0:12 All right, good morning.
0:15 Welcome to the Thursday, May the 28th.
0:18 Also Authority for Economic Opportunity regular board meeting.
0:21 Let's get started and call the roll, please.
0:51 Trustees, good morning.
0:52 Thanks for being here on our rainy Thursday morning.
0:56 Let's look at item two.
0:59 Review of our consent agenda.
1:01 Request to remove any items from that agenda for discussion consideration and vote.
1:05 Is there any such request?
1:08 Hearing none, item three, consider discuss and approve and then revise or reject.
1:11 Vote to approve the consent agenda items A through the lot.
1:17 And so uh I will hold off on reading those for the moment as written in your agenda.
1:23 Is there a motion on the consent agenda?
1:27 Motion to approve second.
1:29 There's a motion and a second.
1:31 Would you call the roll for us on the consent agenda, please?
1:48 So we're all saying first.
1:51 Consent agenda is approved.
1:52 Consideration of items removed.
1:55 So let's go to item five.
1:57 Consider discuss approved.
2:05 I would just speak briefly to this.
2:07 You have the document in your document in your packet.
2:11 We had a good conversation and good help from Eric's team.
2:15 Eric and Sam did great work for us to get the document cleaned up along the terms that we discussed the last time that we were together.
2:23 Sent that over for review from Renita.
2:26 She is in agreement with it.
2:27 And so we are presented with that document to execute.
2:31 Looking forward to solidifying this and getting started with her in an official capacity.
2:39 You have any questions for me on this item?
2:44 No questions, just a comment.
2:47 Wayne for our patience.
2:50 Thank you for your service to part of Tulsa.
2:55 You are greatly appreciated, so thank you very much.
3:01 If there are no other discussion points on this, is there a motion on item five?
3:10 Would you please call the roll for us?
3:34 I want to make sure the record reflects oh yeah, as well as that.
3:38 That's that's an official.
3:42 Consider discussing approve and revise and reject the municipal employees retirement plan.
3:47 Administration services agreement.
3:51 By and between uh Teo and the City of Tulsa.
3:55 Good morning, trustees.
4:03 There previously has not been an agreement, but it just memorializes the expectations on both sides.
4:10 It just I assume you all know municipal employee retirement fund.
4:16 So you might help us with that a little bit.
4:19 Yeah, so we have to uh report to them how much we set aside each uh pay period and keep track of the records and and then they provide training for each employee and it's pretty basic.
4:33 My understanding was that uh we have been uh we have been participating in this throughout the life of Tao.
4:41 This is an agreement to make sure that that is codified and we're all we're all on on the up and up with yeah, it's not the new.
4:48 Excellent, and it's something that every employee has been contributing to.
4:53 Okay, questions on item six.
4:59 If there are not any, then would someone like to make a motion on item six?
5:05 It's a motion and a second.
5:07 Would you call the role for us on that, please?
5:26 Then you might not want to wander too far.
5:32 My item seven shows uh consider, discuss, approve, and then revise the projection.
5:38 I have a draft budget because I'm not for two words.
5:43 Well, if you're okay with it.
5:46 No, I'm absolutely am I looking at the correct at the correct version?
5:52 Yes, there's three of them.
5:55 But that'll be quick because um, as you will see, it's uh it's very positive for us at um going into next year.
6:05 We show almost an eight hundred thousand dollar surplus for next year.
6:09 Um this is due primarily to uh increased parking and uh increased tech revenues, but the changes between what I presented last month in the draft and the and what you're seeing today are uh primarily had to do with we increased uh salaries a bit because um we are considering uh medical insurance changes and so I increased the overhead rate a little bit.
6:42 Hopefully it's it'll we won't see those increases that that I put in the budget.
6:49 But the other thing that and the biggest thing was that um in the parking we had uh penciled in $300,000 for the Civic Center Parquet because we hadn't gotten their budget uh for next year from the Oakview group, but it really came in closer to 600,000.
7:08 So um we expect that going into next year we'll be in good shape.
7:21 Joan, has this uh been through your review with the the finance committee?
7:26 Yes, right through it.
7:28 All three have been are there questions on our budget for fiscal twenty-seven?
7:40 If not, this is an approval item.
