Oct 30, 2015 City Council on 2015-10-30 2:30 PM
October 30, 2015 City Council
Full Transcript
Individual consideration on page two and three, items A, B,
and C are all related to the Convention Center project.
Item B, because it actually is with regard to the grant
agreement with Allegiance Hillview, but it's because of the
Convention Center.
So I'm suggesting to you that you might want to just pull
for consideration on the 10th.
Items A, B, and C are items for individual consideration in
the work session and closed session items relative to the
Convention Center.
>> Thank you, Mr. And I did get an email from Kathleen,
Council Member Wozni with that request.
Yes.
>> Two questions.
Number one is, does this in any way, were there time
sensitive issues regarding us considering it at this point?
>> No, I don't believe there are, John, correct me if I'm
wrong, but I don't think there's anything that's time
sensitive about the Convention Center or the RED
development project.
>> Not at this time.
We have a few, we probably have 30 days to work with.
>> It might be important that we try to get those
discussions held on the 10th if we can.
>> Then Mayor, I'm fine with all of those, the three items
for individual consideration being pulled.
>> I would, I do have a question that I'd like to ask in
closed session regarding the deal.
But I think it would be better in closed session.
>> Okay.
>> I would ask that we continue to have the closed session
item so I could get that one question out for staff to work
on.
>> Okay.
Council Members, any other comments about that?
Healy, you had, yes.
>> You know that I'm for it.
>> For what?
>> For pulling these.
>> Even the closed session?
>> I'm okay with that.
>> Okay, so you're talking about the voting part.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Go ahead and pull those and then we'll go ahead and
consider the closed session.
And obviously we will put that back on a closed session on
the 10th so that Council Member Wasney can be included.
Because it doesn't sound like we're going to have a full
discussion on it.
>> No, I just want to put out a question and I don't expect
an answer today.
>> Fantastic.
>> We're prepared to talk about it in a work session or a
closed session, but I assume you want to pull those.
>> Yeah, we'll just entertain that in closed session and
then we'll take it up again on the 10th.
Is that okay with everyone?
>> Yes.
>> All right, fantastic.
Okay, then we will move on to our work session item, agenda
B.
Which is receive report, hold discussion, give staff
direction regarding a management contract between the City
of Denton and
Dallas Entrepreneurial Center for the management of cowork
ing space and an entrepreneurial center located at 608 East
Hickory.
>> Thank you Mayor, Amy Bissett is the Director of
Development Services and she's going to present this item
for your consideration.
Thank you, Amy.
>> Thank you Mayor and Council Members.
I have a couple of handouts going around for you right now.
The first one is an updated contract.
There are two very minor changes from the contract that you
received in your backup.
At the top of page three, we have changed the schedule by
which the deck would pay the 10% towards operating expenses
.
We've changed that from quarterly to monthly at their
request.
And then on page four under section E,
we've slightly changed the wording on the term to say that
it will renew annually for five years rather than it may be
renewed.
They wanted a little more assurance as it relates to the
longevity of this relationship.
I'm going to talk a little bit today about some statistics
and
some potential performance measures for this program as a
whole.
I've been asked to do that.
And then I'll talk through some of the terms of the
agreement and I'm happy to answer any questions.
I want to share a few statistics with you all to start with
.
Denton County is currently ranked number six, six as the
high tech hot spot in US.
They measure this by the number of new technology jobs that
have been created in the last five years.
I'm going to go into a little more detail on that moment
arily.
I also want to share some statistics related to small
businesses.
Small businesses create 60 to 80% of all net new jobs
annually in the US.
40% of all tech jobs are created by small businesses and
startups.
Small businesses provide 50% of all private sector jobs in
the United States.
And the average tech job wages in Denton today is a little
over $80,000 a year.
>> And the source of that is?
Is that jobs EQ?
>> That's right, I'm about to walk through that table that
I presented for you.
And the second handout that you have is a table that is a
statistical analysis.
That is the source is jobs EQ, which is a product that
we use in our analysis in economic development.
It's a nationally recognized product to look at what's
called a location quotient.
Which is really, it's a way to measure the way jobs are
growing and
trending in your community and how that compares to jobs in
the rest of the United States.
So starting at the left side of your table, I want to
explain this to you a little bit.
This is looking at Denton and comparing it to Dallas and
comparing it to the DFW area.
And comparing to Texas and nationally and it's specifically
related to tech jobs.
