San Angelo City Council approved an incentive package for MedHab, a medical rehab device maker. The $3.6 million in incentives requires MedHab to add 227 jobs in the next six years. Council voted 5-1 for the package. Mayor Alvin New was not in attendance, as he is out of town.
Alvin New sits on MedHab's Board of Directors. MedHab's website stated:
Board of Directors - Alvin NewMany companies compensate board members with stock and options. Mayor New's holdings and director compensation arrangement should be disclosed to the public.
Former Principal, Town & Country Food Stores
Alvin was born in Brownfield, Texas in 1963. He graduated from Pecos High School in 1981 and Angelo State University with BBA in management in 1984. He married Patricia Neal in 1983; they have two daughters, Victoria, 15, and Elizabeth, 13.Alvin worked as a sales clerk at a Town and Country Food Store on Pulliam Street while attending ASU. He stayed with the company after graduation and worked his way up to a vice president when officers of the company purchased the business from Steve Stephens in 1999. Alvin was one of six equal partners in the leveraged buyout. The six partners named Alvin executive vice president over operations and marketing, and later president and CEO.Alvin and the management team improved Town and Country’s size and profits, leading to a surprise offer from Susser Holdings to buy the company at a price shareholders could not refuse. The company sold in 2007, and Alvin helped in the transition before leaving the company in 2008.Alvin was elected the Mayor of San Angelo in December 2009. He currently serves in that capacity.
The City of San Angelo approved a substantial investment in MedHab through job incentive money, paying for renovations, helping with capital equipment costs, paying a portion of a building lease, 100% tax abatement, dirt cheap space and refunding a portion of code compliance fees.
City Council voted to drop the following requirement for MedHab to get the award:
The guidelines say no member of the City Council or COSADC board of directors "shall be eligible for assistance from the COSADC during his/her tenure or for six months thereafter."Does this mean public service can now be private service? Council effectively voted such.
Mayor New is out of town, however I assume he knew these items would be on the agenda. Council cleared the way for New to financially benefit.
Disclosing financial conflicts of interest and recusal from voting are basics for anyone serving on a nonprofit board, much less elected officials. The Mayor effectively recused with his absence. The public awaits full disclosure.
3 comments:
This blog is always so entertaining. I especially love the posts related to ASU. They're one of the few places where people can read about what is REALLY happening at the university.
Keep up the good work.
Seems MedHab is already getting aid from the Ft. Worth Tech Accelerator and has a development agreement with Rice University in addition to their connections with ASU. In addition to their office in Ft Worth, their home office is in Mansfield, TX and they have an office in Tyler, TX. Pretty spread out for such a young start up.
Looked through the USPTO site and only found one patent assigned them. It was just approved in June. Didn't find anymore pending or assigned to MedHab or the listed inventors. I certainly hope they have the licenses they will need to the other patents and intellectual property they need to manufacture these devices. Hard to make even a simple pair of shoes anymore without infringing on someones patent, trade secret, or other IP.
JWT,
Many thanks for your research and posting it here. It's a valuable contribution
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