WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.640 Alright, we have a quorum, so good morning, welcome to this meeting of the Economic Development 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:08.640 Partnership Board. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.160 It's Wednesday, September 10th, 2025. 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:17.280 We have established a quorum, so I'll call the meeting at 11.05 a.m. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:23.000 Now we'll begin with presentations from membership of the public. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:24.000 Are there any? 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:30.040 We have none. 00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:34.080 Since there are none, we will now continue the items for consideration. 00:00:34.080 --> 00:00:44.040 Now beginning with the item for consideration, item A, EDP 25-023, consider approval for 00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:49.640 the Economic Development Partnership Board meeting minutes for August 13th, 2025. 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:54.440 Are there any questions? 00:00:54.440 --> 00:00:57.080 At this time, the chair will entertain a motion for approval. 00:00:57.080 --> 00:01:02.840 I do have a motion from Rick, I have a second, a second from Aaron. 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:04.520 All in favor, say aye. 00:01:04.520 --> 00:01:05.520 Aye. 00:01:05.520 --> 00:01:06.520 Any opposed? 00:01:06.520 --> 00:01:07.520 Motion passes. 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:22.600 Now move on to item B, EDP 25-025, receive a report, hold a discussion, and make a recommendation 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:28.920 to the city council regarding a request to nominate United States Cold Storage LP to 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:36.440 the Office of the Governor of Economic Development and Tourism through the Economic Development 00:01:36.440 --> 00:01:38.520 Bank as an enterprise project. 00:01:38.520 --> 00:01:42.040 The chair recognizes Erica Sullivan to present on this item. 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:48.040 Good morning, my name is Erica Sullivan, I'm the economic development program administrator 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:52.240 here at the city and I'll be giving you a presentation on U.S. cold storage's request 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:57.040 for nomination under the Texas Enterprise Zone program, and a number of you are relatively 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:01.280 new and haven't been here when I presented the Texas Enterprise Zone program, so we're 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:04.760 going to begin with an overview of the program. 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:11.440 So the Texas Enterprise Zone program is designed to promote job creation and to create capital 00:02:11.440 --> 00:02:16.560 investment in economically distressed areas of the state of Texas, and requires a partnership 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.640 with a local community for that designation. 00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:26.120 Successful applicants are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax on qualified expenditures. 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:31.080 The program reimburses according to the level of capital investment, jobs created or retained, 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:34.760 and for economically disadvantaged individuals or veterans. 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:39.680 The competition varies depending on the funding cycle, on how competitive it is, and the projects 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:44.040 are eligible whether they're located inside or outside of a zone, there's just criteria 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:50.520 that go into that that we'll discuss in more detail. 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:54.240 So you can see a table here from the Texas Enterprise Zone program, on the left side 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:58.200 we have the capital investment, and it starts with a half an enterprise project all the 00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:03.520 way to a triple jumbo project, the maximum number of jobs under that category in the 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:08.960 second column, the maximum potential refund based on the maximum refund per job allocated. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:14.240 So this particular project falls under the enterprise project, the second one there from 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:23.000 5 million to 149.9 million, and another point to point out is the double and triple jumbo 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:30.960 projects are just for new jobs, not for new and retained. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:35.880 So the process project needs to apply, they need one to receive an incentive from the 00:03:35.880 --> 00:03:41.760 city or local community, and then they also need a nomination from that city, and communities 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:46.600 have a limited number of designations and it's based on population size, and the state 00:03:46.600 --> 00:03:50.240 has a maximum number as well that can be awarded in the biennium. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:55.320 So the state has 105 for biennium, and then Denton, according to our population size, 00:03:55.320 --> 00:04:00.560 we have six, and this would be the first project in the biennium, so we have five left if this 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.560 is approved. 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:05.880 And then we decided to participate in the program through an ordinance and then we nominate 00:04:05.880 --> 00:04:08.880 via resolution. 00:04:08.880 --> 00:04:15.040 Project designations are good for five years, we have three active projects currently in 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:23.160 the queue, jobs must work 1,820 hours minimum per year, this equates to a 35 hour work week 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:28.080 for 52 weeks, and then jobs must exist through the end of the designation period, which is 00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:34.520 three years after the date or when the state benefit was received, whichever is later, 00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:41.440 and then applications are received on a quarterly basis on the first of the month. 00:04:41.440 --> 00:04:48.000 So in blue you will see the Texas Enterprise Zone, and again we mentioned under the overview 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.120 that they could be physically inside or outside of the zone, if it's inside a company has 00:04:52.120 --> 00:04:59.300 to meet 25%, the economic disadvantage criteria would be actual lay living in the zone or 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:08.000 be a veteran, and then if it's outside of the zone it's at 35%. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:13.200 So Cold Storage submitted a request for nomination, they're investing approximately 35 million 00:05:13.200 --> 00:05:17.040 at the Denton facility, if y'all remember this was brought to the board in May and then 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:24.160 was approved by City Council in July, and they are looking at 100,000 square foot expansion 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:29.680 and investing in machinery and equipment. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.080 So the current facility is located within the Enterprise Zone, you can see a map on 00:05:33.080 --> 00:05:37.040 the bottom there as well as the physical facility there. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:42.960 It would be expanded to the north and south of the facility, and then with that 35 million 00:05:42.960 --> 00:05:47.760 de-investment, again according to that table they fall under the enterprise project category 00:05:47.760 --> 00:05:53.720 of 5 million to 149.9 million, under that category it's a maximum of 500 jobs with a potential 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:56.720 free fund of 1.25 million. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:01.920 Theirs is estimated if all were to qualify of their new and retained jobs it would be 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:02.920 800,000. 