrew Tate in
attendance but also like to thank Mr
Phillips a dear friend of mine from the
northeastern part of North Carolina who
assisted us with the Carolina investment
uh Grant fund we'd also like to thank
the North Carolina railroad for their
site ready grant that was offered uh a
year or so ago for this also NC doot
rail for the rail spur and finally would
like to thank Senator bonari and
representative Strickland as well as our
general assembly delegation for their
Appropriations to the town of Selma that
will assist in the rail SP rail spur
design and construction I'm sure there
are others but I want to be mindful of
my devotional message this morning to
Let My Words Be Few so at this time I'd
like to call on Miss Jennifer Slusher to
present you with the legal language as
well as attorney town uh Town attorney
chip hwit to discuss the project summary
and answer any questions I'll then step
back to introd introduce Mr Thomas chin
with Crystal windows and doors invite
him to make a few comments and I hope
he's he's here there there is okay stay
I'll call on you in a minute Mr Chan
thank you very
much good morning Mr chairman Mr Mayor
and members of the board I appreciate
the opportunity to be able to present to
you uh the resolution for Johnston
County for a proposed Economic
Development incentive Grant agreement uh
for the project proposed by Crystal
Window and Door Systems as described by
Mr Johnson uh prior to get getting into
all the details of the documents I want
to take you uh through and refresh your
recollection about what you're required
to review and consider um when making
your determination as Chris mentioned
there are some things that you need to
think about number one job creation
number two capital investment number
three competition ition and number four
diversification of the economy so
keeping all of those factors in mind I'd
like to review the framework of the
proposed um incentive agreement with
Crystal Window and Door Systems uh this
incentive Grant as proposed is based
solely on investments for business
personal property um it does not include
real estate Investments and while the
total uh proposed investment is
estimated to be in excess of $96 million
the the incentive Grant agreement
requires performance commitments based
on business personal property
Investments only which is estimated to
be$ 57
million in order to receive the proposed
incentives the company is required to
locate the facility in the Eastfield
development make Capital Investments of
business personal property in an amount
not less than 57 uh million do and
manufacture and distribute the aluminum
and vinyl window and doors uh that that
we've talked about and while it's
anticipated that the employment for this
project will create 500 jobs the minimum
required employment is 206 permanent
full-time jobs and the the reason for
that number is because we want that job
creation early and that commitment is
within uh is by December
2025 um they will continue to scale
throughout the project and and build
jobs uh throughout the project um these
positions are well well paid positions
and the average salary is not less than
$56,000 um like I like I just mentioned
um like all Industrial Development
projects that we deal with the capital
Investments and the additions to the
employment are going to be made over a
period of time the capital investment
estimated date of completion is December
2027 and the minimum job creation as I
mentioned is December
2025 uh the incentive proposal is a cash
grant that is made in seven annual
payments and those payments are
anticipated to uh begin in 20128 and
they will continue until
2023 and they're Quantified and measured
based upon the ADV valorum taxes uh that
are actually paid and in this case it's
around uh it's 70% and we have estimated
that for the county um that that uh that
annual payment will be around $279,000
per year um if incentives are granted to
Crystal Window and Door Center um
systems they must provide a
certification of those Investments uh to
confirm that uh that everything that was
committed to be done was done and as
Chris mentioned the company does not
receive any incentives until the
investment and employment commitments
are met uh Grant payments are
conditioned upon performance of the
company and there are additional
conditions that are contained uh in the
proposed agreement which is uh one that
all ADV valorum tax payments must be
made in full uh they must be current on
all payments owed to the county uh they
must be current on filing all of their
uh tax listings have no current appeals
with the property tax commission uh
regarding the valuation of the project
site and its equipment and have no
violation other uh or other obligations
um to the county um there's also
recapture provisions within the
agreement if Crystal Window and Door
Systems does not carry out and maintain
uh the terms of the
agreement and finally considering the
proposals for the incentives that have
been PR presented uh let's talk about
the framework of the uh proposed
agreement with what you're required to
consider uh prior to deciding how you'd
like to proceed uh with regards to the
job creation piece uh the project
provides a creation of substantial
number of permanent jobs uh in this case there are uh direct job creation of
not less than 206 with an estimated of
500 jobs with the average salary of
$556,000
61 uh we had an economic impact study
done by Dr uh Mike Walden and that study
said that the private sector direct and
indirect impact um as a result of this
investment is 920 jobs um and that's
significant the capital investment you
