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Economic E-mails Released 11/06/2007
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The following was first posted by Ed in the the comments here: http://www.78666.com/News/news_info.php?id=115504&Last=Home
SMABOR Member and Affiliates:
It looks like (so far) that this year's election is going to yield a low voter turnout ? in that case every vote literally counts.
Attached you will find a list of all SMABOR members whose records with the Board office show a San Marcos address.
That list was compared to the latest publicly available information available from the Hays County Elections office showing who has early voted so far in the upcoming election (as of 10/29 ~ Monday)
First, I would like to recognize the following 22 Realtors that have already voted (see attached) as well as the two affiliates (Gloria Salazar & John Schott).
Second, I would like to point out how disappointing it is that an organization of our size with so much at stake (professionally and otherwise) is letting our apathy get the better of us.
Specifically, this City Council election is extremely important to our industry as the current staff vacancies of "Planning Director", "Engineering Director", and "City Manager" will all be decided by the City Council in 2008 as well as the decision to revisit / revise our land development code in an effort to level the playing field with our neighboring cities along the corridor.
Yes, I do realize that many of you don't live within the city limits (but you should still be voting on the local and statewide propositions) and yes I do realize that many of you historically vote on Election Day. As such, we will be sending out an updated list following the end of early voting (Friday Nov 11th) and Election Day (Tuesday Nov 6th). Our goal is to ?get out the vote!?
Please make every effort to early vote if possible (last day to early vote is this Friday) and more so ENCOURAGE OTHERS you know to do the same. You can vote at either the San Marcos Public Library or the Elections Office off Broadway (btw SH 123 & IH35) ... a full list of early voting polling places and hours can be found at http://www.elections.co.hays.tx.us/election/ballot1106.html
You DO NOT have to have your valid voter registration card with you to vote -- your drivers license is a sufficient form of ID (assuming you are registered of course).
Please help SMABOR support KIM PORTERFIELD and JUDE PRATHER for the City Council -- our public endorsement of these candidates means nothing if we can't find the time ourselves to get to the polls.
Thank you,
- Chris Carson
Hello,
My name is Laura Lucas and I am the Human Resources Manager at CFAN and also a board member of the San Marcos Manufacturers' Association. Like Bruce, I am unfamiliar with the candidates in this election and CFAN does not support any particular candidate. However, I would also like to clarify CFAN's employment situation as well as other factual errors in Mr. Giles message.
The statement that CFAN has 40 unfilled positions is misleading. Earlier this week, I received a call from Betsy Robertson. She informed me that she is running for city council and asked if it was true that CFAN had 200 unfilled jobs. I told Ms. Robertson that it was NOT true. She asked how many open jobs CFAN had. I told Ms. Robertson that CFAN is in a growth mode and that we plan to hire another 40 people in the next couple of months. I explained to her that while we do plan to hire 40 people in the near future, that is not the same as saying we have 40 unfilled positions. CFAN couldn't hire 40 people all at once because we could not train that many new hires at one time. So, even if 40 qualified candidates appeared at our door tomorrow, we would not be able to hire them immediately. Bruce correctly states that CFAN is not turning away business or failing to meet our customers' needs due to an inability to hire people. Ms. Robertson simply does not understand our recruiting and training process.
I also strongly disagree with the statement that growth of manufacturing perpetuates low wages in this community. As Bruce mentions, our wages are well above average for our community and that is before you include the value of our benefits. CFAN pays approximately 90% of the cost of benefits (medical, dental and vision coverage) for our employees and their dependents. If we experience any difficulty in filling our positions, it is certainly not due to a lack of applicants, but rather due to a lack of applicants of the caliber that CFAN needs to build parts for commercial jet engines. Companies like CFAN and Goodrich actually put upward pressure on wages as we compete with other employers to attract high quality candidates in the workforce.
As for the concern over exporting graduates of Texas State: at last count, CFAN employs 10 graduates of Texas State and at least as many current students. We encourage our employees to further their education and even go as far as to reimburse their tuition expenses up to $2,000 per year as well as modifying their work schedules wherever possible to accommodate their studies.
