WEEKLY UPDATE      July, 6th, 2007

BACK FROM THE LAND OF LINCOLN ...Illinois doesn't have a well known anthem like some states. It does, however, have a number of businesses that have concerns about the business climate following Governor Rod Blagojevich's proposal to tax businesses big time to pay for a number of expanded state programs. One such business met with our Tim, "friend of Jack Schultz" Burg, (Schultz' home base is Effingham, Illinois) last week to discuss just such an escape. The company told Burg they were considering six states, (and none of them had the initials "Illinois") and that they would consider Ponca City following Burg's visit. The timeline is about 18 months and there are still five other states competing. Burg also met with Host Analytic's Jim Eberlin in St. Louis on his way to Illinois to discuss Host's growth in Ponca City and other high tech companies with a desire for a business friendly community. NEW TRUSTEES JOIN PCDA BOARD NEXT WEEK ...freshly minted PCDA Trustees Jeff Meyers and Dennis Ruttman will join their first PCDA board meeting next Thursday, just in time to weigh the merits of authorizing advertisements in two statewide publications, consider a request from Pioneer Technology Center to assist with a mobile job training center, battle out the debate over minutes, financial reports and other items on the consent calendar, hear the staff talk about ongoing projects, and finally provide direction on projects that are at or near the tipping point. There are four such projects near the edge right now. The meeting will be next Thursday, July 12th at 7:30 a.m. in the Chamber of Commerce Conference Room. WHERE IS EVERYBODY??? ...one Ponca City company that is talking to PCDA about potential expansion assistance said to us this week, "Are we the only ones not on vacation this week?" It may seem like that but there is plenty of activity going on. PCDA met with a company we are very close to getting a decision on this week, trying to push it over the edge. We also continued the work on construction specifications for said company. We met with two other Ponca City business considering expansions, had to tell another we could not help, worked on a proposal to an out of state firm, met with the new City Manager of Tonkawa, met with the Tonkawa Development Authority, researched two leads that we ultimately had to pass on as we didn't have what the company's wanted, closed the old fiscal year, opened our new one and successfully closed out a job creation project. It was, after all, a short week. SPICING THINGS UP ...you may have read last week that the rock group the "Spice Girls" got back together and are touring again to pick up a cool $20 million each. PCDA's Tim "Old Spice" Burg heard that, thought it sounded pretty good and decided to get on the road himself. This time he's off to the Governor's Economic Development Team (GEDT) Conference next week in OKC where Burg will score a free lunch for making a presentation on the award winning Ponca City Development Authority Business Retention and Expansion Program. UPCOMING.... Thur. July 12th: PCDA Board meeting, 7:30 a.m., Chamber of Commerce Board Room Ponca City Development Authority 102 S. Fifth Street, Ste. 3, Ponca City, OK 74601 580.765.7070/580.765.0969-fax Or E-Mail - David Myers CEcD - Executive Director Visit Ponca City Development's Latest News Archives © www.goponca.com - Ponca City Development Authority - Ponca City, Oklahoma