WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.280 Good morning everyone. My name is John Baines and I have the honor of being the chair for 00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:19.060 the Economic Development Partnership Board. And we want to call the meeting to order. 00:00:19.060 --> 00:00:25.420 And I believe we have a rather decent agenda this morning. And the first item is to consider 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:36.800 the approval of minutes of May 12, 2012, excuse me, 2021. And that's EDP 21-022. We'll give 00:00:36.800 --> 00:00:44.460 everyone a chance to look at those minutes briefly and see if you see any items that 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:52.680 require an adjustment. And once you've read them or you're ready, you can just give me 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:58.680 a wave and that'll give me an idea of how long I should wait or not wait. Thank you. 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:07.520 Chair, if you need a motion, I'll go ahead and move that we accept as presented pending 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:17.000 any corrections forthcoming. We have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? Second. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:31.480 Lee Ramsey second. Okay. Do we have any further discussion before we call the vote? Okay. 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:42.180 Seeing none, we have to do, because we're in this somewhat hybrid situation, we'll have 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:50.720 to take a roll call vote. So we'll go around the room and we'll start with me. I'll start 00:01:50.720 --> 00:02:08.440 with me. I'm in favor. Jason? Yes. Lee Ramsey? Yes. Jill Jester? Aye. Mark McClellan? Aye. 00:02:08.440 --> 00:02:20.400 Gerard Husspeth? Aye. Steven Edgar? Aye. We have a unanimous passage of the minutes. Thank 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:30.240 you very much. We'll move on to the next EDP item. EDP 21-028. Receive a report, hold 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:34.960 a discussion and give staff direction regarding a memorandum of understanding between the 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:42.400 City of Denton and the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce. Who will lead that conversation, 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:48.000 Jessica? So for the staff presentation, we'll have Kay Brown-Patrick, who is our business 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.660 development administrator. And then as you can see on your screen, we have Mr. Gorey 00:02:52.660 --> 00:02:59.520 and Mr. Hill here from the Black Chamber of Commerce. And so we'll let Kay start this 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:03.080 thing, get the presentation going, get the conversation going. And then certainly we 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:09.880 invite the board's feedback and Mr. Hill and Mr. Gorey to participate as well. Thank you, 00:03:09.880 --> 00:03:17.120 Jessica. And Kay, you have it. Good morning, everyone. I'm going to go ahead and pull my 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:32.120 screen up here. So we're going to go ahead and get started on the presentation. So as 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:39.320 you all are aware, the council passed the economic development strategic plan in February 00:03:39.320 --> 00:03:44.720 as a guiding policy for economic development goals in Denton. One of the things that was 00:03:44.720 --> 00:03:50.920 mentioned in that plan was a call for coordination with the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce 00:03:50.920 --> 00:03:57.660 and other multicultural organizations to provide business information and resources for minority 00:03:57.660 --> 00:04:02.640 owned businesses. Staff have met with the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce on several 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:09.000 occasions this year and to discuss the partnership in the area of support needed and the role 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:14.960 of each organization in developing and supporting a sustainable relationship for business support 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:21.660 within the community. So to enhance that relationship, the city and the Black Chamber of Commerce 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:27.880 have prepared a memorandum of understanding for your review. The MOU identifies the scope 00:04:27.880 --> 00:04:32.760 of the partnership between the city and the Black Chamber of Commerce, and it also establishes 00:04:32.760 --> 00:04:41.240 guidelines for the process of developing mutually understood roles and responsibilities to entities. 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:45.440 The agreements between the City of Denton Economic Development Department and the Denton 00:04:45.440 --> 00:04:51.960 Black Chamber of Commerce, both ad hoc and standing joint committees and task force can 00:04:51.960 --> 00:04:59.880 be created by mutually agreed upon between their executive board and the EDP board. There 00:04:59.880 --> 00:05:07.280 has been no commitment from either party to provide funding. However, the city may allocate 00:05:07.280 --> 00:05:12.320 resources and funding on a case by case basis for a specified program and events that are 00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:17.140 offered by the Black Chamber of Commerce in the form of sponsorships. And one of an example 00:05:17.140 --> 00:05:23.440 of that would be we recently collaborated on a how to do business with local and state 00:05:23.440 --> 00:05:28.040 agencies with the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce for minority women owned businesses. 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:32.280 And the resource that was allocated from the city side was myself, and I worked closely 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:36.360 with one of the staff members there to put that on. And then they were going to utilize 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:40.800 our zoom platform because of the capabilities of that, but they ended up purchasing their 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.800 own. So that's just an example of resources and more than that, but that's just an example 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:53.920 of how that what that will look like. The city and the DBCLC will work collaboratively 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:00.200 to share visions and goals for business and economic development purposes. And the city 00:06:00.200 --> 00:06:04.800 in alignment with the policy will promote activities and events that are hosted by the 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:08.800 Black Chamber of Commerce. Any trainings that they've done, they have done a great job. