Authorization Entry Point
The commission packet that authorized a city's incentive offer tells an ED director more than the press release that followed it. The packet records what staff knew at decision time. It captures which site constraints remained unresolved, what the company flagged as decisive in pre-selection correspondence, and the specific mechanics the commission voted on: phase deadlines, performance triggers, amendment thresholds, abatement calculations. A press release compresses that into a dollar figure and a job number. Commission packets are public records, posted to municipal agenda portals, time-stamped before the announcement, recoverable without a FOIA request. The Great Falls packet authorizing the Janicki Industries incentive offer was filed May 12, three weeks before the governor's June 2 announcement. The next feature starts there.
Great Falls Won an $830 Million Aerospace Campus. The AgriTech Park Had Already Paid for Its Screening Credentials.
Janicki Industries committed $830 million across four phases to a composites and precision-machining campus in Great Falls, Montana, population 60,000. The city's May 12 commission packet, filed three weeks before the public announcement, lists both what the AgriTech Park already had and what it still lacked. Those two lists are the lesson: $4.5 million in prior park infrastructure passed screening, while expansive soils and unbuilt roads never had to. The reconstruction covers the requirement profile, a phase-independent tax structure that bounds the city's exposure, and the point where the workforce evidence runs out.
Great Falls Won an $830 Million Aerospace Campus. The AgriTech Park Had Already Paid for Its Screening Credentials.
Janicki Industries committed $830 million across four phases to a composites and precision-machining campus in Great Falls, Montana, population 60,000. The city's May 12 commission packet, filed three weeks before the public announcement, lists both what the AgriTech Park already had and what it still lacked. Those two lists are the lesson: $4.5 million in prior park infrastructure passed screening, while expansive soils and unbuilt roads never had to. The reconstruction covers the requirement profile, a phase-independent tax structure that bounds the city's exposure, and the point where the workforce evidence runs out.
Seguin Risk Contrast
KTH Parts Industries' July 2026 announcement in Seguin, Texas reads like a $100M deal: 170 jobs, 300,000 square feet. The executed Chapter 380 agreement sets enforceable minimums at 125 jobs and 250,000 square feet. The Seguin EDC's maximum cash exposure is $519,000 in forgivable loans — $3,000 per verified job, disbursed incrementally over five years, forgiven only if positions are maintained through the agreement's termination date.
The verification standard is unusually granular. Annual certified payroll filings must include each employee's name, title, hours worked, and W-2 compensation. The EDC verifies individual positions against Guadalupe County SOC wage averages. Aggregate headcount does not satisfy the requirement.
Total authorized city-side risk: a number the director can put on one line of a council memo.
Downstream Demand Map
Janicki's $800M Great Falls campus will run advanced composites fabrication with autoclave curing, 5-axis CNC machining of aerospace-grade alloys, and metal fabrication for defense and space programs. Industry reporting notes Great Falls lacks a deep bench of composite engineers or specialty suppliers. That demand will pull from somewhere outside the immediate market.
The process mix points to predictable supply-chain categories: NDT and inspection, precision machining of titanium and Inconel, composites tooling, nitrogen supply for autoclave inerting, temperature-controlled prepreg warehousing. For most of these, the qualifying screen is certification status, not site readiness. NDT requires Nadcap accreditation and NAS410-certified Level III personnel. Aerospace machining requires AS9100D scope, ITAR registration, and prime-contractor approvals that run on independent timelines. Those qualification cycles take 6–18 months, and a new facility cannot shorten them.
Cities with an already-qualified shop looking to add capacity are the ones positioned to capture this work.