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CBIGAN CtI1ZItN
13
Benton Harbor Area News
By IlerDJIce
At Monday night's July 24,
Benton Harbor City Commis­
sion meeting the commission
I voted nn.nimously to pprove
management plan designed by
Ernst &. Whinney, of Grand
Rapids, Michigan. fo the City's
Incubator, comer of Pa Paw
and Territorial Roads.
he plan also tate th t
mlilUlitemcnt services for the In-
. d . Incubator building will
be provided by Southshore
Enterprises, Inc. of St. Joseph,
Michigan. Southshore
E erprises, Inc. will provide
p t-time (no more than 16
h per week) management
. ees for the incubator.
e incubator manager Will
be responsible for, pricing and
delivering the office practice
se vice; upervising all in-
tor staff who provide ser­
to tenants and clients in
1 th community; negotiating the
PIII_ltaM co l of services from new
pr vider ; identifying
te t/client needs and recruit­
ing these services from the exist­
ing community; mar eling d
pr moting the P port for the
community. This includ
sOCakUl& at ppropriate co
m . functions, meeting with
va ious potential service
pr vider in the communi y
a ut the value of the Passpqrt
an how they can participate.
�e business incubator
initially include the followi g
ser ices: Phone-ans erin ,
clerical, bookkeeping, CPA
reView, legal review/council, .
marketing service, feder I
procurement, capital f?rmati�n
and business plan reView/wr -
mg.'
� The plan recommends t e
far -year management fee
set t S13,600 and be adjust
upon contract renewal at e
end of the first year. Secondly,
that the initial· contract between
the City of Benton Harbor aed
Southshore Enterprises be 0
year in duration, with a renewal
option for two dditional years.
In dditioa, the contract wiD
ha a "3O-day clause" that al­
lows Southshore dlor the City
of Benton Harbor to terminate
the contract on days notice.
Benton.' H rbor City
Manager, Steve � said,
m of the wor under the
con ract will be done by the
ma�agement co pany, wi�
so� reportiDg b ck to the City
�OD yb'
occasion, 0 weekly b .
e city will responsi�l
for &king care f any 1IWJl·
telWlCC items, 0 the interior
and exterior, were the in
cubator icon rned, said
MaTing .
·If I had been ere II
first got into this thiDs a year;
and a-JWf 0, old be
- I
flop' a t· ··hom
Sure,
Cure
"
•
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DICKEY
REALTY
ROUP
Incubator
_ plan get
approval
usiDg an existing buildiDg rather
than taking on dditionaI bur­
den trying to manage a ne
building with very limited
resources", said Manning
Manning st ted that he
would ha\'e used the Vmcent or
any existing building tllat the
city of Benton Harbor owned
rather than go out and spend Sl
million to build one that is too
small for the city's needs,"
In the budget figures for the
incubator provided by Brian
Pangle of Ernst & Whinney,
M� said the city will be
looking at a "S3O,000 deli . the
first year, about a $9,000 deficit
the second year and pro' .
during the third year the oject
will begin to pay fo i
Pangle said four pros
tenants will be moviug .
incubator over the next ur to
eight �eeks. There . be a
Screw m chine manuf:�r;
Bar Code equipmen dis-
tributor and syste int ator
consulting; om er i-
cal/residential st m wmdow
replacement; and Computer
equipment/soft ar� dis­
tributor.
Manning said ny profits
made will be put b ck into the
incubator operatic .
Mayor William olf said if
Southshore cannot �e the
incubator and the city manager
ends up invohed, the city will
take dvantage of the �day
clause", I
DDA­
lacks q
IFA
orum
By
The Downtown Develop­
ment Authority (DDA) and the
Tax Increment Finance
Authority (TIP A) boards held
their regular meeting Wednes­
d y, July 19.
A Public Hearing was held
for the DDA and TIFA 89/9()
budgets, but no action was
taken because there were no
quorum.
Bills ubmitted to the DDA
board for approval were: S800
to Southwestern Michgian
Abstract; $65,000 for the Water
Street and 5th Street project;
n;371.50 for pollution control
on Britain Avenue project; and
S1,325 to Plante-Moran for,
audit services.
Other business discussed by
the board were: the pproval of
vacation for DDA Director
Aaron Anthony, fra,n August
18 through August 28, 1989; the
extension of comput�r contract
for Sandra Dudley for (30
days); City Commi7.0 Cham­
bers project, where e city has
asked DDA to help finance the
repair of the divider in the Com- '
mission Chamber ; the hiring of
Le Hardy as Staff . t for
DDA; and the appointment of
. Joyce Abrams to the F'mance
Committee.
No ction was taken because
ck of quorum, but Anthony
. d he will call a special meet-
Co Uedoa P 14