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:15.160 They've been hosting a monthly activities and events and trainings this year. And so 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:24.400 with this MOU that allows now for us to promote those activities on our social media sites. 00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:29.360 Both entities will engage at minimum with quarterly meetings or updates on progress 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:35.240 regarding any programs and city led initiatives. The Black Chamber of Commerce will provide 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:42.400 a informal annual report to the economic development department regarding any of their activities, 00:06:42.400 --> 00:06:46.680 any changes that they may have on the board side, staff side, and then the city will provide 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:52.480 their executive board with updates and presentations on any city led initiatives that affect business 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:58.880 and economic development. And at minimum, we will provide that to them by annually. 00:06:58.880 --> 00:07:04.960 The term is due December 31 of 2023, but because this is non-binding, that is that's fluid 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:10.400 and either party may for any specified reason terminate with written notice. So staff is 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:17.520 here to recommend that the EDP board recommend approval of the MOU outline the partnership 00:07:17.520 --> 00:07:24.480 with the intent to bring the MOU forward to city council consideration later this summer. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:38.800 So with that, I will take any questions. Mr. Goree, did you have any input? I did get your 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:43.600 message in regards to the whereas in the actual document, but we hadn't had a chance to speak. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:48.200 So if you were Mr. Hill had any input, but I know I met with you two for review of the 00:07:48.200 --> 00:07:55.160 MOU at the end of April. So if you guys have anything that you would like to add to that, 00:07:55.160 --> 00:08:05.880 you can do so at this time. Thank you, Kay and the board for inviting us. I think you 00:08:05.880 --> 00:08:12.160 are taking a good step forward on things that haven't been done and didn't that needs to 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:20.280 be done with the MOU. First thing I'd like to mention with the signature, if it's approved 00:08:20.280 --> 00:08:28.320 by our board, our president doesn't sign any documents. This should be signed by our chairman 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:33.720 of the black chamber commerce. So if you could correct that, that would be the first thing 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:41.080 we'd like to have you address on the MOU. The second item, and it's a group of items 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:48.240 on the MOU, and I'm not pulling up that MOU, the document itself, but when you pull up 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:58.200 the document, you'll see some, whereas the black chamber commerce agrees to do so forth 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:06.760 and so on. And the next statement said the black chamber agrees to do so, so, so forth 00:09:06.760 --> 00:09:15.040 and so on for small businesses, minority and women owned businesses. That's a good statement 00:09:15.040 --> 00:09:21.680 except for one thing. There's no mention of the black chamber doing anything for black 00:09:21.680 --> 00:09:28.400 owned businesses. We do not want to be lumped in the category with small business owners. 00:09:28.400 --> 00:09:33.100 We do not want to be lumped in the category with minority business owners and women owned 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:38.240 business owners. In the past, this has been a disaster for black owned businesses and 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:49.200 any organization to be lumped in. It dilutes our effort and we're unable to have any functional 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:57.360 results from that. If you look at the city, I think your chair, John Baines, had asked 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:06.320 the city once before, DME, the county for A&D availability and disparity study to show 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:14.440 what businesses has been done for black businesses. There's never been a study. There's no paperwork. 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:21.200 There's no history. So when you're going to dump the black chamber in with other organization 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:25.720 and don't even mention the term black, then we're going to see that we're going to be 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:33.480 lumped in. And if you look at HUB, HUB is something that started in 1991 and a couple 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:38.560 of the state representatives, we're looking at dissolving HUB because HUB has been diluted 00:10:38.560 --> 00:10:47.820 with so many other organizations. HUB now is African American, Hispanic American, Native 00:10:47.820 --> 00:11:00.360 American, Asian Americans, disabled veterans, and white females. Mind you, of all the contracts 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:07.080 that have been given, state level, city level, county level, national level, white females 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:13.960 are getting, where blacks are getting about 1.3% of the state even have over $200 billion 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:21.560 budget. We got 1.4% of that. White females are getting 60% of that. We do not want to 00:11:21.560 --> 00:11:29.920 be lumped in there and get lost in the shuffle. So if you could correct these whereas, and 00:11:29.920 --> 00:11:37.720 I don't mean to be in no pun intended, but correct that whereas, well, we want to be 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:45.800 as a black chamber commerce want to do things that promote black business owners. Our goal, 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:54.720 our mission is the creation, development, and general wellbeing of black owned businesses. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:59.200 Not that we don't care about minority owned businesses, but that's the job for the big 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:06.320 chamber to deal with minority business. Our role as a black chamber is to deal with black 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:11.400 owned businesses. That's our primary goal, and that's our primary emphasis, and that's 00:12:11.400 --> 00:12:14.160 where our work is today. 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:25.320 Kay, if I could ask you and Jessica to pull up that schedule that I submitted. And as 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:32.680 Mr. Gorey said, thank you. Thanks to the Economic Development Partnership Board for beginning 00:12:32.680 --> 00:12:40.480 this conversation. It has been well overdue. And for those who have not had the pleasure 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:49.040 of dealing with the statistics, this is just a little view. Are you able to pull that up, 00:12:49.040 --> 00:12:51.680 Kay? The documentation. 00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:55.400 I did not bring that over to City Hall with me in digital form. I do have it in written 00:12:55.400 --> 00:13:00.280 form. I did print it off, but I did not have it in digital form. I was not. 00:13:00.280 --> 00:13:09.040 If you could, if I could be allowed to share a document, and it's mainly for informational 00:13:09.040 --> 00:13:17.960 purposes only, I think some of the audience is not aware of the disparity studies that 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:23.160 have been done and the history that Mr. Gorey is speaking of. Is that okay, Jessica? Can 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:25.160 I get? 00:13:25.160 --> 00:13:34.520 I'm not sure if we have the capability for you to share your screen. I'm just not sure 00:13:34.520 --> 00:13:39.520 about that. I need tech support, but I'm going to try and get my email. We're in a remote 00:13:39.520 --> 00:13:43.680 situation, so I don't have my email on this computer, so I'm going to try and get into 00:13:43.680 --> 00:13:46.520 it remotely, and then I'll pull it up if I can. 00:13:46.520 --> 00:13:49.720 Should I email it to someone? 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:53.120 It's in my email, so I just need to try and get into my email, sir. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:14:08.400 While you're doing that, let me give everyone an overview, a high overview. I don't want 00:14:08.400 --> 00:14:13.400 to belabor the point too much, but this is an opportunity to at least address the point 00:14:13.400 --> 00:14:26.460 adequately for everyone. There were some statistics at the state level on how much business goes 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:36.120 to African American businesses, Latino businesses, Asian American businesses, right on businesses, 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:43.400 and however, if you use the term minority, you don't really get to see the impact on 00:14:43.400 --> 00:14:50.000 the black-owned businesses, as Mr. Gorey was saying. This particular document kind of gives 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.920 you a snapshot that if you simply look at the grouping that says minority-owned businesses, 00:14:56.920 --> 00:15:04.480 it's deceiving. This particular document broke out the percentage and the dollars that actually 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:08.840 went to African American-owned businesses. I can pull it up now. 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:23.320 All right. Thank you so much. This is 2006. I rushed in this morning to find a document, 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:31.280 and even though it's old, it'll still give you kind of the idea. If you go and look at 00:15:31.280 --> 00:15:45.080 HUB dollars, let's see, let's see, $36 million, and HUB got $10 million. However, African 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:56.480 American-owned businesses got $320,000. Let's go down to a friend, TW, $38 million, HUB 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:08.320 $4.6, and of that, African Americans received $1773. Then you go down to, let's see, Texas 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:17.400 A&M, $173 million, minority business owners, excuse me, got $38, and then African Americans 00:16:17.400 --> 00:16:29.600 got $2 million. Texas Department of Transportation, up above, $6 billion. Minorities, $700 million, 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:35.920 and then African Americans, $46 million. Then we'll go to the very bottom, UNT, and sorry 00:16:35.920 --> 00:16:44.440 to pick on you, Steve, and Mark. This was in 2006. I know that the numbers have improved, 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:51.840 but UNT had $68 million in expenditures, $13 million went to HUBs, and African Americans 00:16:51.840 --> 00:17:02.080 got $427,000. It just basically kind of makes the point that if we don't track the amount 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:08.440 that goes to African American-owned businesses, we get lost when we get to the idea of what 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:14.920 kind of progress we're making. And I'll make this kind of as a statement, as an African 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:22.760 American-owned business, I've received one contract with the city of Denton. However, 00:17:22.760 --> 00:17:28.960 I have invested in being a volunteer in various aspects to see if I could make a difference. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:34.880 So I've basically said, I'm not going to pursue the money, I'm going to see if I can pursue 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:41.520 the influence. And so that's where my emphasis has been over the last 30-plus years. And 00:17:41.520 --> 00:17:45.320 so Mr. Hill, I didn't know if you had anything you wanted to say while we were on this conversation, 00:17:45.320 --> 00:17:51.760 or if any of the other members of the board would like to have a conversation or make 00:17:51.760 --> 00:17:58.680 a point. So thank you for listening to me, and thank you, Jessica, for pulling that up. 