Good morning, everyone. My name is John Baines, CPA, and I have the pleasure of presiding
over the November 11, 2020 Economic Development Partnership Board meeting. We'd like to welcome
the listening audience as well as all of the attendees today. We do have a decent-sized
agenda. So, the first item on the agenda is EDP 20-51, consider the approval of the minutes
of October 14, 2020. And before we do that, there is one procedural item I did need to
mention. We do have a board member that will need to abstain from one of the items that
are on the agenda for today. And the procedure for that will be he will turn off his screen,
his microphone, and then he will rejoin us once that particular item has been covered
and addressed appropriately. So, with that being said, let us all turn our attention
to the minutes that were presented to everyone in advance, and see if we have any feedback
on that item. John, Keely is – you may not be able to see her.
I can't see. Let's see. The view is. It's okay. It's everyone's really, really small
on some screen. Keely, you have a – I do not have a clarification or comment. I was
just going to move approval if there were no other comments on the minutes.
Okay. We have a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Do we have a second?
Second. Okay. We have a second by Mark McClellan.
Do we have any discussion? Hearing none, I believe the procedure is that we do a visual
confirmation or approval. So, all in favor of approving the minutes as presented, we're
going to go through and do a roll call. Keely?
Yes. Let's see. Mark?
Okay. Mark is yes. Yes. Sorry.
Thank you. Jason Tomlinson? Yes. Jimmy? Yes. Jessie? Aye. Jill Jester? Aye.
Let's see. Lee Ramsey? Aye. Okay. Did I miss anyone?
Yourself. Okay. John Baines approves the minutes as presented.
Are there any extension? I guess we're unanimous. There's no nos and no extensions then. Okay.
Excellent. So, that moves us then to the next agenda item. EDP 20-052, receive a report,
hold a discussion, and appoint or reappoint members of the Downtown Economic Development
Committee. And who will be responsible for that presentation?
That's me. And luckily, there's no presentation for this item. I just wanted to remind the
board at our last meeting, we did not appoint the EDPB representative that serves on the
Downtown Economic Development Committee. Included in your packet is the policy that outlines
the selection of an EDP member to serve as the chair of the Downtown Economic Development
Committee. And just as a reminder, that board meets on the first Thursday of every month
at 830 in the morning. Meetings typically last about 30 to 45 minutes, sometimes an
hour if there's downtown grant applications to review. But typically, they're focused
on those downtown items and have a great diverse group of people that serve on that and give
us wonderful input when we need it. And so, we are asking for a representative from the
EDP to serve on that board for the policy. And I sent out an email earlier this month
or maybe even in October, gauging interest. And I only had one kind of respond back, but
I'll leave it up to the board certainly to talk about what interests you might have or
what other board members might be interested in serving.
Do we have any volunteers? So procedurally, Jessica, if we have no one that has either
the time or the interest, how will we handle that?
I think at this point, if there is no interest for someone to serve on the EDP board, the
vice chair of that board could continue to serve as the acting chair. I would just point
out that the policy as adopted does state that the EDP would appoint the chair. So that
board would simply operate without a chair until one would be appointed. So we would
likely want to bring this back to the board in the future. And I'm sorry, Council Member
Davis is raising his hand. Okay. I'm sorry, I can't see everybody at the
same time. So please forgive my lack of dexterity here. Let's see. Councilman Davis. Yes, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If there's really nobody from the board who wants to do it, I'm happy
to fill the role. My preference would be that a council member not kind of do double duty
in that way, that a member of the community do that. But if there's really nobody else
on the EDP board who's got the time or inclination to do it, I'm happy to fill the role until
someone comes along. It's whatever the board would like to do.
I would appreciate Councilman Davis stepping up to the plate. Thank you very, very much.
I have filled this role in the past. It's a great discussion of a lot of intelligent,
knowledgeable people in the area. Unfortunately, I do not have the time at this time, but I
know everyone would appreciate it. Thank you, Councilperson Davis.
So procedurally, how will we handle that, Jessica, since we have Councilman Davis interested
in filling that role temporarily? If it's the board's will, I think we would
be looking for a motion to nominate Councilmember Davis to serve as the EDP representative.
Okay. Do we want to put the term temporary there or just as the representative?
There's no requirement that the board doesn't -- we could revisit this at any point.
Okay. Thank you. Jill, were you going to make a motion?
Yes. Please go ahead.
Please go ahead. Thank you very much.
We have a motion on the floor to appoint Councilman Davis to the chair of the downtown economic
development board and -- I'll second.
We have Councilwoman Briggs as second. Then we need to -- do we have any discussion?
Just a point of clarification. This is Mack from the city attorney's office.
This is a motion to nominate Councilmember Davis to the DEDC, but not necessarily as
chair. The DEDC selects their own chair. In fact, it will have to be someone from this
board that serves as the chair. So if he's the only person by default, he will become
the chair. But this is just an appointment to him to
the board, not necessarily naming him the chair. The DEDC will select their own chair.
Thank you, Mack. So we have a motion and a second, and we need to take a roll call.
Let's see. Councilwoman Briggs?
Yes. Councilman Davis?
Aye. Councilor Jester?
