WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.680 good morning everyone my name is John Baines and I have the privilege of being the chairman 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:17.360 of the economic development partnership board and we want to welcome you to our February 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:24.000 10th meeting you will notice that we have a number of folks on the meeting here with 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.520 us and they're all smiling and they're all happy and we're going to talk about the good 00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:34.320 things that are going on in the city of Denton there's a lot of things that are really positive 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:42.460 and excellent and we're going to get into those in just a moment the we want to consider 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:51.160 80 excuse me first item on the agenda is EDP 21-001 consider the approval of the minutes 00:00:51.160 --> 00:01:00.320 of the December 9th 2020 board meeting if there's someone that could provide us with 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:10.160 a motion we'll get started okay we have Lee Ramsey with a motion a second second this 00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:17.520 is Jill Jester okay Jill Jester is the second do we have any conversation or any consideration 00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:31.540 concerning the minutes okay hearing none we're going to do a verbal vote and we're going 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:48.160 to go across the board here Bob Ames okay let's see Lee Ramsey, Mayor Pro Tem, welcome 00:01:48.160 --> 00:01:57.580 aboard Tina Albert your first time with us thank you can you hear me okay we can do you 00:01:57.580 --> 00:02:09.620 accept the minutes as presented okay Jill Jester aye Jason Tomlinson aye Tony Clark 00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:28.020 everybody aye Steve Edgar on the phone can we hear you Steve can't hear you you're on 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:36.540 mute okay while you get yours together there Mark McClellan aye and John Baines is aye 00:02:36.540 --> 00:02:51.500 so the minutes pass unanimously and we'll move on to EDP item 20-057 receive a report 00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:57.340 hold a discussion and give staff direction regarding implementation of the economic development 00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:03.060 strategic plan but I'm going to break protocol here for a moment and before we do that Tina 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:07.340 could you tell us a little bit about yourself and we want to welcome you properly to the 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:17.140 board yeah great thank you very much and welcoming me to this I am Tina Albert and I have been 00:03:17.140 --> 00:03:26.020 with PACCAR for 21 years I am a CPA most of my history here at PACCAR has been in our 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:31.900 controllers or accounting group and I did move to Mississippi about eight years ago 00:03:31.900 --> 00:03:38.100 and I just recently moved back two years ago and when I moved back to Peterbilt I went 00:03:38.100 --> 00:03:42.660 into operations so I left my accounting field and moved to operations so now I'm the plant 00:03:42.660 --> 00:03:50.460 manager and Chris Davis who was on the board prior and he was my boss so he's moved off 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:57.260 to Chillicothe, Ohio to work for Kenworth and so now they're taking place so it's very 00:03:57.260 --> 00:04:03.780 very honored to be part of this committee well thank you Tina we we love and respect 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:08.380 Peterbilt very much and we look forward to a wonderful long-term relationship with you 00:04:08.380 --> 00:04:16.500 of course thank you okay thank you and let's see Jessica is this going to be the city manager's 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:28.380 last meeting so yes Todd will just a quick announcement so Todd Hollman will be leaving 00:04:28.380 --> 00:04:34.380 the city of Denton he's accepted a position in Palm Desert so I don't think he was able 00:04:34.380 --> 00:04:39.820 to join us this morning he has a lot going on with the transition I think David Gaines 00:04:39.820 --> 00:04:44.200 is on the phone with us who's our assistant city manager David will continue to be our 00:04:44.200 --> 00:04:52.580 assistant city manager and will be who I report to who I report to now so so I don't think 00:04:52.580 --> 00:04:58.180 Todd was able to join us this morning okay well hopefully we'll get a chance to extend 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:03.980 our best to Todd before he leaves us for the wonderful job he's done and helping the city 00:05:03.980 --> 00:05:15.180 of Denton during these past few years so coming back to EDP 20-057 we have who's going to 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:21.580 handle that presentation for us Jessica so that's me and we don't have a presentation 00:05:21.580 --> 00:05:28.260 for this item mainly because I was up last night putting the finishing touches on the 00:05:28.260 --> 00:05:36.180 strategic plan and sometime around 8 o'clock 830 mayor Pro Tem can correct me the city 00:05:36.180 --> 00:05:43.180 council formally adopted the economic development strategic plan by a vote of 6 to 1 so I really 00:05:43.180 --> 00:05:50.420 just want to take this time to first say