You can tell we’re getting close to the end of the year because the numbers are starting to pile up. And I’m not even talking about the fact the credit card statements are now coming on oversized pieces of paper to contain all the zeros. No, groups and organizations are starting to put out their year-end statistics. The latest is a report from the Lawrence chamber of commerce touting positive job growth totals.

Leaders with The Chamber hosted a meeting for about 40 key investors in the economic development arena on Wednesday afternoon, and the headline number from that event was 484 jobs. That’s the number of Lawrence jobs that are expected to be created as part of new companies that The Chamber has helped recruit to town in the past year.

“2015 has been a fantastic year,” said Larry McElwain, president and CEO of The Chamber. “It will be a hard act to follow in 2016.”

The three companies that are accounting for the projected 484 new jobs are: USA800, the call-center company that we reported in July was moving into the I70 Business Center in North Lawrence; Integrated Animal Health, which we reported in April was moving its world headquarters to the Bioscience & Technology Business Center on KU’s West Campus; and Midwest Manufacturing. As we reported last week, the company is part of home improvement retailer Menards, and it plans to build a production plant in Lawrence’s VenturePark.

Other numbers cited by the chamber include $19.8 million in new payroll that’s expected to be created by the three companies and $28.6 million in new capital investment that will be generated by the companies.

The numbers, though, should come with a fairly significant asterisk. The Menards deal — and the 100 jobs anticipated with the plant — isn’t yet a done deal, and economic development leaders were highlighting that fact at Wednesday’s meeting.

“The announcement took place, and that is a victory, but it is not done yet,” said Brady Pollington, vice president of the Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence and Douglas County, which helped broker the deal. “We still need support from the community.”

The project, and its related financial incentives package, has thus far been well received by community leaders. Chamber officials on Wednesday did acknowledge that there likely will be some community discussion about Menards’ record on environmental compliance at other locations around the country. City Commissioner Leslie Soden briefly raised the issue at Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting, at which commissioners unanimously agreed to accept Menards’ application for a tax abatement and other incentives.

McElwain said he was pleased that Soden raised the issue. He said the environmental issues should be examined, and he predicted they won’t end up being a major issue for the project.

“We have absolutely no concern on the environmental front,” McElwain said. “We think this is a good company, and our process is very well designed to deal with any concerns that people may have.”

To back up, concerns about environmental issues related to Menards primarily are coming from some folks who have commented on this website and others about some violations in other jurisdictions that show up when you do a Google search for the company and its environmental record. I’ve asked City Hall reporter Nikki Wentling to look into the issue further to see what environmental issues have arisen elsewhere with Menards. We’ll let you know what we find.

Soden brought it up at Tuesday’s meeting because she said she had heard some concerns expressed by some residents. She felt it was important to let people know that the city will examine the issue.

“I think it would be good to let people know that we do have things in our performance agreement that would address something like that,” Soden said.

The city requires any company receiving a tax break to sign a contract that it calls a performance agreement. Among the issues in a performance agreement is a statement that the company will operate in a manner that follows applicable laws and regulations. If the company doesn’t, the city has the option of reducing or eliminating the tax abatement given to the company.

As reported on Tuesday, commissioners unanimously agreed to accept the tax abatement application from Menard Inc., which means the incentive request will now go to a city-appointed review board that makes recommendation on such matters.

While Soden brought up the environmental issue, she also made it clear that she’s looking favorably upon the potential Menards project.

“I’m really excited about this,” she said. “I think it is going to be great.”

Other information The Chamber shared at Wednesday’s event at Maceli’s included:

• As we previously have reported, General Dynamics is going through a large hiring phase at its customer service center at the East Hills Business Park. McElwain said the company is in the process of trying to hire 2,000 employees for the center, which provides customer service for a variety of government programs.

• A private fundraising campaign to raise money for economic development initiatives is on pace to raise $750,000 over a three year period. Bonnie Lowe, chief operating officer for The Chamber, said the campaign is in its second year and pledges are coming in on budget. McElwain told the crowd that planning would soon begin for creating a new capital campaign that will stretch beyond 2016. The Chamber estimated it has spent about 70 percent of the proceeds so far on increasing marketing efforts to bring new companies into the community.

• McElwain said work is beginning to identify some sites in Douglas County that would be appropriate for future industrial development. If the Menards deal is completed, that will significantly reduce the amount of property available for industrial projects.

“We’re selling roughly a third of what is available out at VenturePark for that deal,” McElwain said. “There are some of us looking at more tracts of land for expansion at a later date. We hope to have conversations with the city soon. We’re trying to take a 30,000-foot view of what is possible in Douglas County.”