WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.680 Good morning, everyone. My name is John Baines, and I'm happy to chair this meeting of the 00:00:08.680 --> 00:00:15.040 City of Denton Economic Development Partnership Board, and we'd like to welcome the viewing 00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:24.320 audience to this meeting. And we have several items on our agenda today, the first of which 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:34.720 is EDP 20-056, which is the approval of the minutes of November 11, 2020. And we'll give 00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:41.240 everyone a chance to re-familiarize themselves if needed with the minutes, and then we'll 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:48.880 do a roll call to determine whether they pass or fail. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:56.280 Chair, I move approval of the minutes as submitted. 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:05.680 We have a motion on the floor to approve the minutes as presented. Do I hear a second? 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:06.680 Second. 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:16.940 We have a second by Mark McClellan. Okay. Is there any discussion of the minutes? Seeing 00:01:16.940 --> 00:01:26.680 none and hearing none, we will now do a roll call of all of the voting members. John Baines 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:29.040 votes aye. Jill Jester? 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:30.040 Aye. 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:33.040 Let's see. Jesse Davis? 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.040 Aye. 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:35.040 Tony Clark? 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:36.040 Aye. 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:37.040 Lee Ramsey? 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:38.040 Aye. 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:39.040 Martin McClellan? 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:40.040 Aye. 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:46.320 And then we have Steve Edgar joining us. I didn't know if Steve heard that conversation 00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:56.920 or not. What is the protocol on that, parliamentarian? 00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:58.920 I think Steve's still making his way in. 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:06.600 Yeah, it's okay. If we've got his approval by that, it should be acceptable. 00:02:06.600 --> 00:02:10.320 He's not logged in yet, but I didn't know if we needed to wait or just go with what 00:02:10.320 --> 00:02:13.320 we have. 00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:16.320 If you have a majority vote at this point, you can move forward as approved. 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:22.520 Okay. Thank you. And we'd like to welcome Steve Edgar to the meeting. We will acknowledge 00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:29.080 that the minutes are approved unanimously. We're now moving on to the next item on the 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:37.000 agenda, EDP 20-058. We're going to receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.640 direction regarding an incentive application for ranch land foods. And Jessica, who will 00:02:42.640 --> 00:02:46.520 be leading that discussion? 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:51.840 So I will be doing the presentation this morning. I do want to let the board know that we are 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:59.560 having some internet issues on our end. So if I freeze or for some reason cut out, someone 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:07.080 flag us down or stop me so that we know. I'm able to watch myself, but I can't really see 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:14.600 anything on my own screen right now. So this is going to be an interesting presentation. 00:03:14.600 --> 00:03:18.920 But before we get started, I also want to let you know that we have Ken Davis on the 00:03:18.920 --> 00:03:27.520 line with us. Ken Davis is the CEO of ranch land foods. And so after I finish my presentation, 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:32.120 Ken will be available to answer questions about this project. And this project also 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:37.800 includes a discussion about the DME Economic Growth Writer. And so we also have Elizabeth 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:43.420 Ruiz from DME on the phone with us. She's going to be able to answer all of those questions 00:03:43.420 --> 00:03:51.240 that I wouldn't be able to related to electric. So with that, I'm going to share my screen. 00:03:51.240 --> 00:04:03.200 All right. Looks like we've got that working. All right. So for today, the board's consideration 00:04:03.200 --> 00:04:09.440 today is an incentive application that we received from ranch land foods. Ranch land 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:14.000 is a food production and brand development company based out of Arizona. They're known 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:20.240 for raising cruelty free cattle and using sustainable ranching practices. They produce 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.120 all natural certified grass fed and grass finished Angus beef products, as well as high 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:30.420 quality poultry and pork products. They ship thousands of packages weekly to customers 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:34.960 