On the subject of education, I believe the residents of San Marcos who are concerned about the "right kind of growth" would do well to focus their efforts on improving education. Only with an educated workforce will San Marcos be able to attract the kind of businesses that offer career opportunities with good wages. My suggestion: focus on ways to reduce the high school drop out rate; ensure that the children of this community get a solid education and equip them with the tools they need to succeed in today's workplace.
Again, CFAN does not endorse any candidate in this election, but we do want the constituents to have the facts to make an informed decision on whom to support.
Laura Lucas, SPHR
Human Resources Manager
CFAN
1000 Technology Way
San Marcos, Texas 78666
Phone (512) 754-3006
Fax (512) 754-3060
laura.lucas@c-fan.com
Visit CFAN on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.c-fan.com
CFAN Proprietary Information Notice
The information in this document is CFAN Proprietary Information and is disclosed in confidence. It is the property of CFAN and shall not be used, disclosed to others or reproduced without the express written consent of CFAN. If consent is given for reproduction in whole or in part, this notice and the notice set forth on each page of this document shall appear in any such reproduction in whole or in part. The information contained in this document may also be controlled by the U.S. export control laws. Unauthorized export or re-export is prohibited.
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From: Tifft, Bruce [mailto:Bruce.Tifft@goodrich.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 6:49 PM
To: giles.keith@gmail.com
Subject: RE: San Marcos Election
Folks,
I do not support any particular candidate and really do not know their various positions and do not want to be seen as for or against any of them. However, when the attached email came to my attention I felt obligated to correct obvious mischaracterizations. As Chairman of the San Marcos Economic Development Board and board member of the San Marcos Manufacturing Association and the Texas Association of Manufacturers, I believe it is my duty to give a fair and factual representation of manufacturing as a sector of the economy. I will address points related to this subject.
"Currently, our unemployment sits at about 3.2% and there are still 40 unfilled jobs at CFAN."
The above quote makes 40 unfilled jobs at CFAN sound like a bad thing and a serious issue. CFAN is going through a large hiring upswing and are conducting new hire classes on a regular basis with class sizes just under 20 I believe. They must keep open positions and fill them over time and this is all part of the hiring plan. It is not easy or simple but normal. They are not turning away business or not supporting customers due to inability to hire people. They are hiring to support their growth needs and will have openings for quite some time. This is a healthy and positive thing for our community.
"Right now our biggest export are students who graduate Texas State. We must find a way to keep these students here which means attracting businesses that pay higher wages, businesses like software development companies, financial services, entertainment and other technology companies who are beginning to find Austin too crowded and want out."
We export more students because we import more students. We keep more students from Texas State than we input students to Texas State from our community. We also have several working for Goodrich now and none of them are from here. No one I have heard of on the City Council does not want any of the service businesses mentioned above. However, they don't employ the numbers or pay the taxes or contribute to the overall economy in as great a way as does manufacturing. There are good strategic reasons for focusing on manufacturing to get "more bang for your buck." Read note below for more details.
"The Mayor would like us to believe that we need to continue to support the growth of manufacturing jobs in our community. Not only do we not have the available labor this only perpetuates low wages in our City."
There are very good reasons the Mayor believes we need to continue to support the growth of manufacturing in our community and it is a statistical fact that this does not perpetuate low wages but the exact opposite. According the Federal Reserve statistics, manufacturing contributes almost $100 Billion annually to the economy of Texas. Manufacturing jobs pay 22% more than the national average and for every manufacturing job created, 4 service sector jobs are created. Also, manufacturers pay a third of all corporate state and local taxes and invest two-thirds of private sector R&D. With the highest secondary impact of any economic sector, that is an additional $1.43 worth of economic activity for every $1 of manufacturing activity - 143% - it stands to reason that pro-manufacturing efforts by the city government would result in "more bang for the buck" than attention to any other sector. Locally, I can speak for Goodrich and our current average annual base salary is $50,000 a year. This does not include overtime or bonuses which we also pay. I know that CFAN has very similar numbers. That may seem low to some of you but that is more than 67% above the average for our community, which is far better than the national numbers referenced above.
