[0:00] Economic Development Corporation to order. Let the record float. Let the record reflect

[0:04] that today is Tuesday, September 22nd, and it is 6 o'clock straight up. Um, Janice,

[0:10] would you please do the indication? Yes, sir. Our most gracious heavenly Father.

[0:17] We thank you for the privilege of living in a free country. We know there are people

[0:23] all over our country today that are hurting, and we ask you to look into their situations

[0:29] and provide your special care that only you can give them. I we ask you for your

[0:35] guidance this evening as we go through our meeting. We need your wisdom We thank

[0:41] you for each person here that is willing to serve, to serve our city, to look forward

[0:47] to a better future for our city. In your name I pray. Amen.

[0:54] Welcome.

[0:57] Brian Bursano here. Matthew Berry here. Troy Forbus here. Amanda Saler here. Jean

[1:04] Geiger here. Janice Lunford, Dustin Efferson here. We have a quorum. OK, um, does

[1:11] anybody have any agenda changes that they wanna speak on or make?

[1:17] OK. All right. Moving on to the visitors and citizens forum. Um, tonight, we have

[1:21] Francisco Lopez that agreed to or asked to sign up and speak if you want to get in

[1:26] front of the microphone.

[1:30] Oh, nice to meet you everyone. My name is Francisco Lopez, uh. Well, I'm going to

[1:36] the states uh like. 2019, 20 years ago. I graduated from

[1:44] John Tyler. Uh Don't tell her anymore. Um, I graduated, uh, with a finance

[1:51] degree from youth Title, and then I'm currently working at Radio Texas Capital Corporation

[1:58] and Lending Avenue. Both are commercial lending institutions. Uh, we primarily deal

[2:05] with the SBA. We have F 4 program which is a, a real estate only and 780s that we

[2:12] can, we can do various things for capital and, uh, inventory and other. And then

[2:20] on the landing down inside, uh we do uh commercial lending but in a smaller scale.

[2:27] And, and that's uh.

[2:32] It means that for, it's for any type of uh working capital as well as equipment or

[2:37] whatever you think the, the business needs. Um Both institutions have Uh, board

[2:45] of directors and, and the board of directors I, I have worked with. Alicia and Burton

[2:51] and She's uh she works for Marshall DBC. We have had projects uh with other ETCs

[2:59] like White Oak and we have worked with them to. Uh, make the, make the loans happen

[3:06] and create more, more jobs and grow, grow those, uh, areas.

[3:17] And I moved to Chandler a couple of years ago to, um, I think it's called River Olds,

[3:23] yeah, um. I like the city. I like, uh, I got used to the, to the tribe. Uh,

[3:30] I worked downtown Tiger.

[3:35] But it's, it's more calm and I like it. I've been liking the city. Now I would like,

[3:42] like to have the opportunity to participate and uh. And See if you can um

[3:51] Use some bones. Um Yes.

[3:58] And any questions?

[4:01] Do you have any questions or? No, thank you for thank you appreciate it. OK, that

[4:08] was, that ends the visitor's form. Now we'll move into the regular session. Um, consider

[4:13] an act on adjusting the salaries for the EDC Director Rick Ford and Assistant Jill

[4:16] Seal. Um, I think last, last meeting, we had kind of an intent and it got lost a

[4:22] little bit in translation and, um, trying to kind of uh correct that and make sure

[4:29] that it was clear for payroll and all that. I think we had to, because it wasn't

[4:33] in the motion, we had to redo it again today. Um, if memory serves you guys, correct

[4:38] me if I'm wrong, I think our intent was, uh, a, a 10% raise for Rick and a $1 raise

[4:46] for Jill.

[4:49] Is that what everybody remembers? No.

[4:53] I'm sorry, no, OK. It was 5% for Jill.

[5:01] As I remember That was the motion that he made, but I think that that was not what

[5:07] we had discussed as a board in our executive session. OK.

