Gainesville — The Gainesville City Council met Tuesday night and heard two resolutions brought by the Gainesville Economic Development Corporation (GEDC) Board of Directors that could provide incentives to two companies to generate more jobs in Cooke County.

This was the first reading of the resolutions; they were brought to council by GEDC director Kent Sharp. The resolutions, once passed, will give IFS Coatings, Inc. and Alan Ritchey, Inc. a $5,000 incentive for each new job created up to 25 jobs. Each company will have a set of guidelines it must follow in order to receive the incentives. IFS Coatings, Inc. must be able to prove 90 days after hire, that the position is full time, paid $11 per hour and that the newly-hired person is residing in Cooke County. Alan Ritchey, Inc. has all of the same guidelines except they must pay their position $12 per hour. Both companies will have to submit a quarterly report to the GEDC providing proof of these requirements before receiving the incentives.

The council discussed adding an attachment B to the resolutions. This attachment will add pay requirements discussed to the document for each company.

“These incentives will potentially provide fifty new jobs for Cooke County citizens,” Sharp said. “Also, much of the payroll generated from these jobs will be spent in Gainesville, providing retail benefits such as paying insurance, opening bank accounts and buying food in grocery stores.”

The council also heard a resolution which would authorize City Manager Barry Sullivan to execute an agreement for professional services with HDR Engineering, Inc. This agreement is for planning and environmental services for the expansion at the Gainesville Water Treatment Plant and improvements of the Northwest Distribution System.

“This is a $107,000 contract to expand the Moss Lake Water Treatment Plant.” Sullivan said. “This will plan the route for the pipes that will come down the northwest part of the city.”

Sullivan will also sign off on Task Order No. 12, which will save the city $12,000. The council unanimously passed the resolution.

The last resolution brought to council dealt with negotiating a resolution between the steering committee of cities served by Oncor and Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC. The reason for the resolution was to address Oncor’s request to increase the electrical rates in all cities. Oncor’s reasoning was that the existing rates are unreasonable and should be changed. The steering committee disagreed, before the two entities decided on a settlement agreement.

Sullivan said the agreement will increase a customer’s bill by about $2.35.

The agreement also discussed the city franchise fees that were reduced by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in 2009. Oncor rents the cities right of way and easements to run their lines, which is cheaper for them, rather than having to buy their own right of way and own easements. According to state law, cities nor the state are allowed to loan the use of property at no cost. This is why the city franchise fee or rental fee came in to place. When the PUC reduced those fees to a flat rate in 2009, they did not allow for inflation. Even though rent should be going up because costs are going up, cities have not been allowed to keep up with the inflation rates. This agreement requires Oncor to re-establish the proper franchise fee and back pay the appropriate cost with interest.

According to Sullivan, the repayments will equal about $50,000 within 60 days of passing the resolution.

Council chose to suspend the charter for this resolution and passed the resolution unanimously.

During the meeting, four reports were given. The first report was an update on blending and extension retail electric rates given by Sullivan, who said that it is possible for the city, after signing on a new electrical rate, to save a total of 11.5 percent over the next three years.

The second report was about the airport taxi way project. Gainesville Municipal Airport Manager Dave Ventonsaid a pre-construction meeting will be held at 9 a.m., on June 23.

Also, two different funding requests were made. These requests were made by the Cooke County Arts Council presented by Kelly Fiore-Watson and the Cooke County Heritage Society presented by Colleen Carri.