Good morning.

It is uh Friday, June 5th at 9.06 a.m., Madam Clerk.

Uh, the Transportation and Commerce Committee will now come to order.

Please call the roll.

Alderman Oldenburg.

Alderman Narayan.

Here.

Alderwoman Schweitzer.

Present.

Vice Chair Cox Antwit.

Here.

Chair Cone.

Present.

Alderman Oldenberg.

For present, we have Quorum.

Wonderful.

I'm on my phone.

I don't have the agenda in front of me.

Do we have um meeting minutes from our last meeting on Tuesday available, Madam Clerk?

Yes, we do.

Hey, I will entertain a motion on our meeting minutes from earlier this week.

June 2nd, 2026.

I move that we approve the June 2nd, 2026 minutes.

Second.

Then move by the Alderman from the fourth, seconded by the Alder Woman from the 8th that we approve our meeting minutes from June 2nd, 2026.

Madam Clerk, please call the role.

Altman Oldenberg.

Alderman Orion.

Alder Woman Sweitzer.

Hi.

Vice Chair Cox Antoine.

Hi.

Chair Cone.

Hi.

Alderman Oldenberg.

Four I votes.

You have sustained the motion from the Alderman from the fourth to pass our meeting minutes or adopt our meeting minutes.

I know that we have resolution number 33 as amended on the uh calendar for today for discussion.

Alder woman from the first year recognized.

Thank you so much, uh, Mr.

Chair and members of the committee.

I appreciate you all coming back today to hear this.

Uh this is a resolution in support of a property uh real um a property personal property tax abatement for Winland Foods.

Uh we do have some folks uh here from Windland Foods that are in the waiting room.

If Madam Clerk could please move them over.

Um STL Asia, if you could make me uh hold.

I can't uh have the capability at this time.

Thank you.

The only person I see online is Mr.

Jerry Connolly.

There's no one else in the waiting room.

Um not with their hand up, but is it Todd Barron and Robert Chapman?

Yes.

Okay, I'll true.

Mr.

Chapman is over.

Wonderful.

Uh we'll start with um Bob.

If you can hear us, if you could unmute and uh turn your camera on.

Uh we had just started talking about the resolution 33 as amended.

Uh and I think if you have um just two minutes to remind folks on the committee about what you're doing and why this resolution is as um and the tax abatement is helpful to you all.

Uh, I'm sure we'd love to hear from you.

Well, good morning.

And I want to thank the committee once again for their time and consideration this morning.

My name is Bob Chapin.

Uh I've been a part of the Winland family for about 31 years and a proud member of the South St.

Louis community uh since that time.

Uh we are the uh makers of dried poster products, many of which you'd find in the grocery store.

Uh if you look at the shelves, our brands are cremat, American Beauty in this area, as well as no yolks, um, light and fluffy noodles.

We also do prints in San Giorgio, primarily on the East Coast.

However, that's uh products that we make in our facility as well.

Uh, the project that we um are planning uh is to expand the plant, about a 38 and a half million dollar expansion.

Uh we currently make what we would call traditional cuts.

Spaghetti, thin spaghetti fettuccine, uh baby shells, musicoli regate, rigatoni, for example.

Uh, this particular project will enable us to make specialty products.

Specialty products are going to be your manicotte as well as your jumbo shells.

So it's a very specific process that requires a new processing line, processing line would be a press that combines the flour and water dryer that drives that product to the more rigid form that you are are used to seeing in the in the grocery store.

Uh and then two very highly automated pack lines to pack those particular products.

As a result, not only uh do we plan to um you know add equipment, but we're also going to add 25 new positions that would be skilled and semi-skilled roles.

Umperators uh to make the product and then technicians to take care of that process.

Um, so um, you know, just uh a real leap in technology, uh a nice addition to our portfolio and that we can make more products here at the facility.

Um, you know, certainly we you know are excited about um you know our our commitment to South St.

Louis in particular.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention going back about a year and a half ago, two years ago, uh, the plant was slated for closure.

Uh so we um had delivered that bad news.

Uh since that time, there was a um a change of direction.

And not only are we keeping the plant open, but we're looking at this expansion.

So just wonderful news um in terms of you know the facility and the long-term future here in St.

Louis.

Thank you so much for that summary.