The first third of your table is looking at how many jobs
we have created, that we created in 2014 in the tech
industry.
Denton currently has about 17,500 jobs that are tech
related jobs.
The average wage is a little over $80,000.
The location quotient is 0.82.
What that means is that we have as an overall portion of
the jobs in Denton,
we have a lower proportion of tech jobs than the national
average.
If it was over one, we would show a cluster of tech jobs.
>> Amy, is that city of Dallas or Dallas County and Denton
County?
Are those cities or are those counties?
>> I'd have to go back and look more closely at the data to
answer that question.
>> Okay, all right.
I don't want to state something incorrectly.
It may say it in the summary at the bottom of your-
>> It says Dallas County and, yeah.
>> The middle part of this table shows the growth in tech
jobs in the last five years.
And Denton has seen over a 5% growth, which is well above
the Dallas area and
the whole Metroplex and well above the state of Texas and
the US.
We see this as a strong sign that this is an industry that
is attracted to Denton.
That we have the synergy with the young professional
employment base here because of the universities.
And if you look at the far column, it shows the forecast
over the next five years.
We anticipate to continue growing tech jobs at a higher
rate than
the Metroplex as a whole or as the state or nation.
Do you have questions about that table before I move on?
>> Yeah, if maybe in just an email or an informal staff
report,
if you could give us an indication if those are county,
which I think they are probably county statistics.
And if there's a way, probably not, probably is not.
Because I know for Denton County, if it is Denton County,
some of Frisco's in Denton County.
So trying to hone down, what are we talking about within
the city of Denton?
>> I can tell you that we hone down to the finest point
possible.
>> Okay, so this is it.
>> So we can't get anything better.
>> Gotcha, all right, fantastic.
Yeah, just to answer that question, that'd be great.
>> Okay, I can do that.
>> Thank you.
>> One of the things that we're gonna ask the DEC to do as
a part of their
management contract is to establish with us a profile of
what a member
of this entrepreneur center would look like and what the
eligibility requirements would be.
We will expect them to have as a part of their agreement,
their membership agreement,
some goals that accomplish some objectives that we'd like
to see for the larger community.
We wanna see them giving back to the community.
We wanna see them investing locally when possible.
We want when they leave the entrepreneur center and
open a business in a commercial building, we wanna see them
stay in Denton.
We wanna see them hire in Denton.
And we want them to commit to providing us information
about their company so
that we can measure the program and how it's going.
So they will be asked to disclose to us salary information,
company growth, how the company is spending money in a way
that we would aggregate it all and report it as a program
as a whole.
So we wouldn't be disclosing confidential information about
specific companies.
But we are gonna ask them to provide that information to us
so
that we can show what we're accomplishing.
>> Yes, sure.
Councilmember Hawkins.
>> Do you know how long a typical lease is for one of these
startups or
is it just all across the board?
It could be a month, it could be a year.
>> It varies pretty drastically.
>> Sure.
>> We wanna see them move into a more permanent space
within 18 months.
>> Okay.
>> Amy. >> Yeah, go ahead.
>> You think that that could give us some sort of
statistical data,
given that they're running a similar program, and I guess
Dallas and Addison, right?
>> Mm-hm.
>> Of incubation period is typically this, or
we've launched X number since its inception in Dallas, or
since its inception in Addison, X number have moved out to
lease a space in
another building, there's this total number of new jobs
created.
>> Yes.
>> As a result of the program.
If we could get that, cuz for me, I love the whole idea of
having them say,
here's what our goals are.
I would like to see for us to be able to say, well, what
our goals are as a city is,
we will have created X number of new jobs at this rate by
the end of year two.
We will have created X amount of,
[BLANK_AUDIO]
That's right, investment in the city, whether it be they
bought a building or
they leased a building, or if their employees are living
here,
then we can kinda calculate what kinda money they're
spending based on what their
average annual income is.
I know it's hard for us to say, or for them to say right
now,
within two years we will have done this in Denton, in terms
of number of jobs or
companies that have moved out into a space.
We might be able to derive that off of what has happened at
their other two.
Do we have that info yet?
>> I think that we will be able to infer some of that
information, and
we do have some information from them, and some of it I did
include in your AIS.
What I have, essentially, I included in your AIS.
But I think as we have the runway to launch this program in
March,
as we develop the membership profile and the eligibility
requirements, and
we can at the same time set some initial targets.
Here's our objectives for year one, or for the first two
years.
