s022503closedsessionFebruary 25, 2003
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met in a special called joint meeting with the
Asheboro City Council at 4:00 p.m. in the Training Room, County Office Building, 725 McDowell
Road, Asheboro, NC.
At 4:05 p.m., the Randolph County Board of Commissioners adjourned to closed session to
discuss matters relating to the location or expansion of business in the area, pursuant to NCGS 143-
318.11(a)(4). The Asheboro City Council also adjourned to closed session for the same purpose.
Commissioners Kemp, Frye, Davis, and Holmes were present. City Council members present were John
McGlohon, David Smith, Talmadge Baker, Archie Priest, Paul Trollinger, Nancy Hunter and Linda
Carter. Also present were Mayor David Jarrell, City Manager John Ogburn, City Attorney Jeff Sugg,
City Clerk Carol Cole, County Manager Frank Willis, County Staff Attorney Aimee Scotton, Clerk to
the Board Alice Dawson, Deputy Clerk to the Board Cheryl Ivey, Bob Wilhoit (representing the County
Attorney's office), Bonnie Renfro and Melissa Foust (representing the Randolph County Economic
Development Corporation), and Skip Sant, Austin Fine and Matt Murphy (representing Energizer
Battery). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss (economic development) Project Lighthouse.
Bonnie Renfro introduced Austin Fine, Plant 2 Manager, Skip Sant, Plant 1 Manager, and Matt
Murphy, Plant 1 Engineering Manager. She told the Boards that Energizer Battery is planning
production of a new premium battery that is completely different from their existing products and will
require complete retrofit of existing facilities in order to put the new high speed lines in place. The
company prefers expansion of an existing site. Four have been evaluated and two selected for
consideration: Asheboro and Singapore. The key project drivers are short- and long-term costs and risk
of production concentration in one area. The Asheboro choice involves two locations: alkaline
production (Plant 2) and packaging (Plant 1). The project would require new construction at each
location.
Ms. Renfro presented the potential investment in the following manner:
INVESTMENT: Plant One $6.5 million in real property
$10-15 million in equipment
Plant Two $2.5 million in real property
$65 million in equipment — Phase One
$75 million in equipment — Phase Two
Total Potential Investment: $159-164 million
JOBS: Plant One 20-100
Plant Two 25-40 (Phase One)
Plant Two 150-175 (Phase Two)
Total Potential New Jobs: 195-315 New Jobs
The advantages to choosing the Singapore site are tax savings, lower labor costs, and aggressive
incentives. The disadvantages are higher technical start-up costs, logistics (thirty days on the ocean),
workforce quality and some site constraints.
The advantages to choosing the Asheboro site are flexibility, competitive cost, some critical
capacity proximity to technological support from West Lake, Ohio (corporate headquarters), and trained
workforce with low turnover. Disadvantages are higher taxes and labor costs.
Ms. Renfro said that the competitive gap is roughly $2.3 million and that Asheboro's and
Randolph County's challenge is the need to impact the initial cost to narrow the gap and make the risk
easier to accept by offering to offset some of the expenses associated with the project. A summary of
the expenses, none of which are capital costs, follows:
Plant One $445,000 for building expansion (Phase One)
$3 million for equipment & relocation expense (Phase One)
Plant Two $825,000 for building expansion (Phase One)
$9.380 million equipment expense (Phase One)
$1.282 million building retrofit (Phase Two)
$15.225 million equipment expense (Phase Two)
$4.040 million miscellaneous expenses (Phase Two)
Total Phase One Expense: $1,270,000 building expansion
$12,380,000 a ui ment/relocation
Total Phase Two Expense: $1,282, 000 building retrofit
$19,265,000 a ui ment/relocation
Ms. Renfro reminded the Boards that Energizer Battery is Randolph County's and the City of
Asheboro's largest taxpayer and third largest employer with 1,082 employees and that there are 1,521
local or regional spin-off jobs linked to Energizer's operations.
Skip Sant answered questions from the two Boards following a PowerPoint presentation on
Energizer's operations.
At this time the three representatives from Energizer left and Ms. Renfro made the following
recommendation for the Boards' consideration: offer a $1,270,000 performance-based economic
incentive package to be divided equally between the two governments with payments made over four
years as various performance measures are met.
Following discussion between the two Boards, both jointly and privately within their own units,
Mayor Jarrell and Chairman Kemp directed Ms. Renfro to offer to Energizer a $1,270,000 performance-
based economic incentive package for Phase One of the project at both Asheboro locations to be divided
equally between the two governments (at $635,000 each) with payments made over four years.
At 6:05 pm., on motion of Davis, seconded by Frye, the Board of Commissioners voted to return
to regular session.
The Asheboro City Council also returned to regular session.
Phil Kemp, Chairman
J. Harold Holmes
Cheryl Ivey, Deputy Clerk to the Board
Darrell L. Frye
Robert B. Davis