thank you to this group you participated in a lot 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:57.060 of hours of a lot of meetings over the past year helping us get that plan providing your 00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:01.260 expertise and your feedback even those of you I don't think who were on the board when 00:06:01.260 --> 00:06:06.900 we started the plan Lee was involved in the plan in some other capacities so you guys 00:06:06.900 --> 00:06:13.400 represent really some some great industries great fields and gave us all the input we 00:06:13.400 --> 00:06:18.920 need to make sure that for the next three to five years that we can continue to represent 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:25.740 and support Denton businesses and grow our local economy so I want to say thank you to 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:31.980 all of you for for that commitment in time that you put into this and then with that 00:06:31.980 --> 00:06:37.860 just give you a quick update is that what I told city council last night is yes we did 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:43.740 a lot of work to get where we are today but our real job started this morning and that 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:49.820 is as we move into the implementation plan there's a lot of work to be done as it relates 00:06:49.820 --> 00:06:56.060 to policy and program decisions so over the next few weeks we're going to be mapping out 00:06:56.060 --> 00:07:01.940 sort of a timeline of how we're going to workshop those various elements and bring those back 00:07:01.940 --> 00:07:07.940 to this board before they come back to city council so there's still a lot of work to 00:07:07.940 --> 00:07:14.220 be done with Jessica I did have one question I did see the implementation matrix there 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:19.420 did you want to say anything about that or should we move on to the next agenda item 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:25.700 so the implementation matrix summarizes that key actions activities and sort of a timeline 00:07:25.700 --> 00:07:33.140 of when those will take place those really covered the the sort of strat the strategy 00:07:33.140 --> 00:07:39.340 related items we also have a lot of operational things that need to get addressed those are 00:07:39.340 --> 00:07:45.940 the things that are in the capacity and resources section of the strategic plan so we're going 00:07:45.940 --> 00:07:52.060 to work on sort of our organizational and operational things as well as starting implementation 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:57.980 of that those first few items in the implementation matrix that are identified as our initial 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:05.900 implementation items and last month I sent you our first revised comprehensive quarterly 00:08:05.900 --> 00:08:12.740 report there is a section of that report that is dedicated to providing updates to this 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:22.420 board related to the implementation matrix okay so should we proceed to the next agenda 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:28.220 item I think you have one question okay we have a question okay from Jill Jester please 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:34.620 you um and forgive me Jessica I did not watch the entire city council meeting I was able 00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:41.700 to kind of go back and look at some snippets can you fill us in a little bit on the discussion 00:08:41.700 --> 00:08:48.860 if any regarding funding a economic development fund that was discussed and seemed to be 00:08:48.860 --> 00:08:54.020 kind of the last little piece that seemed to be up in the air concerning as far as council 00:08:54.020 --> 00:08:59.140 deliberations is that still tabled or was that addressed and voted on as part of the 00:08:59.140 --> 00:09:06.000 package so what and David's here and can kind of add to this so when we were working on 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.380 developing kind of the pro formas for that and what that would look like we realized 00:09:10.380 --> 00:09:15.740 that that has a really significant impact as it relates to the overall city budget process 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:20.500 so we didn't want to have that conversation completely separate from the budget process 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:24.740 and believe it or not we're actually we've already started our budget process for next 00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:30.580 fiscal year and so we're integrating that catalyst fund discussion into that budget 00:09:30.580 --> 00:09:35.140 process so there'll be a full picture that council will be able to review and make a 00:09:35.140 --> 00:09:40.180 decision on so no they didn't take a final vote or incorporate that catalyst fund decision 00:09:40.180 --> 00:09:45.340 into their approval of the plan and can you let us know or do you know what when is that 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:49.860 process does that is that the summer that that really kicks into high gear or when should 00:09:49.860 --> 00:10:01.040 we start paying attention and talking to our city council members and and so our fiscal 00:10:01.040 --> 00:10:07.340 year for those who don't know goes from October through September but we actually get started 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:13.140 on our budget process specifically the utility funds early in the process right now