[5:16] I remember talking about $1 for deal and 10% for Rick. In when we were in our meeting,

[5:22] OK, I missed a spot. Didn't it kind of even out though to be the very same thing

[5:27] really when we were looking at 5% and then looked at the dollar Rick's did, but Jill's

[5:33] didn't. Oh, correct. That was the one that didn't even out on the percentage. Rick's

[5:38] was, I think, good. It was, it was Jill's right, because we did Rick's for 2 years

[5:44] that bumped it to 10, yeah.

[5:50] So we do need to make a motion to correct it for the record so that it can be implemented

[5:54] into so the motion would be. Uh, Rick's increase is 10% and Jill's would be $1 per

[6:00] hour, correct? Yes, that's the motion I make. A second motion made by Troy Forbus,

[6:06] seconded by Dustin Epperson. All those in favor. OK, motion passes. OK. Second, uh,

[6:13] consider and act on recommending appointments of the three EDC board seats for the

[6:17] next two years beginning October 1st of 26. Uh, y'all have the, uh, copies of all

[6:23] the applications. Uh, I believe Amanda spoke with, uh, Patrick this afternoon, and

[6:29] he appreciates, but he's not interested at this time. I left a voicemail. He did

[6:34] write. We missed each other in the past and he did leave a voicemail that he wants

[6:38] to be considered in the future, but as of right now, now is not the time.

[6:43] So we have 3 positions that are up for 2-year terms. So you have the applicants all

[6:49] there, and so that's just up to y'all to recommend with the understanding that this

[6:53] is simply a recommendation, the council votes final approval. I have a question.

[6:59] My memory is and and our computer was down all day yesterday and I didn't get to

[7:03] go back and look. In the back of my mind, I believe that. Not the

[7:10] present council, but the former council. That it is in the code of conduct, which

[7:17] is a city ordinance that somebody cannot serve on more than one board within the

[7:23] city. Does anybody else beside me remember that? I'm not sure because in the past

[7:28] the mayor, the previous mayors have served on like EDC and was also the mayor. So

[7:35] I think maybe it's changed. I'm thinking that was changed is what I'm thinking and

[7:40] I tried to call Tyler. Jordan, who I remember was the one that was discussing it,

[7:45] but with him being a fireman, naturally I could not get a hold of him. I think they

[7:49] talked about it. I don't think because you're double voting and then you'd be voting

[7:56] again and I'm sitting here saying this that I served on both boards for years, but

[8:01] I think that change. was made, but I'm not sure. Do you know? I mean, I don't know

[8:06] for sure. I don't know if it's an ordinance or not. I know, I know they talked about

[8:10] it and they suggested it's not a good idea, but you know, I don't know. Yeah, I think

[8:13] Tyler just said he didn't think it was a good idea to do it, but I don't think they

[8:18] voted on it. But if, if we elect somebody that is on the Counsel

[8:27] And we go back and find that that is right within those code of conduct ordinance,

[8:32] then do we remove that person, replace and replace them with someone else?

[8:39] I'd have to check. I don't want to say spagaltern on that. I see what you're saying,

[8:43] but I, I don't, I don't recall there ever being in, in an ordinance or anything or

[8:47] make that. Like I, I remember Tyler talking about how he didn't think that was a

[8:50] good idea, but I think that was just from Facebook addressing it, and Tyler addressed

[8:55] it, but I don't think they voted on it. I'll look I will check in the morning. I'll

[9:01] check in the morning for you. Rick, did you speak with or have any communication

[9:03] with any of the applicants, new or old? I talked with

[9:09] Amanda and I spoke with Troy, I didn't speak with Troy. I spoke with Gene and I spoke

[9:14] with Francisco. Francisco, is it Francisco? Yes, OK, so we don't know about Troy,

[9:21] Gene and Amanda Milton Milton reelection, correct? Milton. I spoke with Milton, um,

[9:28] and he He thinks it's a good idea for a council member to be on. He, like he said,

[9:34] he has had, we had had that in the past, but he also is open to giving a community

[9:40] member, a new person, new perspective on the board as well, so He would like to be

[9:46] considered, but he also knows that there are opportunities for us to bring someone.

