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03/21/2017 MINUTESPARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MONTHLY MEETING Paris City Council Chambers 107 East Kaufman St. Paris, Texas 75460 Tuesday, March 21, 2017 4:00 O'CLOCK P.M. Board Members Present: Richard Manning, Chairman John Brockman, Vice -Chair Don Wilson, Secretary/Treasurer Ray Banks Derrick Hughes Ex- Officio Members Present: Ken Higdon, Lamar County Chamber John Godwin, City of Paris Legal Counsel: Stephanie Harris, City Attorney Call to Order. MINUTES Staff Present: Michael Paris, Executive Director Chris Stout, Economic Development Associate Guest(s) Present: Andy Reich, McClanahan & Holmes Victoria Bethea, McClanahan & Holmes Kelsey McLaughlin, The Paris News City Council Liaison: Billy Trenado Mr. Manning called the meeting of the Paris Economic Development Corporation to order at 4:00 p.m. on March 21, 2017. Citizens' Input Mr. Manning invited those present to speak during Citizens' Input. No one came forward and the Citizens' Input was closed. Discuss and possibly approve Minutes of the February 21, 2017, Monthly Meeting and the February 28, 2017, Special Meeting. Mr. Manning asked if there were any additions or corrections to the February 21 s` and to the February 28'h meetings minutes. Mr. Banks made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Hughes seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes and 0 -nays. Discuss and possibly approve February 2017 Financials. Mr. Wilson stated that the RED News on Marketing and Promotion is for marketing the proposed building at 2305 Loop 286. Mr. Banks asked if Cross Country was the telephone system and Mr. Wilson replied that it was. Mr. Wilson said the sales tax receipts were higher than normal for February; PEDC Board Meeting Minutes March 21, 2017 Page 2 of 4 although February is usually the highest month because it is December's sales tax; this year is was about $20,000 more due to a business audit. Our monthly expenses worksheet shows our ending cash balance as $2,867,453.66 and our reserves as $540,763.66. This gives us a total cash and reserve balance of $3,408,217.32. Mr. Brockman made a motion to approve the financials. Mr. Banks seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes and 0 -nays. Discuss and possibly approve the yearly Audit Report for the 2015 -2016 year as presented by Andy Reich and Victoria Bethea of McClanahan and Holmes. Mr. Andy Reich and Ms. Victoria Bethea from McClanahan & Holmes presented the PEDC audit report. Mr. Reich read from page 2 of the Independent Auditors' Report: Opinions "In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities of PEDC as of September 30, 2016, and the respective changes in financial position and, where applicable, cash flows for the year ". Mr. Reich stated that basically this was a "clean opinion" on the financial statements. He went on to page 4 the Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for the year ended September 30, 2016. The Sales Tax Revenue was just over $1.4 million and the Expenditures were about $400,000; adding $1,000,000 to the Fund Balance to be used for future incentives. Mr. Banks questioned the Investments section on page 8, paragraphs two and three. Mr. Wilson said Gene Anderson would be the one to answer questions on the investment pools since cities all over Texas use the pools. Mr. Banks is concerned that the PEDC is using investment pools that are not insured. Mr. Paris asked if they would like a discussion of investment pools with Mr. Anderson to be a future agenda item. Mr. Manning said they would like it on a future agenda. Mr. Reich asked the Board if they had any other questions about the audit. There were no other questions. Mr. Banks made a motion to accept the Audit Report. Mr. Wilson seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes and 0 -nays. Discuss future budget amendments. Mr. Wilson stated that he wanted the Board to discuss future budget amendments so the adjustments could be made before his term as Secretary/Treasurer ended in June of this year. The first adjustment would be $23,000 taken from Contract Labor and put into Salaries & Wages. Under the Direct Business Incentives we added the Park Street Project during the fiscal year which we should list as $60,000. We ask for any suggestions or problems you see in the budget be brought to our attention. Budget amendments will be ready for approval at the April Board meeting. Mr. Banks asked if the numbers we add in will be taken from another item. Mr. Wilson responded that we would just be adding to the budget since we were under budget. The $8,000 to Potters' Industries for 2015 should have been paid in fiscal year 2015 -2016, but was paid in fiscal year 2016 -2017. This second payment for $8,000 is for Potters' Industries 2016 and it is the correct payment to be paid this fiscal year. We PEDC Board Meeting Minutes March 21, 2017 Page 3 of 4 have all the documentation to pay this second $8,000. Mr. Paris went over the TML Insurance Benefits and said that we have added $8,500 to that item. He went on to say that we will have the changes ready to vote on in April and then present to City Council. Discuss and possibly approve Executive Director's benefits in context to new TML benefits. Mr. Paris explained that when the first invoice from TML was sent to Gene Anderson in Finance that Mr. Anderson came back and asked if amendments were made to the Executive Director's contract since the contract states a $1,000 a month allowance for insurance benefits. Mr. Anderson is seeking clarification of the Executive Director's contract agreement. Mr. Paris said it should say "The Board choses to pay the Executive Director, Texas Municipal League benefits to he or she and the dependents if he or she shall chose to do that." Mr. Brockman added "for health, dental and vision." And then Mr. Brockman made the motion stating again that the Board choses to pay the Executive Director, Texas Municipal League benefits for health, dental and vision to he or she and the dependents if he or she shall chose to do that. Mr. Hughes seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Discuss and possibly approve SuRRMA's request for support from each entity with a pledse of $2000 a year which will build a reserve fund. Ms. Harris said that under 501.103 Texas Local Government Code she does not see a way to make it an appropriate project. Specific sites are allowed, but general infrastructure is not in a Type A Corporation. Mr. Paris wanted to know how it was looked at when the PEDC contributed to the Highway 24 project. Was it a specific project? Mr. Wilson answered that it was a specific infrastructure project that had everything in place before we got involved. Mr. Brockman asked if SuRRMA might restate the request in an acceptable format. Mr. Wilson stated SuRRMA was looking for operating expenses and we could take the amount from marketing. Mr. Banks asked how a reserve fund for SuRRMA can be a marketing expense in our budget. Mr. Paris said that other EDCs use their marketing monies flexibly. Mr. Banks reminded everyone that we are a Type A Corporation which is very limited in the spending of our funds. Mr. Manning asked Ms. Harris if there was a legal way for the PEDC to support SuRRMA's reserve fund. She replied that as a project there was not, but as a promotional expense it could be legal. Mr. Banks made a motion to table this item. Mr. Wilson seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Executive Director's Monthly Report. • A thank you goes out to Ken Higdon, his staff, and volunteers. Lamar County Days was a great success. Mr. Hughes and I met with the Governor's Office staff members discussing Paris and our major manufacturers. We were invited back to the Governor's Office because of an idea that we came up with. Along with staff from the Governor's Office, members from the Texas Economic Development Foundation and representatives from the Texas Workforce Commission will be joining us on March the 30th. • Project Sun Bird is still very active and under discussion. Project Iron Anchor will be taken to the Governor's Office. Project Wind Cave which was an RFP from the Governor's Office would like to come back and for a site visit in April. Wind Cave does coating for tubing, approximately 150 jobs, significant investment, and a large space. PEDC Board Meeting Minutes March 21, 2017 Page 4 of 4 • Another project does compounding solutions for the oil and gas industry. I don't have all the details yet. • I attended a Site Link Consultant Meeting last month and have a consultant coming to Paris in April. This consultant will be looking at our properties, our assets, and our resources. • I Skinner has done an addendum to their tax abatement and the City Council will be reviewing. • Park Street Project has the foundation completed, but the City Engineers are waiting for some good weather before they finish it. • The Build -to -Suit sign for 2305 Loop 286 should be completed this week. • The business retention and expansion visits are going well. Potters has completed their building across from Park Street and has started using it for storage. Another manufacturer is looking into exporting to the Middle East and Brazil. Convene into Executive Session: The Board convened into Executive Session at 4:51 p.m. Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on item(s) discussed in Executive Session. The Board reconvened back into Open Session at 5:06 p.m. No action was taken from the discussion that took place in Executive Session. Discuss Future Agenda Items. Mr. Paris said that he had a request from Mr. Banks that Mr. Anderson speaks with the Board about the unsecured funds in our annual financial report. The second request, we put the SuRRMA request for support back on the agenda. Adiourn Mr. Banks made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Hughes seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. The meeting was adjourned at 5:09 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Paula Brownfield Administrative Assistant Paris Economic Development Corporation