really 00:10:13.140 --> 00:10:16.420 we'll be going to council here in the next few months to start those preliminary looks 00:10:16.420 --> 00:10:21.460 at the utility funds and really the purpose of pushing this or incorporating the budget 00:10:21.460 --> 00:10:27.380 process is if we increase those ROIs teach us funds it has a significant impact obviously 00:10:27.380 --> 00:10:31.140 in those out years so as far as the timeline we're going to have those initial discussions 00:10:31.140 --> 00:10:35.740 with council and really the decisions will be made all the way up to September by city 00:10:35.740 --> 00:10:41.140 council but those the budget uh the proposed budget will be submitted to council around 00:10:41.140 --> 00:10:46.820 August 1st and so that'll be the first time the council really gets a chance to to dig 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:51.180 in and start giving some direction on what they what they want us to to bring forward 00:10:51.180 --> 00:10:58.680 in the ultimate budget. Mr. Chair could I add something to that? I would be happy for 00:10:58.680 --> 00:11:05.700 you to do that. So from a from a council perspective as well you know remember we've got two two 00:11:05.700 --> 00:11:10.420 new folks on the council as of the November election and then finally December when we 00:11:10.420 --> 00:11:15.860 finally wrapped up the last of our runoffs the council was set those two new folks had 00:11:15.860 --> 00:11:20.980 not been a part of the conversation regarding the catalyst fund and how that's going to 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:26.620 be funded and where it's going to come from and I think overall it's a really good thing 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:33.060 that we're talking about a catalyst fund which is the term term we're now using for the type 00:11:33.060 --> 00:11:37.980 of fund we've we've kind of coalesced around. It's a really good thing that we're talking 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:42.180 about in terms of the overall budget. Imagine talking about a budget and never talking about 00:11:42.180 --> 00:11:46.620 road maintenance. Imagine talking about a budget and never talking about future staffing 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:50.940 needs. We're finally talking about economic development in the context of the overall 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:55.780 city budget and I think that's the appropriate place for it to be. I didn't know that was 00:11:55.780 --> 00:12:00.740 going to be Jessica and David's response this morning to the to the question a very good 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:06.740 question but I for one appreciate that it's going to be put in that larger context and 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:11.780 that way not just the current council we have now but the councils going forward will hold 00:12:11.780 --> 00:12:17.460 it in that context and they'll understand the place that the critical place that that 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:24.260 catalyst fund holds in our economic development activities and hopefully in future years we 00:12:24.260 --> 00:12:28.260 just keep budgeting that line item and working through that fund the same way we do all of 00:12:28.260 --> 00:12:33.060 our other funds just like fixing streets and paying the police and fire and all that kind 00:12:33.060 --> 00:12:41.700 of stuff. It just becomes part of the landscape. Thank you. Thank you councilman Mayor Pro Tem. 00:12:41.700 --> 00:12:48.060 I also wanted to underscore a point here in our in one of our recent discussions I asked 00:12:48.060 --> 00:12:57.980 the question about members of the of this board being more proactive when it comes to 00:12:57.980 --> 00:13:02.980 supporting the economic development issues for the city of Denton because this has been 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:13.500 somewhat of a point of controversy where some in the city were very interested and others 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:22.260 were not as interested and so I asked if I should become more involved before the council 00:13:22.260 --> 00:13:30.300 when it comes to supporting the economic development issues and also discussing them periodically 00:13:30.300 --> 00:13:36.740 and in that discussion I was told that if I do go before the council I need to go as 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:44.420 a representative of this board and with your approval so that I'm not there independently 00:13:44.420 --> 00:13:52.740 and as a simply as a citizen within the community but representing the premier economic development 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:58.340 arm of the city of Denton and so I wanted you to know that as this process continues 00:13:58.340 --> 00:14:05.300 I will periodically make presentations to city council supporting the economic development 00:14:05.300 --> 00:14:12.900 and especially this fund that that councilor jester had talked about so any anytime you'd 00:14:12.900 --> 00:14:17.940 like to talk to me about it please feel free to send me an email or give me a call so that 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:25.060 we can make this a paramount issue before the council so thank you for all of your input 00:14:25.060 --> 00:14:33.820 and I believe we're going to go on to the next agenda item now that's edp 21-002 receiver 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:39.980 report hold discussion and give staff direction regarding the Denton business allies program 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:46.380 