[9:50] New perspective to the board, so he's also open to that too. He was very gracious

[9:54] about it. He does want to keep his name. In the, in the mix, but it's also OK with

[10:00] whatever we decide. Certainly it was nice that we had a lot of applications and we

[10:06] didn't mention MJ Crawford had an application in there too, you never heard back

[10:10] from him. No, I did try to call him. I did try to reach out. I never heard back from

[10:14] him. I spoke to both Amanda and Troy just to make sure that. They wanted to. I think

[10:20] Rick had not been able to connect with Troy to confirm that he wanted to fill a full

[10:25] term since you guys had both just filled vacancies. Um, I think it'd be good for

[10:29] everybody to kind of give comments, their thoughts, um, and or anybody that's here

[10:33] that wants to, uh, speak on behalf of themselves that they've applied. Who first?

[10:39] Um, I have served for 9 months now. I really have enjoyed it. I, I mean, I've told

[10:46] Rick from the very beginning that I wanted to be involved in the community. I do

[10:49] work with lots of businesses across East Texas. This is where I thrive. I, I kinda

[10:54] helped with the Pizza Hut situation. Um, so, uh, this is my space. This is what I

[10:58] love to do, um, and I would love to continue if I have the opportunity.

[11:05] I too have been here for all of 9 months. It takes my city volunteer times on different

[11:10] committees and boards over 14 years. I'm familiar with how these situa how these

[11:15] organizations work. Uh, I've only been in Chandler for 7 years, so I'm still getting

[11:20] to learn who's who and where's what. And when they talk Platts and the city council,

[11:25] I still have to ask where, where it's actually located. I've really enjoyed being

[11:29] on the board. I'd like to think that I'm a valued member, and I've given some perspectives

[11:35] on things that may not have been clear. It's just what I do. I really like working

[11:41] with the folks here. There's nobody here that I don't like. And I think that, that

[11:45] has to do a whole lot with the, the, the energy we have here and I'd like to be a

[11:49] continued part of it.

[11:53] Jean, would you like to speak? Yeah, I. There's been some Untrue rumors circulated

[12:00] about me saying that my health was in jeopardy. Those are rumors are totally untrue.

[12:09] The other rumor. was that

[12:16] It was thought that the EDC would be better served with a new person. I

[12:23] understand that But the thing that we've got to look out for here. If we get too

[12:31] many new people on,

[12:36] It's They're not educated enough. Uh, the newer people are going to learn from the

[12:43] people that have been here a while. And

[12:52] You know, myself, I've served for a lot of years, and it has been brought to my attention

[12:58] that

[13:01] Somebody thinks I've served too long. Well, I don't Um I,

[13:09] I would. Really like to serve some more. It's, it's, it's. I enjoy this. I enjoy

[13:16] seeing. New things come to our city, new things that help our citizens. So

[13:25] I'd appreciate your support. Thank you. Matt Uh, yeah, it's, it's tough. I mean,

[13:33] we, I said, this is the first time we've really ever got to look at applications,

[13:36] uh, and there's a lot of, a lot of good ones on here. Uh, a lot of people we know,

[13:41] uh, like Francisco haven't had a chance to meet him, but according to the application,

[13:47] it's very knowledgeable, brings a lot to the table. Um. So there, it's been,

[13:55] it's been neat or good to look at all these and kind of see where people are and

[14:02] Just gonna have to make our decision from there. Janice I looked at these applications.

[14:10] Um Amanda brings some unique experience with marketing to us that is

[14:18] great, would be wonderful to have. Francisco has, uh, quite a bit of financial

[14:25] knowledge that would also give us an in-depth knowledge of, of where we need to go

[14:33] with that, so, uh. I do feel very strongly about those two. Dustin

[14:42] Uh, I mean, I'm with you all. The applications are great. I'm also kinda in favor

[14:47] of not having, uh, a council person be on the EDC. Um, which kind of, and there's

[14:55] some great applications, of course, Milton Patrick, and all of them are, are, and

[14:58] Angie are fantastic, but, um, I, I, I've watched Amanda. She's like she reached out

[15:06] and called all those people. She did way more than what I did. Um, she's been phenomenal

[15:11] in the group and, and Francisco as well. I mean, that's an outstanding resume, done

[15:16] a lot on the financial side, and I'm in that world as myself. Um, those would be

[15:21] the two that stuck out to me.

