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Pike Chamber of Commerce Meeting Room - 8 a.m.
ZEBULON - The Pike County Development Authority met on September 3, 2025 at 8 a.m. Present were Dee McLeRoy, John Barker, David Nix, Kel Brannon, Bryan Oglesby, Sonny Gwyn, BOC Chairman Briar Johnson, Zebulon Mayor Joe Walter, and Director Kyle Fletcher.
1. Call to Order.
Bryan Oglesby.
2. Approval of the Agenda.
Motion to approve. Approved.
3. Invited Guest. None.
4. Approval of the Minutes.
Motion to approve the August minutes. Approved.
5. Financials. (Too Early.)
No bank statements yet to reconcile. Will have at the next meeting.
6. Old Business.
a. Economic Incentive Program for Pike County. Discussion.
A lot has changed since that ordinance was made. Working with the County Manger on these incentives. Hoping to have something back by the end of October. Met with Morton last week along with the attorney for the Board. Kevin is putting together a proposed policy. Fletcher. If you feel strongly about anything, please let us know. We don’t want to post these because other counties could undercut us. Oglesby. This is an opportunity to put a process in place so we can handle requests in a timely manner without getting bogged down. Economic incentive policy and opportunity to improve the process. Barker. Incentives for traditional manufacturing and industrial, data centers, and solar. There can’t be a one size fits all for these. Discussion that the county commission can’t offer incentives. Will know more when the attorney gives feedback to this board. Hope to have a draft by the October meeting. Where can we improve the process between this board and the county commission? Barker. Need to have a plan with incentives. Gwyn. Do we have a plan now? No. Consensus to help put together a process. Walter. Other counties have ordinances to help businesses based on the investment and jobs to be brought into their county.
b. Pike Business Park Update
Fletcher. Reached out to Joshua Stewart from Metal Fabricators. Finalizing with Mark Whitley and will be starting soon. Met with Jim McNair. Clearing his lots. Helped Thomaston Milk Company with building up with the dirt. After finishing moving the dirt, he’s going to seed it and help out with some of the smaller lots. There is a15.80 acre tract and several smaller tracts in the back. Oglesby. There has been a lot of dirt moved out there. AAG will go on their lot as soon as the dirt is moved. The weather has been a factor.
Request from Danny McElwaney. (Helix)
[Note from the Editor: Fletcher went ahead and rolling into 7a because it was related to the Business Park.]
They are clearing their lot by Frito Lay. Asked if he could take some dirt from Lot 11 to help get that close to pad ready and get this lot ready too. Oglesby. Talk to Mark Whitley to be sure on this because don’t want to cause any future issues. Consensus to have the engineer to look this over. Discussion about report from a few months ago about dirt by Whitley. Walter. There are a lot of moving parts including not hurting the roads. Need a written statement on this. Gwyn. Need to be careful not to violate any existing agreements. Need something in writing. Oglesby. I’ll talk to Mark and Danny on this and get back with y’all.
c. 2025-2026 Draft Budget.
Fletcher. Since the Development Authority just over $1 million, it sounds like a lot of money, but when you’re talking infrastructure, it’s not really a lot. This money will go real quick. Discussion. Oglesby. We need to go with a calendar year because we don’t know our expenses until later in the year. Asked this to go on the next calendar. Barker. Will have to do two audits. Half year and a full year later on with a switch over. Walter. Will have to amend the bylaws for this. Fletcher to send this part of the bylaws to members. County is on July to June.
Executive session. 8:25 a.m.
Back in session. 9:08 a.m.
Motion to approve engineering for Project Gabriel. Approved.
Motion to approve MOU for project Gabriel with updates. Approved.
Motion to adjourn. 9:09 a.m.
Next Meeting October 8, 2025.
Past Meetings that Pike County Times has attended
March 13, 2024 and April 3, 2024 IDA Meeting
August 21, 2023 New Development Authority Director Named
July 26, 2023 Special Called IDA Meeting
June 7, 2023 IDA Meeting and History and Background of the IDA
February 20, 2023 Joint Commission and IDA Special Called Meeting