Board members Carlos Salazar Jr. and Jessy T. Garza will serve on the subcommittee with Alaniz.
Main Street Program Manager Michelle Wright asked for $20,000 to help fund the program’s $61,988 administrative budget for the coming year.
Wright began her request by citing a part of the 4B sales tax legislation that would allow the EIC to recommend that the City Council use a portion of its funds to help pay for administration.
However, Garza immediately questioned the request, telling Wright that she was using the wrong reference for the type of funding she was requesting.
Garza said Wright should ask for funding under the portion of the law that regulates the use of 4B sales tax funds for cities with populations under 20,000. That way, he said, there will be fewer legal restrictions on how the money can be used.
To request the money under the stipulation of the law Wright was citing, Garza said, the program would have to create primary jobs.
“You will never create a primary job,” Garza told Wright.
Garza also pointed out that Wright had not brought a formal application to the EIC board. He said Wright was not requesting money to fund a specific project. “She’s requesting assistance for funding the program,” he said.
Earlier in the meeting, Garza heard comments from Main Street Advisory Board members Gilbert Herrera, Debby Park and Mary Aman as they spoke in favor of the request.
“If we let this thing go away, it’s going to hurt us economically,” Herrera said of the program. He told Garza and other board members that the facade improvements partially funded by the program had helped several downtown businesses boost their sales. He said his own business, Total Graphics, has seen a 30 percent growth in each of the past three years and the facade improvements he made on his business brought considerably more customers into the building.
Garza said he could support using 4B sales tax funds to finance facade improvements.
“I’ve asked Michelle to develop projects that the EIC can help fund,” Garza said.
“What I do not want to do is simply put out money,” he said. He said that the EIC had lost $200,000 of its funds last year after an election in which voters authorized using a portion of the 4B sales tax funds to maintain city streets.
“So we have to be careful how we spend our money. I can’t speak for the rest of the board,” Garza said. “I’m against simply putting out money where we don’t see a result.”
“If we had that extra $200,000, perhaps we could be more generous,” Garza said. He told fellow board members that the EIC needs to support projects “where we get the most bang for our dollars.”
“Have you ever been to Goliad?” Mrs. Park asked as she spoke in favor of the Main Street operation. She reminded the board that Main Street gives cities access to state architects who can help restore old buildings to more closely resemble their original and historical appearance.
She said other Texas cities, like Georgetown and Llano, have used Main Street Programs to restore their downtown areas and bring in more visitors and more business.
“Do you have a master plan?” Garza asked Wright.
“We have a plan,” Wright said.
Montez then told Garza that the city does have a formal master plan that was prepared in 1989 by Duncan & Associates of Dallas.
Montez then explained some of the other funding options the program has available this year. But he assured the EIC board that Main Street does need the $20,000 it is requesting from 4B sales taxes.
“The City Council is very much behind this program, as am I,” Montez said. “Downtown businesses need all the help they can get.”
When Garza reminded Montez that the EIC had never before voted to fund Main Street, Montez said, “Well, now you have an opportunity to do it.”
Aman then told the board that someone needs to work to fill the empty buildings downtown. “She’s only been here three weeks,” Aman said of Wright. “I think she’s done a heck of a job in three weeks.”
“I’d like to support it,” Garza said as the discussion drew to a close. “Our problem is to figure out how to get it done.”
Board member Carlos Salazar Jr. then said the board needed to appoint a subcommittee to find out how that would be possible and make a recommendation to the complete board at a later meeting.
Both Garza and Salazar said they were committed to finding a way to provide the funds.
“This program is extremely important and it needs to continue,” Montez said.
Alaniz responded by appointing the two men to work with him on a subcommittee.
“We’re going to make it work,” Garza said.
In other business Tuesday, the Beeville Economic Improvement Board or Directors met and voted to:
— Appoint a committee to study a request from Ron Stasny to fund a $10,000 wastewater line extension to property he owns in the 2500 block of North St. Mary’s St. A potential buyer of that property has expressed interest in spending $1.2 million developing that property if wastewater service can be provided to the property.
— Approve a job description for an administrative assistant for the EIC and to put Alaniz in charge of finding a candidate for the position.
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