WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.280 Good afternoon. My name is Jill Jester. I'm the current Vice Chair of this board and I 00:00:08.280 --> 00:00:13.400 would like to welcome everyone as we open the Economic Development Partnership board 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:19.960 meeting. Today is Wednesday, November 10, 2021. I want to start before we start going 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:23.880 down the agenda to welcome a couple of new members to the board that we're thrilled to 00:00:23.880 --> 00:00:29.320 have. I'd like to begin with Susan Holmes. She is the UNT President's designee. We're 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:33.120 so happy to have you here and do you mind telling us just a little bit about yourself? 00:00:33.120 --> 00:00:39.960 Sure. Susan Holmes. I'm with the University of North Texas. I was at UNT and left and 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:44.520 I returned in this role of corporate and government relations in the office of the president. So 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:48.400 I look forward to being part of this group. Wonderful. We're very glad to have you here 00:00:48.400 --> 00:00:54.320 and please feel free to speak up offline or online with any questions, comments, concerns. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:01.000 We value everyone's input here at the table. Our next and last new member almost needs 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:07.240 no introduction here with what he's done in our city. Cary Gorey is a representative from 00:01:07.240 --> 00:01:11.940 the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce and a friend of mine and we're so glad that you 00:01:11.940 --> 00:01:16.600 are volunteering here with us on this board. Do you mind, for those that may not know you, 00:01:16.600 --> 00:01:23.480 tell us just a little bit about yourself? As you'll see, my name is Cary Gorey. I am 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:27.960 currently the chairman of Denton Black Chamber of Commerce. I've been head of that position 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:34.400 for the last 14 years. I'm a retired state farm agent here in Denton. That's what brought 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:43.080 me here 29 years ago. I enjoy working with the city, economic development. The board 00:01:43.080 --> 00:01:49.960 has been a pet of mine that I'd like to see. I happen to be a representative of the Denton 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:55.960 Black Chamber with the city of Denton and hope that we can do some wonderful things 00:01:55.960 --> 00:02:00.600 together. We look forward to hearing your input and I look forward to working with you 00:02:00.600 --> 00:02:06.160 on this board, Mr. Gorey. Thank you. We are going to reorder a bit of our agenda today 00:02:06.160 --> 00:02:12.880 to take care of some very important business that I'm thrilled to do. At this time, I 00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:18.160 would like to introduce our mayor, Mayor Hutzpeth, who has a proclamation on behalf of the city 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:25.000 council and this board to present to our beloved John Baines, our former chair of this board, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:30.960 Mr. Hutzpeth. Mayor Hutzpeth. Is that all right? It's acceptable. Thank you very much. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:38.120 Not a lot of it. Yes, got to check with you. It's important, man. It's important. So honored 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:45.480 to be here. Thank you. Apologies in advance. I have a veterans event that I'm going to 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:50.520 slide out to, but I did want to be here just to kind of honor what I believe to be my friend 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:56.960 and he's been just a true servant in our community and has brought a lot of people together. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:03.160 He's stood in a lot of gaps and some contentious moments and brought reason and kind of some 00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:09.640 pragmatic approaches to things. So really appreciate his wisdom and contribution to 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:14.760 the city at large, this group. And then, oh, by the way, John, I have a bag of receipts 00:03:14.760 --> 00:03:22.080 that I'm going to drop off on the way out. And then I need you to process through. I'll 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:29.680 see you in a little bit. Never mind. I'll hang on to them. Okay. And so the proclamation 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:40.680 reads a well, and John, come on up. Come on up here. They need to see you. They need to 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:45.680 recognize I didn't start winning campaigns till I won John's vote. Once I won John's 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:52.880 vote, then things started going the right way. So here we go. It says a proclamation 00:03:52.880 --> 00:03:58.000 by the mayor of the city of Denton to all whom these presence shall come greetings, 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.440 whereas in recognition of John Baines for his dedicated service and leadership to the 00:04:02.440 --> 00:04:07.920 Denton community, and whereas John served as West Park Tour's number two board and 00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:14.480 didn't need economic development partnership board from 2015 to 2021, where he serves as 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:20.640 a chair of both boards during his tenure. And whereas John tires Lee champion economic 00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:27.960 development and the support of Denton's businesses community. And whereas John has provided great 00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:34.040 