7:42 So is there a motion to uh approve the fiscal twenty-seven budget for Tayo?
7:51 It's a motion and a second.
7:52 Would you call the roll, please?
7:55 Councillor Bingle, yes, Carl Brycey, yes, Silar Duncan, yes, Jennifer Griffin, yes, Ellion Hurtada, yes, Andy McMillan, yes, Joan Parker's, yes, excuse me.
8:06 Katie Plahockey Aaron Parsley, yes, Cyril Sigford, yes, motion approved.
8:10 Item seven is approved.
8:12 Item eight is our fiscal year grants fund budget.
8:16 And uh you'll notice on this that net income is zero.
8:22 Uh all revenue coming in will be expended.
8:24 I'm just moving the build back better revenue or build back regional challenge monies out of the operating fund and into the grants fund just to make the operating fund presentation budget to actuals monthly ease a little bit easier.
8:40 Sorry, a little bit more clear.
8:44 It's easier for us to understand, perhaps not easier for you.
8:49 Uh, and we appreciate that.
8:52 Item uh eight, any questions on this grants fund budget?
8:57 If not, we need a motion.
9:00 There is a motion and is there a second?
9:04 That's why I said it quietly for sorry.
9:11 Uh we have a motion and a second on item eight.
9:13 Would you call the role, please?
9:29 Motion approved all right and then item nine is our fiscal year twenty seven parking project capital expenditures budget and um that's um what you saw last month as well um it I will note that this 1.187 um we have the ability not to dip into any of our uh reserves or our investment account to fund that so one of the budget amendments that was in the consent agenda that you uh approved a few minutes ago um authorizes us to move monies from the pooled fund account to fund this all these parking capital expenditures for next year and then there is a little bit more of a surplus that we will move into the the investment account questions on item nine that is there a motion motion to approve second heard a motion and a second would she call the role please counselor Bingle yes Carl Bracey Tyler Duncan yes Jennifer Griffin Ellion Hertata Andy McMillan yes Joan Parkhurst Katie Bahyes Aaron Persley to Rosen first I've all right Lynn Lynn thank you excellent work I know that represents a lot of work to to make a responsible budget for the organization for the next year and to look at what makes sense for so well done thank you about my add a comment too is that budget meetings so forth uh we have some good discussions good fruitful interesting discussions uh about the finances of Tao so great job thank you appreciate your work well done all right I think we are according to mine concluded with motion unless we might pay thank you you're welcome to stay uh item ten consider discuss and approve and then revised reject neon quarter community impact initiative project agreement in the amount of thirty thousand dollars and speaking on this I believe is Inez morning good morning trustees um stop is requesting the board approval of the attached project agreement between partner Tulsa and the neon quarter neighborhood association in the amount of thirty thousand partner tulsa included the funds in the um fiscal year 2026 budget to provide small grants to community based organizations with the goal of demonstrating um the impact of small investments as a little bit of background the community impact initiative was launched in 2023 with the purpose of building organizational capacity at the neighborhood level by increasing residential engagement through small scale community driven projects the participating organizations will receive up to 30 thousand and disperse grant funding to facilitate the development of a neighborhood led project um funding will be dispersed through the successful completion of project phases including the development of a project plan at the implementation of community engagement efforts and the execution of their neighborhood project um happy to answer any questions questions on item 10 I think we approved the previous the other three in the cohort last meeting so this is the fourth one of those and so this is the second iteration of this project so the stuff's barbecue art project um the short film right was all things that we did last time and so we found it successful as a capacity growing initiative for neighborhood associations and so this time we worked um we worked with council members and we looked at the NCI index to determine which neighborhood associations um are best fit or most of the need to build that capacity and so neon quarter was one of them is there a motion on item ten second there's a motion and a second.
13:31 Would you please call the roll?
13:41 Joan Parkhurst yes.
13:45 Aaron Parsley to Roseford yes.
13:46 Charlesing for motion approval.
13:51 That's great work on that.
13:53 Let's go to item 11, which is the uh consider discussion approved, and then revisor reject loan agreement by.
14:00 And between John T and Catherine D.
14:02 MacArthur Foundation, I feel like I should say that on in my NPR voice.
14:06 We're pulling that.
14:07 We're pulling that in it.
14:08 We are not going to consider item 11.
