06 - Board & Commissions - Minutes

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PEDC Board Meeting Minutes March 19, 2019 Page 2 of 3 placed for the Request for Bids on the asbestos abatement. The payment to Lamar National is the monthly 'payment for the Southwest property. Mr. Hernandez pointed out some of the Marketing expenditures were related to American SpiralWeld. Mr. Paris explained that the Love Civic Center was for the American groundbreaking, the TEDC was expense was for the Legislative Conference in Austin, the credit to us from Red River Valley Association was a refund because we could not attend the annual meeting, and the last item was the balance owed to Paris Party for setting up the groundbreaking at Love Civic Center. Mr. Hernandez pointed out that the sales tax we collected in February was $150,000.00, which was above our average expected $120,000.00. Dr. Hashmi made a motion to accept the February financials. Ms. Bills seconded the motion. Vote was 4 -ayes to 0 -nays. �ISCIISSI1rOSeµ o " - mt�� g ortuniit es and threats of meetiin with area Economsc Develo :� _gnt entrtaes and how to aroceed. Mr. Paris stated Dr. Hashmi asked that we discuss pros and cons of working with other EDCs. Dr. Hashmi started the conversation with saying that we would like the opportunities to stay in Texas rather than outside the state. If opportunities come up right outside Lamar County, we should work with the other EDC since it would benefit Paris economically. His suggestion is to meet with other EDCs to form a joint taskforce to bring more business to the area. At the moment Red River County has some prospects and if they decide on Red River County; we in Paris would benefit by more people doing business in Paris and buying homes in Paris. We would like to keep the prospects in our area. We would like to conduct a joint session to explore this idea with other EDCs. Mr. Paris said that when he attends TEAM Texas events and Oncor events the group goes out and markets as one entity. The leads received by the group are shared, but it is very highly competitive between EDCs in the area. Mr. Paris asked if another EDC asked for help with a prospect do we see Paris EDC helping with the recruiting effort. We could receive criticism if any of the PEDCs tax dollars were spent outside of Paris. Dr. Hashmi said in a joint session we should only discuss projects that we definitely know are not coming to Paris. Mr. Paris asked about how we would communicate with another local community and how would they participate with us in our prospect activity. Dr. Hashmi answered that the first thing would be that we want them in Paris. Mr. Paris asked if Reno could help with infrastructure for our airport, would that be something to look at. Dr. Hashmi stated we would need to look at whether we could legally do. Ms. Harris stated she thought that what was asked would be limited, because the time and staff resources would be tax expenses. Dr. Hashmi suggested promoting EDCs in the area with a regional marketing ad. Ms. Bills said she agrees with regional marketing which makes all the entities look better. It can be a tricky issue between the EDCs. Mr. Hernandez questioned if it is legal. Mr. Hamill said it is a good idea, power in numbers. Mr. Hernandez thanked Dr. Hashmi for the discussion. American S iralWeld Pi ° e U .date: Construction begins; Initial $1,500,000 paid. American requested the payment be made. It was delivered to them on Monday. o $1,000,000 Loan from Paris, Texas banks. o $500,000 from designated reserves. Asbestos Abatement Begins. On Monday morning the abatement started at the old Superior Switch property. Whole Environmental was chosen to abate the asbestos. The timeline to have the asbestos removed is about two weeks. GHD Services and Farmers Environmental are at the site twice a week checking on the work being done. • Rail has begun developing scope of work, cost budgets and negotiating agreement. o Request for Bids on the PEDC portion to come out to public soon. The portion is on 19a' Street due West.