benefit to Denton through countless volunteer hours in support of the city of Denton, the 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:39.440 Denton economic development partnership, the Denton chamber of commerce, the Denton black 00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:44.160 chamber of commerce and the small business development center. And whereas the city of 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:48.880 Denton is extremely grateful for John and his selfless leadership and service to the 00:04:48.880 --> 00:04:54.040 city of Denton, including his unmatched contributions to economic development and the entire business 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:58.840 community in Denton. Now, therefore, I Gerard Hutz, but mayor of the city of Denton, Texas 00:04:58.840 --> 00:05:05.040 do hereby declare and proclaim November 10th, 2021 as John Baines day in the city of Denton 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:10.640 and encourage all citizens to recognize and honor the many contributions of John Baines 00:05:10.640 --> 00:05:15.080 to the community and the city of Denton. We give him a hand. 00:05:15.080 --> 00:05:44.600 Yeah, got it. Let me slide out of your way. I wasn't expecting this cake or something. 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:55.880 Thank you for the thoughts and the words. They mean a lot. I am so happy to have served 00:05:55.880 --> 00:06:01.360 the city of Denton in various capacities and I look forward to my friend Kerry Goree stepping 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.840 in and continuing the conversation and continuing to carry the torch. Thanks to all of you for 00:06:06.840 --> 00:06:12.520 making my time so pleasant. And I look to see you around town as we go forth. And I'm 00:06:12.520 --> 00:06:23.320 going to head back to the office and you guys have a great day. Thank you very much. 00:06:23.320 --> 00:06:29.240 That was wonderful. Just wonderful. Thank you again, John. Thanks for the example you 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:35.320 set for all of us. We will now move on to business under our agenda items for consideration. 00:06:35.320 --> 00:06:45.160 We will begin with item A, EDP 21-031, consider approval of the minutes of August 11th, 2021. 00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:50.320 That was previously distributed via email and you have a hard copy in front of you, 00:06:50.320 --> 00:06:57.280 Exhibit A, the information agenda sheet and Exhibit 2, the draft minutes. At this time, 00:06:57.280 --> 00:07:02.460 I will entertain a motion and a second and then we can have discussion as far as any 00:07:02.460 --> 00:07:09.840 proposed edits. Move approval of the minutes. All right. It's been moved and seconded. At 00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:17.040 this time, is there any discussion, any proposed changes as the received drafted minutes? Hearing 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:23.000 none, I will call a vote. And just to let you all know, we're transitioning from Zoom 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:29.160 world into in-person world. So if we could, when I ask for all the ayes, if you would 00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:33.500 not only say aye, but please raise your hand. We do need an actual count. We don't necessarily 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:40.240 need to go name by name, but we will need a count. Same thing with any nays or abstentions. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:45.160 Please raise your hand as you indicate verbally. Thank you so much. So at this time, I will 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:50.560 call the vote. Approving the minutes as previously distributed. All those in favor, please signify 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:57.680 by saying aye and raising your hand. Aye. All right. Any opposed? All right. And the 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:05.760 motion carries. Moving on to items for consideration B, EDP 21-047, received nominations and elected 00:08:05.760 --> 00:08:11.600 chair and vice chair. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Erica Sullivan, our ED 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.360 program administrator for the city, to give you a little background on what these positions 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:20.640 are. Thank you. Yes. I just wanted to give you an idea of what the chair role entails. 00:08:20.640 --> 00:08:25.520 So as many of you are aware, the chair leads the economic development partnership board. 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:29.820 Some of you may not be aware, but the chair is also the chair of the tax increment reinvestment 00:08:29.820 --> 00:08:34.640 zone number two, our West Park industrial tours. So why don't you be aware of that? 00:08:34.640 --> 00:08:38.400 We normally try to schedule a meeting on the same day and the West Park tours is usually 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:45.240 a shorter meeting in order to be cognizant of everybody's time. Another item that is 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:49.520 part of the strategic plan is a work group. So there's a monthly work group meeting that's 00:08:49.520 --> 00:08:55.240 involved. We've been doing those mainly via teams. That's one that we aren't required 00:08:55.240 --> 00:09:01.520 necessarily to have in person. Another item that you may be asked to do is what Jill was 00:09:01.520 --> 00:09:05.880 recently doing for us is some of our business awards. We normally have a mayor council breakfast, 00:09:05.880 --> 00:09:11.620 but we did them in here at the chambers and then we went on site for a number of the awards. 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:16.440 You may also be asked to visit a business with Kay. She's our business retention and 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:20.960 expansion person. So you may be asked to do that as well. So the chair would be involved 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:26.480 in reviewing genders and of course giving staff direction and insight for the board. