for me that's better all right we will start with a good welcome to the meeting
of the economic development partnership for this Wednesday April the 9th 2025 at
1112 a.m. we've established quorum so I'll call the order first item is to
identify and prove the minutes from the last have a motion thank you and a
second thank you any discussion around the minutes hearing done we'll move to
vote all in favor signify by saying aye any opposed that carries thanks so much
the first item for consideration is EDP 25 - 0 0 6 I'm sorry that was just the
board thank you new item EDP 24 0 6 9 ordinance of the city of Denton Texas
corporation and much more because we're seeing Taylor's on her way thank you
Jamie Adams partnerships no walk through our annual report here and we'll take
questions at the end but mission of the date and economic development partnerships
expand the city's tax base and support facing jobs and target markets for
partnerships the stakeholder education which you will see throughout this
presentation the partnership has been in place since 1986 between the city that
chamber of commerce when they establish a joint economic development program and
it continues today six key roles that EDP plays in facilitating the region's
continued prosperity six things that we really focus on it's marketing events
assets through our website and social channels and in-person public private
connector business retention expansion which has been pretty key for us this
year building relationships convey industry players and supporting small
business which is also key a lot of times people when they make me think that
we just work with the large industries here in town but we do support all
business especially our smaller businesses in the contract with the
city there's four focus areas and we're going to talk about here the focus area
number one is relationship building with developers brokers local industries and
business and how we did that over the past year and part of the strategy and
tracking the investment relationship building was hosting our one of our
premier events recorded reforms which you're meant to educate regional
leaders the major employees values of investing and didn't facilitate dialogue
between public private leaders and last year we were able to host three of course
the year month the airport Hillwood himself helped us host one about
landmark high school and then we partnered with UNT to host the workforce
so three forms around 375 attendees for those quarterly forms last year we also
helped us plant manager round tables we have two of those which convene leaders
of about 3,000 employees we talked about topics that they're asking me on our
business retention and expansion visits about workforce development warehouse
automation was when we had the Tetra Pak and relationship building with our
universities and along with our high school partners we also hosted three HR
round tables around 250 attendees those are great collaborations with UNT
Career Center didn't I see the proud Academy in North Texas Sherman which is
the society for human resource management and then part of our contract
is I'm tasked with five community engagement talks last year had a chance
to do seven of those but those primarily focus on the value of public private
partnership and economic development usually a free lunch of those two so I
enjoy another strategy is promoting didn't create a brand from our social
website channels we were asked to create 12 stories over the course of the year
we did that these 12 stories are about didn't businesses are local happenings
and one of the reasons why strategic in that way we want someone who's looking at
Denton from around the world or from America to really slice of life from
they have industry they also have coffins going down Hickory Street for me
that's a really unique place with that strategy our website saw some
significant growth didn't need a p.com 23 24 we went from 3,200 users a month to
around 58 63 users a month with around 12,000 average page views a month which
is an 83% increase year-to-year and our emails had really good engagement this
past year I have a 54% open rate which is two times industry average and 16%
collective rate which is six times industry average which means that the
items in our email or something that speaks to people and you want to click
on those another strategy is is understanding professional office space
and I was tasked with meeting with five property managers to address vacancies
concerns had a chance to meet with eight office vacancies have dropped from about
nine point three percent quarter one of 24 to 7.8 percent in quarter four of
2024 market rent with that drop market rent has gone up a little bit square
foot was 27.61 with an asking of $24 and ending with $28 and asking about
26 14 so vacancies have dropped and demand prices our industrial space I was
asked to engage five industrial property managers of vacancy concerns had chance
to visit with 11 over course of the year didn't has around 24 million square feet
of warehouse space we have about 4 million available at this this moment 2.1
million was built in 24 which made us the fastest growing market in the
metroplex overall inventory increased by 10% in 2024 we are our available rate is
around 17% the DFW average around 10% 9.6 10% so we're a little higher that
speaks to the availability of land we had the growth of recruitment but our
vacancy rates have started to decline come down and absorption outpaced
construction delivers so the national average is around 6.5% we are a little
higher than that we are seeing those get snatched up second focus area was
business retention and attraction site tours site business tours and meeting
with our business leaders BRE is a strategy of connecting with existing
businesses understanding responding to needs one of the things you always want
to point out is we work with already established businesses and one of the
reasons why that is is the International Economic Development Council says that
80% of growth happens from business retention and expansion recruitment is
very important but having our businesses are here grow expand add employees that
space is really important to what we're doing here so part of our business
retention expansion is we want engaged existing businesses that represent the
city's core values of competitive kinetic connected creative and
sustainable sectors and that helps preserve and increase local jobs tax
revenue diversifies local economy and along with diversifies access to the
other sources we were tasked with of course here visiting having 40 BRE
visits and we were able to be 51 exceeding our goal and and of those 51
visits eight businesses indicated they were looking to expand either with
employees or expanding their footprint 12 express concern of employee
transportation which is primarily in West Park area I think our percent of
those 12 area and around 26 trust concern of a workforce development and
that can be a variety of things where you know where's the next wave workers
coming from how do we engage 18 to 24 year olds so and so on but workforce
development question was brought up over half the time very we facilitate
requested connections one that I opening things to me is I thought everybody who
worked in a business knew the other guy who worked in the business but come to
find out we don't so we were trying to help connect business to business
relationships workforce connections business community a lot of business we
visit when you're more involved with the chamber more involved and events
happening in infrastructure concerns is a question that we help answer but of
our 51 visits we were able to connect 43 of these companies with either a grown
and then ISD and CTC you into your TV you some aspect to be the career center
or professor are someone is to provide some guidance we were able to share job
fairs to work for solution University partners where we hear one we shared up
partners and then what you know employee satisfaction comes up a good bit and we
were able to introduce a lot of people to the original of Texas one of the TV
staffs to encourage people that they don't have to go to the down stores or
Cowboys games great time here and the gymnastics me a football game the third
focus area is business to business networking we are a champion and
convener so we promote industry specific networking events business
communities I am able to connect businesses with you social times hosting
luncheons also engaging new businesses who moved to town we find a lot of
people who have come to town last year still drinking from a fire hose and they
want to know how do we get involved how do we get connected visiting with those
businesses and then you know sharing what's going on and then this is what we
do so we continue partnership with the city the certificate of occupancy emails
that go out each month is key and a lot of love our email database really enjoys
that that's a great partnership city to be able to share that list with us each
month in our champion convening we you know we want to help businesses thrive
on its challenges to fuel continued growth like I said earlier a new
business wants to engage in the community we help connect them with their career
networks resources industry that'll help them invest in the city competition for
top talent is high you hear a lot with the best people so that's one of the
things we do is providing that pipeline to work for solutions or NCTC did I see
another week goes by that we aren't sharing those connections with our
business leaders and small businesses don't want to leave them out like I
mentioned earlier you know they need resource and descendants and assistance
in our our partnership with the small business development center really helps
