How to fill the secretary position continued to be a topic of discussion for the Jefferson Economic Development Corporation at Monday nights special meeting.
The Board ultimately decided to elect the position of Secretary as per their bylaws, but will also consider budgeting to hire a secretary during their new budget year. They may approve the expenditure earlier and then do a budget amendment to fund the position.
“The position needs to be filled,” said Richard Sanders, “independent of the clerical duties.”
Board president Bubba Haggard indicated he would like to have a person who can “help me and any other board member” with getting things ready for the meetings. Haggard indicated he had discussed the issue with Elaine Altman, a Jefferson resident, about possibly her taking the position. He indicated she would be paid around $25 an hour for 3-4 hours per month. Her duties would include attending the meetings, taking notes, typing up those notes, and then assisting with any other things the board members might need help accomplishing.
The Board voted to go forward with hiring someone in a secretarial position to assist the Board Secretary. They did not indicate if they were going to post the position, or how they would take applications.
Haggard updated the Board on the Queen Wood project from last week’s meeting, saying he’d had Jamey Parsons do some title search on the property and that there is a TNT Tank Car lawsuit settlement requirement that JEDCO provide TNT with an easement to their property.
Queen Wood indicated they did not see anything that couldn’t be worked out regarding continuing to offer TNT a road easement. Queen Wood also indicated they had not formalized a project proposal at this time, but had brought it up to JEDCO to see if there was any general interest. They said they would provide a package when they were ready to start moving forward.
Strategic Planning again dominated the evenings discussions as Board members worked through concerns with the proposed Texas A&M Contract.
Newly appointed Board member Lynn Daughrity indicated he was concerned that there were no clearly defined deliverables in the contract.
Haggard told the Board that Pinky Palmer, the JEDCO attorney, had reviewed the contract and also had concerns. Haggard did not elaborate on Palmer’s concerns.
Daughrity said he’d like this to be reviewed again before moving forward, and that information on Palmer’s concerns could be brought to the Board, as well as a more clearly defined set of deliverables and timelines.
JEDCO will meet again at 5:30 p.m. August 16 to have more discussion on the strategic plan and their 2021 budget proposal.