14:10 We're going to pull that.
14:12 I should have gotten uh with you before that.
14:15 No, that's my last one.
14:16 I'll save my NPR voice for the next meeting.
14:20 Item 12 then is considered discuss and approved, then revise or reject a development financing agreement by and between price family parking to LLC and TASA Authority for Economic Opportunity.
14:32 Morning, Mike, morning Karen.
14:35 Apologize for the voice.
14:36 My allergies are doing terrible these days.
14:40 Um so a lot of what we see in our downtown uh projects these days is revolving around parking.
14:51 Aaron can tell you we we had long long discussions in the cathedral district about the need for structured parking.
14:58 We've had of course discussions over in the arts district about structured parking.
15:03 Well, here in the East End TIFF district, the district that's already established.
15:09 We have a proposal that's come forward today from Price Family Properties.
15:14 So the project represents a strong example of a project that directly aligns with the goals of the implementation framework established inside of the downtown area economic development project plan.
15:27 The garage is not simply a standalone infrastructure investment, it is strategic support asset that advances several of the plan's core objectives simultaneously, including accessibility, long-term district functionality, and economic activity support, coordinated redevelopment capacity.
15:44 The things that make this project particularly important is that it demonstrates disciplined adherence to the parameters of the plan.
15:52 Excuse me, and has already established the project is consistent with the vision, the eligible intent of the framework of the project plan and supports the broader public and private investment objectives of the district.
16:08 This project is to support the addition of a thousand new jobs inside of the East End TIFF district, and it has a very small not to exceed value on it.
16:24 Karen will go into the details of it, but traditionally the project plan as it states in its um budget uh outline has a one-third to two-thirds allocation between public and private uh developer assistance.
16:43 This adheres to that and does not go beyond.
16:46 In fact, it is below that threshold.
16:50 So I'm gonna let Karen talk so you don't have to listen to me, stumble through this anyway.
16:57 Okay, so like Mike mentioned, this is um, this is a structured parking project.
17:03 This is at seventh and boulder.
17:06 It is a it's for one dedicated tenant for one oak, a thousand parking spaces, it's a uh five-story structure with a um a sky bridge connecting to the existing garage.
17:17 It follows it it falls all within every parameter we have.
17:23 Um, it looks like a parking garage, and adheres to the downtown streetscaping standards.
17:31 There this is a project that Price Family Properties is investing at least 35 million dollars for their ask is 3.234 in development assistance.
17:42 And like Mike said, it's very clean, it's all well within that falls well under what our projections for the generation of this building would be.
17:52 Um, it we presented it to the Economics Incentives Committee last week.
17:57 I don't think there was a there wasn't any issues or concerns that I recall there.
18:01 We feel really good about it.
18:02 We recommend approval.
18:06 Anything to no from our from our committee meeting?
18:12 The uh 3.2 million from the TIF.
18:17 What's in the TIFF right now?
18:18 What's the balance in that respect to?
18:21 So, Carl, do I can't give you a specific number?
18:24 I don't have it in front of me.
18:26 I know Lynn is working on a report on all of those to balances for you.
18:38 Increment that would be generated specifically by the garage itself.
18:42 It would not be reliant on any other activity within the check.
18:47 It would I see Lynn whispering something in the background trying to get it.
18:53 Oh, you have to come up with it.
18:59 The microphone needs to pick it up.
19:05 Okay, which tip is it?
19:08 Speaking to the project.
19:10 Um the balance right now is 4.1 million dollars.
19:18 And Carl, the way that the that balance is accumulating is because each of the projects that we have a development agreement like this on has a rebate of the taxes that they generate each year that would go back to support that specific project.
19:34 The difference between the amount of that rebate and the total amount of the increment collected goes into that account, like Len was saying to support public projects.
19:45 And those are the projects that you know a few years back.
19:56 So they aren't limited to just the East End district for the public projects.
20:05 Who is that developed for uh it is price family properties?
20:13 And if you want please just connect the dots real quick on how this all works together.
20:19 So since 2023, one of the doing a lot of mergers and acquisitions across the country, over 20 billion, uh, in those kind of emergence acquisitions over time.
20:29 That's leading to this new influence of thousands of employees into our downtown.
20:33 Which will support our downtown residences and things of that nature.
