1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 4 and 5 KERR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 6 Joint Meeting 7 Friday, September 16, 2011 8 7:30 a.m. 9 Commissioners' Courtroom 10 Kerr County Courthouse 11 Kerrville, Texas 12 13 14 PRESENT: 15 Kerr County Commissioners Court: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge 16 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 GUY R. OVERBY, Commissioner Pct. 2 17 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 18 19 Kerrville Economic Development Corporation: RAY WATSON, Executive Director 20 TREVOR HYDE, President TOM HOUDESHELL, Member 21 TRACY McCUAN, Member DON BARNETT, Member 22 GREG APPEL, Member DAN TROXELL, Member 23 24 Also present: DAVID WAMPLER, Kerrville Mayor 25 2 1 On Friday, September 16, 2011, at 7:30 a.m., a joint 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court and the Kerr 3 Economic Development Corporation was held in the 4 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 5 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we're here for a joint meeting 8 this morning -- king of late getting started -- of Kerr 9 County Commissioners Court with the Kerr Economic Development 10 Corporation. I suspect that -- let me get one thing cleared 11 up. I noted in the last couple of communications that I got, 12 especially when it went on the agenda, that it said "Kerr," 13 not "Kerrville." Has that change been made in the name? 14 MR. WATSON: Yes, it's been that way ever since. 15 Even our cards say Kerr Economic Development Council. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 MR. WATSON: Corporation, I'm sorry. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I didn't know whether the legal 19 change had been made with Secretary of State, was my concern. 20 MR. WATSON: Everything from the State comes in as 21 "Kerr Economic Development Corporation." 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 'Cause I know that had 23 been something that had been in the mill for some period of 24 time. 25 MR. HYDE: In the process back in the very 9-16-11 jcc kedf 3 1 beginning. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I suspect that the interest of KEDC 3 is -- one of the -- one of the things you guys are interested 4 in is trying to determine what our priorities are as far as 5 it concerns economic development in the immediate future, and 6 possibly long-term. You know, I -- I can speak for myself, 7 and maybe some of the others will concur. They can speak for 8 themselves, but in the more short term, I see our ag complex 9 out there, Youth Exhibit Center, as a -- as a project that 10 we're very, very much interested in in terms of economic 11 development, an indirect economic development project. Not 12 by virtue of what it will accomplish on its own by virtue of 13 generating revenue by virtue of events being held there, but 14 rather what kind of revenue it generates for the community, 15 the retail merchants, oh, the restaurants and so forth, and 16 also the sales tax that that will generate. 17 Longer term, even though it's under way now and it 18 has been for a few years now, is the east Kerr 19 water/wastewater project. I think that particular project 20 has tremendous potential as we can make it happen, 21 particularly when it comes to being a catalyst to provide the 22 opportunity for attainable housing for a labor force in 23 connection with economic development. As we're all aware, 24 the -- our wage scale is below state average. Our housing 25 costs are above state average, and that's a pretty good gap. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 4 1 And that creates a problem with any potential business coming 2 in to provide employment to our people, and we -- they just 3 can't afford to live here, and so as a consequence, we don't 4 have any excess labor or the ability to attract any excess 5 labor because of the housing cost. 6 If we can get this east Kerr project, particularly 7 the wastewater portion -- the water portion can be done more 8 by private interests, if necessary. Be well to have it where 9 it was part of an overall plan, but the wastewater, of 10 course, is a -- is a big, big item. It'll allow you to have 11 more density in your housing, which reduces your cost 12 tremendously. You don't have, number one, a larger piece of 13 land required for a housing unit. And even with that, you -- 14 you have the installation of a septic system, which is a 15 pretty good chunk of money. So, from my -- from my 16 standpoint, those are -- those are the two major items that I 17 see. Some of these other gentlemen may have some other 18 thoughts about it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My comment -- is this from you, 20 Ray? 21 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir, it is. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you go over that? 23 MR. WATSON: This is the presentation I did to you 24 last month. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 5 1 MR. WATSON: But what we did was we went back and 2 we put -- we placed in the taxable dollar values back to the 3 entities involved. As you look here, these are the 10 4 projects we are currently working on. You see the hotel 5 center there, and then it's broken down into the taxing for 6 each entity; County, City, E.I.C., C.V.B., and you see the 7 potential tax dollars off of this project on each one of 8 those. You go to the next one, Morningside Ministries, a 9 $52 million dollar project. It's a nonprofit, so there is no 10 taxing, but what it does, it serves -- they're looking at 200 11 employees throughout the state, and -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you explain that one? I 13 mean -- 14 MR. WATSON: It's -- it's just a living center. 15 That project is a project that was actually started under 16 Guy, what, about a year ago? 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Year and a half. 18 MR. WATSON: Roughly a year and a half ago. We 19 have picked up the ball seven months ago, and we're running 20 with it. But they are looking at three properties. They 21 narrowed it down to three properties, and they're trying to 22 figure out where they're going to go, which one of the three 23 properties they're going to. They actually have their 24 engineering team now evaluating those properties, and so what 25 it will be is like the facility that they've done in Boerne, 9-16-11 jcc kedf 6 1 if you take the -- where the Starbucks is. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Menger Springs? 3 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. And that facility is a 4 $52 million facility. It has about 200 employees, but it 5 does everything from just retirement, non-assisted living, 6 all the way to a full Alzheimer's care unit. So -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 MR. WATSON: Anyway, but they are a nonprofit 9 organization, so there's no tax dollars generated, but what 10 they do create are jobs. The next one that you see on there 11 is a local bio-tech company. We are working with them to try 12 to retain their jobs. They currently have 40 jobs; they are 13 looking at increasing about 15 jobs. There's some issues 14 there with wastewater and water, and so we're working with 15 them to solve those issues of possibly having relocations 16 within the county. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is bio-tech out in the west? 18 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir, it is. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Out in the industrial west? 20 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Equitech. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is that an area annexed by 23 the City, and not provided wastewater to? 24 MR. WATSON: No, sir, it is not within the city of 25 Kerrville. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 7 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Real close, though. 2 MR. WATSON: It's a block off. The next one that 3 you see there is Tax Group. That is a new project we are 4 working on. It is -- it is a group out of Dallas that is 5 looking to come in and do basically accounting operations 6 here in Kerr County. And we have just begun work with them 7 in the last two months, and so it -- it has great potential 8 if we can get it going -- get it moving with them. The next 9 one is a local manufacturing company. That is a retention 10 project that is out in the county right now. We're trying to 11 work with them. They are trying to get their cash flow 12 funding and other issues resolved, and so we've started to 13 begin working with them about a month ago. So, the next one 14 that you see on there is a full sit-down restaurant. The 15 interesting thing about these sit-down restaurants like 16 Chili's is that they -- they do hire 90 employees, and they 17 do turn over quite a bit of income from that. Chili's is 18 running about $3 million in total sales right now, which is 19 pretty impressive. 