Laserfiche WebLink
Joint City Council /PEDC Meeting <br />September 15, 2014 <br />Page 5 <br />Moore said all expenditures need to go through the Board and go to Council for approval and <br />that could be done through the budget. <br />With regard to the Red River Region Business Incubator Review, the report reflects there <br />was a lack of fiscal oversight, and State Law has already addressed that. He said they could fund <br />the incubator, because the emphasis under this project was for manufacturing and if it is under <br />501.101, you could provide monies for manufacturing, you could provide land, buildings, <br />equipment, facilities, targeted infrastructure as well for manufacturing, and you could pay for job <br />training expenses. <br />He said Regionnavate was business recruitment with a third party, and that is allowed if <br />you have a written contract. He suggested contracts be on a reimbursement basis, meaning once <br />the work is done and the receipts are turned in, then payment is remitted. Mr. Moore suggested <br />amending bylaws, which includes policies addressing travel. He said they want to look at an <br />incidental per diem, have a per diem for travel, promotional expenditures, keep those separate, <br />and segregate those because you're limited to 10% for promotional purposes. He also said they <br />may want to consider a non - compete provision. He said he didn't see anything criminal in his <br />review, maybe there was waste because that it didn't work, and it didn't achieve the objective. <br />He also said it was not fraud, but there could have been better bookkeeping. <br />Mayor Frierson asked if anyone had any questions. Council Member Hashmi inquired <br />about the difference between 4A and 4B, as he understood Mr. Moore to say that almost every <br />expense was doable under 4A such as infrastructure and roads. Mr. Moore explained that Type <br />B was under Chapter 505 of the Local Government Code and the main difference was Type B <br />had some procedural issues that Type A did not. He said Type B required that notice of the <br />projects be published in the newspaper and there was a waiting period of sixty (60) days before <br />the project could be funded. Council Member Hashmi asked if that meant creation of <br />manufacturing jobs under 4A was not required. Mr. Moore said that was correct for some <br />provisions and that Section 501.103 allows for infrastructure for a business development. <br />Council Member Lancaster confirmed with Mr. Moore that a Type A or a Type B <br />Corporation could not give proceeds to a business entity without a performance agreement. She <br />said the R313I was given a considerable amount of money in excess of 10% and wanted to know <br />how that could be achieved without a contract. Mr. Moore said there should have been a written <br />agreement. Council Member Lancaster inquired if that was a violation and Mr. Moore said there <br />was not a criminal penalty for it. Council Member Lancaster said she did not say criminal, but <br />asked if there was a violation. Mr. Moore said it was inconsistent with State Statute. She said <br />she was submitting that it did happen and she had the numbers to prove it was considerably more <br />than 10 %. Mr. Moore said promotion was limited to 10% of any sort of expenditure, such as a <br />project, job training or promotional activity and there should have been a written agreement <br />since they were dealing with public funds. He also said the written agreement should have been <br />approved by the Board and approved by the City Council. Council Member Lancaster asked <br />what relief could be provided since that did not occur. Mr. Moore said over the years there were <br />a number of court cases that dealt with expenditures, which reflected a tax payer could bring suit. <br />Mr. Moore stated what the Courts had done thus far was rule that the impermissible expenditures <br />