them get free of ice and expertise the last focus area is business training
education private investor relations in the small business development center
our funding goes to the small business development center and over 20 24 they
were able to help 67 businesses start supporting around 254 jobs 642 unique
clients were served 546 underserved communities clients serve and those are
typically people who don't have access to resources whether it be socio-economic
or geographic and then it's a capital infusion and then a little too many
dollars so we won't think or Logan and staff the small business development
center and like I said it's it's a key point here but the relationship building
with UNTT of UNCTC career centers in the grown with that next wave of workforce
and helping them to understand the comings and goings of young people has
been really important a great for forced collaboration for us and then speaking
on the private side of the economic building partnership funds that come
from the general chamber membership support is raised specifically for our
economic development efforts right now we have 125 businesses invested in our
partnerships and they represent all of our strategic growth areas from the
city's strategic point and that is it I'm open for questions and those things
is I remember like six or seven years ago we had a slide of Western in that
whole area was $96 worth of tax revenue and it'd be nice to know what that tax
revenue is now we first started that or maybe we can throw that in this one
thing I don't know that we do is throw into that economic model we do a
business-to-business right like you said hey Peterbilt you have this economic
impact I can tell you number boys all that stuff but what has been the impact
of the Western industrial sector like area of Denton basically in five-year
increments or something would be a good thing to kind of show right yeah okay to
include the airport yeah exactly that's that's that sector of Denton is grown in
the last 20 years since I was Peterbilt in the airport there's a bunch of
different stuff over there it's a great story I just don't think we do a good
enough job of telling the story and what the actual bottom line is we will get
that easy except that my comments only tangentially impact anybody in this room
but given my previous criticism about letting UPS get out of here with that
city taking I've been at FEMA the last three days because there's a little
emergency going on up in Arkansas and Civil Air Patrol has taken about 20,000
pictures for FEMA I've got three airplanes up there but I had an
opportunity to talk to Tony Robinson yesterday and he is the head of FEMA
region six if you don't know that's Louisiana Arkansas Oklahoma Texas and New
Mexico anytime there's a disaster people come here to respond there been about 60
of us out of the center underground out there the last three days now they've
stood down except for the aviation part of the thing because they don't need any
more support from being at this point time but he commented that he used to
get invited to the mixers the business things occasionally the City Council
would come out and have a meeting out there said I haven't heard anything from
anybody in about five years folks that is a gold mine in this community and I
offered to have him come speak to us but I think a better deal would be to have
Christine and Brittany work with him for us to go out there and see if you've
never been in that facility it's crowded but it's amazing what asset we have here
in town and they go through all the same things all these other folks go through
needing the higher quality people and and all the other things and I didn't
know this until I happened to be waiting on the elevator that property was
purchased by businesses and people in Denton Texas and donated FEMA back in
the early 60s to lure them to come to town and their names are posted on a big
poster and I mean it's pretty cool and I meant to take a picture but I forgot I
was coming to this one sorry about that but anyway I just think that that
somehow has been overlooked through the years that is so important to this
community that's just my thought is I think we've got to go back and take more
examination would you mind helping set an introduction or sharing Tony's
information with us I think helicopters too long I'm hard to hear Tony Robinson
was the directors names and I'll get you his former perfect thank you very much I
would just like to make a comment on behalf of Christine Taylor I will work
with Jamie and Brittany commisively on this we're very supportive of the work
that Jamie has done to tie this back in to the city's work plan and Rick that's
really good feedback and part of us tying it into that work plan is making
sure that Brittany has a lane and Jamie has a lane and it's kind of like merging
on 35 we do it sometimes but sometimes we stay apart so what we do best we do
together but most certainly we can reach out to FEMA but this all ties to the
work plan and so Christine and I are very supportive of the work that's
happening I think this has happened before probably six or seven
administrations even before the current City Council I've been somehow they just
have fallen in the crack absolutely good opportunity pictures are didn't happen I
was out there two years ago at least and then before that so we've been out there
I talked to pretty regular but you haven't had a council meeting or the council out
there to have lunch or something what he told me it doesn't matter just sure I'm
just saying we bump into the one guy that I know regular I just want to you
know it hadn't been five years and I looked at the picture to make sure and
it's time stamped so I feel real comfortable saying a couple years ago I
was out there with my family and then Chief Dixon hosted the thing out there
before that so maybe he just didn't get updated yeah yeah I mean a lot goes on
out there so we could bring this for a follow-up meeting
I think so they're there they've expanded beyond their footprint significantly
even behind me you know so yeah a lot of great things happening and they need to
expand again I would ask one thing Jamie I'm struck by the mission and I
appreciate that you share it but it is to expand the city's tax base and I
think this maybe goes on with what Brian was saying I didn't see anything in the
presentation on the annual report and as I was thinking about I don't know that
that's something that we bring back regularly on the impact of tax-based
credit and help if we quantify that through the work that's done
any other comments questions move for approval for this
yes it's Christine's part she's not able to make it today and so I just want to
briefly go through the history of the chamber
so Jamie just went over the annual report and so there's an updated work plan the
agreement typically goes before the economic development partnership for your
pre-approval the work plan was drafted it's been there's been a few versions
gone back and forth to the chamber in the city and so now it's a legal's hands
and that's why we won't able we weren't able to add as an attachment but it will
go it will if this is approved today it will go forward to City Council so just
as a reminder through City Council the Denton Chamber of Commerce entered into
an economic development partnership agreement in 1986 through an economic
development program agreement the city provided funds for the administration
and operation budget at the Chamber of Commerce's office of economic development
which includes prospect generation activities marketing activities trade shows
published to bring well site and small business development center support some
of that text will need to be updated to and because I do much more including
business retention expansion over the past few years an agreement between the
city the chamber included specific goals deliverables and metrics for the
chambers office of economic development along with the enhanced clauses regarding
financial party information and dignity prior action review so this is the past
history I won't read all of it but just so you know we will present this on
April 15th at City Council on consent by the way and so it says May 6th was
actually April 15th so now we can ask for a vote okay any questions all right
motion for acceptance presentation second first Dan or nominated Dan
seconded any other conversation hearing none we'll move to vote all in favor
signify by saying aye thank you any nays and abstention thank you thank you great
thanks we now move to edp 25 - double oh seven alright so experiments in his
countless fine pitch and this was an item presented by councilmember Jill
Jester during a two-minute pit process during City Council and so just as an
overview of help what a two-minute pitch is this was implemented over the past
year during the time that I was here were City Council if they're looking for
updates to city policy or implementing program they are required to submit a
two-minute pitch during the City Council work session it's from there it'll go
down it'll go forward to agenda committee which also consists of City
Council members and it'll move forward to other boards or City Council evening
council approval and so they have asked the agenda committee has asked our staff
to review the feasibility of this and I'll go over the details starting with
the background on November 19 2024 councilmember Jill Jester presented a
two-minute pitch to City Council directing staff to evaluate the
feasibility of using experience in us as a funding mechanism for the catalyst
fund so timeline I won't go over the whole timeline but on April 9 today we
will ask for your opinions and then we forward to City Council work session on May 6.
