Odessa Development Corporation

ODESSA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MINUTES CITY OF ODESSA, TEXAS August 01, 2024 A Workshop meeting of the Odessa Development Corporation (ODC) was held on August 01, 2024, at 9:01 a.m. in the Council Chambers, 5th floor, City Hall, 411 W. 8th St. Odessa, Texas. Members present: David Boutin, Tim Harry, Melanie Hollmann, Larry Robinson, James Kirk, and Jeff Russell. Others present: Dan Jones, City Attorney; Christina Buhnerkempe, Legal Assistant; John Beckmeyer, City Manager; Kaylie Banda, Director of Finance; Tyler Patton, UTPB’s-America’s SBDC; Christi Callicoate and Britney Mann, Current Media Partners; Chris Walker, Black Chamber of Commerce; James Beauchamp, MOTRAN; Renee Earls, Odessa Chamber of Commerce; Tom Manskey, Office of Economic Development; Tracy Jones, Office of Economic Development; Kathi Vaughn, Office of Economic Development; Lindsey Simpkins, Office of Economic Development; and Others: and other interested citizens A quorum being present, Mr. Russell called the meeting to order, and the following proceedings were held: Mr. Robinson gave the invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance and Texas Pledge were recited. Discuss and review FY 24-25 Economic Development Contractor Proposal from the Odessa Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Manskey reviewed the packet on behalf of the Chamber to request to continue to be the contractor for Economic Development and continue to be responsive to the ODC Board and City Council leadership. Mr. Manskey reviewed the 2024-25 Budget Proposal. Mr. Manskey reviewed the list of projects in the last year. Several projects have been brought before the ODC Board and received approval for grants. Liberty Oilfield Services is under construction. Project Ironman and Crossbow both received approval after being brought before the board in 2024. Both projects are infrastructure reimbursement projects aimed at encouraging business development and growth in two different areas of Odessa. Project Ironman will lead to the development of a new 75+ acre light industrial park in the Parks Bell Ranch area. Standard Industrial Manufacturing was approved for a grant. Infrastructure in the area of 191 and Yukon lead to an announcement by Bass Pro Shops to construct a major retail development in that area. Mr. Manskey discussed the 2024-25 Plan of Action. The daily items the department works on include Business Recruitment, Business Retention and Expansion along with Workforce Programs. Development of a Shovel-Ready Business Park or Site, Strengthening Economic Development Connection with City of Odessa Staff and Promote Customer Service. Mr. Manskey highlighted the Workforce Programs. ODC Workshop Minutes August 01, 2024 Page 2 The department is working with LULAC and other leadership in the community regarding an Immigration Resource Center. An event will be held at Odessa College on September 19th for roughly a full day and is called “Knowledge Without Borders”. LULAC is bringing in a couple of law firms who specialize in immigration. There will be discussion regarding new Americans who are already in the area and bringing them through the process of what is needed to get them to a stage where they are legally able to be added to our workforce. Plans are being made for another Workforce Summit in the future. Mr. Manskey discussed that he would like to have at least two meetings per year in conjunction with the ODC Board and Senior Chamber Leadershp to allow for any discussion or concerns or any ideas as to what direction economic development is going in. Mr. Manskey stated that he will add this item to the Program of Work. Another item to add would be to improve communication between the City Council and ODC, to conduct a meeting with both present to include the Economic Development staff and City Legal to make sure everything is going in the right direction. Mr. Manskey has discussed adding a tab for the downtown information and application to the website with Current Media. The application for façade and infrastructure grants has a new look. Mr. Manskey and Mrs. Jones have received applications for the downtown façade and infrastructure grants. Mr. Manskey stated that there is not a request on the budget for funds for the downtown façade and infrastructure. Mr. Russell stated that in a previous meeting the board had discussed conducting a survey of the properties in the downtown redevelopment zone that have received assistance and the properties that are still available. Mr. Manskey stated that there has been one meeting with city staff and another meeting will be scheduled in a couple of