The Industrial Development Authority of Pettis County voted unanimously to authorize the issuance of $21.79 million in Federal Recovery Zone bonds to ProEnergy Services.

The bonds, which were created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as the stimulus bill, and are tax-exempt bonds issued for private activity in areas designated as Federal Recovery Zones. The bonds are tax exempt and will be used to fund expansion on ProEnergy property in Sedalia.

Neither the city nor county hold any obligation with the bonds and debt service will be handled entirely by ProEnergy.

Chris Stratton, ProEnergy chief financial officer, said the company will use the bonds to fund construction of an industrial turbine repair shop, an office and a warehouse, all to be located on 52 acres of expansion property the company bought last year.

“This will almost double our size and is really the culmination of (owner Jeff Canon’s) vision for the company when it came to Sedalia,” Stratton said. 

Stratton said the expansion would allow the company to create an “assembly-line” for work on commercial natural gas turbines used to generate electricity. Stratton said the turbines are heavy pieces of equipment and the company currently pays a considerable amount to transport the turbines between its maintenance facility in Sedalia and additional space the company leases near Kansas City International Airport.

“This is a very ambitious expansion of the company’s footprint in Sedalia,” Stratton said.

The company expects the project to be completed in six to 12 months and estimates it will add at least 100 jobs at the Sedalia facility.

The IDA works as a pass-through board for low-interest state loans and other government financing to private firms that qualify. Economic Development of Sedalia-Pettis County oversees the seven-member board with appointments made by the commission. EDSPC Executive Director Linda Christle also serves as executive director of the IDA. 

IDA President Barbara Hayden said the community has high hopes for the project and wished ProEnergy success with the project. 

“If this is as successful as we all expect it to be, it will have a big impact on Sedalia,” Hayden said.

James Caldwell, an attorney with Gilmore & Bell, a public finance law firm handling the bonds, said, “This is exactly the kind of project the government had in mind when it created these bonds.”

Caldwell said the full $21.79 million in bonds will be issued by July 1. 

Stratton said the company has worked out a deal with a syndicate of banks — led by JP Morgan Chase — to purchase the bonds, which will be paid back over 10 years.

-Dennis Rich, The Sedalia Democrat