EDC board, city clash over property exchange amendment

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove city council voted to approve an amendment that would extend the closing date of the property exchange between the City of Copperas Cove, the Economic Development Corporation and Coryell County at its Tuesday meeting. 

The amendment came as a request from the city to have the closing take place on a “mutually agreeable date” on or before October 1 of this year. Tuesday’s action came one day after the EDC board failed to pass the same amendment during its own meeting on August 7, although EDC board member Harald Weldon made a motion to do so. 

The original agreement, approved by city, the EDC, and Coryell County commissioners in May, called for a 90-day closing, which would have taken place by today, August 11. However, city manager Andrea Gardner told the EDC board on Monday that the city still has fiber and equipment used for recording meeting that won’t be relocated until later in August, and then after testing of equipment, won’t be ready for use in the city’s new IT building until sometime in September. 

The agreement for the property exchange includes a payment by Coryell County to the EDC for $37,510, the difference between the 2016 certified values for the EDC building and the County Annex on South 2nd Street. However, 2017 property values put the EDC building as $63,180 higher than for 2016. The County Annex on South 2nd Street decreased in appraised value by nearly $10,000, when compared to its 2016 certified value. 

During Monday’s EDC meeting, EDC board members verbally backpedaled where the original agreement was concerned, wondering if that was the best deal they could have gotten for the property.

Also, board member Jimmy Hammond was concerned that they didn’t have legal representation present and wasn’t comfortable making a legal decision without an attorney. Gardner told Hammond there was nothing “legal” to the request, that it was a “simple agreement to the extension.” She added that if the extension did not go forward, an entirely new agreement would need to be executed between the three entities. Furthermore, Gardner said she didn’t see why an attorney would need to be present for an extension, as the original agreement had already been looked at by the county’s attorney, the EDC’s attorney and the city’s attorney before it was approved. 

Although the EDC board selected the Knight Law Firm for legal representation at its July 27 meeting and the contract with the firm hasn’t been executed, a representative from the firm was present at Monday’s meeting at the request of board chair Marc Payne. Payne didn’t want to call the interim law firm for advice, at Gardner’s suggestion. 

“I’d like legal representation that we have chosen and we need a contract to do it,” said Payne. 

Board member Christian Mulvey gave his perspective on the land exchange. He wasn’t present for the May meeting when it was approved by all three groups.

“I wasn’t for it to begin with. It surprised me that it passed,” Mulvey said. “And now that the new taxes have come out, I’d like to see it go up for re-contracting. We might not get it, but it’s worth a try.”

Prior to City Secretary Lucy Aldrich announcing the proposed amendment on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting, councilman Dan Yancey called to hold the executive session first. Gardner gave her support for the closed session, stating that the executive session was to discuss her job and duties, as well as her evaluation, which included her expressing to the council what makes her job difficult. 

“The council asked me last September to take on the responsibility of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Economic Development Department. We brought it into the city as the Economic Development Department,” Gardner said. “So many times, I have lost count, I have been treated with ultimate disrespect. I have been embarrassed, multiple times, by the actions of a few of the individuals that serve on that board and I think I have the right to express that to the council because it has made my job very difficult.”

After the closed session, the council went forward to unanimously approve the agenda item as written and approved the extension, although the EDC did not approve the extension.

Gardner did make a comment prior to the council’s vote.

“It is with great disappointment that I have to tell you that the board did not take any action on this item, and instead attempted to lobby, for lack of a better word, to get more money from the county for this land exchange. I recall when we had a discussion regarding going back on your word, that this body was not in favor of this type of behavior.”

Gardner said that in talking with Land Exchange, that although the EDC board did not approve the amendment, Land Exchange would still recognize the city’s action approved by the city council. She said she also consulted with the city’s attorney, who said the amendment would still stand, even without the EDC board’s approval.

“The EDC board in my opinion failed to conduct the duties that you appointed them to do, to authorize something as simple as an extension of an agreement that was already made, with all people present,” Gardner told the council. “Now what you do about that is your business, but it was very embarrassing that we could not approve a simple extension that the city asked for. The county wasn’t asking for it. They’re ready to go to closing on Friday.”

The EDC board is a five-member board of citizens who apply and are appointed and can be removed by the Copperas Cove city council. 

Coryell County judge John Firth confirmed on Thursday that the county was fine with the extension and is looking at a closing date of September 20 or 21.