nationwide, particularly customers that are looking for those all natural healthy meat 00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:40.600 products. They also serve as a third party logistics e-commerce fulfillment center for 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:45.640 other companies. They are seeking to relocate their corporate headquarters in distribution 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:50.480 and to north central Texas. Denton is one location that they are considering. And for 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:55.200 this project, we are in direct competition with other cities in the Metroplex. And branch 00:04:55.200 --> 00:05:00.320 land is interested in Denton, particularly because of our location and their ability 00:05:00.320 --> 00:05:09.720 to expand their regional services. So the site and project itself, again, is a relocation 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:14.160 of a corporate headquarters and distribution center that will be shipping food and meat 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:20.680 products nationwide. It will serve as the centralized hub for their 3PL clients as well 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:26.840 as some of their product lines. The facility that they are looking at is the old Miller 00:05:26.840 --> 00:05:33.020 facility as we know it on the right at the split of I-35 E&W right here that you see 00:05:33.020 --> 00:05:40.640 on the screen. And the goals that they express to us in their application is that they're 00:05:40.640 --> 00:05:45.200 seeking an incentive to reduce the impact of relocation and site improvements costs. 00:05:45.200 --> 00:05:50.440 They're making a significant amount of improvements to that facility that we'll talk about later, 00:05:50.440 --> 00:05:57.400 but also to encourage high wage job creation through their company's expansion. As we do 00:05:57.400 --> 00:06:03.080 with any project, we review this for compliance with our incentive policy. I kept it a little 00:06:03.080 --> 00:06:06.840 bit short this time, so the only provisions you'll see on the screen are the ones that 00:06:06.840 --> 00:06:12.920 apply specifically to this project. So in terms of our general and priority considerations, 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:17.540 this project does create quality jobs and it is a targeted sector as they are a significant 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:23.080 consumer of municipal utilities. In terms of our priority considerations, they did meet 00:06:23.080 --> 00:06:28.720 seven of our priority considerations. In this case, which we'll get into a little bit later, 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:34.520 we look at really increasing jobs with wages above Ditton County's median and a high number 00:06:34.520 --> 00:06:45.320 of jobs paying $75,000 or more. For this project, we are proposing a chapter 380 incentive and 00:06:45.320 --> 00:06:50.560 with that, we wanted to make sure that we were in compliance with the chapter 380 policy. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:57.460 So this is a targeted industry cluster as a high user of municipal utilities. This would 00:06:57.460 --> 00:07:02.800 also meet the provision that allows us to use cash incentives when we are in direct competition 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:07.800 with another city for a project, and again, increasing the percentage of jobs paying $75,000 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:12.840 or more. In terms of our other considerations, this project does have a net number of new 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:19.080 jobs with wages above Ditton County's median, which I break down further in the presentation. 00:07:19.080 --> 00:07:23.840 And we'd also be looking at using the investment fund. They do meet two of the three criteria. 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:28.680 They meet the higher wage or knowledge-based jobs criteria as well as the industry sector 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:35.600 target criteria. So the application that was submitted by Ranchland Foods, again, a relocation 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:39.960 of a corporate headquarters and distribution hub, they are a targeted sector. They are 00:07:39.960 --> 00:07:47.320 investing $5.7 million in capital improvements or business personal property at the location. 00:07:47.320 --> 00:07:51.320 Because the building is existing, it already has a property value of about $3.9 million, 00:07:51.320 --> 00:07:57.080 so they would be investing an additional $5.7 million above that. They are relocating or 00:07:57.080 --> 00:08:05.680 creating 140 total jobs with a weighted average of the jobs being $69,893 and total payroll 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:11.840 at year 10, so full kind of growth and build-up of almost $10 million. I'm going to break 00:08:11.840 --> 00:08:15.880 down those jobs and job numbers a little bit further. This is something that you guys have 00:08:15.880 --> 00:08:20.560 been seeing as we've worked through a number of job grants. This one actually looks a lot 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:25.800 more similar to our job grants that we've been looking at. So here you see the major 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:30.640 categories of jobs and the estimated number. Here in the light blue line, you'll see the 00:08:30.640 --> 00:08:35.760 total jobs for each individual year. In this darker blue line, you'll see the cumulative 00:08:35.760 --> 00:08:42.720 jobs as we go. So about year eight, they estimate that they'll hit that 140 jobs. And then here's 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.840 the growth in the estimated annual payroll. So we're looking at starting around $4.7 million 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:54.720 and then eventually growing to that $9.8 million. Breaking down those average wages by job type, 00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:00.000 again, we know that the weighted average is important. So here's the general average wage 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.920 by the sort of job category. So you'll see that almost all of the jobs, with the exception 00:09:04.920 --> 00:09:11.640 of the administrative and warehouse staff, exceed that $75,000 number. And what we've 00:09:11.640 --> 00:09:19.080 broken down here is that means 80 jobs of the 140 or 57% are jobs that are above $75,000. 