07/14/2015 MINUTESPARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
MONTHLY MEETING
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
MINUTES
Board Members Staff
Present: Richard Manning, Chair Present: Angie Corbell
John Brockman, Vice -Chair Office Manager
Don Wilson, Secretary- Treasurer
Ray Banks
Ex- Officio Members
Guest(s)
Present:
A.J. Hashmi, Mayor
Present: Randy Tuttle
Pam Anglin
Bob Hundley
Louise Moseley
Legal
Lynda Work, the Paris News
Counsel:
None
JC Darnell
Edwin Pickle
City Council
Carol Hufnagel
Liaison:
Sue Lancaster
Anna Spencer
Billy Trenado
John Wallace
James Wallace
Deanne Manning
Don B. Taylor
Wesley Roberts, Paris PD
Call to Order:
Richard Manning, Chairman called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. and welcomed those
present. Confirmed a quorum was present. Mr. Manning asked for introductions all around.
Citizens Input•
Mr. Manning asked if there was any citizen input. No one spoke up.
Discuss and possibly take action on City Attorney services.
Ray Banks asked Sue Lancaster if there was any reason the PEDC could not use the City
Attorney. Edwin Pickle, City Council, stated that City Attorney Kent McIlyar sent an email to
the City Council asking if there were any objections to him attending the PEDC meeting or
representing the PEDC in legal matters. Mr. Pickle stated that he had a problem with the City
Attorney appearing at the meeting. Richard Manning stated that the PEDC Bylaws say that we
use the City Attorney. Mr. Pickle stated that the City Council does not want the City Attorney or
anyone from his office representing the PEDC. Don Wilson asked: "Why do we need to hire
another attorney ?" We have Moore Law Firm as our attorney. We need an attorney at the PEDC
meetings to keep us from wavering from the straight and narrow; said Mr. Banks. Edwin Pickle
informed everyone that the City Council voted last year that they did not want any of the City
Attorneys to be involved with PEDC. Ray Banks commented that the issue needs to be placed on
the City Council Future Agenda. Ray Banks said the City Council and the PEDC cannot gain the
public's trust by arguing amongst themselves. Mr. Pickle said there is an item on the City
Council agenda for July 27, 2015, to address this issue. Sue Lancaster said she was at the
meeting that the City Council voted that City Attorneys were not to be involved with the PEDC.
It was because Mr. Defenbaugh had been in communication with Sue Lancaster. Don Wilson
spoke of a contract that Mr. McIlyar had breached his professional responsibility by not
reporting back on a contract that was signed placing the City and the PEDC board at risk, and
wants this resolved before he is utilized as PEDC attorney. Mayor Hashmi spoke saying the item
is on the City Council agenda.
Approval of Minutes from the June 9, 2015 regular meeting and June 29, 2015 Special
Called Meeting
John Brockman made a motion to accept the Minutes, with corrections, for June 9, 2015
and June 29, 2015; seconded by Ray Banks. Motion Carried 4 -0.
Approval of May 2015 and June 2015 fmancials
Richard Manning asked for approval of the financials for May 2015 and June 2015. Don
Wilson commented on a (- 15,000.00) expense item in the May 2015 financials. He stated that
this was due to a cancelled check to HWH /Rogers -Wade for an incentive agreement from last
August or September. Gene Anderson said that the check was held and then cancelled, since the
audit from last year is closed the amount was reinstated to May 2015 financials. Another item in
the May financials was the Personnel expense for the month. It looks higher than usual since the
month of May has five weeks, so there was an extra pay period. This five week month happens
in May and October in 2015. The insurance shows for the month of May because it could not be
cancelled in the middle of a month. John Brockman made a motion to accept the financials for
May 2015 and June 2015. Ray Banks seconded the motion. Motion carried 4 -0.
Discuss and possibly take action on proposed PEDC Budget Amendments for FY 2014 —
2015 and proposed PEDC Budget for FY 2015 -2016
Don Wilson stated that it is nearly impossible to finish the budget up with what has taken
place at the office. He made some clarifications to direct incentives that had not been used this
year. He would like to see the Contract Labor line item in the budget placed in the Personnel
section. Work Keys Assessment is in the budget as two separate line items which is very
confusing. Need to consult with Gene Anderson on the line items listed twice. Ray Banks made a
motion to approve the 2014 -2015 Budget Amendments and the 2015 -2016 proposed Budget. The
motion was seconded by Don Wilson. "Ayes" were unanimous.
