The EDA had a special called meeting on Tues-day to discuss an agree-ment with Kentucky Industrial Alliance. Prior to the meeting, KIA sent over revisions that they were requesting.
Heather Spoon spoke about what led up to that meeting. She said that in 2022, the EDA had made an agreement with a com-pany named K&M and they had offered them some incentives that they never took advantage of.
About three months ago, Kentucky Industrial Alliance who was formal-ly K&M, contacted the EDA and conversations began again. KIA has several thousand acres around Interstate 65.
They contacted Spoon and stated that they had more prospects than they could ever house and wanted to know if Adair County was interested.
“Their reach is far. They have hundreds if not thousands of con-nections. They go to eco-nomic summits, and they have people there show-ing properties they have access to,” said Spoon.
KIA wanted an agree-ment signed with Adair County on what the cost of land would be for the property. The board approved an agreement that Spoon wrote. When it was sent to KIA, they sent back changes that they would like made.
The EDA board agreed that getting jobs into the community was the top priority. KIA has a proven track record of bringing industry into properties that they own. One location is in Green County, and the business is already expanding.
The board went into executive session to dis-cuss the changes that KIA was proposing. No action was taken at the meeting.
Improvements are con-tinually being made at the Adair County Indus-trial Park. This week, the north side is being black-topped.
Over the last two years, the Economic Develop-ment Authority has used grants from the Kentucky Product Development Initiative to improve the industrial park.
“We’ve completed the build ready pad, added water, sewer, and gas, and blacktopped the road,” said board member Rich-ard Phelps.
EDA has been award-ed two KPDI grants. The grants were matching grants and EDA used their own funds to com-plete these projects.
“There has been $1,371,410.30 in improvements of infra-structure made in the last two years,” said Larry Walker, EDA chairman.
The EDA’s next regu-larly scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 8 a.m. in the Chamber of Commerce meeting room.
By: Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