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:32.960 All right. Thank you, Ms. Sullivan. So at this time, on behalf of the board, I will 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:38.280 open the floor to nominations. Once we receive all nominations, we will then take a vote 00:09:38.280 --> 00:09:45.840 to elect a new chair. This is a one year term. I would like to make a nomination for Jill 00:09:45.840 --> 00:10:11.160 Jester. That's me. Any other nominations from the floor? Okay. With that, okay. Well, with 00:10:11.160 --> 00:10:17.120 that, we will take a vote. All those in favor of Jill Jester serving as chair of this board 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:22.880 for the next year, please say aye and raise your hand. Aye. All those opposed, please 00:10:22.880 --> 00:10:37.440 same sign. And those abstaining. Well, yours. No abstention. Now let's really get into it. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.760 At this time, the chair will entertain nominees for a vice chair position. Myself having served 00:10:44.760 --> 00:10:51.000 in this position for the past year, it really mirrors the description that Ms. Sullivan 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.860 gave as far as the chair. The vice chair is also invited to those standup meetings where 00:10:54.860 --> 00:11:01.680 we discuss any red flags or anything that happens in between meetings that need input. 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:09.480 It serves a similar role and is invited to participate in all of those leadership activities. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:16.200 Any other questions about that role before we open the floor to nominations? Okay. Well, 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:33.520 at this time I will entertain nominations for the vice chair position. Madam Chair. Yes. 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:37.640 And nominate Steve Edgar. And are there any other nominees to be voted on for the role 00:11:37.640 --> 00:11:50.880 of vice chair? Any. All right. Well with that, we will go ahead and take a vote on Steve 00:11:50.880 --> 00:11:55.640 Edgar serving as vice chair. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye and raising 00:11:55.640 --> 00:12:13.560 your hand. All right. Any abstentions? All right. Thank you. Steve Edgar will be serving 00:12:13.560 --> 00:12:26.280 as vice chair and thank you for accepting that responsibility. I like that Tina seconded 00:12:26.280 --> 00:12:37.000 and then opposed. Well, every board has one, so we've got. Well, thank you very much for 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:43.520 the vote of confidence and I will do my best. At this point, we will move on to item D, 00:12:43.520 --> 00:12:49.080 D P 21 dash zero four nine. Receive a report and hold a discussion and appoint or reappoint 00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:54.220 members to the downtown economic development committee. There is a substantive group of 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:00.960 information that you all receive that shows who is up for reappointment that they have 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:07.080 now introduced staggering those roles so that not everyone rolls off at once. I think before 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:12.280 there weren't so many parameters, so that is in front of us. Currently council member 00:13:12.280 --> 00:13:21.400 Davis serves as our representative and serves as chair of that committee. So at this time, 00:13:21.400 --> 00:13:25.300 I'll turn it over to miss Sullivan to tell us more about what action needs to be taken 00:13:25.300 --> 00:13:30.080 before us today and any information needed. Thank you. The downtown economic development 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:36.720 committee is a subcommittee of this board. It was formally called the downtown task force. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:41.840 All members of the meet the current requirements for reappointment and Jesse Davis was appointed 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:47.720 to an unexpired term on November 11th 2020 is also eligible for reappointment. The only 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:53.240 member not wishing to be reappointed is Monte Jensen. So staff has made a recommendation 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:59.640 you'll see in your AIS for consideration and this is Jason voter from just Saudi downtown 00:13:59.640 --> 00:14:04.920 right on the square. He's a downtown business owner has served on various boards Main Street 00:14:04.920 --> 00:14:10.960 executive board for six years, chamber board for three years, Main Street Foundation for 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.200 four years and Denton community health clinic for two years. The company has also assisted 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:22.720 the city with some of our proposals such as the HQ two for Amazon and help downtown businesses 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:29.040 pivot from in person to moving online. We've been a great mentor and the result, but representatives 00:14:29.040 --> 00:14:37.400 also required to be a downtown business owner and they meet that criteria. Great. So incorrect 00:14:37.400 --> 00:14:43.120 me if I'm wrong. The what needs to be voted on by this party is by this board is first 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:48.000 of all adding Jason Bodar which probably most of us know he's very involved and has been 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:54.060 very committed in the especially in the downtown area and it seems to I believe is a very good 00:14:54.060 --> 00:15:02.200 recommendation from city staff. Additionally at page 13 of our packet we