By Sara StrongTwo years after getting a $250,000 business loan from the city, Netbriefings doesn’t have any employees in Luverne and hasn’t started repaying the loan.Luverne Economic Development Director Dan Statema said he’s spending a good part of this week negotiating with Netbriefings. The Luverne Economic Development Authority Tuesday told Statema he should meet with Netbriefings owner Gary Anderson in order to work out a payment schedule.As a part of the 2001 loan agreement, the company should have had five employees by its first anniversary in Luverne.In initial projections about Netbriefings, Anderson said there would be potential for 31 employees after three years. In 2002, the projections changed to 35 employees by the end of the fifth year to the 10th year.Luverne’s site was to be a customer and product service center. Netbriefings is a Twin Cities based Webcasting company. It streams live audio and video for businesses wanting to have meetings in different locations. The company can also archive the meetings for companies that may have employees who need to catch up. LEDA member Bob Kaczrowski said, "They’ve made it through the last two years, so there’s some potential."Anderson has communicated through letters shared with the LEDA. He said he would rather make some "trade-offs" with the city than starting repayments. Under the original terms of the loan agreement, payments would be about $5,000 a month.Anderson said paying the loan back at the agreed-upon 12 percent interest would compromise the company’s future and not allow marketing efforts to continue.As a part of the loan agreement, the first two years of the loan were at 0-percent interest, with payments deferred. (At the time the LEDA reasoned that because the first two years of a company’s existence is so crucial, stopping interest accumulation and deferring payments would help ensure that the business stays in Luverne.)Anderson is initially offering someone from the city a seat on the board of directors and offering the city preferred stock.He said, "It is clear that Netbriefings has not yet been able to comply with the terms of our LEDA loan. I do not take this obligation lightly or casually."Statema is hoping that he will be able to negotiate a large payment, up to $25,000, and then work out monthly payment arrangements.Many of Netbriefings’ competitors have gone out of business in the last two years, so the city holds hope that it will pay back the loan and start employing people in Luverne. Anderson said that 2003 has been a good year for the company, with net conferencing growing at a rate of 167 percent.City Administrator Greg LaFond said he’d feel more comfortable getting numbers from an accounting firm than from Netbriefings itself.Also, he said, one company gives Netbriefings about 75 percent of its business — and that is a company with ties to a shareholder.LaFond said he believes negotiating some sort of payment plan, as opposed to requiring full payment, is the best option for the city."If you pull the plug now, you won’t get anything," he said.Possible new businessThe city isn’t able to give out much information on a possible business venture. Luverne is getting itself in the running to attract a food-processing company from the East Coast, which would have 125 employees.The company would need a 200,000-square-foot building and is interested in applying for the Job Opportunity Building Zone tax breaks.
