11/17/2015 MINUTESPARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
MINUTES
Board Members
Present: Richard Manning, Chair
John Brockman, Vice -Chair
Don Wilson, Secretary - Treasurer
Ray Banks
Ex- Officio Members
Present:
Legal Counsel:
Kent McIlyar
Call to Order:
Staff
Present: Angie Corbell
Office Manager
Paula Brownfield
Admin. Assistant
Guest(s) Present:
John Godwin, City of Paris
Jerry Richie, Airport Manager
Dennis Ashby, Airport Board
Paula Portugal, Airport Board
John Cunningham
Tim Bullock, Airport Board
Anna Spencer, Airport Board
Paul Linck, Turner Industries
Louise Mosley
Connie Beard, The Paris News
City Council Mayor Hashmi
Liaison:
Richard Manning, Chairman called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. and welcomed those present. A quorum
was present.
Citizens Input•
There was no citizen input.
Discuss and possibly take action on readopting the tax abatement guidelines and policy:
John Brockman made a motion to strike the entire last paragraph on Appendix B page 11, thus removing the
PEDC as Administrator /Monitor of Tax Abatement Contracts; motion was seconded by Ray Banks. The motion
carried 4 -0.
Mr. Wilson made a motion to change the Tax Abatement Criteria and Guidelines to allow an exception to be
made for Greenfield sites; motion was seconded by Ray Banks. Motion carried 4 -0.
Discuss and possibly take action on participation with the City in the development of hangars at Cox
Field:
Mr. Godwin gave a brief plan outline to build spec building/s at Cox Field Airport. Mr. Godwin stated the $1 M
Tx.Dot grant awarded to Cox Field was delayed until 2017. Mr. Banks asked if the proceeds from the sale of
property to Agpro could be used for development. Mr. Godwin stated affirmative, and that it may be earmarked
to match the TxDot grant. The Board was then addressed by Mr. Jerry Richie, Airport Manager and Mr. Dennis
Ashby of the Airport Board. Mr. Richie clarified the TxDot grant is to be used to build private lease hangars;
but the Airport would like to build industrial hangars also, such as a paint shop or airplane maintenance hangar.
Mr. Banks asked how many airplane paint shops were there near Paris. Mr. Richie stated there was one in Mena
Arkansas. Mr. Manning stated he would like to see a letter of intent before the PEDC stepped off into anything.
Mr. Dennis Ashby of the Airport Board stated he could advertise in trade magazines. Wilson pointed out there
was $10,000 dollars in the PEDC budget for marketing the Airport. Mr. Ashby stated the avionic shops could
employ up to 50 people. Mr. Manning stated more communication was needed. Mr. Brockman asked if it were
feasible for a building to be built unless there was a prospective tenant or a business agreement in place. Mr.
Manning asked if an avionic shop would be more practical to propose for the number of jobs. Mr. Brockman
proposed the PEDC partner with the Airport Board on advertising and after lengthy discussion on price per foot
and business prospects; Mr. Wilson suggested the Airport Advisory Board come back at a later date with a
viable advertising and or prospect for a build to suit building and or finance type arrangement that would create
jobs. The Board was in agreement.
Discuss and possibly take action on proposed downtown redevelopment proiect:
Mr. Godwin outlined a presentation of redevelopment of the downtown 1920's bank building by David J.
Alarid. Mr. Godwin stated that it may require an agreement between the City, the P.E.D.C. and the Developer.
Mr. Godwin stated those kinds of agreements were EDC statutes chapter 380 that covered this type of
agreement is legal and appropriate. Mr. Wilson asked how the P.E.D.C. could be involved in this if he would
require funding. Mr. Godwin responded that at some point the developer would be requesting assistance with
funding for infrastructure and or utilities. Mr. Wilson went on to say as much turmoil and anxiety that this
organization has created he did not think the P.E.D.C. Board should touch it. Mr. Godwin stated he understood.
Mr. Banks concurred. Mr. Manning thanked Mr. Godwin for his time and asked him to please keep the Board
informed. Mr. Brockman stated the Board was in favor of any development downtown. The Board was in
agreement. No action was taken.
Discuss and possibly act on recommendations by JC Darnell on our need for an indexed database and
storage:
Mr. Darnell presented two database storage options for the Board to consider. The first option included on site
storage but limited indexing capabilities. The second option offered cloud storage with more flexibility in
document searches and indexing. Cost for the cloud option was approximately $480 per user per year. Mr.
Wilson expressed reservations about document retrieval with the cloud based system. Mr. Darnell assured Mr.
Wilson it would be easier to retrieve in the cloud based service. Mr. Manning asked if this would work when the
PEDC had only a few days to submit a potential prospect proposal. Mr. Darnell stated it would give more
flexibility to search and retrieve information. Mr. Brockman asked about storage capacity & startup costs. Mr.
