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DURHAM -- County Commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to add up to $100,000 in local economic-development aid to the incentives package that helped convince a Louisiana-based security consultancy to move to RTP.
The money to land IEM -- also known as Innovative Emergency Management Inc. -- will match a previously announced $150,000 grant from the state's One North Carolina Fund.
The state grant was contingent on the commissioners' coming through with a local contribution. Commissioners made it clear they were happy to step up.
IEM is "a dynamic, growing company," Commissioner Ellen Reckhow said.
Durham County's money offer is tied to the creation of 210 new jobs. The company has said it intends to create 430, to go with the 350 or so workers who may transfer from its current headquarters in Baton Rouge, La.
The deal will include so-called "clawback" provisions that will entitle the county to recover its money if IEM doesn't deliver, Deputy County Manager Carolyn Titus said.
Commissioners and Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce officials indicated Monday that the recruitment of the company had been a major, yearlong effort.
IEM provides consulting services to an array of governmental and private-sector clients, from the U.S. Department of Defense on down.
It's best-known for coordinating a major planning exercise in 2004 for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, "Hurricane Pam," that gave officials some idea of what might happen if a major hurricane hit the New Orleans area.
Hurricane Katrina, of course, did hit New Orleans about a year later. Company founder and President Madhu Beriwal has said the exercise helped shape some of the tactics emergency responders used for search-and-rescue and medical operations after Katrina.
The state is also backing IEM's move with some $9 million in tax credits. Officials including Gov. Beverly Perdue, U.S. Rep. David Price, state Sen. Floyd McKissick and state Rep. Mickey Michaux have offered backing for the company's decision.
The only doubts voiced Monday came from Victoria Peterson, a local activist who asked a series of questions focusing on how many of the jobs would go to Durham residents and whether the company qualifies as a minority- or women-owned business.
"I support new companies coming into Durham but would really support my tax dollars going into companies that are already here and established and need money to expand," she said.
But county officials noted that Beriwal is female.
"It's very important for Victoria to know the president is sitting two or three seats down from you," Commissioner Joe Bowser said, pointing out Beriwal in the audience. "We have all had an opportunity to interact with her."
Beriwal said her employees are "pleased and excited" about the pending move to RTP. "I am looking forward to moving here and being a part of this community," she added.
In other action, commissioners voted 4-1 to spend up to $10,000 and waive conflict-of-interest restrictions to hire a Raleigh law firm, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, to help represent it in the upcoming appeal of a tax dispute to the N.C. Supreme Court.
The move will allow one of the firm's lawyers, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, to join the county's legal team. Meeker is a specialist in property-tax law, County Manager Mike Ruffin said in a memo to commissioners.
The board had to waive conflict of interest because another of Parker Poe's 224-odd lawyers is representing a firm involved in a dispute with the Durham Center, the community's mental-health agency.
N.C. State Bar rules require firms with potential conflicts to disclose them to clients, and give clients the right to waive conflicts. Ruffin said it's not unusual for the problem to crop up when dealing with large law firms.
Bowser nonetheless voted against granting the waiver. "I don't see how the company can represent Durham County on one side and sue Durham County on the other," he said.
The tax case involves a subsidiary of IBM, and turns on the proper valuation for tax purposes of computer equipment the subsidiary was leasing to IBM customers. At stake is some $5.2 million in disputed revenue.
The county lost a Court of Appeals ruling in the matter last month.