20 We're -- you'll notice that there's two of them on 21 there. We're working with two major groups right now that 22 both are looking at the interstate; that's what they're 23 interested in, somewhere around the interstate around 16. So 24 that's what their goal is. The next one on there is a fast 25 food restaurant which we hope to announce here in the next 9-16-11 jcc kedf 8 1 couple months. They're finalized on their project, which is 2 one that's dear to Greg's heart, so we hope to have that one 3 here soon. Then you've got the department store that Guy was 4 working on prior to him being here. We picked up that ball 5 and we're running with that. It is a -- what they call a 6 smaller block; it's about a 30,000 square foot store, and 7 they're looking at going on Highway 16. And then the Target 8 project, as you know, major project that we're working on. 9 What's interesting about this and what you see with 10 all of these is all of them, as I've always stated, are in 11 the county, 'cause the city's in the county. But if you look 12 at the taxing interest, everybody that's involved within the 13 county -- the City, the County, the E.I.C. -- all of them 14 benefit from any of these projects. All of them. And so 15 what we wanted to do was lay out not only the project list 16 that I gave you last month, but take that project list and 17 actually show what the taxing -- prospective taxing interest 18 is on those projects to give you a better understanding of 19 what the opportunity is. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- I guess from, I mean, 21 just a -- what are y'all doing -- I mean, I see -- I think of 22 things and talk to people. I had lunch the other day with 23 one of the commissioners in Bexar County, Commissioner Wolff, 24 and as part of, you know, chit-chat before you start talking 25 about what we were talking about, it came up that they're in 9-16-11 jcc kedf 9 1 the process of -- he came -- he flew in from Houston right 2 prior to our lunch, and had been meeting with Halliburton. 3 Halliburton bought 146 acres on the south side of town, 4 getting ready to build a facility which will employ 1,200 5 people with an average wage of 60,000. And I talked to him, 6 and I said it kind of -- kind of as a joke; I said, "Hey, why 7 don't you throw us a few scraps?" Is there a way that we 8 could really start working with Bexar County and some of 9 these large -- you know, to literally get some of those? I 10 would say Halliburton is not going to come to Kerr County, 11 but -- but if we could get a supplier type, you know, like 12 Halliburton a little bit. And I think Guy's working with -- 13 maybe y'all are working too, with the benefit outfit just on 14 the north side of Comfort right now. 15 MR. WATSON: Right. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which is in part of the oil 17 industry group. 18 MR. WATSON: The Tax Group that you actually see 19 listed here, there's 15 companies they're involved with. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It seems -- I don't know how we 21 -- you know, I just -- hopefully y'all are looking at that 22 and trying to really build a relationship with Bexar County. 23 MR. WATSON: I have a solid relationship with Bexar 24 County, Nelson and David Marquez. We have been -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause I thinks it's just -- 9-16-11 jcc kedf 10 1 there's a lot of -- there's a huge amount of wealth coming 2 into South Texas right now, and we're not positioned as great 3 for it, but we're not real bad either. 4 MR. WATSON: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Seems that there's -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think my question 7 piggybacks on Letz's, and I've spoken with you a couple times 8 about it. The -- what is it that we offer companies like 9 that? I mean, what kind of -- are there tax abatements? I 10 know we worked on this a few years ago. 11 MR. WATSON: We do -- and I have -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is the plan and the 13 offer that you automatically offer these people? 14 MR. WATSON: There is no automatic. Each project 15 is individual. My -- my goal is to hopefully push everything 16 to 380/381 agreements, because that forces them to actually 17 produce before they get any incentive back, and so that -- 18 that is the ultimate goal. Because -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 380/381? 20 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. 380 is a city agreement; a 21 381 is a county agreement. The goal is you push them to 22 that, and then it's a tax-sharing agreement where you 23 actually share taxes that they create. And what that does 24 is, that allows you not to have up-front costs to the 25 community, but it also forces them to produce before they get 9-16-11 jcc kedf 11 1 any benefit. And so at the end of the day, it's a win-win 2 for the community, because you're getting new income coming 3 in, and then they're also getting a win because they're 4 getting an incentive, but it's based on their production. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. As an example, let's 6 say a company is going to come in, and they're going to bring 7 in 100 employees. 8 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When they bring 50 in, then 10 we give them half of the deal, and when they -- and then 11 we'll give them the whole banana when they get that 100. 12 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. It's -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that what you're talking 14 about? 15 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. It's done with fallback 16 clauses, and you basically set up a -- a formula for each 17 employee, and the state -- state guidelines say $10,000 per 18 employee job created. So, you look at the 100 employees; 19 that should be a million dollars of incentive opportunity. 20 Then you take that incentive and you split up. If you can 21 get it all with a 380 agreement and they agree to that, then 22 you would go that route. And then I would -- I would never 23 suggest to either the City or the County to go over a 50/50 24 tax share, because at that -- once you get above that, 25 you're -- you're giving too much away. That being said, if 9-16-11 jcc kedf 12 1 you end up having to go a different route to get them more 2 funding up front, because that's what they need or want, then 3 you can look at the 4B tax under the City's program with 4 E.I.C., and apply for that as well. But the total package 5 should still be within that $10,000 per employee frame. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Fantastic. 7 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And is there -- at some 9 point, you can tell us. Is there something that 10 Commissioners Court needs to do to enhance this program? 11 MR. WATSON: I think -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What can we do to help you 13 down the road? 14 MR. WATSON: One of the things -- I went through 15 this after you and I talked the other day, and one of the 16 things that is not in here is, there is not a 381 agreement. 17 There's a 380 agreement from the City, but there's no 381 18 agreement. I think this needs to probably be revamped to 19 include opportunity from both. This -- this project -- this 20 Tax Group project that we're working on right now, what -- 21 what they're looking at is the potential of a 380 agreement, 22 and then they're going to represent about 15 different 23 companies that are coming into the area. And the good thing 24 about it, it's all new money coming into the area. And 25 they're not creating a lot of jobs; it's 15 jobs, but their 9-16-11 jcc kedf 13 1 potential -- because it is associated with the oil and gas 2 industry and representing those entities, the financial 3 potential is great for both the community and the county and 4 the city. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 6 MR. WATSON: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I was going to say one thing, 8 and this is, again, trying to -- trying to see how we can 9 help our businesses in our community and how KEDC might be 10 able to help businesses to invest back in our community. 11 And, of course, you're the arm for city and county efforts 12 and what we're doing. Incentive policy was -- was drafted -- 13 and I agree with Ray that I think it needs to be revised; 14 some of those things need to happen. But it was drafted to 15 help encourage businesses to expand and invest -- reinvest 16 back into businesses. It's currently, right now -- we had a 17 business that was wanting to request some additional funding 18 here recently, and it's -- not in any way at all is this 19 geared at KEDC. I was trying to find out how we can 20 mainstream these things to help these businesses to invest. 