weeks. Downtown was one of the items discussed in the previous meeting. The next meeting will be to get more details on how to accomplish getting the information for a survey of properties. Mr. Boutin asked if in the Economic Development Proposal did Mr. Manskey budget to take over the responsibilities of the façade and infrastructure grants. Mr. Manskey stated that he did not budget for the management of façade and infrastructure grants. Mr. Manskey stated that he has a team member he would like to send through some training. The Texas Historical Commission handles this intensive training. Mr. Manskey stated he would like his team member to have a good working knowledge of how to improve downtown façade and infrastructure grants. Mr. Manskey stated a reasonable request for the first year would be $10,000 and to re-evaluate next year, most of the work would be processing the applications. Mr. Beckmeyer stated that approximately $60,000 in General Funds was budgeted last year and only a small portion of the $60,000 would have gone toward façade and infrastructure grants. Mr. Manskey reviewed the Economic Development staff roles. Ms. Valarie Leonard, Controller of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, was added to the staff this year because she dedicates 25% of her time to the Economic Development Department. Mr. Manskey reviewed the Economic Development Department budget line items. The total expense is down 3%. Workforce Programs decreased by 50%, and Postage Expense decreased by 40%. Auto Insurance increased 13.3%, Computer Services increased 18.6%, and Salaries and Wages are up 4.1%. Trade Shows are up 13.4%. Mr. Boutin wanted to know what the Site Selectors’ expense was for. Mr. Manskey stated that the department hosted the Team Texas Site Selectors in 2023 at $25,000. Site Selectors travel is paid for, and a social event is planned. Mr. Russell stated he would be comfortable adding the additional $10,000 to the budget for the downtown Odessa Façade and Infrastructure as a starting point. Mr. Harry had a question regarding Item 5000 – Chamber of Commerce and Item 5010 – Office Rent on the budget proposal. Mr. Manskey stated that Item 5000 – Chamber of Commerce is administrative cost. Ms. Leonard handles the EDC financials for Economic Development and lines up everything for the audit. Item 5010 – Office Rent is for rent and utilities. ODC Workshop Minutes August 01, 2024 Page 3 Discuss and review FY 24-25 Economic Development Marketing Proposal from Current Media. Mrs. Callicoatte reviewed the goals for the year. They are looking at external prospects, trying to bring businesses into the city and what they can do for local businesses. They want to increase awareness of workforce needs and solutions in the Permian Basin. Promoting ease of doing business Continue to deliver messaging to discuss the things that make doing business easy in Odessa. Current Media will target audiences: Site selectors and c-suite executives looking to build or expand, key decision makers and businesses in the five target industries and prospective local businesses and current business owners. New creative was established in 2024 that will extend into 2025 to address the local market as well as five target industries. They continue to work on the new ad campaign and continue to adapt and work on other tactics each month. Each ad campaign will carry the best media mix for the target audience selected and maximize exposure for every dollar spent to drive measurable results for each campaign. Mrs. Callicoatte discussed the Proposed Plan of Action and services for FY 2024-25. The request this year is approximately $20,000 less than last year but last year they had contingency built in that they didn’t not spend. The ODC website was recognized as one of the top 10 websites by Golden Shovel. The website has been great. They have redone the Target Industry section of the website. Digital and Traditional Targeting Tactics, most of the budget will continue to focus on finely targeted digital campaigns for each of the new target audiences. 