And I'll talk a little bit more about things that we can
measure,
but in terms of setting targets, I feel like that should be
a collaborative effort
with the DEC, and it's gonna take some investment and time
and
working through getting a good gauge of the market here.
And part of that will be with the launch, the announcement
that the program is coming,
and then we'll begin to gauge what the market is going to
be for that.
And so I do think that we can come up with some year one
and year two targets, but
it's gonna take some intensive work with the DEC in order
to do that.
But having said that, I do think that there are certain
things that we will start
measuring immediately and be able to track so
that we can see what results we're getting.
The new jobs created, new companies created, companies that
do move into an office space in Denton.
Average salary across the program.
We can do an economic impact analysis that looks at, from
an aggregate standpoint,
the employees of the companies and their spending habits in
Denton, and
whether they own homes in Denton, and things of that nature
.
We can begin to track the property values in the area and
look at how those are increasing over time and
what redevelopment is happening as a result of the catalyst
project at the rail yard.
We can look at the growth in total number of tech jobs in
Denton.
Tech companies relocating to Denton, whether it's inside
that space or
not, would be a measure of this program.
And capital dollars spent investing in the companies.
So part of the activity will be matching companies with
investors who see potential in that company and
we can measure those dollars as well.
>> Well, and here's why I asked the question, because this
is just a very different kind of incentive, right?
Than the traditional sales tax abatement or property tax ab
atement or something.
And those are real easy to measure.
This one is harder to measure because it's an upfront
investment that we're making.
And I think the more we can do that, the more we can feel
comfortable,
I think, as a city of saying we do have to think outside
the box and
everything isn't going to fit the traditional model.
If we don't get that kind of dialed in on how we're going
to track and
then what things we're going to measure.
Because certainly there are those folks out there now
saying, why would the city lease this much space and
these sort of things and give somebody space to work in?
This is a different kind of thinking from an incentive
standpoint.
So what I hope that we can do is to have enough of that
dialed in and
we know exactly what we're measuring and can point right to
as a result of this happening.
Here's what the return has been.
>> Absolutely, we intend to do that through these measures.
And identifying how we're going to track them and getting
the commitment from the members of the program
upfront to participate in providing data for us to be able
to measure success.
>> Okay, thanks.
>> Just to follow up on that, and you and I had a
conversation about this.
And let me say off the bat, I support this program.
I voted for the lease.
I voted for the economic development incentive.
My observation is during the course of these meetings,
I sort of asked that we try to develop these more on the
front end.
I remember specifically, it's like, and so, little,
I would like to have seen that done a little bit more.
Even though we might sort of be taking a stab in the dark,
but it is a very different kind of incentive development.
My first inclination was just as a principle, I was going
to vote against it because I wanted those up front.
I think if we can get a commitment from staff that the
council will be intricately involved in determining those
benchmarks.
And that we can get those done sooner than later to help us
sort of have a targeted aspect.
Because some that you mentioned are great.
One about bringing tech jobs to Denton and maybe because of
this, that might be a little speculative.
But I just, this is a lot of money, I mean, that we're
spending.
So, ideally I would have liked to have had that
conversation on the front end.
That it's okay if it's taking place sort of once that's
done.
But that it does take place and that we get something in.
And they're dynamic, they'll change, as we sort of learn
through this process.
But it's critical that we do have some kind of measurement
as we do in most of our other incentives.
Because that's the only way we, I mean, we sort of took a
leap to try to do this.
Very innovative, very creative.
And then I applaud everybody for doing it.
Just want to make sure that we can measure it a little bit
more accurately.
>> I agree, and I frankly struggled a little bit to come up
with measures in a vacuum of not having that.
>> Sure. >> The ability to engage the deck and work through
it together with them.
I think that they're the leading experts in this in the
nation.
And they certainly have data nationally about what centers
are able to accomplish in their own experience.
And that we need to develop that in partnership with them.
And frankly, there's been a little bit of a reluctance to
invest a lot of time with us.
If we're not on the hook to be committed with them.
>> So you're thinking six months, eight months?
>> Well, we intend to launch the space on March 1st.
And the way that the contract is written, all of that work
will be done between now and when we launch the space.
>> Okay, so by the time it's launched, those- >> Estab
lishing all of that.
And so we'll have work sessions as you discuss that with
them to get-
>> Okay, good, fair enough, great, appreciate that.
>> I did go one step further in addition to defining some
potential measures.
