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Regular Council Meeting <br />July 11, 2016 <br />Page 5 <br />resolution order of the board and shall be made only after the approval thereof by the Council. <br />All other proposed expenses shall be made in accordance with and shall be set forth in the annual <br />budget. Approval or advice of the Council to the extent that these require approval by the City, <br />such advice of Council shall be evidenced by certified copy of a resolution or order or motion <br />adopted by the City Council." Council Member Clifford said that is what Sherman does, they <br />are successful, they are the City's neighbor and they follow the State Law. He said Paris is the <br />one that does not have council approval. <br />Council Member Frierson said he got more oversight, but from his prospective they <br />would be creating more government. He said if you are looking at a business deal, you are <br />making it more political in a sense. He agreed that everyone wants to be more on the up and up <br />and every city does it different. Council Member Frierson said you could create such a <br />bottleneck or perception of a bottleneck that a business may not want to come here. He said <br />when Council went through this last time their intent was not to not follow the law. Council <br />Member Clifford said he thought they should follow the State Law. Council Member Frierson <br />said no one has violated State Law. Council ` Member Clifford said he did not say they had <br />violated State Law. <br />Council Member Drake inquired if they had knowledge or information from other EDCs. <br />She asked City Attorney Stephanie Harris if they should be doing what Sherman was doing. Ms. <br />Harris said the statutory section simply says that the corporation's authorizing unit will approve <br />all programs and expenditures of the corporation but does not define what that is. She said the <br />Economic Development Handbook provision that talks about approving projects does not give a <br />citation. She also said she had talked to Jeff Moore, one of the authors of that handbook and the <br />consensus of the people she had talked to indicated there were no interpreting cases or attorney <br />general opinions. Ms. Harris said cities do it differently and there were various levels of control <br />by the governing body. <br />Mr. Paris said if the concern was collaboration and working together then they should <br />open those doors because Paris had too much to'`offer. He said they need more access to each <br />other and he wanted to address the Council's concerns. Mr. Paris said he did not find in the <br />Local Government Code where the City Council was required to approve every expenditure. He <br />said if there was a trust issue, then they should work together and give that time. He said they all <br />needed to keep in mind the purpose of the EDC. Mayor Hashmi said he did not hear mistrust, <br />but heard concerns about legal issues. Council Member Trenado said they need to work together <br />and make sure the public is aware of everything. Ken Higdon said if Council wants to approve <br />every single expenditure then it becomes public information and companies do not want <br />everyone knowing their business. Council Member Clifford inquired about executive session. <br />Mr. Higdon said if they approve it, then it is no longer in executive session and becomes public <br />record. <br />Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council how they wanted to proceed. Council Member Drake <br />said she would like to receive more updates and if Council was not comfortable with $400,000 <br />they could review it. Council Member Frierson said he did not begrudge the thought process and <br />from the time that he and Mayor Hashmi first got on the Council, they had gone through a <br />