2024 allowed Current Media to start a print ad campaign in several publications that also led to editorial content. They plan to continue the traditional tactics with these publications to further encourage articles as they have news to announce but at a lesser amount this year. They will also consider traditional tactics in the local market in 2024-25 to discuss more in depth what ODC can do for local businesses. Current Media will continue to focus much of their effort on social platforms. They are recommending additional budget to fully market the newly identified target industries. They continue to work with economic development on social media and monitoring. Current Media is recommending increasing monthly contingency to continue cultivating relationships both internally and with the trade publications. Video has performed extremely well in all digital campaigns. For this reason, they are requesting additional funding to update videos more frequently to keep content fresh and engaging. The total budget request FY24-25 is $728,700 vs. $748,000 from last year. Discuss and review FY 24-25 Economic Development Contractor Proposal from the Black Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Walker stated everything has stayed the same yet changed drastically. The purpose of the Black Chamber of Commerce is to serve as a vital link for the ODC aiming to bring in a fresh wave of businesses from communities lacking in financial knowledge and business training. The goal of the chamber is to conduct comprehensive workshops covering all aspects of starting a business. They are committed to providing support in planning, financing, training, and sustaining new or existing businesses seeking opportunities through proposals from the BCCPB or the ODC. They are getting out in the community to show what is available. They want to continue to be creative and productive. The Black Chamber membership has grown 17%. Mr. Boutin stated his perception is from an economic development perspective the most effective work the BCOC does is the work with the Small Business Development Center in referrals, counseling, and seminars. Mr. Walker agreed. Mr. Robinson wanted to know what Mr. Walker thought his biggest accomplishment was in both the chamber work and economic development. Mr. Walker stated the increase in membership and helping businesses. Ms. Hollmann thanked Mr. Walker for filling in the gap reaching businesses that are not the ODC’s traditional grantees and partnering with the SBDC. The total budget request FY24-25 is $50,000. ODC Workshop Minutes August 01, 2024 Page 4 Discuss and review FY 24-25 Economic Development Contractor Proposal from UTPB-America’s SBDC. Mr. Patton stated the proposal for FY24-25 is a little less than last year. The total budget request FY24-25 is $104,627. They are now receiving a stipend from the state for longevity pay. The budget requested is purely for salaries. They based 51% of two business consultants and the program coordinator. Capitalization has been tough, that is due to interest rates. In spite of the high interest rates, the number of clients increased year over year by 8% and number of counseling sessions increased by 31%. People are still taking advantage of the SBDC services. 69% of the clients come from underserved communities and that would be minority, veterans, and women owned businesses. The number of training events was up by five. SBDC’s focus for FY2024-25 in addition to “How to Start a Business”, “How to do a Business Plan”, etc. will be on financial literacy for business owners. Mr. Patton stated the UTPB America’s SBDC was awarded the SBDC Center of the Year for the second consecutive year. Discuss and review FY 24-25 Economic Development Contractor Proposal from MOTRAN. Mr. Beauchamp discussed MOTRAN’s proposal to the ODC Board. Since submitting the budget there are a couple of updates. This year there will be an additional $60 million dollars that comes into the Midland-Odessa area. There is an additional overpass in the area for Ector County which is an important step to the 87th and Loop 338 project. Slow but steady progress. The next couple of years look good, hopefully there will be additional state funding. One of the challenges is providing job data. The real success story on the job front is that because of sustained funding two companies are physically locating in the area because of the road projects for a lengthy period. Mr. Beauchamp stated what MOTRAN wants to accomplish is two-fold, first is to re-fund the county road grant program for energy impacted areas. That was last funded in 2020 of that $250 million, $150 million came to the Permian Basin. The second thing, MOTRAN has been working with DPS and they are staffed at approximately 24% of their capacity. DPS officers today can choose where they want to go. Mr. Beauchamp stated that currently the stipend for our area is $400, he would like to see that raised to $1,000. This is a statewide issue. The total budget request from MOTRAN for FY24-25 is unchanged at $142,500. Mr. Boutin discussed the $15 million the ODC committed to leveraging to accelerate projects. There is approximately $7 million committed to projects. Mr. Boutin wanted to know if there are projects that need to be identified