20:37 So it's kind of development all coming together and working together.
20:41 And thank you, Karen and Mike, for all the work that you guys do to make that cycle happen.
20:52 Any questions on item 12?
20:54 If not, is there a motion on the development agreement?
20:58 There's a motion and a second on item 12.
21:01 Would you call the role?
21:20 Item 12 is approved.
21:26 Item 13 is a discussion consideration and a vote to go into executive session for the purposes of discussing potential sale and lease of real property as authorized by the cited statute in our agenda.
21:40 And uh is there a motion from the trustees to go into that executive session.
21:47 So, motion and a second.
21:51 Please call the roll for us.
21:54 Councillor Bingle, Paul Bracey.
21:59 Ellie on our taught.
1:34:28 And this is all the finance committee.
1:34:32 So any questions?
1:34:29 I will say that that if you go back further through the packet, it there's the graphs and there's explanations and there's um data about the parking um revenues, but I think so.
1:34:51 Just trying to keep it short.
1:34:53 And the parking report uh the uh monthly parking report is in your informational packet, as is um information about the TIP revenues and expenditures and obligations that uh Craig had asked about last month.
1:35:09 Those are good schedules.
1:35:12 I'd also just like to say I think it was Carl's recommendation to do it color-coded.
1:35:17 And so thank you because I do feel like it's a great feedback, it's very clear now.
1:35:22 Thank you for that.
1:35:25 All right, so no questions on 15.
1:35:27 Lynn, the Q3 financial statements, item 16.
1:35:32 So just to save you all some time, too.
1:35:35 I um pulled up or I put together some flux explanations, and those talk about the differences between each line item and the differences between last year and this year.
1:35:48 Um, uh couple of things that I wanted to point out is that on is this uh this is the balance sheet.
1:35:57 Okay, so um where did I put that?
1:36:07 Uh the main things is um that the debt it has increased, and that was due to the um the WPX or 22 North uh Detroit bonds, and um that's on revenue bonds payable.
1:36:24 Uh it's about a little further than halfway down your page, probably about two-thirds.
1:36:29 It says uh revenue bonds payable net of current portion.
1:36:32 If you're interested in seeing how those are broken down between the TIFF districts, you'll be able to see that on page four.
1:36:45 Um then on the revenues.
1:36:49 The only other thing that I wanted to point out was the developer assistance under operating expenses, and those details are on page five.
1:36:59 Uh they're broken out between the the TIP districts.
1:37:03 So I'm happy to answer any questions.
1:37:06 I know this was short, short summary, but again, it's been through the finance committee.
1:37:13 And then WTX, that's conduit debt.
1:37:18 It's a huge number, so it just kind of froze everybody.
1:37:22 We also have conduit debt through TU, but that doesn't show up anywhere on our um financial statements, liabilities or assets.
1:37:33 No, I think this is John, government reporting.
1:37:37 Yeah, just a counting system.
1:37:42 Questions for Lynn or our finance committee.
1:37:47 If not, thank you very much, Lynn.
1:37:51 Thanks for your work on this as well.
1:37:53 Uh item 17 is our monthly staff report.
1:37:58 We can like bring a mic to you.
1:38:00 I can stand here if that's okay.
1:38:02 I took out my little dog yesterday morning uh for a walk, and I tripped and got a little fracture in my footbone, but we're okay.
1:38:11 Six weeks, I'll be back to normal.
1:38:14 Oh, the dog is fine.
1:38:15 I was like on the story.
1:38:17 There's the story, and we need the dog.
1:38:20 Like, where is my treat?
1:38:22 I want to go home.
1:38:23 Um, but here we are, we're doing it.
1:38:26 We're glad you're all right.
1:38:29 Um, as far as the staff report goes, um obviously we're planning a lot for fiscal year 27.
1:38:37 Um, we are looking at, as Lynn mentioned, obviously there's a lot of cases in medical insurance premiums that we're trying to take into account.
1:38:46 Um I think the total increase for our current health plan was around 20%, um, close to 21%.
1:38:54 So we're seeing a significant increase there.
1:38:56 Um last year there was an increase as well.
1:38:59 The organization absorbed that increase in cost for the employees, and we're looking to see what we can do this year, just that that that or close to that, um, maybe with the cost of living writers.