[15:27] OK. Does anybody have any other comments? Thoughts

[15:35] So this does require a motion. And um I'm not sure. I

[15:43] think that Gene, you've been a very, very faithful and loyal servant for many years,

[15:49] not only to this EDC but also to the council and to this community. And I think that

[15:55] you do have the ability to serve again, but I also think that we as an EDC overall

[16:02] deserve to also bring in some new faces and some new people to our community to serve

[16:07] on the board. Despite being new, we all have to start somewhere. And it would be

[16:12] my overall recommendation to appoint Francisco, Troy, and Amanda. But it

[16:20] does require motion and Again, it's the counsel's question.

[16:28] Those of us that are on the board that are Possibly in the motion, I believe we should

[16:33] abstain. Because we'd be voting for ourselves. I agree with that.

[16:44] So then it would come down to just Matt, myself, Janice, and Dustin.

[16:52] Thank you for bringing that up.

[16:58] But you just mentioned two names. We have 3 positions, right? Yes, I said Francisco,

[17:03] Amanda, and Troy.

[17:15] Yeah, I'll, I'll make a motion that uh we fill the positions with Amanda Saylors,

[17:23] Troy Forbus, and uh Francisco Lopez. Motion made by Matt Berry, seconded by

[17:31] Dustin Efferson. All those in favor

[17:36] Motion passes. We appreciate your service very much, sir. No, you don't. Yes, we

[17:42] do.

[17:44] We most certainly do. Well, I'll say one more thing before I leave here. If you got

[17:50] something to say about me, say it to me, not behind my back. I said it to Eugene.

[17:56] I had a good conversation after you talked to everybody else.

[18:00] Enough said, OK. We'll move on to number 3 EDC project update. Yes, sir. Thank you.

[18:06] Uh, basically, we have two main projects going on right now. As you, as you've seen

[18:10] as of last week, uh, One Rock or Chapter 11 Ellis Limited or whatever it is now.

[18:15] Uh, yeah, stream. Uh, they have got a lot of equipment out there. They are moving

[18:20] fast. Uh, they've about got the whole front cleared now. They, the next project will

[18:25] be, if you've noted, the road going to the well is what's caused a lot of The drainage

[18:29] issues in the past and the backup and that they're gonna be working on that, getting

[18:33] that leveled out, uh, and then they will begin working initially on the deceleration

[18:37] line. They can't do a whole lot yet, but they're gonna do a little bit on that. But

[18:40] the main thing is they're gonna be bringing dirt from the back to the front. That's

[18:42] what I think you and I talked about the, looks like they cut a path toward the back

[18:46] and that's where they'll be bringing the dirt back and forth from and everything.

[18:49] So, uh, over the next couple of weeks you'll be seeing a lot of, a lot of that work.

[18:53] Uh, he, uh, plans. On bringing possibly next meeting, uh, a layout of what, uh, what

[19:00] their intents are in the next couple of months anyway. He's about got it. He's gone

[19:04] through several different plan options with the, the architects and engineers, and

[19:08] he's about got what he's wanting for the most part. And he is, he's extremely excited

[19:13] still, especially now that people see, can see actual events taking place and stuff

[19:18] like that. So, uh, as far as Jimmy Hawley. If you noticed, they've been cleaning

[19:24] out the storage buildings down there. Uh, he's about ready to, uh, demolish them.

[19:28] Uh, once that happens, uh, he's coming into PNC in October for the zoning change,

[19:34] and then he'll go to council that night also it's a special meeting for the PNZ to

[19:37] get it in there done, and then he'll be ready to start. Until he gets the zoning

[19:42] changed, he can't really start doing a lot. He can clear the land, but he can't build

[19:45] anything until he gets the plans approved. He can't get the plans approved to get

[19:47] the zoning changed. So it's kind of an order like that. Now, whether he has, whether

[19:51] he brings the plans to the zoning meeting, I'm not sure. He's about got that done

[19:54] also. It's gonna be very impressive. He, he know, the people, if y'all didn't know,