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:07.220 Thank you, Mr. Baines. This is Steve Hill. Just taking a look, even though this information 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:15.680 you shared with us was dated, and I know that we've made significant, when I say we, UNT, 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:23.360 has made significant progress since then, especially in the last five years. But I can 00:18:23.360 --> 00:18:30.180 see. I can see the concern that Mr. Gorey points out, and that you pointed out, John, 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:38.440 you know, how, you know, if you just combine everything into one overall category, how 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:50.800 some parts of that category can be lost, or maybe not getting a fair share of the success 00:18:50.800 --> 00:19:00.920 that we've seen. So I don't have any additional comments, but I do understand, and I'm not 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:08.520 sure what the recommendation is as far as the verbiage to go on the MOU, to change it. 00:19:08.520 --> 00:19:14.020 We need to change it to say Black-owned or African-American-owned businesses would be 00:19:14.020 --> 00:19:21.760 its own separate category. So that way, while we do applaud the effort, without that, I 00:19:21.760 --> 00:19:29.720 think we would have some dilution in both our understanding and monitoring progress. 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:35.520 And if I may, if I may really quick, and Matt, you can step in here, then. So I had a meeting 00:19:35.520 --> 00:19:42.320 with both Mr. Gorey and Mr. Hill, and I forgot the other individual's name, to review this 00:19:42.320 --> 00:19:47.320 document as it is now. At that time in the review, this wasn't a change, so it's gone 00:19:47.320 --> 00:19:53.160 through legal. So there are a couple of items in the document that are directly pulled from 00:19:53.160 --> 00:20:00.040 the strategic plan, verbatim in its references to sections. So in those sections, it says, 00:20:00.040 --> 00:20:04.920 it calls out women and minority-owned businesses. The other whereas is, and Matt, correct me, 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:09.440 you can jump in here, we can make those changes, but if it's speaking directly to the strategic 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:16.600 plan, then we will keep those, whereas the same, but the other ones, we can change to 00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:23.200 Black-owned businesses. Absolutely right. Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure that 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.680 I pointed that out. And then, Mr. Baines, your email, I wanted to let you all, to let 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:33.820 you know, and I'm glad you mentioned that, in January, I met with the finance department 00:20:33.820 --> 00:20:42.060 to discuss disparities in spending and efforts that can be taken to address that. And that's 00:20:42.060 --> 00:20:49.000 where the webinar about how to do business with, and then we had the diversity, the DFW 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:53.760 minority council on there on the call and some other individuals speak to that. But 00:20:53.760 --> 00:21:02.040 finance, they were very open to pursuing a vendor utilization policy. They have not been 00:21:02.040 --> 00:21:08.820 tracking spending and dollars at all, whether it was hub or minority or Black-owned businesses. 00:21:08.820 --> 00:21:14.840 They have now started to code spending now to collect data that's required for a disparity 00:21:14.840 --> 00:21:20.560 study to take place. And I can send the disparity study from Dallas. Disparity does exist in 00:21:20.560 --> 00:21:26.480 Denton. Dallas' disparity study included Denton in their disparity study, and it highlighted 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:29.960 the disparity that took place. But the city of Denton has to have their own disparity 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:36.560 study in order to put an actual program in place. But they have started making efforts 00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:40.560 to addressing that by going ahead and encoding some of the vendor data, start collecting 00:21:40.560 --> 00:21:46.200 the information in regards to spending. They've also implemented a Amazon beta program. So 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:55.000 anytime anyone in the city is shopping for anything on Amazon, it prioritizes if a minority-owned 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:58.800 business or Black-owned business provides their product, it places them at the top of 00:21:58.800 --> 00:22:05.040 the list to prioritize spending with the Black-owned businesses from the city standpoint. So I wanted 00:22:05.040 --> 00:22:14.240 to make you all aware of what's going on internally to address the disparity in spending. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:20.440 Do any of the other partnership board members have a comment? I do have two more comments 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:25.960 before I wanted to leave this topic, but I didn't want to dominate the conversation. 00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:38.360 I wanted to give way if anyone had a question or a concern. I'm going to give you a little 00:22:38.360 --> 00:22:49.160 story and then I'm going to give you a real-life example about opportunities. My nephew grew 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:56.720 up in a tough part of Houston and the Bloods and the Crips, two gangs, were courting him 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:02.440 as a teenager. He reached out to me and said, "Uncle Johnny, can I come and live with you?" 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:09.760 He would come to us in the summers and he realized we had a different lifestyle. And 00:23:09.760 --> 00:23:16.040 this is a rough kid coming to live in my house with my kids and there's going to be some 00:23:16.040 --> 00:23:21.240 issues. And so when he came to live with us, he couldn't even look in the eye, his handshake 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:28.040 was weak, his grades were poor. So we had to spend extra effort to bring him up to the 00:23:28.040 --> 00:23:34.360 standard where my kids were. But the amazing thing was my kids were jealous. They said, 00:23:34.360 --> 00:23:40.480 "Dad, you gave him four french fries and you only gave us two. Or you gave us a dollar 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:45.800 and you gave him $5." So there was a lot of comparing as to the effort that was being 00:23:45.800 --> 00:23:55.440 expended. And eventually my explanation to them was, "Your cousin is in a deficit." So 00:23:55.440 --> 00:24:01.040 when did you do some extra to bring that family member up to the level of the other family 00:24:01.040 --> 00:24:06.120 members? So here we are, city of Denton, you got to do a little extra effort to bring those 00:24:06.120 --> 00:24:11.840 that are less than on up. Mr. Gorey would probably not mention this, but I'll mention 00:24:11.840 --> 00:24:21.920 this on his behalf. He brought a proposal to the city for his company and an idea that 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:27.120 was never thought of before. He and his business partner