By Michael Howell
The Hamilton City Council was set to hear a request at its January 20 meeting from the Ravalli County Economic Development Agency (RCEDA) for the city to sponsor an economic development grant application for a new downtown business called Applied Training Resources (ATR). The grant application would be submitted to the Big Sky Trust Fund – Category I Economic Development Grant Program and be administered by RCEDA.
RCEDA Economic Development director John Schneeberger spoke to the city’s Committee of the Whole last week explaining the application. The request seeks funding assistance for ATR Inc. to open an office providing procedure writing software and training in Hamilton. The $187,500 grant would be matched by $96,875 from ATR. ATR will lease properties and buildings, anticipates hiring over 25 employees by the end of 2015 with a salary range of $17.50 per hour to $85,000 per year. Schneeberger noted the Big Sky Trust Fund is supportive.
ATR was founded by Elliot Lander and his wife Grace in 1990 in Spring, a Houston suburb. The company provides “mission-critical procedure, work guidance, and knowledge management solutions” to high risk industries such as petrochemicals, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals, “companies that need to have very clear procedures.” Schneeberger called ATR’s proprietary software “one of their flagship softwares.”
“They plan on opening a ‘center for excellence’ here and have already procured a buy/sell agreement to purchase a building on Main Street in Hamilton,” said Schneeberger. The economic development grant would be paid out as reimbursement for the employees that are hired. The grant would provide $7,500 per employee hired.
“This will be an economic boost for Hamilton,” said Schneeberger. He said that Big Sky Trust doesn’t reimburse for employees unless they meet wage requirements of $17.50 per hour to $85,000 per year. “We are talking about a clean business, a high-tech business creating good paying jobs,” said Schneeberger. He called it “a very strong proposal.”
Council member Ken Bell expressed some doubts about the proposal, saying “What assurances do you have any different from that company that gave rise to the building that you work in there? They were going to hire 50 people and do wonderful things,” he said, referring to a failed enterprise that the agency had supported.
Schneeberger said that one main difference was that the business Bell was referring to was a start-up. He said this business already exists and is doing well. He said the company is simply looking to expand and looking at a location in Hamilton. He said with the grant under request there was no way to draw grant funds down and then leave since the money is only disbursed as reimbursement for money already paid out.
Council member Al Mitchell expressed support for the grant application. He said that he knew the company owner, knew something about his company, and trusted him.
“It looks like a win/win for him and the city,” said Mitchell.
Questioned about the cost of administering the grant, Schneeberger said that RCEDA would receive $375 out of every $7,500 per employee provided by the grant for administering the grant.
The motion to move the issue to council was approved unanimously.
A policy for installation of traffic control devices and a proposal to install a couple of stop signs on Franklin Street will also go to council. Police Chief Ryan Oster said that a policy for placing signs was much needed. He said basically the city’s Transportation Plan recommends using the state manual for uniform traffic control devices. Public Works Director Keith Smith went through the manual and used it as a basis for setting criteria for establishing stop signs, but ultimate approval of the sign placement rests with the city council.
Oster said, “We’ve never had a standardized method of assessing the situation.”
Regarding placing signs on Franklin Street, he said that based on crash history it appears warranted. He said in an eight-month period from February to September there were four crashes at the intersection.
“My gut tells me it’s not a bad idea to put stop signs in,” said Oster.