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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2006-11-08 RegularCommunity and Economic Development Committee Minutes November 8, 2006 The Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, November 8, 2006, at 8 a.m., at the offices of Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, 2525 Bay Area Blvd., Suite 640, Houston, Texas 77058-1557, with the following members present: Deirdre Carey Brown, Chair; Kirk Lippert, Vice Chair; Jamie Ballard; Karin Massicott; Pauline Moore; Jon Olansen; Bill Provenzano; and, Hilmar Zeissig. Also present: Hon. Laura Ewing, City Council Liaison; Jim Reinhartsen, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership; and Harvey Hartman. Staff members present were Karen Capps and Bo McDaniel, City Manager (arrived at 11 a.m.). Absent from the meeting were Ed Sebesta, City of Friendswood Planning and Zoning Liaison, CCISD Liaison and the FISD Liaison. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 8:20 a.m., with a quorum present. 2. Discussion regarding goals and objectives for 2006 - 2007. This meeting was the CEDC's annual retreat. Mr. Hary Hartman facilitated the discussions and opened with introductions and questions to members regarding their impressions of the economic development in the places they grew up or lived other than Friendswood. Members discussed their experiences including impressions of economic development in Houston, Texas; Galveston, Tx; Corpus Christi, Tx; Lubbock, Tx; Texas City, Tx; Beaumont, Tx; Flint, MI; Chester, NJ; and, Long Island, NY. In addition, the members discussed the changes and development in Friendswood over the past 40 years. Mr. Zeissig suggested the group invite Mr. Herb Apple, Fort Bend Economic Development Council to talk about Sugar Land, Texas' approach to development. Ms. Brown then gave an overview and expectations for the retreat. Ms. Brown thanked BAHEP and Jim Reinhartsen for their gracious offering of the BAHEP office and hosting a continental breakfast and lunch. A handout of general goals and objectives with ideas for each committee was circulated to the members. Ms. Brown stated that the goal is for each subcommittee to select a specific goal with action items to accomplish in the near term. A sample outlining the activity, necessary actions, timetable, and who was assigned responsibility for specific tasks was also provided to attendees to facilitate each subcommittee narrowing their goals to manageable tasks. Mr. Hary Hartman then discussed a PowerPoint presentation entitled Council Member Feedback for the Community and Economic Development Committee Planning Retreat. A handout of the presentation was given to attendees. Prior to the meeting, Mr. Hartman interviewed City Council to discuss three key questions: 1) What are your expectations for this committee?; 2) How are they doing at meeting your expectations?; and, 3) What specifically could be done by this committee in the next year to help Friendswood move ahead? Feedback and discussion was then entered into by all attendees regarding how to address the concerns of City Council and regarding the upcoming workshop with City Council. Ms. Brown reminded members that anyone interested in meeting to prepare for the workshop are invited to meet on November 12, 2006 at 2 p.m. Ms. Brown informed Ms. Capps that because a quorum expressed interest in meeting on November 12, 2006 that the meeting should be noticed. Ms. Brown provided a review of the subcommittee structure. Three subcommittees have been formed: A) Finance — Kirk Lippert, Subcommittee Chair; Jamie Ballard; and, Deirdre Carey Brown; B) Outreach — Karin Massicott, Subcommittee Chair; Pauline Moore; and, Ed Sebesta (absent); and, C) Strategic Planning — Bill Provenzano, Subcommittee Chair; Hon. Laura Ewing; Hilmar Zeissig; and, Jon Olansen. Each subcommittee met in breakout sessions for an hour to discuss specific goals. Ms. Capps joined the Outreach Committee during the subcommittee breakout sessions. The subcommittees reported out to the full group at 11 a.m. and discussed the following: Mr. Provenzano reported for the Strategic Planning Subcommittee ("Planning Committee"). A handout of notes taken during the breakout session was provided to all attendees. The Planning Committee recommended working on and the adoption of a short term plan, i.e. 1 to 5 year plan, including realistic and modest proposals to include a "concrete" capital improvements plan for the City; as well as, getting more input from the Chamber, FISD, CCISD, City Manager, etc. On a lower lever, the