brought it to the city. It was an 00:24:27.120 --> 00:24:37.840 insurance benefit for all of the city employees. The city of Denton had another employee who 00:24:37.840 --> 00:24:43.880 worked with the same company. And so rather than the benefit going to Mr. Gorey and his 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:50.880 associate, all of the premiums and the benefits went to this city employee. So off the table 00:24:50.880 --> 00:25:00.000 went a significant amount of revenue over many years to a city employee who was not 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:08.360 a minority. I know Mr. Gorey has addressed that concern with some other things, but this 00:25:08.360 --> 00:25:14.520 is an evidence of where we have to work together to make sure that the opportunities are both 00:25:14.520 --> 00:25:23.360 there and they were equal. The only difference was the statement, the final statement was 00:25:23.360 --> 00:25:32.120 the city felt this was best for its employees. So thank you once again, Kay, Jessica and 00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:42.480 other committee members for the effort to improve in this area, allowing for African 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:51.040 American owned businesses to have a better participation in the economic success of our 00:25:51.040 --> 00:25:56.680 community. So unless we have any other comments, Mr. Gorey, I didn't know if you wanted to say 00:25:56.680 --> 00:26:02.400 anything else before we left this area, otherwise we'll move on. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:16.000 No, I just appreciate the opportunity to express the ideas that we want you all to really help 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:22.960 bring into realization because an ideal is just an idea. We want the ideal to get off 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:31.120 the table and become a reality for the city of Denton. As John said, myself, he Steve 00:26:31.120 --> 00:26:38.840 Hill, we volunteer with the city over many years. I've been a city, I've been a business 00:26:38.840 --> 00:26:47.160 owner in the city of Denton for 28 years. And as John said, the one time I came to the 00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:56.280 city for an idea, Jessica and John, they gave it, they gave the bid, they gave the contract 00:26:56.280 --> 00:27:04.000 to a city employee who brought the same thing to the fire department. And they said, regarding 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:11.920 of best value, we're not going to even look at you Kerry and your idea, even though you 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:17.960 brought the idea to the city, you caused the city to do a feasibility study with all the 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:23.520 employee groups and they came back and said, we want to go with that. And when we readdressed 00:27:23.520 --> 00:27:29.320 the city, they said, well, this employee is for city rep for the fire department and said, 00:27:29.320 --> 00:27:34.200 we brought this to the fire department, it's best that we make the whole city do what the 00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:41.080 fire department is doing. Irregardless of your program, if it's better or worse, it 00:27:41.080 --> 00:27:46.440 doesn't matter. We're just going to go with what the other city employee did for the fire 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:51.600 department and disregard what you did. I had a meeting with the mayor, he's been there, 00:27:51.600 --> 00:27:57.160 he can, he can follow us for this. We met with the mayor, they told us we hadn't even 00:27:57.160 --> 00:28:03.600 made a decision yet, Kerry. At the second meeting, they sent us a memo saying, we're 00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:10.000 going to have a meeting to tell you why we did not choose you. From the time they told 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:17.440 us with the mayor, they hadn't made a decision. All of a sudden, they made a decision and 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:23.840 they want us to sit in a meeting to tell us why we weren't chosen. This is the things 00:28:23.840 --> 00:28:33.280 that we are, hopefully the economic development partnership, partnership board can help eliminate. 00:28:33.280 --> 00:28:37.800 And I see friends of mine, Jill Justus, she has understanding of what we've been through. 00:28:37.800 --> 00:28:43.240 She's been a very big partner of ours. I don't have to explain a lot of these things to any 00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:50.880 of you all. I know the names of many of you all here today and I hope you have an understanding 00:28:50.880 --> 00:29:01.320 that we're not here to tumble the the House of Cards. We just want our hand will be played 00:29:01.320 --> 00:29:10.680 fair. Thank you, Kerry. And unless someone else has another comment, how do we conclude 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:16.360 this section, Jessica and Kay? Do we need to go back and make those revisions and then 00:29:16.360 --> 00:29:23.880 bring them back once again? Or tell us how we're going to proceed. No, sir, I think we 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:29.360 would welcome a motion just with the amendments as presented the section that Mr. Gorey was 00:29:29.360 --> 00:29:35.840 referencing. I think we can have a textual change that really doesn't impact the spirit 00:29:35.840 --> 00:29:43.840 of the agreement or the body of the agreement. So we can just make that adjustment as recommended. 00:29:43.840 --> 00:29:50.080 And so the motion can just include that change to the language. But I do before the motion 00:29:50.080 --> 00:29:55.160 is made, I want to encourage the board members. You know, it's been a while since we've looked 00:29:55.160 --> 00:30:00.680 at the strategic plan itself, and there's a very specific reason that we wanted to make 00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:05.720 formalize our relationship with the Black Chamber of Commerce. And so I encourage you 00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:11.380 to go back and look at those sections of the strategic plan because inclusivity is so important 00:30:11.380 --> 00:30:16.480 to economic development, and it is incredibly important to me as a director in making sure 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:21.480 that we're fulfilling on those promises. We adopted that strategic plan, and we said this 00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:26.280 is important to us, and so we are here to make those things happen. And so I hope that 00:30:26.280 --> 00:30:32.640 the board understands, you know, this is a goal of this department, and so we appreciate 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:38.640 Mr. Gorey, Mr. Hill, Mr. Baines, your input in working with us, with myself and Kay on 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:43.080 this MOU, and we feel this is a very important step forward. 