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[0:00] Economic Development Corporation, regular meeting, Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 6.30 p.m. city hall council chambers.
[0:10] First item, business roll call, place one, art minor present, place two.
[0:16] Place two, Calvin Lewis present.
[0:18] Place three.
[0:19] Jane Hill present.
[0:22] Place four is vacant. Place five.
[0:26] Stephen Welch present.
[0:27] it. Place six.
[0:29] Ron Downey present.
[0:31] And place seven.
[0:33] Macy Forrester present.
[0:41] Announcements. Place two. Any
[0:42] announcements?
[0:44] Down here, Mayor. Thanks.
[0:46] Place three.
[0:48] Nothing. Thank you.
[0:49] Place four.
[0:51] Nothing. Thank you.
[0:54] I'm five. I'm sorry.
[0:58] That was a test and you didn't pass.
[1:01] Place six.
[1:03] Nothing Mayor, thank you.
[1:05] Place seven.
[1:07] None at this time. Thank you.
[1:09] All right. I just want to mention again.
[1:13] The Christmas tree lighting.
[1:16] Good, good event. So.
[1:19] I think everything went really good.
[1:21] Thank you to all the staff and it wasn't just parks department, but.
[1:26] Everybody involved in that making that happen.
[1:28] Very good.
[1:29] And great fireworks.
[1:33] I've had I've had a lot of comments from citizens and people from other cities that on how great the fireworks work.
[1:41] All
[1:46] right, next up consent agenda.
[1:49] No, I have to ask Miss of all anybody any requests for public comment.
[1:58] How about public testimony?
[2:02] All right, consent agenda all the item on the consent agenda are considered to be self explanatory by the commission will be an active with one motion one second and one vote.
[2:10] there will be no separate discussions of these items and any members wish to have anything pulled
[2:16] from the consent agenda.
[2:20] Seeing none I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve is presented.
[2:27] Second that motion.
[2:32] I have a motion by Commissioner Hill and a second by Commissioner Lewis
[2:39] to approve. All in favor signify by raising your right hand.
[2:46] Opposed same. Motion passes
[2:48] unanimously five in favor of zero against zero abstain okay
[3:09] first up item one on action items
[3:12] discussed and consider action to approve the capsmith food truck park food truck project design
[3:19] and construction planned expenditure mr. Hamilton's not here so brian
[3:32] i'm here filling in for
[3:34] mr. Hamilton so i'm here to answer any questions and nothing has changed since
[3:40] the last time it's been presented. So do you have any questions for me?
[3:48] Okay, that's going to
[3:49] challenge everybody. Everybody remember the last the presentation? I've seen it numerous times. So
[3:57] anybody have any questions or comments?
[4:08] Director Hill?
[4:12] During the discussions, there were some
[4:14] things that came up regarding the who was going to be providing the electricity or if we were
[4:20] going to be requiring to have generators and did we have any plans to kind of
[4:26] eliminate the noise in the main areas where people would be sitting and being
[4:31] entertained by something just have we come up with a design that resolved
[4:37] any of those issues? Well design they are looking at power that power out there
[4:42] is ideal but I don't think they finalize anything with the power
[4:45] certainly having power is going to take away from the sound from the
[4:47] Generators and then I think we've got three different pads as they're gonna put those in there
[4:53] So I know the idea the plan for plan a would be to have the power out there
[4:58] But I don't think anything's been finalized on that. So any
[5:06] other questions or comments and
[5:12] I'll entertain a motion
[5:18] director Hill make a motion we approve the item as presented
[5:35] director Welch
[5:36] presented any further discussion. All
[5:45] right, before I call for a vote, I would like to make one comment.
[5:50] This is coming out of sales tax, not property tax. So I just want to clarify that. I've heard numerous
[5:59] times about how it's going to affect property tax. It's strictly sales tax. So with that,
[6:09] anybody else have any call for a vote? All in favor?
[6:16] Signify by raising your right hand.
[6:20] Opposed, same.
[6:24] That motion passes unanimously.
[6:26] Five in favor of zero against the zero abstain.
[6:35] Item two, discuss and consider changing
[6:37] the Watauga Economic Development Corporation
[6:39] regular meeting time from 6.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.
[6:45] Ms. Kimson.
[6:49] Thank you, President Mayhem.
[6:50] This came up at the last meeting
[6:52] just for discussion and consideration of the board.
[6:57] All of our other boards and commissions do start at six.
[7:00] So we just like the board to consider that if it works for you.
[7:05] And that's all I'd like to add.
[7:08] Any
[7:12] comments or discussion?
[7:14] I know.
[7:17] Here in the recent past, as well as before.
[7:21] Having enough people here all the time has been an issue.
[7:25] I just want to remind everybody if we move it up to six o'clock,
[7:28] those of you that work, is that going to be a conflict?
[7:30] Now's the time to discuss that and bring it out.
