A Grand Forks economic development committee Monday gave Cirrus Aircraft the go-ahead for a $950,000 loan from the city following an apology from its chairman for his questions of the company's finances.
"I want to apologize for how I conducted the meeting last Tuesday and how I addressed Mr. King during that meeting," said Doug Christensen at Monday's meeting of the Growth Fund Committee.
Monday's meeting was a continuation of the March 5 meeting during which Christensen questioned Cirrus executive William King about the company's ability to repay the loan and its other rent and debt obligations to the city. He also said King did not give a business case for the city's investment.
King said Christensen's questions amounted to an attack on Cirrus' integrity and accused the committee of divulging confidential financial information.
That meeting was adjourned until King could return with information to bolster Cirrus' case for the loan.
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Christensen took a different tone Monday with his apology and an explanation that he failed to trust a company he called "a valuable member of our corporate community" with an "extremely bright" future in Grand Forks.
"I can honestly say Cirrus will repay the city of Grand Forks," he said.
Future expansion
Cirrus wants the $950,000 loan as part of a $1.5 million plan to purchase manufacturing equipment and expand its production facility. The project will allow it to do work it outsources to other companies, saving it roughly $3,000 per airplane, according to King.
King, vice president for business administration, said the installation of the equipment, an autoclave, in Grand Forks means the company was staking its future production there.
"Wherever that autoclave goes in is where all that manufacturing is going to be," he said following the meeting. "If it went somewhere else, that's where all the future manufacturing would have to be."
Christensen and other committee members last week cited financial statements they said showed millions in losses. But King said they reflected Cirrus' obligations to its parent company, China-based CAIGA, that appear as losses on its balance sheet.
Christensen said Monday that he received the information on the company's business plans he said was missing last week.
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"My thing was that it was an incomplete application," he said.
Since last week's meeting, Cirrus provided the additional financial information, along with reaction to the tone of the questions.
"I'm not going to lie, they've been very stressed," King said of company executives. "But much of it was trying to get to clarity about what the project represents."
While Cirrus has plans to expand into Asia as China eases restrictions on personal aircraft use in the coming years, King said the company was, for now, concentrating on its primary market of North and South America, supported by production in Grand Forks.
"There is no plan to move the company anywhere else," he said.
Cirrus' loan will need to be approved by the Grand Forks Jobs Development Authority on March 18.
King said he hoped the expansion would be complete by September.
Call Bjorke at (701) 780-1117; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1117; or send e-mail to cbjorke@gfherald.com .
