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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/09/07 EDC MINUTES THE COLONY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION REGULAR BOARD MEETING CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM MA Y 9, 2007 The Regular Session of The Colony Economic Development Corporation of the City of The Colony. Texas. was called to order at 7:01 p.m. on the 9th day of May 2007. at the City Hall conference room with the following roll call: Board Members: Bob Norris. President Rick Casterline, Vice President Kevin Greene. Treasurer Paul Koenig. Secretary AI Garcia. Member Present Present Absent (Business) Present Present Staff Members Present: Tom Terrall, Director of Economic Development Cindi Lane, Economic Development Specialist Tony Johnston, Assistant City Manager Council Liaison: Perry Schrag Absent (Business) Guest Present: Christi VerMilyea. Owner, C-Media Services And with four voting members present a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: Item 1.1. Pledge of Allegiance: President Bob Norris led in the Pledge of Allegiance. 2.n. CONSENT AGENDA Item 2.1. Reports: a. Cash flow projection b. Monthly ~ Cent Sales Tax graph c. Tax Allocation Summary for April d. Summary of current activity regarding development e. Marketing update f. Treasurer report g. Report of TEDC Spring quarterly meeting h. Report of upcoming ICSC conference and tradeshow May 19-23 (a) Mr. Terrall asked if there were any questions on items (a) through (c). Mr. Casterline had a question about the cash How projection regarding the frequency of payments for Memorial Drive. Mr. Terrall said that it was an annual payment. President Norris pointed out that there is an increase of 5.8% in sales tax from the previous year. (d) Mr. Terrall said that, according to the planning department, there is nothing new to report for this past month. (e) Ms. Lane discussed an ad coming up in the Dallas Industrial Guide and a recent ad in the Dallas Business Journal. She reported some website statistics and said that the tradeshow booth had been ordered and the graphics are being designed. President Norris asked when the booth would be ready for display and she said that it depended on whether or not the new City logo would need to be added somewhere on the booth. City Council is having a Special meeting on Monday. May 14 to discuss the City logo further. Once that has been decided, it will take the booth company approximately two weeks to make the booth once the graphics are sent to them. There was discussion about adding the new city logo to our booth and changing our logo to the new city logo. The board agreed that they like the EDC logo designed specifically for the EDC and had no desire to incorporate the new or current city logo to the EDC tradeshow booth. (t) Kevin Greene was unable to come to the meeting so there was no treasurer report given. (g) Mr. Terrall said that TEDC looked at about a dozen bills related to development and there was nothing that would negatively affect The Colony EDC. Many of those bills have already died. It is possible that call centers could be added to a list of "qualified projects" which would be a good thing. The legislature is also looking at transportation to be used as an acceptable use of funds. There were also some interesting breakout sessions, one on web sources for labor information. (h) Mr. Terrall said that there have been significant changes made to the tradeshow floor layout and size at ICSC. They have expanded the area to include another section which should hopefully allow more room to walk from place to place, although it will be more spread out. This year they have included a webpage that shows where all the exhibitors are and individual exhibitors can be searched to see where they are located. Twelve appointments have been set. An email will be sent out to the volunteers later this week to get everyone organized and ready for the trip. 2.2. Approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting April 11,2007: President Norris asked if there were any corrections, changes or additions that anyone would like to make. Mr. Casterline made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Koenig seconded and the motion carried with all members voting in favor. 3.0 PUBLIC COMMENTS Item 3.1 Public Input: There was no public input. 4.0 REGULAR AGENDA EDC Minutes May 9.2007. Page 2 Item 4.1. Discussion and appropriate action regarding receiving a presentation of the "Shop The Colony" marketing program: Mr. Terrall introduced Christi VerMilyea. owner of C-Media Services. Inc. and member of The Colony Chamber of Commerce to make a presentation of a program the Chamber is participating in to promote local shopping. Ms. VerMilyea brought samples of the "Shop The Colony" logo that she helped to design and explained the program's phases to the board. She explained that the Chamber had a retreat where Mr. Ten"all gave a presentation to explain the economic importance of educating local residents to shop in The Colony as much as possible. Ms. VerMilyea said she has been working on developing a program with as little cost as possible for local merchants to participate by providing decals. posters in their store fronts. and wearing buttons to promote the retail businesses in The Colony. She highlighted the different phases of the marketing plan including having a website listing all the local merchants. publishing a dining a shopping guide, and having promotional items. among many other ideas. She would like The Colony EDC to help sponsor the program by providing approximately 15,000 refrigerator magnets which would be distributed to each household in The Colony along with the next edition of The Colony Connection magazine and then adding to the newcomer packets distributed by the water department. The cost would be approximately $3.000 for the magnets. Mr. Terrall mentioned that they would have a long shelf life if the residents put them on their refrigerators and would see them all the time and serve as a constant reminder to shop in The Colony. Mr. Terrall said he thought it was a good program and that part of the EDC's job is to help expand local businesses and create more jobs. He said the EDC has the funds to pay for the magnets in the marketing budget. Although retail spending by a 4A corporation is very limited, marketing is something the EDC can legally do to promote business retention and expansion. He wanted the board to be informed of this program and that's why he asked Ms. VerMilyea to speak at the meeting. The board had a few questions and they tossed around some other possible promotional items. The board thought the magnets would be a good idea. 5.0 EXECUTIVE SESSION a. Item 5.1. The Economic Development Corporation pursuant to Section 55t.074 ofthe TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE shall meet in closed executive session to deliberate concerning matters involving real property located east of Standridge Road south of Memorial Drive and west of Main Street. b. The Economic Development Corporation pursuant to Section 551.071 (2) of the TEXAS COVERNMENT CODE to deliberate a financial or other incentive to business prospect The board went into executive session at 8:05 p.m. a. Any action to be taken as a result of executive session regarding property located east of Standridge Rd. south of Memorial Drive and west of Main St. EDC Minutes May 9.2007. Page 3 b. Any action to be taken as a result of executive session regarding financial or other incentive to business prospect The board reconvened at 8:55 p.m. No action was taken on either item. President Norris adjourned the 4A board at 8:55 p.m. &*- f;Ab-- . Robert E. Norris ~ Cindi Lane Economic Development Specialist President EDC Minutes May 9. 2007. Page 4