Let’s take a trip down memory lane (EDC back ‘n forth)

Curmudgeon is watching the waves of change rock the city’s boat to another side now.

The Copperas Cove city council, led by councilman Charlie Youngs, is going to talk on Wednesday about moving the EDC employees out from under the city manager’s control – or, out from under the city – depending on how you phrase it.

Good thing? Bad thing? It all depends.

Mr. Youngs suggested people view the September 2016 city council meeting video when the final decisions were made. Actually, I agree.

I checked out the video on August 16, 2016 instead when the council voted to move the EDC employees under the city manager’s supervision and control.

Control is a bad word and a good word, Curmudgeon sez, depending on how you look at it. Anyhoo, let’s slip back in time to August 16, 2016, when the council voted un-unanimously to do this. The September meeting was when they approved the transition plan that was suggested by the city attorney during the August 16 meeting.

Former councilman Matthew Russell led the charge to move these employees under the city manager supervision, with part of the reasoning so the city could move forward. Councilman George Duncan agreed that everything would remain “exactly the same, with the exception of where the employees fall and that ‘we” need a bit more unified command and control.

Mr. Russell claimed the council had asked the EDC to present projects to them, but those were never seen and he did not think the EDC as it was operating had the city’s best interest in mind. He also said the EDC had asked the council to prioritize projects and when the council did, the EDC balked, and gave the council a “stab in the back” with the EDC asking the council if it was trying to “run the EDC.”

One thing that made me sit up and take notice during that August 16 meeting was when Mr. Russell said every year the EDC has $200,000 to $250,000 in EXCESS it doesn’t spend EVERY YEAR. 

The way the EDC is structured as it was at its creation – a 4A EDC – it can’t just spend money on whatever projects it wants, dear readers. (They ain’t gonna go out and bring us a steakhouse. Sorry.)

Mr. Russell asked why the EDC didn’t help the city with projects every year? Even if the EDC wanted to, it would have to put those projects to the voters at the November election, as required by law.

Curmudgeon here: WELL, WHY NOT? Let’s ask the voters if we would like to see Constitution Drive repaved. Yes, indeed!! What about other areas in the city that need improvement? What about investing money into our former city hall property that has another retro rusty tin can from the 70’s on it that has been vacant for SIX YEARS now?

YES, MR. RUSSELL – let’s put some of that EDC money to good use in a permissible way. Put it to the voters. So why didn’t ANYONE on the existing EDC board propose this?

Mr. Russell said the former EDC director had been asked to sit down with the city manager and discuss things, but it never happened.

Councilman David Morris was in favor, he said, of bringing the employees under the city manager for more accountability. He gave the example of a letter from the Texas Comptroller’s office that stated the EDC’s annual report for fiscal year 2014 had not been filed (as required by law). If brought closer to the city, Mr. Morris said they could make sure reporting is done completely and accurately.

Make sense to me. Is that a drastic move? Maybe. But why was an annual report not filed? Isn’t that basic paperwork?

Mr Morris later said he didn't think the EDC employees becoming city employees would keep them from doing their jobs.

Dear city council, whether you move the employees out from under the city manager or leave them there, you need to take a hard look at why our EDC has been “stuck” at a standstill.

OH, wait a second! Not quite a standstill - there have been TWO performance agreements for businesses that have approached the EDC. Stuck? Standstill? So, somehow, being UNDER the city, we have a little 'spark' of economic development and action by the EDC??!! Wow.

Dear city council, you are making more of this “control” issue than there needs to be made. No matter who you are "under", you still need to get your job done.

Okie-doke, back to the meeting on August 16. Marc Payne, who was on the EDC board back then, said he believed the EDC wanted to be as transparent as possible and that they could have a meeting at any time and all they had to do was call it. He worried if employees would be gotten rid of, and he also claimed the EDC was “bringing in business.” (Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything when I heard him say that – it would have shot out my nose!)

The EDC hasn’t “brought” any business in during that time period.