know you're supposed to look at how does
it increase the tax base um and the
required capital investment for this
project is 57 million but when you add
in those real estate Investments you're
at $96 million and according to the
Walden report uh the private sector
annual operating impact taking into
account all of the direct and indirect
induced impacts from the development is
estimated to be um in excess of 169
million uh finally we look at the
initial but for necess uh necessity
determination and but for uh the
incentives that are being offered by the
county and the town today Crystal Window
and Door Systems would not have chosen
to locate in Johnston County we were
competing with several locations for
this project um there will be a written
agreement that governs this
implementation a draft of that agreement
is attached to your resolution and and
certainly this project meets the
requirements of diversification of the
economy because of the job creation and
the increased tax base um there is a net
public benefit that arises from these
incentives um all of this is addressed
in the Walden economic um impact
analysis and simply put Crystal Window
and Door Systems will be bring jobs and
additional private sector impacts to the
county to meet all of the requirements
that are requ required under the statute
uh the project and proposed incentives
uh do meet all of the standards that
you're required should you choose to
approve it um and and you know we
lawyers are not always great at keeping
our words short and and small so I I
know that that was a lot and Mr huitt
sends his regrets today his his
colleague Megan Clinton is here today on
behalf the town of Selma
good morning um I'm Megan on behalf of
hu Law Group and as attorney slusser has
put with the incentive agreement um the
town of Selma's incentive agreement is
in unison with the counties um so to not
belabor the points that were already
mentioned um is a tier three incentive
for the town of Selma um but all of the
main points Miss ler has already covered
so if you have any questions just let us
know at this time it's a great honor to
introduce Mr Thomas chin uh the founder
and chairman of uh Crystal ws and Mr
Chin if you could step up to the podium
good morning everyone and Mr Mayor and
chairman and
quiz uh I'm Thomas Chen from Crystal
windows I come to America I'm from
Taiwan come to America
1982 I st in Crystal into 1990 now we
have uh fight location across the
country and to come to North Carolina we
did select many area at the end with F
Json County and also segman City it's a
best for us so we make decision right
away we we have start to do that and
thank you for everybody's help help
and sorry I I have language bar only
there bit inage but next time I know
when I come to North Carolina I will
Improvement my English so special is
going to be my first teacher teacher me
more English so Mr CH Mr CH so Mr CH Mr
CH most of us are challenged with
English as well so you're right at home
oh okay thank
you I do I know I have many teacher here
too not not only only qu qu that number
one all right
okay and also
s also thank you for give us many
financial support and you investment
will be pay back soon or we will work
hard we will try hard to do as as more
as we could all right so uh you know
putting the package together we're
looking forward to being in the part of
s business
community so thank you thank you for
helping us thank you for let us have
opportunity to do business with be
C all right thank you
all right uh I will ask the county
commissioner any questions of Chris
Jennifer Megan Mr
Chin all right no questions from the the
Commissioners and I will ask the S of
Town Council any questions for those
that have just spoken to us about this
project all right thank you very
much are there any citizens present that
would like to comment as part of this
incentive agreement
meeting and I would do the same for the
county commissioner's public hearing if
there any uh public comments please step
forward to the microphone and uh
introduce yourself introduce name and
address for the record please yes sir
thank you uh Jeff Holt mayor of Pine
Level address 507 West Pine Street and
it's uh it's fortunate that I get to
address both boards uh today because I
have I have comments that I would like
to direct to to both groups relative to
uh to today's announcement um and I do
wear both hats today I not only am I
here representing the citizens of Pine
Level and in my hometown uh I'm also a
business owner here in Selma and also in
the uh the etj area of Smithfield so um
I'll I'll direct my uh my town related
questions or not questions I'm not I'm
not here to ask questions and expect
answers but I will direct my comments
first as it relates to the town of Pine
Level and then I'll uh I'll segue into
my uh my business my business points um
I guess I'd say first of all that um
having served as a town councilman and
mayor in Pine Level for 30 years I don't
know how many of you in here can raise
your hand and say you served as an
elective office for 30 years but I've
lived in Pine Level for 60 years and and
served as a as a servant there in Pine
Level for 30 years and during all this
time the area that we're talking about
that is being uh proposed for
development or will be developed being
uh discussed today about these these
economic incentive grants uh was in
essence part of Pine
Level when the uh General statutes the
general assembly established zoning in
North Carolina years ago and we towns
and Johnson County participated and we
identified our etj areas as one mile