Uh and as you all know, we had SLDC here last week, and they talked about the terms of the um personal property tax abatement and as well as all the reasons that Winland Foods qualifies for this abatement uh based on the scorecard.

And um, it's our job as the Board of Alderman to pass a resolution recommending the Port Authority um participate in their recommendation of those of those um abatements.

So um that's all for me, and I appreciate your uh consideration of this and hope to have your support today.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Are there any questions from the committee?

Alderman Narayan.

No questions, thank you.

Alder one uh cox hand tweet.

No questions from me.

Thank you very much.

Do we have Alderman Oldenburg on the line?

I'm not seeing him on the participants.

No, we do not.

Okay.

Uh any public discussion?

I know Mr.

Connolly wanted to testify last or earlier this week.

He's on the line.

Did he sign up to testify?

He did.

He has his hand raised.

Okay.

Mr.

Connolly.

Oh, you want to swear I'm in?

Oh, you're not, you want to.

No.

I promise to tell the whole truth regardless.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes.

Yes.

Very good.

Thank you.

Um, I'm going to reiterate a couple of my comments from Wednesday for the benefit of older woman Cox Antwi, who was not at that meeting, and also for Olderman, Oldman Oldenburg, if he's watching.

Um, again, during consideration of this project at the April 9th Port Authority meeting, there was no financial analysis provided um to buy SLDC stuff to the port authorities.

So I think that was a failure of due diligence on the agency's part.

Um, and then when this resolution came to um the Board of Alderman, there was not a financial analysis included with the document as is customary with board bills dealing with incentives.

Uh, one of my questions uh that I really wish um Mr.

Spikeman or someone else from SLDC could address today is when was Zach Wilson SLDC asked to perform the analysis and scorecard?

Was it before that April 9th meeting or after?

I think that's critical because if there's just kind of a formality of an analysis being provided when it comes to the Board of Alderman, why isn't the Port Authority commission receiving that analysis in advance of their consideration?

Um this resolution provides um an 80% 10-year tax abatement for the personal property, the equipment uh at the plant.

If I heard correctly on Wednesday, if this installation is going to be complete by September time, has this equipment already been purchased?

And I suspect it has.

If you were to amend this resolution and make it a 20% abatement, that would generate four times as much revenue for the city.

Um, that equates to the the $2.5 million value of the abatement in current dollars.

Um equates to the cost to repair 48 tornado damaged homes at $50, $50,000 a piece.

Approval of the current abatement terms makes a mockery of the frequently stated goal of city officials to boost revenue by growing the tax base.

I suspect I'm not the only one who finds it hard to take the Board of Alderman seriously when you implore us to make financial sacrifices while simultaneously awarding overly generous tax breaks to corporations.

And once again, I just would recommend that you amend the resolution uh to be a 20% instead of an 80% abatement.

Thank you.

I appreciate your time today.

Happy to answer any questions if you have them.

Thank you, Mr.

Connolly.

Are there any uh questions or comments from the committee?

Alderman Narayan.

No comments.

Thank you.

Alderwoman Schweitzer.

No.

Alderwoman Cox Antwit.

No comments, thank you.

Okay.

Uh Madam Clerk, was there any written testimony that was provided for resolution number 33 as amended?

We have none.

Okay.

Uh Alder Woman from the first year recognized to close on resolution number 33 as amended.

Thank you, Chairman Cohn.

I uh appreciate the time today, and I hope to earn everyone's favorable uh support uh for this resolution 33 as amended.

Okay, I I'll entertain a motion on resolution number 33 as amended.

I move that we pass resolution 33 as amended out with a due pass recommendation.

Second.

It's been moved by the alderman from the fourth seconded by the alder woman from the eighth, that we pass out resolution number 33 is amended with a due pass recommendation.

There's been a request for previous role by the alder woman from the first.

Is there any objection to previous role?

Hearing and seeing none.

Resolution number 33 is amended, passes out of committee with a due pass recommendation.

Uh Madam Clerk, can you please note that the alderman from the second should be excused for necessary absence?

Oh no.

And on that note, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

So move.

Second previous roll.

It's been moved by the alder woman from the first, seconded by the alder woman from the eighth with a request for previous roll.

Is there any objection to previous role?

Hearing and seeing none, we stand adjourned.