can see down here 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:10.240 the names of those persons mostly in bird Beth Lewis Nick Miller Bob Moses Georgina see who 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:16.000 are willing to serve again and need reappointment have agreed to that reappointment. In addition 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.640 I was able to speak offline with councilmember Davis who is willing to continue to serve 00:15:20.640 --> 00:15:25.840 and he is an unexpired spot there and can continue to serve as chair of that is our representative 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:33.680 on that narrowing of what we do to just the downtown area. Is there a motion to reappoint 00:15:33.680 --> 00:15:40.080 those as presented by staff here today to move forward and that's all that's needed 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:47.400 brought in this motion. I move for that. All right. All right. It's been moved and seconded 00:15:47.400 --> 00:15:53.040 to appoint or reappoint the members of the Economic Development Committee of the downtown 00:15:53.040 --> 00:16:00.720 Economic Development Committee as recommended by staff. All those in. Is there any discussion? 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:09.440 Yes. There are 13 members that's that's the maximum member on this board. Yes. It's nine 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:15.840 to 13 and 13 is the maximum. How many? I believe we have 13 with the addition of Jason Bodor. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:27.120 Sure. Since this is an extension of this in this board is there a regular report out on 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:34.360 the progress and all the improvements? So there are well our representative is councilmember 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:39.360 Davis so when action is taken you know we do ask for updates additionally there is a 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:45.360 staff city staff economic development representative who is also there. I know I certainly know 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.560 that we have had reports from that committee on more than one occasion but I don't know 00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:54.120 if it's monthly but I also don't know that they necessarily meet monthly if there's no 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:59.160 actionable items but Councilmember Davis could you tell us a little bit more? Sure. So action 00:16:59.160 --> 00:17:04.440 items that particular committee doesn't have action items in and of itself almost everything 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:08.800 is a recommendation forward to another group either this one or the Turge Board but then 00:17:08.800 --> 00:17:15.000 also Christina Davis in the Economic Development Department does a really good downtown summary 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.520 report and it is it's useful to all the Main Street folks it's useful to anybody who does 00:17:19.520 --> 00:17:25.760 business downtown and usually it's usually a weekly end of week kind of report and so 00:17:25.760 --> 00:17:31.120 that all include things like openings and closings street closures construction all everything 00:17:31.120 --> 00:17:36.120 going on downtown she does a really good summary of so and that's basically an email list to 00:17:36.120 --> 00:17:41.680 get on and I don't think we I don't think we publish that anywhere on like a city website 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:46.200 or something it's just a kind of a courtesy email that goes out weekly and then action 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:51.560 items from the committee again just flow through other groups. And I would probably say anyone 00:17:51.560 --> 00:17:55.800 that would like to be on that email I don't want to send out emails to those that aren't 00:17:55.800 --> 00:18:01.880 interested in the reoccurring updates other than what happens in this board meeting but 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:06.200 if you would like that you can send that to me or if you know Christina you can send it 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:13.200 to her directly. So very good question. Another question. Yes. What do we consider as the 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:19.440 boundaries when we say downtown? There's a map in the back. Let me see what page that's 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:29.160 at. Page 30. 17. Attachment line. And that is set by city council is that correct? That's 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:34.120 not something that we decide or that group decides. It's in the policy. We have a number 00:18:34.120 --> 00:18:40.800 of different maps for downtown. The downtown implementation plan area is a little bit different 00:18:40.800 --> 00:18:45.000 in our tourist district has a little bit different boundaries. And I'm happy to send those out 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:52.000 to anyone who's interested. And that is page 17 in our entire packet of what currently 00:18:52.000 --> 00:19:14.380 is included in that committee's purview. And on the back of the map is the current list 00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:30.960 of the committee members. You'll see there's 13. And Monty Jefferson would be replaced. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:38.000 Are there any other questions or comments before we call the vote to appoint and reappoint? 