outside our town limits uh if there were
areas or towns that budded like
Smithfield and smma did like Pine Level
and Salma did and you couldn't have an
one mile to uh to to govern for lack of
a better word we split the difference
halfway um and the general assembly and
their Infinite Wisdom chose not to
establish that etj line as a a line in
the sand for lack of a better
description to protect one town from uh
the development of other towns uh I
don't want to use the word encroachment
that sounds like an ugly word but uh but
the etj as we all whether it be towns or
counties establish our long range
comprehensive land use plans we include
the etj as part of our long range growth
plans and we establish zoning
jurisdictions and we target certain
areas whether it be for agriculture or
business or residential or industrial
whatever the case may
be in the last couple of years through
the development of the Eastfield project
and through the acquisition of of
various
properties the town of Selma City Limits
has has grown
contiguously contiguous being the key
the general assembly General statutes
160d does not allow a town to Annex
within anyone else's etj unless it is
condous they they they can't satellite
Annex a piece of property inside one
Town's etj so so through various
purchases and growths and whatever we
now have a puzzle so to speak with dots
connected now this piece of property
we're talking about today uh there's one
tract of land between it and our city
limits one track and uh probably
negotiations with those Property Owners
to buy that so in in in the near future
possibly the town of Selma and the town
of pine will be separated by a city
limit sign and not any type of extr
territorial jurisdiction to give us any
control um or management of development
within that area which we've always had
and
that in my opinion is why I'm here to
express the concerns of the 2600 folks
that live in Pine Level thank goodness a
bunch of us 2600 folks because now what
used to be Pine Level is now
sellman and that's okay because our
legislature said as it is um but in an
area that has been traditionally
agriculture or traditionally single
family
homes um there are now counted this
morning on my way to work almost 30
residences in that area that are either
adjoin some of this property at some
point or a new road that is going to
service this project is going to dump
right into 7
right in the middle of all these
houses that possibly was not a concern
of the town of Selma when they were
considering approving its annexation
request we were not our town was not
involved in these negotiations when when
annexation was applied for and
considered um there are property owners
that own property adjoining these
recently annexed areas who tell me they
never received any kind of notification
that there was going to be uh a public
hearing held just like today to discuss
this um I had no idea this meeting was
going on today until last Friday when
thanks to uh the clerk to your board
County Commissioners sent an invitation
to to me as I'm assuming chairman Lauder
she sent probably to all 11 Mayors
because I think at your request we now
receive um invitations or notifications
of any County board meeting and also the
agenda so that there is anything on on
that agenda that we have an issue with
uh we're we're invited to come and
attend so anyway so in the 11th Hour you
know I'm I'm I'm learning about this
project
so pulling my my my mayor's had off a
little bit I I I have issues with that we weren't involved in this we
weren't we weren't the good neighbors or
weren't considered the good neighbors
that I thought we were so that that's
the issue that I present before your
board for consideration um and
again having sat where you're sitting
for 30
years I understand that the that the the
ships left to Port okay it's sailing
we're going forward this is a this is a
tremendous investment by this company
and and I appreciate their investment I
appreciate the uh the choice that
they've made to locate here in Johnston
County thank you for that um but I think
there should have been some
collaboration there was certainly
collaboration between the county and the
town of Selma in these discussions and
the
developer and here we are you know in
the dark but that's okay I understand
that so now I'll put my my business hat
on and I don't think I'm going to say
anything that Mr Johnson has not heard
before I don't think I'm going to say
anything that Mr lauder's not heard
before or or uh Mr mallis has not heard
before or many of you other County
Commissioners have ever been in a
meeting with me when we talked about
economic development in the county I'm not a big fan of this type of of
incentive um I'm I'm I'm not a big fan
of us calling it uh Economic Development
incentive Grant the word Grant has been
used half a dozen times this
morning you've reduced the tax payment
that this company has to pay to our
County for seven years I understand you
wouldn't get any of that if that company
did not locate that I understand that
but I also understand that today is a is
a big day in the life of
462 air filter manufactures in Johnston
County because Thursdays in my business
is
payday so my signature is going to be on
462 checks is handed out today at noon
time and those 462 folks live here in
this County and they'll deposit their
checks they'll cash their checks they'll
spend their money right here in Selma or
Smithfield or Pine Level or throughout
Johnston County County as will I'm sure
the 206 that uh that this company has to
uh has to meet new hires so I'm sure
they'll spend their money here as
well but the $57 million