"We grow but once and doing it the wrong way will forever render our city just another Walmart stop on the road between Austin and San Antonio. Growth for growth's sake will yield this dividend. We will grow inevitably, but we must grow the right way."
Our growth has been happening for years and will continue to for years and we certainly need to be strategic and diversified. I don't believe anyone running for office will disagree with that. The only thing that separates us now from a "Walmart stop" on the interstate is the university and our manufacturing base. In most communities, government employers like the city or schools are the largest employers. These require the rest of us to pay for them. Outside of public/government jobs and the "Walmarts" which are the infamously low paying retail jobs, almost all of the largest employers in our community are manufacturing companies. Part of the economic activity generated by manufacturing companies that I mentioned above is due to their ability to afford to buy and sell homes. If you are in real estate related businesses, I don't see how you can ignore that.
These are the facts. Which candidates agree with them or not, I do not know.
Bruce H. Tifft
General Manager
Adding value is the business, improving the business is the work
Think safety, work safely, be safe!
2005 Technology Way
San Marcos, TX 78666
+ Email bruce.tifft@goodrich.com
( Tel 512-754-3709
( Cell 512-757-3520
7 Fax 512-754-3611
We're On It!
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----- Original Message -----
From: keith giles
To: 'Tim Snodgrass' ; 'Aaron Hines' ; 'Angie Hyndman' ; 'Bill Payne' ; bill@btainsurance.com ; 'Brian Barker' ; 'Butch Lancaster' ; catherine.r.chandler@wellsfargo.com ; cmeyer@independencetitle.com ; 'Cole Ruhl' ; cwalker@benchmark-ins.com ; 'David Hayes' ; 'Ed Foster' ; 'Fest, Ben' ; gaylerookie@cs.com ; 'Glenda Schulz' ; 'Gloria Salazar' ; gravesr@tilsonhome.com ; 'Isaac Mahone' ; 'JD Sitter' ; 'Jody Doss' ; 'John Dunn' ; 'John Schott' ; 'Kenton Brown' ; 'Kim & Danny Dollar- Home Focus' ; 'Lee Porterfield' ; 'Leonard Hardy' ; 'Marie Farber' ; 'Marilyn Van Uum' ; 'Matt Patterson' ; 'Michelle Phelps' ; 'Mimi Govea' ; 'Natalie Wright' ; 'Oscar Saenz' ; 'Paula C.' ; 'Paula New' ; sales@redsimon.com ; 'Scott Phillips' ; 'Thomas Tucker' ; 'Susan Granzin' ; 'Millie Jones' ; Chris Carson ; 'Zachary Potts' ; 12ingram@centurytel.net ; ''Aart Millecam'' ; 'Adrian Lillard' ; 'Allison (AJ) Harwood' ; 'Alonzo Benavides' ; 'Alvin Bolf' ; 'Amy Williams - C21HC' ; 'Andy Gallegos' ; 'Ann Hurt' ; 'Arne Birk' ; atlas@grandecom.net ; 'Barrie Breed' ; 'Becca - Randall Morris' ; 'Becky Johnson' ; 'Beth Brady' ; 'Beth King' ; 'Bill Burnett ' ; 'Bill Damron' ; 'Bob Wilson' ; 'Bobbie Jackson' ; 'Brenda Damron' ; 'Brenda Spire' ; 'Brendy Kilber' ; 'Bret Beitler' ; brewtonshelle@yahoo.com ; 'Bridget Alexander' ; 'Cal Baetz' ; 'Candy Farris' ; 'Carol Gary' ; 'Carol Wissemann' ; 'Carroll Wiley' ; 'Carter Morris' ; 'Catalina Lara' ; 'Cathy James' ; 'Celena Casteneda Martinez' ; 'Chance Endsley' ; 'Charles Mize' ; 'Chris Carson' ; 'Chris Torrey' ; 'Clara Brinkley' ; 'Clarence Miller' ; 'Daniel Henderson' ; 'Daniel Webber' ; 'Dave Mills' ; 'David Elliott' ; 'David Esparza' ; 'David Glover' ; 'David Valle' ; 'Debbie Austin' ; 'Debbie Wallis' ; 'Delores Gooding' ; 'Dewayne Dalrymple' ; 'Diane Sanders' ; dloding@satx.rr.com ; 'Don Garrett' ; 'Don Graham' ; 'Donna Lenz' ; 'Donna Taylor' ; 'Doug Borrett' ; 'Doug Scuderi' ; 'Dubb