1996-01-15 PEARLAND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTESMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PEARLAND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION BOARD, OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND,
TEXAS, HELD MONDAY, JANUARY 15,
1996 AT 4:00 P.M., IN THE
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL,
3519 LIBERTY DRIVE, PEARLAND,
TEXAS.
The meeting was called to order at 4:02 p.m.
with the following present:
BOARD MEMBERS
Vice President
Tricia Holland
Secretary
Susan Lenamon
Board Member
Connie Beaumont
Board Member
Bob Lewis
Board Member
Bill Berger
Board Member
Stella Roberts
EX -OFFICIO BOARD MEMBERS
Tritech Regional Council
John Knox
Mayor
Tom Reid
STAFF MEMBERS
Executive Director
Jim Berry
Assistant Executive
Director
John Bowman
Marketing & Events
Coordinator
Terrie Morgan
Assistant City
Manager
Richard Burdine
Administrative Asst.
Perla N. Lehman
Strategic Planning Coordinator
Janet Berry
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Approval of December Regular Meeting Minutes - Secretary Susan Lenamon made
the motion, seconded by board member Bob Lewis to approve the minutes of the regular
meeting of December 7, 1995 as submitted.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
Approval of Public Hearing Minutes - Secretary Susan Lenamon made the motion,
seconded by board member Bob Lewis to approve the minutes of the Public Hearing of
December 12, 1995 as submitted.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
Approval of Special Meeting Minutes - Secretary Susan Lenamon made the motion,
seconded by board member Bob Lewis to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting of
December 12, 1995 as submitted.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
Board member Bill Berger reported he had participated in a dinner for a prospect hosted
by the PEDC. Mr. Berger stated that the company was very impressed and everyone had
had a great time.
Secretary Susan Lenamon -reported she had attended a meeting with Jim Berry, Terrie
Morgan, Billye Everett, and Jerry Richardson to discuss The Electronic Community
project and informed the board that a trip was planned to make a visit to Virginia in the
very near future regarding this project. She also added that everyone was very excited
about moving forward with this.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORTS
Assistant Executive Director John Bowman acknowledged guests attending the
meeting including representatives of a major prospect, Jim Huddleston, David Feller and
their architect Greg Stevens. Also introduced were Dudley Van Ness, a national
marketing manager for HL&P, Curtis Spencer from IMS Worldwide, Inc., Warren
Johnson with Glick & Glick, and David Miller of Prudential Allied.
Mr. Bowman reminded the board about The Industrial Brokers' Day scheduled for
February 29, 1996. The object of this event is to show Pearland as a place for industrial
prospects. He informed the board that 200 industrial brokers from the Houston area had
been invited to this event including some of the major brokerage firms from real estate that
focus on industrial sites and invited the board to get involved in this PEDC effort.
As a follow up to this effort, Mr. Bowman added, the PEDC will be a part of the
'Developers' Day" event scheduled for April 23, 1996 at Houston's J.W. Marriot from
4 to 8 p.m. and asked the board to let the PEDC staff know if they would like to attend so
more tickets can be acquired. This is an opportunity for developers to show off what
properties they have available so that when these brokers come they can view all these
differences of real estate available around Houston and for them to get to know us. This
is another chance for us to gain name recognition with all of these brokers. These brokers
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will be contacted again, given our booth number and asked to come by and see us. It's
another step to keep Pearland in their minds.
Executive Director Jim Berry reported the PEDC to be in negotiations with two major
prospects and informed the board that the PEDC would be asking for authority to make a
commitment to this industry in the future. He stated it was not in his opinion, in the best
interest of the city, to reveal the name of the company for publicity purposes while in
negotiations.
Mr. Berry informed the board of a planned Public Hearing for January 31, 1996. He
stated the PEDC needed to have Public Hearings to be able to approve the types of
incentives, guidelines, and types of things that would be provided as incentives to
companies and have the public completely aware of what they are doing. He said the
PEDC wants to inform the public and wanted the public's support and appreciation.
Mr. Berry reported on Prospect #32, a component manufacturer interested in building a
new facility in Pearland. He informed the board that the PEDC would either have a
special meeting or at the next board meeting, ask for the board's approval for an incentive
package for this new company.
Mr. Berry also mention a workshop scheduled to take place on March the 16, 1996,
reminding everyone that this workshop would have to be held in town because of legal
matters not permitting otherwise. The board informed Mr. Berry that this particular week
was the beginning of the school districts Spring Break and some board members would
not be in town.
Mr. Berry commented that the Freeport Tax Exemption presentation that the board was
about to hear was extremely important step in the PEDC's ability to attract industry. He
stated he had had calls from prospects asking him to write their name down and call them
when a Freeport Tax Exemption was approved.
PRESENTATIONS - Curtis Spencer of IMS Worldwide, Inc. did a slide presentation on
an analysis of The Freeport Tax Exemption as it applies to the city of Pearland and
presented three different logos drawn by a graphic artist for consideration as the official
PEDC logo.
Explaining the Freeport Tax Exemption law, Mr. Spencer said that the law states that the
goods that are transiting the state, staying for less than 175 days, are allowed an
exemption elected by each individual taxing district. Districts mentioned were county,
city, and school. The study focused only on the City of Pearland. On a conservative
case, the potential tax loss would be about $94,000, but past year one about 40% of the
way of year two, direct taxes, new sales taxes, and new property taxes start to recoup all
of the loss. By year three, we would have a solid net positive effect.
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Mr. Warren Johnson of Glick and Glick, after sharing some of his past experience with an
analysis such as this one, recommended a Freeport Tax Exemption and stated that it
would be helpful to have for competition purposes.
Adoption of Freeport Exemption - after discussion, board member Bill Berger made the
motion, seconded by board member Bob Lewis, that the PEDC recommend to the
Pearland City Council and the Pearland Independent School District to adopt a Freeport
Exemption for the City of Pearland and request that this item be placed on their agenda as
soon as possible
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
Adoption of PEDC logo - After discussion, Secretary Susan Lenamon made the motion
to adopt logo labeled #2, showing a pear connected to the letter L in the city's name of
Pearland with no separation in the city's name of Pearland and was seconded by board
member Stella Roberts.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
Incentives for Industrial Prospects - After discussion including comments from
representatives from Prospect #18, board member Bob Lewis made the motion, seconded
by secretary Susan Lenamon to authorize the PEDC staff to grant Prospect #18, $50,000
for water and sewer facilities and $20,000 for permit fees.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
Authorization for sponsorship - After discussion, board member Bob Lewis made the
motion, seconded by board member Bill Berger to authorize the PEDC staff to co-sponsor
the Pearland/Hobby Area Chamber of Commerce Pear Blossom Fest scheduled for April
14, 1996.
Motion Passed: 4 to 2
Abstaining were Vice President Tricia Holland and board member Connie Beaumont
Endorsement of PISD School Bond Issue - After discussion, board member Bob Lewis
made the motion, seconded by board member Stella Roberts to endorse the 1995-1996
Pearland Independent School District's School Bond issue.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
ADJOURNMENT
Secretary Susan Lenamon made the motion, seconded by board member Stella Roberts to
adjourn the meeting.
Motion Passed: 6 to 0
Adjourned: 5:18 p.m.
Minutes a proved as submitted and/or corrected this day of
A.D., 1996.
Frauenberger,
ATTEST:
4
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Perla N. Lehman, Administrative Assistant