Aye. Let's see. Jason Tomlinson?
Aye. Jimmy Mejia?
Yes. Mark McClellan?
Aye. Lee Ramsey?
Aye. Okay. Did I miss anyone other than myself?
I'm going to say aye. Did we get everyone?
Yes, sir. That's everyone. Okay. All right. So I believe we have an unanimous
appointment there for Councilman Davis. No need to nose nays or extensions.
Okay. So we completed EDP 20-053. Now we'll go to EDP 20-054, receive a report, hold a
discussion and give staff direction regarding a program agreement with Hickory and Rail
Ventures LLC for the management and operation of Stoke Denton, and this is the particular
item where -- I'm sorry, Chair. We skipped an item.
Did we skip one? Yes. We should have 20-053, which is the business
retention and expansion plan. Excuse me. My mistake. Thank you.
EDP 20-053, receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff direction regarding a business
retention and expansion program plan for economic development. And who might be the presenter
on that? On this one, we have Kay Patrick, who is our
wonderful business development administrator. Okay. Ms. Patrick?
Let me expand your faces so I can see your reactions as I read the presentation.
This program is a build out to the outline that was presented to you all back in October
based on the questions and feedback that we received, and we received few, so we're hoping
that that was a sign that you all were happy with what we presented in regards to the outline,
because this program -- the final draft of the program is a build out of that outline
that was presented, and you all received the actual document in your packet.
The presentation is going to follow that document, but there's some items in the presentation.
I mean, in the document, they're not in the presentation, so if you have any questions
regarding the actual document, we're prepared to answer those questions as well.
So the program goals did not change from the outline. Just focusing on building relationships
with our local businesses and employers in order to provide better information to our
stakeholders and local leaders on our business climate in the city of Denton, as well as
fostering more employment opportunities through expansion and job growth, and building a more
cohesive approach to providing business support to the businesses in our community, and then
being intentional about supporting minority and historically underutilized businesses.
The short-term objectives and long-term objectives also did not change. We're still focusing
on the businesses and efforts. One of the things that we're working on currently is
building that inventory of existing businesses. We're going to utilize that database not to
just make contact with the businesses for our visits, but to also contact them -- and
Dan, our economic development analyst, is doing a great job, and one of the columns
in that information is the area of the city that those businesses are in. So if there's
an issue, a road closure that may affect their business, a water main break, or anything
that may be pertaining to their area, we will also make contact with them. So this database
is going to be useful in us communicating to our businesses in the long-term currently.
And then also our long-term objectives, just one, positioning our businesses to be more
competitive, not just locally, but regionally, and then establishing a plan that allows them
to grow, not just in the now, but in the future, especially if they are a startup business.
For the business visit, we have a process in place, and we will take that business and
we're going to discuss on the next slide the selection process, but we want to initially
make an introductory contact once we determine what businesses we're going to visit, and
just making contact, my name is Kaye, Jessica, this is what we're doing, and then what we
want to do is reach out to approximately 20 to 25 businesses per size, and hope that the
response rate will get us to the 10 to 15 targeted number, and then after that we will
provide them with a pre-survey. That pre-survey will provide us with the information that
will assist us in determining what organizations or other business industry partners we should
bring on the visit. If they are having workforce issues, we will bring in a workforce partner.
If it's a startup and they are wanting some information to expanding their business or
regarding training, we may bring in, you know, maybe a Stoke or T.W. or the Chamber or someone,
so that pre-survey is going to assist us in preparing for our actual visit. In your packet,
you received a copy of the Exhibit A in the program plan is the actual survey form that
we have, and then the follow-up will be not just for the businesses that presented a concern
or a red flag, but also as a thank you to participating and providing the information
that they do. A lot of businesses are very guarded with the information and sometimes
reluctant to participate, so we will definitely thank them for their participation. The visit
cycle and based on the timeline that will be presented to you all shortly will start
in January, and so, of course, initially the visits will be virtually, and I think that's
really going to open up an opportunity for us to bring in some other individuals that
are part of those businesses that may not necessarily be local, so if there's an opportunity
for expansion in regards to a headquarter relocation or something, we can possibly bring
in someone from corporate on their virtual meeting, and that's an opportunity that we
may not have if we were conducting them face-to-face, so just looking at the virtual need right
now and the position that we're in in a positive way. And then in regards to who will be attending
those visits, someone from our team, I will be attending every visit, and then per Jessica,
if you want someone else to attend those visits, they will attend as well, and then determining,
like I said from the pre-survey, what other industry partners in the community and organizations
that provide resources to our businesses should we bring in on those visits. The selection
process is going to be based on a variety of goals and targets, goals of the council,
goals of this board, goals in the strategic plan, but we're going to base the visitations
and those who are selected on those goals, and then using the NAICS code to ensure that
we have adequate representation in diversity, not just by size, but also industry and business
type in our business selections. As I mentioned earlier, there's a timeline in that visitation
cycle. Our goal is to do the visits from January to August, and in that visitation cycle, that's
going to include any follow-up to any of the businesses that had a concern that we need
to and we may need to bring a resource to the table or introduce them to an organization
that can assist them, and then the evaluation period is going to allow us time away from