1:39:09 So you'll see that in our finances.
1:39:11 Um, our current head count is 19.
1:39:13 Um we brought on board Maria and John to the team, which has some great additions.
1:39:18 Um, so definitely please feel free to meet them afterwards.
1:39:21 Um I'm excited for not only growing out the economic incentives team, but also having Maria on board for developing out our small businesses and giving them more attention and love.
1:39:32 Um, okay, we keep going.
1:39:37 So we're also obviously you met Matt from WT Partners.
1:39:29 We brought them on as a consultant.
1:39:42 Um we're also bringing on a consultant for coaching to help um improve our capacity as an organization.
1:39:49 One of the other slides I did have on the um on the deck was about our board retreat goals.
1:39:55 I didn't want to forget about that.
1:39:56 Um, as far as administratively, or as far as um administration and ops, we did have three goals.
1:40:03 One was to finalize on executive director, so we did that, yay.
1:40:07 Um that one that was achieved.
1:40:12 Um the second was about having a revised policy and procedures handbook, which I'm working on right now.
1:40:19 Um I'm gonna have a draft in it, which I'll then hand off to Thrive for review again.
1:40:23 Um our current handbook is from 2021, and so it just needs a significant update, and it's gonna in um include the new policies that all of you approved last year, as well as um a new one I've sent out to the team for AI transcription, um, when to use it.
1:40:39 It is elective, but if it's to be used, we're gonna have guidelines about using them, um, primarily around notifying the people on the call ahead of time, um, keeping it as an internal document and using it as notes.
1:40:52 Um, and then lastly, there was um in the yeah, in the board retreat, there was discussion about how can we improve our marketing communications.
1:41:02 And so I took um I took that suggestion and did a kind of like minimum viable product um of having an intern come on.
1:41:12 Um her name was Betty.
1:41:14 She was fantastic from TU.
1:41:15 She was recommended by Vivian Wang, who's the um vice provost over there.
1:41:20 It's gonna be the second second slide from the top.
1:41:24 Um, and so Betty came on this spring as an intern, and she majored in storytelling and marketing.
1:41:33 And so the stats here are from 180.
1:41:37 So Betty started in February.
1:41:39 By April, we saw an um an increase in our marketing stats.
1:41:43 So 118% increase in engagements, um, nearly 150% in post links and net audience growth.
1:41:51 Betty was fantastic, but what she was able to do was um help me with approvals and ideas, which led to this, right?
1:41:59 So we were able to turn out more marketing.
1:42:01 Um, some of the ideas I've had in the back of my mind for a while.
1:42:04 She was able to put like get that content together, give that to 180 and push that through.
1:42:09 So I definitely think it's worth um looking at and talked to um the administrative team about that, about bringing her on, maybe again in a part-time capacity to help support our marketing and communications.
1:42:22 But overall, great, we're doing well on our board retreat goals.
1:42:32 Oh, I just can't.
1:42:38 Uh, real quick on the incentives.
1:42:41 I won't beat this into the ground anymore.
1:42:44 You guys see most of these every month, just little incremental project updates here.
1:42:49 So Fair Oaks continues to be pretty well teed up.
1:42:52 We are at the initiation of the L Dark stage.
1:42:56 We hope to begin that here in June, maybe depending on people's schedules, it might be pushed out.
1:43:04 The downtown area, we are still having conversations with the the Phil Cade developer about next steps on that project.
1:43:14 We actually talked about this inside of the incentive committee already this month, and that will circle back eventually.
1:43:22 It is their intent to pursue conduit finance, so it will come back to the board.
1:43:32 Um revisions that the developers involved in all of those different TIFs are requesting that we make.
1:43:39 Just to refresh your memory, that requires a major amendment to the project plan.
1:43:43 So it's basically like we were starting, starting everything over again on the future projects.
1:43:55 The mics are on, yes.
1:43:57 Um for the future projects, we are doing two additional development project plans inside of District 7.
1:44:05 Those are um in the early stages, but we have crafted all the authorizing documents and we'll start moving those through uh in the coming month.
1:44:15 We have the peak on the parkway project plan, which is the first TIFF project plan for Osage County teed up.
1:44:22 Um I note in here, you know, the passing of the county commissioner who's over that particular district.