well I'm going to pause one second again and take it off script I'm sorry mac but I want 00:14:46.380 --> 00:14:51.660 to introduce Sarah Hensley who just joined us in the meeting so Sarah Hensley is the 00:14:51.660 --> 00:14:58.900 interim city manager Sarah's our current deputy city manager she's been with the city about 00:14:58.900 --> 00:15:06.060 two years I'm not sure time has seemed to stop in our life as of late but I just want 00:15:06.060 --> 00:15:11.580 to introduce Sarah to the group and Sarah we will be serving in the city manager's ex 00:15:11.580 --> 00:15:17.020 officio role while she's serving as the interim city manager so yes thank you and I look forward 00:15:17.020 --> 00:15:22.020 to working with all of you what was Sarah I have not had the pleasure of meeting you 00:15:22.020 --> 00:15:27.220 probably everyone else has but I have not but for the sake of us that have not could 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:31.500 you tell us just a little bit about yourself and some of your background it would be interesting 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:35.300 okay be happy to well I've been here for about two years once started out as the assistant 00:15:35.300 --> 00:15:40.060 city manager then moved up to the deputy city manager before that I served as the interim 00:15:40.060 --> 00:15:46.280 assistant city manager in Austin Texas for two years over a variety of departments and 00:15:46.280 --> 00:15:54.420 over some major team efforts dealing with people experiencing homelessness working with 00:15:54.420 --> 00:16:01.220 mentoring young employees and served on a variety of council appointed committees as 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:07.340 a staff liaison before that I've worked in Phoenix Arizona and San Jose California as 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:12.140 a department head over either a parks and recreation department or a large conglomerate 00:16:12.140 --> 00:16:21.260 of departments including animal services grants community services neighborhood services and 00:16:21.260 --> 00:16:27.420 things like that well thank you Sarah and we welcome you to the board here and look 00:16:27.420 --> 00:16:33.940 forward to your input and participation well thank you so much right and I will turn it 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:39.740 over now and to Kay Brown Patrick who will do the next presentation and she'll have to 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:45.580 let me drive the presentation so as soon as I get it up and shared Kay you can get started 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:55.060 no problem thank you Jessica good morning everyone this is going to be a very brief 00:16:55.060 --> 00:17:01.940 presentation more as an FYI in regards to I know I've previously discussed the didn't 00:17:01.940 --> 00:17:08.100 business allies briefly but wanted to come back and provide some additional details of 00:17:08.100 --> 00:17:13.340 what's been going on with that group so for those of you who have not heard about the 00:17:13.340 --> 00:17:19.860 didn't business allies it was established in September of October of last year to establish 00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:25.740 and build relationships amongst local organizations that provide business support and resources 00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:31.260 and the purpose of that was so that we can one try to avoid duplicating efforts but also 00:17:31.260 --> 00:17:37.900 maximize all the organizations in the network in the city that provides support to the business 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:43.980 community one to connect our businesses with those resources and that support support being 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:52.440 any type of training technical assistance access to capital meetings networking opportunities 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:57.340 all of those opportunities that the businesses may have individually with these organizations 00:17:57.340 --> 00:18:02.360 just bringing all of those resources together into the table and we're already seeing those 00:18:02.360 --> 00:18:08.780 efforts pay dividends we were able to assist one of the businesses rose costumes the school 00:18:08.780 --> 00:18:13.660 district stepped in to provide her with free services that she needed to continue to maintain 00:18:13.660 --> 00:18:18.740 her business regarding photography and online presence and then some of the organizations 00:18:18.740 --> 00:18:25.660 within the dba have connected to support one another so it's been an awesome an awesome 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:32.700 awesome connection for the for the businesses and so far we're we're making you work the 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:37.460 list of the participants include the didn't business chamber the didn't black chamber 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:43.700 of commerce the university of north texas their murphy center but also they have a business 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:49.660 development director on the committee as well and then we have twu's women entrepreneurs 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:56.100 center and several other organizations you'll see there we've added the economic development 00:18:56.100 --> 00:19:01.940 partnership board they were not previously on the list but in an effort for information 00:19:01.940 --> 00:19:13.260 gathering and sharing miss jill jester has offered to serve on the on the dba for to 00:19:13.260 --> 00:19:20.660 represent the edp i think that was the next slide that's okay yeah to serve as representative 00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:26.220 for the edp as we want to serve provide that information to you all as well so i said it 00:19:26.220 --> 00:19:32.020 will be brief and and and chair bangs i think that is the proactive approach you were talking 00:19:32.020 --> 00:19:38.820 about miss jill jester was being proactive in her offer to to serve on the dba as a representative 00:19:38.820 --> 00:19:54.980 so and now i'm open to any questions or comments from you all please don't be shy great great 00:19:54.980 --> 00:20:01.660 thank you k for your work and your effort and i look forward to to hearing more about 00:20:01.660 --> 00:20:09.860 your outreach and the activities of the of the particular committee that you're overseeing 00:20:09.860 --> 00:20:20.740 thank you very much absolutely the next item on the agenda is edp 21-003 staff report statistical 00:20:20.740 --> 00:20:29.340 trends and news of the dentons well i don't have a lot lot to report other than you do 00:20:29.340 --> 00:20:36.740 have um what's really our sort of summary of economic development stats and that we 00:20:36.740 --> 00:20:40.820 produce every quarter and so i'm going to pull it up real quick because there is an 00:20:40.820 --> 00:20:46.260 interesting um addendum that we made to the report so if you'll recall in our strategic 00:20:46.260 --> 00:20:52.260 plan the first goal was about strengthening uh accelerating recovery from the covid pandemic 00:20:52.260 --> 00:20:58.980 and a key part of that is making sure that we're tracking indicators of um our economic 00:20:58.980 --> 00:21:04.580 recovery effort and so we've added an addendum to the stand report so the last page of the 00:21:04.580 --> 00:21:10.100 report which has a section that's titled economic recovery data and so we went through i don't 00:21:10.100 --> 00:21:15.180 know dan how many data sets that we've kind of whittled it down that we're tracking but 00:21:15.180 --> 00:21:21.420 we've cut it down to about the top seven we felt gave a good perspective um in summary 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:28.660 of the um you know whether it's retail um impacts or development impacts or business 00:21:28.660 --> 00:21:34.460 impacts um so we've tried to pick our our top indicators to to put in this report and 00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:41.220 so we've started tracking um and reporting on how our sales tax collections doing how 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:48.580 our home sales hotel occupancy office rents um the unemployment rate the number of jobs 00:21:48.580 --> 00:21:54.380 that are available or in our community and then consumer spending and so all of those 00:21:54.380 --> 00:22:03.060 come from um various sources whether internal or external um to our department but we track 00:22:03.060 --> 00:22:08.180 all of those and that gives us the ability to assess if there's anything that we need 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:14.340 to do um or outreach that we need to do in any particular area so that's really the only 00:22:14.340 --> 00:22:19.380 thing that i wanted to call out that's changed in the report and we did make our initial 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:26.140 2020 update so some of that data that's annual data um we were able to incorporate the 2020 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:31.340 data and get that loaded into the report um but you'll see this report every quarter and 00:22:31.340 --> 00:22:36.260 as long as we're continuing to see the impacts of covid on our local economy we'll continue 00:22:36.260 --> 00:22:44.060 to report on those metrics um and and track how we're doing and jessica you had a report 00:22:44.060 --> 00:22:49.540 uh that you showed us it was a quarterly report so that was that for the fourth quarter of 00:22:49.540 --> 00:22:57.060 2020 that we looked at so we we prepare our organizational comprehensive report so the 00:22:57.060 --> 00:23:02.460 report that you saw or that i emailed out to you in in lieu of our meeting in january 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:10.420 that was reporting on um our organizational operations so whether it was um corey or myself 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:16.100 or a member of my team sort of what we were doing um what our office is doing the stand 00:23:16.100 --> 00:23:22.700 report is a demographics statistical based report it's it's information that we're publishing 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:28.460 and that businesses can use or that other even other city departments can use um as 00:23:28.460 --> 00:23:34.500 they're doing analysis so it's really just a dat a data dashboard report so let me and 00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:38.740 the reason i was asking was is it going to be quarterly or is it going to be monthly 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:44.140 that was really the place both reports are both reports are quarterly so this report 00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:48.940 both of these reports represent the first quarter of our fiscal year which is the fourth 00:23:48.940 --> 00:23:55.500 quarter of the calendar year so both reports cover october to december okay thank you very 00:23:55.500 --> 00:24:00.060 much and so that way i wouldn't be looking for another one until the end of mulch so 00:24:00.060 --> 00:24:10.380 yes okay good yeah um and i believe we're on concluding items and and i'm gonna i'm 