the visits to focus on evaluating not just the program and what was working, but also
the data that's collected during those visits. In the outline, when I presented in October,
I outlined some of the quantitative and qualitative measures that we're going to utilize to collect
that data, so the evaluation period is going to allow us to evaluate that data, and then
look and see what is this information telling us? Are there any trends that we need to be
paying attention to or aware of that we may not have been aware of, but those surveys
provided us with that information. Here's a list of some of the partners and local resources
that I mentioned, and some of the individuals that may be participating in our visits based
on that pre-survey or the need of those businesses. This list is not a period. It can be as long
as it needs to be just to ensure that we are aware of all the resources so that we can
make our businesses aware of those resources as well. So if you all see, know of someone
you think that should be added to the list, please let me know, and we'll be glad to add
them to this resource list. Here is the activities and initiatives list. When we presented in
October, this list did not change. I did add disaster recovery assistance to this, and
that is going to be not just assisting the business once they're in the middle of a disaster
like COVID, but to prepare them in advance for that and build some resiliency. So if
they happen to go through this type of pandemic or knock on wood or tornado hits or something
in the nature, we are equipped to assist them, but they also are aware of what they should
do in the instance that they are, we actually are in the middle of a disaster in order to
sustain their business. Again, here is some information that we're going to be collecting
to measure the success of our program, but also again to visit what the business climate
is in Denton and to determine if there's any trends or anything that we should be paying
attention to that we may not be aware of in the community. And then during the evaluation
period, like I mentioned, we're going to be collecting that data, but that data is going
to provide us with the information, and then what we're going to do is we're going to put
together some periodic reports and report those back to you all and to City Council
and other stakeholders and investors in the public that may need to be aware of what's
taking place and be privy to the information that we've collected during that visitation
cycle and what we've discovered during the evaluation, during the evaluation period.
So that is all I have in regards to the presentation. Again, you already see the actual plan in
your packet, so if you have any questions on the presentation or the actual document
and plan that you receive, we are prepared to answer those questions.
I do have several questions, but I wanted to defer to any of the other committee members
to see if they had questions. I did not want to dominate the conversation.
Okay. I see Councilwoman Briggs.
Yes, sir. Thank you. Just two questions. One on who could attend before there were invites
to the council members in each district to attend. Is that still going to be a policy
or something that we're going to do? I know that it was helpful for the council member
of that district to learn about the business and also for the business to know who their
representative is. Right. I think that that's important. A great
question. We did make a shift kind of away from those council member visits. For the
bulk of these visits, our goal is kind of information gathering, really focused on business
climate. Our staff is always here to help facilitate those business as the council members
are available, but certainly sometimes trying to schedule four or five people schedules
plus the business schedules gets very difficult. We want to make sure that these visits that
Kay is discussing are focused on those resources and making sure that those kind of resource
visits are happening. We'll continue to facilitate visits for council members sort of as part
of this process, but not necessarily every single one of these visits. We're definitely
expanding and really going to have a robust meeting schedule. It will probably take all
of our team dividing and conquering to get the visits done that we want to get done.
It's a little bit of a change, but we're certainly here to still help facilitate those.
Okay. Thank you. And just one more question. Under activities and initiatives, I think it's
page five, there's an item here. It says establishing a MWBE vendor policy within the city. Is that
a vendor policy? How I read it for local businesses and other businesses within the city to do
business with a city. Is that how I'm reading that? Yes, ma'am. That's correct. I think
that's fantastic. That's a good idea. Thank you. Do we have any other questions before
I ask mine? I did not want to dominate the conversation. I think we have Lee raising
his hand. Okay. Lee Ramsey. Yes. Thank you. Just one thought. I think this is a good step
to start engaging, but one thought we may think about is maybe doing business sector
meetings so that we don't get a specific, because if you just meet with one business
and get feedback from that one business in that sector, that could be a very well-run
business in the sector or very poorly run business in that sector. So we may not get
the feedback we need from one specific business. So maybe not as part of this, but as part
of as you step this plan after you get through the first year, something we may need to think
about is getting sectors like our manufacturing sector, our technology sector, construction
sector, whatever that may be, real estate, banking, and seeing if we can get some of
those meetings and round tables. And then we could kind of dial down from those sector
meetings to say, okay, who needs the help? And could there be a mentor program within
the city that we could hook up so that somehow it may be a little close, right? But where
a business can mentor another business within the city. But I think that would give you
more of what's going on in that sector rather than just one business saying, because what
we struggle with in our business may be different than what Kinky or somebody or John or somebody
that struggles with in their business. So just a thought of trying to gather the sectors
to get more feedback.
And that's a that's a great that's great input. And that is definitely something we will add
on the activities and initiatives on there. And actually in the document, when it speaks
to the networking opportunities, we wanted to actually do exactly what you're talking
about and sector those networking opportunities out. But the round table that you mentioned
is a great component to add to that. So thank you for that.