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:43.280 All right. It has been moved and seconded at this time. We will vote on the appointment 00:19:43.280 --> 00:19:48.880 and reappointment as presented by the staff. All those in favor, please signify by raising 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:54.880 your hand and saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, please signify by saying nay and raising your 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:04.400 hand. All right. And the motion carries. We will move on to items for consideration EEDP 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:11.720 21-050 staff report. There are a couple of exhibits that were included in that, but we 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:21.320 will now open it up to back to you. Thank you. You'll see that we have our 2020/21 fourth 00:20:21.320 --> 00:20:25.040 quarter activity report to give you an idea of what we've been doing, as well as at the 00:20:25.040 --> 00:20:31.200 end of the report, some of our partner organizations have been doing. Main Street Stoke, for example. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:36.960 We also have the 2020 net revenue report on incentives. And this report examines the fiscal 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:42.720 impacts to the city for the incentives granted and evaluates the efficiency of the public 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:47.520 investment. And it has been redesigned and condensed from prior updates. I believe it 00:20:47.520 --> 00:20:53.200 was 30 pages prior. So it's in a much more readable format at this point. I'll give you 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:59.640 a little highlight on it. Since 1999, the inception of our incentive program, the city 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:04.240 has invested 22 million in tax incentives and in return has benefited from a net increase 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:09.640 in property and sales revenues in the amount of 71.3 million. The total rate of return 00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:15.280 for incentives awarded, this is the benefit, is to 324%. And there have been a total of 00:21:15.280 --> 00:21:21.160 8,402 jobs created and retained by these incentivize projects. You'll also see the Denton County 00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:26.400 and ISD represented there as well. And if anyone has any questions, I prepare the report. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:37.840 I'd be happy to answer now or later, if you want to dive into it in more detail. 00:21:37.840 --> 00:21:58.960 Are there any questions or is there any discussion at this time regarding the report? Unfortunately, 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:08.480 there are no other action items today. We've not had action items for a month or so. So 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:12.040 we have not had a meeting, just to have a meeting. However, there was some business 00:22:12.040 --> 00:22:18.000 to take care of today. So it's not a long meeting today as we say hello and goodbye 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:25.160 to board members. But I have approached Ms. Sullivan about helping us with maybe some 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:31.900 nuts and bolts presentation, generally about economic development in Texas, what's available, 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:36.200 and then specifically to the city of Denton, because decisions have been made that are 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:43.440 out of our hands that determine what our capabilities are in economic development. So what I guess 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:48.600 I'm asking is, is this something that, and this is just open to discussion, there's no 00:22:48.600 --> 00:22:53.800 action item. Is that something that everyone would like a refresher on and to participate 00:22:53.800 --> 00:22:59.560 in or is that something that maybe we just make voluntarily not part of the board time 00:22:59.560 --> 00:23:05.280 and/or do we want to maybe do this in the January meeting? We kind of talked about a 00:23:05.280 --> 00:23:08.920 couple months, but December, I know, gets crazy. So maybe we'll do it in January. 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:10.840 Yeah, so our attendance is pretty hard. 00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:17.080 So I'll just open it to input at this time as to what your interest is in participating 00:23:17.080 --> 00:23:21.800 in something like that. I think refreshers for everyone is a good idea while we, so we 00:23:21.800 --> 00:23:25.960 have a frame of reference in what is even in the ballpark that we can do. 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:29.920 I do want to say in the past, we've held our board orientations right before the meetings 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:34.840 to those who wanted to attend and those who didn't. One of the questions I want to pose 00:23:34.840 --> 00:23:39.040 here too is, would you like a virtual or in-person meeting? Because we could do a virtual at some 00:23:39.040 --> 00:23:43.920 point before the next meeting, or we could also do it right before in-person. It's your 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:44.920 preference. 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:47.920 Yeah. So I'll open the floor. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:53.600 Yeah, I think an update would be great and just knowing what our tools in our toolbox, 00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:57.560 you know, what we have to deal with, what we don't, what the other cities we're competing 00:23:57.560 --> 00:24:03.680 against, you know, what are our opportunities here compared to, and using our tools we can 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.800 at our highest level, because there are some limitations that we have here in the city 00:24:07.800 --> 00:24:12.520 on what EDC tools we have, and everybody just understanding what those are, I think would 00:24:12.520 --> 00:24:15.520 be a great. 00:24:15.520 --> 00:24:22.520 I think an in-person, I like it better. You only got something going on in the background, 00:24:22.520 --> 00:24:23.520 you know? 00:24:23.520 --> 00:24:24.520 Yeah. 00:24:24.520 --> 00:24:27.360 X-Men, you can answer that. 00:24:27.360 --> 00:24:29.360 Other input from other members? 