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:14.620 gonna walk out on the plank here for just a minute and and if you guys could indulge 00:24:14.620 --> 00:24:19.900 me a few folks could indulge me i'm gonna read this little section because i i don't 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:25.740 know if we've been taking advantage of this uh this area so if you'd go to that last 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:33.220 item it's on the second page it says under section 551-042 of the texas open meetings 00:24:33.220 --> 00:24:41.780 act respond to inquiries from the economic development partnership board or the public 00:24:41.780 --> 00:24:48.620 with specific factual information or recitation of policy except a proposal to place the matter 00:24:48.620 --> 00:24:54.780 on the agenda for an upcoming meeting and under that section of the texas open meetings 00:24:54.780 --> 00:25:01.020 act provide reports about items of community interest regarding which no action will be 00:25:01.020 --> 00:25:08.940 taken to include expressions of thanks congratulations or condolence information regarding holiday 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:16.940 schedules honorary or salutary recognition of a public official public employee or citizen 00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:22.940 a reminder about an upcoming event organized or sponsored by the governing board excuse 00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:30.940 me governing body including information regarding a social ceremonial or community event organized 00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:38.540 or sponsored by an entity other than the governing body that was scheduled to attend excuse me 00:25:38.540 --> 00:25:43.900 to be attended by a member of the governing body or an official employee of the municipality 00:25:43.900 --> 00:25:50.060 announcement involving an imminent threat to the public health and safety of people 00:25:50.060 --> 00:25:56.780 in the municipality that has arisen after the posting of the agenda so all that being said 00:25:56.780 --> 00:26:02.780 there's a spot on here where we can say some things talk about some things recommend some things 00:26:02.780 --> 00:26:10.780 for future agenda items or acknowledge and give expressions of appreciation so i hope that as we 00:26:10.780 --> 00:26:16.700 move forward we will take advantage of this opportunity because each of you are very unique 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:24.300 in your perspective from the business community and i benefit greatly when each of you let us 00:26:24.300 --> 00:26:30.940 know of your areas of interest your areas of concern and then your areas where people need 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:36.380 to be acknowledged and celebrated so i hope that in the future meetings we all take advantage of 00:26:36.380 --> 00:26:43.340 this opportunity and i will open it and see if there are any items that we need to address under 00:26:43.340 --> 00:26:55.660 this section now there's one thing i would maybe add you know just as you guys are um talking to 00:26:55.660 --> 00:27:01.420 different businesses throughout the city if we could keep an kind of an ongoing list of you know 00:27:01.420 --> 00:27:07.500 from small businesses to large businesses what are what are those needs you know is it peter build 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:14.140 says we need more industrial space for our suppliers is a small business saying hey we're having a hard 00:27:14.140 --> 00:27:21.980 time getting co's you know for our ti you know you know just kind of keeping an ongoing list and that 00:27:21.980 --> 00:27:27.180 i think that could open some topics of discussion of how we can maybe make a bigger influence as a 00:27:27.180 --> 00:27:34.060 board in helping make those decisions as you guys are visiting one-on-one with these businesses get 00:27:34.060 --> 00:27:38.780 some feedback and then maybe have that on the agenda i'm just kind of as an ongoing list 00:27:38.780 --> 00:27:46.380 absolutely so we actually uh track a lot of that data uh through our bre program what you're 00:27:46.380 --> 00:27:51.980 referencing and so i know k has started the 2021 visits i know she's gone on a few of them 00:27:52.540 --> 00:27:57.260 and so we're certainly keeping track of that information and that's exactly why we've built 00:27:57.260 --> 00:28:03.980 in an evaluation period um and data analysis component of the bre program is so we can do just 00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:10.220 that yeah i think once we we're hearing those topics back i think that that gives us some 00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:15.820 direction to go okay how can we make a difference as a board what do we need to be incentivizing 00:28:15.820 --> 00:28:22.220 um and just helps give us some more information from people we can include that we'll give a bre 00:28:22.220 --> 00:28:27.740 update in that quarterly organizational report it looked a little different this past quarter 00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:33.740 um because we hadn't started the 2020 visit cycle yet um but going forward we can make sure to 00:28:33.740 --> 00:28:38.140 include that on a quarterly basis and if we need to have those discussions we can schedule that 00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:40.380 with the board thank you 00:28:40.380 --> 00:28:46.060 anyone else 00:28:49.820 --> 00:28:55.660 chairman this is steve edgar uh just a quick question can you hear me oh yes absolutely steve 00:28:55.660 --> 00:29:07.340 thank you uh actually i need to ask some