Any other questions? Okay, I have several. Okay. When I saw the survey, my my I like
the survey. But my question is, you've got small businesses, medium sized businesses
and large businesses. Then you also have like Lee was saying some businesses that are successful
and some that have been impacted by COVID-19. So, you know, trying to get a good feel for
what's going on in the areas for assistance, I think it's going to take a little work to
make sure that we get a good representation of the business community. And, you know,
not all the businesses are necessarily registered, you have a lot of unregistered businesses
here in town people that how would you say I've not taken the step from shade tree to
to help me Jessica, what's the proper term when you go from shade tree? What's the next
step? Okay. No tree established. Okay. You catch me. You catch my drill. There's a lot
of my tree knowledge is limited. I apologize. That's okay. Anyway, I just was concerned
that when I see this survey, I think then a little bit bigger than it used to be when
I first moved here. And there's a lot of variety here. And so, you know, when you're talking
about doing a good cross sampling, cross section sample, and then who's gonna who's gonna say
this is enough? Or, you know, is it going to be just city? Are you going to bring it
back to who you're gonna who you're gonna who you're gonna confer with and say, these
are the results we found. So where's that conversation going to be held?
What we when we when we do the findings from the surveys? Yes. Yeah, that's what those
periodic reports that I mentioned will be conducted and provided to the board and to
council and other stakeholders to say this is the information that we found. And we that
information can come in the variety. It can come in paper. It can come in presentation
based on the information that we gather. So when does the start date? So our goal. So
the visitation cycle is January to August, but we're already currently working to establish
that we had planned to bring it to Council just to workshop to Council in December. But
now that's looking like it's going to take place in January. But because we don't think
too much of the plan is going to change, we're going to already start working, working towards
towards that. Okay. So my next question then is this. So let's say for example, you go
out and you begin to compile your information. Have we thought about maybe a a continual
presentation versus a wait until we get everything kind of a presentation. So if you bring it
to us all at once, it may be a little bit much to absorb. But if we had it where we
could kind of digest it, you know, let's say for example, we do the large businesses and
then we evaluate that we do the medium sized businesses. And then we sit down and evaluate
that small businesses are kind of off the radar businesses, COVID businesses, kind of
that way we're having a chance to kind of digest them as we go along rather than perhaps
having too large a sample size to really evaluate the effectiveness of what's been done. So
anyway, those are just some thoughts. Yeah, great point. And Jessica and I actually discussed
and we use the term periodic there, but it's it's probably going to be geared more toward
like quarterly, which until with it being four quarters, and there being four sizes
that we have a target, we have large, medium, small startup, we may do those presentations
quarterly by size, like you mentioned, but we we didn't want to necessarily nail that
nail that down because we hadn't had necessarily had our approach to determine, but we had
already determined that periodic was going to mean quarterly, but we still use the term
periodic. Yeah, I think to answer it a little bit differently is that we intend fully to
provide regular updates and quarterly reports to this board. I'll mention it a little bit
in more detail when we get to the report item. I'll explain kind of what's changing. But
our goal is to provide as much information, you know, as we can without overburdening
the staff with preparing reports versus trying to execute on the strategy. And so we thought
quarterly is probably that happy medium. Our goal is not to withhold results. But I also
want to make everyone aware of scheduling these meetings, you know, scheduling 70 meetings,
we may not get everyone we want when we want them. And so sometimes we can't get to the
final answer until maybe later than what we intended. Sometimes I had to go off to anyone
in their career who has served as a scheduler, because let me tell you, trying to get a meeting
together is one of the most challenging things. And everyone has very important things and
they're trying to run their business. And we don't want to be an impediment to that.
And so that that's kind of our that's why we were hoping quarterly would be a good middle
of the road. Certainly, if something came up, if we got a red flag from a business that,
you know, gave us feedback that needed to be addressed immediately, we would have that
flexibility to bring it forward to this board or to counsel sooner.
Okay, excellent. Excellent. Lee Ramsey, have you ever had any scheduling issues?
I don't think so. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I had to take the chance just to
kind of tease you a little bit. I mean, when you talk about scheduling, I can't imagine
a business like yours, man, you got so many hands and feet and things flying trying to
get things done. So thank you for letting me pick on you just a little bit. Okay. Thank
you, Jessica. Thank you, Kay. Do we have any more questions or comments before we move
on to the next item? Well, thank you all. That was some great,
great questions and great feedback. This was definitely helpful.
And we would be looking for a motion to approve if it's the board's pleasure.
Okay. We're looking for a motion. So moved. Okay, that was Mark McClellan made the motion.
Okay. And then who made the second? Jill Jester made a second. Thank you. Are there any questions
before we take the vote? Okay. Hearing none, we're going to do the visual
once again. Roll call, excuse me. Keely Briggs. Yes. Mark McClellan. Yes. Lee Ramsey. Yes.
Jason Tomlinson. Yes. Jimmy Mejia. Yes. Jesse Davis. Aye. Let's see. Jill Jester. Aye. And
I believe John Baines would be the last one. Is that correct? All right. And I'm in favor
of the motion as presented. And once again, you know, this visual thing is a little hard
for me, but I think we have a majority. So there's no need to do extensions or the nays.