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:10.560 So some of the benefits to U.S. Cold Storage, they receive a refund of 800,000 for their 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:17.320 320 full-time jobs, and then they would, because they're in the zone, they would only be responsible 00:06:17.320 --> 00:06:23.720 for 25% of creating new positions and turnover that would be given to economically disadvantaged 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:28.840 residents of the Enterprise Zone and/or our veterans, and then nominating U.S. Cold Storage 00:06:28.840 --> 00:06:35.620 enables us to assist the company in receiving state funds and it has, does not have a fiscal 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:39.080 impact to the city. 00:06:39.080 --> 00:06:43.880 So staff recommends at this board, recommend that the City Council approve a resolution 00:06:43.880 --> 00:06:47.600 nominating U.S. Cold Storage as an Enterprise Project. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:52.360 The next step would be going to City Council for individual consideration once the application 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:53.360 is completed. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.040 They would be applying under the December 1st round. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:02.840 I'm happy to entertain questions. 00:07:02.840 --> 00:07:12.600 This refund is based on actual sales and use tax revenue that they're generating. 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:21.320 It's four purchases, I have a hidden slide I was trying to get to. 00:07:21.320 --> 00:07:22.320 There we go. 00:07:22.320 --> 00:07:23.320 One more. 00:07:23.320 --> 00:07:30.240 Okay, so if you look, thank you for making it bigger. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:36.960 Okay, so step seven demonstrates payment of sales and use taxes, qualified expenditures, 00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:37.960 and job creation retention. 00:07:37.960 --> 00:07:41.760 So they have to demonstrate it to the state and the state reimburses that. 00:07:41.760 --> 00:07:45.680 The amount they're eligible for is based on the number of jobs created, right? 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:46.680 Yes. 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:51.120 According to that, Table 8 Max is out, yeah, and then they're within that threshold with 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:52.120 that one. 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:57.120 It also sets the amount. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:05.880 U.S. Cold Storage, yes, they are currently under construction. 00:08:05.880 --> 00:08:11.040 We approved, like I said, we approved their incentive and we recommended it here in May 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:15.560 and then we approved it in July. 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:17.840 Are there any other questions? 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:23.860 If there are no other questions at this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve. 00:08:23.860 --> 00:08:26.860 I have a motion. 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:31.960 I got a second from Rick. 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:34.960 All in favor, say aye. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:35.960 Aye. 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:36.960 Opposed? 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:46.400 All right, with that motion passed, we'll do a call out for working sessions. 00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:56.280 I'll call item A, EDP 25-027, receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the TxOMA 00:08:56.280 --> 00:09:02.200 Logistics Innovation Engine from Dr. Terence Poland of the University of North Texas. 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:06.640 The chair recognizes Dr. Terence Poland to present on this item. 00:09:06.640 --> 00:09:08.240 Thank you for joining us. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.280 Well, thank you for inviting me. 00:09:10.280 --> 00:09:15.060 Just a little bit of background on me, I'm a logistics professor over at UNT. 00:09:15.060 --> 00:09:19.740 I'm the senior associate dean for the G. Burke Ryan College of Business. 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:23.240 I'm the director for the Jim McPatt Institute for Logistics Research. 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:25.200 They can't keep me busy enough. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:31.280 And then I'm also the lead primary investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to 00:09:31.280 --> 00:09:37.320 create an innovation engine focused on logistics in the North Texas, Southeastern Oklahoma 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:38.320 region. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:42.720 And as you can see, we have quite a range of individuals that are key personnel on this 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:51.600 grant, but our focus has been capitalizing on DFW's position as the logistics hub for 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:53.160 North America. 00:09:53.160 --> 00:09:56.960 When you take a look at our area in terms of the amount of freight that we move, where 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:04.560 Fort Marge is freight market, we're the second in terms of industrial distribution space. 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:09.760 I just saw all that on the cold storage, but when you take a look at our market alone, 00:10:09.760 --> 00:10:16.160 think of DFW Airport completely under one roof and then another 10 square miles. 00:10:16.160 --> 00:10:21.820 That's how much is dedicated to distribution just in this one market. 00:10:21.820 --> 00:10:27.780 Also in terms of intermodal movements, we're either third or fourth largest in terms of 00:10:27.780 --> 00:10:31.160 intermodal containers coming into this region. 00:10:31.160 --> 00:10:33.440 And that really supports growth. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:39.960 So we were ideally, in my opinion, were ideally positioned to be an innovation hub for logistics. 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:43.680 Now you're probably trying to figure out where does this all come in for debt, and I'll 00:10:43.680 --> 00:10:46.240 be getting to that. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:51.200 But to put together this innovation hub, we put together a variety of different stakeholders. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:57.920 And one of the things I want to emphasize is this is not a university initiative. 00:10:57.920 --> 00:11:02.640 To make innovation work, you've got to have stakeholders from all of the different groups 00:11:02.640 --> 00:11:04.280 represented. 00:11:04.280 --> 00:11:08.360 So yes, we do have several academic institutions involved. 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:15.800 But we also have corporations, venture capital, entrepreneurs, government agencies involved. 00:11:15.800 --> 00:11:18.360 Now why am I here today? 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:25.400 I'm going to propose holding an innovation summit on urban mobility in Denton in March 00:11:25.400 --> 00:11:26.400 of 2026. 00:11:26.400 --> 00:11:27.400 Okay. 00:11:27.400 --> 00:11:32.080 And that's going to capitalize off a couple other initiatives that we have. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:37.840 For example, as part of the innovation engine, we're not only just focused on innovations, 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.640 but what workforce is going to be. 00:11:40.640 --> 00:11:46.320 Because when I look at logistics today, and I start looking out 10 years from now, the 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:51.480 way we move for it, the way we process information, the way we store it, the way we pull it, the 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:57.520 way we deliver it is going to be very different from how we do it today. 00:11:57.520 --> 00:12:02.480 And so the workforce of tomorrow has got to be prepared. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:08.040 So what we are also working on quite closely with Dallas College is looking at all the 00:12:08.040 --> 00:12:15.400 different logistics positions, career pathways, mapping our academic institutional programs 00:12:15.400 --> 00:12:16.400 into them. 00:12:16.400 --> 00:12:23.940 Not only just universities, but also the workforce development training organizations as well. 