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08/18/2017 MINUTESPARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MONTHLY MEETING Board Members Present: Richard Manning, Chairman Marion Hamill, Vice -Chairman Tim Hernandez, Secretary/Treasurer Ray Banks Derrick Hughes Ex -Officio Members Present: John Godwin, City of Paris Ken Higdon, Lamar County Chamber Legal Counsel: Stephanie Harris, City Attorney Call to Order. Community Room 1125 Bonham Street Paris, Texas 75460 Friday, August 18, 2017 10:00 O'CLOCK A.M. MINUTES Staff Present: Michael Paris, Executive Director Chris Stout, Economic Development Associate Paula Brownfield, Administrative Assistant Guest(s) Present: Sally Boswell, The Paris News Deanna Manning Colton Sanders, Paris Free Press City Council Liaison: Paula Portugal Mr. Manning called the meeting of the Paris Economic Development Corporation to order at 10:00 a.m. on August 18, 2017. Citizens' Input Mr. Manning invited those present to speak during Citizens' Input. No one came forward and the Citizens' Input was closed. Mr. Manning said that there was a request from the City Attorney to move the Executive Session to the beginning of the meeting. He then made a motion to move Item #11 to the next item of the meeting. Mr. Banks seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Convene into Executive Session: a) Convene into Executive Session pursuant to Section 551.074 of the Texas Government Code to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee as follows: City Attorney. PEDC Board Meeting Minutes August 18, 2017 Page 2 of 6 b) Section 551.087; Deliberation of Economic Development Negotiations to deliberate Commercial and Financial Information and Economic Incentives relating to the following: Commercial real-estate development. 1) Project - 3.141 2) Kimberly Clark 3) J. Skinner 4) Huhtamaki 5) Project Aileron 6) Deliberate nominations for Industry of the Year Chairman Manning convened the Board into executive session at 10:04 a.m. 10:49 a.m. Ms. Harris left Executive Session. 11:35 a.m. Mr. Higdon left Executive Session. 11:35 a.m. Mr. Godwin left Executive Session. Reconvene into Open Session and Possibly take action on item(s) discussed in Executive Session. Chair Manning reconvened the Board into open session at 11:37 a.m. Mr. Manning made a motion to hire an attorney to guide us as at -need basis as discussed. Mr. Hughes seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Discuss and possibly approve Minutes of the July 21, 2017, Monthly Meeting. Mr. Banks had a correction on a word. Mr. Banks made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Mr. Hernandez seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Discuss and possibly approve July 2017 Financials, Mr. Hernandez stated that one item he saw was the Medical Insurance line had two months of insurance posted to the month of July. Mr. Banks made a motion to accept the financials as presented. Mr. Hughes seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Discuss and possibly approve 2017-2018 Budget for the Paris EDC. Mr. Paris opened the budget discussion with an explanation of the ten percent (10%) increase in Personnel expenses. We converted Mr. Stout from a contract employee to a full-time PEDC employee in the first quarter of this year. He added "No one has received an increase in pay." Mr. Hernandez commented on the paper saying we had a seven percent (7%) raise in salaries. He said that adding the total Personnel Expenses plus the Contact Labor from last year's budget has the Personnel Budget right in line. The insurance benefits were started in April of this year. Mr. Manning stated that this is the first year we have a full budget compared to the partial budgets we've had in the past. Mr. Hernandez pointed out the total Administration costs were (-13%), Marketing costs down (-7%). The paper pointed out a big increase in the Machinery budget, but this was put into the budget to purchase a copier. Mr. Manning asked that when we go to City Council with the Budget they are made aware that PEDC Board Meeting Minutes August 18, 2017 Page 3 of 6 the seven percent does not increase our employees' wages. Mr. Paris went on to Total Operating Expenses and pointed out the 0% increase. Marketing and Promotion total went down $7,000.00 due to Lamar County Days is every two years. Mr. Banks asked about Travel Expenses and if employees were traveling for training should it be included with Training Expenses. It was agreed that they were two different expense items. Mr. Paris went on to Job Training and pointed out that the ACT WorkKeys had been reduced. He commented that not as many students were taking the test. Also, the BodyGuard Training has run out for next year and the High Demand Job Training Match Grant has not been requested. The Job Training total has dropped by (48%) from last year. Direct Business Incentives show that the Park Street