Smith' ; 'Dustan Glover' ; 'Edward Bradley' ; 'Eleanor Cates' ; 'Elizabeth James' ; 'Eric Ross' ; 'Erin Bara' ; 'Eva Pritchett' ; 'Ezekiel Enriquez' ; 'Fanny Priest' ; 'Framme' ; 'Fred Terry' ; 'Gammy' ; 'Gary Aalen' ; 'Gary McCaffrey' ; 'Gary Tucker' ; genie@corridorbrokers.com ; ggibson28@austin.rr.com ; 'Gilbert Vasquez' ; 'Hayley Powers' ; 'Heather Zimmer' ; 'Herbert Sladek' ; 'Holly Morris' ; 'Hunter Brewton' ; i3474@aol.com ; 'Jackie Simmons' ; 'Jake Striebeck' ; 'James Fielder' ; 'James Wise' ; 'James Yager' ; 'Janette Ramsay' ; 'Janice Kraft' ; 'Jason De La Cruz' ; 'Jason Lemley' ; 'Jason Sparks' ; 'Jason Tarr' ; 'Jazette Hudson' ; 'Jenny Walker Frisbie' ; jenphil@grandecom.net ; 'Jerry Williamson' ; 'Jim Hanson' ; 'Jim Wood' ; 'Jimi Irby' ; 'Joanne Jarrett' ; 'Joanne Stanley' ; 'Joe Garza' ; 'Joel Barnard (Joel Barnard)' ; 'John McCrocklin' ; 'Judy Parker' ; 'Julie Laumer' ; justinpadgett@austin.rr.com ; kara@glsanmarcos.com ; 'Katie Blackwell' ; katwlco@yahoo.com ; 'Kay Wilson' ; 'Kimberly Slauson' ; 'Laci Harrison' ; 'Larry Mack' ; 'Lauren Baker' ; 'Laurie Pinnix' ; 'Layne Muegge' ; 'Leesa Baker ' ; 'Linda Peterson (Peterson, Linda)' ; 'Linda Rodriguez' ; 'Linda Scull' ; 'Lisa Kuntz' ; 'Lloyd Barnes' ; 'Lucy Gamez' ; lyn-lockhartrealty@hotmail.com ; lynwisen@earthlink.net ; 'Margaret Morris' ; 'Mark Graham' ; 'Mark Mayhew' ; mark@markbrownrealestate.com ; 'Marky Vela' ; 'Marsha Thomason' ; 'Mary Evans' ; 'Mary Jo Flanders' ; 'Matthew Short' ; 'Melinda Dillard' ; 'Melinda Everett' ; 'Micah Friend' ; 'Michael Whalen' ; mmbrown@swbell.net ; 'Molly Wendt' ; 'Monica McNabb' ; 'Nathan Flaga' ; nelsonwray@yahoo.com ; nickbravo@centurytel.net ; p.baird@mail.utexas.edu ; 'Paige Smith' ; 'Pamela Shultz' ; 'Pamela Whaley' ; 'Patricia Fernandez' ; 'Patrick Rose' ; paulmetto@hughes.net ; 'Peggy Griffin' ; 'Perry Endsley' ; 'Phil Steed' ; 'Phyllis Whitaker' ; 'Ralph Randow' ; 'Ramon Luna (smre@grandecom.net)' ; 'Randall Morris (Randall Morris & Associates)' ; 'Randy Posey' ; 'Rene Ruiz' ; 'Renee Wyrick' ; 'Richard Skidmore' ; 'Richard Stewart' ; 'Rick Skiles ' ; 'Rick Tarr' ; 'Ricky Clark' ; 'Robbie Wiley' ; 'Robby Roden' ; 'Roger Cosio' ; 'Roland Guerrero' ; 'Ron Brewer' ; 'Ron Hart' ; 'Ronda Reagan' ; roywmills@hotmail.com ; 'Russell Smith' ; 'Ryan Thomason' ; 'Sam Nassour' ; 'Sammie Williamson' ; 'Sarah Lazarus' ; 'Scott Stoker' ; 'Scotty Flores' ; 'Sharon Biggs' ; 'Sharon Peters' ; 'Shelly Barnes' ; 'Stephen Jones' ; 'Steve Flynn' ; 'SuAnne Kuykendall' ; 'Tammie Gerbers' ; 'Thomas Guilford' ; 'Tim Williamson (Tim Williamson)' ; 'Tobi Guerrero' ; 'Tom Sones' ; 'Trey Jackson' ; txland@hotmail.com ; 'Tyler Williams' ; 'Vera Hardy (Vera Hardy)' ; 'Wayman Jones' ; 'WC Carson' ; 'William Lake'
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 12:39 PM
Subject: San Marcos Election
Dear Realtors:
It is important we vote in this and every election but, it is equally important that we understand the issues and implications of our vote. It seems that battle lines have been drawn over "growth" versus "no growth." Right now our biggest export are students who graduate Texas State. We have a wage issue not a job issue. Currently, our unemployment sits at about 3.2% and there are still 40 unfilled jobs at CFAN. The Mayor would like us to believe that we need to continue to support the growth of manufacturing jobs in our community. Not only do we not have the available labor this only perpetuates low wages in our City.