I also looked back at the city's strategic plan to see how
this program relates to that.
And our third KFA is focused on economic development and
two specific goals I think tied to this program, promoting
a business friendly environment and encouraging development
, redevelopment, recruitment and retention.
Several of our objectives lined up specifically improving
commercial property values,
growing jobs that support home ownership and higher
household incomes, and
developing job growth that targets university graduates and
young professionals.
The debt contract that you'll consider today essentially
gives them the day to day management and
operations of the program, including recruitment, events
and training, and the full service business support hub.
They're being asked to assist with finalizing all of the
requirements for
eligibility terms, application fees, operating hours,
performance measures, etc.
Between now and when the program launches and they would be
the lead on finalizing all branding and promotional
materials and launching the campaign.
The contract calls for them to take 10% of the membership
fees that they collect and
pay it monthly to rail yard partners as a contribution
towards operating expenses.
This essentially buys down what we will end up owing in
operating expenses each year.
In that triple net part of that lease, they'll contribute
to that.
And then the remaining 90% will be utilized for the daily
operations of the space, including programming, amenities,
marketing, etc.
It's an annual contract that can be renewed for five years.
>> Just a quick question, Amy.
So for clarification, the DEC is a non-profit.
>> That's correct.
>> So are all of the funds collected for the Denton project
required to be spent in Denton?
They can't spend those monies in any other city, correct?
>> That's correct.
And they're required to provide a quarterly financial
report that shows their income and
expenses in the Denton operation as a separate business
unit.
But then they have to disclose their entire operational
budget on a quarterly basis as well.
>> And the 10% paid towards the net expenses, was that just
an arbitrary number or is that kind of the way they work
elsewhere?
>> That is similar to, the 10% is their contribution in Add
ison.
And because they're a non-profit organization, they're not
making a profit off of this.
They have to put those dollars back into the program.
And we want them to have operating money to be able to
provide as strong of a program as possible.
>> Okay, thank you.
>> And if I remember, were we given sort of what a, I mean,
have we been given a preliminary budget for the Denton, for
this Denton operation?
In other words, here's what we're thinking we're gonna have
to spend.
Here's what we're thinking is gonna come in and that's sort
of how these numbers were derived.
>> I'm actually meeting with them on Thursday to develop
that.
This is derived because this is their operating model in
Addison.
We want to see them have a financial participation with the
city so
that there's a financial obligation on their part and so
that 10% is tied to the operating expenses specifically.
>> So will we have the opportunity for input?
I mean, I don't know what these programs bring in, so I don
't know the actual kind of dollars.
I know Addison's, I don't know how big Addison is.
So I mean, Addison as a city is small, but it has a lot of
people that come in and work there during the day.
But are we going to have some input?
In other words, I mean, if we see that somehow there's
money that could be spent either differently or
why are we spending it on it, do we have any say in that?
>> Absolutely, yes, absolutely.
>> Okay, all right.
Okay.
>> I anticipate that we will work up a budget together that
we both agree on.
That's what we've discussed doing.
That's what we're meeting on Thursday to begin work on.
>> Will that come back to this body or will you just send
it out as an informal?
>> I haven't.
>> Okay. >> I'm not sure.
>> Yeah, I'd like to just sort of see that if possible.
That's not a big deal.
>> Sure. >> Yes.
>> Well, that was my question.
Because there's a vote today, so it was my question.
If that was going to come back through for us to vote again
or?
>> Well, their budget is approved by their board of
directors.
They're governed by a board of directors and so they'll set
the budget based on their expertise with input from us.
But essentially, this becomes their program that they're
operating.
They have a responsibility to give us a financial report
quarterly.
And we have an opportunity to negotiate changes through the
terms of the management contract.
So I don't think that it would be something that you would
vote on their budget, but I can certainly give you the
information.
And if you have concerns or want to provide feedback, we
can work through that.
>> Okay, so it's something separate than what we're doing
today.
>> That's correct.
>> Okay.
That is all I have, unless you have any other questions.
>> Any other questions for Amy, staff?
Yes.
>> This slide presentation was not in the back up, is that
correct?
>> That's correct.
>> Could you email that to us?
>> Sure, absolutely.
>> Any other questions?
Yes. >> I'm good.
>> All right.
Okay. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you very much.
I'm going to make a proposal that when we think we're going
to have discussions that are exciting and
passionate that we allow people to come and somehow the
young lady there at the end has a calming effect on me.