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:29.120 And so this effort has been led by the Dallas Regional Chamber. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:33.240 Last week, some of you were probably out at UNT Frisco and heard about the Texas Talent 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:34.240 Accelerator. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:36.880 We're going to be collaborating with them as well. 00:12:36.880 --> 00:12:40.400 Again, we want to understand where are different industries going? 00:12:40.400 --> 00:12:43.760 How do we support that? 00:12:43.760 --> 00:12:48.080 Now what we're going to be doing with the program here in Denton is going to be capitalizing 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.600 off a couple other initiatives that we have ongoing. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:56.860 We have a dual use summit coming up this Saturday at the Frontiers of Light Museum. 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:02.320 So when I say dual use, defense and commercial applications. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:06.880 Many applications in the defense side don't necessarily get translated over to commercial 00:13:06.880 --> 00:13:09.720 applications or vice versa. 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:14.400 And so we have quite a program lined up. 00:13:14.400 --> 00:13:20.640 We have two former deputy secretaries of defense speaking. 00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:25.040 We have a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that's going to be speaking. 00:13:25.040 --> 00:13:28.800 So we have quite a cast of individuals. 00:13:28.800 --> 00:13:33.800 Right now our registration list is at 514 people for that event. 00:13:33.800 --> 00:13:40.240 We had a very successful event in May at the Circle T Ranch. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.840 Also focused on national defense and innovation. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.360 And I think we're going to be building off of that. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:49.680 Another summit that we have, we're not busy enough. 00:13:49.680 --> 00:13:53.480 We got one coming in October, it's going to be at the U.S. Capitol building in the Canon 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:54.480 Caucus Room. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.880 And that's going to be focused on space innovation. 00:13:58.880 --> 00:14:03.320 And from a UNT perspective, we're very much focused on some of the initiatives in the 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:06.160 Golden Dome Research Area. 00:14:06.160 --> 00:14:10.680 So I think this is going to be a first for UNT to be holding an event at the U.S. Capitol 00:14:10.680 --> 00:14:13.600 building, but we're very excited about doing that. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:20.280 Our keynote speaker is General Sulzman, the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Space Force. 00:14:20.280 --> 00:14:25.600 Then in October, we're holding an event at UNT Dallas. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:31.800 And this is going to be focused on trying to expand our ecosystem for logistics innovation 00:14:31.800 --> 00:14:34.160 in the South Dallas region. 00:14:34.160 --> 00:14:39.120 So we have panels focused on workforce development. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:44.480 We have it focused on advanced air mobility, energy and emissions. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.480 And I know there's one other and I can't think of it off the top of my head. 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.120 But any of you are any of you are interested in attending, please send me an email. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.940 I'll be glad to have you attend. 00:14:54.940 --> 00:15:00.400 In January of next year, we're also holding another innovation summit, this time in Oklahoma 00:15:00.400 --> 00:15:02.920 City at Rose State College. 00:15:02.920 --> 00:15:08.880 That is going to be very much focused on advanced air mobility and defense applications. 00:15:08.880 --> 00:15:13.040 We within our group of stakeholders that I showed you earlier, we have both the Choctaw 00:15:13.040 --> 00:15:16.120 Nation and the Chickasaw Nation. 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:21.440 And so we wanted to do an event in their area that would help promote their entrepreneurs 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:26.200 and make connections also with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:32.400 We recently hired Major General Lee Leedy to work in the Jim McNadd Institute. 00:15:32.400 --> 00:15:35.960 General Leedy was a former commander of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, so I know 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:40.200 we're going to be making lots of good connections there. 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:45.840 Now we're going to be ending this NSF grant in the April timeframe, but the thing I want 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:51.040 to emphasize is all of the stakeholders that we have are saying, "Let's not stop here. 00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:53.040 Let's keep going." 00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:57.880 And so we're going to be continuing to hold a bunch of these innovation summits, have 00:15:57.880 --> 00:16:01.080 convenings of these different stakeholder groups. 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:07.560 But the one I want to round this out is an Urban Mobility Innovation Summit here in Denny. 00:16:07.560 --> 00:16:12.960 And looking at the March 26th date next year, I've already checked with the Monroe Pearson 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.840 Building that happens to be available then. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:19.960 It also follows spring breaks, so we don't conflict with that. 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:24.400 But my thought here is, let's take a different slant on innovation. 00:16:24.400 --> 00:16:26.960 Let's look at urban mobility. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:31.560 So look at urban freight mobility, because we've got different challenges when we're 00:16:31.560 --> 00:16:35.320 moving trucks, delivery trucks in an urban environment. 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:41.720 Urban passenger movement, we've got different autonomous systems coming online. 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:47.200 But what are some other things that we can do that would promote economic development 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:53.240 in the region, as well as promote efficient passenger transportation? 00:16:53.240 --> 00:17:02.120 Probably another one that focuses on information technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity. 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:08.120 And then a final panel probably focused on either promoting entrepreneurship and innovation 00:17:08.120 --> 00:17:13.360 in Denton, and then also marrying that with workforce development. 00:17:13.360 --> 00:17:18.600 The purpose I really want to see out of this last summit, and I won't speak for Brittany 00:17:18.600 --> 00:17:26.180 and the EDP or anything like that, I want to see Denton view as a center of innovation, 00:17:26.180 --> 00:17:30.080 especially in the logistics mobility area. 00:17:30.080 --> 00:17:35.160 And with companies like Peterbilt, U.S. Cold Storage, we're seeing distribution centers 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.500 just come right up along I-35. 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:44.640 We also at the university have a good relationship with the Alliance Mobility Innovation Zone, 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:46.640 the Alliance Development. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.480 There's lots of potential here to really build off the strength and logistics. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:57.140 And I think if we play our cards right, use this summit, we can really position Denton 00:17:57.140 --> 00:17:58.400 as a leader in this area. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:00.560 And I'm probably very close to my time. 00:18:00.560 --> 00:18:03.000 So any questions? 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.000 You can have more time. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.000 This is very interesting. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:14.040 I hope that this gives us enough lead time to start working on brochures and things like 00:18:14.040 --> 00:18:16.880 that that we can hand out to people coming in here. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:22.480 I see that as a critical addition to what you're trying to do, advertise what they're 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:28.240 doing, because former military, I'm very aware of the number of military folks coming through 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.680 here to give graduate degrees in the logistics area. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:36.120 What a great opportunity to continue to expand those relationships that we have. 00:18:36.120 --> 00:18:38.120 Now I'm a retired Air Force logistics officer. 00:18:38.120 --> 00:18:42.400 So that's where we're getting some of these military connections. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:44.400 This is exciting. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:45.400 Yeah, very exciting. 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:46.400 I think there's a lot of opportunity. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:50.880 I guess my question would be, as you're putting it all together, and I might be interested 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:59.080 about how sadly, is to collaborate into what industries we need to start focusing on, especially 00:18:59.080 --> 00:19:04.760 for development, for warehousing, for, you know, there's so many options there. 00:19:04.760 --> 00:19:08.960 We talked about the emissions last, you know, two times ago, you know, how do we get into 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:13.160 industries that have low emissions to not, to sandbag the opportunity to get something 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:17.280 later, because the DFW area is getting saturated with it. 00:19:17.280 --> 00:19:21.680 So I think I'm with you, I'm really excited about this topic. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.680 Well, one of the things that I would like to have as feedback from you, and I'm kind 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:31.160 of listing out a couple panels, and I'm kind of just putting out there as strong end. 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.640 What would you like to see? 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:34.800 You know, what kind of panels? 00:19:34.800 --> 00:19:35.800 What companies? 00:19:35.800 --> 00:19:36.800 What entrepreneurs? 00:19:36.800 --> 00:19:38.680 What venture capital firms? 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:40.760 What would you like to see come in? 00:19:40.760 --> 00:19:44.480 Also, you know, there's a group, you know, over at Stoke. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:50.360 I'd like to have some of them that are especially interested in this space have tables set up 00:19:50.360 --> 00:19:55.680 where they can promote their innovations, their ideas, because in many cases, they might 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:01.200 be working in an area that they think is not related to logistics and transportation, but 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.760 just a one-off, and they could be, you know, doing something that, you know, improves the 00:20:05.760 --> 00:20:10.440 efficiency, the scheduling, a variety of different things in the logistics area. 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:15.480 So I'm hoping that all of you will also give some ideas and say, "Hey, we would like to 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:16.480 look at this." 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:22.680 Like in South Dallas, yes, emissions and noise are big issues, you know, with all the distribution 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:27.040 centers going along, the people in the Haslett and all those other areas aren't too keen 00:20:27.040 --> 00:20:28.840 on all the trucks coming through. 00:20:28.840 --> 00:20:34.360 Okay, if that's an issue, let's bring different people in to talk about how do we reduce those, 00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:36.480 how do we reduce the emissions. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.000 How can we schedule trucks, especially if they're telling us to operate at night versus 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.000 the day? 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:45.000 Are you the contact person for us? 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:46.560 Yes, I am. 00:20:46.560 --> 00:20:51.360 You can also contact Brittany as well if you have any suggestions or ideas. 00:20:51.360 --> 00:20:55.160 And I hope the Chamber is thinking about a special group to maybe coordinate. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:58.160 That's a great idea. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.240 You know, also I'd like to have some ideas as a keynote speaker. 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:06.640 I've got a couple, you know, that we're working on, but if there's somebody that really could 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:12.400 -- you know, I'd like to have somebody, especially as we have like a fireside chat at the end. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:13.400 Why Denny? 00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:17.440 You know, people can really talk to that at the end. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.080 Why think about Denny in terms of innovation? 00:21:20.080 --> 00:21:21.080 Why locate here? 00:21:21.080 --> 00:21:22.080 Brian said that he would be the keynote speaker. 00:21:22.080 --> 00:21:23.080 They have a great R&D program going on at Peterville, and they work with a lot of those 00:21:23.080 --> 00:21:31.760 technology startups, so, and logistics, they may be a great keynote. 00:21:31.760 --> 00:21:40.440 But we're excited for the opportunity because I know a lot of cities have gotten ahead of 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:45.560 us in the startup ecosystem game, and I think this will allow us to start visioning for 00:21:45.560 --> 00:21:46.560 the future. 00:21:46.560 --> 00:21:53.360 And the reason also I picked the Monroe-Pearson building, I didn't want this to be viewed 00:21:53.360 --> 00:21:54.640 as a UNT event. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:57.080 I wanted to be viewed as a community event. 00:21:57.080 --> 00:22:02.280 I may not get -- maybe some of the UNT now is going to come after me for that, but I 00:22:02.280 --> 00:22:03.280 doubt it. 00:22:03.280 --> 00:22:07.720 But I just really think that having it in that setting really would bring in civic leaders, 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:11.560 others, and they get to see Denton as opposed to UNT. 00:22:11.560 --> 00:22:17.880 And I see you as being on the catboard seat on a lot of this because Peter built some 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:19.560 of the things you're already doing. 00:22:19.560 --> 00:22:24.400 You have a far greater understanding of what he's telling us than I do. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:31.360 On certain parts of it, there's a lot -- there's a lot of -- I mean, it's a whole ecosystem. 00:22:31.360 --> 00:22:34.360 We're just one sliver of it, really. 00:22:34.360 --> 00:22:37.360 And then we can also look at inside the warehouses as well. 00:22:37.360 --> 00:22:40.800 We could be looking at, you know, different types of innovations there because there's 00:22:40.800 --> 00:22:42.680 quite a bit going on. 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:47.320 Because in logistics right now, with trucking, you know, other areas, we have a severe workforce 00:22:47.320 --> 00:22:48.320 shortage. 00:22:48.320 --> 00:22:54.840 Yeah, there's a lot of due for logistic opportunities as well, but that's in the scope, but for 00:22:54.840 --> 00:22:55.840 sure. 00:22:55.840 --> 00:22:58.360 Brittany, can we get an update in December at the latest? 00:22:58.360 --> 00:22:59.360 For sure. 00:22:59.360 --> 00:23:00.360 We could do that. 00:23:00.360 --> 00:23:03.360 Yeah, so we can do the help as you develop more and more ideas. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:04.360 We love help. 00:23:04.360 --> 00:23:09.480 So we have a meeting with head of Gregory, Jamie Adams, and Dr. Pollin every two weeks 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:11.120 right now to try to get this in order. 