CROSSVILLE — Cumberland County commissioners approved filing an application with the state for a low-interest loan to assist a company with the purchase of equipment to start operating a new manufacturing company.

According to resolution 10-2011-1, the county authorizes Cumberland County Mayor Kenneth Carey to sign and execute the application and all other documents to the Tennessee Department of Economic Development for a $600,000 loan on behalf of BekZon, a company from Sweeden that desires to locate in the Cumberland County Business Incubator at Roane State Community College.

"... Usually a CDBG is a true grant, but this has to be repaid. It sounds more like a loan than a grant to me. They've asked the city for $300,000, us for $600,000 and rental and we haven't seen a business case. My concern is what are they bringing other than a promise of 30 to 40 jobs? I can't vote for this without seeing a business case," said 9th District Commissioner Carmin Lynch.

The company promises to bring 100 jobs if development funds can be obtained, according to the resolution.

The funds, if approved, would be from the state through a Community Development Block Grant (CDGB) Industrial Loan Program, administered by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

Although the resolution was ultimately approved in a 15-3 vote, a lengthy debate ensued after Lynch made a motion to postpone voting on the resolution until the November county commission meeting and or until the county could be supplied with a business plan from BekZon.

Allen Foster, 4th District commissioner, echoed Lynch's concern.

"I'm all for bringing jobs into the county but I would like to see what BekZon is bringing to the table. I'd feel more comfortable running this through the committee process, but I'm not sure where it would start," Foster said.

Sonya Rimmer, 8th District commissioner, who is chairman of the joint economic development committee said the resolution hadn't come before that committee and that BekZon had also requested several million dollars from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

"I've yet to see a plan. Is the time limited on this?" Rimmer asked.

She supported Lynch's motion to postpone voting until seeing a business plan from BekZon.

Harry Sabine, 1st District commissioner, asked to hear from Beth Alexander, CEO and president of the Crossville/Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce.

Alexander said the CDBG loan was an 80/20 loan and the state would hold a lien on the equipment purchased with the funds with a 20 percent match required by BekZon.

Alexander said the state is very diligent in researching a company before it would approve the loan.

Joe Koester, 5th District commissioner asked, "If we pass this and they are approved, what is our obligation?"

Cumberland County Mayor Kenneth Carey explained the loan would be like flow through money or funding from the state. The funds would come to the county and the county would in turn issue a check to BekZon in three days and keep a record of the transaction and the issuance of the funds.

"The county would not be required to pay back the loan if the company were to file bankruptcy or anything like that," Carey said. "I asked about that."

Koester said he knew the county got a lot of resolutions such as this one in the "eleventh hour" but he felt the risk to the county was minimal.

Roy Turner, 7th District commissioner, said, "I understand the concern, but we fell asleep before (with the last company) and lost out on jobs coming here ... it won't cost the county and if we put this off we could fall asleep and lose out again. We can't keep telling the people of this county we need to know every single detail about a company in order to bring jobs here. There comes a point when we have to take the words of the people running this community."

In the vote to postpone action until hearing from BekZon, commissioners voting in favor were Sabine, Foster, Jan McNeil, 5th District; Larry Allen, 6th District; Sonya Rimmer, 8th District; and Lynch.

Voting against postponing were commissioners Brian Houston, 1st District; Nancy Hyder and Robert Safdie, 2nd District; Johnny Presley and Dave Hassler, 3rd District; Charles Seiber, 4th District; Koester; Terry Carter, 6th District; Mike Harvel and Turner, 7th District; Jeff Brown, 8th District; and Clyde Cramer, 9th District.

Safdie made a motion to approve filing the application for the loan with the state and it was supported by Hyder.

Commissioners voting in favor Sabine, Houston, Hyder, Safdie, Presley, Hassler, Foster, Seiber, Koester, Carter, Allen, Turner, Harvel, Brown and Cramer.

Commissioners voting against the resolution to apply for the loan on behalf of BekZon were McNeil, Rimmer and Lynch.

The resolution passed in a 15-3 vote.

In a separate motion, Safdie then moved that BekZon provide an overview or business plan for the business to the county and budget committee. It was supported by Koester and approved in a 17-1 vote. Commissioner Lynch voted no, stating the plan should go before the joint economic development committee.

Last week, BekZon requested a $300,000 loan through the city's economic development revolving loan fund.
Alf Mauritzson, president and chief technical officer for BekZon, said the loan would allow the firm to go ahead and hire between 30 and 50 employees and by using the Cumberland Business Incubator, they could begin production almost immediately.

Mauritzson also gave a brief presentation of the company and some of its products. He described how the technology BekZon has developed is more efficient than the air filtering units used in the past. Mauritzon said his company is energy and environmentally friendly and uses green practices in its manufacturing and operation process.
BekZon is based in Sweden and Estonia. They have been looking for a location for expansion in order to fill a multi-million dollar contract to provide their air filtering products to China. They have recently incorporated in the United States and claim they could ultimately provide as many as 500 jobs in Cumberland County.