As I just look over there, I can't get too angry.
I'm just giving you a hard time.
>> Please wear the everybody.
>> Oh, I opened myself up for that.
So I did.
I'm good.
All right, I think that ends our open work session agenda.
So now we will convene in closed session at 3.02 PM on
Friday, October 30th.
We will consider the following items.
Consultation with attorneys under Texas Government Code
Section 551.071.
Deliberations regarding real property under Texas
Government Code Section 551.072.
And deliberations regarding economic development
negotiations under Texas Government Code Section 551.087.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
With that organization and I just take that item first and
go ahead and move that forward if that's okay.
All right.
Well, I have since then called the item E, Consider
adoption of ordinance regarding the Monsignor King Outreach
Center lease.
So- >> Thank you, Mayor.
I'll ask Mr. John Peralta, our assistant city manager, if
he would present this item.
Thank you, John.
>> Thank you, Mr. City Manager.
Mayor, council members, at your desk you should have a
revised signed lease agreement
that takes the place of the draft that we gave to you in
the AIS for this agenda item.
Based on the conversations that we had last time we were
here, we did go ahead and
make revisions as I stated to you in the agenda information
sheet that was part of this item.
The majority of those changes you're going to see are in
sections 35, 36,
and 37 of this document of the agreement.
Don't want to rehash everything, but just to go over
briefly the revisions to 35
is that the city will still be able to terminate this lease
for
any reason but cannot do so until five years after the
effective date of the lease.
There's also the 180 day notice that will be given upon any
decision to terminate for any reason.
That's 35B that I'm reading from, by the way.
The 36 addresses, the discussion we had is it related to
trying to give some recompensation back to the Monsignor
King Outreach Center.
If in fact the city decides to terminate the lease for any
reason,
the warning there was the capturing of the value of the
improvements made,
which also does capture some of the, possibly does capture
any in kind type of value,
whether it's materials or services.
There was also the section 37 where it's now strictly the
tenant,
in this case Monsignor King Outreach Center, that will be
able to extend the terms of this lease for
an additional ten years at $2 a year as opposed to the
initial $1 a year for the first ten years.
And then there was discussion about the ability of them to
go ahead and name the facility.
And as you know, we have a naming policy and we've reviewed
that policy and that does give them that ability to come
and
make that recommendation to you and you can go ahead and
follow the naming policy that we have in place.
Because really it's still a city owned facility and this
body is the one that is ultimately the one that has the
authority to name that facility.
So none unlike other facilities where either a body or an
individual has come to you and asked for the naming of a
facility.
Same process would follow this, so it gives you that
flexibility.
I'm open to any questions.
>> Anybody have any questions?
I want to thank you, John, for the work that you've done
and thank the Monsignor King Outreach Center Board and
Roy for your help and as we move together to try to find
some solutions for the issue that we face with homelessness
.
And I'm glad we were able to get this worked out to where
you guys are comfortable and satisfied and look forward to
a long term relationship.
Any other, yes, Councilman.
>> I didn't mean to cut you off.
>> No, no, go ahead.
>> Yes. >> All right.
I'm going to move approval of item 1E with the revised
addition.
>> Yes, sir. >> Okay.
>> And that's with the lease that was passed out to us.
>> Yes. >> Okay.
We have a motion.
>> I second.
>> And we have a second.
All in favor, signal by raising your right hand.
All opposed by like sign.
Passes unanimously.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
We will now jump back to.
Yes.
Yeah.
>> That's the price.
>> Thank you all very much.
Thank you. You bet.
You bet.
Moving on to agenda item D, considered option of ordinance
of the city of Denton.
Texas authorizes the ordinance of the city council of the
city of Denton.
Authorizing the city manager to execute a management
agreement between the city of Denton and the Dallas
Entrepreneur Center.
>> Thank you, Mayor.
Amy is here to answer any questions or unless you have
other presentations, but we talked about this in the work
session in some detail.
>> I do not have another presentation.
I'm glad to answer questions.
>> Any questions?
Yes, Councilmember Rhoade.
>> I have some thoughts as we were talking about metrics,
which I think is a very important conversation.
And I wonder if, and this is just kind of direction along
those lines that we talked about in the work session.
Given that, I think our city's economic development
strategy is being expanded to include tech as an industry.
Understanding that this is going to be a part of that
overall strategy.