We must find a way to keep these students here which means attracting businesses that pay higher wages, businesses like software development companies, financial services, entertainment and other technology companies who are beginning to find Austin too crowded and want out.
I support Betsy Robertson and Jude Prather in this race because I believe they have this same vision. I am a friend of the other candidates and have been for some time and applaud them for wanting to serve their community by service on Council. I am concerned about having another councilmember on the dais doing the bidding of the University. But it all comes down to my vote and yours that will decide our City's direction in the future.
We grow but once and doing it the wrong way will forever render our city just another Walmart stop on the road between Austin and San Antonio. Growth for growth's sake will yield this dividend. We will grow inevitably, but we must grow the right way. I ask that you share my vision along with these two candidates and vote for Betsy Robertson and Jude Prather this next Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Keith Giles
Name: Ed
SMABOR Member and Affiliates:
It looks like (so far) that this year's election is going to yield a low voter turnout ? in that case every vote literally counts.
Attached you will find a list of all SMABOR members whose records with the Board office show a San Marcos address.
That list was compared to the latest publicly available information available from the Hays County Elections office showing who has early voted so far in the upcoming election (as of 10/29 ~ Monday).
First, I would like to recognize the following 22 Realtors that have already voted (see attached) as well as the two affiliates (Gloria Salazar & John Schott).
Second, I would like to point out how disappointing it is that an organization of our size with so much at stake (professionally and otherwise) is letting our apathy get the better of us.
Specifically, this City Council election is extremely important to our industry as the current staff vacancies of "Planning Director", "Engineering Director", and "City Manager" will all be decided by the City Council in 2008 as well as the decision to revisit / revise our land development code in an effort to level the playing field with our neighboring cities along the corridor.
Yes, I do realize that many of you don't live within the city limits (but you should still be voting on the local and statewide propositions) and yes I do realize that many of you historically vote on Election Day. As such, we will be sending out an updated list following the end of early voting (Friday Nov 11th) and Election Day (Tuesday Nov 6th). Our goal is to ?get out the vote!?
Please make every effort to early vote if possible (last day to early vote is this Friday) and more so ENCOURAGE OTHERS you know to do the same. You can vote at either the San Marcos Public Library or the Elections Office off Broadway (btw SH 123 & IH35) ... a full list of early voting polling places and hours can be found at http://www.elections.co.hays.tx.us/election/ballot1106.html
You DO NOT have to have your valid voter registration card with you to vote -- your drivers license is a sufficient form of ID (assuming you are registered of course).
Please help SMABOR support KIM PORTERFIELD and JUDE PRATHER for the City Council -- our public endorsement of these candidates means nothing if we can't find the time ourselves to get to the polls.
Thank you,
- Chris Carson |