So what is the catalyst fund? As a reminder that is our primary source of
funding for grants for economic development and so we use a catalyst fund
for job-based grants for infrastructure grants for our tech entrepreneur grant
and our also our headquarters grant and so the way that it's funded is through a
mixed beverage tax that's over 150,000 annually through investment income it was
we received a one-time transfer from utility water and wastewater plan line
funds branches we return on investment revenue which is a million annually and
as of September 2024 the fund had approximately 5.3 million dollars and
the annual budget revenue is approximately 1.1 million dollars so the
pitch proposes a funding mechanism to consider rededicating dollars from
sales tax and Avalor Mancino as they terminate to the catalyst fund and so
what that means is if you have a tax that was created in the past five to ten
years then it will expire the next five to ten years once it expires for example
there's a company that has a 50% abatement that 50% of the taxes that
they are paying goes to the general fund the city's general fund once the
incentive expires the additional 50% will then move towards a general fund as
well councilmember jester is pitching that an additional 50% will move forward
to the catalyst fund to help with future economic development incentives and so
we're very thankful that councilmember jester pitched this because we know that
this is one of her first two-minute pitches is to support economic
development initiatives and so I'll go over the numbers for our chapter 380
incentive agreements we have about nine to ten active agreements that Erica
Sullivan our economic development program administrator manages every year and so
for our chapter 380 Avalor and chapter 380 mixed beverage and sales tax
incentives we would have potential of transferring a little over six point nine
million dollars to the catalyst fund versus a general fund for tax abatements
we would have a little over one point nine million dollars to transfer for a
total of eight point nine million dollars over ten year term so this
slide was the same thing I just said total potential eight point nine million
over ten year term and that's dependent on the health of the general fund let's
see this is a goal of our strategic plan as well it was passed in 2020 our
economic development strategic plan and this was a recommendation to roll over
expiring incentives into that fund so it also aligns with our goals so the next
steps for recommendations is to for the board to option one recommend at
reallocating inspiring economic development incentives to the catalyst fund contingent
on annual budget evaluations and general fund status for a maximum of nine
million the alternative is to recommend allowing expiring incentives to transfer
back to the general fund just keep it as it is and the next step would to be
present your recommendations to City Council work session any questions yes
councilman so you know maybe alternatives in between the range of a
hundred percent zero percent my question is do you have a point of view on sort
of what a healthy and adequate number is that we should be trying to get to in
the fund you know the reason I'm asking that is like I get it that this is you
know what we're trying to accomplish but it's also true that we do these
incentives so that ultimately it'll take pressure off of property tax you know
like said at some point it's supposed to kick into the general fund you know so
you know is it a hundred or zero or is there would we achieve a really robust
catalyst fund at some percentage that's between a hundred and zero and that when
some of it go to the general fund so the way to answer that is to at least you
know I think to address the question of what's the number that we're trying to
hit right that's a great question I think our goal is if we're able to meet
nine million dollars over the course of two years that would be ideal it's
dependent upon of course annual evaluations you see we actually have the
funds to roll over but it's also dependent on our agreement structures
because every agreement that we have with companies it could be 50% it could
be 75% that we're collecting it and I think on the administrative side it would
just be easier and on and instead of taking an additional 50% or 25% of the
50% to monitor that a hundred percent of the taxes that will they'll pay will go
over to the catalyst fund so that's my perspective I think in nine million is a
great number for us because it's more than what we have but again it's just
really dependent on what how our general fund looks like every year
there's any number that's greater than zero is more than what we have you know
totally say like you know what do we need to have how often does that get
reviewed I guess is that something that y'all would do as part of your budget
process annually like the council like would this be something you have to
approve annually to go ahead and extend that just curious the mechanisms so we
would review it annually we have a budget sessions this is our actual
budget time so we would review it in our budget Erica puts together a financial
forecast every year with all of our incentive agreements and so we know
what's been what is supposed to be projected for incentive agreements over
the next 10 years so annually and by the way every company has to complete a
compliance letter every year to ensure that they're meeting their basic
Avalor and valuations and so if they don't meet those valuations they may not get an incentive that year it'll go on to the next year
so you know in the area like within say 50 miles or a hundred miles what their
number is like what's like what's what's the number in from or saying or a valid
you know I'm saying like Gainesville is probably a better mark right like
I don't like how do we know we're kind of sure kind of the Paul's numbers like
5 million is a good number we got Frisco Plano all these other ones that you
might say well holy cow but I just don't know I don't have a perspective that's a
great question so we derive 9 million from our
financial forecast for our current incentive agreements and when we know
that they're going to expire of course that's variable because some companies
may want to expand their incentives and may apply for additional incentives if we
know that we will have additional incentive agreements so there's one
variable and the other variable is that our catalyst fund is our comparison to
different cities sell sex corporations and so whereas Arlington's getting 20
million a year we got 5.3 million dollars that we you know we have in our fund
that we're slowly generating so that's how that's how we use there as comparison
and because ultimately when other cities have that that much funds in their sell
sex corporation they're able to do more creative incentive packages so they're
able to get $500,000 upfront grants for jobs or just for relocating to another
city whereas we have to be a little bit more strategic I think I think we all
understand that I'm just asking what the numbers are right like if we understand
Arlington's got a tax and all that was that what are the numbers right like
what's McKinney because we built a plane McKinney for a division of Packard kind
of know what we got from that so you don't relocate oh no I'm not doing that
but I'm just saying if you just kind of you kind of know if you want a big
employer like what do you what's the number something we should know not
saying we have to do it it's just something we should know so we don't
build the budget like the 9 million where is that what you asked for in there
or you put something less than what you really was ideal it's kind of long get
that we don't have a benchmark so yeah it's a great question this was let me
see if I can go to this outer slide so just to review the history and the
catalyst fund was not always it was the investment fund and some of you I don't
know if anyone has known the board that long but the investment fund operated
back in 2016 and so once the strategic plan was adopted in 2021 that is when
previous leadership adopted the catalyst fund and so you this these three sectors
here utilities city friends in a roll box or earmark percentage of the tax
revenue from future developments and business fundraising campaign let me get in chamber
those were all three recommendations from the consultants to create the
catalyst fund so this orange box right here has not been completed but the
utility one has it's if you go back to these are all the this is a budget of
funds that we receive every year that we're allowed from city management and
City Council so we get a hundred million annually a million annually and that's
about it so that's in this in addition if this item was approved that council
member adjuster approved and we would get nine million dollars incrementally
it'll take a little bit to build at least we're getting a separate source of
revenue so on the budget we probably could request an additional
supplemental to add to this budget but it would be competing with other
departments for that but wouldn't it wouldn't that be the decision of the
council to figure out where they think the importance is I mean I guess if I
think stuff if I think and I had the same same discussion kind of with the
airport that day is if you think your job or your position or your endeavor is
worthy then I think we need to ask for what we think the need is and then build
a case on why that need is then allow the council to do their job and figure
out what departments need it more because if you're kind of negotiating
against yourself a little bit if you say well parks they really need new plants
over here on you know a median or whatever so I'm gonna cut mine back we
automatically saying that your endeavors not that word or relative to the other
one you should I'm saying so why would we ask for what we need I guess is what
I'm asking yes it's it's a process right but we can definitely put the request in
I think we should all right we have two council members that are on our board
and I think that's a purpose of the board to is to pitch those ideas and
then we can take it forward to City Council so it's just we as staff members
we can't do that on our own we can advocate as much as possible but even to
