Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GEDCO_11.16.2009Minutes of the Meeting of the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation and the Governing Body of the City of Georgetown, Texas Monday, November 16, 2009 !he Georgetown Economic Development Corporation of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Monday, November 16, 2009. Members Present: Rick Smith, Ben Oliver, Pat Berryman, Dale Ross, Ron Shelly Members Absent: Staff Present: Paul Brandenburg, General Manager, Micki Rundell, Finance Manager, Mark 1'houias, Economic Development Director, Shirley Ruin, Executive Assistant to the City Manager, Mark Sokolow, City Attorney Regular Meeting Called to order at 2:00 p.m. Berryman introduced the new City Attorney to the Board, as well as the staff members who are present. A. Discussion and possible action regarding the Project Progress Report. -- Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director and Paul E. Brandenburg, General Manager Thomas provided an overview of the projects the GEDCO Board has worked on. There are no substantive changes from the last report. The cost for the Amante grease trap was higher than the budgeted amount, but the Economic Development budget made up the difference in cost Discussion about plans the City can and have iniplemented to anticipate these type of cost overruns in the downtown area . Brandenburg told the Board there are water/wastewater improvement plans in place, as well as the Downtown TIRZ, which will have funds available for these types of iniproventents Discussion regarding doing a possible analysis of the types of work that needs to be done in the downtown area., including sidewalks, costs related to buried electrical lines, water/wastewater, etc. Thomas told the Board that the QLD project is tabled for now as the company was under a time crunch and is now looking at other resources capital venture but may come back to the Board at a later time for equipment grants. He also told the Board that the McIntosh project is also on hold due to the developer planting trees on the property that weren't part of the landscape plan, as well as timing of the placement of the electrical improveiuents. He told the Board that when the Traffic Impact Analysis was done for the Airboin project everything looked good on paper, but due to vehicles parking on the street, Sneed Drive is effectively a one way road and needs to be widened very quickly in order not to impact Airborn and whether or not new companies will move into the area . Brief discussion regarding issues related to the cost of land and infrastructure issues. Thomas also provided a brief review of status of the status of Hope Lumber and Vista Solutions/Loading Dock. B. Consideration and approval of the minutes front the Regular Board Meeting held Monday, September 14, 2009--Ben Oliver, Secretary Motion by Ross, second by Berryman to approve the minutes of the Regular Board Meeting held on Monday, September 14, 2009. Approved 5-0. Consideration of the October 31, 2009 Financial Report--Micki Rundell, Finance Manager Rundell provided an overview of the financial report. She told the Board that the City weathered the past year pretty well. She told them that while our sales tax stayed relatively flat, cities around us didn't fair as well. Discussion regarding when the October sales tax numbers will be available and how the next couple of month's sales tax numbers will be an indicator for the coming year. Discussion regarding our ability to view the collection of sales tax by sector/industry. Discussion about the status of the funds allocated for the Firehouse renovations and companies interested in the space. Rundell also confirmed that GEDCO has $2.6M in unallocated funds, including reserves. Additional discussion regarding wet/dry issue in Georgetown and the impact that issue has with regard to winery and other restaurant businesses coming to Georgetown. D. Consideration of the Investment Report for Quarter ending September 30, 2009--Micki Rundell, Finance Manager Rundell provided an overview of the Quarterly Investment Report and provided information regarding status of investments. Recessed into Executive Session at 2.35 p.m. EXECUTIVE SESSION: The Georgetown Economic Development Corporation will meet in closed executive session as allowed by Texas Open Meetings Act (Texas Government Code Chapter 551), as follows: E. Section 551.072. DELIBERATION REGARDING REAL PROPERTY Discussion and possible action to deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property for purposes authorized by the Development Corporation Act which discussion in open session would have a detrimental effect on negotiations with third persons. GEDCO Minutes/November 16, 2009 Page 2 of 3 F. Section 551.087. DELIBERATION REGARDING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEGOTIATIONS Deliberation regarding commercial or financial information that the corporation has received from a business prospect that the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the City of Georgetown and with which the Corporation is conducting economic development negotiations; and/or deliberation regarding the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect that the Corporation seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the City of Georgetown. -Project Ringdale -Project CU G. Section 551.071. CONSULTATION WITH ATTORNEY Consultation with attorney regarding legal issues related to agenda items and other matters in which the duty of the attorney to the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas. Reconvened into Regular Session at 3:08 p.nt. H. Action out of Executive Session No action out of Executive Session Motion to adjourn at 3:09 p.m. Attest: Rick Sijiith, President Ben Oliver, Corporate Secretary GEDCO Minutes/November 16, 2009 Page 3of3 Minutes of the Meeting of the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation and the Governing Body of the City of Georgetown, Texas Monday, September 14, 2009 t'he Georgetown Economic Development Corporation of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Monday, September 14, 2009. Members Present: Dale Ross, Rick Smithi Members Absent: Ron Shelly, Ben Oliver Staff Present: Paul Brandenburg, General Manager, Micki Rundell, Finance Manager, Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director, Shirley Rinn, Executive Assistant to the City Manager, Laurie Brewer, Assistant Finance Director Regular Meeting Meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. A. Discussion and possible action regarding the Project Progress Report. -- Mark Thomas, Fconoinic Development Director and Paul E. Brandenburg, General Manager Thomas went over the progress report. He told the Board it was difficult to fix the grease trap for Amante because of the age of the infrastructure. He indicated that city staff was complimented by the engineers, the restaurant owner and the construction company with regard to their work on this project. There was discussion regarding the wastewater line issue with Airborn. Discussion regarding what the City could do to re-establish goodwill with Airborni regarding the issues related to the wastewater line . Discussion regarding how the 4A and the City should handle requests for additional funding beyond the initial