00:30:43.080 --> 00:30:49.400 So who will make that from the amendment? 00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:55.960 I'm happy to make the amendment. And if we can just, if we need to specify again what 00:30:55.960 --> 00:31:00.600 that change is, what paragraph and what it's changed to, Jessica, did you get that down? 00:31:00.600 --> 00:31:04.760 Can you maybe read that to us so we know exactly what it is we're changing? 00:31:04.760 --> 00:31:14.000 Yes, we will change the language in the whereas clause that says, whereas the city desires 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.280 to enter into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Denton Black Chamber 00:31:18.280 --> 00:31:23.200 of Commerce to assist with support of Denton's Black-owned businesses and provide business 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:26.920 assistance to such businesses. We'll make that change. It's on the first page of the 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:27.920 agreement. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:35.800 Okay. So if I could, Mr. Baines, I would like to move that we amend the memorandum of understanding 00:31:35.800 --> 00:31:41.560 between the City of Denton and the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce, as Ms. Rogers stated 00:31:41.560 --> 00:31:48.720 in one of the whereas clauses, as she just stated on the record at this time. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:52.840 And there's one other section. We'll make that same language change. There's another 00:31:52.840 --> 00:31:58.400 pair of two places where it will replace small minority and women-owned businesses with Black-owned 00:31:58.400 --> 00:31:59.400 businesses in the whereas. 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:05.600 If I could modify my motion, the motion will be to conform the entire document to specify 00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:14.360 the goal will be in Black businesses and Black members of our community versus the global 00:32:14.360 --> 00:32:22.280 term for all minorities. And any necessary scrivener's changes will be made as needed 00:32:22.280 --> 00:32:23.280 with the intent. 00:32:23.280 --> 00:32:26.600 We have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? 00:32:26.600 --> 00:32:28.920 This is Jason. Second. 00:32:28.920 --> 00:32:30.320 Thank you, Jason. 00:32:30.320 --> 00:32:34.480 Chair, just to be clear, this is a motion to approve the agreement with those changes. 00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:35.480 Is that correct? 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:36.480 That is correct. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:37.480 Okay. 00:32:37.480 --> 00:32:48.040 Thank you, Mac. So we have a motion and a second. Do we have any further discussion? 00:32:48.040 --> 00:32:57.480 Hearing none, all in favor of approving the motion on the floor with friendly amendments, 00:32:57.480 --> 00:33:02.440 signify by saying yes. And we'll start with you, Jason. 00:33:02.440 --> 00:33:03.440 Lee? 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:04.440 Aye. 00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:05.440 Jill? 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:06.440 Aye. 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:07.440 Mark? 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:08.440 Aye. 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:09.440 Mayor Hutzpeth? 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:10.440 Aye. 00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:20.680 And then where is my friend from the hospital? 00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:23.800 Mr. Edgar had to leave, unfortunately, at 1130. 00:33:23.800 --> 00:33:30.680 Okay. And then John Baines also approves the motion with the friendly amendments. I believe 00:33:30.680 --> 00:33:39.260 we passed that motion unanimously. Thank you all for both the conversation and your attentiveness 00:33:39.260 --> 00:33:41.080 while we had it. Thank you. 00:33:41.080 --> 00:33:42.080 Thank you. 00:33:42.080 --> 00:33:46.760 Yes. And Mr. Hill and Mr. Gorey, you are more than welcome to continue with us, or you can 00:33:46.760 --> 00:33:50.760 go about your morning and we'll give you a little bit of time back. 00:33:50.760 --> 00:33:52.260 All right. Thank you. 00:33:52.260 --> 00:33:56.520 I think I may just hang out with you for a minute. I may learn something else. 00:33:56.520 --> 00:33:57.520 Okay. 00:33:57.520 --> 00:34:03.040 I have a patch of grass that I haven't finished mowing, so I'm going to get to that before 00:34:03.040 --> 00:34:06.880 it gets too hot. Or I get into hot water. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:10.040 We wish you the best, Mr. Gorey. 00:34:10.040 --> 00:34:13.040 Thank you, Sarah. 00:34:13.040 --> 00:34:15.680 Thank you. 00:34:15.680 --> 00:34:23.440 We come now to EEP 21-029, Receiver Report. Hold the discussion and give staff direction 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:32.040 regarding nominations for the annual business awards. 00:34:32.040 --> 00:34:41.080 And we have Kay again to lead that discussion. And I believe I have the list of past recipients 00:34:41.080 --> 00:34:49.040 if we need it, but I will turn it over to Kay to lead that discussion. 00:34:49.040 --> 00:34:50.040 Thank you. 00:34:50.040 --> 00:34:55.160 There was no presentation for this particular item. Just coming to you all to receive the 00:34:55.160 --> 00:35:00.540 nominations for the business award. As you know, in the past, the board has nominated 00:35:00.540 --> 00:35:07.320 for the large and small business. And then at the May meeting, you all approved adding 00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:13.000 the minority veteran business of the year. We have those three awards coming to you all. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:19.280 So we will receive the nominations and then do the legwork in regard of the legwork. I'm 00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:24.880 thinking about a workout. We will do the work to retrieve the information in regards to 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:30.200 the criteria that's needed for those businesses. 00:35:30.200 --> 00:35:37.080 So Kay, I have a question for you. So we have this information. Were we expected to come 00:35:37.080 --> 00:35:43.900 today with names or are you sending us away to get names? 