Project as a one-time project to redo a street; Powder Innovations had property taxes last year on a piece of property they gave back to us and we paid the taxes on said property. Our open Incentives are Paris Lakes for $250,000.00, BodyGuard for $25,000.00, Potters Industries for $8,000.00, and Daisy Dairy for $94,900.00. Mr. Paris went further down the Budget to Debt Service and noted that the PEDC Bonds and the Bank of New York will be paid off after next year. The Total Budget Expenses for the last fiscal year were $1,298,384.77 and this year they are down to $1.206,676.00, which is a decrease of seven percent (-7%) We are projecting a tax surplus of $209,000.00. Mr. Hughes asked if no one was taking the ACT WorkKeys test. Mr. Paris said that not as many students taking the test and at a cost $35.00 a student it will not be affected by the reduced budget. Mr. Hamill said that as a vocational counselor he was not aware this test was available. Mr. Hughes made a motion to approve the Budget for 2017-2018. Mr. Hamill seconded the motion. Vote was 5 -ayes to 0 -nays. Discuss PEDC monthly board meeting dates. Mr. Paris asked for a discussion of meeting dates so that the Board could find a date that worked for all the Board Members' schedules. Everyone agreed to 9:30 a.m. on the 3rd Friday of the month as the Board Meeting date. 12:00 p.m. Mr. Banks asked to be excused from the rest of the meeting. Discuss the Internal File Audit. Mr. Paris made the Board aware that we as employees are ready to provide customer service. Let it be noted that the customer is not just the Director or the Board, but the citizens of Paris, Texas. Our files and our agreements consistently get pulled to test our files and filing system. We invited Ms. Harris to do an Internal Audit of our files by coming in, asking for a file, and checking its contents to make sure everything is in order. Mr. Stout pulled compliance binders for Paris Lakes, Campbell's and BodyGuard; Ms. Harris found all the content was in the binders. She gave suggestions to make the files more user friendly. Mr. Paris thanked Mr. Stout for his work on completing the files and making sure the information was accurate. Mr. Manning also thanked Mr. Paris, Mr. Stout and Ms. Brownfield for the office organization saying he remembers not finding files because of the mess the files were in. Mr. Paris stated that "we have nothing to hide in this organization. We're out to create jobs, we're out to retain jobs and when we develop an incentive agreement with somebody we want to participate in that job growth; but at the same time we want to make sure all parties are held accountable to the cash or incentives that we offer." PEDC Board Meeting Minutes August 18, 2017 Page 4 of 6 Discuss and possibly approve replacins the office copier. Ms. Brownfield told the Board that the copier was purchased not leased in 2007. The Lamar County Chamber and the PEDC were combined at the time, so we are not sure who purchased the copier. The copier was not printing in color, the service technician updated software, then proceeded to let me know that the copier is obsolete and it will be harder to get parts as it gets older. We did get three quotes and they are all under ten thousand dollars. Mr. Paris recommended that the Board table the item and come back with all the details at the next meeting. Mr. Hernandez agreed saying that leasing a copier is better. Mr. Manning made a motion to table Item #8 to discuss and possibly approve replacing the office copier. Mr. Hughes seconded the motion. Vote was 4 -ayes to 0 -nays. Executive Director's Monthly Report. • The July 24`h City Council meeting was attended by me along with Mr. Hughes, Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Hamill, and Mr. Manning. I was ready to ask City Council to put the vote on pause in November and look at a strategic plan. In the previous meeting, Linda Knox and Cleonne Drake, mentioned looking at a 4B Plan. The pause would have given time to find out what this community wants to do. Chris Bailey, Plant Manager of Turner Industries; Shelia Coursey, Comptroller of Campbell's Soup; Kelli Mallicote, Vice President of BodyGuard Truck Accessories all came to speak at the City Council meeting. All three appreciate the relationship that they have with the PEDC. Chris Bailey spoke to City Council and while he was speaking looked each member in the eyes saying "we would not be in Paris, Texas, unless it was for the Paris Economic Development Corporation". Surprisingly, Chris Bailey telling the Council of the impact the PEDC had on Turner Industries decision in coming to Paris did not make an impression on most of the City Council members. The PEDC has been vital in keeping jobs in Paris and also creating jobs. More good has come to Paris through the PEDC than missteps have taken away. "We need to continue looking at our strategic plan and strategic vision." We