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:28.880 90 jobs or 64% exceed the Denton County median and 80 jobs or 57% exceed the Denton County 00:09:28.880 --> 00:09:36.020 average. So in terms of the proposal that we've developed, again, very similar to the 00:09:36.020 --> 00:09:41.160 last proposal that you've seen for us, it includes a chapter 380 component that has 00:09:41.160 --> 00:09:46.800 three sub components, a performance based relocation incentive. That is to assist the 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:53.400 company in their relocation expenses and to an incentive on their site upgrades that they're 00:09:53.400 --> 00:09:59.900 making. It also includes a stratified job based incentive that includes the residency 00:09:59.900 --> 00:10:06.640 bonus as you've seen before for that additional consideration for employees living in Denton. 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:17.680 In total, the chapter 380 portion of this incentive is $218,500. The other components 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:22.560 for this particular project is that because they are a significant user of municipal utilities, 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:28.680 if they meet that one megawatt threshold on demand, they would be eligible for the DME 00:10:28.680 --> 00:10:33.680 economic growth rider. We've taken a look at the preliminary economic, excuse me, electric 00:10:33.680 --> 00:10:40.440 data that the company has provided. We think they'd be right around that one megawatt demand. 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:47.680 And if they do, the value of that demand growth rider for them would be $197,000. This project 00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:53.080 also meets the general criteria of the Texas enterprise zone program. That is a state approval 00:10:53.080 --> 00:11:00.520 process. But because they do meet those criteria and we do have eligible nominations, we could 00:11:00.520 --> 00:11:04.920 nominate and we do, staff does recommend nominating this company to the Texas enterprise zone 00:11:04.920 --> 00:11:12.240 program. I'm going to break it down a little bit further for you in terms of the incentive 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:18.240 versus the ROI. Again, what you'll see up here in this top column or these top rows 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:24.080 here are the incentive numbers. We don't include the Texas enterprise zone program number that's 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:29.240 hard to quantify. And also that being a separate approval process outside of our control, we're 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:33.800 not looking at ROI from that. That also goes straight from the state to the company. So 00:11:33.800 --> 00:11:39.840 we're only looking at the city involved portions of this incentive, but we also look at property 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:44.880 taxes that this project would generate over 10 years, sales taxes that this project would 00:11:44.880 --> 00:11:51.680 generate over 10 years and then the additional increasing ratio of the demand revenue to 00:11:51.680 --> 00:12:00.280 DME netted of the incentive of the economic growth rider. And with that, we have evaluated 00:12:00.280 --> 00:12:06.960 an ROI for this project. You'll see the gross and net revenue on your screen. We did both 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:12.200 a five-year and a 10-year analysis. And we have found that this project has an ROI of 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:17.160 about 6.47, which means for about every dollar that we invest in this incentive, we would 00:12:17.160 --> 00:12:26.880 see about $6 and 50 cents coming back to the city directly in terms of our fiscal impact. 00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:33.080 So I will have one last slide on this project in terms of both qualitative and quantitative 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:39.680 benefits. So in terms of our qualitative benefits, again, this is a quality job creator project. 