[7:38] Secretary Downey. Thank you. That
[7:42] was my point altogether. I know that if that happens, we already have a hard
[7:49] enough time trying to fill positions as it is. If we move it up 30 minutes for
[7:54] people that work such as myself till 5 o'clock, sometimes a little later, I come
[7:59] all the way from downtown so making it 40 45 minutes from downtown getting home
[8:04] changing clothes and getting here by six o'clock is almost impossible because you
[8:07] saw the day I mean I barely got here at 615 coming from downtown so in the
[8:13] long run it's just not gonna work for me I can't I can't say that for
[8:18] everybody but I mean in the long run of things I don't know how that would
[8:25] work with me staying on here if it changed because I know I can't make it
[8:29] for most of them and it's only once a month so it's not you know it's not like it's a detriment
[8:33] to everybody.
[8:40] Director Forster. A similar situation only I'm not working at the privilege of being
[8:46] able to stay home but it's just not conducive with my husband's work schedule as I have to
[8:50] wait for him to come home so that we can switch roles and I'm been available to come up here
[8:55] So 630 would continue to work from my schedule, if you're willing to consider.
[9:02] All right, thank you.
[9:07] When I was first appointed to this board, it was the Parks Development Corporation and I worked in South Grand Prairie all the way to 20.
[9:16] And that we made it, we tried to move it back to six and I had to protest that and they moved it to 615.
[9:23] and if I mean if you work downtown you don't know what the traffic is going to
[9:27] be you can't get here by six most days and I'm real sympathetic I had to take
[9:32] comp time and leave early most of the time to get here you know when it was
[9:36] even at 6 15 it could be hard if I would check the traffic see what it was
[9:41] and then tell my boss I guess I'm gonna have to leave at 5 30 or 4 30 or
[9:46] 5 or 4 30 or 4 15 to get here on time so I was taking basically vacation time
[9:51] to get here for the meetings. I don't think people should have to do that.
[9:56] All right, thank you.
[10:01] Any other comments or questions?
[10:08] Director Welch?
[10:10] Yes, sir. For me, it doesn't matter one way or the other, but considering what our other
[10:18] directorates have said, I would suggest we just keep it at 6.30 so that they're all
[10:24] able to make the meeting.
[10:40] Okay, one we can just take no action on this.
[10:52] Director
[10:52] Hill. I make the motion we take no action on this item.
[10:58] Director Welch. I second it.
[11:00] Further
[11:08] discussion? Yes, of course I'm down there on that one.
[11:13] Does that take no action? I'm assuming that means it's going to be that six
[11:17] third again. That's correct. Thank you.
[11:25] I had a motion by Director Hill and
[11:27] and second by Director Welch to take no action.
[11:31] So,
[11:33] any further discussion?
[11:40] All in favor signify by raising the right hand.
[11:44] Opposed, same.
[11:46] Motion carries unanimously,
[11:47] five in favor, zero against, zero abstain.
[11:59] Item three, discuss, consider appreciation options
[12:02] for businesses that have donated food
[12:05] to the police and the fire departments.
[12:11] Who is this under Director Welch?
[12:16] Director Welch?
[12:20] Yes, I brought this up there. And my only thought on the matter, because I don't have
[12:27] a better thought, is that for those businesses that have been so kind and
[12:33] donated to help us out, help the police and fire department there and actually
[12:40] for the city, my thought was to consider maybe giving them a little bit of
[12:47] free time on the digital message boards and just how much I don't know what to
[12:56] say about how how much to give them or how often but I
[13:04] don't know what else we
[13:04] could do for them so but I'm open to any suggestions and so I have
[13:15] input from
[13:18] Anybody?
[13:23] Director Hill? I think it's a wonderful idea.
[13:32] Agreed.
[13:40] Then we just need to determine how much we would give them, I guess.
[13:46] How would we go about doing that? That would be my question.
[13:52] I do have one comment before we move on any more.
[13:59] is I think we need to be careful of how we I guess one lack of a better way would be how
[14:09] we reward people that give things to the city because there are businesses out there that
[14:14] I'm sure it would love to do things for the city and they just can't do it.
[14:21] Free advertising, we're charging other people for that. Things that we can do for
[14:29] businesses that donate, our proclamations, letters of appreciation, we can come up with an award
[14:40] for that. So I just want to throw that out there so maybe we want to table this until next meeting
[14:48] or where we can investigate. I don't remember off the top of my head what we charge per line or
[15:00] Minut or whatever for our electronic boards. But like I said, I just want everybody to kind
[15:08] of think about that.
[15:14] Director Bruce? Yes, I was curious as to how does it track? How do
[15:19] we know which businesses or how many businesses are donating food to the fire department
[15:25] or the police department or whether they're doing it to both or just one another? Who's
[15:30] tracking that?