21 We had a business that had requested some funding 22 incentives here a couple of months ago, where they were 23 getting ready to spend about $2 million in the community in 24 different phases to reinvest back in their business. The 25 business that we're -- we're gearing and talking about is in 9-16-11 jcc kedf 14 1 the lodging business, hoteliers. And they decided not to go 2 on with their request for having those incentives, because 3 the -- the comments that came back -- and this is not a 4 negative. We're here sitting around the table; we're trying 5 to find out how we can have businesses that have more 6 confidence in reinvesting. But the comment was that their 7 initial review of their application by -- and this is by -- 8 and, again, not trying to say anything -- was by a city 9 employee, stating that they didn't qualify for any incentives 10 underneath the current incentive application. 11 To me, if we can't get a business, for a $2 million 12 investment, that we can't help underneath this incentive 13 policy, then we're not going to be able to help anybody as 14 far as investing back in our community. And I would say that 15 we need to find a way. And, again, it may not be the 16 abatement process, but I know that under E.I.C., that we have 17 a process through E.I.C. where you've developed back into the 18 businesses that would reinvest back in the community. I 19 would encourage that we find a way, and I think Ray's on the 20 right thing of either revisions or whatever. Let's find a 21 way that we help these businesses to encourage them to do 22 that development. 23 MR. WATSON: And, Guy, I think that one of the 24 things that you have to understand is, there's other -- 25 there's other pots of money. One of the things that should 9-16-11 jcc kedf 15 1 have been done is that project is a perfect project for 2 C.V.B. funds. I mean, C.V.B. funds in the rest of the 3 country, all 48 states, including Texas, in the continental 4 United States has a C.V.B. project fund where they actually 5 fund improvements on motels to increase HOT-tax funds. And 6 so one of the things I think that we have a problem is -- and 7 this is the problem that I've seen in the last seven months 8 I've been here, is everybody looks at 4B as the only answer, 9 and there's a lot of other answers to this. The 380/381 are 10 a good deal. They could have been used for that project as 11 well, because then they produce and they get some of that 12 back over time so it doesn't cost the City or the County up 13 front. C.V.B. opportunities and bonding out some issues with 14 C.V.B. funds is another opportunity. So, I think one of the 15 things that we've got to do is, when you look at revamping 16 this, you've got to look at what are all the opportunities to 17 put on the table, so that you're not just counting on this 18 one very finite pot of money from E.I.C. 19 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I would hope -- like I said, 20 I think that's a great idea, and I think that's a good -- a 21 good example of what you're talking about, you know, having 22 it revised. But I think we need to make sure that we -- that 23 we reach out as community folks sitting around here, how we 24 can make them apply. I think your examples are great things 25 that we need to do, but we want to encourage more of that 9-16-11 jcc kedf 16 1 investment back in our community, because it helps 2 everything. So -- you know, and your point is right on the 3 line; 4B is not the only economic tool. 4 MR. WATSON: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One -- I'm a little reluctant 6 to bring this up, our current airport situation, but the 7 airport -- you know, I don't see anything on here about the 8 airport. And I know the airport, through TexDOT, is working 9 on a master plan. 10 MR. WATSON: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A new -- they're spending a lot 12 of money on economic -- a plan for economic development at 13 the airport. I think it's really important for KEDC to get 14 involved with this. I don't -- I mean, I was at two of the 15 planning meetings for that master plan, and I don't believe 16 anyone from KEDC was present, and it was an open meeting. I 17 don't know that -- 18 MR. WATSON: When was it? I mean -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Earlier this year. One of them 20 was earlier this year, and -- actually, one was earlier this 21 year and one was last fall. Because I know Commissioner 22 Williams was still -- went to that one. 23 MR. WATSON: There were board members at the 24 Council meeting the other night; I did visit with them. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 17 1 MR. WATSON: So they have an economic development 2 plan that they're working on, so -- 3 MR. HYDE: And Ray has been here seven months. 4 And -- 5 DR. TROXEL: Can I just make a comment? I'd like 6 to just discuss for a moment why -- why some of us are here 7 this morning. I worked with Guy and KEDF for four or five 8 years. I was the KEDF chairman for a year working with Guy, 9 and now on the KEDC board. The KEDC has been -- has only 10 been around for seven months, so things that have happened, 11 you know, last year we would not have been involved in. But 12 what I understood was -- and what I think I'd like to get on 13 the table is, reading the transcripts of your last 14 Commissioners Court session, it was apparent to me that we're 15 not doing an adequate job communicating with y'all. That -- 16 that's the fundamental issue that I saw. And we are working 17 -- because I saw some comments that -- that stated that we're 18 not sure what KEDC's doing, what projects we're working on. 19 I saw there was even comments, you know, "We don't know about 20 any economic development that's happened in the last several 21 years with even KEDF," and I can name four major projects 22 that KEDF accomplished within the few years I worked on the 23 KEDF board. 24 So, what I would like to know is, what can we do 25 better as a board? Helping Ray to communicate with y'all 9-16-11 jcc kedf 18 1 this kind of information on a regular basis, so that you see 2 the projects that are going to be coming to the county and 3 you see the projects coming in. I also -- I agree, I think, 4 with Guy's comments. We need to take this economic 5 incentive, which actually Judge Tinley chaired that committee 6 and helped us tremendously to get that initiated and going. 7 I don't know, Judge; we worked on that for nearly a year and 8 a half to two years to get that -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we had the strategic plan 10 ahead of that, and then we rolled -- once this was approved 11 by all stakeholders, we rolled right into the incentives. 12 DR. TROXEL: Right. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: And, fortunately, there was a lot of 14 that created during the strategic plan that we didn't have. 15 DR. TROXEL: Well, KEDC is the new -- I mean, it's 16 just in infancy stage. We're going to stumble and make some 17 mistakes coming out of the block, but what we want to do is 18 completely get on top of those mistakes and communicate more 19 effectively. So, from the County Commissioners Court level, 20 what you need from us, and what we can supply, of course, we 21 would make sure that that was given to all the other 22 governmental bodies as well. So, Judge, I don't know if you 23 want to start, or -- 24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Go ahead. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, of course, whatever -- 9-16-11 jcc kedf 19 1 whatever communication tools are utilized any of the 2 stakeholders, I think probably we need to be certain that -- 3 that everybody's involved. And I -- I think more recently, 4 Ray has probably been doing that. 5 MR. WATSON: We did our first round of talks in 6 August, and then we met with every stakeholder at the request 7 of -- my request to those stakeholders. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: And as we go forward, you know, the 9 -- the activities, if there are -- if there are any summaries 10 that are issued, why, get those to us so that we can get 11 distribution to the members of the Court. There may be some 12 things that -- that we could be of help to you on. For 13 example, probably the biggest issue you're going to have out 14 in the county is potentially the wastewater issues. We may 15 want to get our Environmental Health people involved very 16 early on so that you're not working a project going this 17 direction, when, based upon the wastewater needs, it's 18 probably not going to be able to function there, but rather, 19 go some other direction. And we -- we want to be able to 20 help you develop these things rather than have something crop 21 up after the fact, and then suddenly we have to say -- for 22 example, our wastewater people -- that, "No, that's not going 23 to work," and it appears that we're, you know, throwing 24 boulders in the road, creating stumbling blocks for projects. 