00:23:11.120 --> 00:23:12.120 So we'll update you. 00:23:12.120 --> 00:23:16.600 Clearly, I see the airport as part of this deal, and you know, we have grown out to where 00:23:16.600 --> 00:23:19.920 we can handle a number of additional capacities. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:25.240 We need the west access road out there, but that's coming. 00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:26.240 I agree. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:27.240 All of them rhymed, for sure. 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:28.240 I told him about it. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:29.240 He was excited. 00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:30.240 All right. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:31.240 Excellent. 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:32.240 Well, thank you very much. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.240 Thank you so much for your time. 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:34.240 Thank you. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:35.240 All right. 00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:36.240 We're going to move on to the next item. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:47.040 We'll call item BED25-024, receive a report, hold discussion, and give staff feedback regarding 00:23:47.040 --> 00:23:50.120 the City of Denton utility billing programs. 00:23:50.120 --> 00:23:58.080 Chair recognizes Krista Foster to present on this item. 00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:08.760 All right, so first off, thank you for having me today, dear members. 00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:15.560 I'm Krista Foster, customer service manager, and we're going to talk about a recent review, 00:24:15.560 --> 00:24:18.680 like business review that we did in our billing and collections. 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:23.800 So council approved funding for us to have a review done by an outside consultant to 00:24:23.800 --> 00:24:29.280 ensure that we are being competitive and efficient in the way that we're carrying on operations. 00:24:29.280 --> 00:24:33.120 What we're going to talk about today is a very high level overview of the benchmarking 00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:38.880 and the revenue trends, our commercial deposit policies, payment arrangement policies, leak 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:39.880 adjustment policies. 00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:44.520 Then we'll just do a quick summary and that will take any questions that you have. 00:24:44.520 --> 00:24:50.880 So as far as benchmarking and revenue trending, you can see that Denton performs very favorably 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.240 against the industry. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:58.560 We exceed the industry in our bad debt numbers being lowest, our aged revenue, as well as 00:24:58.560 --> 00:25:00.480 our average time to collect. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:05.320 And you'll notice over time, our performance is consistent. 00:25:05.320 --> 00:25:11.680 You can see that the anomalies are related to the pandemic and when the pandemic occurred. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:16.440 As for commercial deposits, the consultant reviewed our policy as well as those against 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:22.840 other benchmark cities and determined that our way that we calculate deposits is consistent. 00:25:22.840 --> 00:25:28.600 The return of deposit interest is consistent with peers, but we are not aligned with other 00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:31.080 cities in the retention period. 00:25:31.080 --> 00:25:36.920 So most of those return within one to two years and that our ordinance, the way it's 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:40.560 written requires manual screening of all deposits. 00:25:40.560 --> 00:25:45.840 So the recommendation that we're bringing forward and again, any recommendations that 00:25:45.840 --> 00:25:52.680 we're making as it relates to commercial deposits to leak adjustment or to pay agreements 00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:56.760 is specifically consultant and customer service recommendations. 00:25:56.760 --> 00:26:04.000 Obviously, they will require counsel direction and legal input, so they may change slightly. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:10.640 So what we're recommending is keeping our residential deposits refunded at 12 months, 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:14.760 changing our commercial refunds so that they will occur at 24 months because currently 00:26:14.760 --> 00:26:17.360 they are held for the lifetime of the account. 00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:21.880 So we're going to be looking at refunding those as long as those customers have any 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:26.360 credit rating and they've had no disconnections, they haven't been tampered with the meter 00:26:26.360 --> 00:26:31.800 and the account is current when we go in to do the reviews. 00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:37.320 Payment arrangements, we found that the calculation date that we're using to come up with a due 00:26:37.320 --> 00:26:42.320 date for pay arrangements is manual, so it's more time consuming and it's a little more 00:26:42.320 --> 00:26:43.320 prone to errors. 00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:49.360 And our eligibility and administration is a bit restrictive because we only allow one 00:26:49.360 --> 00:26:53.600 adjustment or arrangement per six month period. 00:26:53.600 --> 00:26:59.740 And then any deviation to the guidelines for pay agreements would require counsel intervention. 00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:04.440 So the recommendation that's being made is to change the due date for a short-term pay 00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:09.360 arrangement to match the due date of the current bill that would be printed on the bill to 00:27:09.360 --> 00:27:14.640 remove the restriction on the number of arrangements someone can request. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:21.600 But instead, if the arrangements are not being kept, then we would suspend access to that 00:27:21.600 --> 00:27:22.600 program temporarily. 00:27:22.600 --> 00:27:28.400 Then we're looking at updating the ordinance so that we can authorize the program authority 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:33.600 to the city manager, give discretion to the head of customer service, and still ensure 00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:41.400 that counsel gets to review prior to any formalized changes to the program. 00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:46.000 And for our leak adjustment program, we found that we weren't aligned with some of the 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:52.920 other benchmark cities in that the ordinance is hard-coded, which means, again, any deviations 00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:59.160 to those programs would require counsel intervention, and that we had a shorter filing time and 00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:03.440 our policy was restrictive compared to some other cities. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:10.000 So we also had no consideration for AMI metering that's coming in place with water, then low 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:15.760 customer eligibility, and there was some language in there that inadvertently excludes renters, 00:28:15.760 --> 00:28:17.860 so we need to correct that. 00:28:17.860 --> 00:28:25.640 So our recommendation is that we're going to remove the 100,000-gallon cap for residential 00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:27.060 customers. 00:28:27.060 --> 00:28:32.440 We are adding a provision for outdoor elements like sprinklers and pools that they will be 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:37.720 covered at a lower rate, and they will cap at 5,000 gallons excess. 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:44.000 We're going to increase our submission deadline to 60 days, and then, again, for the ordinance, 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.760 we're looking at updating the language for renters, authorizing program authority to 00:28:48.760 --> 00:28:54.040 the city manager, discretion to the head of customer service, ensure counsel has opportunity 00:28:54.040 --> 00:28:59.440 for review before formalized changes, and add provisional language for water AMI. