Economic Development Board - Regular Meeting

I think you said earlier, I would just double click on for a second, is you made me think back to a few years ago when we kind of gathered input on what people wanted to see in COVID.

Yep. Yep.

There was a survey and then a few other, I think, informal mechanisms. As I think back to the businesses that we have seen come here, I think it aligns like pretty closely with some of the input we got. I mean, this is not scientific because I'm going off of memory, but they wanted more diverse types of cuisine. Yep. They wanted more experiential, like you said, establishments. And I look back and I'm looking at some of the ones we've seen. I mean, the joke was we have enough chicken places or whatever it was, which I love chicken. So I don't agree with that. I'll take as many

don't have enough

If you see something Nashville, we'll take Yeah. A look at that said, right, I look at the restaurants that have come in and it's been pretty diverse. There's a whole whole range of cuisines. The experiential thing, we've had retail stores that are now putt putt. We've done that. We've seen that development. So I think it's almost worth pausing and thinking about you know, how really aligned, the past several years of development have been to, what I think that, residents have expressed. And no reason to not think it will continue to be that way.

You know, that's an ideal observation and it has come with a lot of work. I know Mary and and staff, focused on those survey results Mhmm. To try to track that. And you guys just were at another show. We we want our staff to take that input from our community and and really search and try to attract those kind of things. And we've got more coming, more that are looking. But you're right. I mean, everything from Tejin to Soho, these are new experiences, hush, and another new concept coming from there. I feel I I I think you're exactly right. And I don't want us to sit on our laurels, but I think it's worth celebrating.

And I think it's it's worth maybe even putting something together to say Yeah. Do exactly what you're talking about. Show those those survey results and then say, here's what's happened since that survey is taken and and do a spotlight on that. I know I would like it because I I like the ability to share our story. And and when you're talking with other people or they say, you're on some board at Keller and you can yeah. I'm on the

economic development board. What is that about? Well, here's what it is.

And and I think it's a huge success story.

So thank And I it's not that easy. I know you were you were referencing compared to Grapevine. But Keller is, in some ways, a really tough spot with those surveys because we're in between two well, a couple of local municipalities that are packed with preexisting Like, I remember the one that comes up a lot, like Chipotle. We're never gonna I think the way they do their geographic area coverage, where there's one at the end of Keller Parkway there, Golden Triangle, then there's one at the other end. And they just ain't going to put one in between, right?

So we do have things we have to work around. And again, I do think one of those things was about big chains versus local restaurants and stuff like that. And that's another pattern that I think has been evident.

Mhmm.

And yeah. I mean, even even as hard as it is for us between places like Roanoke and Southlake and Fort Worth and Alliance and all that, you know, we found a found a niche.

I bet I will tell you that it it back going to my first year in 2017 because chicken row was the big topic Mhmm. In 2017 to the point to where counsel had decided we're not doing any more drive throughs in in Keller. And, of course, we kinda swung that back around. Let the pendulum go a little too far, I guess, in in one direction on that one. And it was the hot topic, but I I remember sitting down with Trina, and I had looked at the traffic studies.

And I said, we have a ton of people traveling through Keller. Mhmm. What we don't have is a ton of people stopping in Keller. They're going from there to Southlake and Grapevine. They're coming from there and going to Alliance, and we're not giving them a reason to stop here.

And I think now we have a lot of reasons to to stop here, and I just wanna make sure we're getting that word out. And that's I I think the next challenge for, this board is is to really drill into what's it gonna take to get Killer Known. I we we got notice or, some, accolades for being a foodie city, and, and we need to not just let that rest. We need to to maybe contact some of these publications, and and we were having this conversation, about what is it, and Ashley's a good one to chime in on this. What is it that causes people to notice something today?

You know, back in the day it would have been print advertising or television advertising or whatever. We have so many different forms of media that are going out there that we need to to kinda focus in on what can get the word out in calendar. What can get people to notice it? So that's just thought for the future. Alright. Anything else? Thanks for that input and for noticing that.

I guess one thing is, having lived in resort communities in the past, one observation about Keller Where'd

you live, by the way?

Custer, South Dakota.

Okay. Where, you

know, for more than three months out of the year, you know, you or or three months out of the year, you can make your money, but the other nine, you're just kind of

Sitting around wondering what's gonna happen. Yeah.

But, you know, it's just that when it hits, you're you're busy all summer long. Yeah. I mean, every every kid had a job. Every there was lots of hotels. Yeah. They shut down. But, you know, with Keller, we have a lot of folks that leave and then, you know, work somewhere else and they come back. But, you know, if we could sort of take that resort model and try to think about ways to just make make the weekends as productive as possible within our community and sort of lean into that because we're we're different than a lot of other communities and that we have lots of greenery. We've got lots of space, lots of nice big backyard. It's a it's a place that, you know, you you could actually attract people that want a whole different kind of experience on the weekends and just be kind of a different model.

Mhmm. We used to get a study. Do we still get that with, like, the the traffic the the the foot traffic and the car traffic and, the fly bys and the drones and all that? Do we still get that? It was, I think, an annual report from some

contractor company. Was that from Retail Coach that we got? Got it.

I'm gonna say, we're gonna look into that. We would traffic, could at one point, we're reading from a chamber. The phone, we would get as part of some of the events at times.

Mhmm.

But they've kinda my understanding, they've also kinda cracked down on

providing that information. Mhmm. They're not giving away as much for free as they used to.

Yeah. I can I can check with the retail coach?

I just wondered if it was still something you got that we could bring to the committee. If we're not getting any more, then that's the obviously different source

of I believe was retail coach. Mhmm.

And we we would get a they would come for a rep report every year and provide some of that stuff and feedback on Keller. I don't know. It's worth looking into, though.

But Yeah.

Reverse engineering some of that kind of thing for Keller is

a good idea. Think of, you know, we're we may be different than other communities, but that could end up being a strength if we, you know, find a way to leverage that and give people entertainment, weekend experiences, become a kind of a local destination, lean into that food experience, and give people interesting shops and things to

come. No.

I check it out.

I think different is always good when it comes to to attractions.

So Yeah. And that's one of the things we're hoping to do with with Bates Street when, you know, kinda like middle of the construction project with Elm right now, but the hope is to make you know, Bates tend to be a festival street. So let let people kinda rent that out is my mind, my thought, and let it have events on there. So we've not had an Oktoberfest, let a private entity throw an Oktoberfest there, bring that traffic in there, have a good time with that, those kind of things so that we're we're taking advantage of that. And when you have Elm completed, you'll be able to have a pretty significant event in that area. So Yeah. Bring that attraction and take advantage of that the the weekend space.

Well, with Elm being completion, it also, brings open the the land that we bought for additional parkland. So a lot of things come together when that gets completed. Yep.

I'm working on a couple initiatives for Old Town Keller and gathering some, different business owners. So I will have some more to share probably at the next meeting. But one of the things that we kinda kicked around was doing like a crawl, but it's something that's more of like almost like not where everyone starts in one place. There's like a map, but you start in one place to get the map, and then you have all the different spots and then all the businesses participating. They would have a specific, like, crawl menu.

