June 20,  2024 - Statement by Shelbyville City Councilman William Christie

Over the past several weeks there has been a lot of talk about the 231 N. Business Park and in particular the recruitment of Duksan Electera to that Park. As Councilman for the 4th Ward since December 2014, I have witnessed the development of that Park as well as Duksan’s recruitment to Shelbyville and I want to set the record straight on a lot of misinformation. In order to understand the various moving parts of economic development in Shelbyville, I set out below a brief summary on the history of the Park.

In March 2015, the City and Bedford County signed an agreement to go in together to jointly acquire, develop, and operate an industrial park with the goal of attracting businesses and jobs to our community. In October of that year, we purchased 86.5 acres on Frank Martin Road not far from the Walmart Distribution Center for this purpose. Each government committed $600,000 to this project, and with an additional investment from TVA, we created the 231 N. Business Park. It was our stated goal to make the Park self-sufficient.

The site development and operation of the Park was handled by the committee jointly created by the City and County to oversee it. That committee made all decisions and recommendations for the Park. The 231 N. Business Park Oversight Committee was a 5-member board. There were 2 representatives from each government on it as well as the CEO of the Shelbyville-Bedford County Chamber of Commerce who then acted as the industrial recruiter for our community. For decades, the City’s Hotel-Motel Tax revenue was designated to go to the Chamber of Commerce for industrial and business development and was overseen by the Chamber’s Economic Development and Tourism Committee.

Park site development continued through 2016 and into 2017. Despite efforts by the Park’s Oversight Committee working with State officials to attract businesses to the Park, there was little interest in it for several years. By 2019, both City and County leaders knew a more aggressive approach to industrial recruitment was needed, not for just the Park but in general. We held joint sessions between the City Council and County Commission to discuss our mutual goals.

Out of those discussions we formed the Shelbyville Bedford County Joint Economic Development Advisory Committee to explore options. I served on that committee along with City Council Member Henry Feldhaus and Bedford County Commissioners Sylvia Pinson, Don Gallagher, and Jeff Sweeney. The governments committed $300,000 each over 3 years to create a new and better economic development program and to create a new joint economic development director position to supplement work of the Chamber.

That Joint Advisory Committee worked diligently throughout the end of 2019 and all of 2020 to find solutions for industrial recruitment, consulting with various professionals in the field and requesting changes to Chamber of Commerce procedures. Unable to come to an agreement with the Chamber’s Economic Development and Tourism Committee, the City and County agreed to go forward and hire their own business development professional who would become the primary industrial recruiter for the community and sit on the Park’s Oversight Committee instead of the Chamber CEO.

Furthermore, the City took the step of requesting that the State amend the City Charter to remove the requirement that the Hotel-Motel Tax be given directly to the Chamber for its economic development and tourism work. Since May 2020, the tax goes into a special City fund controlled by the City Council for business development and tourism purposes.

In January 2021, a person was hired as the new economic development director and the first order of business was for him to advise us on how to set up a new recruiting, business development and tourism program overall. The immediate focus was on business recruitment and selling the Park. He replaced the Chamber CEO on the Park’s Oversight Committee as one of its 5 voting members.

We were advised by the new director that our Park land restrictions were unnecessary and impeded the Park’s marketability in his professional opinion, and on his advice the Park’s Oversight Committee made immediate changes in order to position the Park for better success. Furthermore, we followed his advice and created the Shelbyville-Bedford Partnership, a 501(c)(6) corporation, with the goal that it would eventually house all economic development activities. The new economic development director was made the CEO/President of the Partnership in order to carry out his job. One of our other stated goals was that the Partnership would become self-sufficient in a few years, needing no more public monies from either City or County government.

As for the 231 N. Business Park, several projects have come to the Park since these changes were made to the economic development program here in Shelbyville. It is clear that our actions and decisions since 2019 have had a positive impact. We have achieved significant corporate and state investment in our community. Additional land was acquired for more projects and the Park has been completely filled.

