Chattanooga Industrial development boardDISCUSSION ON PILOT...

Chattanooga Industrial development board

DISCUSSION ON PILOT POLICIES AND PROCEDURESMr. Rodgers said that he noticed in the minutes where it talks about the update on PILOT policies and procedures that we are expected to have a draft at our May meeting and we did not have and we are now in June.Mr. Freeman said that they are anticipating that a draft will come before the Board at the July meeting. During our last session, the Board expressed some interest in being able to communicate with their City Council representatives for the same districts. As the Board has done that, the Administration of the Department of Economic Development use that time to not only to do work on the PILOT policies but also have been engaged in and involved in several things that are not related to PILOT policies regarding workforce development and affordable housing initiatives the Administration is pursuing.Mr. Freeman said to please note that the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy was here on Friday to give praise on a company called Novonix which was originally based in Lookout Valley but has now expanded to a downtown facility in the building that houses the former Alstom plant. Novonix is growing, and they are now the recipient of a large amount of federal assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy as they continue to manufacture, expand, and grow their synthetic graphite manufacturing structure which is used to produce graphite for electric vehicles and electric cars.As we work on our PILOT policies, Mr. Freeman wanted to remind the Board that the success that Novonix is enjoying today does not happen in a vacuum. Novonix was a PILOT recipient that this Board issued a PILOT to in 2021. It was the first jobs PILOT of the Kelly Administration. When we come to the Board and ask for assistance in helping to further economic development for jobs in our community, Novonix is a great example of how all of those pieces fit together. We do anticipate that we will come back to the Board with the Chamber’s help with the final draft of the final policies for the July meeting.