So it's not necessarily that you get, like, a ticket and you get free like, you get drinks along the way. It's more so you can maybe get a ticket where you have a couple things, but then there's, like, these menus that are specifically for people on the crawl. It's a really interesting concept, some ideas that some of the people have. So I'll have more information about that, but we're looking at doing it on, like, either I don't know if quarterly is is definitely ambitious.

But

we're definitely looking at doing one in December. And kinda like how you guys do the the Santa run. There's someone that does a Santa run-in in I think it's Bear Creek, or it's like a five k or something like that. Yeah. So something like that.

It's a Santa Scurry.

Yeah. So something like themed for the holidays and then thinking about like different times of the year like the Oktoberfest is something a lot of people have been asking about and like there's no way we can do that quickly, but like we can totally shoot for December and so we're working on that project. So I will let you know, but between myself and someone else, they're very savvy with marketing and Internet, and that social media is my jam. So that's ultimately our goal is specifically to help Old Town Keller, especially while all the construction is going on. So we have a few initiatives that we're working on. So Okay. Wanna have that kind of find out. I would love to share.

That sounds awesome. I did like, there's a I'm sure a spectrum of how much you put into something like that versus how often you can do

it. Yeah.

I there was a obviously, some cities do an awesome job and invest in it, and it's like a big thing more than quarterly. Yeah. The town I grew up in in Ohio, it's about the size of Keller, and they needed a lot of attention on on downtown where, you know, there were businesses and a lot of people growing. So they just started so I think they called it first Fridays.

So it's like the first Friday of every month. They were just

but it wasn't like a you know, it wasn't like parades and special events. It was just like a branding thing almost. Right? There was a day that people would agree to go down there almost. Yeah. Yeah. And it didn't cost anyone anything other than some chamber marketing or something.

Yeah. I love that.

Versus like, you know, the Bates festival stuff that's gonna happen. It's gonna be special event kind of attraction things.

Yeah. Well, Bates too is like a good anchoring point. So Mhmm. Yeah. There's there's definitely a lot of opportunity as things progress, but I think even now there's things that we can do. So we're working on some of those ideas too and just getting rallying the other business owners to, you know, step in because we all have different skills. So, you know, right now, I'm working on a website for OTK specifically. And so that way, we could just like be able to showcase in one place. And so, yeah, that's kind of some of the ideas we're thinking about. But I think one thing that's really important is, like, we we always pull the community and ask them, you know, what they want.

And I think it's really important to for us to talk more with the business owners. And it is I think you mentioned last time tag, like, even just going and having, like, our little name tag and introducing ourselves and having conversation with people, I think it's it goes a long a really long way. Because I think at times, like, there are business owners that don't know anybody that works in the city or people that serve on boards. Even I, like, it does I don't think to ever mention it. And then in like, depending on the conversation, it might come up and they're like, oh, really?

I'm like, no. For three years. And so even me, I'm like, oh, I don't even, you know, go out thinking that because I'm thinking like Kickin Keller hat. But I think it's really important because when the business owners see that and they have such amazing stories and so the storytelling piece of it Mhmm. I think is really important. We started doing blogs with Kickin'n Keller and, like, connecting that story and sharing it through a blog. They get anywhere from 500 to a thousand hits and just, you know, the one time we share. And so that's all that's all, like and they're so grateful. We do it for free. We send them a questionnaire and then I format the blog based on the questions that they answered.

So it's not taking me, you know, a whole thing to sit down and and do myself. They're really answering a lot of this stuff. So if we if we create some kind of like system that allows them to, like, here, fill out this q and a

Mhmm.

And then we're gonna take this and we're gonna, like, get this out into the community. Yeah. I think sometimes people don't know that they can do that. Right. Or even just, like, have Keep It In Keller be able to post something. It's all free advertisement for them, but a lot of times they don't know. So I think if we make a more more of a initiative to go out and actually just introduce ourselves and talk to people, there's just some really really great business owners in our in our town. So I think that would go a long way. And then I think that when they feel that, it'll be reciprocated. You know? And that's the power of social media. It's that reciprocation. When that starts to happen, it just like snowballs.

So I'd agree with that. I've taken TAG's advice and told them when I go in.

Once I get past explaining, it's not

the board I'm thinking of.

You know, they usually have a zoning question or you know, it's No. But then we get there and they do. They have the stories and they just unload and it's interesting to watch. Because it's also really real. Yeah. It's a struggle. Like, it's a risk

to open up a business

A 100%.

Especially a restaurant. And Yeah. You know, hearing them out and just, yeah, tracking their journey. Yeah. There's definitely value.

And then sharing, like, take a picture while you're there with the owner and post it on social media, tag the business, leave them a review. That's huge. Leaving reviews. So, like, just those little extra steps, it makes such a difference. So

I like it. Yeah. Sorry. I'm making some notes. One

thing I've seen some businesses do, and I don't know if if the city could help with this in some way, but some businesses are now using QR codes and NFCs in, like, little stand up things. And it goes straight to the Google review or the, the review of their choice, and that might be a way to help, encourage that reviews get made. There could be some kind of incentive to perhaps or a contest for if you get so many reviews, you're in some kind of a drawing or something. K.

Great. Item number two is a discussion and summary of the facade improvement grant applications reviewed at our August, development board meeting and approved with, conditions at the city council meeting on September 2. Both of them were approved, but they're, and I'm gonna let you kinda expound on, them. But, both of them were approved by city council but with some differing conditions and a consensus that came out of that of council's direction wanting to move back toward more of business owners and the city co collaborating and cooperating for whatever facade improvement it is. So we had some good discussion about it.

Do you wanna comment or do you want me to

Yeah. I mean, we can just chime in.

Okay.

Yeah. So what it ended up landing at is the council decided to do a fifty fifty. So we will provide 50% match as opposed to the up to 10,000. So, you know, the first one, the one that was the chiropractor's office and State Farm office, the city's gonna give 6,006 thousand $736. And then for Justin's, it's 7,712. So it ended up being $50.50. And so something that came out of that and I think it also had been a while since we brought a facade improvement application in front

of counsel and in front

of you guys. So we're kind of trying to figure out, okay. We need to dissect this a little bit. There were a lot of questions around what is eligible. Mhmm. The current application has a lot of things, and it's a it it's open to interpretation of a lot. Interpretation for you guys, interpretation for the council. So tag, Sarah, I, we met, and we kinda wanna go through the whole application and look at it line by line and figure out what do we need to edit and change to make it a little bit more straightforward of this is eligible, this this a,

and c. I mean, you just went through

the experience. I'm sure you have some feedback.

No. I'd like to yeah. Your your feedback.

Yeah. And so I you know, we wanna go through the application and figure out what actually qualifies. Just make it more clear because there are a lot of different people that could have different interpretations. Something else that came up, you know, we have this limited amount of budget for the whole fiscal year. And when when we present one or two early on, council's potentially thinking, you know, what could come next?