25 We want to be involved up front so that we can help those 9-16-11 jcc kedf 20 1 projects move forward. 2 MR. BARNETT: Part of this, I think, is -- I think 3 it's as Dan said, was partly communicating, you know, 4 effectively. And Ray was here in August, but the outcome of 5 your last meeting was to -- I mean, there was some 6 discussion, obviously, to give us no funding as part of this 7 project. Now, the commitment was a three-year commitment to 8 invest back in the community, and that's partly what we've 9 been trying to do. You know, the first budget that we 10 presented, obviously, was indicated on the board members kind 11 of drafting that budget before we hired Ray. And Ray -- 12 obviously, we found Ray because of his experience in Bexar 13 County, his experience in relationship with other counties, 14 Kendall County specifically. So, you know, I think we've 15 said this a couple of times. If we communicated in August to 16 this Court, and somehow something fell apart between August 17 and this time that caused us to be kind of looked upon that 18 we're not doing anything to help development, something 19 happened. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Don, I don't think you can -- you 21 can automatically assume from that that there was a problem 22 between that report time in August and now. There may have 23 been a perception of failure to communicate for a long period 24 of time. And even though there was a -- 25 MR. BARNETT: Just a carryover. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 21 1 JUDGE TINLEY: For example, the patch-up effort. I 2 think this has been coming for a while, very frankly. So, I 3 don't think it was just something that developed between 4 Ray's report time here in August and -- and today, for 5 example. 6 MR. BARNETT: So that's why we requested the 7 meeting, is to clear up any -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: As you know, I'm committed to 9 economic development, and my budget calls -- that I filed 10 calls for the funding level that is being requested by KEDC. 11 Some of the other members of the Court -- gosh, this isn't -- 12 this isn't the first time there have been issues about, "What 13 are they doing?" You know, "What's going on over there?" I 14 think that's been kind of a common theme. If you go back and 15 look at the transcripts during the times that the budget has 16 come up in past years, when it comes to that particular 17 issue, you'll find that the question was asked by one or more 18 members of the Court, "Well, what are we getting for our 19 money? What's going on over there? What are they doing? 20 What kind of benefit are we getting from these dollars? You 21 know, if -- if we're not getting benefit, we need to spend 22 them somewhere else." So, it's not just this very short 23 window between August when Ray was here and now. This has 24 been building for some period of time. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me add something. I don't 9-16-11 jcc kedf 22 1 -- you know, probably -- it probably needs to be said, in my 2 mind. And a lot of my comments at our last meeting were -- 3 the problem is, you can't just look, to me, at KEDF or KEDC, 4 whatever it's called now, by itself. First of all, while 5 this is a new organization, the majority of the players that 6 are sitting at the table are the same. So, to me, it's not 7 really a new organization. Yes, it took direction; they 8 changed funding, brought in a new director, so it's changed, 9 but it -- it hasn't really changed that much, in my -- that I 10 know of. I mean, maybe it has and I just lost it. But the 11 other big part of it is, the funding comes from E.I.C. now, 12 you know, and it's -- and it's a lot of money. E.I.C. has 13 shown very publicly that they're really not interested in 14 helping the county. And the connection that I look in my 15 mind, okay, E.I.C. funds KEDC. E.I.C. has said we're not 16 really interested in doing things in the county; at least 17 that's the perception the Court has. Therefore, E.I.C. -- 18 the money controls what's being done. If the money's saying 19 we're kind of not out there in the county, and this board's 20 getting the money from -- you know, you can connect the 21 lines. It's like, are they really working for E.I.C.? Or 22 are you working for the County? 23 I think that it is critical -- every one of the 24 Commissioners, I know, we work on economic development in our 25 own communities. We have lots of things working that people 9-16-11 jcc kedf 23 1 haven't requested tax incentives, don't want anything, but we 2 work with them. It astounds me that we haven't been 3 contacted individually and asked, "Hey, you know, what's 4 going on? What's important in your precincts?" You know, 5 that's just mind-boggling to me, that we represent the entire 6 county, including the city, yet KEDC doesn't talk to us. 7 MR. WATSON: I'd like to say something first. 8 Mr. Letz, I -- I'll take full responsibility for that. But 9 that's the reason the board is created like it is. We have a 10 representative from the County on the board, and all the 11 other board members here bring issues, and Judge Tinley has 12 brought the issues. And the way the board was created was so 13 that your Commissioners Court could funnel stuff through your 14 representative to us so that we can get working on your 15 issues. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're independently elected. 17 We don't -- I don't talk to Judge Tinley about everything. I 18 mean, you know, I -- you know, he's -- he knows very well 19 that we're each individual commissioners. We have our part 20 of the county, and we'll tell him so. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Independent as a hog on ice. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, you know, there's a 23 conduit there, but there's still -- it is -- you know, we're 24 the Commissioners of the various precincts, and, you know, 25 that's part of the problem. Now, I understand you're new, 9-16-11 jcc kedf 24 1 and this is -- it's good to have this conversation now, 2 'cause I think it can be fixed if there's a problem, and in 3 my mind, there is a problem. I mean, I think that the -- 4 MR. BARNETT: I would disagree with you. I think 5 that's a perception that you have, that there's some sort of 6 control by E.I.C. And I can tell you -- let me finish. 7 Because I think what happens is when we have a board meeting, 8 when we have our own meetings, each individual speaks for 9 himself and his -- whom he represents, and there is no weight 10 given to any particular point of view. Each -- each person's 11 point of view is weighed equally, and it's really about the 12 business community, is really what this is driven by, and how 13 we can do that. Now, I think you make a good point in terms 14 of how do we get information to and from, and the phone rings 15 both ways. The people can call and say, "I've got something 16 I'd like for you to look into." But those are -- this is how 17 it works. His phone will ring. But what we have to do is 18 really -- and that's what we -- why we came today, really, is 19 what are we doing that's not working? And it's only seven or 20 eight months old, in reality, in the way it's structured now. 21 There's no question that the history of what's gone on here 22 has not always been good or bad, but everything we're going 23 to do is going to impact -- I think this report reflects that 24 everything we do impacts the county. Everything. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 25 1 MR. BARNETT: Whether it's in the east, west, 2 north, or south. Now, part of that that may hamper us, if 3 it's infrastructure questions or other questions, we're going 4 to have to do a lot more work and let those things kind of 5 work out. But at this point, I think it's really a -- we 6 want to try to remove the barriers that exist between 7 perception and reality, and if we can do that, that's the 8 purpose of this meeting. 