And that as we think about metrics, if there's a
possibility, I was looking and
searching to see how they do it in Dallas and other cities
because they do put metrics.
They try and get baselines and then say these certain
things are growing as a result of these efforts.
This is a part of that effort.
We're all part of a larger strategy.
So as we're talking about that, if we could expand that
concept of this particular focus of tech economic
development.
And then try and cordon off what if that was contributed by
this particular thing.
I think that'll be just beneficial to the larger project.
>> Sure, absolutely.
>> Great. >> Good idea.
Anyone else?
All right, chair would entertain motion.
Council Member Johnson.
>> I move approval of item one.
>> D. >> D.
>> Council Member- >> Second.
>> We have a motion and a second to approve agenda item one
, D as in David.
All in favor by raising your right hand.
All opposed by like sign.
Passes unanimously.
Concluding items.
Any concluding items?
Yes, Council Member, Mayor Pro Tem Gregory.
>> I got to represent the city last Saturday night.
With the Denton County Friends of the Family, they were
celebrating 35 years.
And I wasn't exactly sure why I was there, what was going
on.
You couldn't make it, so they said, well, you're the Mayor
Pro Tem.
So I went.
And I knew about Denton County Friends of the Family
because they started,
I think two years before my wife and I moved back to Denton
in '82, they started in '80.
And we got an award, we being the city,
because for the entire 35 years that Denton County Friends
of the Family has been operating.
The city of Denton has been contributing.
The only city in Denton County that's done that.
In fact, the very first year that they operated, the city
of Denton provided 100% of the budget.
And since that time, it was laughingly $10,000.
Now it's 1.8 million or something.
I thought that was great.
So I'm asking that we put together, and I've already talked
to our city secretary, a proclamation,
congratulating Denton County Friends of the Family for
their 35 years and all of the work that they've done
to work with survivors of domestic violence.
And at that time, they can give back to the city what I
brought home from that,
which was a nice Tiffany box with a Tiffany crystal plaque
to the city that we can give back.
But I was thinking about that in terms of this last agenda
item of dealing with our homeless issue.
And we've just done something to help correct folks that
are in a temporary homeless situation.
And I know that we have a group working on a chronic
homeless.
But I keep coming across articles about the same solution.
In fact, former Councilmember Janet Thompson just gave me
an article on it.
I was at another event covering for you for staying around
with me.
>> Do you feel this necessary for the public record?
Is there a hidden agenda here?
>> And this was on the stand down for veterans, certain
veterans.
And Ms. Briggs was there.
And what we found out was 26 or 27 veterans are in Denton
that don't have homes.
They're chronically homeless.
And here's the deal.
Other cities have solved the problem, and they don't have
any homeless veterans.
And they've done it by simply providing homes for veterans
and for even other homeless folks.
And when they look at, and they've gotten partnerships with
counties and with other agencies.
When they look at all of the other costs that go into
trying to take care of folks that are chronically homeless,
providing them an apartment is the most cost efficient way
to help solve the problem.
So I'm hoping that, and I'm inspired by a city 35 years ago
that went out on the limb for
another group that really needed assistance for us to look
at ways to,
at first, to target getting our veterans that are chron
ically homeless out of that situation permanently.
And then seeing if we can apply that to other groups.
So I don't know what the status of our homeless task force
is, but, and I don't know.
Is there some staff person, George, that's assigned to that
or?
>> It may be John as much as anybody.
>> Okay.
>> Let me follow up, I'm not sure.
>> But if we could do that and explore that option.
>> Okay.
>> And do some exploration and maybe hear back at some
future time on what that task force is doing and to be bold
in their ask.
>> Yes, Ms. Briggs.
>> Mayor Pro Tem, I believe that that task force has
wrapped up their initial study and
is going to be presenting to council at some point in the
near future.
If I remember correctly from the meeting.
>> And one thing that we took, this concluding item.
With the task force, and I too agree about the issue of
providing to eradicate veteran homelessness.
And one thing we discovered was that the Denton Housing
Authority through the federal government has what they call
V vouchers.
Which are strictly for veterans who are homeless to provide
housing assistance or rental subsidies.
So we're looking at somehow we didn't get that allocation
last year and we're looking at how we can get that as part
of that process to do that.
So thank you, and thank you for covering for me.
I appreciate that.
>> I'm not calling it out.
>> Yeah, that's all right because that means you're just
going to get more.
>> Yeah.
>> Council Member Rhoads.
>> I just want to publicly acknowledge a few.