get where we are now with the countless but it took the help of the board and I
will say our finance department is paying close attention to how the
federal administration changes is affecting our local companies so we're
kind of conserving at this point because we're not getting as many federal grant
funds as we thought you know for this year also consumer spending how is that
affecting how will that affect our tax paying entities right or companies are
they gonna pay are some people always gonna pay property taxes will they skip
out will they pay will we get the sales tax that we expect so those are all
variables that we're paying attention to and I would just I would I don't want to
belabor the point but if you don't ask for what you think you need they don't
know so they're making a decision on what you're asking for and if you ask for a
lesser amount they think they're meeting all the needs that you have asked for
does that make sense now the flip side of that coin is if I'm on council which
I'm not nor do I plan to be the if I give you X and you don't use it it's
kind of like crying wolf a little bit too right so it needs to be reasonable we
don't need to over ask for what we don't need we need to figure out what a true
budget for you to do your job effectively is and then ask for that
amount so it's fair to both sides yeah what I was kind of getting that same
think we're in a different direction maybe is a what other people have but be
if you look back at the strategic plan what are you trying to actually attract
here right because organically you're gonna grow warehouses because of where
we are and that's fine that's you know warehouses create jobs whatever that's
what we want to do that's fine you go back to the strategic plan you say I
want to know the large manufacturer here right large manufacturers gonna ask for
typically 200 acres of land and utilities and all that before they put a
plan that cost X is that realistic to do with what we have if that's in our
strategic plan we've got got to know that's gonna cost X amount of money to
attract you know these people that we are interested in attracting when we go
to the business fair or the different things we go to right like that's kind
of what I'm getting at is like it if you tie it back to the strategic plan you
say these are the sectors or things that we're interested in and what's
attractive to them so for example the thing that's very attractive to the AI
mining company is a hundred percent green energy well that's great we got
that right so we don't have to net maybe incent them as much as someone that this
part of the for this sector here we're trying to go after they need this this
and this typically to get a job so when you put those things together with the
strategic plan and where that diverse that economic diversity comes in you can
kind of see am I in the ballpark of what I need to hit the strategic plan that's
that's that's what that's what I'm getting at it's how do you construct it
kind of from a zero base budget against the we I mean this is a great start I
just don't know what that not enough too much because I don't have that tied to
the strategy right like correct that that number is purely tied into what is
existing they can be shifted from and expiring but that's fine so we're just
asking and I think Councilwoman just gesture is asking the same so is that
what's being asked of the board if you support that yes in any future
recommendations I think she just wanted to hear your feedback as well and this
is how we'll get to council members that'll vote on it in the future but on
oh gosh this year at some point we are going to have a full new board members
and so we will host a board retreat and during the board retreat I would like to
bring some of these ideas up because I think we need have new faces all over
right this is my first cycle going through the budget and so we rely on the
board's feedback so that we can report it back to our city management and
council so this is a great start I think two things we'll move for we'll ask for
a motion on this I do think the conversation earlier in regards to being
able to identify what EDP is resulted in additional tax base would give you some
justification on what your total ask is because you've demonstrated results with
that I think there's some way to correlate that that would be impressive
to me talk about that model that they presented to us they represented that it
could give you a return based on that model and if that's the case we're ready
for that I think that was a prospect and it would be I'd like to see what we
actually have with the ones that we've supported and brought through to council
for vote and if there's an opportunity that's a great point all right I'm gonna
ask us to bring this to motion it's for work session so we're gonna take back
feedback okay I would say half not a hundred percent I understand I take your
point on that but half is easy right so if you if you go out because you know
you eat what you kill right but there's also underlying support staff etc etc
that they go into there ultimately the goal is to you know benefit the to bring
in businesses that benefit the general fund so I would say if they bring in a
hundred bucks they get fifty back and you know in addition to the regular
apartment and then fifty goes into the general percentage right but also dollars
if you're on a hundred bucks if he goes back into the catalyst fund fifty goes
into the general it's hard for me to get comfortable with 100% okay because then
you got to track it then you don't have it in the methodology okay we hit 9
million woke that's in the out years right so it's 100% until some point in
time and it's not and it just kind of clunky for me I'm late and I don't know
if Brittany cover this or not but the expiring incentives if 100% or whatever
percent you want to go to catalyst fund it will just go back into the general
fund not be dedicated to economic development these like the waste is
structured right now it just falls off and then as if it's reallocated into the
total general first of all this is one of those moments where I get to say I
agree with everything that's been said the gist is it doesn't have to be a
percent or 0% correct yes but if I wanted to just clarify though staying in
the general fund it doesn't stay in economic developments budget it could
potentially be reallocated to parks or to public safety it's we haven't had a
plan or a process for when those incentives fall off of where that
funding goes so one recommendation was it could continue to go into the
catalyst fund to help go directly back to economic development or it could go
into redistribution of whatever city needs are well I think I agree most
strongly with this to sort of build a budget first that has solid
assumptions you know I don't really know you know ought to try to create 50
million dollars you know which case was like well at least this drop in the
bucket at least it gets it's probably there I just don't know so there's a
process to develop a budget and that really ought to govern what we make in
certain priorities this is really just about specifically guiding a revenue
stream but you know it's I guess I'm often troubled by this idea of dedicated
revenue streams that are independent of a plan I'll just this is a bit of a
sidetrack but I'll just give it as an example several years back in a
situation where we're still the situation where a half-cent of sales tax
goes to DCTA whether they do a good job or a bad job whether anybody hides it or
not and you know the funding kept going up because sales tax was going up it
didn't have any relationship at all to public transportation planning so that's
the kind of thing where we need to divorce you know the idea of a dedicated
revenue stream you divorce it from a plan that you have conviction about you
know I think you don't get optimal results so yeah that had been said
without knowing what a real number is that we ought to be going for because
this is what we want to accomplish this is what it costs to get there you know I
share the mayor's inclination to say we have a lot of really pressing needs this
is an important one and also people are you know surprisingly people didn't like
having the taxes go up go figure and we hear from from senior staff constantly
that like budget so tight it squeaks you know we have first responder needs and
just you know the economic development is supposed to help with that too so
some of this and that without knowing what a real number is I'm inclined to
love you too a real number that we ought to be trying to hit I think the
board retreat will help clarify what other funding we can request in the
future from the general fund or other sources of revenue from the city but
this is just one source that we can pull to ensure that we will have funds
moving forward I love that and I think one piece to just say is because we've
not ever had a dedicated funding source for economic development it was used
recently last year for engine tech for the headquarters grant so we're just
getting into that position of being able to offer something other than sales tax
or property tax rebates so I do agree there needs to be a plan on what we
could use this for it's just kind of a we've had no cash funding source what
potential way could we get dedicated reference maybe I want this here and
everybody is we like the idea we're not sold on the percent so discussion on
that like what the yeah we go to council because one of the things was it can't
be an automatic for the roll-off it needs to be a council consideration
annually with what the budget looks like Christine just so I can track along and
forgive me for not but give it give that to me again so the question before us is
what so because my register's pitch was for the catalyst fund when it was
brought forward she'd like to see incentives are budgeted right now in the
economic development budget for what we've approved in the past so Bucky's is
one of them when they expire instead of letting that revenue just go back into
the general fund for distribution that we take that portion and stick it
straight in the catalyst fund to build up having cash available for future
economic development which which portion so and forgive me so so Bucky's we gave