1:44:28 We want to be respectful and give a little bit of time before we start reaching out to them to start participating in that process.
1:44:36 Uh aside from that, I John, would you mind standing up?
1:44:39 Um most of you have met John Taker over the years in one of his many capacities, either at NCOG or in his planning functions or in his educational endeavors.
1:44:52 John is a wonderful asset, and I'm happy to have him on our team.
1:44:57 Um I would point out, you know, Renita did um a great job of introducing everybody, but we also have another intern who's with us.
1:45:07 Yeah, she has here.
1:45:09 Sheena, would you like to to stand up and say, just say hi?
1:45:15 Sheena is our new interest.
1:45:17 She started this week um from NYU Tulsa.
1:45:19 She is originally at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus, and she is our data and research intern um for this summer, the next 10 weeks.
1:45:27 So she'll be working on reports, um, working closely with incentives team as well.
1:45:31 So excited to have her on.
1:45:35 That's all for incentives for now.
1:45:53 I think that'd be another slide.
1:45:57 I don't have control of the slides.
1:46:00 Oh, not me, come on.
1:46:03 I just have the agenda.
1:46:21 So I'll try to project.
1:46:24 So the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, we did some work with that project uh during the past month.
1:46:30 We had some meetings regarding 22 North Utica, and we also got a great tour of the Tulsa Square project, which is a hotel at the in the 31st Memorial Area that's being converted to apartments.
1:46:46 As far as community work, we met with the CEO and housing director for Mental Health Association of Oklahoma.
1:46:54 Uh we uh had the pleasure of working with um housing for communities to do a senior housing program, and uh we sponsored that.
1:47:06 They considered us a sponsor since we help coordinate and plan the program, so it was nice to be in Oklahoma City and see the partner Tulsa name splashed everywhere continually throughout the day.
1:47:17 So that was cool.
1:47:18 Um and we also communicated with Ascension regarding their health equity grant.
1:47:24 And lastly, we did a lot of work on just home over the past uh month.
1:47:29 We've talked to our developer uh continuously, met with our finance and budget committee.
1:47:35 Uh we are in process working on the loan agreement, and in fact, that's why our loan agreement was not presented today because McArthur has not returned to us that loan agreement.
1:47:47 Uh we've held meetings with urban uh probably two during the past month, and we had a site tour to go through and see the project that's uh proposed to be built for this program.
1:48:02 And uh it's a busy month, so that's kind of where we are.
1:48:15 Yeah, so just to hit the quick highlights.
1:48:18 Um we've made a lot of progress uh on the um implementation of the uh the 2D grant, which is really not the TV grant, it's a innovative finance and asset consent session grant, as you guys know, related to the implementation of the Patrick High Schream and Master Plan.
1:48:29 Um Gretchen has uh been uh working very uh extensively with our consultant teams.
1:48:40 We had a stakeholder meeting last week to go over the preliminary progress on the um the uh current conditions assessment, the market analysis, and then the preliminary needs assessment.
1:48:53 That meeting went very well with the group of stakeholders.
1:48:55 Um, and then subsequently uh yesterday uh we had uh Gretchen along with our consultants hosted the first technical advisory committee uh meeting, which includes some of our TDA commissioners uh as well as uh some community uh community members, city staff, um, to talk about the the preliminary findings from the technical work.
1:49:16 So um and the next uh really the next step is then to take that preliminary information and uh and to take that out to the community to begin some of our first community engagement uh efforts around what it will take to do the implementation of uh what was envisioned in the plan.
1:49:33 So the progress on that again is moving uh uh well, and uh the work so far has been well received and provided a lot of value add to the process.
1:49:44 So uh that's going well.
1:49:46 Um the other thing is we will be uh again, this is really more for TDA.
1:49:51 We'll be bringing an agreement forward to do uh an addition to the contract.
1:49:56 We have the funds available in the grant budget.
1:49:58 We're gonna have to rework the grant budget a little bit, but we'll be bringing uh an engagement order for TDA approval on uh adding an $80,000 addition to the contract to do engineering analysis and hydrology analysis on uh the Kirpatrick Heights Cream and Master Plan area.
1:50:14 Um we've preliminary identified that there are um significant gaps in the master plan with regards to infrastructure, water, sewer, and primarily stormwater.