9 DR. TROXEL: Commissioner Letz, if I could go back 10 just a little bit, because, again, I do think this is a 11 communication issue. If we go back to two years ago, the 12 City was willing and going to take on economic development 13 100 percent. I went before the City Council -- I know Guy 14 was there as well, as the chairman of KEDF -- and said, "I 15 think that is a mistake." Working through the process of 16 businesses coming to downtown, they do not want to work 17 directly with the City. They want to work with an 18 independent body, because they do not want to be subject to 19 the Open Records Act. They want to have information be 20 confidential, and they want to work with a professional who 21 has expertise in that field. Would you please give us the 22 opportunity to form an independent organization that would 23 have representatives from various governmental bodies and the 24 business sector to be formed? 25 That was a very difficult meeting. I remember 9-16-11 jcc kedf 26 1 watching it twice after it was broadcast on local Channel 2, 2 and -- and really having to convince several City Council 3 people at that time that that was the direction to go. Todd 4 Parton was fairly new at that point, and he took the lead in 5 helping to form an organization that had multiple spokes. We 6 spent -- as an independent group that was appointed by the 7 City, there's no doubt the City controlled that process, but 8 we sat down and we looked at how can we set up a 9 quasi-governmental body that is independent of the city, 10 independent of the county, independent of the school district 11 or any other group? And that's how KEDC came about. Now, 12 the issue with KEDC at this point is, it is a completely 13 different structure than KEDF. Guy was spending a tremendous 14 amount of his time -- and I know, 'cause I worked with him 15 directly for a year on fundraising -- going to the private 16 business sector and raising funds to make sure KEDF was able 17 to be viable and to be able to do some projects. The 18 number-one inhibitor for Guy to be successful in his role was 19 that he didn't have the resources. He didn't have the 20 funding to go out and do some of the recruiting efforts that 21 we're able to institute under KEDC. 22 One of the major components that we came up with 23 was that every governmental body plus business would have 24 representation, including the Chamber of Commerce and two 25 independent business people. It is a 5/4 split right now. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 27 1 And the City may disagree with me, but it's a 5/4 split right 2 now with four independent people, and five people that are 3 basically controlled in some way, shape, or form, through 4 funding or some other mechanism, by the City. But I feel 5 confident, with the people that are on there, that it is not 6 City-controlled. If it was, I would go back to y'all; I 7 would go back to the City and say, "Let's dissolve this 8 organization." Because that was the whole point of not 9 having it City-controlled. We voted in the last meeting, 10 which I hope got communicated to you by your representative 11 on this board, that we expanded by two business 12 representatives in the future, so that it's actually now a 13 6/5 split the other way. We haven't added the two business 14 people because of the fact -- the same concerns expressed by 15 members of this Commissioners Court. In the eight months 16 we've been in operation, we can't tell businesses that we've 17 actually brought a business here yet or that we expanded a 18 business yet, but we're on the cusp of that happening. 19 So, while E.I.C. does fund the vast majority of 20 this, and Mr. Appel is their representative on the board, 21 there's not one time that E.I.C. has ever come to us and told 22 us what to fund, what to do, or where we need to go. I think 23 that that's the way the organization needs to move forward, 24 and we need the full funding from all those bodies, including 25 the County Commissioners Court, to do these projects for 9-16-11 jcc kedf 28 1 three years. If this fails in three years, I'm going to have 2 to go back in front -- and I promise that to the City 3 Council; I will go back in front of the City Council and say, 4 "You take over economic development, 'cause we've tried as an 5 independent body, and it wasn't successful." But I believe 6 we have the right person in charge now. I really do. I 7 believe this person's going to take us in the direction that 8 we need to go. I think we had the right person in charge 9 three or four years ago; we just didn't have the resources 10 available for Guy to carry out what we were asking him to do. 11 And what we've done through this new funding 12 mechanism is we've given the resources that are necessary. 13 As a matter of fact, we agreed to come down in the resource 14 allocation that we requested from y'all from 25 to 20. So, 15 what I wanted to do is say, "Look, we obviously" -- and it 16 probably goes back to even when we worked together on KEDF -- 17 "did not do an effective job of communicating with you." I 18 could name -- look, the shooting sports range is in the 19 county. KEDF is the primary mover and shaker on that 20 project. That's one major project that we brought in in the 21 last five years. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And E.I.C. funded it. 23 DR. TROXEL: They did. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: E.I.C. had a big part of that. 25 DR. TROXEL: But, really, Guy did a great job with 9-16-11 jcc kedf 29 1 that. The U.S.D.A. project is still here in Kerr County. 2 Now, there are people who just disagree with me on this one, 3 strongly. But the U.S.D.A. project is still here in Kerr 4 County 'cause of the work Guy Overby did, and he worked with 5 y'all and worked with the City and other people as well. But 6 I believe KEDF kept that project alive and going, and I'm 7 very, very proud of that. James Avery was having major 8 problems in their facilities. The person who stepped up and 9 intervened -- the City certainly did a great job. Mayor 10 Wampler, I know you weren't even on the City Council at that 11 time, but Guy led that effort, and he really spearheaded 12 that. And probably what we didn't do well enough, maybe, 13 Guy, and it seems pretty obvious, we just didn't tout the 14 accomplishments enough, because I really think that Guy was 15 pretty humble in those. Now, others will disagree with me on 16 that too, Guy. But, nevertheless, I think we were pretty 17 humble in that regard. I think you're going to say the same 18 thing about Ray. 19 We've got the funding. If the issue is with 20 E.I.C. -- which it sounds like there are issues with E.I.C. 21 I understand the City and the E.I.C. got together and they 22 worked out some of their goals and aspirations for the future 23 with the -- city-wise. Y'all need to work that out with 24 E.I.C., and -- and work through that process with them. Ask 25 for a meeting with E.I.C. to sit down and negotiate, 9-16-11 jcc kedf 30 1 hopefully. I can't imagine they wouldn't come and sit down 2 and meet with you all. But I think it's an independent issue 3 of this particular group. And I'm just simply asking -- if 4 we need to do more communication, if we need to be here at 5 every Commissioners Court, if I do not have a meeting -- I'm 6 only one board member, but I'll be here at every 7 Commissioners Court meeting if I do not have a meeting at 8 school. I really will, if that's what you need to 9 communicate every month. We want to do the right thing. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hold on. I want to tell you 11 what my concern is, and it's a very simple thing. It's not 12 anywhere near as complicated as y'all are saying. To me, 13 this is my issue, is that several years ago, the group or 14 director, whoever it might be, would come into this room and 15 request their annual funding, and we would have a 16 conversation back and forth. "What have you done?" "We have 17 done this." "And what are you planning on doing?" "We're 18 planning on doing this." A conversation. And, you know, 19 being a county father and responsible to the taxpayers of the 20 community, I want to know those things so that I can repeat 21 them. Well, a couple of years ago, I went and had lunch out 22 at Riverhill. I don't know what the hell that was about, but 23 I think that was our annual report, and it just didn't go 24 over real big with me. I won't go to any more of those. I 25 didn't go to it the following year, and I won't go to any 9-16-11 jcc kedf 31 1 more, because I need to have that conversation with this guy. 2 It's just a real simple thing. This report this morning, 3 this is fantastic. I love it. That's all I'm asking. And 4 if we can't do that, I'm not willing to spend any money on 5 you. Simple as that. That's just me. 6 MR. WATSON: And you'll be getting -- 7 MR. HYDE: The quarterly report part of our 8 commitment was on the funding that he sends -- he sends a 9 quarterly report. Ray and I have been over -- Don's taken 10 over here, and y'all know what the tax impact is. The 11 jobs -- there's 800 jobs here that are potential. Every one 12 of them's in the county. And the two biggest projects that 13 we're working on, that we've done an enormous amount of work 14 that we can't share all that stuff 'cause of confidentiality, 15 totally in the county. And -- and the initial review and 16 everything is in support of those projects, and they're -- 17 they're huge projects for us. But I think what Guy did was 18 wonderful. I think the reason that he struggled was because 19 of the funding. We all got together and came up with a 20 great -- I think a great entity and plan, and it's seven 21 months into it. I mean, that's baby steps. I mean, and I 22 think what Ray's been able to do in seven months is 23 unbelievable, and I really want us to continue that 24 commitment that we all had for three years. And I just -- it 25 wouldn't be good for y'all not to be at the same level. If 9-16-11 jcc kedf 32 1 there's other issues, then -- 2 DR. TROXEL: I don't want to be back here next 3 year; I really don't, having the same discussion. So, what I 4 heard is, number one, you need to have these reports probably 5 not quarterly, but you need to get an update every month? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know about monthly. 7 DR. TROXEL: Well, however -- 8 MR. HYDE: Quarterly is our -- 9 DR. TROXEL: But you know what? But, Trevor -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd get tired of looking at 11 Ray after a month. 12 DR. TROXEL: If you want them quarterly, we can get 13 you those quarterly. I know Ray will present that to you. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I'd love that. 15 DR. TROXEL: If that's all you need, we'll be sure 16 to do that. That's not a problem. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I would like to see it done 18 as you get something that looks promising. 19 DR. TROXEL: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You know, if you don't have 21 anything to report, then there's nothing to report. But if 22 you have something working, you have somebody that's outside 23 the city, especially outside the city that involves, you 24 know, us, then I think it's a good idea to give us a heads-up 25 so that we can help -- just like the Judge was saying a while 9-16-11 jcc kedf 33 1 ago with wastewater, and -- and sometimes it involves 2 subdivisions or adding more property or something, you know, 3 revision of property to give them a big enough space to 4 operate in. That stuff takes time. 5 MR. BARNETT: That's partly what Ray does, is he 6 evaluates these companies. He will know where the -- the 7 obstacles are, and he will raise those obstacles -- or 8 address those obstacles in the system, and these people 9 follow that as well. Some of these people have already 10 raised some of their own issues. But I think the biggest 11 part that we're asking the Court is to maintain their 12 investment back in the community. Because if we look at 13 corporations who have come here -- and one I'm going to 14 mention here has been here 10 years now, and they've probably 15 spent five-plus million dollars in marketing of this area. 16 Why people came here is because of their marketing plan. 17 That's Comanche Trace, okay? It's probably spent more than 18 five million; I don't know exactly, but they've spent a lot 19 of money on regional marketing, national marketing, and 20 that's why people come to Kerrville. 21 Companies will come here. I've built cancer 22 centers all over this state. I go into -- every town that 23 I've gone into, they give us tax abatements just like that. 24 We go there because we are -- we're going to do a certain 25 kind of business there. That's why they want to come to 9-16-11 jcc kedf 34 1 Kerrville. They want to be in Kerrville. They're going to 2 get the tax abatements everywhere. We have to be creative 3 about that to some degree. That's why we have a guy -- 4 appoint a guy like Ray who can work through their issues, 5 understand their financials. We've looked at some of these 6 financials, and some of the them are difficult to meet the 7 goals of the formula, but we're going to work through that. 8 When we come against an obstacle such as infrastructure 9 issues, we're going to raise that issue too. So, again, I 10 think it's a three-year commitment. You guys should stick 11 with us for these three years and see, and we'll do our part 12 to communicate with you. But I think you should stick with 13 us. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Don, of course, I agree with you, 15 being on the board and knowing what you do. Maybe part -- 16 part of this is my failure to -- I'm hesitant to try and pass 17 along to these guys some of the details that we worked with 18 because of the confidentiality aspect, and that's one of the 19 hardest things for people to understand, is that, first off, 20 these things take time to develop. Sometimes they are worked 21 and developed and nurtured for years before they ever come to 22 fruition. And during that period of time, most of these 23 businesses, they don't want their business on the street. If 24 they're working on something, they -- they want 25 confidentiality to be maintained. Well, I certainly think we 9-16-11 jcc kedf 35 1 need to stick to that commitment, because it does take a 2 while for these -- for these to happen. But our purpose is 3 not to ask for any more in the way of information or 4 reporting than what you provide to the other stakeholders. I 5 don't think we're entitled to that. With regard to -- 6 Commissioner Oehler mentioned something about, well, when 7 something new jumps up, something new's going on, certainly, 8 if -- if you get to a quarter where the only thing you got 9 working is what you had last quarter, because of -- whatever 10 the circumstances are, you know, just -- just a short little 11 quip out on that; you know, "I'm not furnishing a new 12 quarterly report because I'm still working on what was on 13 your last one." But at least you're communicating, as 14 opposed to just a silence gap. 15 MR. WATSON: Right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: But, you know, we don't -- we don't 17 want any more than anybody else gets, because we're not 18 entitled to it. 19 MR. HYDE: One thing that we've asked Ray is to 20 remind us -- even if we're not involved with a company, I 21 want every entity that's involved in our KEDC to know, 22 there's about half a dozen companies that have opened up 23 here, or in the process. And to me, everything's in the 24 county. If it's in the city, it's in the county. I mean, 25 everybody's getting the benefit from it. And the project 9-16-11 jcc kedf 36 1 next to the movie theater, Ray visited with them and 2 everything. They didn't -- they weren't needing any 3 assistance; they didn't need anything from E.I.C. But, you 4 know, I think we need to let all our stakeholders know that a 5 company's opening up with 60-plus jobs. And I think it's 6 important for every citizen in the community to know that as 7 well. So, one of the things we've done, obviously, is our 8 new website that we've spent the last six months -- once Ray 9 got on board, all the branding and everything has been done. 10 It has an area in there to -- that is going to show you every 11 single company that's -- where they're at. If they're in the 12 construction process -- you know, you have a restaurant that 13 opened; just opened a store in town. They all generate sales 14 tax revenue, whatever. They've created jobs. I mean, 15 there's several hundred new jobs being created right now that 16 are, I mean, in process. You all need to be aware of all 17 that as well, 'cause -- 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: There's an area that really 19 could use some help that would bring in more business, 'cause 20 it's a business park. It's the Industrial Park West. You 21 know, you've got -- you got several fairly large employers 22 out there that are still on septic, and your sewer line -- 23 city sewer line is really close to that. It's down on 24 Highway 27. In fact, it's even as far in as Hill Country 25 Plumbing or gas. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 37 1 MR. WATSON: I've actually noted that sewer line is 2 at full capacity. That's the problem. 3 MR. APPEL: 'Cause of the Ingram -- 4 MR. WATSON: That area upgrade out there is 5 scheduled for about $6 million. That's where the issue is. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: See, that's one thing that, 7 in my mind, would be an E.I.C. project, because all those 8 businesses along Highway 27 -- I worked with Don Davis before 9 when he was interim City Manager several years ago, because 10 there's an extra line coming from Ingram that's -- there's 11 two lines in a ditch that the school put in whenever they 12 built the elementary. If we could hook up those businesses 13 to the sewer, then you could have -- you'd have more 14 commercial property to use, because it's not being, you know, 15 used by septic systems. And you're talking about -- that's 16 prime highway frontage property, and industrial park was 17 built to be an industrial park for that purpose. And it's 18 still not built out. There's quite a bit of land undeveloped 19 in there. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want to go back to something 21 Commissioner Oehler said about let us know what's going on in 22 -- whether it's in the city or not; anywhere in the county, 23 in our precincts. And someone mentioned, you know, because 24 of your knowledge of Kendall County. Let me give you an 25 example of Kendall County, their communication. I talk to 9-16-11 jcc kedf 38 1 Commissioner Rusch quite a bit, who represents the Comfort 2 area. We meet regularly. He knew -- everyone knew that 3 Miller Supply was coming in on the interstate a year before 4 it was announced. He knew that Loves is getting ready to go 5 into that intersection at 87 and 10, and he knew -- the 6 Commissioner was involved in what was going on. He was aware 7 of these things. He's told me companies looking on the 8 Kendall -- on the Kerr County side of Comfort. You know, 9 which is embarrassing; I don't even know about it. And I 10 don't even know if you know about it either. It was a year 11 or so ago. 12 MR. WATSON: Guy was working on it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, I mean, there's -- 14 evidently, there's a -- maybe it's a trust issue. I don't 15 know what it is. But in Kendall County, those Commissioners 16 certainly -- they're aware way, way before. It is flat 17 embarrassing for me to look into the Daily Times one morning 18 or get a call from one of my constituents, and saying about 19 some business being relocated, and I haven't even heard of 20 it; I didn't even know anything about it. I'm just like, 21 "Well, I haven't read the paper; I didn't know that." I 22 mean, we -- to help y'all, we need to be part of the team, 23 and that's the problem that I see. 24 MR. WATSON: Well, and I apologize, because I 25 thought you were part of the team. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 39 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I have -- I don't know -- 2 of these businesses here, I don't know if any of them are in 3 my precinct or not. 4 DR. TROXEL: Mr. Letz, one of the things that's 5 very interesting, I've learned something about the County 6 Commissioners today when y'all said that you're not sharing 7 the information among each other the way that our school 8 board shares information among each other, or the City 9 Council does, and we have independent precincts too in the 10 school district. So, I find that very interesting. So, that 11 becomes even more incumbent upon us to come to you and talk 12 to you on a quarterly basis about what's going on, the new 13 businesses that are coming in. Because I talked to one of 14 y'all about another issue; I thought everyone on this Court 15 knew about it. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't talk about it. 17 DR. TROXEL: I found out this morning, talking to 18 the Judge. I had no idea that nobody else knew about it. It 19 had something to do with the school district. So, that is a 20 learning experience. I've been here nine years. So, I think 21 one of the things that's -- that is surprising to me is that 22 you are so independent. That's not here nor there; it's just 23 a fact. And so one of the things that we're going to need to 24 do is to make sure that we are, on a quarterly basis, coming 25 in. And only being in the role seven months, we obviously 9-16-11 jcc kedf 40 1 have only had one quarter to do that. I think the other 2 thing, it will be incumbent upon us, if we do have things 3 going on within your particular areas in the county, to have 4 more direct communication with you. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would be wonderful. 6 DR. TROXEL: If we do those two things, sounds like 7 we can solve this communication issue very, very easily. And 8 we've got the person that can do that. Now, there are going 9 to be some things -- because we talked about the fact, as I 10 said early on, that one of the reasons I went before the City 11 two years ago as the KEDF chairman is because of Open 12 Records. They have to be very careful, because these 13 businesses, many of them -- not all, but most that I've 14 talked to, they'll call me and ask about the educational 15 services in our community. They are -- they won't even tell 16 me who they are; they won't even give me their name. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: You can communicate 18 individually with us, and there's no quorum problem there. 19 But, you know, if we have a formal meeting, it's going to be 20 on the record. 21 DR. TROXEL: Right. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And we don't -- we just don't 23 talk -- I mean, Bruce handles things in his -- I mean, we 24 communicate about county issues, but I don't know what's 25 going in Bruce's precinct. He doesn't know what's going on 9-16-11 jcc kedf 41 1 in mine. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't have a clue what's 3 going on in his. That's what we do; we stay in our own areas 4 pretty much, but we come together and work together. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We do. One of the other 6 reasons is I don't want them out there snooping around. 7 (Laughter.) 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But you have to get a pass to 9 go into Precinct 1. Unless -- 10 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Y'all get a stamp. 11 MR. APPEL: I want to address a couple of things 12 too. This is -- I think there's good discussion here, but 13 it's evident to me that there is a level of frustration, 14 perhaps, with E.I.C. -- and I'm the chairman of E.I.C. -- 15 that perhaps is being expressed in the context of KEDC. And 16 I wanted to acknowledge that Judge Tinley sent me a letter in 17 early August and requested a meeting, and my immediate 18 response to that -- and in addition to mentioning it to -- 19 acknowledging the letter that I received from Judge Tinley, 20 was to put that on the E.I.C. agenda, and we're having a 21 meeting on Monday afternoon, so this item will be on the 22 agenda. And we will get together and have a meeting and talk 23 about our priorities, where we're coming from, what we're 24 trying to accomplish. 25 E.I.C. has significantly stepped up funding for 9-16-11 jcc kedf 42 1 economic development. E.I.C. is not KEDF. They're distinct 2 in their function. E.I.C. is primarily a funding mechanism, 3 whereas KEDC is the entity that goes out and develops the 4 relationships that provide service to enable those businesses 5 to come here. And we have significantly increased our 6 commitment to this body. And as Dr. Troxel pointed out, one 7 of the major impediments to successful economic development 8 in the past under KEDF was the fact that they were 9 underfunded. And so we've stepped up and gone from $25,000 a 10 year, which is what we were funding KEDF, to 225,000 this 11 year for KEDC. And so we are -- we are funding a very 12 significant part of that. 13 The other point I would make is that Kerr County 14 benefits as Kerrville benefits, and Kerrville benefits as 15 Kerr County benefits. When you go out and do economic 16 development, it benefits everybody. There's no way to 17 separate, you know, some -- a project, you know, benefiting 18 the community of Kerrville and not benefiting Kerr County, 19 and vice-versa. We have done a number of projects out there. 20 We are really looking to find more -- very much more 21 significant ways -- I mean, we get about $2.3 million a year 22 in 4B sales tax revenue. We're currently sitting on about 23 2.7, 2.8 million, because we haven't had the high quality 24 requests to come in. So, we're -- you know, our community 25 needs that money to be reinvested. We're looking very -- 9-16-11 jcc kedf 43 1 very hard at ways that we can put that money to work, and not 2 have it sitting in an account making .2 percent interest. 3 That's not what -- that's not what it's for. 4 And so we are very active right now with trying to 5 do things. We want to include -- we're continuing -- 6 although we did not successfully approve an application on 7 the ag facility, we're continuing that process. We have a 8 representative that's -- that's on -- that's part of a team 9 that's going to continue to work on getting that project 10 moving forward, and we have, I think, a lot of support among 11 our board members to see that something happens to improve 12 our ag facilities in the county. So, I just wanted to point 13 out that I understand there's frustration. I'm more than 14 happy to -- to address that. I don't want to -- I would 15 really not like to see any of that frustration or any of 16 those things reflected in regard to KEDC, because it is a 17 completely separate entity, and yet we all, you know, need to 18 work together and -- and pool our resources for the benefit 19 of all of us. So, anyway, I just wanted to throw that out. 20 MR. WATSON: Judge, I'd like to say two things. 