investment and the reduction in the
taxes that they will pay our County for
that investment over seven years is
almost $2
million and I can't help but wonder how
many Deputy sheriffs that could pay for
$2
million how many uh teachers salaries
could be affected if the county had that
$2
million Mr Hester I don't know how many
employees you have that work for the
county but I would think that the county
is probably the largest employer in the
county maybe how many employees you got
1,500 take $2 million and spread that
out amongst 1500 people you know you're
going through your budget process right
now and all of our employees expect
increases and raises and in different
benefits and and and here's a company
who is um basically is is exempt from paying the same 69 cents to the
county per $100 valuation that I do and I have I have an issue with that and I felt that it was my obligation to
come come and uh and express my concerns
um the term Grant to me means hey here
it is take it use it any way you want to
but what this is it is a reduction in
their taxes that they will pay to this
County by
70% so here I am with three
plants 460 employees in this
County all of it invested out of my
pocket and every one of those folks that
gets a check today that money comes out
of my back pocket for work that they've
done and I appreciate them and I I let
them know all the time I appreciate them
but they may suffer as well because
without that $2 million that this
company's going to pump into your
coffers then who picks up that
slack the next
company we get excited when we hear
about new jobs and I and I apologize to
whichever one of the ladies it was that
came up and wanted to put a a job
sticker on my on my jacket because I
felt that might be kind of uh
hypocritical I guess a little bit for me
to come here and talk about that and
stand up here waving my but jobs are
very important to me cuz like any other
employer in this County during the covid
years I struggled with keeping my lines
going and um and I think about this this
incentive offering to this company and
others that have come before it Amazon
how excited we are that Amazon is here
and just a few weeks ago we had a big
ribbon cutting over in Smithfield about
Amazon and that is an exciting time they
may hire a thousand
folks but I think Mr Johnson shared with
us there's 10 what did you say Chris
130,000 or so you know employees uh in
Johnston County and our unemployment
rate is like
3.4% so most of them are working but
unfortunately he says they're driving to
Wake County every day half of them are I
think 50 to 60% of them are going to to
Wake County every day and I just have a
hard time believing
that all those folks that are driving to
Wake County to work every day are going
to stay and work in a Amazon warehouse
in Smithville for 16 or 17 or 18 an hour
they're not going to do it but you know
who
is the ones that are working in my
warehouse for $15 or $16 an hour they'll
drive across town for 50 cents or a
dollar they're not going to drive to
Raleigh for $18 an hour so that worries
me and it should worry any other you
know um business owner here in Johnson
County that we are going to be competing
for already as I said 3.4% is the only
um unemployed folks in Johnson County
right now where are we going to get our
employees I think about this this East
field the whole development in the
retail part I understand that there's there aren't incentives that go
along with that Chris your group is is
for Industrial and Commercial and that
kind of stuff you don't you don't really
have um grants or incentives or plans
for for retail um and there's going to
be a tremendous investment and I thank
this group for your investment in
Johnston County as well you know for for
that
but I wonder how many of those 50 or 60
or 70,000 folks that are driving to
Raleigh every day to work are going to
go over there and go to work at Target
or Old Navy or whatever those other ones
are that that are coming here that we're
all so excited about you know you know
where those folks are going to come from
they're going to come from Walmart
they're going to come from from uh from
the Carina outlet center and those
retailers over there they're going to
come from the other re Belks they're
going to come from the Dollar Tree now
they may not drive Daley every day for
those kind of wages but they'll
certainly cross I95 for a different job
so who are those people going to hire
when their employees move across 95 to
the east side to take a job there so
anyway I'm rambling I appreciate your
time and um
hey God bless
you thank you mayor
H anyone else
all right then I will ask Madam cler do
we have
any like me getting signals from the
guys in the back uh any emails okay no
emails on to the
Commissioners did we have any emails
that came in as part of this public
hearing
thank all
right I'm going to ask one more time
anybody like to make comment as part of
this public
hearing I do have a comment to add to
the record uh as part of this public
hearing yesterday we celebrated Selma's
birthday May 1st
1867 and we heard from two gentlemen Mr
Alro gasal and Mr Nayak
about a history here in Selma where we
had grocery stores two
theaters and textile mills all over the
place and we had a population that was
booming at the time compared to other
communities and we had lots of
opportunity I think getting back to our
basic roots of what
works is what we need to do and I think
we've forgotten that every time I think
it's obvious that we've forgotten that
every time
with jobs comes Prosperity with
prosperity comes good times and with