00:12:39.680 --> 00:12:44.320 This company has also indicated a strong desire to work with the universities, particularly 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:52.360 the logistics program at UNT, to have a pipeline, internships, but really strong, indicated 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:57.480 a strong desire to connect with the universities. This is the recruitment and expansion of a 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:03.160 company, so a little bit of a two for the price of one on this project. And with this 00:13:03.160 --> 00:13:10.120 particular project, it will occupy a currently vacant building, which is great, especially 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:16.520 a building that is highly visible. In terms of the quantitative benefits, as I mentioned 00:13:16.520 --> 00:13:22.220 before, it has an estimated ROI of about 6.47. And then I've broken down the 10-year revenues 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:27.760 there for you. In terms of economic impact, we just finished our model this morning, but 00:13:27.760 --> 00:13:32.280 we did find that over a 10-year period, in addition to the direct revenue to the city, 00:13:32.280 --> 00:13:37.480 when we're looking at discretionary spending of employees for this company, we would see 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:43.920 an additional $553,000 injected into our local economy over 10 years, which would actually 00:13:43.920 --> 00:13:52.480 increase the economic ROI to about 11.67. And with that, just a quick summary before 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:56.560 we start our discussion. This would be a five-year performance-based incentive, very similar 00:13:56.560 --> 00:14:02.480 to ones that we've seen before, the relocation grant, stratified job-based grant, and a residency 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:07.360 bonus. All of those would be included in a Chapter 380 agreement. We would also recommend 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:12.060 nominating this company to the Texas Enterprise Zone program, with our staff assisting however 00:14:12.060 --> 00:14:16.960 they need us in developing and submitting that application, and then also consideration 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:26.600 of the DME Economic Growth Rider. And with that, I will pause for questions. 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:37.760 Do we have any questions from the floor? I have a few, but I didn't want to be the first. 00:14:37.760 --> 00:14:40.680 Okay. Counselor Jester has a question, please. 00:14:40.680 --> 00:14:48.280 Hi, thank you. So this question is for Ken Davis. Mr. Davis, can you hear me? 00:14:48.280 --> 00:14:49.280 I can. Thank you. 00:14:49.280 --> 00:14:54.240 All right. Well, first of all, thank you for being with us today to talk about this project. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:59.080 Obviously, you've got a really great company, and we think we've got a really great city, 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:05.000 which is why we're all here today. One thing I did not see in the application that typically 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:10.320 we see talked about a little bit is community involvement. That's something that's very 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:18.000 big here in Denton, not only with the Chamber and supporting other businesses, but other 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:23.520 nonprofit. Can you talk a little bit about what your current involvement is, and what 00:15:23.520 --> 00:15:30.760 is your intention, or do you have a history of community involvement, and what that might 00:15:30.760 --> 00:15:33.920 look like in the future if you end up coming to Denton? 00:15:33.920 --> 00:15:38.840 Yeah, very good question. As a matter of fact, that's a point that we actually discussed 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:47.960 with Jessica and her team. We are highly involved in our community in Arizona, mostly with food 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:54.920 bank organizations within the city. Obviously, because we're in the food industry, helping 00:15:54.920 --> 00:16:01.960 support not only financially, but also with products and time with our employees and assisting 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:11.040 with community involvement. It's definitely something that we are very strongly involved 00:16:11.040 --> 00:16:16.320 with and something we see ourselves involved with in the city of Denton if we happen to 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:26.640 relocate here. We made a point, actually, as a company to bring that up to the group 00:16:26.640 --> 00:16:31.160 because we wanted to find out who else was in the city, what organizations that are already 00:16:31.160 --> 00:16:36.680 here so that we can be a part of that. That's great, and that's great to hear. Again, I 00:16:36.680 --> 00:16:44.520 think obviously the plans that you have for relocation and expansion are very exciting 00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:48.240 and what you're going to be doing wherever you end up moving to. We certainly appreciate 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:54.360 your interest here in Denton and think that it seems like a perfect fit for what you have 00:16:54.360 --> 00:17:01.280 planned. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce, I hope if you do land here that you will join 00:17:01.280 --> 00:17:05.840 the Chamber, and we look forward to your involvement in the community. Thank you, Mr. Davis. 00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:08.200 Yes, absolutely. Thank you. 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:16.680 Do we have any other questions from the floor? I see Lee Ramsey, please, and Jamie Wilson. 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:22.640 Mr. Davis, thank you guys. We're excited that you guys are looking at the city of Denton. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:26.720 Just one quick question. How many square feet is that existing building? 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:36.000 It currently comes in right under 64,000 square feet. However, there is another 11,000 square 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.360 feet that we're converting that's in a mezzanine to be the occupied space as well. So I think 00:17:42.360 --> 00:17:47.760 it will end up closer to 70,000 by the time it's all said and done. 00:17:47.760 --> 00:17:53.440 How much of that will be office and how much will be warehouse? 