HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/09/08 EDC
MINUTES
THE COLONY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM
JULY 9, 2008
The Regular Session of l' he Colony Economic Development Corporation of the City of
The Colony. Texas. was called to order at 7:01 p.m. on the 9th day ofJuly 2008, at the
City Hall conference room with the following roll call:
Board Members:
Bob Norris. President
Rick Casterline. Vice President
Paul Koenig, Secretary
Tom Tvardzik. Treasurer
Kevin Braby. Member at Large
Present
Present
Absent (business)
Present
Present
Staff Members Present:
Tom TerralI. Director of Economic Development
Cindi Lane. Economic Development Specialist
Council Liaison:
Perrv Schran
. b
Present
With four voting members present at 7:01p.m.. 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.
2.0. CONSENT AGENDA
Item 2.1. Reports:
a. Cash flow projection
b. Monthly Yz Cent Sales Tax graph
c. Tax AHocation Summary for June
d. Summary of current activity regarding development
e. Marketing update
f. Treasurer Report
g. Update of Memorial Dr. median cut at Wal-Mart
h. NTCAR Expo August 28
I. NAJOP golf tournament September 9
j. CoreNet golf tournament September 26
(a) Mr. Terrall said that there June's actual revenue was about $9.000 ahead
of projection. There was nothing new on the expense side. (b) The graph shows a
steady increase in revenue. (c) The allocation summary reports that The Colony
sales tax is approximately 10% higher than June last year and about 7% higher for
the calendar year. Surrounding cities were looked at as well for comparison. (d)
Mr. Terrall said that according to the Director of Development Services DBSI has
filed an application for a zoning change to a portion of its site on the southwest
corner of Memorial Dr. and Paige. They want to change the zoning to
multifamily. Mr. Terrall said he has contacted Meredith Smith to find out why
they are requesting the change. (e) Ms. Lane reported the website statistics. The
June website hits were more than usual, probably due to the May tradeshow and
more correspondence with the brokers and retailers. A graph that Ms. Lane
prepared to show spikes in website hits in correlation with major events attended
showed no specific spikes for the past 18 months. but it seemed to coincide with
overall the working patterns of brokers with more hits during the school year and
less hits around holiday and vacation times. Ms. Lane also informed the board
that she followed up on a suggestion made at the previous meeting regarding
tracking users on the website. There is a service called LandLeaders that can track
specific companies that hit the website and can track whichever pages are flagged.
The service also offers other information about pages hit and when they are being
hit so Mr. Terrall and Ms. Lane decided they would subscribe to this service for
one year to see how it works out. There were ads run in the Dallas Business
Journal and a national real estate magazine the past month. (t) Tom Tvardzik gave
a brief background on municipal accounting. He passed out relevant pages of the
2007 CAFR. the 2008 Revenue and Expenditure Projections as well as a YTD
March 3] Balance Sheet and Statement of Revenue and Expenditures. He briefed
the group on the difference between modified accrual accounting (all financial
resources) as found in the fund level financial statements and full accrual
accounting (all economic resources) as used in the "government -wide" financials.
He explained how the reconciliations provide the necessary linkage between the
two financials. He explained how the reconciliations provide the necessary
linkage between the two statements. Concerning the actual numbers, he explained
that although under modified accrual the total fund balances are greater than $5
million dollars the net assets under full accrual accounting show $2.507,578 due
to outstanding long term debt and long term liabilities. For the six months ending
March 3]. 2008 the net revenue was $391,9 I 7, but by the end of the fiscal year
the expenditures are budgeted to exceed the revenue by $770.188. (g) Mr. Terrall
said this topic will be discussed in Item 4.3. (h) The NTCAR Expo tradeshow
(North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors) will be on August 28th.
Although considered a local tradeshow of brokers, developers, and site selectors
other parts of north Texas representatives are also in attendance. Last year there
were approximately 1,600 attendees and this year should be greater. This year
there will be over I ] 0 exhibitors. The Colony EDC booth will be located close to
food and beverages. The purpose is to network and talk about new developments
in the city. (i) Mr. TerralJ reported that the annual NAIOP (National Association
of Industrial and Office Properties) golf tournament will be held on September 9th
at The Tribute. The Colony EDC has been the title sponsor for the past three
years. The EDC booth will be set up and Mr. Te,rrall and Ms. Lane will meet and
EDC Minutes July 9. 2008. Page 2
greet the golf players on Hole # ] 8 and distribute give-a-ways. As a part of the
sponsorship. the EDC is entitled to four golfers to play so Mr. Terrall asked for
volunteers from the board members and to let Ms. Lane know if any of them are
available as soon as possible. U) Mr. Terrall announced that this year The Colony
EDC was able to become a major sponsor for the COI'eNet annual golf
tournament. CoreNet is an international organization of commercial real estate
professionals. This tournament will be held on September 26th. The Colony EDC
will have eight golfer spots to fill so Mr. Terrall is looking for volunteers to play
and promote The Colony. The Colony EDC will also have two holes to sponsor
and distribute give-a-ways from so he is asking for volunteers to help out with
that as well. The night before the tournament there will be a special event at The
Tribute for the golfers and sponsors. Mr. Terrall will give a presentation that
evening as well as the next day at the conclusion of the tournament.