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:06.020 And, again, all of these things have to go through legal, after-counsel direction, so 00:29:06.020 --> 00:29:08.960 they could look different. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:15.360 And with that, summarizing it is that Denton is performing very favorably against the industry 00:29:15.360 --> 00:29:20.880 in our collections and billing, and then we're going to be taking those recommendations to 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:25.680 counsel so that we can have better agility and flexibility for commercial deposits, pay 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.480 arrangements, and make adjustments. 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:32.120 And with that, does anyone have any questions? 00:29:32.120 --> 00:29:37.320 I like your new bills. 00:29:37.320 --> 00:29:38.320 Thank you. 00:29:38.320 --> 00:29:44.120 And at least the perforation is on one of the folds, instead of half. 00:29:44.120 --> 00:29:48.080 We worked very hard on that, didn't we? 00:29:48.080 --> 00:29:49.920 I have one question. 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:57.000 The benchmark cities, we know what those were, and were they regional? 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:03.800 The reason I'm kind of asking that question is it's good to always benchmark nationwide 00:30:03.800 --> 00:30:07.080 and even Texas, but you kind of compete regionally. 00:30:07.080 --> 00:30:08.080 Correct. 00:30:08.080 --> 00:30:11.120 So do we know what cities were included in that regionally? 00:30:11.120 --> 00:30:18.720 The full list is in the study that was one of the backup attachments; however, it included 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:26.720 Garland, it included Fort Worth, I believe it included Sanger because they also had electric. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:34.480 Alice, Carrollton, Lewisville, San Marcos, Austin, San Antonio, so it was a good selection 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:35.480 of pure groups. 00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:46.600 As you make information for the AMI metering, what kind of impact did you see on how things 00:30:46.600 --> 00:30:49.480 operate now versus how would that change? 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:54.520 Well, we anticipate that with AMI metering coming in, we'll be able to actually look 00:30:54.520 --> 00:31:01.480 at the flow data to determine more specifically a time period of this is when the leak started, 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:06.480 this is when the leak ended, rather than having to go just based off of average consumption 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:08.560 over historical usage and things like that. 00:31:08.560 --> 00:31:11.800 It will give us more concrete information to work from. 00:31:11.800 --> 00:31:17.400 So as far as waste and reduction of waste or even just targeting, right, being more 00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:22.000 at the bullseye, any ideas of what we can expect from them? 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.240 I mean, it seems like it's in the direction we're going, but I'm not necessarily seeing 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:30.920 or hearing where this is not the topic or maybe the day for the topic, but how we're 00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:34.800 moving forward with it and how can it, you know, we're looking to figure out where to 00:31:34.800 --> 00:31:35.800 eliminate waste, right. 00:31:35.800 --> 00:31:40.880 And right now, if you have a smart thermostat and you show up at home in the middle of the 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:47.960 day, it's 76 or 78, and it affects your electric bill, but it also affects the load for the 00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:48.960 city, right. 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:54.480 I see Tony coming because this is really more of the water department's thing, so I may 00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:55.480 not have those answers. 00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:56.480 That's okay. 00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:57.480 Curious. 00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:58.480 Good afternoon. 00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:05.000 Tony Quent, the DME General Manager at Alverson Customer Service. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:10.160 First of all, so the AMI that we're talking about is on the water side. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:16.160 DME converted to AMI probably over a decade ago, and so, and that's worked really well 00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:17.160 for us. 00:32:17.160 --> 00:32:22.960 On the water side, if I remember the study that was done, it protected about a 15 to 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:23.960 20% recovery. 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:29.560 So in essence, what happens with these mechanical meters as they begin to fail, they don't record 00:32:29.560 --> 00:32:30.560 the full water usage. 00:32:30.560 --> 00:32:35.420 So the very first thing that you see when you convert to a water AMI is people's bills 00:32:35.420 --> 00:32:41.360 tends to go up, and that's because these meters tend to record a lot faster and more accurate 00:32:41.360 --> 00:32:44.800 and all of that, but we see those leaks a lot faster, right. 00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:53.480 And so it's about 15 to 20% type of recovery that we would see. 00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:57.760 Thank you. 00:32:57.760 --> 00:33:05.200 What interest were receiving and giving back on the certificates? 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:11.480 So we are still working up numbers on the deposit interest and the deposits that will 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:16.640 be refunded, but it would be a fairly significant amount during the first year, but I can get 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:19.160 the numbers and provide them back to Matilda. 00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:26.200 I think a lot of small businesses are wondering what happens to that money and then when they're 00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:29.200 going to get it back and what interest rates it's going to be. 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:35.600 We actually apply the interest every six months with the rate that is the federal rate, and 00:33:35.600 --> 00:33:41.520 then we apply that and keep it in an account so that our calculations so that we know and 00:33:41.520 --> 00:33:43.880 they're getting the actual interest rates. 00:33:43.880 --> 00:33:49.760 I think a move of a cash deposit will accept a letter of credit. 00:33:49.760 --> 00:33:51.800 Yes, a new revocable letter of credit. 00:33:51.800 --> 00:33:56.440 Is it possible for the city, this is probably a Scott Bray question actually, but the city 00:33:56.440 --> 00:34:00.600 to create a standardized letter of credit form because I know that for a lot of the 00:34:00.600 --> 00:34:04.960 businesses the back and forth takes more time and going to the bank, from the bank, to the 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:06.560 bank, to you all getting it approved. 00:34:06.560 --> 00:34:14.400 Is there a possibility of a standardized letter of credit form that is accessible should they 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:15.400 be interested in that? 00:34:15.400 --> 00:34:18.400 I know that's come up in the past. 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:24.000 I would defer to customer service on whether they want to do that and their accounts, but 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:29.600 I think a lot of banks have their own requirements for those as well. 00:34:29.600 --> 00:34:34.960 When this has come up in the past, we have taken that through our legal team and legal's 00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:38.400 recommendation was not to provide something standardized. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:42.960 We can certainly as we go back discussing these things again, bring it back up, but 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:50.120 as of today, that was the direction that we never seek. 00:34:50.120 --> 00:34:57.040 Maybe in lieu of a standard, could there be a criteria document to kind of help? 00:34:57.040 --> 00:35:00.040 I will make sure that I bring that up and we're sticking to it. 00:35:00.040 --> 00:35:04.760 That might keep it going back, keep the back and forth to a minimum. 