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Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 3 13. Approve the Replat of Lot3 D, City Block 317, located in the 3600 Block of Castlegate Drive. 14. Receive update on sale of city property. Regular Agenda 15. Discuss the working relationship between City Council and Paris Economic Development Corporation. Mayor Hashmi said he placed this item on the agenda and that everyone in town wanted to have more jobs, specifically better paying jobs. He also said PEDC was created as a source of support to achieve these objectives. Mayor Hashmi stated there were a number of issues dealing with PEDC funds, policies and procedures. He said the purpose was to ensure that public funds were being utilized in the way they should be used. Mayor Hashmi reported that the outcome of the discussions led to changes in policies and procedures that were adopted by the PEDC, which significantly decreased the overhead of the organization. He also said bad blood remained between the two organizations, with some PEDC members trying to block the entrance of Council Members at executive sessions and PEDC brought about a policy that disallowed non- voting members in PEDC executive sessions. Mayor Hashmi said he felt that was contradictory to the spirit of the two organizations working together for improvement for the City of Paris. He also said with the hiring of the new PEDC Director, he would like to discuss the future direction. Mayor Hashmi said that Council Members were the leaders of the community and irrespective of what the PEDC Board was trying to do, that they should show magnanimity in their decisions and try to be positive in the New Year. He suggested that Council allow the PEDC Board and the new director to perform the job they had been tasked to do, and that Council follow their progress closely without interfering in their job. Mayor Hashmi said he would like to see everyone move forward and see PEDC's performance and let the residents of the community see that the Council has made every effort to try to work with the PEDC Board and director. He strongly suggested they move forward for the improvement of the City and economic progress in the City. He also suggested they re- evaluate the situation in six months. He expressed wishes of success for PEDC and asked that the Council do the same. Council Member Frierson said it was a good way to start the New Year with letting the board move forward. He said they had been dealing with this mess for 2 % years and he did not understand the six months. He said he was all for letting the Board move forward on their own accord and after 2 '/2 years, maybe Council could decide they did not need to be in PEDC's business. Council Member Pickle said if they were going move forward, he would ask that Council refrain from making negative comments to the newspaper or the public and criticizing actions that the PEDC had taken. He said PEDC's bylaws were specific as Council Members, liaisons and ex- officio members; Council was limited as to their responsibility with PEDC. Council Member Pickle said their responsibility was to make sure they put qualified candidates on the PEDC each July. He said if there are conflicts among PEDC members, then Council needed to make sure and do a better job when selecting PEDC board members and let them do their job.