Okay. Let's see. Okay. EDP 20-54. Receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff
direction regarding a program agreement with Hickory and Rail Ventures LLC for the management
and operation of Stoke Denton. And this is the one item where our board member Lee Ramsey
will abstain from participation. So who will do the presentation? It will be me. And I
apologize. Kay and I flipped on the positions on you guys so that I could be in the driver's
seat for the presentation. So I do apologize. But I think we have Lee ready and then I will
let him know if he's not listening, I'll text him whenever we are finished and let him know
when it's time to come back. But I'm really happy to be here and present this item this
morning. We had a very exciting discussion with city council back in October about a
month ago and we've been working really diligently to bring this forward. So I'm going to share
my screen here and start the presentation. So today I want to present to the board a
bit of an overview of Stoke and management under Hickory and Rail Ventures. That's the
name of the management company. From those of you who are new, this will be a little
bit of good background to help you understand how we got here and then give you a little
bit of an overview of a proposed partnership agreement with Hickory and Rail Ventures.
So in terms of background, the city actually holds a lease with the rail yard partners
for space at 608 East Hickory. That's where Stoke Ditten, our entrepreneurial coworking
space is located. The city's lease for that space ends on June 30th, 2021. So believe
it or not, we're already getting ready for the end of that lease in 2021. With that,
for a few years now, we have been operating a coworking space. So the original contract
for that space, we actually worked with the Dallas Entrepreneur Center and they ran a
coworking space there on our behalf. The agreement with DAC was terminated in 2017 and a local
company Hickory and Rail Ventures run by Marshall Culpepper and Heather Gregory took over operation
in December of 2017 and they've been operating it since. Recently, like I said, back in October,
we had two discussions with city council. One was about aligning the end dates of the
management agreement and sublease that we have with Hickory and Rail Ventures. And so
we went ahead and moved that forward and that's been executed. And so now Hickory and Rail
Ventures will continue to be the sublease holder and operate STOKE to June 30th, 2021.
So before I jump into the forward looking things, I wanted to remind everyone on what
has been happening at STOKE because I think it's very important, but essentially under
the management of HRV, STOKE has really become a hub for our tech enabled businesses, our
tech focused businesses, our entrepreneurs, our remote workers, and really small business
development. There's great partnerships there with the chamber, the city, the universities,
the school district, really supporting entrepreneurship and small business development. And just beyond
managing the day to day operation of the coworking space, STOKE's programming has grown to include
conferences, things like the Flint Conference, which is focused on, it's the best tagline
I've ever heard, hipsters, hustlers, and hackers. But really those creative startups that really
thrive here in Denton. They also host the Big Ideas Mixer, the Startup Crawl. Heather
and Marshall started the Denton Innovation Group, which is a group that is working towards
strategically positioning Denton to be more attractive into in both recruiting and keeping
local startups here and how we can build an entrepreneurial ecosystem. They're also leading
the Denton Angels, which is our angel investor network here locally. And they're also doing
a great job to promote local entrepreneurs and connecting our local startups with mentors
through things like the Making Denton podcast and the coffee and combos. And if you haven't
set in on one of those, those are also incredibly wonderful and powerful conversations that
happen where so many of our great leaders are sharing information with startups. And
then most recently, launching the Accelerate Her Startup Incubator program in partnership
with the TWA Center for Women Entrepreneurs. So I think that's probably an abbreviated
list of all the great things that they're doing over there. But we wanted to bring that
to the board's attention. So the next few slides just highlight some of the kind of
metrics and great things that have been happening. 200 events have been hosted at Stoke with
more than 2100 attendees. HRV has been operating the center. That's an incredible amount of
people that are coming and getting engaged in our startup community. Lots of social media
outreach, lots of engagement in those programs and events. We're seeing almost 60% of co-working
members, co-working space members, they're tech or tech enabled. That was a key component
of when the transfer from the Dallas Entrepreneur Center to HRV happens. But really when you
look at that number, 126 people with tech or tech enabled jobs have had membership at
Stoke. A lot of those being remote workers, they could work anywhere. And Heather's on
the line with us today, and I'm sure she can give us more stats about that. But we do have
remote workers, workers who are employed by large tech companies, but they work here in
Denton remotely. And so that's a really powerful tool to have at our disposal. And again, back
to the, oh, there's the mentor remote worker number, about 38% are remote workers or freelancers,
which is incredibly powerful when you think about it. And especially as we're moving into
a time where remote work is even more possible than ever. Most of our team, the economic
development team, as you can see, some of our members today are working remotely. And
so the need for spaces that enable people to do that is growing. But also in terms of
member satisfaction, we've seen a lot of positive feedback in both programming and support and
events and just having the availability of the support of support of community at Stoke.