1:50:23 So there's there is a big uh concern around stormwater, particularly on the west side of the patriot heights and master plan, and we're engaging uh in a scope change and in addition to the high-pround contract to do that work.
1:50:37 Uh you already know uh INES presented to you the uh community impact initiative.
1:50:41 We're moving forward that cohort and Inez is managing that process.
1:50:44 She brought you that fourth contract uh forward today for your approval, and uh next steps Inez is working with the selected um grantees on training, and so she's planning a the first training session in uh June.
1:51:03 Okay, other items.
1:51:08 Okay, we're gonna put that on this question.
1:51:18 Thanks, you guys.
1:51:19 I really wanted to take this time.
1:51:21 We've had a lot of activities over the last month and business attraction.
1:51:25 We spent a good bit at the last month on the road, uh, between the next gen site selectors conference and select USA following up with all those leads.
1:51:35 Really the thing I wanted to focus on for our time that we have is just introducing you to Maria Almida, um, who is our new director of small business and entrepreneurship.
1:51:44 And so I'll let you just introduce yourself.
1:51:47 Thank you so much.
1:51:49 Uh very happy to be here, very happy to be part of our partner tools.
1:51:54 Um, just with a lot of expectations about continue supporting a small business uh entrepreneurs in the city of Tulsa, both in English and Spanish.
1:52:04 Very happy about that.
1:52:05 Um yeah, just trying to bring technical assistance programs, awareness about how we can uh help other organizations and be like that center for everybody to know about the great things that we can do for small businesses in Tulsa.
1:52:26 We have a slide after here that's our summary of business attraction activities.
1:52:31 Um I'll just highlight a couple of things here.
1:52:34 Um, one of our site visits, Project Elevate uh last week, and then we have another one next week, both large scale related.
1:52:43 Um one of them is manufacturing, one of them is back office operations, and continue to work on bringing more of those opportunities in.
1:52:53 Thanks for showing this room.
1:52:59 Is that the conclusion of our staff report deck?
1:53:04 Looks like it might be.
1:53:07 Good work, staff team.
1:53:13 I would uh move us on to item 18, trustee requests for future agenda items relevant to trust business.
1:53:21 As usual, we'll come up with some, but we don't have any in mind at the moment.
1:53:26 Item 19 is uh new business.
1:53:28 I'm not aware of any new business.
1:53:30 And before we adjourn, I want to make special note of uh our colleague and trustee uh Elian for her long service on this board.
1:53:39 Thank you so much for the time and the effort that you have given.
1:53:42 You noted this is your your last meeting with us, but we appreciate all of the investment of your uh skill and and the care that you've shown uh on behalf of the organization and to each of us as well.
1:53:55 Really enjoy getting to work with you.
1:53:57 It has been uh what a journey, last 10 years.
1:54:01 Um but I I learned so much, and of course I'm I'm just happy to serve my community to have a voice for my people, and then I take away the friendship of from each one of you and uh looking forward for my replacement and be texting the mayor to remind me.
1:54:22 In the meeting, uh, because it's very important to have a seat here that's somebody that had the knowledge, you know, and the ethics to help make decisions, but thank you.
1:54:31 I'm grateful for this opportunity.
1:54:34 Just one quick note.
1:54:36 How perfect that we announced the small business person who is bilingual to the staff of Tayo after Ellion for two years I've been here has been pushing for exactly that.
1:54:50 So thank you for your push and for your input.
1:54:53 I have I have some goals in mind, and I wasn't gonna leave, you know, until I see some things happening, and uh one of them to hire an psychological director that you know of the level that we did and hire somebody by evil, and it has been you hear me for two years.
1:55:11 I've been saying this for longer than three years.
1:55:13 So I'm leaving feeling very uncomfortable.
1:55:16 And um, I mean, I my goal right now is to focus on um East USA.
1:55:21 I'm part of the CDC, I'm four member, and it's just that I was doing two big roles, partner TOSA and the CDC and East USA, and um that is my priority, but I was holding on partners before I leave, so those two major things happened, and yes, it was it was like when it happened, I was like, this is the time, but thank you for that.
1:55:43 Thank you so much.
1:55:46 Trustees, without objection, we are adjourned.