2.2. Approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting June 11, 2008: President
Norris asked if there were any corrections. changes or additions that anyone
would like to make. Rick Casterline made a motion to approve the minutes as
presented. Mr. Tvardzik 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
Item 4.1. Discussion and appropriate action regarding sales tax reallocation: Item
4.2. Discussion and appropriate action regarding 4A participation in paying
to the City any administrative costs, debt service payments, incentive
reimbursement(s), or any other items allowed by the Development
Corporation Act: Mr. Terrall said he would like to combine Items 4.] and 4.2 for
this item. He then explained that the city council will be discussing the option of a
reallocation of the 4A sales tax at their work session on July 141h. Council
member Perry Schrag then addressed the board and told them about some of the
council members appearing to be in favor of having the 4A sales tax reallocated
by a citizen vote by 1/8th cent so that more funds can be available to the City to
use for City needs that the 4A sales tax is not legally authorized to pay for. He
said that a couple of council members are in favor of doing this, a couple of
council members are in favor of leaving the 4A sales tax alone. and there are
some council members who he is not sure whether or not to try to change the
allocation. Council member Schrag would like to leave the 4A sales tax as it
currently is because he feels that since the S.H. 12] tollway is almost complete
and FM 423 is slated to be widened within the next year or two. that it would be
the wrong time to take future money away from the 4A budget since there will
most likely be increased activity of businesses relocating in the City and the need
for incentive dollars to be available. Mr. Terrall said that one approach would be
EDC Minutes July 9. 2008. Page 3
to present to the council the idea that as long as the projects are in compliance
with the Development Corporation Act as would be determined by the 4A
attorney. that $350.000 could be spent on projects each year. As a compromise,
Mr. Terrall could go to the council work session on July 14th and present that idea.
Mr. Tvardzik said that he feels that this is the wrong time to have less income
coming into the 4A fund because it has taken ] 0 years to build a pot to offer
incentives. Mr. TerralI said that this compromise would enable the City to have
the benefit of using some of the 4A tax dollars but the revenue to 4A would not be
changed so the marketing budget would stay intact. If a percentage of sales tax
was to be realIocated that would affect the marketing budget as welI because there
is a cap of ] 0% of revenue that can be used for marketing according to state law.
With a compromise, rather than reallocation Mr. Terrall could put a positive spin
with the press that the EDC is helping the City with projects to bring
development. Tony Johnston is currently working on a list of projects that could
be qualified for EDC dolIars. Mr. Casterline considered making a motion to fund
as much as the EDC can legalIy do to relieve the city of the cost to the general
fund so the EDC can participate and help the city to accomplish the goals of
growth. The board decided that a motion is not necessary. The consensus of the
4A board was that they (1) are wilIing to work with the city and fund any projects
that are legal for 4A to pay for according to the 4A attorney. (2) the EDC was
created to partner with the City by bringing commercial development the City to
relieve some of the tax burden for its residents (3) the EDC could reimburse to the
City their portion of a tax abatement as long as it was for a qualified project (4)
the EDC should have better communication with the city council. The entire 4A
board concurs with this approach.
Item 4.3. Discussion and appropriate action on left turn lane from Memorial Drive
to Wal-Mart road: Mr. Terrall said he had a meeting with Dale Cheatham, Tony
Johnston. and Bob Hager to get this project moving. The construction and
engineering costs need to be updated but the project worst case scenario including
the $130.000 reimbursement to Wal-Mart would still total under $300.000. The
economic benefit is that it will be more convenient for the shopper traveling on
Memorial to access Wal-Mart and other shopping in the area. Mr. Terrall reported
that if the board approved spending up to $300.000. Dale Cheatham instructed
him to write a letter with Tony Johnston's signature to Wal-Mart explaining what
the City intends to do and give them a window of 90 days to respond in the event
that they object to the cut. Mr. Casterline made a motion for the board to
authorize Mr. Terrall to spend up to $300,000 to put a cut onto Wal-Mart. Mr.
Braby seconded the motion and the motion passed with Mr. Casterline, Mr.
Braby. and President Norris voting in favor and Mr. Tvardzik voting against.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
5.1. The Economic Development Corporation shall convene into closed executive
session pursuant to Section 551.087 of the TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE to
EDC Minutes July 9. 2008. Page 4
deliberate a financial or other incentive to business prospect to locate, stay, or
expand in The City of The Colony:
The hoard did not have an executive session.
5.2. Any action to be taken as a result of executive session regarding financial or
other incentive to business prospect:
No action was taken.
1.).reSident Norris adjO. limed the .4A board at 9:06 p.m. ./
.. - (',v'f'Ch'. dw~ ~-~ [. /U~I
Cinch Lane Robert E. Norris
Economic Development Specialist President
EDC Minutes July 9,2008, Page 5