Taylor EDC Opens Door for TSTC Welding Program
A series of opportunities that never materialized led the Taylor EDC board to a decision it found hard to stomach, but members voted to swallow the bitter pill to open the door for a new opportunity.

In 2007, a welder training program was established as a joint effort between several entities including the City of Taylor, the TEDC, Temple College and construction companies Bechtel and Fluor. The downturn in the economy and the disappearance of Bechtel and Fluor and the closing of Alcoa’s Rockdale plant left high hopes unmet and financial burdens on the EDC and Temple College.

Today, Texas State Technical College and Taylor ISD have found a way to create a new program, but not until some funding hurdles were cleared up in relation to the original deal.

“Unfortunately, under the arrangement we had we didn’t market as good as we should have, then you combine that with the loss of the Rockdale Alcoa plant, factor in Bechtel who were really hot to get this welding program up and running, we just didn’t have anymore students,” Executive Dean for East Williamson County Higher Education Center Chuck McCarter said. “The problem is (TSTC is) willing to invest $100,000, but they don’t feel like they can afford to also pay the $2,000 or so per month as part of the original rental agreement.”

At the center of the problem is just over $63,000 Temple College owes the EDC as repayment of a loan to help fund the original program. Temple College approached the EDC with a plan this month to make partial payment, forgive the remainder of the loan and make it possible for TSTC to move ahead with the new program.

The board reluctantly agreed, believing it was the best option for a bad situation for all parties.

“The question is whether our forgiving the note is worthwhile and you have to compare what it will do for the community when TSTC comes in and invests $100,000 in our students,” TEDC board member Rod Hortenstine said. “I think Temple College has done a great job in this community and TSTC has also, and I think the balance left over is a good investment in the continuation of these programs and the community is going to benefit from it. This is an investment in the community and the students therein.”

The loan was meant to be paid back through enrollment and funds provided by the companies involved, but when those disappeared, so did Temple College’s source of repayment.

“We’re at an impasse. We have got a fabulous facility over there,” McCarter said. “We’ve got Taylor ISD wanting to use it, TSTC wants to do the classes, the problem is there is a debt on that from Temple College to the Taylor EDC for several thousand dollars.”

The partial payment will come from the purchase of the equipment in the building by Taylor ISD. Temple College hopes to get as much as $20,000 for the equipment from Taylor ISD, which would then be paid to TEDC.

Taylor ISD already owns the building, which is located at the old middle school campus, and would then own all the equipment as well. The TSTC investment of $100,000 would include marketing the new program and reconfiguring the equipment for teaching high school students.

“Right now it is conducive to manufacturing, but it needs to be reconfigured so it will be more appropriate to high school students since one teacher has to watch everybody at the same time,” McCarter said.

The training would be free to area students enrolled in dual credit.

“There is a real need for the welding, not only for Taylor, but for the surrounding schools too,” he added.

While no one was comfortable with the options, it was important to the TEDC to remind everyone involved of the gesture made by the EDC to help move forward.

“I would want to make sure the regents at Temple College hear that we feel like we are taking one on the chin, but we are doing it in the best interest of the students and our higher education program,” Taylor Economic Development Corporation president Jason Ford said.