What if we get this? Then what are we maybe missing out on? So some other cities actually do a time range where all facade improvement applications have to go through maybe it's like a the whole summer or six weeks or eight weeks. So everybody applies during that time frame. That way when it gets to the board and eventually council, they're looking at everything and and kind of comparing it and figuring out like what do we want to approve, what is gonna improve the facade significantly.

And then maybe if if they feel like more money should be given, then that's where they could potentially make an amendment and add more budget to it. But that just kind of standardizes everything and gives an opportunity for it to be one time of the year. Also, from an administrative standpoint, we're looking at doing a couple of different things on our end, making it a little bit more streamlined. And then that would also help us to make sure that everything is all the checks and balances and whatnot. So we're looking at process improvements, and then we're also looking at making it a little bit more clear for everyone involved.

So I would love to get y'all's feedback on how do you feel about having a time period where people apply. We would always do a ton of marketing to make sure businesses would know, like, this is your time you have six weeks, eight weeks. So definitely wanna hear how y'all feel about that, feedback on, you know, counsel felt pretty strongly two weeks ago about the fifty fifty match. Mhmm. And so, yeah, just wanna open it up to y'all.

Yeah. It's a couple of things for me. One, this is great to hear. This was I can't remember who all was around or not when we redid the strategy. This was exactly the strategy. We had gone through a number of years where no one applied because no one knew it existed. And even with the $35,000, I think it was, we spent zero, like, year after year. So we did a rewrite of the policy, and we intentionally swung the pendulum all the way to the other side to say, let's bring it in. Right? Let's open the doors, open the flood gates, let people know about this, increase the max.

We didn't do the fiftyfifty thing intentionally. We did all that to get people the awareness and to start writing checks. On the amount, we never once we started doing it that way and started getting more applications, we also didn't worry about the the amount going over 35,000. One, because it was the year was spent versus the year was allocated. And two, because there was this other Pro What was it?

Pro radata. It means a bill as

Yeah. Okay.

That. And we leveraged that pretty successfully, actually, whenever we needed it. So I think the idea was, let's do it this way. And we even said at the time, after this goes for a few years, and we do hit the point like we were almost like, oh, guys, this is going too far. We're letting open the flood gates or anything. We said, no, open them. And then once we go too far, and we actually have data, right, which is what we have now, that we actually are more successful in the ways we want it to be. By the way, this goes for what's covered in the thing too. It was pretty restrictive, what was in there. And we intentionally just made that list that long.

I mean, landscaping, you know, of the stuff we put in there was just to get, again, be able to get these checks to the businesses in our city on behalf of the people. And we said once we get there, we should scale back. We should revisit what went too far, what didn't, what makes sense to include, what doesn't. And if that's the point we're at right now, because that's probably been three or four years Mhmm. Since we did that one, then now is the time to do it.

That's absolutely consistent with the strategy that was laid out. On the period of time, there's a hesitation why we didn't do that, if I recall. One was we didn't feel, A, businesses are on different schedules. And we didn't want and they, in some cases, plan based on what they think they'll be able to get in terms of support. And we didn't want to kind of hamper their ability to plan in a way that makes sense.

Some restaurants might be, you know, more, you know, wanting to open in the springtime, whereas some retail stores might want to open closer to holidays. You know? So we didn't wanna put them on a calendar that didn't make sense for the businesses. And then second, we felt that it was inevitable potentially, even though we wouldn't intend to, that if we did that and made it look like we were pitting businesses up against each other. So I'm not coming in just to demonstrate why my value my project is valuable to the city of Keller. I'm coming in to demonstrate why my project is slightly more valuable than the other that's being presented. And we don't want that atmosphere. Like, we don't want the the competition in that way. It's not what the charter, not what the the goal was. So we we we didn't do it that way even though we thought about it. Interesting.

My initial thought is is kind of what you're saying. But at first, from a marketing perspective, that one and done, like like, being able to advertise that and here is the window everybody, like, go for it. But that's exactly the type of, I think, competitive atmosphere it also would create. The other thing is the timeline of businesses. I as far as, like, the the spend, because I know even when I went through that process, there was a window of time and, like, I couldn't do certain things.

I couldn't start until I got the approval. So then I had to wait. And it's like if you're just doing this one time frame a year to even apply, if I have something that I just think is hideous and I need to like get it done, and then I just get it done, I can't backtrack and then apply for this. So it's gonna also hinder people that are on a different timeline. Like, I have busy season and I have slow season.

I would rather rip apart the front of my, you know, property during slow season and not during high event season. So every business is gonna have a different seasonality that I think that will affect. So at quick glance from a marketing perspective, I'm like, but you can resolve that in different ways. I think the other thing we should be doing, with the year that I did my facade grant, prior to that, there was, like, no one applying. I had done my facade grant. Community impact came out. Mhmm. We did a story about it. I plugged it in a couple people in OTK, and then that year, that following year, we went through it. But then this past year, no one's no one's applied for it.

And so I think what we should be doing for the people that are getting the facade grant, I think we should be documenting what they're doing and sharing it at the city level. Whether being keep in keep in color or, you know, the city making the announcement of, like, this amazing program that impacted this business and look at the work that they've done and now boom, here's the final result. I think documenting and showcasing the businesses that are taking advantage of this and this great thing that the city offers because it's like it's like PR on both ends. Right? And I feel like we haven't really maximized that.

And I think what was really insightful was the experience that I had with community impact and that story that they did. And I think our city should be doing that for the things that we are incentivizing. And yeah. So the marketing side, even though I see the benefit there, there's another way that you can get some, you know, marketing out of it if it's going throughout the year.

Yeah. I think Ashley, the question is what problem are we trying to solve

with that? Yeah. Yeah.

And if there isn't an underlying problem, then maybe there's a different solution that works better

for whatever that problem is. And maybe that it's more of that kind of solution rather than saying, you know, this is the window when everyone can apply Yeah.

Like a

college application.

We walked through and and discussed, those specific things. And part of my position or or posture on it was, I don't wanna create a competitive atmosphere. I think there's a way to avoid that in that you're not competing with the other applications. It's more to help counsel know how to plan. And I've made this comment in counsel.

We're responsible for, in in round figures, a $110,000,000 budget. $35,000 in in spending shouldn't be taking up an exorbitant amount of time. So I I wanted to propose that we we look at a way to simplify it and and put a lot more of the responsibility back on the board to say, alright. We have and I don't remember if it's you or Sarah that brought up that, well, what if we had two windows in a year? And then counsel, has your input on, here's the here's the request that we have.

And we've gone through as

a

board and really drilled down on them. And getting back to more of the core reasons because you what you outlined, that was exactly correct. And and counsel was fully on board with that with that total pro total processes know process knowing we would probably have to review it again. And and so we did. We kinda cut very loose to go out and say there's free money and and very few requirements.

And so we've kinda come that cycle full circle back to we want to discuss and really explore. Is there a a more efficient way? Is there a better way? Because I I don't want there to be just, you know, there's free money. We have an intent to upgrade Old Town, and that's where it was originally generated, but then we just expanded it.