to help accelerate the project at this point? Mr. Beauchamp stated most of the projects are on Loop 338 and those projects are moving along. There is roughly $4 million that is uncommitted. Mr. Beauchamp discussed possible overpasses and stated there is a lot of consensus on making strides on Loop 338. Mr. Beauchamp will bring a list of potential projects and present them at the next ODC Board meeting. Discuss and review FY 24-25 City Administrative Support Proposal. Ms. Banda stated there are no major changes to Administrative Support but did add a couple of things under the accounting piece. There is an 8% increase in the Administrative Fee. This is for staffing costs. Discuss and review FY 24-25 General Development Plan. Ms. Banda stated that she has updated the General Development Plan from last year and there are portions that are unchanged. Ms. Banda reviewed the 2023-2024 Strategic Planning Goals. Revisions, deletions and additions were requested by the ODC Board. Ms. Hollmann discussed adding to the goals, bi-annual or quarterly meetings increasing and fostering collaboration with City Staff, Council and ODC. Ms. Banda reviewed Target Industries of the General Development Plan discussing the 2017 Perryman Target Industry Analysis ODC Workshop Minutes August 01, 2024 Page 5 and the 2024 Golden Shovel Agency Target Industry Analysis. The ODC Board discussed the various industries identified in both studies. Mr. Boutin stated that the Perryman Study should be updated and check the cost associated with the study. Mr. Harry voiced concerns about renewable energy. He would like to see the medical side and all areas, not just renewables. Ms. Callicoatte stated the renewable energy is more on the manufacturing side. Mr. Boutin stated on page 6, Multi-Year Economic Development Agreement, Orrex Plastics Company, LLC shows the grant in the amount of $2.500,000 it should be $2,100.000. Ms. Banda will check on that grant amount. Ms. Banda reported remaining grants to be paid out is $32,131,234. The unreserved fund balance is approximately $53,280,000 to dedicate to future projects. Existing TXDOT Infrastructure Projects are $11.5 million, it was $15 million but $11.5 million has been dedicated to projects. The program still maintains an additional $3.5 million for allocation / authorization on other future projects pending approval of the ODC Board and Odessa City Council. Ms. Banda reviewed page 8, C. Odessa Development Corporation Infrastructure Program. Ms. Banda changed Downtown Odessa to Odessa Development Corporation Infrastructure Program. Ms. Banda wanted to know who the responsibility/management would lie with? Mr. Russell stated responsibilities will lie with the Economic Development Department. Mr. Boutin stated responsibility should be the Facade and Infrastructure grants only. ODC Board discussed changes to the application and the process with Ms. Banda and Mr. Manskey. Break 11:10 – 11:16 Discuss and consider ODC Proposals, contracts, budgets, operations, structure and/or organization of economic development. Ms. Banda provided/reviewed the FY 2024-25 Proposed Revenues and Expenditures Budget Summary. Total Revenues budgeted for FY 2024-25 is $12,650,000. Audit & Compliance Services increased from $69,000 FY 2023-24 to $108,075. Anticipating cost for the new auditor. Administrative Fee is up 8%. Ms. Banda is getting information on the Insurance line item for specific details on what the $19,000 budgeted covers. Ms. Banda discussed the Contracted Economic Development Services. She moved the Black Chamber up from the promotional section. $10,000 will be added to the Odessa Chamber of Commerce contract services for the Façade and Infrastructure program. The Promotional Marketing budget will be $20,250 less than last year. $32,128,849 will be the budget available for new incentives. Changes will be made to the Business Incentives and Infrastructure Grants. Walkamin Trading Co. and ICA will be moved from Business Incentives to Infrastructure Grants. Ms. Banda will add an additional line item for Capital Projects so you can see the breakout of capital and downtown. Total Expenditures are projected to be $53,088,028. The ending fund balance will be $49,147,873. Ms. Banda will adjust the FY 2024-25 Proposed Revenues and Expenditures Budget Summary. Motion was made by Mr. Harry and seconded by Dr. Kirk to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved by unanimous vote. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m. ODC Workshop Minutes August 01, 2024 Page 6 PREPARED BY: APPROVED: Kathi Vaughn James Kirk Economic Development Specialist President ATTEST: Norma Aguilar, TRMC, CMC City Secretary