So 85% members saying they've experienced growth and then reporting high satisfaction
rates in what's being offered. So this is a little bit more detail, and I'm not going
to go over all of this. These on the left where it says contractor duties, those were
the items that were required by HRV and the contract. And there's a number of them. There's
two pages of them here. They're in your backup if you want to read all of them. But the short
story and all of that is that HRV has met or exceeded any of the program goals that
were outlined in the contract. And we meet monthly, if not as often as we need to go
over kind of progress and what's happening in that area. So the agreement as it exists
today was with council's direction previously was that as the agreements were coming to
an end that Stoke would be transferred and become independently operated by HRV. And
so the goal was to transition the space brand and the Stoke operation in 2021. And what
we have found is that like most businesses, COVID has had an impact on their financials
and on their kind of goal to take over that full operation. And I'm going to go ahead
and go to the next slide. And what we've really been seeing is that not only has it changed
kind of their operations and how they've had to respond to members, but at the same time,
they've significantly increased their programming above and beyond what was contracted. And
they came to the city and asking for a desire to continue to assist the city's efforts to
support creation of that entrepreneurial ecosystem. And if you'll remember back to those discussions
we had in the strategic plan, there's really a large section of our strategic plan that's
focused on technology, creativity, entrepreneurship. And so they approached us wanting to be partners
and helping us execute on that strategy. And so with that, we started discussions with
Heather and Marshall and how we could kind of develop a partnership that moved the needle
in those areas. And so they presented us with a proposal that they would take over the lease
at the existing location as of July 1, 2021. We would develop together a partnership agreement
that really enables HRV to focus on our strategic efforts in the areas of entrepreneurship,
technology, and small business support. Right now, the proposal is for a one-year agreement.
That is what the staff recommended option was. Knowing that both the city and Stoke
have been greatly impacted by COVID, we thought it was most appropriate to have a shorter
term in the contract and then reevaluate as we kind of move out of this kind of different
time that we're going through right now. The request is for financial support of $133,000.
And that's outlined in your backup kind of the breakdown of what specific programs that's
tied to, but a summary is on the screen right now. In four key areas, it would include event
support for conferences, for those events that we talked about, Global Entrepreneurship
Week that's coming up this year. And so continuing that support next year, program support, marketing
support, and ecosystem support. So really just a continuation and beyond that, growing
our efforts in these areas to really market Denton as a great place if you're a small
business or you're an entrepreneur to make Denton more attractive for those types of
businesses. And so we are in right in the kind of thick of it of developing that formal
partnership agreement. It's very similar to partnership agreements that we have with Main
Street and the Chamber where we say, you know, we have these strategic goals and we were
going to rely on sort of an expert in another area to focus on executing on those strategies.
Under that agreement, HRV would continue to operate Stoke Denton and would actually provide
support to the economic development staff in those particular functional areas that
we talked about. Back in October, we presented this almost identical presentation to City
Council and we got direction to move forward. And so we anticipate that partnership agreement
will be moving forward to Council either in December or January pending kind of scheduling
changes that are happening at the Council level. But we wanted this board to be aware
of what was happening and what negotiations were ongoing and really exciting about the
possibilities of growing in that key area. And that is all I have. And I will say Heather
is with us. So you should be able to see Heather now and she's waving, coming all the way from
Stoke, I believe. She's down the street, but here to answer any questions if the board
has them.
See, I have questions. Who else has questions? Let's see your hands, please.
We have Mark.
Jessica, that was a great presentation. And holy cow, what a great set of programs. Really
impressive. I just want to compliment Stokes and the entire team. And your overview was
just perfect. We're lucky to have this for sure.
Thank you, Mark. Any other questions?
Chair, no questions. Just a comment. I said quite a bit at the Council meeting. I just
wanted to just say that I'm in favor of this as I have been and look forward to it. It's
really great. Thank you.
Jessica, so we have a -- is the request coming to this board or you're just being -- we're
just being notified of the financial request?
So our goal is if this board supports this initiative, would be for a motion in favor.
And that way we could report that to the City Council when we bring it forward. This is
a little bit outside of what this board typically sees. And I know we've been trying to keep
you updated, but I want to mention kind of strategically Stoke, the Chamber, the City,
Main Street, all of those kind of groups that are working together, we are building one
team. And so our intention is to bring information as we're working with those key partners in
different areas of economic development that are maybe a little bit different than as we're
kind of growing and evolving. We want to make sure that this board knows what we're working
on, what the whole team is working on and stays engaged in that process. And Cory and
I have actually already started discussions on what type of strategic efforts we might
need to kind of help support these types of businesses because it's a little bit different
than what we've seen in the past. So we're really excited to be putting together a team,
a comprehensive team that's looking at a really holistic view of economic development.
So I'm really thankful to have some great partners in the city.
Thank you, Jessica. Heather, if you don't mind, I do have a few questions. This is not
just an avid interest for me, this is a passion for me, small business, and then the high
tech area. So please indulge me. This is just like I get to meet a rock star and I want
your signature. I mean, this is an interview, okay? We're going to spend a little time here.
Tell me how COVID-19 has affected your city. What's going on there now that?
Yeah, it's been significant. You know, we, a year ago, we were holding probably five
to six in-person events every month. The goal for the coworking space was ultimately density.