100 bucks let's say for 10 years we get to 10 years
dollars instead of it falling off and we go to the catalyst fund got it okay well
you said was 50/50 yeah $50 is that what you yeah yeah yeah because I think what
yes because I think by the time you've had something for 10 years you should
have established a larger tax base and you should be contributing at a rate
such that you're you know you're refilling your own bucket and you don't
need that that money for other businesses to take the spot so you can
have a domino effect yeah is what they're saying is that right yes to
reinvest in another close to a declining domino effect but I think that I think
what I'm hearing is they don't want to in this example they get $100 until 10
years let's say whatever year year 10 or year 11 $100 in the current scenario
goes to general fund it just rolls over goes to the general fund we're saying is
some portion of that the proposal is a hundred percent hundred dollars goes
into catalyst what the two gentlemen on council are saying is I agree with that
it's $50 of the hundred dollars it's $80 of the hundred dollars it's whatever we
decide but it shouldn't necessarily just be automatic but up for if we talked
about structuring where it's an annual evaluation so you're able to see hey
Bucky's hundred thousand dollar incentive is going to roll off would we
like to put all of it or a portion of it in catalyst fun you could make it an
annual conversation and not it's not an increase it's just keeping what you have
and then you have Bucky's that all goes back on so it just gives you an
opportunity to go find another fish to bring in the boat and and have it's
another 10-year plan to generate the future so it's it's it's kind of just
rinse and repeat a little bit you're not it's not adding more money to it you're
just you're just not using it here anymore because it's that investment
paid off you got it back now it's on the books for the full years 11 and on and
everything else now I want to go find another one yeah I think where I get
hung up and maybe somebody can help me just that the the static nature of it
it's it's so unique especially if you're going after right it's it's gonna be a
Bucky's it's gonna be an engine tech it's gonna be a something else right it's
it's so erratic that I don't know that that that same hundred bucks that we're
in this example for Bucky's then you don't get another Bucky's or there's
another thing that needs a hundred bucks and at the same time the math that an
accountant for how much you've increased maybe that's maybe that's my hangup is
over those ten years of that incentive where all that money went to the general
fund maybe that's where my hangup is yeah you know so maybe it's not so much
the hundred bucks it's more you know you've you would you kill right you're
100% commission mindset right so like over that 10 years you invested in
something it should have paid dividends and if you want to talk about those
dividends going back into the part great but this hundred bucks we had you know
you don't get the whole thing back right like you you I think you have to
incentivize people like if you you incentivize Bucky's and you miss then
that affects your budget I think it's a one-year it's a one-year deal that you're
talking it's gotta be renewed it's gotta be reviewed by City Council for one
year so let's just go ahead sorry so if that hundred percent does start to
accumulate not used in the manner that I mean ultimately they've got to prove
what it's gonna use for anyway right correct yeah it's a two-fold what
revenue would you like to be in the pot and the other piece that we might be
missing is that so Bucky's they're contributing you know what $60,000 a
month and sales tax our current agreement with them is we're rebating
them 50% of that back to them 30 years 25 years whatever it is so we budget we
have to budget that as an expense so we're saying when that agreements done
we're gonna continue to receive $60,000 a month and sales tax from them but
we're no longer going to rebate what do we want to do with that rebate money do
we want to reinvest it and being more competitive having cash because we're
always gonna have the tools where you can do the property tax or the sales tax
rebates those will always exist but we have seen instances where if we're
trying to relocate a headquarters they may need a cash incentive or there might
be another reason to make us more competitive so the way I see it it's
like with the conversation now with my kids a little bit is we so you get X
amount of dollars and that you're you're getting a return off of and you can
either go buy video games or you can reinvest it and I think we put in this
catalyst fund it's it's slotted for future reinvestment you still have to
approve that but at least it's in that for future more revenue down the road
it's kind of way I look at it I think we talk a lot about the economic
development toolkit what do we have that Brittany and the team can insist and
drive people to come here this makes us more competitive because if we're able
to grow the catalyst fund when a company comes to us it's one of the
various tools we can pull out and assist in the process because we lose often in
the competitive nature of the game because we don't have that happy so this
would equip us with a fund that enables this board to make recommendations out
of and continues to feed back for the hard work of this board's efforts to
contribute to that but it certainly could be structured for the marriage
point when we talk to council that we're not going to say straight percentages
that it's an annual evaluation based off of what the general fund looks like
what's expiring where the catalyst fund is there's a lot of decision factors on
how it could be structured but this was to get the feedback on what do you like
or not like before it goes to council for it just so I can get my head around
it I'm tracking with you and my question though is so pre Bucky's our sales tax
was $60,000 per month less now we have this new $60,000 per month yes we give
them half back so that's 30 so brand new found money what percentage of that is
going to the catalyst that's my problem it's found money we were bankroll in the
city as is right like the budget is solid we got it we're good we found
$30,000 brand-new let's say there's some set of that that's cost right let's cut
that in half so that's $15,000 profit quote-unquote that we brand new money
we found that money should go to the catalyst fund right but what they're
saying is they're not the decision is not now on the 30th the decision is in
however many years when it goes back to 60 what we're doing with the incremental
30 correct and my point is I want that money to go half of it to go back into
the general because you've benefited ten years of some increment of the city has
yes not the catalyst fund no I'm saying the catalyst fund should get some of
that too that's not getting any of the no it's getting nothing so that's my
problem so I think there's two changes right there's there's one before us today
and there's I mean yeah the budget thing is that's that's that's every right you
never I don't get the you don't get the income for a future council so you start
over every year that no matter what you do I don't care what anyone says that
that you have to redo it every year everything you know that that's just
that's a council prerogative and you don't get the income for a future
council so outside of contractual obligations no no you most will write in
the contract that we can get out like the electricity stuff all that well
electricity you're in comfort on your bombs I guarantee you look I'm off
track like we're gonna get 30 for 10 years that and you're saying you're
gonna net 15 after expenses or whatever that's time money too give that to me
give it it's I guess that's new money because Bucky's came into town the first
30 the other 30 they're getting a rebate on okay mm-hmm so then you go along now
it goes to 60 both of them all we're saying is the piece that the city never
got just that goes to the catalyst they never got that's what this is saying so
right now you're getting 30 you should be getting 60 if there was no incentive
at all but there's no incentive at all you'd get 60 right we're getting no
that's not the city has said Bucky's you can keep 30 and we keep 30 this is
saying instead of when that goes off instead of it now it's 60 but instead of
it being 62 the Bucky's is gonna pay 60 they're gonna pay 60 instead of 30 the
general fund will be getting 60 right now the general funds getting 30 because
that's where it all goes the other 30 will go to catalyst yeah or get over
some portion of so we are not voting on this yeah and I don't know that we've
held from a recommendation so yes so from the recommendation are we
comfortable saying some point up to 100% yeah I said comfortable I don't know
that I want to talk about it anymore but I just want to point out that if you can
build a case for a number that we want to hit because here's the level of
activity that we want to you know I'm saying like in order to get one of these
and one of those here's what they tend to cost no council can consider as they
compare that number to every other need no funding so whether or not you have
dedicated funds if you have a convincing case and it's more pressing than the
last police hire a fire you know arts etc you know it's always a balancing act
but this it doesn't prevent nothing we do with this prevents us from funding
any number to say thank you it's not good conversation long conversation all
right now we go into staff reports is that accurate
we were invited by the Texas Economic Development Division this year and so typically it's they invite select cities to participate and so
was able to be featured in this we were very excited to even have the opportunity to attend so Mayor Hussbett attended and so did Brian Hatmaker the CEO of Sultz and as a reminder Sultz was one of our recruitment projects from last year and they're very excited to be in Denton so I thought that was a great opportunity for him to be able to meet Greg Abbott and his staff made those shirts jobs and growth made in Texas so they're very excited and I know they're going to join the chamber right are you going to join the chamber?
