Crown Point yet to receive court-ordered Plasmatronics paymentSusan Erler
susan.erler@nwi.com, (219) 662-5336 | Posted: Thursday, October 6, 2011 8:00 pm
CROWN POINT |
A court-ordered $379,746 payment to Crown Point officials by New York-based Plasmatronics remains unpaid nearly a year after it was ordered.Final judgment for the full payment was entered in December by Marion Circuit Court Judge Louis Rosenberg.
Rosenberg ruled in favor of the since-disbanded Crown Point Development Corp., which sought the full payment after Plasmatronics breached an earlier loan agreement with the corporation calling for monthly payments.
Methods for collecting the money are being investigated, Crown Point City Attorney David Nicholls said.
Plasmatronics President and CEO Linda Decker did not return a phone call and email seeking comment Thursday.
The nearly $380,000 is what the city already had paid to Plasmatronics of a $500,000 loan it offered the company as part of an economic incentive package to draw the firm to Crown Point. The company said it planned to manufacture its Plasma Drive Ignition System.
The deal was put in place during the administration of then-Mayor Dan Klein.
The Development Corp. sued in July 2008 to recover the money after Plasmatronics terminated its relationship with the city.
Both sides had agreed in early 2010 on a settlement of $125,000 if monthly payments were made. Plasmatronics made one payment in April 2010 and none since, prompting the city to seek court judgment for the full amount.
The Crown Point Development Corp. was legally dissolved by its members in late 2010.
The corporation had been created to be the lending body for the Crown Point Redevelopment Commission, which granted public money to the corporation so it could issue loans for development purposes, including to Plasmatronics.
A replacement body, the similarly named Crown Point Community Development corporation, has since been formed and is headed by Keith Stevens, the chief of staff to current Mayor David Uran.Legal rights, duties and responsibilities of the former development corporation were assigned to the new entity.