Discuss and possibly take action on hiring J. C. Darnell for PEDC data backups.
At the suggestion of Pam Anglin, J.C. Darnell looked at the computer data backup system
that we currently use and advised that our system is antiquated. It is not a bad idea to backup to
external hard drives, but they will over time fail. Mr. Darnell stated that he uses an on -line
system to backup the data. This type of system is more secure in that it uses off -site storage
rather than the current on -site storage. Mr. Darnell proposed using a website called moseypro for
the backups. We could go directly through the website to backup, but he stated that for him to be
the verification that our data was being backed up we would need his services. Ray Banks asked
for a price quote. $250 to $300 a month was the quote for monitoring and maintenance. $50 a
month extra is for the backup site. Mr. Darnell was asked about response time and his reply was
that response time is usually daily, but flexible as to needs of clients. Ray Banks made a motion
to use J.C. Darnell's services for six months to do both the maintenance and the backup for a
total cost of $300 per month. Don Wilson seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Discuss and possibly take action on converting to new website and approve payment to
JazzyFrog Web Design.
James Wallace of JazzyFrog was on hand to go over what had been agreed on to
complete a new PEDC website. He stated that the website was completed by the end of April,
but no one had submitted changes and he had used the information on the old website. Don
Wilson stated that we need to provide more pictures and more content. Mr. Banks asked about
completion and Mr. Wallace stated that the contract stated PEDC had 30 days to review and
provide more information. It also covered quarterly maintenance which would keep the site
updated. Mr. Wallace said he knew about the changes at the PEDC and was willing to work with
us to complete the project. John Brockman apologized for the lack of information that was
provided. Don Wilson requested that the website be more interactive with website links. He
acknowledged that this would be ongoing. Richard Manning asked how much we owed, answer
was $2500. Don Wilson made the motion to pay James Wallace $1000 of the outstanding $2500
left on the contract and another $500 payment for quarterly maintenance. John Brockman
seconded the motion. All said "Aye ".
Review, Discuss and possibly take action on the Dawson Follow up Report.
Mr. Wilson had asked Mr. Dawson about another forensic investigation. Mr. Dawson had
said that it would be better for him to speak at the meeting. His recommended plan of action is
to: proceed with legal counsel; submit a report to other prosecuting authority, the Texas Rangers
or the FBI; await prosecuting authority; proceed accordingly; Mr. Dawson can move forward if
the correct response. Richard Manning questioned whether we should keep pursuing an
investigation. The discussion kept going between the board members and Mayor Hashmi about
whether a contract was signed. Don Wilson made a motion to turn over the Defenbaugh report to
the FBI and await a response. John Brockman seconded the motion. The motion failed.
Discuss and possibly take action on PEDC additional staff positions.
Cheryl Metts with RPM Staffing spoke before the board. RPM can provide part-time or
full -time employees. RPM provides the background check, credit check, workers' comp,
Percentage markup that RPM charges covers the background check, credit check, workers'
comp, and other employee expenses. Don Wilson stated that the employee can be full -time until
we have hired a director, once a director is hired we can adjust the hours. Ray Banks made
motion to hire someone to help Angie Corbell, the Office Manager. The motion was seconded by
Don Wilson. All said "Aye ".
Richard Manning asked that discussion concerning the hiring of an interim executive
director be added to the next meeting agenda for the Executive Session.
Convene into Executive Session:
The Board convened into Executive Session at 5:48 p.m. Pursuant to Section 551.072 of
the Texas Government Code to discuss and deliberate on the following:
1. Pursuant to Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code to discuss and deliberate to
purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property.
2 Pursuant to section 551.087 of the Texas Government Code to discuss or deliberate: 1)
commercial or financial information that the governmental body has received from a
business prospect that the governmental body and with which the governmental body is
conducting economic development negotiations; or 2) to deliberate the offer of a financial
or other incentive to a business prospect.
Executive Session ended at 6:31 p.m. The Board reconvened into open session. As a
result of executive session discussion the Board took the following action:
Ray Banks made a motion that the board spends $750 on an asbestos survey for Project
Spec. Don Wilson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Don Wilson made a motion to adjourn at 6:34 p.m.; seconded by Richard Manning.
Motion Carried 4 -0.
Respectfully submitted,
Paula Brownfield
Administrative Assistant
Paris EDC