we got the largest box of merchandise we have Jamie got a whole new wardrobe
they're a great company once he Brian Hatmaker arrives I was really excited to have him here
also we were featured in the news for H-E-B apparently they're going to Argyle
I don't know if you read the Facebook comments but there was confusion on where it would be located because the city limits of Denton and Argyle but it is a mystery where is our Denton
I wanted to share our Facebook statistics off of our post we had over 229,000 views and a breach of 88,000 and 737 interactions that's the most we've ever had that was great news for Denton that it was getting around on the social media
it was an opportunity for entrepreneurs to ask questions on how to start the business and just general business 101 questions and we felt the panel did a great job
we also assisted UNT with our strategic planning focus group we wanted to meet with industry partners and we worked closely with Jamie Adams at the EDT so we had quite a few of you attended thank you so much for representing the economic development partnership board
UNT really did appreciate your feedback and we look forward to fostering that relationship with them
we also attended Verticon at the aviation conference this year they held it in Dallas so our team was able to go out and represent Denton
we got a few good leads we have two serious leads that are looking to move out to the airport so we're working on finding them a site right now and seeing what incentives we can provide them
Matilda attended the LogX conference in Bristol in partnership with UNT as well
so partner visits collaboration a lot of our time goes to partnering with other organizations and seeing how they're operating and our efforts so we're working with the airport on a UAS feasibility study
we're looking to see if a vertiport is feasible for the city of Denton and where that would be located so UNT is completing that research for us so we hope to be able to start landing UAS companies in the near future
Matilda went to a library small business connections event leadership did an arts and culture day where Matilda also presented
the team went to VFW women in economic development meetups and one of our staff attended the EDT AI investor forum that Jamie put on
planning Kristen attended the PEDC basic economic development course so we only have one more staff member that needs to attend and that's Clay so he'll attend this summer and Erica attended a few webinars housing updates from Washington, the ERZ handbook webinar and SDR artificial intelligence for economic development
We have a total of 29 active projects that we're working on that is way more than what we had last year and I wish I had statistics from the previous year Brian but I do not know that you asked last time how to compare it
out of those 29 active projects 14 are downtown specific
we're competing against ourselves on this one by the way
Do 14 projects go downtown or is that yeah 14 going for eight spaces?
So we call active projects any business that we're assisting so they could be in the business permitting stage and they're asking for inspiration but they're trying to do permitting or generally just business advice a lot of our time goes to helping businesses navigate their city processes so for instance development services that can be very overwhelming for a small business especially when you get to the fire suppression part because often times they're shocked that it costs so much and that's a requirement to actually get their CO
so a lot of our time goes to helping businesses
We're trying to track where our active projects are in different stages so we have a percentage and then we also have the pre-percentage so if they are in the percentages that means they are actively looking at relocating or expanding in
So in the permitting process we're assisting three of those businesses in the initial discussion phase there's a lot of those
5% are in the lead stage so we know that they are serious about moving here and we're helping them again to see if they would qualify for the next stage
10% work on qualification and that we're examining what incentives that they qualify for we may be finding a site for them
30% indicate that they have selected a site and there's four in that process and four are in the antenna negotiation process
So moving down here we received four antenna applications in March and May which is very outstanding I feel for our team we've been hitting the ground running all of our team members are at full capacity and focusing on recruitment so we were really shocked to receive four antenna applications in one week
But two of those are expansions, those are local expansions and two are recruitment companies looking to move to them and then we also hosted four recruitment visits with manufacturers
So one of those we had a last minute tour that was able to schedule for us, thank you Brian for getting us in, I know that was very last minute but that was a lead from the Dallas Regional Chamber
So it was for a medical device manufacturer and we're hoping that in the near future that they'll follow up with us so that we can land them here
I was going to say if y'all need that, just give me a call. I will say they were very impressed and the Dallas Regional Chamber representative was very impressed with the tour and they especially liked the fact that we were able to get in so fast so that speaks volumes about our relationship so thank you
Jamie Adams also helped out as well. RFIs are requests for information and the way that we separate these RFIs from other leads is these are leads that are coming in from the governor's office and the Dallas Regional Chamber
So we know that those leads coming in, they haven't selected Denton specifically but they have selected Texas and so that is why the companies will reach out to you both with entities first and it's our job once we get the emails to respond and so they're asking for specific site requirements
They share the capital investment numbers and something they want to know about incentives and so for Sena Davis, first one to respond to the RFIs that's her primary goal and she has been doing such a great job because we've received about 29 RFIs just for February and March
and she submitted 12 and I'm sorry she did not submit on 12 and that's probably based on we didn't meet the utilities before, we didn't have a site to submit but she did submit 13 and she was able to convert two for lead conversion so two of those RFIs actually those companies reached that back out for a site tour
So she didn't have a lot but it's actually major for those RFIs because you never know when to submit those proposals if they're going to respond or not so that's major
And we also, from the state they are, whenever they are talking about the DFW they are throwing Denton's name out there and that's helping us a lot too because we've heard from the companies that they said oh Denton's a great place to be and we asked them well how did you hear about Denton? This is an East Coast company
And they said from the governor's office so that's very helpful
So from those leads, the Dallas Regional Chambers sent us three and the governor's office sent us 26. The average capital investment of those RFIs is $222 million and the average jobs is $313 million
And for the calendar year, Christina has submitted 21 total RFIs
Recruitment strategy for downtown, Jeremy I know that you asked this last time is how are we addressing the vacancies? It's Andes and Barley and board closing down and so we do have a recruitment strategy
What we are focusing on for downtown is our existing target, retail and entertainment, diversified housing, the master plan calls for 50% of downtown
We know there's multifamily going up but now our focus is to bring some type of diversified housing, townhomes for example, we don't have townhomes so we're looking at identifying sites, how can we bring those developers in, what are the challenges to also develop townhomes
Childhood projects, we know that we have City Hall West, that's one of our focuses for this year and so we do have a few developers interested in that site that will contact us ever so often so that will go hopefully the next year or so depending on city management, right?