approved requests. He told the Board that Vista Solutions is no longer in business. However they did meeting their contract requirements . B. Consideration and approval of the riunutes from the Regular Board Meeting held Monday, August 17, 2009--Ben Oliver, Secretary Motion by Berryman, second by Ross to approve the riunutes of the Regular Board Meeting held on Monday, August 17, July 20, 2009. Approved 3-0 (Shelly and Oliver absent) Consideration of the August 31, 2009 Financial Report--Micki Rundell, Finance Manager Laurie Brewer provided an overview of the financials She told them not much has changed since last month. She told the Board that this is the 4th straight month in a row that the City has had positive sales tax growth. Motion Berryman, second by Ross to approve the Financial Report. Approved 3-0 (Shelly and Oliver absent) D. Discussion and possible action regarding the approval of a Loan Agreement and Promissory Note between GEDCO and Quantum Logic Devices --Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director Brief discussion regarding whether this item should be discussed in open or closed session. Mark told the Board that the Board's attorney, Jeff Moore, told him that this proposal was at a point that it could be discussed in open session. Thomas provided an overview of the tends of the agreement. He indicated that Council has been briefed on this proposal and that the Council has not taken any action with regard to the agreement but wanted the GEDCO Board to review it and make a determination regarding its approval. He told the board that the terms proposed seemed to be the standard that he was able to research with other Economic Development entities that have taken a position in companies like this There was an inquiry as to QLD's competitive position with regard to marketing their product. Thomas told the Board that while there are other companies that have similar products that are m the works, no other company has a product that is at the level as the one that QLD has. I )iscussion regarding the risks of doing this type of investment/grant to a company. The difference is that there is no collateral such as mfrastructure utilized in other agreements. t'hoivas told the Board that bioscience companies are different than the other types of companies that have come to the 4A for funding in the past. He said that these types of companies are not going to request infrastructure because they typically lease their facilities and do not have a need for it, instead these types of companies will most likely be in need of capital. Additional discussion regarding the risk involved in supporting this type of grant. Extensive discussion regarding the pros and cons of approving this agreement and the different scenarios that could occur if the 4A and City of Georgetown approves this agreement or not. There was further discussion regarding whether or not the 4A should be providing a grant of this nature to a company that is already in the TLCC facility and whether or not the 4A Board/City should be fronting funding without it being tied to performance. Rundell told the Board that she would need to discuss the financial legalities with regard to the stock ownership issue with the City's financial counsel. GEDCO Minutes/September 14, 2009 Page 2 of 4 If the Board were to approve this agreement, there was discussion that we retake sure that the agreement includes verbiage that requires the company come back to Georgetown to inanufacture the product. There was also discussion regarding whether or not the company had the ability to obtain personal lines of credit for this venture and the uncertainty and risk involved with this particular deal. the Board also discussed whether this was an appropriate use of taxpayer funds to enter into an agreement such as this that has so much risk The Board also asked about its ability to require a personal guaranty if it is decided to approve this agreement. There was additional discussion regarding the comfort level of the Board granting funding for this type of deal so early in the process. The board indicated support of the technology, but felt hesitant to approve funding so early in the process with so much uncertainty. It was mentioned that the Board to put less funding into the deal and required matching funds and/or other incentives to encourage other investors. Thomas indicated that he would let the company know that while the 4A Board supports the technology of this project, it felt that it was to early in the process to approve funding at this time and that it would not vote to approve the agreement. The Board indicated that once the technology carte out of testing and trials and was ready for manufacturing, the Board could possibly consider approval of funding to the TLCC for r,iachmes, etc. to facilitate the manufacturing of the product. There was additional discussion as to whether or not there should be a future agenda item to outline a framework of acceptable deals in high level terms. Staff indicated that there are guidelines that are currently utilized, and that this deal does fall outside the "box". Thomas indicated that he can provide the current guidelines we currently utilize to the Board so that the Board can determine whether or not they need to be modified . Motion by Berryman, second by Ross to defer this item to the next meeting when all of the I3oard members would be available for the discussion. Approved (Shelly and Oliver absent) Recessed into Executive Session at 3:20 p.ut. EXECUTIVE SESSION: The Georgetown Economic Development Corporation will meet in closed executive session as allowed by Texas Open Meetings Act (Texas Government Code Chapter 551), as follows: E. Section 551.072. DELIBERATION REGARDING REAL PROPERTY Discussion and possible action to deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property for purposes authorized by Section 4A of Economic Development Act of 1979 (as amended) which discussion in open session would have a detrimental effect on negotiations with third persons. F. Section 551.087. DELIBERATION REGARDING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEGOTIATIONS. Deliberation regarding commercial or financial information that the corporation has received from a business prospect that the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the City of Georgetown and with which the Corporation is conducting economic development negotiations; and/or deliberation regarding the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect that the Corporation seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the City of GEDCO Minutes/September 14, 2009 Page 3 of 4 Georgetown. - Project Bowhunt -Airborn G. Section 551.071. CONSULTATION WITH ATTORNEY Consultation with attorney regarding legal issues related to agenda items and other matters in which the duty of the attorney to the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas. Reconvened into regular session at 3:25 p.m. H. Action out of Executive Session Motion by Berryman, second by Ross to direct staff to pursue an agreement with Project t3owhunt as outlined in Executive Session. Approved 3-0 (Shelly and Oliver absent) Meeting adjourned at 3:27 p.m. Attest: Rick Smith, President Ben Oliver, Corporate Secretary GEDCO Minutes/September 14, 2009 Page 4 of 4