So it doesn't really matter where you are in in the city. And and that's all very good, and and we don't really wanna pull back from that. But what we would like to say is and if if the two windows a year makes more sense, then great. But counsel doesn't isn't trying to say, well, we've got this $35,000 in a budget and we have to stick to that because we haven't in the past. We've gone and said we've got our we've got our extra money over there that's really in our economic development budget that we can we have that discretionary to to say, hey.

These are all worthy projects, and these all accomplish the underlying objective, which is lifting up the appearance of businesses in Keller because we we all know. And I just because I I knew Mickey who was the mayor of Oklahoma City when Bricktown came about, but that was a dead area of Oklahoma City. And I don't know if you've ever any of you've ever been to Bricktown in in Oklahoma City, especially when it first got going. But it was an intentional movement to try to combine the city with an area that was dead but had some features about it that that could be nice. It was kind of looking at like the pond around, you know, just south of the high school there and, you know, and what we created over here that was supposed to follow that type of of line as well.

But can we use that natural environment to create an upgrade? Because people will get attracted to to things that are looking nice. So we did discuss all of that. And and and even to the point of you can't get a grant if you've already spent the money. Mhmm.

And that's something I want us to discuss too is because if we do create a window or two windows, then I want us to discuss and make a recommendation to counsel of well, if if that's gonna be the case, then we don't want to create an barrier to that getting done for a business because they can say, hey. I'm I'm putting my application in, but I'm doing it whether I get the money or not. The money would help, but I'm doing it or I'm at least doing this much of it. If I get the grant, then I'm gonna do all of this. And it doesn't preclude them from getting a grant if they've already proceeded with part of what their improvement is because they want it like Ashley said.

I need this for my business. I can't wait on the city's schedule. But if if it jeopardizes my ability to get a grant, then I'm I'm kind of caught, you know, of of weighing, well, is it worth it or is it not worth it?

So It it may work for some businesses. It just it does put some maybe in a slightly riskier position. So I mean, it it to your point, look, this is not the only way we support businesses, even for this kind of activity. In fact, this might be the smallest way we do it. It's almost symbolic writ large, right?

But to me, if we were to say, well, let's get all these around the same time, or even if it was two windows a year, I'd say, well, that sounds like there's a budget limit. Right? That sounds like there's a money problem. Which we never had before, so we haven't had to have conversation. But if the answer is, well, we don't want to overspend because that's what we think we're at risk at doing if we scatter it across the year, then maybe that is an approach.

I would suggest we also consider and maybe it's already been considered alongside windows like that, we increase the budget. I mean, if that's something where we feel like we're going to do it and we don't want the money to prevent us from awarding it, to limit us from awarding it to businesses we think are worthy, that if all the businesses show up are worthy, we don't have to pick between them if they all meet the threshold. Then make it 100,000 each semester or whatever. And let's maybe never hit it rather than get to where we go too far.

Is there some way we

can put in a reserve? I mean,

the Yeah. That's what that was. Yeah. Yeah.

Is there so if the money is not spent, which has been the case outside of these two that just came in and they're gonna fall into after October. Right? So, technically, this past year, there wasn't any money set. So this is almost like a problem that doesn't actually exist yet. Right. So there's that. What happens

'25. But it sounds like the concern is that it may exist for twenty

six.

Three, it it happened. Right.

Yeah.

Right.

Intentionally. Yeah.

What happens with the funds if they are not used? I agree. They just because they don't necessarily roll over and add to the funds the next year. Like, what happens? Is it something that we can then decide as a board?

Like, what is it that our communities need or certain areas? Like like, the actual like, for example, in OTK, just being in the past couple years, one thing I heard floating around was, like, businesses really wanted, like, more Christmas decor in that area and really making it, like, a really pretty kinda like, you know, what they do in Main Street and Grapevine, making that, you know, just more attractive in that way where people can come and, like, take photos and stroll and things like that. And so, like, that was one of the things brought up a couple years ago and, like, where where is the opportunity for that? If the funds aren't being used instead of that going to an individual business, why not go to an individual or a district like OTK where those business owners can vote, like how we ask the community to vote on, like, what types of businesses do you want here? Okay.

Business owners, what do you wanna see happening in your district or whatever that is? And maybe the city can look into, you know, providing that if it's a collective, you know, that that benefits everyone in that immediate area. Because if the funds aren't being spent but it's allocated, why not do something like that which we can't necessarily do? And that was, I think, of the suggestion a couple years ago was, you know, us all coming together and rally our own coins and, like, decorate. And it's like, I could do that for my building all day long, but to, like, you know, decorate the lamppost, I would think the city of Keller would wanna do that.

You know what I mean? So, you know, that is something that was, you know, brought up in the past. So I'd just be curious if those funds could be utilized in different ways if we are allocating specifically for economic development and it doesn't get used.

Interesting thoughts. Lou, have we already, like that's a really good idea, actually. It's almost like if you do

it with the extra money we haven't spent or something or or dedicate money.

Yeah. Is the business community chimed in on this, or do we is that kind of a next step to get some input from the chamber from businesses?

As far as what I what we're talking about?

Yeah. Like, the direction of the program. I think when we did this before we

Yeah. No. You guys are the first that we talked to about this. We haven't I do like

the matching because I do feel like every application that was coming in was coming straight for the 10 Yeah. Every time. And Mhmm. And maybe they didn't need, like, all the things that they needed, but, like, why Like let's put it in. I mean, you know, it makes sense. And so I I like that there's a matching aspect to it where it leaves room for more people to be able to access money. So Yep. If someone just needs $5,000 really, they're not putting in a bunch of extra potential fluff because they can get 10. You know what I mean? So I think that is positive from what I've heard. And I think it is good.

I like the idea of being a little bit more explicit in, like, what the different things mean and maybe skewing towards things that are more permanent and get them last

in the city for a long time. I was always a

little bit iffy about the the landscaping stuff because it's just so temporary. Yeah.

That was kind of the feel from from council also. And I wanna kinda pause for a minute here. I I wanted to get your feedback because you went through the whole process. Yeah. Mhmm. And what did how did you walk away from counsel meeting? I was very

torn. Like, going through it as a business owner and then, like, walking the other sides as a citizen and fiscal responsibility for our tax money and that sort of thing. Like, there was a lot of time for a doubt. I'm very yeah. I mean, I'm very I was very torn.

And so the the I would say the as the applicant, the process is mind numbingly detailed and and can be very arduous as a taxpayer. I like that because we don't want just everyone applying and at a minimum taking up their time. It takes them so much time. Or maybe it's just because of me and my inability to provide them what they needed. But it takes I it was like constant emails with the two of them, text with the two of them trying to get something put together that was presentable.

And so it it was very like, I was like, I feel like I'm working for this money. I I there's a lot to to to make me earn it. And so, you know, I left thankful. Just I grew up in this city. I it's it's still catches me off guard what it looks like today compared to the city the Keller that I knew when I was growing up.

And I my dream for twenty years was to own that building in Old Town Keller. Like, whatever came out of any part of the city participating in that process was gravy Mhmm. To me. Mhmm. So I'm I'm good. Like, I no. I'm like, on the actual details, when we start getting into amending these things, I got suggestions. K. Because they're right. And, like, it was so broad. Mhmm. And I'm like, well, jeez, man. I feel I I don't know. Yeah. Then yeah.