00:17:53.440 --> 00:18:00.040 The office portion of that right now is right at about 10,000 square feet, a little under. 00:18:00.040 --> 00:18:04.480 If we utilize the mezzanine space as office space, of course, that would increase that 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:14.920 by another 10,000. Our primary objective obviously with the office space, of course, as COVID 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:21.040 settles back down or whatever that process is, it is to house the majority of our team 00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:30.560 in and on site. We do, of course, remotely now, but the purposes of that particular building 00:18:30.560 --> 00:18:35.040 is because we do have a large staff that we'll be occupying on site. 00:18:35.040 --> 00:18:41.360 Perfect. You answered my next question. So thank you. We're excited you guys are considering 00:18:41.360 --> 00:18:47.720 Denton and thank you. I think you guys are a good fit for Denton. So thank you. 00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:55.840 Thank you, Mr. Ramsey. We have Superintendent Wilson and then we have Mark McCullin next. 00:18:55.840 --> 00:19:01.600 No specific questions, Mr. Baines and Chairman. I just wanted to say we're excited about the 00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:06.880 opportunity to see additional resources such as this come to our community and have a great 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.840 community and look forward to having future partnerships if this does move forward. So 00:19:10.840 --> 00:19:15.680 thank you, Mr. Baines. Thank you, Superintendent. Mr. McCullin? 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:23.000 A quick question about the staff that will be working at this location. Can you give 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:31.400 us a little bit of sense of the nature of that? Is it the type of work they'd be doing, 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:38.160 you know, hands on if you would? Sure. I'll start at our executive level staff. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:43.080 Most of these positions will not be coming from Arizona. Most of them are being created 00:19:43.080 --> 00:19:50.920 here by acquiring other high level executives from other food based companies. So this base 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:58.880 will serve as our corporate operations for nationwide. So we'll have a strong executive 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:04.360 staff that of course will operate the day to day operations as well as expansion of 00:20:04.360 --> 00:20:12.120 the business, investment in other farmland within this North Texas region and the possibility 00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:19.560 of another facility close to where we would be located if we're in Denton. The other positions 00:20:19.560 --> 00:20:27.880 are all mostly in the logistics with our 3PL division as well as our direct to consumer 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:34.700 fulfillment. So we have several positions that will be in the warehouse, whether they're 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:40.840 pulling and packing orders every day. We have a wholesale component where we deliver to 00:20:40.840 --> 00:20:48.560 hospitality and food service, restaurants, hotels within the region, also out of state. 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:55.080 So the components of most of the workforce is primarily driven around logistics. At this 00:20:55.080 --> 00:21:04.240 facility will be no production of food. It'll mostly be in handling, shipping, delivering 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:10.680 by trucks, that type of thing. Well, Kenny, University of North Texas really 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:15.960 would look forward to an opportunity to partner with you. We certainly have a world class 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:23.280 logistics team here. It's one of the best, certainly in the state, if not the region. 00:21:23.280 --> 00:21:29.600 And we have a lot of other technical capabilities too, including some around the food area that 00:21:29.600 --> 00:21:36.440 happens to be my personal focus is food science. So anyways, we hope that we can partner with 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:43.280 you in terms of enhancing both operations as well as your search for a workforce. 00:21:43.280 --> 00:21:50.600 Absolutely. It's something we very strongly are consuming because of the university. We 00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:57.480 work very closely with the university in our city in Arizona and would like to do the same 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:01.100 with UNT as well. Great. 00:22:01.100 --> 00:22:06.160 Thank you, Mark. I see Dr. Wilson, you have your hand still up or is that just wanting 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:16.760 to take down? It's still showing as your hand is raised. So, okay. I have four questions, 00:22:16.760 --> 00:22:22.800 Mr. Davis. Does anyone else have questions before I ask mine? I didn't want to take too 00:22:22.800 --> 00:22:28.920 much, but I did have four. The first one, you don't mind me calling you Kenny, do you? 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:31.760 No, that's fine. No problem. 