00:35:43.900 --> 00:35:53.400 Either or. We were expecting nominations today, but if you do not have any, you can send them 00:35:53.400 --> 00:36:01.120 to us. The criteria information from May is the same now. And so you can send us the nominations. 00:36:01.120 --> 00:36:08.000 I think there is an August, what do we have for the deadline? August 4th, Jessica? 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:14.600 So at your next meeting, you will be voting and discussing and selecting the winners of 00:36:14.600 --> 00:36:22.520 the business awards. So we would need the nominees today at this meeting or via email 00:36:22.520 --> 00:36:29.740 in enough time that we can prepare for the August 11th meeting. I think we skipped last 00:36:29.740 --> 00:36:34.040 month's meeting, which would have been the first time that we talked about the nomination 00:36:34.040 --> 00:36:38.580 process. And I think we had sent that out in the email and just said, be thinking of 00:36:38.580 --> 00:36:45.620 this. But if not, we are willing to just tickle everyone's brains today and get you thinking 00:36:45.620 --> 00:36:52.940 about it. And then I can follow up at the end of the week and say, send me your nominations. 00:36:52.940 --> 00:36:57.760 If that works for the board, we are willing to accommodate you. We have plenty of time. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:05.040 Some of us, we have dogs that ate our homework and our notes. For the rest of us, perhaps 00:37:05.040 --> 00:37:08.840 there are some names. OK, Jill Jester, I see your hand. 00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:16.720 Oh, sorry. I just wanted to say, and I also have a dog that ate my homework as well. What 00:37:16.720 --> 00:37:22.560 a coincidence. But Jessica, you mentioned some of the past recipients and having a list 00:37:22.560 --> 00:37:28.120 of that. If we are able to, which is thank you for your graciousness and allowing us 00:37:28.120 --> 00:37:34.640 to make nominations within the next day or so, I think a list of past recipients would 00:37:34.640 --> 00:37:39.920 be helpful so that we're not recognizing this thing because there are so many great businesses 00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:44.520 in our community. And if someone's been recognized in the past just two or three years, we would 00:37:44.520 --> 00:37:48.640 maybe like to look elsewhere. And especially for those that haven't been on the board very 00:37:48.640 --> 00:37:55.840 long or for many years, it might be helpful to kind of see who's been recognized and then 00:37:55.840 --> 00:38:00.240 everyone just a reminder that the criteria is listed. I mean, it's set forth and is really 00:38:00.240 --> 00:38:05.520 a great criterion. So my thought is also to encourage myself as well as others to look 00:38:05.520 --> 00:38:10.320 at that criterion and include what they know about how the business meets the criteria 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:15.360 when they make the nominations. Is that the most helpful and in paragraph form or in bullet 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:21.680 points, whatever that may be. But there are very specific things that this award these 00:38:21.680 --> 00:38:27.400 awards are for. And just to keep that in mind. And I just want to apologize for not being 00:38:27.400 --> 00:38:31.160 prepared with a great set of nominations, which it seems would be so easy to make in 00:38:31.160 --> 00:38:36.560 this community. However, I'm prepared as well. Thank you. 00:38:36.560 --> 00:38:44.480 We can absolutely send out a list of all of the past award recipients as well as the criteria. 00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:49.440 And we can send that out to the board today. We can probably give you to the end of the 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:54.640 maybe another week or so to the end of next week to give us nominations. You can include 00:38:54.640 --> 00:38:59.640 anything you know about the company, but you don't have to. We actually have a team of 00:38:59.640 --> 00:39:06.320 intrepid researchers and contacts that will find out a lot of things in the process, things 00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:11.280 that sometimes we all don't know that businesses are doing in terms of supporting their employees 00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:20.200 or educational efforts or those sorts of things. So we are happy to do that. But if that's 00:39:20.200 --> 00:39:25.940 the board's pleasure, I'm happy to just send it out, give you a little bit more time. 00:39:25.940 --> 00:39:31.080 And in my mistaken or in the past, I thought that staff actually came with some ideas because 00:39:31.080 --> 00:39:36.560 of course we're not involved with every single partnership that is going on behind the scenes. 00:39:36.560 --> 00:39:42.360 I mean, all that deal with economic development, I think we would know about, but it seems 00:39:42.360 --> 00:39:45.960 that in the past that was, you know, and I don't mean to suggest something that would 00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:50.240 be inappropriate, but it seems like in the past staff has also said, by the way, in case 00:39:50.240 --> 00:39:54.640 he didn't know, look at what this group has been doing. So I just want to throw that out 00:39:54.640 --> 00:39:59.400 as a possibility. Yes, ma'am. We will do that. We wanted to give them. We didn't want to 00:39:59.400 --> 00:40:04.800 skew anyone's nomination, so we wanted to give the board an opportunity to to nominate 00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:09.240 first. But we do have some in mind that we would recommend and we'll add those to the 00:40:09.240 --> 00:40:19.160 list. Awesome. Awesome. If I know you don't eat my dog or my homework anymore, OK, bad 00:40:19.160 --> 00:40:28.720 dog, bad dog. All right. So on this particular point, do we have anything else that we need 00:40:28.720 --> 00:40:35.360 to address? No, sir. I don't believe so. I will send it out to the board and that way 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:41.460 we'll capture the the other board members that weren't able to join us today as well. 00:40:41.460 --> 00:40:46.840 And I'll have case and lots of reminders. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you. And 00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:58.240 I will send them. We're now on ADP 21-032 staff reports. Yes, sir. So that is me. You 00:40:58.240 --> 00:41:02.760 have three staff reports, three items in your staff reports for this month. The first is 00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:07.960 a memo that outlines the board appointment process. I can't believe we're doing this. 00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:13.800 It seems like it comes up so quickly every year. But included in that memo, you have 00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:19.720 a list of all the current board members, your current terms, which term you are on, if you 00:41:19.720 --> 00:41:24.440 are eligible for reappointment in this year. And the six seats that will be considered 00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:29.520 for the twenty twenty one appointments are going to be Mayor Hudspeth, Joe Jester, Tina 00:41:29.520 --> 00:41:36.920 Albert, Mark McClellan, John Baines and Bob Eames. And so those seats, of course, the 00:41:36.920 --> 00:41:41.960 UNTC is really a confirmation. UNT president designates their seat, but the council confirms 00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:50.460 that nomination. And so we will be going to City Council next week, July 20th, where City 00:41:50.460 --> 00:41:56.440 Council will take the first step in this process, which is they appoint the nominating committee, 00:41:56.440 --> 00:42:00.820 which is going to be made up of two council members and one chamber board of directors 00:42:00.820 --> 00:42:08.400 member. And after that, that nominating committee will reach out to those of you who are eligible 00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:13.440 to continue serving, see if you can if you want to stay, if you're interested. And if 00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:19.400 there is an open seat, then they'll reach out to the entities kind of listed in the 00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:25.400 ordinance to get recommendations. They may reach out to other board members to get recommendations 00:42:25.400 --> 00:42:31.160 and move forward. And I say with great sadness, Mr. Baines, you'll note in the memo, has reached 00:42:31.160 --> 00:42:36.600 his term limits with us. So his last few months are coming up on the partnership board and 00:42:36.600 --> 00:42:42.960 we're internally grateful for his support and leadership this past year. So we will 00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:49.440 have at least one new board member joining us in October after this process. So with 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:53.320 that, are there questions about the board appointment process? I know this is a little 00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:56.960 bit different. Some of you have served on other city boards, so I just kind of like 00:42:56.960 --> 00:43:07.880 to call out, we have a little bit of a different process that we follow. Seeing none? Seeing 00:43:07.880 --> 00:43:14.080 none, hearing none. Awesome. Great. I hope that means that my memo was that that good. 00:43:14.080 --> 00:43:23.720 I like writing a good memo. It was, it was, it was Pulitzer Prize prize-worthy. How about 00:43:23.720 --> 00:43:31.480 that? Wonderful. Other two documents that you have are our standard, our quarterly operational 00:43:31.480 --> 00:43:38.480 report. I encourage you to review that. My team, Corey's team, the whole team, everyone 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:43.280 in Denton, I think has been working on an economic development project this past quarter. 00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:51.720 You'll see it reflected. At one point this past quarter, we had 65 active projects. That 00:43:51.720 --> 00:43:58.280 is more than we've had in entire years sometimes. So that is incredible. There are a lot of 00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:02.560 people interested in Denton. If you were, if you were wondering where Corey is today, 00:44:02.560 --> 00:44:08.600 he's actually doing a site visit with one of our prospects right now. So I told him 00:44:08.600 --> 00:44:14.480 I would handle the meeting and let him handle the business of continuing to promote and 00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:21.220 recruit in Denton. The additional report that you have is, oh, I'm sorry, I wanted to mention 00:44:21.220 --> 00:44:26.280 one thing. We added a new section to our quarterly report. We added a section on culture and 00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:31.080 tourism. We know that culture and tourism is a huge part of economic development in Denton. 00:44:31.080 --> 00:44:37.560 And so we, we worked with the CBB to get some key stats in terms of looking at tourism kind 00:44:37.560 --> 00:44:44.460 of returning to Denton as the, as the pandemic has subsided and, and led up a little bit. 00:44:44.460 --> 00:44:48.240 So please pay attention to that. If there's something that you want more information on, 00:44:48.240 --> 00:44:52.160 don't hesitate to reach out. This is a report that's public. You are free to share it with 00:44:52.160 --> 00:44:58.440 your own boards and organizations and entities. Please do so. Sometimes I think that it gets 00:44:58.440 --> 00:45:05.520 lost how much work is going on in, in this sort of economic development world. So please 00:45:05.520 --> 00:45:11.460 take a look at that. I try to summarize as much as possible, but do share accordingly. 00:45:11.460 --> 00:45:16.760 And the last report you have is our strategic plan report. It's lengthy as always, but it 00:45:16.760 --> 00:45:21.560 does outline everything that we've done this past quarter in support of those strategic 00:45:21.560 --> 00:45:28.320 plan identified objectives. So I won't go through all of that. I think it's 30 pages. 00:45:28.320 --> 00:45:36.120 But if you have questions, please, please reach out to us. Thank you, Jessica. Thank 00:45:36.120 --> 00:45:43.600 you, Kay. Do we have any other items to bring before the partnership board? Here we will 00:45:43.600 --> 00:45:54.280 entertain a motion to adjourn. And John, can I just make one comment? Please. I just like 00:45:54.280 --> 00:46:00.640 to thank you for letting me ride shotgun with you this morning and thank you for all you 00:46:00.640 --> 00:46:09.120 do. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Okay. Hearing none, we will adjourn 00:46:09.120 --> 00:46:15.040 the meeting and I'd like to thank everyone for taking out of your busy day. And Jessica 00:46:15.040 --> 00:46:22.120 and Kay, please extend to all of the other, Mark, excuse me, Mac and to all of the other 00:46:22.120 --> 00:46:26.360 city employees that, you know, behind the scenes that make this thing work. Thank you 00:46:26.360 --> 00:46:32.360 for all of the hard work. You know, most folks don't realize all the stuff that goes on in 00:46:32.360 --> 00:46:37.400 the back room to run a city. And thank you so much. Thank you so much. And thank you 00:46:37.400 --> 00:46:42.040 to all of the partnership boards for board members for your time and your participation 00:46:42.040 --> 00:46:48.800 and your interest. Without further ado, then we'll close the meeting and see you next week. 00:46:48.800 --> 00:46:50.140 - Thank you very much. 00:46:50.140 --> 00:46:51.580 - Bye everyone. 00:46:51.580 --> 00:46:52.420 - Okay.