Industrial

Prosoco seeks tax abatement

Officials with Lawrence-based Prosoco on Thursday filed an application for a 50 percent, 10-year tax abatement for an approximately $2.5 million expansion project in the East Hills Business park.

The manufacturer of cleaning products for stone and concrete previously had announced plans to add 55,000 square feet of warehouse space to their corporate offices at 3741 Greenway Circle. The project would add eight new positions paying between $10 to $15 an hour.

Bruce Boyer, vice president for the company, said the expansion also would allow the company to add 18 second- and third-shift workers to its operations if increased sales warrant it.

The request is the first city officials have received since commissioners approved a new tax abatement policy last year. The new policy, among other changes, requires the commission to more closely review the wages that companies receiving abatements pay their employees.

City commissioners are scheduled Tuesday to forward the request to the newly created public incentives review committee. Prosoco received a 50 percent, 10-year tax abatement for its corporate headquarters when it relocated from the Kansas City area in 1999.

Community

Leadership Lawrence class announced

The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce on Thursday announced the names of 25 people who have been selected for the 2003 Leadership Lawrence program. The program features a series of classes for a seven-month period designed to strengthen active leadership in the community.

Members of the 2003 class are: Jenee Armbrister, Mary Burg, Clark Cropp, Lequetta Diggs, Cheri Drake, Don Duncan, Matthew Hoy, Deborah Johnston, Pat Karlin, Matthew Krische, Wendy Leedy, Cathy Lewis, Rich Lorenzo, Sarah McKinley, Myron Melton, Jim Moore, David Olson, Dan Pennington, Ann Racy, Glynn Sheridan, Sara Taliaferro, Deborah Thompson, Peggy Wallert, Mark Warren and Paul Weise.

Telecommunications

SBC to cut 11,000 jobs

SBC Communications Inc. said Thursday it would cut 11,000 jobs and reduce capital spending to cope with the weak economy and regulatory setbacks.

The phone giant said 9,000 of the job cuts would occur in the fourth quarter, with the rest carried out early next year. One-third would be management jobs, the company said.

SBC, which operates in 13 states, including Kansas, said the remaining jobs cuts would be nonmanagement positions spread throughout its entire operating area. The company did not release how many jobs would be cut in any specific state.

SBC already has eliminated 10,000 jobs this year.

Retail

Gap taps new CEO

Slumping retailer Gap Inc. is turning to an executive who ran Disneyland to make its turnaround dreams come true.

Paul Pressler, who had been the head of Walt Disney Co.’s theme park and resort business since 1994, took over as Gap’s chief executive officer Thursday in a move that analysts viewed as a coup for the San Francisco-based company.

As he leaves behind the land of Mickey Mouse, Pressler will join a business that has been dominated for the past two decades by another Mickey the Gap’s renowned CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler, who retired.