Mr. Payne also didn’t think the EDC should spend that $250,000 annually just because it had the money because what if something “big” came up and they needed at least $500,000.

SO, MR. PAYNE, WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS YOU DON’T EVEN WANT TO ASK THE VOTERS IF THERE IS A PERMISSIBLE PROJECT WE COULD APPROVE?

Curmudgeon sez: TALK LIKE THE ABOVE IS NOTHING SHORT OF GOOD OLD BOY-ISM. LET’S CONTROL THINGS AND “SCREW ASKING THE VOTERS.”

It’s about control, y’all – yes, most definitely is. The GOBC (Good Old Boys Club) is doing the VERY thing they balked and bucked at the city manager for supposedly doing. KEEPING CONTROL AWAY FROM THE VOTERS.

Yes, and that November 2016, the VOTERS OF COPPERAS COVE de-funded the EDC by 25% of its funding. The EDC has not crumbled for lack of that 25% funding and still has a VERY HEALTHY budget with a strong lack of direction to get anything done.

HOW YA LIKE THEM APPLES? 

Mr. Youngs, Mr. Payne, Mr. Yancey, and Mr. Manning, trailing along in the GOBC, we VOTERS would like something done and it might not coincide with what YOU want.

Soooooo, at that August 16 meeting, after Mr. Payne was done, EDC board chair Bradi Diaz hopped up to the podium and blasted the council. She was not happy and shared how offended she was.

“Disgusted.” She said the EDC had done nothing but try to work with the council.

(IF SO, WHERE WERE POSSIBLE PROJECTS THE EDC COULD PUT TO VOTERS AS MR. RUSSELL TALKED ABOUT? WAS IT BECAUSE NOBODY ON THE EDC BOARD OR STAFF WANTED TO DO THEM?)

Buddy, I've been here longer than you have!

She said the board had been called “shady” and she had been called a “thief” and the EDC had been transparent.

Oh, I AGREE with her that the EDC has been transparent. Y’all don’t fall out of your chairs at once. 

I do agree. The financial reports and numbers are all there. BUT why didn’t the EDC move at council’s direction with putting permissible projects to the voters? Why not? Why ignore that request?

But then we saw the heart of her offense and this is something that ALL Y’ALL should pay notice to.

This comes directly from that meeting:

Ms. Diaz said: “With all due respect, Matt, I don’t know how you can talk about 10 years with the city of Copperas Cove. I don’t know if you’ve even been here for 10 years for the city of Copperas Cove.  I’ve been here 47 and I’ve been volunteering for 20 consecutively.”

Sooooo, again, basically she said Mr. Russell hasn’t been here long enough so he doesn’t care about Copperas Cove like she does. I’ll give her that. Someone could care about their hometown more than a transplant.

But it also smacks of GOBC. She’s a DEWALD. 

It sounds as though she believes because Mr. Russell hasn’t been here long enough (for her?), he can’t make good decisions and he’s not a bleeding heart where the EDC etc. are concerned. 

What is the requirement to be in the Good Old Boys Club? 

15 years? 20? 25? Do you marry into it? 

So are some voters’ and citizens’ opinions WORTH more than others, based on their longevity in the community?

Curmudgeon is predicting that if the EDC employees do NOT come out from under the city, which they probably will and we will WASTE more money by doing this, Ms. DEWALD Diaz will break her promise about not volunteering and run for city council.  

Then we could have THREE former EDC board members – oh wait, FOUR – on the council come January who will continue running things as they see, and not as the VOTERS see.

Back in 2016, the other individual besides councilman Dan Yancey who voted against the change was councilman James Pierce Jr. he said he believes government and business should be separate as much as possible. He didn’t see how the EDC employees being city employees would bring transparency.

Mr. Pierce said he didn't think making the EDC employees city employees would cause more transparency.: “I fully understand that they need to be autonomous in attracting businesses for the city. One of the things I ran on, we need to bring more effective business, better paying jobs to this area so we are not squandered and sat on by other entities on the other side of the bypass. We need to make ourselves successful. I really believe we need to have some separation and not making them government employees . They should stay autonomous with what they’re doing.”