And to see if we can find a developer to come in, growing existing businesses, a lot of those food trucks, I know food trucks is a hot conversation right now at council level, we want them to be eventually open up a brick and mortar and so we're trying to find ways to support them
We're also evaluating our downtown reinvestment grant, our CURS funds, so we can also support that development too, so we're engaging our other three downtown boards, we have the downtown economic development committee, our CURS one board and also our indirect board
This will be super fast, we had three film permits issued here today up until the end of March, so I've actually gotten in some in April early commercial film permits
I don't count student films in that, I also had three more student projects here today and then we've been going on music venue site tours with Discover Denton, our economic development staff, just to make sure we know who's here and what we have so that we can better promote and advertise what we have
And then you may have heard of Rihanna Nix is on American Idol right now, she's from Denton, they contacted me this summer if they get to shoot some B-roll for American Idol, but I didn't know who it was, so this is exciting and she's still in the top 24 now I believe as of today
There was a lot of opportunity here at Discover Denton and our other partners because tourism is important for the city, but we know that goes hand in hand with economic development
There's a great turnout, Christina Davis has been promoting this in addition with The Chamber and United Way, so I'm glad that there's a great turnout, if you want to stop by after feel free to do
Kristin and Michele are putting together a downtown master class on April 15th from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Development Services Building, so they will be reviewing the Downtown Request a Grant program and also the Resort We Back to Credit program
So I'm going to call in the students
No, no, we're solving the world's problems
The Downtown Property Owners Meeting, we are exploring the creation of a whole improvement district for downtown
This is a recommendation in our strategic plan or downtown master plan
And so we've held an initial meeting with property owners and we've submitted surveys to get their feedback to see if they would be participating and if they were interested in participating, what would they potentially find
We have a follow-up meeting on April 29th at 12 p.m. at the Denton Service Center
If you have any questions on that, let me know, but we are exploring it
So our two questions. Matilda, did you get any feedback from those that have filed applications for films?
Like what they liked or what was good, bad, and different
And then second question is are we considering and adding in the UNT venues when we say we have these venues available
Because I think that's an underutilized asset we have
First question, film feedback. I asked for some feedback
I redid our application process this summer to better align with our ordinance for filming in Denton
And so I did ask for some feedback from local filmmakers and from past permittees
Didn't get a lot of response back, but the response I did receive was good
And then second question, UNT venues
As of right now, we've started with the first four that we're touring are the venues that received that state alcohol sales tax rebate last year
And then we're going to move on to some live music establishments
And then I can definitely add the UNT venues to the list. I hadn't thought of that, so I appreciate the comment
Yeah, I had a tour. It's pretty robust. They have some really cool options
And they're willing to partner. I talked to the dean there, we're friends, and so I got a tour
And feel really good about the options available to us if we want to direct people their way of leverage or pull them in
So they'd be very receptive
And sorry, if I may, you visited, the mayor visited a film set with me this summer and it was pretty fun
But while I didn't hear back about the specifically permit process
I have been having follow-up meetings and calls with a lot of the commercial projects that come through just to see how I can better improve and what else we can do
And that specific one is not out yet, but I really hope to see it because that was fun bringing you along
Yeah, excellent. Thank you
Maybe we've got to do this with the commission and everything just to comment would be on even these slides or you know, we're talking about people who have incentives
You had one that, hey, we've got three applications for a 50% incentive
Just that whole advertising to that one number, what does that mean? If we get it, right, that's $120,000 in revenue
Or whatever, right, like of tax, because it all ties back to that mission statement of we're trying to grow the tax base
So we ought to, once we get to a certain point, I probably shouldn't do that for every lead because that's kind of a, it's very speculative
But once you get into that maybe site visit into applications for incentives, that would be good to kind of know, hey, this is the potential for this much revenue
[inaudible]
But to me it's like we need to develop the discipline to have a number, right, like what's this board tracking?
We got this one number and it's tax revenue or whatever, right
All the other stuff is nice, but it's to the, at the end of the day, it's like for a couple of those, right
But not an increase in tax base
Yeah, yeah, you've got, you've got four there, they've got a 50% tax incentive negotiation
That's, that's zero to $200,000 in tax revenue for now, depending on how it goes, right
Potential revenue
Yeah, potential revenue, right
That's on our to-do list, Brian, it's just we got a new CRM database and so it's still kind of finicky
And so every time we log on or report there's something wrong with it, so nothing wrong with this CRM, but we're, that's our goal for next month
Okay, good
Great, any other conversation or reports?
Alright, I'll accept a, I think I'm supposed to read something, so be ready for this
I'm sorry, Steve
Does the board have any other business to discuss, they wish to discuss in the next meeting?
We've got to get Main Street from here
Alright, here we go
Ready to go
Take your time
[inaudible]
Main Street is a preservation-based organization for economic development
And our four points are economic vitality design, organization promotion
I'll be giving quarterly updates, I think last year I was giving monthly updates, so we've moved those to quarterly
So as we kind of move throughout the year, we're going to hone in on what these four points need for meet our preservation-based economic development
First we're going to start with our downtown reinvestment grant, where we are to date
As many of you know, we did expand the TURS boundary, and this is the new map that we have
I did want to keep the old map to see so you could see where the boundary was, and this will be the new, that is the new expanded boundary
Which will allow for businesses within that new boundary to apply for the downtown reinvestment grant
As of today, we have four completed and reimbursed grants, Glenham, which is at 116 West Oak
Their fire suppression is on hold until we can find a tenant
But we are actively looking and working with the property owner there and the broker to get them a new tenant so they can get their fire suppression
Worst case scenario is that grant expires in August of 2025 this year
They can apply for an extension, but we want to make sure we have a tenant in there beforehand
We did have a Plot Twist downtown reinvestment grant come through to Jettick and TURS on May 25th
TURS did make a recommendation to Council, so Council will see that on their May 6th consent agenda
But both of those committees approved for a $35,000 grant for their residents
And if you haven't been to the Plot Twist, I highly recommend it
They opened to a large first open day with 784 people, so that was fantastic
And then, it's news, Fine Arts Theatre has started to break ground on their project, so we're excited for that
And then they will come in with an additional downtown closing
Downtown opening and closing, that's a great subject
We didn't have a Plot Twist open as I mentioned
The building station did decide to relocate
Jesse Otta is replaced by Bidus, so we just did a flip flop there
Unfortunately, Barley and Board did have the highest job loss
But fortunately, they do have another restaurant going in, Mexican Oak, so they should be in this year
So we have tables in the embassment
Four businesses started, four businesses closed
We gained 22 jobs, but unfortunately we lost 99, but we're hoping to get that back when Mexican Oak opens
So this is an expansion, one of my major focuses this year
We want to make sure that the businesses that have invested in downtown stay in downtown
We're going to have an old adage dance with the one that brought you
We want to make sure those businesses are happy and that they have what they need
So I went on all business retention visits, three business expansion visits, and nine developer new business visits
But one of the best things that we did was we finally got a tour of the Morrison Milling Corn Kits in downtown
So we're happy to make that connection, and actually they're going to start to get involved with 31 Days of Halloween
That's their project, 31 Days of Halloween logo on their silo, so we're really excited that we have their partnership now
Through those business retention and expansion visits, these were the hot topics that came out of those meetings
Parking, obviously we know that's always a subject
We are actively working on a solution potentially for employees to park in the NCCC parking garage
The pilot program, we'll talk about that today
Of course, there's connectivity, the unhoused population, better wayfinding
Especially for those businesses that are just off of the square, and then marketing
I think that's probably the number one is our businesses struggle with how to market and promote themselves
So we're trying to figure out ways and work with our partner's chamber and main street association on how we can be better at that
Brittany did mention the Public Improvement District that we had a meeting on January 17th
We're in the data gathering phase, so we've put a feedback survey out
We've gathered that feedback and we're going to have this meeting April 29th
We'll review all of that feedback and kind of see what projects that public governors would be interested in
If the public improvement district does come
And then Brittany, we do have the downtown master class
It's a focus on public preservation and the downtown investment grants
With downtown being an historic overlay district, historic tax credits are very important to those businesses
We want to make sure that they are fully well-versed in how to apply for those
And then we have a downtown safety meeting on Thursday, April 17th
Which is going to give an update on the downtown ambassador program
Brittany will be there also to answer any questions that business and property owners may have
Any questions?