00:22:31.760 --> 00:22:46.760 My first question has to do about being certified as a practicing, how would you say, my family 00:22:46.760 --> 00:22:54.560 and I are in the nutrition related lifestyle. And sometimes that certification comes and 00:22:54.560 --> 00:23:01.600 goes. Have you ever had any issues with that or has that been a consistent for your company? 00:23:01.600 --> 00:23:07.500 Since the very beginning, we sought out to get these designations and certifications 00:23:07.500 --> 00:23:15.400 based on our product, what we produce. Initially from our own ranches and then our ranching 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:22.920 partners and farms that we work with. 90% of all of our product that has been certified 00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:27.880 from the beginning, whether it's certified grass fed, certified organic or certified 00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:35.200 non-gmo, we've held those from day one. We've never lost those certifications. We do obviously, 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:42.840 if you know, have to reapply. And it's third party validated. So, we're tested, our animals 00:23:42.840 --> 00:23:50.720 are tested, our ranches are tested, and it's a designation we've never lost. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:56.920 Thank you, Kenny. My second question has to do with your overall operation. Where you 00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:02.440 process your meats, where are those locations? Since this will mainly be an administrative 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:09.960 office, what do you do your processing? Very good question. So, we process depending on 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:16.680 the line of products or the line of protein in three different locations. Most of our 00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:25.620 organic and grass fed stuff at this time is produced in Raleigh, California at a facility 00:24:25.620 --> 00:24:35.600 called OWB, One World Beef. They have handled the harvesting and further processing or fabrication 00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:41.840 of our product and then we move that product. Currently, right now, we'll be moving that 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:47.760 product to Texas after this first quarter to be further processed into cuts for food 00:24:47.760 --> 00:24:56.040 service or consumers. We have several ranching partners here in North Texas as well in the 00:24:56.040 --> 00:25:03.200 Panhandle in the Amarillo region. We've also are purchasing a large ranch in the North 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:09.440 Texas, Oklahoma region to start running cattle in this area as well because we process in 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:18.240 Fort Worth our Texas animals at the Fort Worth Meat Packers facility. So, we regionally have 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:22.680 been doing that for a while and what has prompted us to want to come to North Central Texas, 00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:29.720 obviously to be a little closer to the production of our product and to have access to our warehouse 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:36.160 and distribution for a more centralized location for shipping. I will tell you that we are 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:44.640 in the company already in the discussions of if we land here in Denton or whatever city 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:53.520 we land in, we do know that we will be building a food processing facility close to whatever 00:25:53.520 --> 00:25:59.280 distribution facility that we have. That's a necessity that we already know as a company, 00:25:59.280 --> 00:26:03.000 an investment that we're already prepared to make, but it would be something we'd be 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:08.720 building out new. Thank you Kenny for such an excellent answer. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:15.960 The third of my four questions is this, what's your timetable right now for making that decision 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:25.160 and making the move? Yeah, very good question. I think I told Jessica, we are prepared to 00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:31.240 begin this move starting in mid-January. We've been making decisions here fairly quickly. 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:38.040 We're down to probably within the next week or so. We understand that the different councils 00:26:38.040 --> 00:26:45.320 or groups or boards have to meet, but we plan on being operational as far as having jobs 00:26:45.320 --> 00:26:50.240 there and hiring by the first part of February. We'll bring in some of our executive staff 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:57.520 in January. I've already hired several people or they'll be making their transition I should 00:26:57.520 --> 00:27:04.480 say from their current employers in January to our company. We hope to be operational 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:09.480 by February. Thank you Kenny. My last question is this. 00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:23.560 It's kind of a compound question. How many other suitors do you have for your relocation? 00:27:23.560 --> 00:27:28.840 What strikes you as Denton being the best place for you? What attracts you the most 00:27:28.840 --> 00:27:33.560 here? Good question. We have currently one other 00:27:33.560 --> 00:27:40.520 strong suitor. We initially started looking at the four different site locations. We're 00:27:40.520 --> 00:27:48.960 down to just Denton and another city of course in this area. I will say that Denton is favorable 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:58.800 to us because of its unique location for this facility and the ability to be able to expand. 