Okay, I’m done. This is way too long. But I was listening to Mr. Youngs.  

HOT for HOTDA?

Hot for HOTDA?

Curmudgeon’s got a fever, and is simply so hot for HOTDA, the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance.

Just kidding.

Today, I’m goin’ with HOTDA from the other night's Copperas Cove city council meeting because that’s been tumbling like rocks in my brain for a while.

Howdy, y'all! 

Curmudgeon’s inner jury is still out on the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance. Not hatin’, not lovin’, just wonderin’.

What in the world is HOTDA, dear readers?

Sad to say, garden-variety citizens don’t know, prob’ly don’t care. They're more upset over a Popeye's comin' to town.

Anyhoo, the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance is a tax-exempt 501c6, the services for which it is tax-exempt are, according to its 2016 Form 990 filed with the IRS, the “Promotion of Fort Hood, Texas”. 

HOTDA received $281,520 in contributions in 2016. Among those contributions are funds from various cities and counties in Central Texas, to include Copperas Cove. Those contributions are listed on the 990 form as “Government Grants.”

HOTDA spent $126,757 in salaries for 2016. The main salary is for its executive director, at that time Kenneth Cox, a retired colonel, who was paid $101,000 for that full-time position. His salary is included in the “compensation of current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees” on the form.

Its non-interest-bearing cash was $170,626, and savings and temporary cash investments at the end of 2016 were $478,869.

HOTDA has a board of 13. In 2016, that board included individuals from various cities, which has included in the past Bradi Diaz (also a former EDC board chair) from Copperas Cove. Right now the rep from Copperas Cove is Mr. Clyde Glosson, a former Fort Hood garrison commander.

HOTDA has been around since 2003 when there was “an expressed need by the communities of Central Texas most effected by the activities of Ft. Hood. When HOTDA was first created, the City of Copperas Cove was the paying member. The second year of membership the City and Copperas Cove EDC shared the membership responsibilities equally. The third year of membership, the City Manager of that time requested the CCEDC Executive Director of that time to assume 100% responsibility for the payment of the membership fees.” (This quoted info comes from a March 2015 city council agenda when the council was requested to nominate someone locally to be on the HOTDA board)

Curmudgeon is done with the Cliff’s notes on HOTDA.

So, the hundreds of thousands of dollars question is  – what does the City of Copperas Cove – or The Copperas Cove EDC, depending on the budgets – pay to “belong” to HOTDA?

Or, how much are “they” spending OUR money to receive whatever benefit HOTDA brings to us?

It’s not a members’-only club, not like the Copperas Cove Camber of Commerce, but all you’ll hear from those HOT FOR HOTDA is the “benefit” the region receives from HOTDA.

Right now, to give HOTDA some credit, “they” are “in” on the talks for a future land swap between Copperas Cove and Fort Hood. This land swap would get the city a triangle of acreage between Business 190 and State Highway 9 that the city could use for development – as in, commercial development. But so is/was our city manager. Our Congressman is in on the talks, too! He already introduced a bill to make it happen. 

[CURMUDGEON ASIDE: This isn’t a bad idea. But, right now, we have The Narrows, which is owend by the EDC and that’s been available for THREE YEARS and only has one taker so far. AND then, there’s the property beside Cinergy that’s owned by the enigmatic Copperas Cove Industrial Foundation – not public but private, and they only have ONE piece of that property developed. Oops, a bunny trail. There are also four more pad sites still undeveloped by Endeavor Real Estate that owns the shopping center.|

Lemme get back to HOTDA and what it has cost the EDC and city.

The Copperas Cove EDC in the past paid $50,000 annually to HOTDA.

The EDC paid $50,000 in 2013, 2014, 2015 then dropped to $17,000 after city councilmember Matthew Russell made the question – what are we getting in “bang for our buck” for that $50,000 grand annually?

