Order roll call.

Green.

Orks here.

Here.

Let's see.

Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda?

Make a motion we approve the consent agenda.

Second.

Item five is public hearings, appeals, presentations, recognitions, and awards.

5A presentation discussion and possible acceptance of the April through September 2025.

Broken Arrow Economic Development Corporation by Annual Report by Mr.

James Bell.

Well, good evening.

Evening.

This report covers April through September 2025.

My goal here today is to give you a high-level snapshot of momentum impact and where we are seeing significant traction across business retention, attraction workforce, and strategic initiatives.

Next slide.

This is a small but highly engaged and deeply passionate group of professionals.

They serve in roles covering business retention, expansion, attraction, and creation, really supportive businesses.

And I absolutely mean this when I say it, they are some of the best in the industry.

Also want to note for BA citizens who are watching this presentation that the uh the EDC was founded by the City of Broken Arrow, Broken Arrow Public Schools, and the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce.

Um, and we operate as a true public-private partnership funded by both the city and the generous uh contributions of private industry.

Uh so it's a true public-private partnership and a structure that is a tremendous strength and shows up in the outcomes that you're going to see today.

So let's uh next slide.

We'll start with the big picture.

As of December, we're actively managing projects totaling nearly 100 million dollars in new capital investment into BA.

These are already existing bA businesses that will create more than a hundred new jobs, and those are high quality uh jobs paying above the uh the um county average.

Additionally, we work we're working with 13 businesses that are actively considering broken arrow.

Uh, these are companies with site consultants or representatives who've already visited visited uh BA or are in specific conversations uh with us and who have not ruled out our city for location.

This represents a potential of nearly 900 uh high quality jobs and 1.3 billion dollars in new capital investment into our community.

And I promise this is only time today that I'll use the phrase 1.3 billion dollars and then immediately move on.

Uh on the workforce side, we engaged more than uh uh more than 300 job seekers.

We supported direct placements and saw over 10,000 visits to our job board.

Um that reinforces that talent remains a critical piece of our economic development strategy.

So these numbers reflect both near-term and a near-term wins and a strong long-term uh pipeline.

Uh next slide.

We supported several projects, several major projects, including uh ZECO's 200,000 square foot expansion, CSI aerospace's relocation uh to Arrowforge and a pending expansion that could add up to 60 uh new jobs, again high quality jobs.

Uh, we also advanced project sapling, which is a local company's multi-phase growth plan that positions broken arrow for up to 185 future jobs, and and as always economic development and everything I just talked about is either confidential and progress or both, and that keeps the job exciting and the PowerPoint a little vague sometimes.

Umic development is basically speed dating with NDAs.

Uh everyone's interest, uh interested, nobody can tell you what uh who they really are yet, and it works out sometimes and it takes years.

Uh but beyond projects, the team completed 46 business retention and expansion uh meetings and multiple site tours in close coordination with the city of Broken Arrow and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

Uh, this consistent engagement is how we stay ahead of employer needs and protect existing jobs in Broken Arrow.

Next slide.

On the attraction side, the pipeline remains strong.

Uh we're advancing several high-value prospects, including Project Astro, which itself is approximately one billion dollars.

Uh, Project SAM and others that align with Broken Arrow strengths and especially in aerospace and advanced manufacturing.

Uh we've hosted uh we hosted site visits along the Highway 51 corridor, uh, participated in the International Paris Air Show and joined Tulsa's future Northern uh California marketing trip.

These efforts have resulted in 13 incoming projects, 11 proposals submitted, and three completed site visits during this period.

So this activity is not speculative, it's a serious interest in broken arrow as a competitive location.

Next slide.

Uh workforce and talent uh remain uh tightly integrated with our strategy.

Uh we reached nearly 3,000 students through career awareness events in the last few months.

We hosted successful career fairs and collected nearly 500 resumes at one of the largest engineering career fairs uh in the country.

Um next slide.

We also expanded the BMBA platform with stronger storytelling and digital tools to help employers and talent attraction.

Next slide.