So the timing thing is weird. You feel like you're threading a needle, you know, if you're doing anything bigger than just what the grant is applying

Mhmm. For.

So and then even, like I said, in my project, I'm like, well, is is this really this this facade that is this really with the intention of the program? And then on the other side, was like, well, I am taking very old building and making it new again. Like, I'm making a significant investment in the city too. So, like, it's that, you know, I feel like there's a lot of parts of it that are really good. If the intention is to narrow the target and narrow the budget, I got great suggestions on how we

Yeah. There there's a happy medium. And it wouldn't be too hard. We sit there and edit it. We could find that

pretty quickly. Yeah. No. I I think there is a a path through all of that. But getting back to some of the the suggestions here because I and I and I I can't speak for all of counsel, but I I can speak to a a general feel within, you know, my colleagues and and myself that I and for me personally I've been a part of some very very large corporations and that process that you're talking about is a very real thing in large companies to where, alright, if you have a budget for $50,000 and you don't spend it, the last month before the end of that budget year there is a spending frenzy because you will not get it back if you don't spend it.

And I don't want to be a part of that type of a budgetary process. And I don't think we've ever approached it that way. At least in my tenure on being a city council we've never approached our budget from that way of well, you know, you didn't spend your economic development budget so we're gonna cut it in half. Because you don't need obviously, don't need the money. It's more I'm sorry.

I'm can I can I ask Aaron like a qualifying question? Sure. Because I'm interested in the budget part of it too. Is there a way we could write the plan that gives counsel the freedom to pull from unused prior funds?

That's what we did.

We've always had that. Yeah. Always had that.

So so we've we've done about that a couple of ways. So we've done that through the budget process proper. Like, we like like, this time last year, we were adopting the budget. We recognized a couple of those incentive facade grants we're going to hit in '25. So we just updated the budget to reflect that. So you still have the 35 plus the carryover.

Got it. Because I was so I was so confused of, like, oh, well, we didn't spend it last year. Are we in budget crisis this year? Because we kinda have Well, I think money still No.

And to and and to your point, it kinda came across that way in council Yeah. Because the question was asked, well, we didn't spend it. And I said, no. We did spend '25. It just was was allocated in '24.

Yeah. And and so there was some confusion, but that kinda gave the impression that we're and the the whole conversation kinda gave the impression or the dialogue gave the impression that, yeah, we're struggling with with money. Right. And I'm not I will tell you, we we have a very frugal budget, and and I think that's important because we're a very healthy city financially. And if you if you pay attention during the end of the budget process, our our fund balance has dropped, but we're still above what our our charter requires.

And we still have very good ratings. So it's not like we're having financial trouble. It's that there's a lot of things that have changed. There's a lot of things that we have cash funded Mhmm. Which I love the ability to do that because I hate borrowing. I hate debt. And but the world is run on debt, and so there's all kinds of incentives. It's just like with the school district. You know, you're you're never gonna see a school district out of debt because it kills them. Yeah.

If they if they don't have that debt because the way the law is set up, you know, we have to have that type of a process. But I'm also not looking for me personally now speaking on behalf of counsel for

a

a reason to just up a budget. Yeah. Okay? And that's why I was very open to the ideas that were discussed is want counsel to have as much information as possible to say, okay. These all and and getting back and re and and creating a a criteria that is very much in line with where we initially had it. And and, you know, this is all an experiment because we may find we go back to this and all of a sudden, you know, we're we're

And that's okay.

Applying anymore. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't think it has to be that way if we spell it out very clearly. Here's what our our motivation is. Here's what the objective is. And and then very simply, here's how the practice works. And if it if it doesn't make sense to to do it where we just spend one meeting a year or two, you know, whatever that is. I I I didn't like the piecemeal type of thing because it it leaves a lot unknown. And the the grants that we apply for, like, with the city, all come with a season.

You know, if if we're going to try to get money from the state or from the county or from federal government, it falls within a budget window, and they have a a time period or a time window of when applications are made. And then you will hear by this point in time. And there's a lot of benefit to the decide decision making body to know that, alright. On this meeting, we're gonna be looking at we're gonna have all of the work from economic development boards, scrutiny of it in front

of us.

And and that was one thing that came out is that we want to have the detail. We wanna know, you know, here's what's been spent. And I'm I'm one of them, and I I don't think counsel would disagree either. But I'm not one of these that I if you're applying for a grant, but you're proceeding with, like, your papers Mhmm. You're proceeding with that.

I've gotta do it whether, you know, I get the grant or not. But that wasn't included in your your presentation Right. Because you'd already done it. Yeah. But that was a part of the the mentality, and Chris brought that stuff up because we had we had talked about that it kinda puts a business at a disadvantage like you were saying that, you know, I if I've gotta wait on this window, then I'm putting things on hold for my business, and that's that's not wise.

So I'm open to all of that. I think counsel is open to all of that. It's opening a a discussion and a new recommendation from economic development board of here's how we'd like to see this work. And I'm not looking for a way to raise it to $200, a $100, and a $100 here. But I'm also not opposed that if if if it means and, you know, we've got 35,000.

Well, if it means we have to spend 35,000 twice during the year, I'm not opposed to that. That's not gonna kill our city. Mhmm. Because if they're all very well aligned with what we wanna see happen and they're all very well documented and they're all very well establishing that this is going to improve the the economic facade, not to try to play on the words, of our community. Because we all know that and I that we're so I I I hesitate to but all of you can think in your mind of some communities where you don't really wanna go shop, just because of the way it looks.

And there's areas in a metropolitan area this size that it's not attractive to go there. We tend to migrate toward places that do look fresh. And and that was my point when it was focused on Old Town Keller is I want it to be fresh but still maintain the character. And your building's a prime example of that. I I don't wanna see you change that into something it's not.

You're taking something that has that historical value, and all you're doing is is making it look fresh, making it look updated and and and attractive to people. And that was kind of the discussion with the State Farm Building versus the building next door. State Farm Building really doesn't need a lot to make it look fresh and new. The other one does. And the other one, it was a requirement. I mean, they they really need to do it whether the city was gonna participate or not Because if that wood rot gets worse, then we've got real problems. And they have to, you know, either raze it or rebuild it. And and that's what we wanna avoid. So Yeah.

I I think it's good to hear that I did not listen to the city council Council meeting meeting that that you you I'm were were referring referring to. I should've I'm

gonna

going

to go back

and watch it tonight, maybe between Monday night football games. But it's good to hear where I mean, for us, I think, to hear where City Council is coming from. In fact, I mean, the last time we did this, that was a driving underlying factor. The principles were what has city council expressed about some of these recent ones. Again, if the problem is financial or if it's not, or how big of a problem it is, cities and municipalities do have to apply in many cases on certain timelines.

But again, that's because the grantee needs to decide among, you know, pit them up against each other and pick the ones that are most qualified. I I I mean, for me, if it's about making something easier for the government versus making something easier for our businesses, I'm gonna choose, you know, making it easier for our businesses. But, again, I think there's a whole spectrum here. And it is all theoretical until we put pen to paper. That's what did it last time was we had these conversations.