00:24:29.360 --> 00:24:30.360 I agree. 00:24:30.360 --> 00:24:31.360 I'm sorry. 00:24:31.360 --> 00:24:36.120 I think that's fine. I was just going to agree with the gentleman who already spoke. 00:24:36.120 --> 00:24:40.760 And I was just going to say, perhaps if we could have some historical changes that maybe 00:24:40.760 --> 00:24:48.920 have occurred either to broaden what we have opportunities in or to narrow the focus of 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:53.240 what we are really responsible for reviewing and supporting as well. 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:54.240 Certainly. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:01.400 It gets pretty technical, so for those of us that are lawyers, because we like words, 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:06.240 it's helpful to have a fleshing out of what the numbers look like and what our parameters 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:11.000 are. Additionally, I don't know maybe at the same time or maybe at the next meeting, maybe 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:18.580 have a quick refresher of our strategic plan and the matrix that was created so that everyone 00:25:18.580 --> 00:25:23.200 has assurances that actions that are taken by this group are always in line with what 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:30.000 has been agreed to by the city council from community input, from our consultants, et 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000 cetera. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:35.560 So they can kind of see why everyone's doing what they're doing, I think is always a good 00:25:35.560 --> 00:25:36.560 idea. 00:25:36.560 --> 00:25:41.320 So it's a good idea to have that up there that we're all going the same direction. 00:25:41.320 --> 00:25:43.200 Okay. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:47.520 So it sounds like to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the consensus is in person 00:25:47.520 --> 00:25:51.360 and perhaps before the board meeting in January. 00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:56.720 Would that be -- does that sound like the consensus? 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.600 All right. 00:25:58.600 --> 00:25:59.600 Okay. 00:25:59.600 --> 00:26:05.200 Is there anything else at this time before we adjourn and go on our way? 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:06.200 Okay. 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:10.960 I would like to thank our ex officios who are here today, Aaron, Kendall representing 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:16.520 the Chamber and Kay and everybody who's here on behalf of the staff. 00:26:16.520 --> 00:26:22.120 What I would like to do is just make sure that we're all educated to ask the best questions 00:26:22.120 --> 00:26:28.040 and give the best input that we can, whether that's online or offline. 00:26:28.040 --> 00:26:32.560 Maybe at some point we could arrange something outside of this meeting just so that we all 00:26:32.560 --> 00:26:36.280 get to know each other, get to know where each other -- what our backgrounds are so 00:26:36.280 --> 00:26:38.880 that we know who to ask questions to if we have questions. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:43.280 I mean, that's kind of the point of this group is that we represent a lot of varied groups 00:26:43.280 --> 00:26:46.740 in town that are interested and have input to economic development. 00:26:46.740 --> 00:26:53.040 So I'm honored to serve this year, and it is much appreciated, and you are all appreciated. 00:26:53.040 --> 00:26:56.000 So with that, anything else, Ms. Sullivan, before we adjourn? 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.960 The only other thing is that we're working on our new building to be able to hold meetings 00:26:59.960 --> 00:27:04.720 there, I'm told possibly January we may be able to hold that in our new development services 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:08.120 building over on the other side of the post office. 00:27:08.120 --> 00:27:11.520 So you might be hearing from us regarding that. 00:27:11.520 --> 00:27:16.720 Well, again, I want to welcome Ms. Holmes, Mr. Gorey. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:23.320 Thank you for giving of your off time to come spend it with us, and we hope that it's rewarding. 00:27:23.320 --> 00:27:27.840 And with that, I don't think we need a vote to -- yes, one more thing? 00:27:27.840 --> 00:27:31.760 You know, I would add, I'm David Gaines, assistant city manager, if I haven't met you before, 00:27:31.760 --> 00:27:34.120 it's a pleasure to see everyone in person. 00:27:34.120 --> 00:27:37.520 Just wanted to note as we're talking about the staff contacts, obviously, you have Erica, 00:27:37.520 --> 00:27:41.840 we have a great economic development team, you always have me to reach out to as well. 00:27:41.840 --> 00:27:44.840 Our economic development director position is obviously vacant right now. 00:27:44.840 --> 00:27:48.520 Just want to let you know we have posted that position, it's been posted for a few days, 00:27:48.520 --> 00:27:52.220 we're using a recruitment firm to help us find the best candidates. 00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:56.880 That closes on November 26th, so hopefully we can have some interviews in December and 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:01.240 move forward, but we'll keep you updated when we hopefully find a great candidate and move 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:02.240 forward. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.480 But just wanted to give you an update on that process. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:11.120 Well, thank you for that update, it is very much appreciated and I know that it will continue. 00:28:11.120 --> 00:28:15.360 With that, thank you everyone, we are adjourned and I hope the rest of your day goes well.