The Lewisburg City Council heard details of a pair of multimillion-dollar deals in process in the city at their work session on Monday night.

Lewisburg Economic Development Director Greg Lowe presented a pair of deals that will require some action by the council in the future.

The identity of the company in one project has not been officially released while the details of the plans are finalized.

State-level economic development prefers to keep potential deals under wraps until closer to completion, according to Lowe.

Known only by a code name, the proposed deal would result in a projected $5 million capital investment, split between a new facility and new equipment, and a potential 60 new jobs starting in the $15 per hour range with full benefits.

Lowe said that he had hoped to present information for the council to vote upon at Tuesday's regular monthly meeting, but some costs are still being calculated.

The proposal would require some city action, namely approval of an infrastructure grant on which the city and county would split the 11 percent matching amount and a PILOT agreement.

A payment in lieu of taxes program is an agreement that offsets some of the tax burden for businesses still establishing themselves.

Tennessee law forbids direct tax breaks to companies, so the state uses the system of industrial development boards to work around that restriction.

A PILOT agreement gives the local IDB, which is a government entity and therefore tax exempt, an ownership position, on paper only, in the company.

Also needing a PILOT is the proposed sale of the former International Comfort Products building on the east side of Heil Quaker Avenue.

Final sale documents have been drawn up between RoseMill Packaging, who have leased space in the building for 10 years, and the current owners.

The RoseMill partners plan to improve and aggressively market the site for additional tenants after the approximately $4.2 million sale closes.

The PILOT requested would simply be a continuation of the currently existing agreement on the building, new paperwork being required due to the sale.

Councilmen discussed the possibility of turning over the Lewisburg campus of Columbia State Community College to the Tennessee Board of Regents.

After the replacement this summer of one of the HVAC units at the building, some thought was given to the potential liability moving forward of repairs to the city-owned building.

Signing the building over to TBR would remove those potential costs from the city's responsibility. The one HVAC unit replacement cost the city approximately $20,000.

Resident Lynda Potts spoke in favor of the city retaining the site.

"Think long and hard about what you're doing when you want to give away something that this whole community came together to provide," Potts said.

Potts offered to lead fundraising in the community if the city needed support towards the campus.

Consensus among the council was to maintain control over the building without even looking at a proposal from TBR.

"I don't trust the Board of Regents," Councilman Jerry Gordon said.

Mayor Jim Bingham updated the council on the status of the East Commerce bridge construction. The much delayed project now has a Jan. 8 completion date.

Councilmen will vote on application for a grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division to resurface taxiways around the airport hangars.

This will be in addition to a grant application for funds to expand the terminal building at Ellington Airport.

Those taxiways are the oldest paving still in use at the airport and need replacement.

The repaving would be Federal money passed through the state, requiring a 2.5 percent match from both the city and state.

The maximum potential cost to the city would be $8,175 on the taxiway project.

There is some urgency in applying for aeronautics grants, which currently require only a 5 percent match. It is expected in the near future that the match requirements will possibly increase up to 25 percent.