good times will come a booming Selma a
booming Johnson County a booming North
Carolina and a booming United States of
America with that I'll entertain a
motion to go ahead and close out any
comments as public hearing to make sure
that we're good with
that so
all those in favor from the Town Council
I our public hearing is
done all right and I now will close the
uh County's Public
hearing are there any final comments
questions that the Selma Town Council
would like to make outside of public
hearing all right now we'll turn it over
to the Commissioners any any
comments well I uh from the Selma Town
Council am going to ask for a motion to
adopt this resolution that we have
before us authorizing the economic
development incentive for project
clear
soov
second any
discussion all those in favor I we have
ourselves a resolution and Adoption of
thank you very much all right I I'll ask
the Commissioners the same thing any any
final discussion or a motion to approve
the resolution authorizing economic
development for project clear Mr
chairman I think uh I think the mayor
final level's comments were well thought
out and I understand where he's coming
from I guess though if if I were a for
dealership in this count
Town everybody if if everybody would
welcome a new Chevrolet dealership
coming town except me so I understand
the competitive nature of that and and
sometimes there's no perfect answer but
I live in Selma etj and uh Selma is
close to my heart and I think this
project in the long run all things
considered will be very good for the
county and very good for the town so I
moved to adopt the resolution
authorizing economic development project
clear I have a second second all right
we have a motion in a second all those
in favor please say I I I any opposed
the resolution is
adopted all
right you have any closing so I I I do
have some closing comments uh typically
uh I like I always like to talk about uh
culture and opportunity and today I want
to talk about Vision as well and I want
to thank the folks at Adventure
development for their vision for what
was a a patch of space over there for
developing Eastfield and all that is
entailed I want to thank the town of
Selma for their Vision uh that they have
and where they're headed uh this board
Chris Johnson and our economic
development team uh thank you for your
vision and and hard work there and for
Mr Chin and Crystal uh windows and door
systems thank you for looking at
Johnston County which brings me to the
opportunity uh we talked about job
opportunities and you know for Selma the
average income uh is about there less
than half of what these these jobs will
be paying so it's an opportunity I think
Chris mentioned generational change so
it's an opportunity for generational
change for Johnston County Selma uh and
even the surrounding areas so um I'm
thankful for that the other piece I want
to talk about is the culture and I I I
know what we have in economic grants are
uh enticing but if it was not for the
people our Workforce that we have I I
don't think that Mr Chin would be here
if he didn't think the workforce was
here so I want to say thank you to the
people who are always the most important
thing of what we all do up here is is
take care of our residents in Selma and
in Johnston County uh I do want to thank
some people who are here um
representative Larry Strickland I know
you'd mention him but he's he's here so
Larry thank you for coming and doing all
you do and we do have a representative
from Senator tillis's office office Trey
Lewis who is here so Trey thank you uh
for coming and represent I don't and I
think mayor hold is left I don't know if
I hate to say missed other folks but I
do want to say we have the past chair
and current chair of the economic
development Advisory board so thank you
guys uh and if you would thank the
others on the board there for for all
that you guys do but I think I think
with that I one more I as I talk
Workforce I can't talk Workforce without
uh talking about Johnson Community
College and I think uh I don't see Dr
linquist he must have had to to leave
but I do want to thank Dr linquist and
for what they do uh at Johnson Community
College For Preparing our Workforce so
that is uh all I have to say Mr Mayor
I'll turn it back over to you I
appreciate it um all those folks that
chairman Lauder just thank exact same
here I got to particularly give a shout
out to Adventure development Kevin docky
Mark McDonald Mark you can call me at
5:30 a.m. anytime you know it thank you
and particularly Chris Johnson a rock
star in this County so if uh Chris calls
me and says I need you to be somewhere
the response is what time and what color
do you want my tie to be thank you um
and again all the folks that have come
together to make what is happening in
Selma and Johnson County happen let's
keep rocking um Crystal selection
demonstrates that sound economic
fundamentals are Selma's secret sauce
when it comes to job creation and
prosperity the council welcomes this
growing company and salutes the success
that has led to this exciting expansion
into our community thank
you all right do you want to I'll look for guidance on this so we have a
couple of things to present you want to
do that now you want to do it right
after we
adjourn okay we'll do that so I I will
look to this side of the table and ask
for a motion uh to adjourn we adjourn
all right we have a motion I'll take
commissioner Smith as the second layer
um all those in favor please say I I we
are I'm going to look this way and look
for a motion to
adjourn second all those in favor we're
good to
go all
[Applause]
right e