Denton is one of those places, we talked about this before,
where we are burdened by a number of great festivals and
things going on and events going on all the time.
And I was struck this week kind of looking at these last
couple weeks of events that a lot of them are just a single
citizen steps up with an idea and
does something pretty cool that all of a sudden puts our
city on the map.
One example was last Thursday night, I think it was, some
folks put a movie on the courthouse lawn.
It was back to the future day because it was the time that
they were going into the future was whatever that day in
2015.
That place was packed downtown, just a great event.
Day of the Dead, I know our council member, fellow council
member Joey Huggins is intimately involved in that event.
And if you saw the coffin races, which I don't know happens
anywhere else, but we've got the infrastructure down Hick
ory Street.
I mean, that place was packed even though there's this
threat of rain.
Nothing like it around the country.
And then just last night, a bar owner decides let's have
trick or treat on the square.
Started it last year, a ton of people came out, did it this
year, even had to change the date within the last couple of
days.
How many businesses were involved?
100 and something?
>> I don't know.
>> I mean, there was gobs and gobs and gobs of kids.
And it's just, our city's pretty special.
So for those folks that are doing those sorts of things to
make our city great, I just want to thank you.
>> Great.
>> Councilman Johnson.
>> You want to follow up with that?
>> No, go ahead.
>> We already know that you're great about Day of the Dead.
He already said that you don't.
So he stole my number one.
Because my dad was with us last night on the square and we
're walking around and he said,
he goes, I didn't read anything about this.
How does this happen?
And I said, Dad, because he just moved to Den.
I said, that's what happens here.
Somebody says, you know what we ought to do?
And then they just make it happen.
Now next year we're definitely going to have to have police
out there.
Because, my gosh, it was crazy with kids everywhere and
cars trying to go through and all that stuff.
But what a fantastic display even though Day of the Dead,
the weather was terrible.
Everybody was, Joey was freaking out and yet everybody
showed up and it was awesome.
So that's my positive one.
My request on the next one is, could somebody at the city
please post something on our website?
Or just email it to me, all of us, so that we can respond
to the questions of,
are you cutting all the trees down in the median on Teasley
?
Tree stumps are in the median and you guys make us pay for
trees and you're cutting them down and all that stuff.
So I know there's a logical reason for it.
If somebody wants to explain it right now on TV, that'd be
awesome.
But at least send us a response that we can now then
respond to those citizens that are concerned.
I can't?
Well, I can request clarification, I just can't have it.
We'll get you something.
That'd be great, thank you.
And we have, we have.
It's on the website?
We have put something up.
That's awesome.
That's fast.
Copy and paste, baby.
There you go.
Council Member Hawkins.
Was that Keep Denton Beautiful that put out something or
Lauren Barker about the trees?
But I've got a lot of those questions too.
That's great, thank you.
I wanted to see where we were with just the progress of
getting high speed internet into town.
Where are we at with all those negotiations?
Are we going to be forming an ad hoc committee?
If we are, I would love to be a part of that.
Just having some small businesses downtown and when there's
a ton of people on the internet and
you can't process a credit card, I mean these are like real
life things where you go to Good Sam.
And they discontinued their one service to switch to the
other one.
And then they want to go back and then it's not available
and now they're stuck with no internet.
I mean it's crazy.
So I really want us to or hope that we can make that happen
.
We can get a report to you.
There's a lot of work going on with regard to getting high
speed internet.
Contact Los Angeles.
We'll get a report to you.
Council Member Griggs.
Oh, I'm sorry.
And I did want to just thank everybody who did come out for
Day of the Dead and especially
working with the Day of the Dead board and the Coffin Race
board.
They are the hardest working crew and they have fun.
We play hard and we work hard.
And I just I could not believe how that event went down on
Saturday.
So just thanks for everybody coming out.
Fantastic. Thank you.
Council Member Rue.
I did not make it out to the square yesterday, but I'm
going to go tonight.
Have your candy ready.
I did hear there were over 3,000 people.
I don't know if it was kids or people, but that's a lot of
individuals on the square.
And there were some suggestions on the mom's page about
having the streets closed off next year if it's going to
continue to be that big of event.
Okay.
All right.
Fantastic.
Any others?
Well, in light of Halloween, I will close us with my
mustache.
So, trick or treat everyone.
Come on everyone, put your mustache on.
Except George.
Except me.
Yes. All right, we will now be adjourned.