I just would like to hear from you, and if you don't have it today, in a future date
It's just been heavy on my mind, like all the protests and everything downtown
What effect does that have on our businesses?
They always do it on a Saturday, and Argonne doesn't have this problem
So it's like I'll just go eat at Cactus Canyon versus some great place in Denton
You make a good point because of the recent protests that was there on Saturday
And Boca Police had one
Surprisingly, those people do stick around downtown and the businesses see an influx
So it's kind of a catch-22 where you feel like it might hinder the businesses
Or people coming to downtown
But those days in particular, people were out about it
I know that sounds odd, but they...
Protesters gotta eat
Right, right
And so they were protesting, but they didn't spend money downtown
We're in a lot of calories
That's right, I just wasn't sure
I didn't know the answer, I wasn't seeking it
I have no idea, but I do worry about that, so that's good to know
There were a lot going on downtown this Saturday
Just to watch what was happening
Once they dispersed, it was pretty good
Before the recording started, that two-hour window, and then they went and dropped at eight
You're saying you want more protests
No, I'm not saying that
Any other questions for Kristen? Great job, Kristen, thanks so much
Next up, Jamie
Welcome back, Jamie
Can you yield your time, sir?
Yeah, I'll be quick, it's more business retention and expansion
I kind of want to give you a snapshot of four businesses that we were able to meet with
And kind of what the challenges are, their follow-ups
I have removed their business names, just for their privacy
But this first one is a parts manufacturer
It's been in it for 40 years, they're currently 350 employees
Up from 200, they're COVID
They were considering a move a few years back to modern Mexico
But they decided to stay as they grow and expand here in Denver
So they're in the process of a $45,000 score for expansion
About a $14 million investment at 200 employees
All the things we love to hear
The challenges they've had are obviously road condition, road signage
They have a lot of 18-wheelers that pull in their parking lot and are in the wrong spot
And turn and run over some of their trees and shrubbery
Lack of bus transportation, which we hear from a lot
We have shared with them incentive information, which they have completed
The mobility report, which they were glad to have
And able to help make connections for them
So they can not only continue their expansion
But then also meet the right people for this process
Another one we've been working with is the Fabrication Technology Company
That's been in town since 1965
They have a 400,000 square foot facility, around 350 employees
They've gone through some renovations the last couple of years
Trying to make their facility 100% renewable energy
They've created a new customer service center
And some modern operation training center, demo areas
They've done a great job in their entrance area
But they're also having challenges with road work being done and future projects
They're coming on the horizon for them
They are on their goal to get 100% renewable energy
Having some issues with solar panels
And then also they were preparing for potential layoffs that may occur
Not that they are occurring, but they wanted to get in front of it
So we connected them with the North Texas Workforce Solutions Shared Work Program
Which the Shared Work Program had a meeting with them outside of Brittany or myself
We've shared with them some serial renewable energy plans and connections
And the mobility plan, but there's some more work to be done with this group
Parks Manufacture, a new company here in town
They started with five employees in 2022, they're up to 50 employees
They're looking for space to build a headquarters, a campus
They need more power in their facility
They're looking for more storage space
They love to have preferred rates, don't we all prefer rates?
Their business model is evolving and they're trying to adapt to the changes
So we've connected them with various economic development partners
To help find a new space for them, a new location for them to grow
They have been in a lot of conversations with Municipal Electric
And then also we felt they needed to get with Christina Davis
With the city's economic development department
And help her guide them through a process in their growth and expansion
The last one I wanted to mention was, it's a premium truck dealer in town
They've currently still on five acres on a five bay facility, about 50 employees
They've been going through a process about two years to expand on 10 acres
And have a 50,000 square foot facility with a showroom, offices, 24 bays
Increase to 50 employees, all the good things we love to hear
They've been in permitting for about two years, since September 23
Not finished, that was one of the main reasons for the visit
Pushed their completion date back a little bit
They're concerned about infrastructure and roads
After that initial meeting with them, we connected them with our city's loan services team
And they were able to get an answer within an hour to them
Explaining to them why the process has taken a while
And helped fast track the process toward completion
And then we have shared some of our ability
This is just an overview of what we are
When we go out and do some business protection and expansion
And how we follow up with these companies
It's been good, everyone, no one's been very upset and angry
Everyone has been helping to put them on the right path
To get to their completion date or their expansion
Was that delay in permitting because of a number of changes
That they had made to what they requested?
They felt communication wasn't as good as it needed to be
And they felt that different people were giving different answers
But we were able to see everybody in the room and talk
All right, thanks, any questions for Jamie?
Jamie, thank you. Thank you
Brittany, future agenda items
Yes, future agenda items for May
We will have two potential projects that we'll bring forward for incentive approval
We plan to cover the RFIs that we are receiving
We want to get your feedback on much of the RFIs that we should respond to
Based on their capital investment numbers because what we've heard from the state
Is that they have unprecedented amount of RFIs coming into the state
And so you really need to find a way to tackle it
Because Christina and I are making the decision on which ones to respond to
But there's a lot coming in so it takes up a lot of time as well
So we'll bring that to you and the water infrastructure update as well
Stephen Gay has agreed to present to our board in response to Jeremy's request
I guess in the future, may we have an RFQ update as well for the proposal and plan to consult it?
Yes, yes, we can do that for sure
And then, not now, but my first meeting we entered the city utility department was
Did a presentation, we asked a bunch of questions, they never really got back to us or addressed those questions
Do we know where we stand on any of that?
On commercial deposits?
Yeah, there was a bunch of different stuff
We didn't have to go back and watch the video
But I don't know if we've ever gotten anything back or feedback from them
He was undergoing a study on that so we'll check back in and see when he's ready to do that
I'm not sure if you can add that to that as well
Yes, I thought we had a TBD section at the bottom but we'll get that back on there because you're right
Quick update on the nominating committee, the EDPB nominating committee has met
And so they have a few board selections
I think they have one more round of board interviews or interviewing a few applicants or nominations if they're considering
So once they finalize who they want to appoint, then we believe they'll go to council on May 6
And so Steve, this may or may not be your last meeting
We appreciate all your help
I just wanted to say that, yeah
Disappoint you all next month
You'll miss us
I will!
I'll miss you already
Are you going to look at whatever you've got to ask? Are there any more questions?
I apologize
I looked at Aaron and I was like, he looks sweet
Do you know yourself? Come on
Alright, now do I read this?
If you have forms in front of you from the city secretary's office, please sign those to Vanessa at Susanna
Please complete your Texas Open Meetings Act, TOMA, training as soon as possible
Email your TOMA to Vanessa
Our next EDP meeting is scheduled to be Wednesday, May 14th at 11
Because you're a member of the EDP, you're also a member of TURS 2, congratulations!
TURS 2 special meeting is also on May 14th
And I'll take about 30 minutes at the conclusion of
At that time, we'll ask you to move over to training room 5
And then we'll adjourn from there, because that meeting is
A meeting that's interoperable for training is scheduled for here, thank you
If there is no other business, and there is not, I will adjourn the meeting at 12.45
Thank you everybody
Thank you