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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/27/01 EDC MINUTES THE COLONY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION WORK SESSION CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM OCTOBER 27, 2001 The Work Session of The Colony Economic Development Corporation of the City of'The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 9:05 p.m. on the 27th day of October 2001, at City Hall with the following roll call: Al Garcia, President Present Steven Sims, Vice President Present Delaina Hammock, Treasurer Absent Bob Norris, Secretary Present Sue Walden, Ex-officio Member Present And with three voting members present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: Item 1.1. Review and discussion of current economic development incentives: Tom Terrall passed out the Comprehensive Policy Statement of Economic Development Incentives and explained that he had reviewed it and had made changes in wording, made additions using bold print and made deletions using "strike through" on this document. Mr. Terrall explained that he would like to rearrange the format of the statement in order of the following: I. Minimum Qualifications for Incentives II. Incentives Available to Qualified Projects III. Extra Incentives Available to Qualified Projects IV. Impact Analysis V. Negotiation Process Another point that Mr. Terrall made was that the tax abatement rules had changed so that the school districts could no longer participate. The board went through each change in the document and had discussion as needed. They plan to approve the revised comprehensive policy statement at the next regular meeting. Next the board looked at the Application for Economic Development Assistance. There was discussion and Mr. Terrall suggested making changes to make it more specific. The goal in most of these changes was to make the application more uniform with the Comprehensive Policy Statement and to have more specific questions to expedite the review process. Mr. Terrall then passed out a form entitled "Economic Impact Data Survey." He explained that many other cities are using a form similar to this to have certain projects evaluated to make sure that they are a good fit for the city. Some cities have their own software to determine the value a project will have on a community and some cities gather this information and then send it to a company that plugs in the numbers and sends the results back to the city. There was discussion and the board thought this survey was a good idea to use for a major client and they thought it would be a good back-up source for a project going to the 4A Board or Council for approval. Next Mr. Terrall passed out a copy of "Exhibit A" City of The Colony Policy Statement for Economic Development Incentives, which explains the policies set up in The Colony for Tax Abatement. He wanted the board to see the City tax abatement policies. Mr. Terrall said that he would send a revised Comprehensive Policy Statement and Application out to the board after revisions were made. Item 1.2 Review and update of bylaws: Mr. Terrall reviewed highlights of the bylaws and referred to various article and section numbers to verify the meaning and the wording. In Article II, Section 7 the bylaws refer to Committees of the Board. There was discussion of the terminology of "committee" and "negotiation team." The board decided that it would be best for the city attorney to review the terminology and determine if a change should be made in the bylaws referring to these two terms. In Article III, Section 4, the bylaws refer the treasurer to periodically review the books. Mr. Ten-all wanted to make sure the board understood the importance of this procedure being carded out. Article IV, Section 1 (a) refers to the review of the strategic plan. The board discussed this and decided that the strategic plan needs to be reviewed, preferably before next year when there will be turnover on the board. In compliance with the bylaws, the strategic plan should be reviewed yearly in August, before the new budget is approved. Article V, Section 3 refers to a corporate seal. Mr. Terrall asked the board and Cindi Lane if anyone had ever seen it or if it exists. Ms. Lane said that she had never seen it but she would check with the city secretary. With no other business, the work session was adjourned at 11:20 a.m. Cindi Lane Administrative Assistant EDC Minutes ~r 27, 2001, Page 2