questions around uh the get in business uh allies 00:29:07.340 --> 00:29:15.900 so uh k whenever as i read it it looks like we're trying to identify what resources employers are 00:29:15.900 --> 00:29:22.380 needing to address their their current need um in the community whether it's from staffing or 00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:28.860 technology or space or am i understanding that correctly um that's a component of it um that 00:29:28.860 --> 00:29:36.700 group also assists like entrepreneurs um small businesses even some businesses that may not even 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:42.460 have a concern but just needing some training so it's it's multi-level in regards to those 00:29:42.460 --> 00:29:46.060 organizations and the support and resources that they provide to the business community 00:29:46.060 --> 00:29:53.580 but that's definitely a component of it okay so i guess my question is um how are you 00:29:53.580 --> 00:30:00.220 getting that information of what the need is so one i'm one way i'm getting it is through the 00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:05.820 business retention um visits that i've had so if they're i've gone on a couple of visits this 00:30:05.820 --> 00:30:11.500 month we have our gba meeting tomorrow so some of the concerns that some of the businesses may have 00:30:11.500 --> 00:30:16.700 if i know that there's a organization that may be able to assist those those businesses i will 00:30:16.700 --> 00:30:23.420 mention that um texas workforce solutions has gone on each of the visits with me so if they are 00:30:23.420 --> 00:30:28.700 having any workforce or training or recruitment issues we're able to identify those immediately 00:30:28.700 --> 00:30:34.940 because they've been on those meetings with me um but also just word of mouth so i'll use rose 00:30:34.940 --> 00:30:40.380 costumes as an example so there was someone on the didn't business allies meeting that mentioned 00:30:40.380 --> 00:30:46.780 um during the meeting that she was having concerns in um in regards to having to restructure or 00:30:46.780 --> 00:30:51.980 reimagine her business and so i reached out to her and asked her what were her exact concerns 00:30:51.980 --> 00:30:57.260 so when i got those concerns i presented those to the group and her concerns was she needed 00:30:57.260 --> 00:31:03.180 photography because she's now selling her costumes that are renting them and she also needed assistance 00:31:03.180 --> 00:31:08.220 with her online presence well when i told the group that didn't isd stepped up and said well 00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:13.340 their communications department can provide her with that assistance um and that information came 00:31:13.340 --> 00:31:21.180 from another dva um organization member so it's it's a it's the information sharing there um is 00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:26.780 kind of the way that we've gotten information on top of our bru visits and emails from businesses 00:31:26.780 --> 00:31:31.100 that we get steve were you interested in having a visit 00:31:33.820 --> 00:31:40.860 well i'm always available for a visit certainly and willing to share any thoughts i might have 00:31:40.860 --> 00:31:47.260 uh i just it was interesting to me um these are wonderful resources i just didn't know 00:31:47.260 --> 00:31:54.460 how we're reaching into the business community to to draw out what the needs are universally 00:31:54.460 --> 00:32:00.540 or individually so thank you i appreciate that and i would also say this group kind of with your 00:32:00.540 --> 00:32:06.300 general awareness of this if you come into contact with a business in your day-to-day operations and 00:32:06.300 --> 00:32:12.300 you're not sure where to send them get them in contact with k k can talk about it with the dba 00:32:12.300 --> 00:32:17.100 group and we probably can find a resource through that group and so the more we kind of spread and 00:32:17.100 --> 00:32:22.140 say there is a group that is working to assist businesses and we know this is an incredibly 00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:27.980 challenging time period for so many businesses there's a brain trust that's behind the scenes 00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:32.860 meeting i've gotten to participate in a few of those meetings and and the information that shared 00:32:32.860 --> 00:32:36.860 um and the connections that are being made behind the scenes is going to really benefit 00:32:36.860 --> 00:32:43.660 benefit businesses so if if you hear of anything or you know of anything um please call our office 00:32:43.660 --> 00:32:49.820 and and we can help yeah great thank you thank you all know absolutely if you all know of any 00:32:49.820 --> 00:32:55.260 business that you would like for us to add to the list um and in the category startup small medium 00:32:55.260 --> 00:33:02.140 large um we can always add we have space because of the virtual meetings that has allowed for the 00:33:02.140 --> 00:33:08.300 calendar to be flexible so we can add a lot more businesses to the visits so please do 00:33:08.300 --> 00:33:18.060 did we have any more input from the economic development partnership board 00:33:22.940 --> 00:33:25.660 i'll entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting 00:33:25.660 --> 00:33:40.620 okay all right steve thank you we need a second second second okay all in favor signify by raising 00:33:40.620 --> 00:33:47.500 your hand okay thank you all for your time thank you for your participation and we look forward to 00:33:47.500 --> 00:33:54.460 more of your input thank you have a great day you too