00:35:04.760 --> 00:35:08.280 Releasing that letter of credit in the same timeframe instead of that you're revocable, 00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:15.960 releasing it at the same time if they need the requirements. 00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:16.960 Any other questions? 00:35:16.960 --> 00:35:17.960 All right. 00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:20.960 Thank you so much for your time. 00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:21.960 Thank you. 00:35:21.960 --> 00:35:30.640 We're going to move on to the next item, item C, EDP 25-026, receive various staff reports. 00:35:30.640 --> 00:35:35.640 Good afternoon Board of Directors, Courtney Sotelo, Economic Development Director. 00:35:35.640 --> 00:35:38.640 I hope you had a great month of August. 00:35:38.640 --> 00:35:45.200 Have good news, Ditten was ranked as number nine best real estate markets in the U.S. 00:35:45.200 --> 00:35:46.200 by Wallet Hub. 00:35:46.200 --> 00:35:51.560 It's a financial online platform that tends to rank cities throughout the U.S. and so 00:35:51.560 --> 00:35:57.120 our competitors are some of our local cities, ranked as number one, McKinney, Bridgerton 00:35:57.120 --> 00:36:04.320 number five, and Briscoe number six, and we're at number nine, not too shabby in the United 00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:05.320 States. 00:36:05.320 --> 00:36:10.240 For our partner visits and training for the month of August, the Texas Main Street Staff 00:36:10.240 --> 00:36:16.320 came down to visit our Ditten Main Street Association, our city manager's office and 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:17.320 our team. 00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:21.640 Kristin Folio, our Main Street Manager, a manager that visits, I want her to come and 00:36:21.640 --> 00:36:23.640 speak about hot wind. 00:36:23.640 --> 00:36:24.640 Sure. 00:36:24.640 --> 00:36:29.520 Good morning, Kristin Folio, Main Street Program Manager. 00:36:29.520 --> 00:36:35.000 So as you all probably knew from our previous meeting, Ditten Main Street Program did receive 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.640 their accreditation and that's based on 10 performance metrics aligning with our four 00:36:40.640 --> 00:36:44.120 point approach of economic vitality, design, promotion, and organization. 00:36:44.120 --> 00:36:48.280 Again, Main Street is a preservation based economic development tool. 00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:53.120 I do want to share some very specific facts with that site visit. 00:36:53.120 --> 00:37:00.360 There are 82 Main Street programs across Texas and 73 of those programs are municipal municipality 00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:04.720 programs, so the majority sit under the city. 00:37:04.720 --> 00:37:09.800 Ditten is in the top five of the largest Main Street communities, so part of their visit 00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:13.400 was to discuss what an urban Main Street program looks like. 00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:20.480 So, Texas Main Street is very aware of our issues and our struggles within an urban program 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:25.440 and so, Texas Main Street and the Main Street America program are all working together to 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:28.720 figure out what an urban Main Street program looks like. 00:37:28.720 --> 00:37:34.040 We also reviewed our Ditten Main Street Program transformation strategy and work plan and 00:37:34.040 --> 00:37:39.200 so when we want to do a quarterly Main Street update, I can share that with you all and 00:37:39.200 --> 00:37:40.200 what that looks like. 00:37:40.200 --> 00:37:47.300 The two main goals right now are placemaking and community serving with a heavy emphasis 00:37:47.300 --> 00:37:52.920 on business recruitment right now and then another interesting fact is that we are one 00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:58.560 of three Main Street communities that have received the Great American Main Street Award. 00:37:58.560 --> 00:38:04.920 Dennis and Jeff's received theirs and so, Texas Main Street, Texas Historical Commission 00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:09.880 and Main Street America, we're all working together on how we can kind of promote that 00:38:09.880 --> 00:38:14.400 Great American Main Street Award and then again, being a Main Street community, we have 00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:20.120 access to small business webinars, we've been kind of with our downtown lowdown newsletter, 00:38:20.120 --> 00:38:23.880 pushing some of those webinars out for our small businesses just as another resource 00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:28.880 and tool and then grants for our small businesses being part of Main Street. 00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:33.720 We partnered with our transportation department on GM on Main Street grant, we did not receive 00:38:33.720 --> 00:38:39.280 it this year, but hopefully we can try again next year, but having access to all of those 00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:42.280 grants and funding opportunities for our city. 00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:51.000 So, in addition, I am conducting a meeting held by the North Texas Commission, it's a 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:55.880 business trade association in North Texas and they invited all the regional NDCs to come 00:38:55.880 --> 00:39:00.440 and speak to learn more about the World Cup that will be hosted in the United States next 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:01.440 year. 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:07.400 So, there will be several host cities in the United States including three in DFW, so we're 00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:11.800 hoping to become a host city where we're working closely with Jeff Pritz, who's over at NDC 00:39:11.800 --> 00:39:16.840 Suites and UNT and I know Jamie Adams is working with him as well, but the goal of 00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:21.920 this meeting was to see how we could coordinate or host businesses that will be potentially 00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:25.840 sponsoring those teams as they come to the states. 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:33.080 Erica attended a North Central Texas Cog Economic Development District Board meeting, she serves 00:39:33.080 --> 00:39:37.960 as our representative on that board, so thank you for attending. 00:39:37.960 --> 00:39:43.320 Our staff also attended a few webinars and Matilda attended a Public Works Ride Along, 00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:47.620 so occasionally our colleagues in different departments will let us ride along with them 00:39:47.620 --> 00:39:52.240 for a few hours to learn more about what they do, so Matilda attended the Public Works session, 00:39:52.240 --> 00:39:55.320 she said she had a great time. 00:39:55.320 --> 00:40:01.080 For our August recruitment stats, we have 29 active projects, within that pipeline we 00:40:01.080 --> 00:40:06.640 have a little over 3,800 potential jobs and $6.5 billion in capital investment. 00:40:06.640 --> 00:40:11.760 For August we had eight new leads, four that were direct, three from the broker and one 00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:15.640 that was from a recruitment outreach email that Clay sent out to the business. 00:40:15.640 --> 00:40:19.920 We had one incentive application and one recruitment visit. 00:40:19.920 --> 00:40:25.080 We had four leads lost, and so we moved two to our cold pipeline because typically we 00:40:25.080 --> 00:40:29.280 don't hear back from a company within six to eight months, we add them to cold because 00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:31.400 we're not considered active. 00:40:31.400 --> 00:40:34.080 And then we moved two to our business support pipeline. 00:40:34.080 --> 00:40:38.840 So typically when a business reaches out, they intend to expand or they intend to apply 00:40:38.840 --> 00:40:42.400 for incentives and that may not happen, they may just expand or they may not only need 00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:47.440 our help for a few tasks and so we're moving those to our business support pipeline. 