TSTC President Mike Reeser indicated that the restaurant program was not currently viable because of a lack of a potential location that would fit all of the needs for the technical program.
SEED Director Ken Becker graciously accepted the release of the grant funding from the college.
“They have looked at several options and over time just looked at the options that were available and it just didn’t seem to fit what TSTC needed,” said Becker of the proposed program.
“We support any of the programs at TSTC but President Reeser and I discussed if they were not going to use (the grant funding), it could be returned and then if they decide to use it at another location at a future date, they could come back and see us again.”
Becker concluded, “We decided that would be in the best interest of both parties at this time.”
Vice President of Student Learning and Development at TSTC, Kathleen Butler, indicated that the college was moving their resources in a different direction and wanted to release the funds so SEED could open grant money for use in some other community project.

“It was a little more ambitious of a project than we first thought,” said Butler, indicating that the potential loss of the proposed Country Club site for the program presented added complications.
She added, “We are not looking at the restaurant project at this time and felt that it would be better to not use the grant. We did not want to tie up SEED’s money that can be used elsewhere. That is just being a good community steward of that money.”
The board also heard the beginning portion of the audit of Galaxy Paper, LP owned by Rocky Bhakta.
The audit is under way as part of the consideration for fulltime equivalent units that will be the main consideration in additional economic support for the company that manufactures paper products, primarily toilet paper.
“Right now they are a little down. They have about three fulltime employees,” said Becker, indicating that was somewhat behind the estimated number of fulltime employees. “It has been hard to get recycled paper because there is a shortage. But the industry is coming out of that. That has been a struggle for them.”
The industrial park continues to develop with request of the engineering firm of Hibbs and Todd to provide the board with an infrastructure design for the 88-acre park. Estimates are that establishing infrastructure of services including gas, electric, sewer and water could take between 12 to 18 months after engineering design is approved.
The board also reviewed and approved the purchase of a 25-acre tract in keeping with the appraisal of the Mims Trust Property. The property was valued at approximately $5,000 an acre.
The meeting was attended by all of the SEED board including President John Jay, Kyle Lawrence, J.V. Martin, Pat Gerald and Art Maberry.
The meeting was the final one for outgoing board member Martin, who began serving on the economic board in 2005. Martin is a financial officer at First Financial Bank.
Becker expressed appreciation for Martin’s service over the past years, particularly in area of financial planning for the board’s projects.