Mr. Russell pissed a lot of people off by questioning the annual expense and contribution by the EDC. More than $200,000 of our money, collectively, over the years. (That amount was eventually slashed to $17,000 (same as Harker Heights), then cut to $5,630). Tuesday night, the council bumped that back to $17,000.

50-grand of OUR sales tax dollars every year.

Did you know, dear reader, that the EDC is funded by our sales tax dollars? More than $1 million every year? 50-grand compared to a million isn’t much, but –

WHAT DO WE ‘GET’ FOR THAT?

And, Fort Hood isn’t going anywhere. Not sure why HOTDA thinks it needs promoting.

The idea of the EDC and groups like HOTDA is to spur economic development and help our area. I totally get that.

But what do we AS A CITY all together, get for funding HOTDA?

[ANOTHER ASIDE HERE: We (via HOTDA) aren’t really helping Fort Hood. Fort Hood doesn’t care as much about the area’s economic development as much as we think they do.

If they did, why would Fort Hood have built a $47 million PX that it opened in 2015 to encourage service members to stay on post and shop tax-free, instead of shopping off post “on the economy” which would boost local sales tax coffers? 

See this 2015 news article on that grand opening: http://kdhnews.com/business/grand-opening-thousands-flock-to-fort-hood-s-new-px/article_1b30e780-68ac-11e5-83cf-33d7c6124922.html

Fort Hood is constantly building new things/retail experiences for its soldiers and their families, which is great for them. But doesn’t help our local economy much.]

Councilman Dapper-Dan Yancey (Sorry, snark leak - but those TIES! And he’s so dang polished/smooth) made his case for HOTDA the other evening at the council meeting, because he LOVES HOTDA. A lot.

He even showed the payments by the numbers, what other cities etc. “pay” to HOTDA:

Killeen $109,000

Harker Heights $17,000

Copperas Cove $17,000 (requested – Currently $5,630 approved per City of CC budget)

Temple $12,000

Bell County $12,000

Belton $5,630

Coryell County $5,630

Gatesville $5,630

Lampasas $5,630

Lampasas County $5,630

TOTAL $195,150

Curmudgeon here again:

I think we get maybe a little benefit from HOTDA, but because Mr. Russell dared question the EDC budget and Mr. Yancey in 2015 (Mr. Yancey, as you ought to know is the former EDC chair who signed off on these agreements repeatedly), Mr. Yancey took it as a personal offense that someone would question his judgment. As did others.

Don’t forget Ms. Bradi Diazs' blasting the council during another “attack” on the EDC not long after that questioning of the EDC’s spending.

They believe HOTDA is golden and worth every penny, even if it’s 50-grand and what we “get” hasn’t changed even if we spend less.

Mr. Yancey tried to make the case Tuesday night that it was “right” to pay what was “proportionately correct” compared to other cities. As in, because Copperas Cove is closer to Fort Hood, we would see more impact or benefit. 

But funny thing, he has never mentioned being proportionally correct in all the previous discussions about HOTDA, when it was questioned by Mr. Russell WHY Copperas Cove was spending $50,000 and Heights was only spending $17,000.

Things that make ya go hmmm……

Thanks for reading and stickin’ with me. Money talk can be “boring” but in this case it’s vital to look at motives and people’s connections to groups and past track records. 

On a graver note, some could even speculate HOTDA decided to pay its director a six-figure salary just to help a retired army officer pal during his retirement and let’s call it a nonprofit. 

Why so pricey? Why not do something just to be helpful and let’s cover their expenses and a stipend for their time, each trip to D.C. or wherever? Is it an Army-pal cash cow? Yikes! Wouldn't wanna think so.

HOT for HOTDA?

Nah, Curmudgeon believes some of this comes down to a matter of personal pride, y’all, that this clash in the council and EDC even took place to begin with. All because of questions by one of our own elected officials.