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:52.640 And Clay reached out to 102 businesses during last month, so he's got a really good email 00:40:52.640 --> 00:41:01.360 system, email blast system that he targets to several businesses throughout the U.S. 00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:06.000 For our downtown stats, we had three business retention expansion visits, two new leads 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:11.360 for our downtown reinvestment grant program, and we had 11 leads lost, two are no longer 00:41:11.360 --> 00:41:16.680 moving forward with the expansion, six are cold, and three did not qualify for the downtown 00:41:16.680 --> 00:41:17.680 reinvestment grant. 00:41:17.680 --> 00:41:23.720 And we also had 12 recruitment outreach emails. 00:41:23.720 --> 00:41:29.160 For the RFIs, we had six that we received, we submitted four, we did not submit on two 00:41:29.160 --> 00:41:31.040 and we had zero lead conversions. 00:41:31.040 --> 00:41:35.400 And the majority of those leads came from the governor's office and the ones that we 00:41:35.400 --> 00:41:41.040 did submit had a total potential capital investment of $625 million and 652 jobs. 00:41:41.040 --> 00:41:45.200 So for the year, we've submitted a total of 45 RFIs. 00:41:45.200 --> 00:41:48.560 These are music and film, they're all in, no one's alive. 00:41:48.560 --> 00:41:55.040 Hello everyone, I don't have much from an update this month. 00:41:55.040 --> 00:42:01.760 We had zero film permits for August, now school is back in session and I've already started 00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:06.280 to receive some student film inquiries, so that number will go up. 00:42:06.280 --> 00:42:09.280 I went to the Didn't Film Meetup. 00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:15.400 This gentleman here was collective co-creator of media in Denton, hosts eats occasionally 00:42:15.400 --> 00:42:19.720 and they're always very well attended and it's a really good way for me to get to know 00:42:19.720 --> 00:42:22.200 people living and working in the film industry in Denton. 00:42:22.200 --> 00:42:27.840 There was about 20 people there and this one was kind of show and tell themed, so people 00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:31.880 were pitching their ideas and seeing if anyone else wanted to help. 00:42:31.880 --> 00:42:36.260 So that was fun to see what people have been working on. 00:42:36.260 --> 00:42:42.240 And then the Live Music Society released a toolbox grant, it's $10,000. 00:42:42.240 --> 00:42:50.320 So I shared that with our venues as well and one of them is confirmed to have applied, 00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:53.320 so hopefully that works out. 00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:54.320 Thank you. 00:42:54.320 --> 00:43:01.320 All right, for past upcoming events, for the month of August, our team with Denton infrastructure 00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:06.600 summit in Irving, the Data Center Investment Conference Expo in Dallas and Clay attended 00:43:06.600 --> 00:43:12.000 the Taiwan Expo in Dallas as well, the governor's office, their economic development team were 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:16.160 there and Clay was able to contact them. 00:43:16.160 --> 00:43:20.000 Our team hosted a fire suppression workshop, so Chris and Matilda led that effort and at 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.160 the very bottom picture you can see a few people showed up for those, for that workshop 00:43:24.160 --> 00:43:30.360 and on the 26th we hosted a downtown safety meeting in partnership with Community Services 00:43:30.360 --> 00:43:36.160 with our Police Department and our Parks and Rec Department to collaborate on future initiatives 00:43:36.160 --> 00:43:41.520 and just kind of learn about our existing resources for downtown. 00:43:41.520 --> 00:43:46.320 And for September, this Saturday, as Dr. Pollan mentioned, there is the National Security 00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:51.720 Cyberland and ARC Space Summit that Matilda and I will attend, so we do work overtime 00:43:51.720 --> 00:43:56.080 on Saturday, just want to note that, but we think it's important to network with the folks 00:43:56.080 --> 00:43:59.840 that will be attending and try to generate some leads. 00:43:59.840 --> 00:44:05.080 On the 16th, Clay and I will attend the IC3 Life Science and Healthcare Innovation Summit. 00:44:05.080 --> 00:44:11.120 We look forward to learning more about biotech and exploring opportunities for Denton. 00:44:11.120 --> 00:44:15.880 And as a reminder, on the 24th we have the Denton Job Fair, the second job fair for the 00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:16.880 year. 00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:22.760 Christina Davis in the chamber are coordinating on this event and I believe there was about 00:44:22.760 --> 00:44:24.760 46 businesses already signed up. 00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:33.640 We actually have, as of this morning, we have 51 and 176 job seekers have already pre-registered. 00:44:33.640 --> 00:44:34.640 That's great. 00:44:34.640 --> 00:44:38.440 So kudos to them for planning the second one this year, looking forward to seeing how that 00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:39.440 turns out. 00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:44.800 And on October 23rd, we are working with TWU to host the Governor's Small Business Summit 00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:45.800 that is women-focused. 00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:51.800 Both of our offices applied to host this summit with the governor's office and they said y'all 00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:54.800 can coordinate together, we'll host it in Denton and it's going to be women-focused. 00:44:54.800 --> 00:45:00.280 So we're working on finalizing the agenda right now and once we get that finalized we'll 00:45:00.280 --> 00:45:01.280 send it to you. 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:06.240 So if you have any team members or if you would like to attend, please let us know. 00:45:06.240 --> 00:45:09.240 And that is it. 00:45:09.240 --> 00:45:12.240 Any questions? 00:45:12.240 --> 00:45:31.240 All right, the other item we have is future agenda items, the calls for future agenda 00:45:31.240 --> 00:45:32.240 items. 00:45:32.240 --> 00:45:38.880 So for the month of October, it's not listed on this sheet but we do have an attendance 00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:47.240 presentation update and that's to identify attendance policies for our board and we have 00:45:47.240 --> 00:45:51.800 the STO contract that we'll bring forward with you and we, our guest speaker, will be 00:45:51.800 --> 00:45:54.800 Dawn McCary with the UNT Murphy Center. 00:45:54.800 --> 00:45:59.400 We hope to continue hosting guest speakers so that y'all can meet with some of our resource 00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:03.240 partners that we're meeting with and we're collaborating on instead of you hearing maybe 00:46:03.240 --> 00:46:05.240 a once-in-a-summer in front of me every month. 00:46:05.240 --> 00:46:15.360 All right, does the board have any other business to discuss for suggestions on what we should 00:46:15.360 --> 00:46:18.360 discuss in the next meeting? 00:46:18.360 --> 00:46:26.440 For future agenda items, do we need to put nominations in the committee necklace? 00:46:26.440 --> 00:46:34.720 Yes, so last night Councilmember Duster made a two-minute pitch or I believe it was for 00:46:34.720 --> 00:46:35.720 board uniformity. 00:46:35.720 --> 00:46:41.400 So we're looking into what that means and so that will be coming up as soon as possible. 00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:45.600 It is our time of year to be doing it and when we send in a nomination I just want to 00:46:45.600 --> 00:46:47.080 knock it off on our side also. 00:46:47.080 --> 00:46:48.080 Got it, got it. 00:46:48.080 --> 00:46:56.480 So yeah, we'll put that on a future agenda once we understand the timing of that. 00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:57.480 Perfect. 00:46:57.480 --> 00:47:05.680 All right, our next EDP meeting is scheduled to be on October 8th, 2025 at 11. 00:47:05.680 --> 00:47:10.760 Please let staff know if you're not able to attend the meeting, submit your notification 00:47:10.760 --> 00:47:12.760 of absence online. 00:47:12.760 --> 00:47:17.880 If there is no other business, I will adjourn the meeting at 11.52. 00:47:17.880 --> 00:47:18.880 Thank y'all. 00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:19.880 Good day. 00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:20.880 Good day. 00:47:20.880 --> 00:47:20.880 All right.