[19:58] Matt Smith purchased the property right next to that, the, the building, and, uh,

[20:02] and he told me they closed on that. And so he's very good friends with, they're good

[20:06] friends with each other. They're talking about trying to do. In fact, Matt may do

[20:10] some of the work on the building for, for him, but, uh, they're talking about trying

[20:13] to maybe share a drive or something like that to where it can give a little more

[20:16] room to the back and everything. But he's very excited about that. As soon as that

[20:20] gets done, he's, he's, we'll be starting up here. We closed, as I know, last month

[20:24] on that. Uh, I've, I've actually had some people call in that won't know it's still

[20:29] for sale. It's a big sold sign that says it's not, but, uh, there, there's, there's

[20:34] some interest already on a couple of, um, Uh, uh, retail sites. So, and the, and

[20:40] the good thing about, I think I told you all before, the good thing about this is,

[20:42] this is a different type of clientele than what will be down here. These are more,

[20:47] not big box, but more Regionally known whereas this may be not more mom and pop but

[20:51] a little, a little less, uh, but we need those just as much as we need the others

[20:55] and stuff like that. So are we gonna have one of our signs made and put up in front

[21:00] of that project? Yes, well, there's already one down here. I know there's one at

[21:04] One Rock, but since this is gonna be on 31 as well, we didn't have anything to do

[21:08] with one on 31. The, the, the storage about storage buildings are you talking about?

[21:13] The tires, the tire store, we didn't have anything to do with that. He bought that

[21:17] from the, from the property owners. What he did was what happened was he was gonna

[21:21] buy ours up there, and I felt like I needed to be honest with him and tell him that

[21:26] had come available because he'd won on 31 to start with, but he liked ours so much.

[21:30] He liked what we had talked about and showed that he decided to go ahead and buy

[21:33] that also. This is gonna be strictly office retail up here. This will be, uh, tire

[21:38] store down here, commercial commercial. Thank you. Good. Has Chris said anything

[21:43] about any firm? I don't want to say commitments exactly on pads or anything for any.

[21:50] He's told me as much as he can tell me, and from what I understand, what everybody's

[21:54] been waiting on is just the dirt start moving when they see something they're ready

[21:58] to sign, but he's, I know of three spots that are about 90% firm. If we can get those,

[22:05] then we're, we're doing very well. How many pads? How many pads are you talking about

[22:10] for the full project? He's, well, originally he had, I think, 9, but now that they're

[22:14] working to get, I think I told y'all in one of my emails to y'all that the wetlands

[22:18] can now be taken out due to a Supreme Court ruling. So they're working and they'll

[22:23] be able to double the size on the front of each property. So that'll open up at least

[22:26] 3 more pad sites down there plus the whole back. He envisions. He bought another

[22:31] 15 acres in addition to the 38, so what he thinks as well as it's going, he hopes

[22:37] that he'll be able to do like a mirror on the on the east west side like he's doing

[22:41] on the east side. Two ponds slash lakes. OK. We're going to have an amphitheater

[22:47] on one. We're going to have, I know he's still working on the amphitheater on the

[22:50] main one, so he's going to take one at a time, obviously. So, um, but you know that's

[22:55] if things go as hoped, then that's in the possible plans in the future. I'm kind

[22:59] of curious about the improvement to the city of Chandler amenities as well as business.

[23:06] He, uh, you, you've talked to him as much as I have pretty much. I mean, you, I don't

[23:10] know if you want to say anything about it, but I haven't gotten any, I mean, a lot

[23:13] of interest, but not anything. I think some things, I mean, as far as like the amenities

[23:16] and stuff like that, he, he, he envisions a downtown, not maybe downtown district

[23:21] where a lot of walkability. He keeps using walkability and stuff like that where

[23:25] you can walk from your where you work to a place to eat or something like that, you

[23:29] know, uh, what you'd like to have, and again this is. Not, not dreaming, but I mean

[23:34] it's, it's on paper, but it's not fully done yet. He, he likes the idea of like a

[23:39] boardwalk or something around the pond. It's, it's really a lake. It's not a pond,

[23:43] you know, with amphitheater and maybe restaurants overlooking that and everything,

[23:47] so. Any chance of a road extension from the uh new center to Sawmill Road?