I remember we had, like, a whole meeting over the course of, like, twelve months. Each meeting was dedicated to one pillar of, like, the strategy. But in the end, we sat down and edited that document, and we saw exactly what you're describing is exactly how we edit document that's that's coming to life. So I think in the end, when we sit down and say, what are the changes we actually wanna make here? There's some clarifications we absolutely should be making.

Nate has been our landscape guy in almost every application that comes through here. And, you know, there's there's certain things we've tried to raise every time. And I think that's indicative of the fact that we knew that wasn't really quite what we should be spending the money on, but that's what we did with the policy at the time, and now we should we should amend

it.

And we surfaced another issue here going through this is the the weight that it puts on our our ED team that needs to be working on other things, you know, because we have a lot of unique challenges that they need to be working on and paperwork that comes through with each of these. Really, that should be minimized for for their office.

For sure. And I think I think I'd love to, like, compare our stories and put both sides together because I could I could feel the weight from them. Like, I know that they're busy. I was in the middle of dealing with several city departments at the same time. And Oh, they've got you all fooled. Actually, I should

say Sarah's high score on solitude. It's just

I know I know very well how hard Sarah works in particular, but I yeah. You know, I I felt that coming from you guys. Like, how can I make this as easy as possible for you because I know how hard it is to, like, whatever stuff you got going on?

Mine and Melanie's first time.

Yeah.

So I think maybe you felt that too that we're it was, like, our first time going through the process. So I feel like now that we've done two, we're both like, We've done it. So you probably felt some of that as well that we were doing it for the first time.

But that's not wrong. Actually, remember when you first took over, Chair, it was

one the

things you pointed out and couldn't predict at this moment. The process is too complicated. Mean, no matter what our criteria are gonna be or the funding is gonna be, like, there's gotta be a way to streamline it. 35,000 a year versus the amount of effort it takes.

Yeah. And that's I mean, like, you know, I I think you made a really good point about the competition of having sort of the fixed windows or window of applications, but we have competition in all these other areas as well. And to some extent, like, maybe we need to start asking the applicants to make their own presentation. I would assume that takes a lot of the weight Yeah. Off of ED. And if we're one time a year, you make your PowerPoint, you come in and do it or whatever, then we've we've alleviated a lot of the time. I my assuming what's going on behind the scenes. But that's just a Well,

I I will tell you that my last point. Yeah. Okay. My last point with our meeting was because we've already approved the budget, we would like to see it. That's the royal we. I said, I would like to see it where this body does all of that. Yep. And it shows up as a consent item on city council. So all we're doing is saying, hey. We you know, Aaron brought us a budget. We approved it. It had this much in it. We trust this board to ask the tough questions Yeah. And to really drill down to and and I still believe that. I believe that this is the body that should set that criteria up working with the staff.

That council then says, alright. We approve that policy, that process,

that

simplification of this form. Or Yeah. And and these are the expenses that we will cover. And when we approve that budget, that's kind of the last time we need to touch it.

Yeah.

We don't need to be involved in in deciding on whether it should go to this or this. This body would make the recommendation that, hey. They submitted something for 15,000. We we walked through it. The presentation was made here, and this board decided, well, we're gonna allocate, you know, 2,700 towards these these expenses and, you know, 1,500 toward these.

And so the total of that is this amount. That appears in our consent agenda. We we walk through it. If there's any questions, counsel can ask those questions. But but this is not a a things don't even have to come back from our normal budget to counsel unless it's over $50. Mhmm. K? This whole budget isn't at that point. So that was my my final input. I guess I'll I'll put it is that that I would like to see this board act like that board and say, you know, we're gonna look at these applications.

We're gonna drill down, and we're gonna listen to their presentation. And then this board is gonna work together to say, okay. I think, you know, this this really achieves the the objective because the policy's already been approved by city council. And so all you're doing is interpreting it. We take a load off of them Yeah. And and we don't bog us down with a

big discussion from the dais. Well, it's less likely it feels like just the one or two that I did as a board member prior to this was it felt like it almost just a rubber stamp rubber stamp. Right. Yeah. You know? And so at some point, you do need a deeper analysis or you dig in and I've tried and I I know so much more now sitting here than I did before. But even as a board member, like, what questions can I really ask and how deep can we dig into something? And like, you have them all grouped together and you start seeing stuff side by side, you get more analysis too and you can compare apples to apples instead of, you know, this apple to another apple four months from now.

And if if we don't want to if it's detrimental to do it during windows, I don't think anybody is is trying to put that in concrete. Yeah. I think it we're looking for this board to step up and take a bigger role and say, alright. We're going to look at this from an the analytical point of view with the criteria that's already been approved. Yeah.

And we're gonna drill down on it, and then we make recommendation, then the what would would come to counsel for decision making is if this board gets to the end of it and we're saying, hey. We've allocated, you know, $32,700 of our $35,000 budget. We've got three really good applications. And so our recommendation is that counsel should consider an amendment. K. That's what I recommend. Then counsel will discuss it and say, okay. Yeah. We felt very good about what's happened so far. This is asking for another $20,000.

So it's gonna be, you know, 52 this year instead of 35. Yeah. I don't mind having that discussion. And I think that's appropriate to say, alright. This isn't gonna be a consent agenda item. This is gonna come to counsel as an agenda item because you need to discuss whether the things that the economic development board has done. And and we've never really empowered the board to do that. You you I think there has been some hesitation on, well, what questions, you know, should I be asking? And we're saying ask every question you wanna ask. You know, you guys are an advising body, and that's what it should be.

It should be an advice to counsel that, you know, based on our combined business acumen and and overview and policy that's in place, here's what we believe should happen. And if it falls within budget, then we don't have a lot to say about it. We just say, it's done, and and you write the check. He writes the check.

I when I went through the process, I to be honest, I don't recall it being an arduous process, but in fairness, I I did mine at the same time I did my SOP process. So there was levels and layers to what I was dealing with. So I think in comparison, it seemed a walking part. My what I actually remember more so was the reimbursement process was a nightmare. That part, which you haven't come up

to yet.

Sorry. That part, just to give feedback to that, one of the things that was a constant hiccup for me was actually I did use, like, professional companies that I hired for, like, my landscaping and things like that. But getting everything notarized and, like, tracking down the owner of this landscaping company and then being, hey. I need you to sign this document. Sure. I'll stop by and sign it. Well, wait. I need you to get it notarized too. And so I literally had to, like, coordinate a a notary because catching this guy was, like, crazy. And I didn't really understand that through the paperwork that that was the requirement.

And I could have been an oversight on my part, but there was just, like, a disconnect, and it created a lot of communication back and forth with me and Mary. So I do remember that part pretty distinctly and chasing down these contractors to get notarized, notarized sign off even though I had paid receipts and all of that stuff to get that additional there was the part that was, like, very difficult for me. And so it was stressful because trying to get a reimbursement on it and get the work done and coordinating all these different people. So, if I give any feedback, I think my experience I don't recall a lot of the initial process. But Is

that an auditory requirement that we have?

