V. Hugh Lewis II/Jefferson Jimplecute
The Jefferson Economic Development Corporation decided to only partially commit to funding a new tourism and history attraction, proposed by Bob Thomas for the Jefferson Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau, and indicated other entities and individuals should pay for the project.
“Have any of [the other organizations] been approached first or agreed to fund any of this first, it would be different,” said JEDCO Treasurer Doug Thompson. “JEDCO has usually been the last one of recourse for funds as other organizations are pulled in first. I’m curious if the Historic Jefferson Foundation, the library, or any individuals, have been approached, or could be approached, for funding, so that this is a citywide project, not just one entity.”
Thomas indicated various entities have been approached and are interested in the project, but none have committed to helping fund it at this time.
“I don’t want to have a lot of people invest a lot of time and energy into this, just for you to say ‘no, we’re not funding it’,” said Thomas.
The project is to create a series of six “windows” to place at various locations around town. Each “window” would have an historic photograph of the location on etched glass, so when one looks through the “window” they would see what the location looked like in the past. Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park has a similar installation and is where Thomas got the idea for them being in Jefferson.
“This would bring a location back to life so people can see it as it was,” said Thomas. “I’m proposing six units for a total of $30,000 to cover cost of the units, delivery, and installation.”
“Since you first proposed this, we’ve gotten calls for funding new city signs, and 4-5 other projects as well,” said Thompson. “So, I’m wondering if, to the board, this is not a project for the community development deal with Robin [Moore]. Would this be the lead horse in this project?”
JEDCO Vice President and Secretary Raymond Sanders offered the opposite viewpoint.
“There has to be some way of starting a project,” he said. “My though was that we would be the body to underwrite it, while still trying to get funding elsewhere. Someone has to underwrite it to start with. Someone has to start with the ability to say it is underwritten and see where it goes from there. We need to make a commitment to get things moving forward.”
Sanders motioned for JEDCO to underwrite $10,000 of the project. Thompson requested amending the motion to add “upon approval of the City for the locations, liability, insurance, maintenance, and that additional funding would be sought.” He also requested changing from $10,000 to 1/3 of the project costs. Sanders accepted the amendment. The board approved it 5-0-1 with Lynn Daughrity abstaining.
In other business, the JEDCO board decided to wait on any further pursual of acquiring struck-off property for development until after the February tax sale; Thompson was tasked with investigating options on moving a portion of JEDCO’s $1,191,306.89 fund balances into TexPool to provide the funds with some form of security in case of bank failure; and agreed to work with Queen Wood Products and JEDCO attorney Pinky Palmer to produce a contract similar to the original Queen Wood contract for the acquisition of the remainder of JEDCO’s property on Old Colony Road.
Thompson also indicated that JEDCO had not received any of their revenue for the last two months as the City was without a Secretary. City Administrator Eric Kuykendall said they should receive their funds shortly, as there was also an issue from the Texas Comptroller’s office about overpayments to the City.
In material distributed to the Board, but not discussed, was a letter from the Comptroller indicating “on numerous occasions, we emailed you notice with instructions to file the Economic Development Corporation Report form for fiscal 2020. As required by the Development Corporation Act, you were instructed to report your survey responses of revenue and expenditure information to our office by April 1, 2021. Our records indicate that we have not received your report. As of today, the report is delinquent.” Board President Bubba Haggard, told the Jimplecute after the meeting that the issue had been taken care of.
The Jimplecute also requested JEDCO resume posting notice of their meeting on the City’s website, and provided them with the State Statute and information from TML indicating their requirement to do so. Haggard did not indicate if the posting would resume.
The next JEDCO meeting is December 14.