& T X "e : LIBERTY HILLEDC OwN N BIO LIBERTY HILL EDC BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES Thursday, March 13, 2025 5:00 PM Municipal Courtroom / City Council Chamber 2801 Ranch Road 1869, Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Board of Directors present: Amy Gandy, President Branden Maiorano, Vice President Mark Hutton Daniel Duckworth Ashley Vaughan, Secretary Robert Baughn Board Directors Absent: Tiffany Stillwell City Staff: Christian Kurtz, Exec. Director Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation Yvonne Castillo; Economic Development Project Manager Josh Armstrong, Finance Director Elaine Simpson; City Secretary (Recording Secretary) 1. CALL TO ORDER President Gandy called the meeting to order at 5:01PM. Robert Baughn gave the invocation, and Amy Gandy led the pledge of allegiance to the US and Texas flags. 2) PUBLIC COMMENTS Public comments are welcome by the LHEDC Board. Individuals who wish to speak must complete a Public Comment Form and present the form to the City Secretary before the meeting is called to order. Individuals will be allowed to speak up to three (3) minutes. Public Comments related to posted agenda items may be submitted by email to sinpon@lhrhllgar before 3:00. PM the day oft the meeting. for comments to be read at the 5:00. PM meeting by the City Secretary No Comments. Liberty Hill EDC Meeting minutes March 13, 2025 Page 1 of 6 3) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S UPDATE Steve Schiff, Liberty Hill Chamber ofCommerce President, updated the Board on Chambers events. Steve reminded the Board of the Entrepreneur Showcase coming up in a few weeks on April 16th at 5:30 p.m. Steve informed the Board that the Chamber is up to 284 members. On March 26th at 10:00 a.m. there will be a ribbon cutting at Brad Morgan Insurance and the winner of the Mayor oft the Day will also be announced at the ribbon cutting. There will be another ribbon cutting the next day at 2:00 p.m. on March 27h at Impact Family. A Chamber Breakfast is scheduled for April 2nd at 8:30 a.m. at Smokey Mo's BBQ and the featured speaker is Mayor Crystal Mancilla. The Chamber Gala will be on Thursday, September 25th at 6:00 p.m., the location is to be determined, however the theme will be Savor the Night in Liberty Hill. Steve updated the Board on the information card the Chamber has been working on and will have a first draft coming soon. Christian Kurtz, EDC Director, informed the Board that Yvonne has received her certification from BREI (Business Retention Expansion Coordinator). Yvonne informed the Board what the course entailed. 4) REPORTS At this time, the Board of Directors will consider regular reports which do not require action. Regular Reports could be reports from the Cross-Committee Communications Group or the Liberty Hill Chamber ofCommerce. They may be written or presented at the meeting. a) Financial Reports. (J. Armstrong) Josh Armstrong, Finance Director, provided the Board with the Finançial Report. Josh informed the Board that the Budget process has started. Josh let the Board know that he would like to talk to them about what their budget priorities are at the April meeting. Director Gandy suggested having a sub- committee group again to work on the EDC budget. Josh suggested the EDC budget for a new 3 year strategic plan since they are in year 3 ofthe existing plan. 5) REGULAR AGENDA a) Discussion, consideration and possible action regarding the meeting minutes from the Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation (LHEDC) Regular Meeting on February 19, 2025. (A. Vaughan/R. Harness) MOTION: Motion by Director Duckworth, and seconded by Director Maiorano, to approve, as presented, the LHEDC Regular meeting minutes from February 19, 2025. Vote on the motion: 5 (Ayes), 0 (Nays), 1 (Abstain - Robert Baughn was absent from the February 19, 2025 meeting) Liberty Hill EDC Meeting minutes March 13, 2025 Page 2 of 6 b) Discussion, consideration, and possible action on Headwater and The Kim Group Professional Services Contract. (A. Gandy) Christian Kurtz, EDC Director, introduced the item and let the Board know that Nick and Katie were present to discuss this matter. Christian asked the Board if they had any changes or questions on the contract. Director Baughn had some clarifying questions and asked about the section on Real Estate Services and when they would visualize an actual Real Estate transaction? Katie responded that she doesn't visualize a Real Estate transaction, that the contract is just their template and pointed out where the contract says, "Please Initial Confirmation". Nick, with Headwater, informed the Board that there are some potential tenants that are interested in this project right now but are just waiting for the right time. Director Baughn asked if this agreement was in line with the 2-phase plan or are wes skipping ahead to building something. Nick responded that this was the phased plan. Director Gandy asked about the timeline. Katie responded that she had sent over a proposed timeframe of4-6 months. Nick informed the Board that he has his internal construction team looking at a general construction timeline. Director Vaughan asked if this contract would need Council approval and Christian responded "yes". Director Baughn asked about the section on Intellectual Property Rights and proposed that it should be 50/50. Nick responded that section was template language, and they can adjust it and asked Director Baughn to send the language he would like to see in that section. Director Baughn asked for clarification on compensation. Katie responded that the base part of the agreement is the retainer paid up front, the equity offering is an option to execute or not. Christian suggested they need to button up some of the language on page 1 and page 9 based on comments and then bring back for a motion. Director Baughn suggested a Motion to approve the proposal conditionally on altering the