As part of our entrepreneurship support strategy, we launched one million cups broken arrow.

We built uh we've uh built new ecosystem partnerships and have begun laying the work for cohort-based small business uh small business programming.

Next slide.

Uh finally, Broken Arrow's Air Forge Innovation District continues to move from vision to execution.

Uh we finalized key infrastructure uh milestones.

Uh the city completed uh is near completion on key infrastructure, uh advanced zoning and uh planning, and have officially announced, of course, CSI aerospace as the first tenant, which is a major validation point for the district.

Uh marketing, branding, and committee uh coordination are all aligned with uh the infrastructure timelines to ensure that we are development ready as interest continues to build.

Next slide.

And as a wrap-up, I want to highlight the behind-the-scenes work that helps all this project activity move faster and land cleaner.

Uh, during this period, our team stayed active in state and regional advocacy efforts.

We participated in an important capital uh to community visit uh alongside the city and the schools uh that included more than 25 Oklahoma State representatives who visited Broken Arrow, and while they were here, we spotlighted and toured Broken Arrow manufacturers like Arrowhead Went uh Arrowhead Winch, Rise Armament, and Zico.

Uh we also earned an international economic development council gold award for our grounds for development publication, produced monthly retail reports, and completed targeted research requests for businesses and for the city.

Uh this is work that strengthens relationships, improves decision making, and keeps broken arrow competitive.

Uh so in closing, uh this report reflects steady execution, strong regional alignment, and a pipeline that positions broken arrow for both immediate impact and long-term growth.

So we appreciate your leadership and partnership and continued support, and I'd love to take any questions.

Can you go back to slide seven?

I think it is.

Right there.

When you look at the highest traffic by city, look at who's above Broken Arrow, and look at where Broken Arrow is at.

That is absolutely amazing.

That's not like we're comparing ourselves with admin.

We'll just go with no.

But I mean, that that is that is amazing right there.

Yeah.

Good catch.

Mayor Howard.

I have a couple questions.

If I can, the first one's a comment is that I see your team everywhere.

Um those visits and those events that they attend really develop the networking, and you create the you create the relationship and the synergies that actually eventually brings people to our community.

You talked about that.

Um I want to say thank you because obviously when you're going out there, you're not only representing the EDC or you know, all ultimately it's the city of Broken Arrow.

And so I I feel very good about the efforts your team is making to be everywhere they need to be to promote our community.

So thank you.

And you mentioned something that I that obviously there's a lot of discussion about it in social media, and that's non-disclosure agreements.

Okay, and I want you to share what exactly is a non-disclosure agreement, and then I have a couple of comments because I want to make sure it's clear the process because ultimately the EDC is there to actually work with companies, but and there may be a need, but ultimately when the information comes, the council gets everything they need to make a decision.

So could you talk a little bit about NDAs?

Yeah, so the NDAs come about in economic development because many companies don't want to be known uh during uh a good part of the process.

Uh the reason and they even work uh to go further with site consultants, which I call these mysterious agents who sit between us and them.

Uh so many times we don't even know the company that's approaching broken arrow.

We find out what industry we're in, we're find out the jobs, the site requirements, what land do they need, do they need a building, and so on.

Uh, and we start the conversation there, but at some point you get to actually meet the company.

Um and this is important for a number of reasons.

Uh, you know, especially if you have a larger company, it more often happens with them.

If you have a large company uh that comes to town, say they're uh doing manufacturing, they could simply be opening a new manufacturing facility for a new product line.

But if their employees in another manufacturing facility around the country hear of that, they sometimes get scared, naturally, right for their jobs.

Oh my goodness, they're moving our jobs.

The other thing that can happen though is perhaps they're opening a new product line and they don't want their competitors to know about it.

So there are a ton of reasons why they do this, and as a result, we have to operate under uh non-disclosure agreements.

Uh and like I said, sometimes we don't even know for uh quite some time.

Uh but we do do our due diligence and like I said, eventually get to meet the companies and uh work through the full process.

Did that fully answer?