00:27:58.800 --> 00:28:05.320 We feel we're a little bit landlocked in the other facility or location. Denton gives us 00:28:05.320 --> 00:28:11.160 access to both the east corridor of the Metroplex and of course the west corridor. Being in 00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:17.480 that location, being able to go 35 to Dallas and 35 to Fort Worth from our food service 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:22.760 side and our wholesale side that we deliver to restaurants and hotels, etc., makes it 00:28:22.760 --> 00:28:29.080 very, very convenient. I'm not sure if Jessica told you, my family 00:28:29.080 --> 00:28:35.560 is originally from this area, from the North Texas area. I've had two kids that have gone 00:28:35.560 --> 00:28:43.720 to UNT. So Denton holds a special place just because of our family, but also mostly because 00:28:43.720 --> 00:28:47.720 of the location of the facility and the ability to be able to expand. 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:54.040 Kenny, thank you for such a wonderful answer and I'll give you personally five stickers. 00:28:54.040 --> 00:29:02.120 How about that? Great answer. Did anyone else have questions for Mr. Davis? 00:29:02.120 --> 00:29:14.680 Okay, Jessica, we'll give it back to you, ma'am. I will add that if the Economic Development 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:18.800 Partnership Board moves this forward, we do have this scheduled to accommodate Mr. Davis's 00:29:18.800 --> 00:29:26.240 very quick timeline for City Council at their first meeting in January. So if the Board 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:32.880 does choose to move it forward, we are making every effort we can to meet his timeline. 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:41.540 But with that, I welcome any questions from the Board regarding the proposal or if any 00:29:41.540 --> 00:29:49.040 Board member wants to make a motion. Any Board members? Okay, I see Jill Jester's 00:29:49.040 --> 00:29:53.360 hand. Counselor? Thank you, Chair. I would like to give a 00:29:53.360 --> 00:29:59.800 shout out to Ms. Rogers and her staff. I thought this was very well laid out. I thought the 00:29:59.800 --> 00:30:06.460 combination was very creative in trying to piece together the absolute best proposal 00:30:06.460 --> 00:30:13.400 that we can make and present to Council. So I just want to say thank you for all of the 00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:19.220 background work and I found it very, very helpful and laid out in a way that was easy 00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:26.280 to understand. And so I just want to say really excellent work there. And with that at this 00:30:26.280 --> 00:30:33.320 time, I will make a motion that we accept and recommend as the staff has summarized 00:30:33.320 --> 00:30:38.420 and presented. So we have a recommendation to accept the 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:42.200 incentive application for ranch land foods. Do we have a second? 00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:46.400 I'll second. Lee Ramsey seconds. Any further discussion 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:53.160 from the Partnership Board? Seeing none and hearing none, we will now 00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:57.760 do a roll call once again. We'll start with Steve Edgar. 00:30:57.760 --> 00:31:04.000 Aye. Thank you. Jimmy Mejia. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:08.800 I recommend it as well. Thank you, Jimmy. Mark McClellan. 00:31:08.800 --> 00:31:11.960 Aye. Lee Ramsey. 00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:16.680 Aye. Tony Clark. 00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:20.880 Exciting aye. Jesse Davis. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:23.920 Aye. Gil Jester. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:27.080 Aye. And John Baines says aye and it looks like 00:31:27.080 --> 00:31:40.720 we have a unanimous recommendation to accept the application for ranch land foods. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:48.800 So concluding items, do we have any concluding items we need to address today, Jessica? 00:31:48.800 --> 00:31:55.120 I do not have any. I will say your staff reports are not in here as typical and that's because 00:31:55.120 --> 00:32:02.200 we are working on a new report that hopefully you will see for the first time in January. 00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:10.840 So we're very excited to have a revamped and refreshed report for you. 00:32:10.840 --> 00:32:17.140 Thank you and it's the season to be jolly. We want to wish everyone a happy holiday season 00:32:17.140 --> 00:32:22.960 and we'll entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting if there's nothing further. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:29.360 Move adjournment. Do we have a motion? 00:32:29.360 --> 00:32:33.120 Second. Okay. All in favor of adjourning, signify 00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:36.520 by saying aye. Aye. 00:32:36.520 --> 00:32:42.160 Aye. Okay. Jessica, will that do? We didn't do a roll 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:44.360 call. Is that okay? We're good. 00:32:44.360 --> 00:32:51.520 All right. Thank you all for your time and thank you to all the staff and our city manager 00:32:51.520 --> 00:32:58.240 and everyone for making this a great proposal and recommendation for our city. Everyone 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:00.920 have a great one. Merry Christmas and happy new year. 00:33:00.920 --> 00:33:03.000 Merry Christmas, everybody.