By GARY KENT

Bee-Picayune staff

Bee Development Authority board members voted unanimously last week to provide $20,000 to help fund the continuing operation of the Beeville Main Street Program.

Main Street Program Manager Molly Young made the request as Beeville Economic Improvement Corporation Board President Jim Crumrine sat nearby to provide support for the request.

Young explained that the state participation of the three-year program would be coming to an end this year but that the operation could continue serving the downtown Beeville area if local funds are used to support the program.

She said plans are to have the $72,500 budget paid by donations of $20,000 from the EIC, the BDA and the city’s Tax Increment Finance District’s funds. She said she would be asking the City of Beeville to provide another $12,500 from its hotel-motel occupancy tax funds.

When BDA Board President Laura Fischer asked Crumrine to explain why it was that the EIC had budgeted $40,000 for the Main Street operation, Crumrine said the minutes of that meeting had been inaccurate. He said the board had intended to budget $20,000 for staff training, travel and other expenses and $20,000 for Main Street salary purposes.

“The intent was for the additional $20,000 to go toward Ms. Young’s salary package,” Crumrine said.

Crumrine said EIC board members have been looking at the possibility of employing Young as a kind of liaison who could represent not only the EIC but other entities in the community as well, including the BDA.

When he was asked if Young’s expanded duties would include economic development, he said they would, to some extent. Crumrine said that in the event a major restaurant chain shows an interest in opening here Young could help coordinate the efforts of the EIC and the BDA in making the move more attractive to the company.

BDA board member Elias Chapa asked if it would be legal for the authority to contribute toward a position of that kind and Fischer pointed out that the question was a good one.

Fischer then asked if Young would have the authority to speak for the EIC and Crumrine said she would.

Board members then asked a number of questions concerning the breakdown of time Young would devote to Main Street activities and those of other entities.

Young explained that she would have to devote at least 51 percent of her time to Main Street business for the operation to maintain that name and the assistance of some state services.

Board member Duwayne Dumas said he would not be comfortable voting for the BDA to provide part of Young’s salary. But he saw no problem offering to pay for the general operation of the program.

As those at the meeting continued discussing the possible duties Young could take on and the association of the other entities with the program, some of those attending mentioned the possibility of creating an advisory board to oversee some of the responsibilities.

Montez pointed out that Young is an employee of the city and she answers to City Manager Ford Patton. That arrangement is necessary, Montez said, so that Young may have a benefits package.

Under the proposed arrangement, Young would continue to be considered an employee of the city.

As the discussion progressed, BDA board members discussed the possibility of assigning some duties to Young, considering duties like grant writing and others.

“We’re just looking for something to hang $20,000 on,” Fischer said at one point.

However, Dumas suggested that assigning BDA duties to Young would end up pulling her “in many ways. It will be an impossible work situation for her,” Dumas said.

Board member Tom Baynum agreed with Dumas, saying “we can do this without assigning duties.”

Baynum looked at a job description Young had provided for the board and said, “Instead of adding bullets I think we should subtract bullets.”

Crumrine, who said he had been working on the concept with fellow EIC board member Jessy T. Garza, said Baynum’s idea of the arrangement would fit closer to what the EIC board had in mind for the position.

When Fischer questioned the future relationship of the EIC, which has provided some important funding for BDA in the past, and the authority, Crumrine responded, “Laura, you’ve never asked us for any money that we haven’t given you.”

Crumrine then assured Fischer that the EIC would continue to provide funds for future BDA projects.

“We don’t want an adversarial relationship,” Crumrine said. He suggested that the position Young would hold would prevent that.

Baynum then asked why the BDA did not simply continue funding the Main Street Program, which the authority has done to the tune of $30,000 a year.

“That’s basically what they’re proposing,” Fischer said.

BDA board member Luis Alaniz also liked continuing what the authority had been doing for the past three years. He said that by proposing a list of new duties for Young, “everybody puts a nickle in it and wants a dime back out of it.”

Alaniz asked why the county would need two economic development entities. “Why not just all of us fund the Main Street Program like before?”

But Crumrine said the EIC needs someone to manage its new business improvement grant program and the reason Young was chosen to do that was because it is basically what she is already doing for businesses in the Main Street area.

“Why not fund her as 100 percent Main Street Program and allow her to coordinate work with other entities?” Montez suggested.

“The TIF is the backbone of the Main Street Program,” Montez said. “Without the TIF the Main Street Program would be just a name.”

BDA board members agreed and board member John Brockman made a motion to provide the $20,000 a year Young requested. However, since the program still has $7,500 in funds left from the last BDA contribution, Brockman moved to have $20,000 forwarded to the program this year and only $12,500 next year.