21 First of all, we did pass our budget last month, and that was 22 going to be presented to y'all. I've got the copies here for 23 y'all there. We decreased everybody's commitment by 20 24 percent, every entity that was contributing, by 20 percent. 25 After going through the first year and seeing what the need 9-16-11 jcc kedf 44 1 was, we created the budget and what our goals are, and then 2 -- and then applied the income side to that. And so, that 3 being said, everybody's budget was decreased by 20 percent in 4 a time of austerity, to not only help y'all, but also that 5 was what we needed to fund this next year. And so, that 6 being said, the other thing I wanted to say is, I -- you 7 know, this -- every county I've ever worked with, there's 8 always been a county administrator, somebody that worked with 9 us directly that got information out to the entities. That 10 being said, we will do a better job of getting information 11 out to the individual people, and I personally thought that 12 was already happening. So -- but, anyway... And that -- 13 MR. BARNETT: That was the purpose of this meeting, 14 to find out where the gap was, what happened. So, if we can 15 close that gap, we want to close that gap. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Ray, on the budget aspect, of 17 course, we are still in our budget process. And when we got 18 to that point for consideration, I did mention to the Court 19 that the -- the request under the current budget had been 20 reduced by 5,000, and the request this year for this coming 21 year was only 20,000 instead of 25. And -- and my -- my 22 mention of that, I think, indicated that we had some revenue 23 carry-over because we were kind of late going from our -- our 24 existing fiscal year. We didn't get started right -- 25 MR. WATSON: Right. We were five months into the 9-16-11 jcc kedf 45 1 fiscal year when we started. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: So that -- that was what I indicated 3 to them, and that gave us some revenue carryover, and was 4 very helpful. But that was mentioned to them. I did not 5 provide the specific budget. You know, I included it in my 6 budget when I filed it with the -- with the clerk, and, in 7 fact, it's still an open question. And I suspect within the 8 next couple weeks, we're going to make a final decision on 9 that, and I think this meeting's going to be very 10 instrumental in determining what the thinking is in that 11 regard. And so I think it's very fortunate that we're having 12 this meeting. 13 MR. WATSON: The other thing I'd like to state is, 14 there seems to be an equity issue, or a misperception issue 15 that we meet with the other entities more than we meet with 16 y'all. I've had one -- one meeting with the other entities 17 to present our project, which happened in August, the same 18 time y'all's meeting happened. And that is because we spent 19 the first six months getting things going, and then August 20 was the -- the quarterly report. And we gave that to all 21 entities funding this organization, and then from that point 22 on, we have plans to do that every quarter. And so the -- 23 the reality is, I think there's a perception that we go and 24 meet with all the city officials every day, and that's not 25 true. Other than seeing them at the county -- I mean the 9-16-11 jcc kedf 46 1 City Council meetings, and seeing y'all at Commissioners' 2 meetings, that's the extent of my visiting with them. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your interest that 4 we've seen in you guys and the Chamber. I think -- I think 5 it's beneficial. I hope if you don't find it very 6 informative, at least you'll find it entertaining. 7 MR. WATSON: Well, our -- my interest is to at 8 least be at one City Council meeting and one County 9 Commissioners meeting a month. That's my deal, every month, 10 depending on time constraints. I mean, I even attended 11 K.I.S.D. meetings. 12 DR. TROXEL: We appreciate it, and in August. It 13 was nice. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I want to -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Those students are tired of 16 it, huh? 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'm going to say a couple 18 closing things. And, first of all, I'm glad that Ray's here. 19 I think he's doing a great job. And -- but let's also 20 understand here, as community folks working together in the 21 community, let's understand also that the -- the challenges 22 that your KEDC group faces are challenging. Commissioner 23 Letz made a comment about, you know, some other folks 24 locating over there on the Kendall side. Now, the reason -- 25 again, the lack of facilities here, the lack of facilities to 9-16-11 jcc kedf 47 1 try to attract folks here, and I think the Commissioner is 2 also correct about the airport possibilities and how we need 3 to potentially use that to help our community. We need to 4 look into that master plan development. And then, 5 Commissioner Oehler, your comments about the water and 6 wastewater. I mean, we all know -- and mayor, we all know 7 those issues in our community that we're having a serious 8 impact on how to help our businesses grow. So, I think 9 communication is -- is really vital to that. 10 And I -- my last closing comment, I think Mr. Appel 11 made a comment about the -- the ag facility. I'm hoping 12 that -- I know that as we start our new year, we'll get 13 through the budget process here very soon. But I mentioned 14 just in general to the County Commissioners, I think as we 15 move in the new year, the ag facility, again, is one of just 16 several things that we think are very critical for this 17 county -- and when I say "county," that's city -- for 18 everybody to move forward. But one thing that we've done 19 with our ag project right now is, y'all will -- everybody 20 knows here that we stepped back. We didn't proceed going 21 forward. And what we had done -- and Commissioner Oehler and 22 I will meet next Tuesday. We have reached out, and through 23 recommendations from other entities in our community to do 24 so, we have structured an organization of different folks 25 that are participating. City's going to be participating in 9-16-11 jcc kedf 48 1 it, C.V.B., Chamber. Ray's on this. Greg's going to have 2 somebody from E.I.C. serve on it, our livestock folks. So, 3 we're stepping back to look at how we're going to look at 4 sites, how it could be funded, and through whatever timeline 5 that process will come out of, that is -- is what we see down 6 the road. If it's a year, two, three whatever. But I think 7 that's the right process in what we're doing, because it is 8 important that -- I appreciate your comments in sharing that 9 about the E.I.C. participating and all those committees doing 10 it. And you got a lot of challenges, but we're all there 11 with you. And so those are my closing comments on it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody else got anything they want 13 to throw out on the table? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's talk about something 15 real, like Tivy football. Did you bring those tickets for 16 us? (Laughter.) 17 DR. TROXEL: Yes, sir, special passes. Just make 18 sure every member of the Commissioners Court gets one, 19 because I know you won't share amongst yourselves. 20 (Laughter.) 21 MR. WATSON: You see the attorneys left; you were 22 starting to talk about gifts. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: All right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank y'all very much. 9-16-11 jcc kedf 49 1 JUDGE TINLEY: This meeting will be concluded. 2 Appreciate you being here. I think it's going to be very 3 instrumental in our perception going forward. 4 (Joint meeting was adjourned at 8:45 a.m.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - 6 7 STATE OF TEXAS | 8 COUNTY OF KERR | 9 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 10 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 11 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 12 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 13 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 22nd day of September, 14 2011. 15 16 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 17 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 18 Certified Shorthand Reporter 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 9-16-11 jcc kedf