[23:55] Uh, working on that, one thing that we're waiting on is, um, Henderson County has

[24:00] applied to be part of the net RMA, and you have to join with another county, and

[24:06] I, I can't, whatever county is it Marion County that's Jefferson, is that OK. Marion

[24:11] County met last night, another meeting. The 28th is that next Monday night to vote

[24:17] and and all indications say they are and when that happens we can officially join.

[24:21] There are tremendous amounts of grants and matching grants that do studies for us

[24:25] to, uh, you know, the best place to put something, but what, what we've talked initially

[24:30] about the possibility of bringing somehow, uh, Otala Road around and connecting into

[24:35] the boulevard that goes to the main entrance of the, of the, of the project. The,

[24:40] the, there will be a, a boulevard main thing going. He's still, you know, given the

[24:46] option to the city to move down there if they would like, you know, no rush or no,

[24:50] no pressure or anything like that, but that is a possibility. So have we heard anything

[24:56] from the guy that bought the property for the subway? No, uh, Mike Wilson is a good

[25:01] friend. He plays tennis with him, and the last we heard was he is still very interested.

[25:05] He was waiting for the interest rates to come down. The economy is not quite what

[25:08] he's hoping for right now, and he at the time was, he opened a subway over by UT

[25:14] Tower, and so that a lot of his money and investments went that way. And as far as

[25:19] future, he, he does, the last I heard was he does still plan to, to build here, OK,

[25:23] so. And what about uh update on Silver Line? They are still trying. We, they had

[25:30] a potential purchase buyer for that, and the problem was he needed the lot next to

[25:35] the lot that we got by auction to make it work. He was trying to make the whole thing

[25:38] work well. The, the, he has the same issue we had. We had to wait 2 years after we

[25:44] got it from, um. Bankrupt court, not, uh, where the courthouse, what do you, I'm

[25:49] sorry, I lost my train of thought. Yeah, foreclosure sale. You can buy we bought

[25:53] ours, but technically we couldn't, you could build on it, but the original owner

[25:57] had 2 years to come back and pay the back taxes and take the property back. He didn't

[26:00] want to wait 2 years because he could not find the owner. He was trying to find the

[26:03] owner to see if they could purchase it outright, could not find the owner. I mean,

[26:07] that is. So convoluted down there there's 20 heirs to each lot almost down there

[26:12] and so, uh, he, he backed out. What he's doing is he's buying the property that he's

[26:16] in now and he's gonna open that property there. Silver Line, uh, is kind of they've,

[26:21] they've been kind of back and forth trying to figure out what they're gonna do. So

[26:23] it's they're talking about putting it, they asked us if we wanted to buy it back

[26:26] at the cost that we, and I said no, it's not probably not, you know, so, um. They're,

[26:32] they're kind of up in there holding. They're still, their plans were to expand to

[26:36] other cities and stuff like that. I don't know how far that is. I kind of lost track

[26:40] on what they are. They haven't talked a lot about that, so I don't want to push them

[26:42] on anything. So, but they've got a good deal going and everything. If the ADC can

[26:48] get that other lot, which is a possibility in the next probably 6 or 8 months, it

[26:55] would make it much more the abandoned lot because you got a T right now. Yeah, it's

[27:00] not really abandoned, it's just unclaimed more than anything, but there, it has to,

[27:05] the city can't force them to auction, but the school board can. The school district

[27:10] can. So that's what they're waiting on because it has to be a certain length of time

[27:14] passed when taxes aren't paid before they can force that auction. You got to wait

[27:19] for the music to get around to that part of the dance. And the problem was they hadn't

[27:23] paid taxes in many years, but they just put it back on the roll, did they? Or not

[27:26] the roll, but they just showed as delinquent. They finally named an owner, and then

[27:31] they don't have an address, but they're sending bills, so the odds of it getting

[27:35] paid are pretty slim if it's not going anywhere. So, but it's gonna be, I think they