I would have to look into that to see whether Mhmm. Having a notary was required or the detailed. You know, having an invoice and detailed information that that would make sense. While we're adding on that, I'd to look and see if we actually required that or not or where that that stipulation came from.

Yeah. That was direct from Mary when when I was going to the botnet. It was like an email chain that we had when I was going back and forth.

And you're asking are the auditors. So, like, our financial auditors for the city, that may be a requirement that's driven by them for And

if and if so, we we have to figure out an easier way for that to to be handled. Yeah. Because I agree. That's that's kinda I mean, in our industry, there's a lot of things that have to be notarized. Mhmm. But we've gotten to the point where we've streamlined that where all of that stuff can except for one silly one. All of that stuff can be handled at the same

time. Yeah.

And so I agree that but if it's if it is a requirement for our our financials, that there's a lot of squirrelly stuff when it comes to municipalities that Sure. Drive me nuts. And

We do now this will help just in any way if that requirement. We we've got at least two on staff and community development that can notarize. If you just let me know you're coming, I can have staff available to do that for an applicant like that. That's not not a problem.

One thing Well,

here's the problem is getting a contractor to come here and

sign it's

not a priority. Right. But if if you can coordinate them to if, you know, finding a notary plus getting that contractor all in the same place actually, you probably somebody

in I'm not the

a snake. Not I'm

snake. The If it's getting

them down to get there. Getting a contractor. Look into

it because I don't you know, if if we've got a paid invoice, that

you know?

I I think that that ought to be sufficient.

And that's what created the back and forth because, like,

I submitted all my paid invoices, and then it was, like, these need to be notarized. And so it created this additional layer and then

found easy to drive out of place and say, yeah. They did or no. They didn't. You know? I don't know that we need that level of auditing that you know?

No. No one came and checked after.

I did. I drove by your place. Did you? Oh.

Actually, it'd be a criminal violation to submit a false claim anyway. So we've already we've already got protection on the

But this is where if we had a marketing like, if we did something as, a follow-up to go take pictures of the beautiful work that was done, and then we can share it with the community when

I do like that. I think we ought to make bigger deals of a lot of things in Keller that we

ought to,

you know,

blast out in hand. I'm not looking to load Rachel or anybody up with work because I

If I do a

lot that. I'm like, you

could just shoot me a thing, and I'll I'll go and I'll do it. I'm totally totally fine with that and share with y'all. That was something that I was working on prior with Mary about how can we how can we open up more communication with Ki Bin Keller because we are boots on the ground and, like, we're content creators. That's what my media company does now. And so if there is any way that we can help support in some way where it's like, oh, I love a good story in the city.

And we do all the stuff we do for Kickin' is all complimentary to the businesses in our community. So as far as, like, the blogs and those kind of things, if they want professional video, that's a different thing. But, like, we try to showcase the stories and when we know about them. And so if there's anything in particular that you guys ever wanna share, I mean, we're happy to, like, partner with you guys and and do that and then give you the content for Keep It In Keller and then reshare it off of there.

One other thing on the prep of the application. I don't know if we still do this, but we did it for a little bit. It was really interesting. We somehow had a program with, like, design students at KCAL

Yes.

To support the applicants in, like, doing the designs and

So that's still available. It just so happened to be summertime in grad school. But that's still

Okay.

That was always

kinda cool. They had they had, you know, they had some talent and they kinda help us see what was

It's always a help. Yeah.

If you do a deadline, that might be a good way to do, like, partnerships in that way and have, like, that noted in the process that they can access that Yeah. When the kids are in school.

Good discussion.

I don't know if you wanted this to be sixty, seventy minute debate conversation, but

She was like, I was just gonna give you guys an update.

Good. No. This is all we wanted. Okay.

Do we have an update?

Oh, yeah. Official the official update now? Yeah.

I love these things, buddy. Let me

we must take it fast.

We always had a lot going on.

Yes. It was a really exciting August. So a lot of the projects we've been waiting for finally came to fruition. So we had eight new businesses that opened True. Last month. Excellent. Italian Table opened at 540 Killer Parkway. Uh-huh. A regular already. Main Street Cafe. It's actually just Main Street, but I wanted to add it in there just in case you remember the old one. It's the one that, you know, was there before and then it was mangoes in. So now it's Main Street. Officially opened last week. Penguin Patch is official, got their CO.

Market on the stage, the wonderful convenience store we were talking about earlier opened as well at Center Stage. Soho Wine Bar and Restaurant also is up and running, and they create a lot of buzz around down Mhmm. Just down here down the road. Glorious Kids ABA, that's a therapy place, Sadler Accounting, LLC at 131 East Hill Street opened as well. And then Bear Creek Place, that is a care home facility.

Something interesting that I was looking at, we have 87 c o's that have been issued through the August, and I wanted to compare to last August the same time. I noticed that last year at this time, we were at 67 versus the 87 this year, and that feels like a really big difference. And so I was looking at different categories, and the biggest category change is 17 ownership changes. So I just wanted to point that out. It it was That's a story

right there. Yeah. It

was a it was a big one. Because this time last year, it was five ownership changes. So that was the biggest factor in that growth of CEOs this year. Okay. Permit applications and coming soon. Hobbs Keller, they've officially applied for their permit as of last month at 200 Keller Parkway. That is a restaurant concept from the owners of Hutch. More details on that later.

10 K Keller Parkway. What's that near?

It's across the street from Sweet Memory.

Oh, okay. Funeral house. Oh, nice. For incentivized projects, Penguin Patch, they've officially been reimbursed as of last week. And Killer House Collective on Elm Street, you know, the beer pizza place, they are planning on submitting permits next week. So more updates on that soon, but we're excited that things are moving along. And city sports, they're still aiming to be November, December of this year, which is also really, really exciting. Where is that going? City sports? At the sports park.

Oh, okay.

The North Of

West Footehall and all of

the Yeah.

Like, an

indoor facility, the indoor sports facility.

They had the same the same guys that we had here, the the Futsal guys?

Yes. Mhmm.

Yes. A few other updates. Open rewards ended September 8. We had 384 users. We gave out 1,726 in rewards.

That's distributed so far. People have until September 30 to cash out and redeem their receipts. So if you have any receipts that you spent or that you had purchases for through September 8, you can still redeem them through September 30. Now this is something that I'm gonna be talking with a few different cities that have gone through open rewards to get their feedback, how did it work for them, what did they do that maybe, you know, we could do differently, but obviously open to feedback too as we kinda move along because we did have a budget of 50,000 that we wanted to give out or that we could have given out. So this is a pretty small amount of that.

So we're gonna be doing some dissecting to see how NRH itself, like, did as well or have they done just to measure, is this in line or is there something that we need to look at differently with open rewards?

I just have to point out the irony. This is exactly what we had about the facade grant. Could have substituted the words right there. We haven't spent enough. We need to look at what other cities are doing. And then we ended up making it so you could get more by submitting, you know, whatever. But we get that money back for this. Right?

Yeah. I mean, yeah. What's not what's not spent stays here. Yeah.

Was it the other cities you mentioned, was it their first year in the program too?