You did, and also the only thing you didn't mention that if you don't if you don't execute those, and you hit the the you know is most important to me is that sometimes they're looking to relocate, and so if they it could create a morale and operational problem if it was if it was made known that they may be looking to relocate.

And then secondly, is um at some point they if if there is an opportunity to move forward, this council will never make a decision without having all the information in front of them with regards to that company, the jobs, the benefits, especially if there's some type of assistance that's being requested because for somehow it's being construed that an NDA is it means that these that the council might be making a blind decision, not knowing who the company is.

If they're asking for some type of an incentive from the city, is they have they know nothing about it.

And that's simply not the case of an economic uh non-disclosure agreement.

Yeah, that that that's correct.

Yeah, the city, when it comes time for uh incentives, uh certainly knows who the company is and knows everything about them and their their intent.

And it would be impossible to do that agreement without knowing that I wouldn't recommend it.

I didn't know if any council members had read or saw any of that from a neighboring community, but I just want to make sure that that process is as soon as I know, council knows.

Um that's because it obviously you make the ultimate decisions on any type of assistance that we may provide.

Thanks, James.

I might be next.

You are next.

So just stay tuned.

Um action needs to be taken there.

Item 5B, presentation and discussion at the Broken Air Chamber of Commerce 2025 best practices trip to Franklin and Murphy's Group.

Well, hello again, it's been seconds.

Uh first, before we dive in, I want to start with gratitude.

I want to thank each of you for participating in uh this year's best practices trip um and for fully immersing yourselves and being fully uh engaged.

Uh, you know, it's incredible that the city of Broken Arrow that that not only the city council went, but a strong cross-section of staff leadership.

Uh and that level of participation matters, and frankly, you don't see it in a lot of other cities.

Um it elevates the experience as well as uh the takeaways and gives you context, of course, uh for decisions that you'll make in the future.

Um next slide.

Um as a the slides of the slide decks wordy, I'm not going to be uh telling you everything in it, but uh as a reminder, the uh the purpose of the chamber best practices trip was to look at aspirational and near-peer uh communities and ask one simple question.

And that question is what are they doing that applies to broken arrow?

Uh the purpose of best practices is not civic tourism, it's to bring back meaningful learnings and then to get to work stacked on them.

Uh the big takeaways uh from this trip was encouraging.

Broken Arrow is on the right trajectory, especially in the next steps for uh downtown and city hall planning, um workforce and education alignment.

The opportunity now is coordination, speed, and formalizing some partnerships with the uh chambers serving as a catalyst and convener.

And we'll talk more about that.

Uh next slide.

Um these trips matter because they can press years of learning into mere days.

Um, they help align leadership, spark ideas, and lead to tangible outcomes.

Uh, and just as importantly, they strengthen relationships among our own leadership.

Uh these trips save us from having to make all the mistakes ourselves.

Uh, and the nice thing about a best practices trip is that we get to steal great ideas openly, uh, legally and with permission.

Uh, but this isn't about building this.

This is about this is about building the next best version of broken arrow.

It's not about copying what another city uh does.

And so we take the the that information, we synthesize it for ourselves.

Uh next slide.

Before the trip, I walked uh through these goals with you.

Um, what we heard consistently in Tennessee reinforced why we went.

Uh City Hall strategy, downtown master planning, workforce alignment, and education partnerships are deeply interconnected.

Uh and the communities doing this well are very intentional about that integration.

Uh next slide.

This year we chose Franklin and Murfrees Borough, and we chose them very intentionally.

Uh, they are suburban communities near a large metro.

Between them, they have a strong university, a municipal airport, active downtowns, and similar cultural dynamics.

In other words, they're not theoretical comparisons, they are practical ones.

Next slide.

Uh, one of the strongest lessons was the importance of long-term thinking and civic decisions, perhaps on the uh order of three decades, 30 years.

Uh, for broken arrow, the key opportunity is using City Hall, not just as a building, but as a catalyst for district growth and for ongoing downtown development.

Next slide.

Uh we saw a strong emphasis on uh plain language communication through online portals and the need for education of residents, uh employees, and elected officials.

