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6 <br /> <br />• This State program is intended to support the renovation or expansion of vacant <br />buildings, or buildings occupied by a company operating in North Carolina for at least 12 <br />months. <br />• Orange County would serve as the administrative entity for this State of North Carolina <br />financial grant that is structured as a forgivable loan program, once ABB’s new jobs are <br />created. <br />• As ABB incurs actual costs associated with the facility improvements it plans to make to <br />the existing building, and creates new employment, the $500,000 State grant will be <br />passed through the County to ABB. <br />• To eliminate any financial risk for the County, the pass-through funds will not be <br />requested from the State until ABB meets all investment and employment criteria, and <br />satisfies any other program requirements. <br /> <br />Orange County’s Performance-Based Incentive (table) <br />Revenue Projections <br /> <br />Chair Rich said Leila Halperin, student intern, had a question as to why most of the <br />hiring will be done on the front end of the project. <br /> Doug Sutter, ABB’s Program Manager for Electrification Products, with the firm’s <br />industrial Connections and & Solutions Group (Cary, N.C. office), said the jobs are front loaded <br />because ABB is building a new factory, and then consolidating jobs from another Florida to the <br />Mebane location. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin referred to the grant from the state, and asked if the state will <br />give Orange County the $500,000, which the County then gives to the company. He clarified <br />that it is like a loan, and if ABB meets the requirements of the grant, then the repayment is <br />forgiven over time. <br /> Steve Brantley said yes, in a traditional sense, it is a pass through. He said a company <br />might draw down on the grant in certain increments. He said ABB has a stellar credit rating, <br />and is not a risk. He said the Board could wait to receive the funds, until the things that trigger <br />within the state grant, have already been met. <br /> Doug Sutter said he would like to offer sincere thanks to Orange County and its partners, <br />on behalf of ABB, Inc. He said this process only took 54 days, which is remarkable. He <br />thanked Steve Brantley and Amanda Garner for their hard work. <br />Doug Sutter said ABB is a global company based in Zurich, Switzerland, and have been <br />innovating for over 130 years. He said ABB is a leader in digital industries, with customer <br />focused, globally leading businesses: electrification, industrial automation, motion robotics, <br />discrete automation, and power grids. He said ABB supports all of this with a common ABB <br />ability digital platform. <br />Doug Sutter said there are several reasons why ABB came to North Carolina a decade <br />ago: <br />• top tier universities, with access to top tier talent <br />• top community college systems <br />• proximity to their customer <br />• growing energy hub in NC <br />• quality of life for ABB employees <br /> <br />Doug Sutter said ABB employs over 3000 people in NC, and has invested over $14 <br />billion in the United States, and grown from 6000 to 24,000 employees in the past decade. He <br />said ABB has significant operations in 32 states, and works with customers and communities to <br />write the future of industrial technology.