[27:40] said October. October that's when they had that this coming October is the end of

[27:44] that period. Um, it's when they can file suit, I believe, but it's probably gonna

[27:48] be May. It's probably not gonna be October. So I think the school district is still

[27:51] with Liinberger. Yes, yes, um, so is that something that we need to go and advocate

[27:57] for them to move forward with that? I would simply because we own the lot next to

[28:01] that and like. There's no point in somebody buying our lot unless they get the other,

[28:06] the other lots, you know. And now Silver I was gonna do it like that, but like this

[28:10] other guy that was gonna buy, he wanted the whole thing to make it more square. He

[28:13] needed the back part also, and one lot is not enough, so we don't get landlocked

[28:18] because if somebody were to buy just the front and not ours, then we're, we're landlocked,

[28:22] you know, you know Jim Lambeth. He's, he's, he's got a reminder on his calendar.

[28:27] Oh, he does, OK. So once we get Being optimistic here once we get control of the

[28:33] front lot, that makes that entire property more feasible. No, the back lot, the back

[28:38] lot, yeah, we own the Silver Lion owns the front three lots. We sell those to Silver

[28:43] Line, and then we have the back middle lot from an auction. We actually had the lot

[28:48] where the parking lot is, where the museum is. We got that from an auction also,

[28:52] but we donated that to the city for the parking for the, for that. So, so right now

[28:57] it's a T. We own the back lots, Silver. He owns the front lot. We don't know who

[29:01] owns the lot to. We want the abandoned lot. Yes, OK, thank you. So if he can do that,

[29:07] then he would buy all. He would have bought all. It's more attractive like just someone

[29:11] will. Someone. Oh, someone definitely will. So it, it would probably be good if we

[29:15] could buy that to just add it to ours. So if somebody ever does buy the front lot

[29:19] or if somebody decides to keep it or whatever, then it makes ours a lot more attractive

[29:23] in the back. We need to buy that lot, yes.

[29:27] So Joe, you said it's on his calendar like he's going to propose to the board to

[29:31] move forward, but yes, but he does not think it will happen. He said it could happen

[29:34] in October, November, but it's most likely to happen in May. OK, so the latest will

[29:40] be May. The latest is May. Maybe at this point the last information I got from him,

[29:46] yes, and he definitely is on top of it. And well, his, his actually his assistant

[29:50] is on top of it. So, so it's just him trying to get it on the school board's agenda.

[29:56] I mean it's just on their list I guess is the best way that I don't know how all

[30:00] that the specifics I wonder if we can get moved up on their agenda. Well, it's not

[30:04] a matter of the agenda, it's a matter of the timing. Yeah, it has to be. It's a timing

[30:08] issue, not a yeah. And then still when we get it, it's not going to have a clear

[30:14] date. It'll be 2 years from then until we can get a clear date to it. And that's

[30:18] what this previous potential buyer before didn't want to wait 2 years to move now.

[30:23] So and the 2 years is only when the deed transfers. It doesn't like, it's not like

[30:26] 2 years from when they file the suit or whatever. It's once the deeds over. So let's

[30:32] say we pick it up in May. We have 2 years from May before we can honestly do anything

[30:37] with it. Well, you can do something with it. You just take the risk of someone coming

[30:41] in and paying the back taxes and getting the property back. Would you build on something

[30:44] that somebody could come pay the back taxes on, not on a bad day. Do they have to

[30:48] pay for the improvements also? They have to pay for improvements. I'm pretty sure

[30:52] they've got it. There's some, there's some, it's not just the taxes. I think they

[30:58] have to pay for the improvements, and they have to pay like, say we bought it or

[31:02] something like that, that acreage we bought. If someone came in and paid the back

[31:05] taxes, they have to pay us interest and stuff like that back also for the, and then

[31:08] I think if you build a building or something, they also have to, right, yeah, yeah,

[31:13] fair market value. So chances are pretty slim, but you can't build. The problem was

[31:18] they didn't want to buy the property and build half the building on the back lot

[31:21] and half on the front lot, you know, that it just, and that's kind of how they were

[31:24] looking at doing it. And so the park's gonna go into the lot. Dustin would, would

[31:27] like a lender have a problem with that type of a deed from a, from a funding perspective.