Uh broken arrow already does many of these things well.

Uh the opportunity to hear really is an expanding digital education tools to uh further build understanding and trust around major initiatives.

Uh next slide.

Uh successful downtowns consistently build or blend residential, retail, office, and civic uses.

Uh density supports walkability and supports retail successes.

Uh for broken arrow, this reinforces the importance of thoughtful mixed use and value evaluating Rose District expansion and telling our story better through both physical and digital placemaking.

Next slide.

Education workforce alignment was one of the strongest themes of the trip.

Uh, education is is an economic driver.

It's not a separate system.

In fact, it's the foundation.

Uh, the opportunity for broken arrow and the work that we do is to lean into partnerships with broken arrow public schools in Vanguard with Tulsa Tech, TCC, and NSUBA.

Um, with the chamber acting as a conduit uh between education and industry and scaling uh mentoring and internship programs.

Next slide.

Uh we saw very intentional alignment between entrepreneurship education, workforce, and economic development.

For us, this highlights the promise of Arrowforge, uh, the root of the uh role of speculative flex space, deeper collaboration with higher education and with K-12, and continued evaluation of how assets like a potential municipal regional airport factor into long-term growth.

Next slide.

One of the most valuable outcomes is something you can't always quantify.

We strengthen relationships with our peer cities, with schools, chambers, and most importantly, among our own leaders.

Um this trust and shared experience accelerates, of course, everything that comes next.

Next slide.

Post-trip, we asked for feedback, and the feedback was clear.

There's interest in more structured peer discussions, more focus on workforce and housing, and a broader participation next time, especially from business leaders, from education partners, and from our major employers.

The good news is that the group felt broken arrow is well positioned relative to these communities.

Next slide.

This is where the trip turns into action.

Surveys are complete.

I'm presenting to you now, and the third item you see on the screen has been completed as well.

So we're now moving on to the steps that start at the fourth bullet point.

And that's convening industry and education leaders and formalizing partnerships that can move quickly.

Next slide.

So to get into more specifics, what you see on the screen are some immediate practical next steps we can take, some of which are already underway.

Whether it's business round tables, deeper engagement with our Tennessee counterparts, convening schools and industry, and refining what the next trip looks like in order to maximize participation, value, and actionable learnings.

So I'll close where I started.

Thank you again.

Thank you again for taking part in this and for the city for investing in this kind of shared learning.

This trip confirmed that broken arrow is on the right path, and now the work is about execution, and I'd love to hear any questions.

Is that we already have a really great city?

But it is it is good to go and see some things that maybe we can implement in the future.

Um so it was a great trip.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Yeah, okay.

All right, great.

Thank you so much.

All right, we have no general authority business.

Remarks by governing body members.

Um I do have something, and I was actually gonna keep them down here.

But I was gonna congratulate James.

Um, he made the power list the 50 most influential Oklahomans for 2025.

And that's pretty impressive.

I don't know if we've ever had maybe we've had someone from Broken Arrow, but I don't you are okay.

You're you're in the same league with Scourge now, James.

Okay.

A few years ago.

It was so impressive.

I didn't get to see the whole list because I don't purchase the journal, but um I didn't see anyone else from Broken Arrow this time.

So I just wanted to publicly uh congratulate James that that was pretty impressive.

Yeah, pretty impressive.

Especially since you just moved to Oklahoma.

Yeah, good job.

Yeah, didn't take him long.

Fantastic.

Um, I guess this is the last meeting before before Christmas.

So merry Christmas, everybody.

Of the year, yes, that too.

See you next year.

I'll see you around.

I have nothing, madam.

Okay.

All right.

No executive session.

Make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

Thank you all for staying and sticking it out.

Some folks have the room.

I'll make a motion to clear the room and go into executive session.

Second.

She made the motion.

Second, Deborah.

Oh, I need to click on the code.

Eric, thank you.

Green.

No, uh, we're taking the vote on the motion to clear the room.

Yes.

Uh Green?

Yes.

Ford.

Yes.

Parks.

Yes.

Wimpy.

Yes.