St. Charles City Council OKs Incentives for The Clarke Group

The St. Charles City Council on Monday formally approved a new incentives pilot program designed to draw The Clarke Group to relocate its headquarters and research and development facilities to St. Charles, bringing jobs along with the move.

The incentives package is estimated to cost the city no more than $275,000 over five years.

Clarke, perhaps best known regionally for its role in controlling mosquito populations, is considering relocating its headquarters and its research and development facility in  Schaumburg. The company had narrowed its site selection to two sites — one in St. Charles and another in Ames, Iowa, which is aggressively courting the international business.

Landing the third-generation family-owned business in St. Charles would be a significant economic development coup for the city. Clarke would bring with it an immediate 71 new jobs averaging $80,000 in annual pay, and an additional 15 jobs, averaging $60,000, during the first five years after occupancy, according to city documentation on the proposal.

Clarke anticipates investing $4 million to acquire and develop property at 675 Sidwell Court.

St. Charles Economic Development Director Chris Aiston pitched the proposal a week ago to the City Council Planning and Development Committee, which gave its unanimous recommendation for formal City Council approval.

Normally, a unanimous vote assures the item will be considered on the City Council’s consent agenda — those items that have been recommended for approval by a unanimous vote of aldermen during a council committee meeting. The list of items on the consent agenda during a formal City Council meeting are approved en masse in a single roll-call vote.

But Monday night, the council took the incentives plan off the consent agenda for consideration separately — largely in reaction to one publication’s criticism that the aldermen who had recommended approval a week earlier had done so without much discussion.

Council, Residents Quiz Clarke

That brought Dr. Lyle Clarke, president and CEO of the company, back before the council for a second presentation to aldermen, where he answered their questions and those posed by residents.

Clarke said the company is looking at a 28,000-square-foot building in St. Charles as the new site of its headquarters and its research and development facilities. In response to one resident’s question, Clarke explained the company is not considering moving its manufacturing facility in Roselle to St. Charles.

The move, he explained, represents a consolidation of the company’s two sites in Schaumburg.

The Incentives Deal

The Economic Development Department’s proposal would create a Knowledge-Based Employment Incentive Pilot Program to attract high-technology businesses such as The Clarke Group to St. Charles.

Essentially, the program would reward the company over a five-year period for every job it creates in St. Charles with an annual salary of $50,000 or more. The incentive would be increased for each of person it hires who lives in St. Charles, as well as for each of its employees who move to the greater St. Charles area.

The bonus is important because it provides an incentive for the company to hire in St. Charles — Aiston told aldermen last week the bonus recognizes consumer behavior patterns which show people generally spend most of their disposable household income close to home. So while the city pays out more for the bonuses on local hires, it stands to recoup much more of that over time as Clarke employees work and live and spend in St. Charles.

The incentives package includes bonuses for paid internships filled by St. Charles residents — a plum for local students considering a future in the field.

The incentives agreement caps the city’s maximum payout at $275,000 over five years.

Environmental, Other Concerns

Mayor Raymond Rogina pointed to the “probability of 100 interns working at the facility” as a potentially great opportunity for graduates of St. Charles East and St. Charles North high schools.

Dr. Clarke said the company typically has 10 interns on staff at any one time, and one of the company’s programs has become particularly popular among some employees and interns.

Clarke told those at the meeting that The Clarke Group treats street catch basins, which are the No. 1 breeding areas for the types of mosquito that carries the West Nile virus.

“It used to be the worst summer job,” he said.

The company uses an organic treatment for the the catch basins by truck, driving from basin to basin to deliver the treatment. The task was time-consuming and inefficient in urban areas, so the company decided to try using bicycles to deliver the treatments.

Some expected the experiment to fail, but Clarke said it proved successful on several fronts: It reduced the company’s “environmental footprint” by cutting fuel consumption and vehicle emissions; that also meant and delivering the treatments more efficiently.

But Clarke said the move also was wildly popular among interns, who enjoyed using the bicycles as a part of their work.

Clarke also noted, again in response to questions from residents, that the company’s research and development facility makes no use of “personal protection equipment” for employees, and that Clarke follows environmental regulations in disposing of the waste products it generates. He added that The Clarke Group does not generate significant amounts of hazardous waste at its corporate or research and development facilities.

One resident also asked Clarke about how the company tests its products and the effect of that testing on the atmosphere. Clarke said the company actually can put a microscopic “drop” of chemical on a mosquito and still be able to test its effectiveness.

If that test proves the chemical is a viable candidate, it can be tested in the field.

Clarke reassured both the council and residents that The Clarke Group is a company that believes in transparency, and invited both aldermen and residents to call the company if they want to arrange a visit to its facilities.

Let Patch save you time. Our free newsletter can be delivered to your inbox. Fast signup here. Then like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @StCharlsILPatch.