And so pretty much everything about our membership, the way that we operate, the way that we do
all of our events has just been turned on its head. You know, financially there was
a significant impact in terms of our membership numbers. And we've, you know, as every business
has, people have been impacted either in a really positive way or in a really negative
way, but pretty much everybody has had to pivot. And so we started doing all of our
events and programs online. You know, Zoom is everybody's best friend. We started a YouTube
channel. So we were able to start recording the coffee and conversations, the lunch and
learns that we do. And for people that weren't able to attend live, we have a YouTube channel
now where all of that lives so people can get access to it whenever. And, you know,
our operations are really focused on safety. And so, you know, we're really trying to make
sure that we are a safe environment for everybody that's coming in. So again, you know, we've
closed desks, we've spread people apart, done all of those things. So we've been trying
to be creative. You know, we mentioned global entrepreneurship week is next week. And so
I'm actually working on my state of entrepreneurship talk, which I'm going to deliver. I'm going
to record on zoom and we'll put out on Facebook live, we do a startup call. My team here is,
has taught themselves how to be basically video production people with their iPhones,
and the help of a $16 app. And so there's going to be a virtual startup call where we
get to see the inside of a handful of companies that are based here in Denton. So yeah, we've
just had to get really creative to do what we do and to continue to build community and
try to help people continue to be successful with their business.
And we still get to come to the office because my office is large enough for us to do social
distancing. So are you are you still full as far as capacity or people are not coming
or talk tell us about that demographic. It is it has grown over the last few months.
A year ago, we would see probably four to five dozen people in and out of the space
on any given day, including visitors and drop ins and you know, for the events that we would
have. Now, we're probably up to about two dozen people a day. Our overall membership
is down by a lot by about 40%. And we, like I said, we've closed desks, we have, we're
physically distancing people. So we have, we have over 9000 square feet. So really, there's
a lot of space, we turned our event space into additional workspace, we just moved tables
around. And so yeah, we you know, we're doing all of the safety things requiring masks when
people are moving throughout the space. And and our limiting capacity and conference rooms,
things like that. So it we are operating very differently. But yeah, we track everybody
that's in the space every day, and we're at about two dozen people in and out of the space.
At least half of those probably are in private offices.
I have two more questions, and I'll release her to the rest of the committee to have questions.
And thank you, by the way, Heather. Sure. So tell me about the demographics, you describe
who's there. You know, old, young, you know, what kind of businesses are there, I realize
we have all these statistics, but I kind of wanted to a little thumbnail. And then, then
you can also talk about minorities and women and high tech, I'd kind of like to hear what's
going on there. Sure. So I think our population actually skews older than one would guess
for coworking space. And I don't I haven't done an average age, but I would say most
of our members fall between late 20s, and early 50s. That's where most of our membership
falls. So a significant portion in people in their 30s and 40s make up the bulk of our
membership. I we skew a little heavier male than females. But we and we also skew as you
saw we skew heavier in terms of tech and tech enabled companies. And we define that in terms
of basically if it's a STEM industry, so we include engineers. And, you know, like not
just web developers and things like that, but people that are doing digital marketing,
people that are using technology is in a significant way to deliver their business or they're actually
creating the technology themselves. And then in terms of minorities and females, that's
something that we are really working hard to make sure that our programming has an impact
has a positive impact to increase the the access to people. So in the accelerate her
up incubator that we just launched with Texas Women's University, there are six female founded
companies that are all using technology to deliver their businesses, and half of them
are minority population. And so, you know, again, it's just something we it's something
that's at top of mind to make sure that we are being inclusive and try to help narrow
the gaps in terms of access. Thank you so much for answering my questions.
Like I said, this is more than just an interest for me. It's a passion. So do we have any
more questions from the board or the committee before we take a vote? I'm looking around.
I don't see any. And so Jessica, help me with the with the with with the structure of the
of language on this on this vote. I think we would be looking for a motion to recommend
City Council adopt a program agreement with Hickory and rail ventures with the programs
as outlined. We have someone who would make that motion. So moved. Is that Mark? Okay,
Mark makes the motion. Okay, a second. Second. Okay, Jason, thank you very much. Okay, we
have a motion and a second. Do we have any more discussion before we take the vote? Okay,
seeing none, we'll do a roll call once again. I'm all in favor of adopting this motion as
presented. Mark? Aye. Let's see. Jimmy? Aye. Jessie? Aye. Let's see. Jill? Aye. Thank you.
Yes. And John Bain says yes. Did I get everyone, Jessica? Jason says yes. Okay. All right.
I'm sorry, Jason. I'm sorry. I'm doing my best, man. It's back. That's okay. And John
Bain says yes. And so I don't think we have anyone to abstain. Yes, Lee. Lee Ramsey has
abstained. Well, yes, I'm sorry. Lee has abstained. That's correct. So I believe we're done with
this particular program item. Thank you, everybody. Thank you for the time. And Jessica, I always
love hearing you talk about what we're doing. So I appreciate it. And let me notify Lee
that to turn everything back on. So give me one second. Certainly. Thank you. And John,
my apologies. I need to leave for a 12 o'clock, but I enjoyed the hour with you. Thank you
so much, Mark, for all your participation. Read the Chancellor for us. You bet. Okay.