I believe NRH, yes. Southlake they started before us. Okay. So we need to look at

So, Lauren, if anyone had multiyear feedback

NRH might have done it longer than Southlake. I need to look into it, but I've already reached out to both of my counterparts there to get feedback and set up some calls to see, you know, how it worked for them. Good.

My biggest problem is I never get receipts. I just tap for everything, and then I was like, no receipt. And then I didn't wanna link my bank account because I spent a lot of money in Keller. And I'm like, I shouldn't every time afterwards, I'm like, ugh. I should've got the receipt. But that was just to get feedback from a customer perspective. I'm like, I never get a receipt, and I would never think of it. But I have the app and never did it once. But Yeah. So Yeah. No. That's good feedback.

Mhmm. Because we need to know Yep. Do we still do this or do we not do it?

Little cumbersome. And, but I laugh because like at Jeremiah's, they have the app that triples to scan, but their scanner never works of it. They just have to put in your phone number. So I just I always offer it and I just laugh at them. Yeah. Your guys' system hasn't worked since you opened. So that's some feedback that I I had is to make it a little less cumbersome without the the the receipts. And because it when a particular businesses promotional program is there, it's usually easy. You know, it's either recognizes like Kindred Coffee recognizes my credit card and I get the points. Right. So

Yeah. Or if even if they have, like, a scan and this is, a tech thing for them on their end. But, like, in the app, if I was able to like scan something like right there in that moment, these receipt probably that that granted, maybe that's what I should be scanning right now as I'm saying this. But like, I don't know. Because like when you go to the grocery store, like, I have my little, like, card. Right? Or I just put my phone number in and boom. It's done. So I mean it from that perspective because I oh, I never want the receipt. I my son tells us there's microplastics all over it. So he's like, don't ever get the receipt, mom. Okay. So I never think to get it.

So Or somewhere you can forward the text. If you get a text receipt, you can forward it on or something.

But Something.

See, this company's you gotta figure. This is their core business. They must have a way to reduce friction.

It's the tech. It's not it's not the city. I think that

it's just Yeah. I think that's where I need to talk to a few cities and figure out if it's if they had a similar experience or if there's something that, you know, we need to try differently if we decide to continue.

Yeah. If not, there's, like, a market inefficiency that there's gotta be something out there that can

avoid it. Yeah.

Do you have deeper metrics on this? Like okay. So $4.50 a person roughly is what we paid out. But, you know, are there 10 people that are getting a couple $100? And

Well, so the max you get was a $100.

Okay. So

And I can tell you I have submitted so many receipts, and I didn't even scratch the surface. I mean, it takes dedication. So maybe that's

why they're like, it's not worth

your total. I see if that's something to look at too. Maybe 5% was not enough of it. Because I to make some more effort.

Thinking of all the receipts that that after the big promotion part was over, I knew it went to the September, but I'm like, I

Yeah. Just but

we did this last weekend.

I didn't save receipts. 10% with restaurant week, it felt a little more exciting when you got that cash back. And then when it dropped down to 5 and you're collecting, like, 30¢ at a time, it's not as much an incentive. Obviously, I was committed because I'm like, this is something that we are doing. I have to be committed to it, but I don't know if as a as a consumer, as a resident, if I would have fallen through. So there's just a lot that we still need to analyze.

Do you get to determine that percentage? Is that something that you get to decide when you're setting up the profile?

Yes. And I know that this was a conversation before I came of how that was

You can pick all kinds of parameters. Mean, that's why I laughed because it's just like the other conversation. We can make it super easy to submit them right away and have no max, and we'll get to 50,000 in the first, you know, three weeks. Or, you know, you have that degree of friction and those requirements that would space it out. So we just have to turn the dial.

It just depends. Like, Fairview, for example, I was looking at what they did. It's 5% for local businesses, kinda how we did it, but then it was 2% for, like, bigger box stores.

Mhmm.

So then it's, like, incentivizing if you you get 5% for the the local 2%. So they did two different percentages. There's a lot of ways to look at

it. Mhmm.

So I just need to get more feedback now that we've tested it.

But on the 50,000, like, you break that down, you're probably a numbers guy. I can't really do that math. But I'm just thinking, like, a $100, you know, per person, 50,000. How many people are we expecting to participate

Right.

To to spend $50,000 when you're capping them at a $100?

Yeah. And that's why I think I mean, it's I think it's valuable to see deeper into those numbers and see how many committed users did we have and how do we replicate those people less than the people who are some you know, one thing for 30¢ and then I'm over it.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it you know, when you back into from a $100, it's spending a lot.

Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

But it's Just a percentage.

Right. Because it's a low percentage. And, you know, because they don't it's only 500 people if everybody got a 100. But mine didn't get anywhere near a 100. Now I scanned a lot, but I'm just sitting here thinking about all the ones I forgot last weekend.

So Do we have insights as to, like, how within that same time period, what kind of tax revenue or what kind of revenue comes in in that time period just in general?

Like

That's a good one.

Yeah. So I don't know if this is inflation or restaurant week, but I did look at sales tax revenue for August year versus this year, and it is up 6%. So I don't know if that's if that got it over. Past. Yeah.

That may be.

Well, that's what I'm saying. I don't

know if

it was inflation or you know?

So Be careful here. So if you're looking at the August payment on the comptroller website that relates to June activity, it's a two month lag.

Okay.

And so

I looked at Zac Tax. Would that be

It's still the it's still

the lag.

Yeah. Okay. So never mind.

I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah.

So yeah.

Well Yeah.

So but it could it could

be causal. It could be correlated. But either way, it's I think it's a

good data point. Yeah. It'll so we'll we'll see that information. We have

October 29. Adjusted for inflation too. Okay? Yeah.

Go ahead.

Let's not talk

about numbers.

So we can and we can we can't provide the information by location, but we can look at it into, like, the restaurant categories in specific. But you wouldn't be able to look at the transactional data enough to say, hey. Is this up? It's it'll be just on a monthly total. Right?

So Yeah.

Yeah. But we can still look at that.

Yeah. So more on that later. And I never remember if I mentioned this at the last meeting, but our new intern started Mhmm. On August 18. She is a current senior at UNT. She's usually in class around this time, so I don't know if you'll get to meet her in the evenings. But if you're ever here during the day, you'll probably meet her. Her name is Eva. So she worked really glad she's joined the team. And some of you know, we went to or I went to retail live in Austin, which is a retail regional retail show.

Had a couple of really good meetings with some some of the businesses that we hear in the surveys that people wanna see. So, hopefully, something comes from that. And then last week, we sponsored the Interface DFW North Texas retail and mixed use conference. So we had a table at the event, and then I also got to be on a panel and talk about all the amazing things that we have here in Keller. Nice. So that was just kind of, like, some conference activity. And right now, Melanie's actually at the International Economic Development Council annual meeting in Detroit, and that's why she's not here. So she's gonna come back, give us some insights from that.

Where was the interface one?

It was in Addison.

Yeah. Cool.

That's all I have. Any questions? Terrific. No.

Alright. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn then. Motion. Second. Second. In favor. We're adjourned.