will keep talking to the community about economic development and the purpose of 4A, 4B and Chapter 380. Since the PEDC works behind the scenes with the industries, the community usually does not see how complex our part is to keep jobs in Paris and to attract jobs to Paris. • The European American Investment Council is a group of European business people working with foreign direct investment. They are looking for investments in the Americas. TEAM Texas members were invited to meet with the Investment Council. I went to Waco with a presentation of Paris, Texas. This is what they should know "Paris, Texas is an economic powerhouse, manufacturing powerhouse, compared to other communities our size. The proportion of manufacturing jobs in Paris, Texas, are high compared to other areas." The EAIC is excited about working with us and we will probably become members. PEDC Board Meeting Minutes August 18, 2017 Page 5 of 6 • File Audit was important to complete, so the public knows they can walk in and request to look at an incentive agreement. "The public needs to know that their money, the public's money is being used wisely and with ultimate stewardship." • Employer Profiles have been done on Chris Bailey, Turner Industries and Brett Dunson, Campbell's Soup. The next profile is on Grant and Kelli Mallicote, BodyGuard Bumpers. The email blasts with the employer profiles are receiving positive responses from site selector consultants and others outside of Paris. • Mr. Hernandez did a great job on the budget planning in the middle of our tight travel schedules. • Site Visits were completed for: o Kimberly Clark — we are assisting Kimberly Clark with a tax abatement and working the City Manager and City Attorney. o Campbell's Soup — Good report. o Huhtamaki — Another Good report. • Daisy Dairy compliance records need of more information. What we are seeing is the salaries, but not the hourly records. $94,000.00 is set aside for incentives based on water usage. Gene Anderson has the information on the water usage. Ms. Portugal asked if she could comment. She complimented Mr. Paris on his professionalism and positive format to his presentations. Ms. Portugal also stated that he brings facts and figures in the face of adversity. She is impressed with the Employer Profile articles and has shared them. Mr. Paris said that the Employer Profile articles are part of our email campaign; it is about telling people outside of Paris what we have to offer. Discuss strategy in preparation to the November 7th vote regarding the abolishment of the quarter cent sales tax from the Paris Economic Development Corporation to the adoption of the quarter cent sales tax toward city streets. Mr. Paris started with the draft language of the City of Paris Proposition A. The proposition will need to say that they are absolving the PEDC. November 7b is the date of the election. We need to discuss what we can do as a Board. Each Board Member as a Citizen can do what they want. If you are representing the Board you can't speak on behalf of the Board. The Board should: • Remain neutral • Keep promoting Economic Development • Promote the importance of 4A • Highlight how 4A works • Talk about the benefits to the Community Mr. Hamill asked for more information on the differences between 4A, 4B and Chapter 380. Mr. Hernandez suggested that the Board use talking points when speaking to the public. Mr. Paris has heard that a PAC was formed by business people in the community. As a Board we do not participate PEDC Board Meeting Minutes August 18, 2017 Page 6 of 6 in a PAC and what they do politically. Mr. Manning spoke about people still bringing up the mistakes and things that happened in the past. We can't change what happened in the past; so we need to work on making Paris better for the future which includes creating jobs and keeping jobs. Mr. Manning said that the goal should be to make Paris better. Mr. Paris asked the all-important question "What is success? What is economic development success in Paris, Texas? Where do we want to be? Where do you want to be in the next ten years?" During this time the strategic planning will go on. Mr. Manning stated that the citizens will lose when there are no jobs. We will lose the young adults as they move out of Paris to find jobs. Mr. Hernandez commented on the shortsightedness of taking the money away from the PEDC because resources are needed to attract businesses. One of the alternatives, Chapter 380, gives each new City Council the ability to vote keeping to the money where it's at or putting it toward something else. Discuss Future Agenda Items. No future agenda items were discussed. Adi ourn Mr. Hughes made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Hamill seconded the motion. Vote was 4 -ayes to 0 -nays. The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Paula Brownfield Administrative Assistant Paris Economic Development Corporation