The Bettendorf-based LED light assembly company planning to bring its operations from China has been approved to receive $130,000 in job training reimbursement through Eastern Iowa Community College (EICC).
The funds would pay for development of a customized training program for 15 employees of LED-O Holding, LLC who would have "an average wage of $17 per hour and benefits of health, life, dental, vacation, holiday pay initially," according to the LED-O agreement with EICC. The firm, now located at 6125 Valley Drive, "is planning to move its operations from China and eventually will locate in a 13,000-square-feet building that can be expanded to as much as 75,000 square feet over time," the agreement states.
The agreement between EICC and LED-O Holding was approved at the community college's April meeting.
LED-O Holdings is owned by the the same group of businessmen who obtained a 10-year Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentive (valued at $537,000) from the city of Bettendorf for the development of the Interstate 74 Technology Park. The site is just east of I-74 and north of Tanglefoot Lane. LED-O Holding's' current location on Valley Drive is in a building also occupied by a lawn equipment distributor.
College officials said the firm currently has five employees.
The I-74 Technology Park developer, Plantation Development, has built two small office buildings on the site under the city's TIF incentive, but the planned 13,000-square-foot assembly building has yet to be built.
The city council in 2011 initially gave approval to a 10-year TIF rebate for a 7,200-square-foot office building and 13,000-square-foot assembly building in the I-74 technology park. The total estimated cost of the LED assembly building then was $1.5 million, and the office building cost was estimated at $650,000. The total amount of the TIF rebate was estimated to total $375,000 over the 10-year term for the assembly plant, and $162,500 for the office building.
The developer had to return to the city council in June 2012 to renew the TIF agreement because work had yet to begin on the project. The two small office buildings were completed in the technology park last summer and fall.
Under the agreement between LED-O and EICC, the staff at the Eastern Iowa Business and Industry Center "will develop customized training for the new employees and the company will receive on-the-job training reimbursement for the new employees while they are learning their new jobs."
The job skills listed in the agreement includes: safety training, logistics (inventory control, shipping), mechatronic (robotics, electricity, technical), soldering, and training equipment (computer, projector).
