Fay-Penn touts successes throughout county
Enjoying compliments from outside sources and patting itself on the back, Fay-Penn Economic Development Council showed off some of its successes Friday morning during its quarterly board meeting. Dan Webster, who completed his role as Uniontown’s solicitor on Friday, praised Fay-Penn for the work it has done in overseeing a $13 million downtown Uniontown revitalization.
In a recap of the program, Webster singled out Tina Wargo, Fay-Penn’s asset and contract department manager, for special praise.
“What the public saw was the governor (Ed Rendell) coming to Uniontown with those checks for millions of dollars. What the public may not have known was that we had to match those funds. As many of you know, the city does not have a capital budget. So that’s where the creativity of Tina Wargo came to play,’ using previous investments in downtown as the needed match, Webster said.
“Without Fay-Penn’s assistance, this (downtown revitalization) would not have happened. Insofar as the city project is concerned, Fay-Penn more than adequately fulfilled its responsibility and is the prime reason we have what we have today,’ Webster added.
But the city’s revitalization was just one of many projects Fay-Penn worked on in 2007.
Barry Senari, Fay-Penn economic development manager, reviewed work the agency has completed, including the $42 million Johnson Matthey project at the Fayette Business Park near Fairchance, which will bring a minimum of 110 jobs in over the next three years; the $175 million Chestnut Ridge storage natural gas project that will create 10 new jobs; helping create action plans for dozens of county businesses through the Business Retention and Expansion Project; finalizing plans for the Keystone Innovation Zone project between Fayette and Washington counties, which has been awarded a $225,000 grant to foster high-tech development; and contracting with Atlas America to establish gas wells on some of Fay-Penn’s property in Springhill Township.
“We have 355,000 square feet in 10 buildings that are owned by Fay-Penn and 94 percent of that space is leased,’ Senari said.
Wargo, in her report of assets and contract management, said the agency was successful in 2007 in securing $13 million in state and federal grants for businesses in Fayette County.
The agency also has grown its revolving loan fund to more than $14.4 million, money that is loaned to new and existing business growth.
But while things may seem rosy on the surface, Leo T. Krantz, Fay-Penn chairman, said the agency needs more outside sources for funding if it is going to continue to grow.
Projects such as Johnson Matthey, a United Kingdom-based firm, will bring higher paying jobs to the region. Senari, in his report, noted the company has purchased 11.4 acres in the Fayette Business Park and they have already exercised an option to buy 10.55 more acres. The company will build a 118,000-square-foot factory on the site.
Yet, Krantz made a pitch for more help.
“We had gotten $1 million a year from the Eberly Foundation. But that dropped to $750,000, $500,000, $250,000 and is now zero. We have to remember that Fay-Penn has $13 million in debt. That will take us at least the next three to four years to diminish that debt. And we are kind of feeding off ourselves, so it’s not like we don’t need support,’ Krantz said.
James Foutz, Fay-Penn treasurer, in presenting the agency’s 2008 budget, highlighted in part what Krantz meant. Fay-Penn will divert more than $466,000 in interest from the revolving loan fund and $197,000 from its building fund to balance its 2008 $1.8 million budget.
“Some people at the state level and from foundations may think we are fat but we are living off our interest,’ Foutz said.
Krantz explained that foundations turned away from Fay-Penn during the years the Eberly Foundation supported it. However, this year’s budget has $175,000 from the Mellon Foundation among its receipts. Fay-Penn also received $600,000 late in 2007 and has another $600,000 in its new budget from the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). However, all that money goes into the revolving loan fund, Krantz said.
“We need support,’ he said, adding the agency launched a membership drive last year. “There are 2,900 businesses in Fayette County,’ Krantz added, “and it would be great if we had 2,900 members in Fay-Penn.’
In other action, Fay-Penn welcomed former Laurel Highlands School District superintendent Dr. Ron Sheba to the REACH program; changed its bylaws setting term limits for its officers; and thanked all legislators representing Fayette County for helping get the state DCED grant for the revolving loan fund.