TEDA gets $1.45M for cold storage facility

The Terrebonne Economic Development Authority will be receiving $1.45 million to help build a $6 million cold storage facility on parish-owned land in Terrebonne for the fisheries industry in the parish, said CEO Mike Ferdinand at last week’s TEDA board meeting.

The project will include a kitchen facility for processing food.

The $1.45 million in funding comes from a fisheries grant program within the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Gulf Island Shrimp and Seafood in Dulac is contributing $400,000 toward building the facility. A private partner is required for participation in the program.

Ferdinand said TEDA is looking for other avenues to complete funding, including state Economic Development Award Program money.

If TEDA receives the EDA Program money, the agency would not be able to spend some of the $65 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds that Terrebonne Parish is set to receive for hurricane recovery efforts on the cold storage facility, Ferdinand said.

The TEDA board approved a slate of recommendations for spending the CDBG funds.

Ferdinand said many businesses in Terrebonne Parish suffering damage from hurricanes Gustav and Ike have not received loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Those businesses could benefit from receiving some of the CDBG funds, he said.

However, like the cold storage facility, businesses receiving EDA Program money cannot apply for CDBG funding.

Also at last week’s meeting, the board passed a motion to create a workforce development director as part of the TEDA staff.

The board’s executive committee recommended creating the position at a meeting in January. Establishing a workforce developer position is in the TEDA charter.

Explaining the need for the position, TEDA’s draft activities and financial statement for 2008 states that employers “express concern about the availability of a qualified workforce.”

At the January executive committee meeting, TEDA board chairman Mike Voisin said the workforce developer position would pay between $38,000 and $52,000 yearly.

The board last week approved updating TEDA’s job descriptions as well. The agency currently has no job descriptions.

Under new financial disclosure requirements for boards in the state passed last year by the Louisiana Legislature, TEDA board members will have to file disclosure statements by May, said TEDA attorney James Dagate.

Board members will have to list any conflicts of interest and whether they or their spouses receive public money.

Dagate said the disclosure requirements are not as extensive as those for members of state boards.

On another matter, board member Don Hingle recommended that TEDA try to secure $250,000 from the stimulus package passed by Congress last week for Work It! Louisiana, the program created by the South Central Industrial Association to encourage students to pursue skilled, technical industry jobs. Continued funding for the program by the Louisiana Workforce Commission is doubtful because the state budget will run a deficit, Hingle said.

The board also discussed TEDA’s relationship with the South Louisiana Economic Council, the private regional economic development group based in Thibodaux.

SLEC represents Lafourche, St. Mary, Terrebonne and Assumption parishes, though TEDA has never voted to be part of the organization and Terrebonne Parish does not pay the yearly $25,000 membership dues.

Terrebonne makes up more than 60 percent of the population represented by SLEC.

Voisin said two years ago, TEDA submitted a letter to the organization stating that SLEC was Terrebonne Parish’s regional economic development representative. However, the parish has received “zero cooperation” from SLEC since September, he noted.

“There have been challenges over time…There are personalities, regional issues involved,” he said.

According to Voisin, Ferdinand and SLEC Executive Director Vic Lafont “don’t talk.”

The board debated whether to approve a memorandum of understanding signed by the other parishes represented by SLEC, or to approve a modified form of the memorandum.

Hingle said signing an MoU normally is a preliminary step to signing contracts. SLEC has suggested signing a cooperative endeavor agreement, Voisin said, and a memorandum is a first step.

“Time is becoming a factor in this situation,” Hingle said. “TEDA represents Terrebonne Parish, but the things we do are regional. It’s imperative that Terrebonne Parish be looked on as a regionally cooperative group.”

“The state doesn’t like this,” he said later. “It’s a problem. We’re not properly serving our parish.”

Board member Synde Devillier supported Hingle, saying, “We’re losing not being part of the group.”

Voisin said TEDA is not receiving business leads from SLEC. Business leads are coming directly from the state, rather than through SLEC. Major companies move from looking statewide, regionally, then locally.

“We miss out,” Voisin said.

And Terrebonne Parish is placed at a disadvantage by not collaborating to get state grants.

“Before the Legislature, if we work together, we’re better able to accomplish things for the region,” Voisin said.

Terrebonne Parish could join another regional economic development group besides SLEC like the New Orleans-based GNO, Inc. or organizations based in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

“But if we go elsewhere, we could become a stepchild,” Voisin said.

Hingle said TEDA would still be faced with deciding whether to sign another memorandum of understanding.

According to Voisin, Lafourche Parish has signed a contract with SLEC paying the group the $25,000 membership fee, but he did not know whether Assumption and St. Mary parishes had paid.