Question. Read. Look things up.

Peace, love, and bunnies , y’all!

Déjà vu all over again (CCEDC)

More about Tuesday night’s upcoming Copperas Cove city council meeting, where the EDC is concerned. In case you missed the first deja vu, it's here.

Curmudgeon will refrain from making any more predictions this time around, as one has already come true – that the council (via Charlie Youngs) will talk about “bringing the EDC out from under the city.”

Let’s just hash over the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation goings-on, especially where the next Copperas Cove city council meeting is concerned.

TWO – count ‘em – TWO performance agreements between the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation and businesses are to be discussed and possibly voted on by the council tonight.

Behind closed doors, they’ll have a chit-chat before they decide what to do about these agreements.

The EDC board already gave its stamp of approval for them.

The deets on the first agreement, as outlined in the city council agenda:

A business in Cove is expanding. They requested $300,000 initially from the EDC. Welp, the EDC board approved a performance agreement for $50,000. Which will be paid in two yearly payments. The business must create at least 15 full-time equivalent jobs and meet a bunch of other criteria. Looks like the money is to help with infrastructure at the construction site. The business will spend $940,000 on their facility (which I believe is currently under construction).

Deets on the second agreement:

This is another infrastructure assistance agreement, for $75,000 to a business that will spend about $2 million altogether to build a facility in Copperas Cove, and part of those requirements is to create and maintain at least 20 full-time equivalent jobs for each year of the agreement.  This company requested $75,000 and is getting it.

Does anyone see this?

Do the math. Almost $3 million in new/expanded business in our city, with the help of the EDC.

THREE MILLION DOLLARS. 

This is the most action the EDC has taken with providing tangible financial assistance to businesses since before its former director Polo Enriquez left in 2015, and even earlier than that. It’s been years since they’ve done anything like this.

Since we’re talking EDC here, this is the same EDC that Councilman Charlie Youngs called INEFFECTIVE at the last meeting (Curmudgeon’s commentary: because of the actions of that mean ole prior collective city council whom Mr. Youngs is constantly swinging his axe at to get rid of).

This INEFFECTIVE economic development corporation still, somehow, has approved TWO performance agreements with TWO local businesses. Such a “disaster” as Mr. Youngs said the EDC has operated “under” the city.

(Sorry, snark leak. I really do try to watch those.)

But, Curmudgeon sez: Mr. Youngs, you can’t have it both ways – how can the EDC have been entirely ineffective, a "DISASTER", under the city if these latest developments have resulted, which are relatively NEW prospects?

Things that make Curmudgeon go hmmmm….

OH, and look at another item on the agenda – the EDC is bringing a request to approve a bid from TTG Utilities to clear/grub The Narrows Business & Technology Park. This clearing is one of the goals that was set by a previous interim director, and I bet prior EDC exec director Mr. Marc Salesman Farmer would approve of this move, too!

But yes, the EDC is soooo, soooo ineffective at the moment. (Darn, ‘nother snark leak. Sorry.)

Y’all, hold onto your armrests for this next one, but I don’t totally DISagree with Mr. Youngs. Our EDC could have done more in the past couple of years.

PART of the problem has been a passive-aggressive and also new board, with most of the current new members an exception to the passive-aggresive part. The EDC has had NO marketing plan, save a website. As if companies are going to randomly visit a website and see what a swell place Copperas Cove is to do business.

(Ah, it could happen, just like Curmudgeon could win the lottery.)

The entire perceived fiasco by some of the EDC “LOSING” its building (as Mr. Youngs put it) had NOTHING to do with a building somehow being transported off its  foundation overnight and leaving a slab behind, but more to do with a board to not collectively voice its wishes. They could have said NO to the proposal before it went so far, but no one did until the 11th hour during which they speculated if they could have gotten more money from the county for the building.

Ah, there I go rabbit-trailing again.

Peace, love, and bunnies, y’all.

It’s going to be quite a meeting.

Curmudgeon out.