Planning Committee recommended updating Vision 2020 and formulating a long term strategic plan. Mr. Zeissig mentioned that Dean Cummings at University of Houston Clear Lake has been contacted regarding potential students interested in the project. The Planning Committee also suggested that a survey be completed of the last 20 businesses to determine the City's level of customer service and what else could have been done to help the business on the front-end. As a corollary, the Planning Committee recommended that efforts be taken to make sure businesses know that Ms. Capps, CEcD is a great resource for them. The Planning Committee also presented other ideas and explained the overall approach as a "portfolio" of the City. The Planning Committee drafted a diagram of a tree that demonstrated the "portfolio" idea which heralds the strengths of the City and highlights the reasons why Quality Businesses should want to be in Friendswood. A discussion with the group was had regarding the Planning Committee's report. Ms. Capps will provide the Planning Committee a list of the past 20 businesses and the Planning Committee will follow up with Jim Reinhartsen for the copy of a survey used in the past by BAHEP. The Planning Committee also will work on a tagline, but will confer with Griffin Marketing or forward Griffin Marketing its suggestions. One suggestion that was made was opening it to a City wide competition. The Finance Committee then presented its report. Ms. Brown reported that Mr. Ballard has begun to make an initial comparative analysis of various lifestyle projects to compare with the proposed "Falls of Friendswood." Mr. Ballard will follow up with BAHEP to determine what figures are necessary to run an impact statement for the Falls of Friendswood. BAHEP provides this service to member cities at no additional cost. Ms. Brown will continue to work with Mr. Roecker on trying to assess the household ad valorems versus business property ad valorems versus sales tax in order to try to determine some of the numbers necessary to calculate the actual burden on homeowners if build -out occurs at the current level of commercial and residential percentages. Ms. Brown also indicated that Planning and Zoning are attempting to isolate the total number of non-exempt land. Ms. Brown will also contact the Harris County and Galveston County assessor to determine what numbers can be run. Council Member Ewing noted that the City has to review much of this information to issue the refunds to taxpayers which was previously approved by the City. Ms. Brown noted that she was in contact with Mr. Roecker. The Finance Committee also discussed the potential of reviewing, as a longer term goal, an expedited versus ordinary process for businesses to use to navigate the City requirements. The Finance Committee also wants to get feedback from City Council regarding towns that they view a success in order to prepare a comparative analysis of similarly situated cities. Mr. Lippert was unable to attend the breakout session due to a business emergency. Mr. Lippert's idea of compiling a list of influential residents who live in or do business in Friendswood was suggested as a task that could be completed by the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee also discussed in the breakout session reviewing 4a/4b Economic Development Sales Tax opportunities as a long term goal to assess the added potential, if any, to 4a/4b structure, and the fact that certain state incentives are only available to 4a/4b entities. Ms. Massicott then presented the Outreach Committee's report from their breakout session. Ms. Massicott stated that they discussed: getting name tags and business cards for CEDC members to help market Friendswood by attending events in the Houston area; members attend trade shows; better utilize the municipal channel; "Friendswood Cares" (business retention) visits to current businesses located in Friendswood; investigate having a booth at Chamber luncheons and other events around the area. Ms. Capps agreed to provide a list of businesses to Ms. Massicott to make visits. During the breakout session, the Outreach Committee also discussed the pros and cons of having a Town Hall meeting with notable guests to educate the public about economic development. Ms. Brown provided a wrap up of the day's events and requested that all subcommittee chairs follow up with their subcommittee to delegate duties and to set a time line for accomplishing the objectives by the next regular meeting. 3. Adiournment. The retreat was adjourned at 12 p.m., with a lunch following at Tommy's.