[31:32] No, I mean you would just wanna make sure that if they're gonna go in and like Matt

[31:37] said do the improvements they're gonna do them quickly because if they do them at

[31:41] one spot and they go in and say we wanna pay the back taxes then you kind of shut

[31:46] down the project at that point so you, you wanna go in and. Get it put up, OK, but

[31:52] if we bought the property, the 2 years would start then, even if we were to sell

[31:55] it to somebody else. Yes, yes, yes, it started at that initial initial when we get

[31:58] it from the, from the auction, that's, that's when it starts. But even if someone

[32:03] built their building on this side of the T, right, and they were just gonna use parking

[32:07] on this side, then you could do that. I mean, but you could, yeah, they could at

[32:11] that time come in and just pay for the back taxes and then take that lot back over.

[32:17] Need to put in something really expensive over there quick. Yes, yeah, not just a

[32:22] parking lot or fencing, and, but that is something y'all we need to think about because

[32:26] that is something it would, it would enhance the lot that we have now that we own.

[32:30] So we should buy it regardless because if someone else does and wastes the two years,

[32:33] then we're just landlocked on our lot and then they can get whatever price they want

[32:38] from us because it's we can't use it for anything else. We just sell it for nothing

[32:42] unless we donate to the museum, unless we donate. But the two years on what we have

[32:46] or what is down there is already, yeah, it's gone. We bought it in 24 and it went

[32:49] out. It went out in October or November, I think, yeah, so, OK, we're good. Uh, one

[32:55] final update, just, uh, Rick and I met with, uh, Tom Mullins last week just to kind

[32:59] of, just a little bit of a catch up project. There, there is gonna be some opportunity

[33:03] to the point of the net RMA, um, if we join after Marion County does, then we potentially

[33:10] would be able to, um, access some grant money. That might be able to do a um a traffic

[33:18] study or some other things that Net RMA is willing to fund which would also be beneficial

[33:24] for the city um and so we're kind of trying to time a little bit of hopefully Marion

[33:30] gets on the agenda they, they do it and then we can follow suit and we already have

[33:34] some pretty decent contacts at Net RMA already that we can sit with to kind of apply

[33:41] for the funding and get them to support us doing that. We're just waiting for Marion

[33:45] County because I, I called and talked to them, and they said, I said, is there anything

[33:48] we can do to get started in the meantime? And they said, unfortunately we're, we're

[33:51] kind of in a standstill just waiting for that. So we are talking to some people about,

[33:55] uh, putting the committee together to, to do a study from our end as far as what

[34:00] the direction we'd like Chandler to go, and then we'll get with them that RMA and

[34:03] go from there, which was part of the strategic plan that started this work if y'all,

[34:06] yeah, that's a big part of the strategic plan if y'all remember, yeah. Any other

[34:12] questions on projects? OK, uh, consent agenda. Everybody got the consent agenda.

[34:17] Does anybody have any questions? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion to approve

[34:22] the consent agenda as presented. I move that we accept the consent agenda as presented.

[34:28] OK, motion made by Jenny Linsford, seconded by Dustin Epperson. All those in favor.

[34:35] Am I still here? Yes sir. OK. All right, um, I think everybody is aware if they're

[34:42] not that, um, sadly, um, Jill's last day with the EDC is next Tuesday, um, and so

[34:49] we have something to show our appreciation. You better like him because I looked

[34:54] everywhere. You, you did it. Oh, aren't they pretty?

[35:00] There's one kind of hanging over there, but Jill, thank you. You have been fantastic

[35:06] to work with and

[35:11] I'm very sad that you are leaving. Thank you very much. You are not alone in that

[35:15] 123456789 of us in this room that are very sad to see her go. Thank you. It's very

[35:21] sweet. We appreciate the emails that you sent to us and make sure everything is What

[35:28] we need. Well, so thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Don't cry. Don't cry. All

[35:34] right, with that, uh, I will call this meeting adjourned. At 6:37.

Economic Development Corp

Agenda

Transcript