All right. I've texted Lee. So hopefully he will be rejoining us shortly. And Mark just
had to leave. Mark McClellan had to leave for a 12 o'clock meeting. See if we can give
him a quick second to get back on. We do only have staff reports, I believe, left. There's
Lee. Welcome back, Lee. Okay. So now that Lee's back, we can go to the next agenda item,
which is EDP 20-055. And Jessica, I'll give you the option on how much we need to present
and how much we do not need to present. Sure. Well, two things for the staff reports. First
is this is Cory's, I believe, first official meeting and staff reports. And I'll let Cory
kind of talk about what he's been working on. And you guys hear from me enough. But
I just want to point out one thing is this will be the last time that you see the staff
reports in the format that you see them. Cory and I are working on a consolidated quarterly
report. Like I said, there are many partners that work in economic development between
the city chamber and other partners that we have. And our goal is to be more inclusive
of our reporting and keep you guys up to date on all of the activities that are happening
kind of around kind of the global team that's working here. And so we are actively working
on that. And so we'll be rolling that out probably at the January meeting. So you may
not see a full staff report in December. But with that, I'm going to turn it over to Cory
and let him say hi to everybody and let you know what's been going on.
Thank you, Jessica. For those of you I haven't met in person or virtually yet, I'm ecstatic
to be here. Just a little bit about me. I'm a second generation economic development professional.
Been in the industry for about 25 years. Worked previously on the city and county side as
well as in economic development consulting and through the private sector. So I've kind
of seen the economic development lens from all different sides. I think it's a great
time to be here in Denton. Just with everything that's going on with all the advantages that
the community has in regards to transportation, education, and just an involved business community,
I just think it's a great time to be here. You know, I guess for my report what haven't
I done is kind of a better way to put it. Since I've been here, I started October 26.
And since that time, we've had several RFIs come in, about five or six, that we've answered
the majority of. We've had a site visit. I've had several meetings with real estate brokers
both here in Denton as well as some in Dallas that I've known through previous stops. Just
trying to get my feet on the ground and understand and learn the sites and the information and
the processes and work with Jessica to develop some new processes to help y'all stay more
informed and active as well as just trying to meet and understand and get advice from
as many people here in Denton as possible. And I want to let everybody know that I plan
to reach out to y'all individually. I'd like to sit down either virtually or in person with
everybody and just try and get your take on where we're at, where you see us going forward.
Your involvement and your historical knowledge will be important to our success going forward.
So that's kind of what I plan to do within the next 30 days, as long as we don't have
too many RFIs to keep us busy.
Thank you, Corey.
And I'd be happy to answer any questions.
So Corey, as far as your meetings, if you could do this, I think it would be helpful.
I'm sure you've got an executive summary of your experiences and perhaps you could just
email that to the various people you'd like to meet with. That way I'll know a little
bit about you and we can possibly do the same for you. We can send you an executive summary
about ourselves and our experiences. So that way we can spend our time, not just getting
familiar with one another, but really jumping into the mud and kind of getting in there
and getting after it.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Jessica?
That's all we have from the staff side.
And I really want to thank everyone for your indulgence. I'm getting used to the big chair.
This is different. I hope that one day each of you gets a chance to be the chair and you
get the chance to experience this. So thank you for your time, your volunteer and your
commitment to make a difference in our community. And do we need to entertain a motion to conclude
the meeting? Okay. Do we have a motion to end the meeting?
Mr. Baines?
Yes.
Is there an item for concluding items or where we can just ask a question at the end of the
meeting? I don't have the agenda in front of me.
Yes. There is concluding items are posted. So if there is a request that we can take
back and prepare.
Yeah. May I chair?
Please.
Okay. Well, on yesterday or Tuesday, whenever that was, it feels like forever. We had an
update on the CDBG and home funds. And in that we learned that those funds can be used
for economic development. And I don't know if this board has ever looked at that to see
what they can be used for or have been used for in other communities. But on our economic
strategic plan, there is a goal three is strengthen community inclusion. And so I don't know if
that would be correlated or not. So I just wanted to put that out here to see if that
was something the board wanted to look into. That's all.
And kind of in line with that, Councilwoman, I know in the minority community, there's
a real need for access to capital. So I don't know if -- how this board could help kind
of do some research and to help those businesses that are limited in their capital access and
accumulation perhaps have some meaningful meetings and meaningful information for helping
startup businesses and businesses that, let's say, are recovering. So I don't know, Jessica,
if that's part of the purview of this board. But if it's economic development, I would
think we would need to possibly take a look and see if we can help that particular segment
of the community as well. Absolutely. So this board doesn't typically
do concluding items. So I'll just remind everyone of the process. I'm taking notes because these
aren't posted for deliberation. And so what I will do is go back and talk to the team,
maybe do some initial research, and then we'll bring it back as agenda items to kind of maybe
have some preliminary discussions with the board. But I don't want Mack to get mad at
me. So I'm taking notes, and I'll make sure that we're duly posted to have these types
of conversations. All right. Thank you.
Do we have a motion to conclude? Okay. Lee Ramsey has a motion. Do we have a second?
Okay. Who did the second? Jimmy. Jimmy. All right. Thank you, Jimmy. We're going to go
through and do the roll call. John Bain says yes. Keely? Uh, yes. Let's see. Jesse? Yes.
Jason Tomlinson? Yes. Lee? And I believe Jill. Is Jill still with us?
I think Jill had to leave. She had to leave. Okay. I think there being
no other people involved, we're going to conclude the meeting. And once again, thank you for
your time and your participation and your commitment to making a difference. Thank you
so much. Thank you.