language to show joint ownership on the intellectual property rights and include 1-2 special exceptions that the vendor does not want joint ownership on. Christian suggested having a special called meeting in a week to approve the Contract in final form. The Board agreed to a special called EDC meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 27th to approve the Contract. Christian will also have EDC attorney Jeff review the Contract with the language changes. c) Discussion, consideration, and possible action on proposal for EDC retaining legal counsel. (C. Kurtz) Christian Kurtz, EDC Director, informed the Board that currently Jeff Moore is still the EDC attorney and on retainer. Christian has only received 1 submission for EDC attorney. Christian asked the Board if they would like for him to advertise this publicly SO they can get more responses. Christian informed the Board if they go that route he would need to create a matrix for scoring and would need a committee to assist with scoring. MOTION: Motion by Director Baughn, and seconded by Director Vaughan, to go publicly for an RFP for legal services. Vote on the motion: 6 (Ayes), 0 (Nays), 0 (Abstain). Liberty Hill EDC Meeting minutes March 13, 2025 Page 3 of 6 d) Discussion, consideration, and possible action on the Liberty Hill EDC Incentive Matrix. (A. Vaughan/A. Gandy) Christian Kurtz, EDC Director, wanted to bring this back from 2023. Christian went over the pros/cons ofthe matrix and suggested making the change to the second paragraph, last line that says, "under the City or ISD's purview" and recommends taking out the word "or ISD" because legally we cannot do that anymore. Under what are the job qualifications "create or maintain at least 20 full time equivalent jobs for the duration" Christian noted this language would exclude many small businesses. Christian suggested listing it as 5 or 8 full time equivalent jobs or strike all ofit. Director Baughn suggested the wording to read "number of full-time equivalent positions and salary". Christians last change he suggests is under the 3rd bullet "are there other requirements - firms with minimum credit of A", 9 this leaves out a lot of private and non-public companies out and would limit small businesses that can't get that. Director Baughn suggesting the following language "credit rating may be considered". e) Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding office maintenance for 806 Main Street. (Y. Castillo/C. Kurtz) Yvonne Castillo, Economic Development Program Manager, provided a Canva presentation of the trees that need to be trimmed at the EDC office. Yvonne suggests the removal of up to 10 hackberry trees or just trimmed down off the power line. The roots are damaging the concrete and fence line. MOTION: Motion by Director Baughn, and seconded by Director Maiorano, to approve the Certified Arbor Care proposal in the amount of $6,332.63 minus the sales tax in the amount of$ 482.63 for a total of $5,850.00. Vote on the motion: 6 (Ayes), 0 (Nays), 0 (Abstain). f) Discussion, consideration and possible action for Economic Development Corporation related to making recommendations, and to formulating questions for perspective new members, as discussed at January and February meetings. (E. Simpson) Elaine Simpson, City Secretary, asked the Board if their sub-committee had met on this matter. The Board agreed to move this item to the April meeting. Elaine Simpson read the TOMA exemptions into the record at 6:13 PM. Amy Gandy recessed the Open Session at 6:13 PM. Amy Gandy convened the Executive /Closed meeting at 6:17 PM Amy Gandy adjourned the Executive / Closed meeting at 6:59 PM. Amy Gandy reconvened the Open Session meeting at 7:02 PM. Liberty Hill EDC Meeting minutes March 13, 2025 Page 4 of 6 6) CONVENE TO EXECUTIVE SESSION The LHEDC Board President will convene the LHEDC Board to Executive Session/ Closed session pursuant to Texas Government Code $551.071 - (Consultation with Legal Counsel), Texas Government Code Section 551.072 (Discussion of Real Estate) and/or Texas Government Code Section 551.087 - (Economic Development Negotiations). No action will be taken in Executive Session. a) Pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.087 (Economic Development discussions) the LHEDC Board will meet in Executive/Closed Sessions to discuss Project Octane'. b) Deliberations in accordance with Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code to discuss the sale, purchase, or lease of real property. 7) RECONVENE TO REGULAR SESSION The LHEDC Board President will reconvene the Board to Regular Session/Open Session following Executive Sessions. Council will entertain discussion related to the matters outlined below, and take formal action resulting from Executive Sessions just held. a) Pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.087 (Economic Development discussions) the LHEDC Board will meet in Executive/Closed Sessions to discuss Project Octane'. b) Deliberations in accordance with Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code to discuss the sale, purchase, or lease of real property. Director Gandy announced No Action was taken in Executive Session. 8) Adjourn The next Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation Special meeting will be held on Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. The next Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation meeting will be held on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. With no further business on the agenda, and no objections from the Board, Amy Gandy adjourned the meeting at 7:02 PM. Liberty Hill EDC Meeting minutes March 13, 2025 Page 5 of 6 - 10H PASSED AND APPROVED on of April, 2025 by the Liberty Hill Economic Development Board of Director on vote of 5 AYES, 0 NAYS, and ABSTENTIONS. LHEDeT Board President / Presiding Officer 20 - TRene 21 - 0227 Board or City Secretary Liberty Hill EDC Meeting minutes March 13, 2025 Page 6 of 6