Darnell advised it would be more than adequate. Mr. Darnell advised the upfront costs would be a subscription
fee. Mr. Darnell recommended a cloud based system on a trial basis, and a purchase of a desktop scanner
between $800- $2000. Mr. Wilson asked about moving the storage contract service in the future. Mr. Darnell
advised that would be a consideration before signing the contract. Mr. Brockman asked how many user
accounts would be utilized. Mr. Darnell advised guest access accounts could be utilized. Mr. Wilson added the
indexing would be an asset in document searches. Angie Corbell concurred. Mr. Manning stated he thought it
was the best course of action. Mr. Manning made a motion to purchase a scanner and conduct a month to month
trial of the document imaging software. The motion was seconded by Mr. Banks. The motion carried 4 -0.
Discuss and possibly take action on Request for Proposals for the cleanup and demolition of the 2305 NW
Loop 286 property:
The Board was advised the only RFP submitted was after the deadline and was not opened. Mr. Banks reiterated
the only bid was after the deadline. Mr. McKilyar advised the bid should not be opened. Mr. Wilson stated, and
Mr. Banks and Mr. Manning concurred the RFP would be advertised again. Mr. Brockman asked for
clarification if the received bid needed to be returned to the contractor to be re- submitted. Mr. Wilson and Mr.
Manning advised it would.
Discuss and possibly take action on Board Members' personal e-mail use:
Mr. Manning stated a client had an issue with the Board using personal emails. Mr. Wilson stated he thought
correspondence with that client should not be emailed but placed in board member packets. Mr. Wilson stated
he thought no client information should be emailed. Mayor Hashmi presented a possible solution: that the
Board request city emails so that personal emails would not be subject to public information requests. Mr.
McKilyar recommended the board use the city provided email addresses. Mr. Manning stated the Board would
need someone to set up the emails. Ms. Corbell suggested J. C. Darnell. Mr. Banks stated the City I. T. would
do it. Mr. Darnell and Mayor Hashmi concurred. Mayor Hashmi also suggested using I -pads instead of hard
copy packets. Ms. Corbell asked if a motion was needed. Mr. Banks made a motion to request the City I.T.
department set up city email accounts for Board members. Mr. Brockman seconded the motion. The motion
carried. 4 -0
Discuss and possibly take action on Holiday Pay for temporary staff at PEDC:
Mr. Manning stated the holidays were coming up and thinks it would be a good thing to pay PEDC staff for
holidays. Mr. Wilson recommended two days on Thanksgiving, two days on Christmas and New Years' Day.
Mr. Wilson made a motion to include these days as paid for Temporary staff. Mr. Banks seconded the motion.
The motion carried 4 -0.
Discuss and possibly approve changes to 2014 -2015 Amended Budget:
Mr. Wilson stated there were corrections to the budget to show the corrected amended amounts and presented
the corrections. Mr. Banks made a motion to approve the corrections. Mr. Wilson seconded the motion. The
motion carried 4 -0.
Discuss and possibly approve Minutes of October 20, 2015 Meeting:
Mr. Brockman asked for clarification on the value of the slab as stated in the minutes. Mr. Wilson stated the
minutes needed be corrected to say a new slab alone would be worth $600, 000.00. Mr. Manning stated the
word "new" should be added. Mr. Brockman made a motion to accept the corrected minutes. The motion was
seconded by Mr. Banks. The motion carried 4 -0.
Discuss and possibly approve October 2015 Financials:
Mr. Wilson stated the total operating expenses and pointed out the breakdown. Mr. Banks inquired about the car
allowance being paid in November instead of October. Ms. Brownfield advised the City Finance office paid it
in November instead of October. Mr. Wilson pointed out the ending cash balance was $1,980,000.00 and
$29,000.00 was transferred into debt service and I & S reserves so the I & S reserves went from $379,000.00 to
$408,000.00, making the total $2,388,827.00. Mr. Banks made a motion to approve the financials. Mr.
Brockman seconded the motion. The motion carried 4 -0.
Convene into Executive Session:
The Board convened into executive session at 5:18pm.
Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on item(s) discussed in Executive Session:
The Board reconvened at 6:24pm. Mr. Banks made a motion to contract with Chaney Engineering to conduct a
survey on plot number 405795 in the amount of 600 to 700 dollars. The motion was seconded by Mr.
Brockman. The motion carried with an amended amount of $700 to $800 with all members present voting aye.
Discuss Future Agenda Items:
None
Adiourn•
Mr. Banks motioned to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Wilson. The motion carried 4 -0.
The meeting ended at 6:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Angie Corbell
Office Manager
Paris EDC