[15:40] Okay. I don't know who actually tracks it,
[15:44] but considering that I was in this last public safety meeting or a class that the city had
[15:53] and it was like eight weeks at the police department, eight weeks at the fire department
[15:59] and I know like Chick-fil-A was just like they did so much for us and then there was pizza buzz,
[16:07] There was the salad and go
[16:12] No, there was a couple others I can't remember them off the top of my head. I have talked to the fire department. Anyways
[16:21] I'm not sure anybody tracks it. I don't know. Maybe they do in the city. I'm
[16:26] Probably somebody does I just don't know who that person would be
[16:31] But along the line of what the mayor was saying about the proclamation and all
[16:36] that would be a good idea and you know them being put on you know we go and
[16:42] give them a proclamation and take a picture and post it on Facebook or
[16:46] social media that in itself is basically giving them some sort of a
[16:52] recognition so that could be a good thing to do as well I think yep
[17:00] that's
[17:01] you know anything that we can do to encourage or to thank businesses for
[17:05] I think that they do for the city is good.
[17:09] It's the anniversary.
[17:12] We've had some really fun anniversary visits here this month,
[17:16] visiting with these, with the different businesses.
[17:20] So that is another good idea.
[17:23] affirmations, pictures, and Facebook is free, so we don't run the risk of offending somebody,
[17:38] anybody else.
[17:45] I think the idea of showing appreciation on Facebook versus the advertisement,
[17:53] the digital advertisement, it's probably a better idea after hearing some additional input
[17:56] that makes sense. Number one, it's not tracked, so it'd kind of be hard to tell who we would
[18:01] even put on the board and then how other businesses
[18:05] Who are paying for the advertisement space may feel towards that, but I definitely agree some recognition is due
[18:11] But I also agree that somewhere like Facebook would probably be a better avenue.
[18:19] Thank you. So then the next question will be
[18:24] We'll go to miss Gibson
[18:29] Who will
[18:32] initiate this and then who will be responsible for tracking it?
[18:37] And as a WDC function, you know, a bylaws of how we do things or that goes to you.
[18:47] So we, for that particular event, there is a list of those sponsors for the food, for
[18:56] the public safety class.
[18:58] So we have that and there are several other times during the year that a restaurant might
[19:05] donate food to the police department or the fire department for different
[19:10] purposes. So we certainly could have a list of that and put that together with a
[19:18] procedure on a proclamation and then we can treat it like we do with the
[19:23] anniversary visits that everybody gets an invite and who can show up and shows
[19:29] up. So we can definitely do that. I would suggest that we do it maybe once a year for those businesses.
[19:41] Especially after this one event that we had for the public safety, then we can definitely
[19:48] do some visits to those businesses that put so much into that event and so many donations.
[20:03] Who do we task with writing the policy?
[20:09] So I can handle that.
[20:12] I thought I was getting that.
[20:21] All right, so I think we can take no action on this one
[20:24] and bring it back to the board
[20:27] once we have a policy written and such.
[20:33] And so to take no action on this,
[20:34] we don't have to have a vote.
[20:46] That is correct, that's the last item.
[20:48] So moving on to items for future agendas, place two.
[20:56] Yes, in lieu of tonight's discussions as far as businesses doing things for the fire department, police department, I would like to add to the agenda that we as a collective body, maybe get together off site once a quarter or twice a year and basically just visit
[21:20] some of these places and maybe have a meal or two or something like that and it's not
[21:25] to discuss businesses but as much as it is just fellowshiping and getting to know each other
[21:31] you know away from the meeting here.
[21:41] That's not a new item we used to do that on the
[21:45] parks board many many many years ago and I think we did a couple of times with the PDC as well
[21:51] So, all right.
[21:54] Again, I was, I think maybe, you know, once or twice a year would be, would be good, you know.
[22:06] Okay. Place three. Anything?
[22:09] Place five.
[22:12] I agree with Calvin. I really like this idea.
[22:16] Yes.
[22:17] I have nothing else.
[22:24] Place six.
[22:26] Nothing. My thank you.
[22:27] And place 7 possible foster village house renovations.
[22:34] We could explore that or just discuss it.
[22:39] The foster village house off of stars.
[22:47] I'm sorry, would you repeat that please?
[22:51] No worries. I should have waited potential just looking into maybe some possible renovations for the foster village house of stars.
[23:05] Okay and then one thing that I'll throw out here we are planning and I don't
[23:11] want to call it an awards dinner or for all the boards in February within
[23:22] April
[23:23] that was my next guess okay we're gonna do it in April and we'll have all the
[23:33] We'll try to have everybody from all the boards come in.
[23:36] There are some awards that we are going to hand out
[23:40] and just recognition for the time that they put in
[23:44] volunteering for the city
[23:46] because they make the same amount of money that we do.
[23:50] So, but, you know, a second time during the year
[23:53] Mr. Lewis or whatever, I think that's an excellent idea.
[23:56] So with
[24:03] that, no further business.
[24:05] We will adjourn this meeting at 6.54 p.m.
[24:08] Thank you everybody.