However, that is not to say that I look back and agree with every choice made since 2019, for either the Park or our overall economic development program. But I know I made what choices I did based on the best information made available to me at the time, and I relied on others in leadership positions to do the same.

Regarding industrial and business recruitment, often a significant factor in success is keeping the business name confidential through most of the process. What exact information the members of the Park’s Oversight Committee knew and when they knew it about Duksan, then only identified as Project Cardinal, I do not know. But I know I was misled as to the exact nature of the manufacturing that was to be conducted by it and certainly was not informed of the hazard level and necessary safety measures required. If I had known, I would not have voted in 2022 to approve the tax incentive structure given to the Industrial Development Board for Duksan and other potential business recruits, and would have actively encouraged the Park’s Oversight Committee to find a different business to recruit for that site in the Park.

Despite that disappointment, I know that the City has focused its sights on making sure Duksan opens and operates as safely as possible, and I understand that Duksan has been very cooperative in that regard. I am pleased with the tremendous efforts that City staff have been able to take to enforce all building and life safety codes for that plant.

In addition, I have regrets over the structure of the economic development program we created in the form of the Shelbyville-Bedford Partnership. We set up that organization to have a 7-member board of directors, 4 of whom were to be government officials, the City and County mayors, a Councilman and a Commissioner. That was so the City and County would still have significant input in economic development decisions, including overseeing the job of the new economic development director who is serving as the Partnership’s CEO/President.

When it became apparent that some members of the City Council were not pleased with the performance of the director especially in not providing us complete information on Park recruitment, the Partnership moved to increase its board of directors to 9 members, effectively diluting local governmental oversight. Unfortunately, a Councilmember on the board voted for that expansion. I replaced that Councilmember for a brief time on the Partnership board.

The original goal was to make the Partnership financially independent from taxpayer money. Couple that with the concern over the director’s withholding of relevant information on the Park, Council made the decision to no longer fund the Partnership an annual $100,000 as had been done for several years. That decision resulted in the Partnership board voting to completely remove City representatives from that board, despite the fact that the City had invested over $400,000 in this new economic program, and had funded various side programs along the way. Since that time, the relationship between that organization and the City Council has been strained and has made cooperation among the various players more difficult, especially with all the attempts to sideline the City from any media coverage for its contributions past or present and refusing to acknowledge the presence of City officials at public events.

In addition, the Partnership last year took under its umbrella the old Shelbyville-Bedford County Chamber of Commerce. Besides the Hotel-Motel Tax going to the Chamber’s division for economic development in the past, the City has for decades been a $5,000 supporting member of the local business side of the Chamber. When the City sent in this year’s membership renewal form and check, the Partnership CEO rejected it and returned the money to the City, stating in his cover letter that local governments were not eligible for Chamber benefits, despite evidence to the contrary, and that “government participation is recognized through membership within the Shelbyville-Bedford Partnership”.

It was concerning that the CEO of the Partnership sent this and not the Chamber board leadership, as they are two separate entities with different purposes. The City just wants to continue to support the work of the Chamber of Commerce and its various local business members. Council voted to request an explanation from the Chamber leadership and we hope to receive their response soon.

It has been disappointing and disheartening to see such childish antics when from the very beginning in 2019 the City has invested heavily in this joint mission to jumpstart economic development, including serious solo contributions to Chick-fil-A and MTSU. I wish the Partnership’s board of directors, especially those native to our community, would see this for what it is, provide more guidance to their President, and put a stop to these strategic attempts at one-upmanship. Even though we may disagree on some very serious matters, failing to recognize and show respect to others is not the way to move forward nor build a solid working foundation for the benefit of our citizens.

In conclusion, I want the public to know that the City is moving forward with its own programs in economic recruitment using the Hotel-Motel Tax funds and has recent successes in business recruitment. I will continue to support City-led development.