ODC cuts Hispanic chamber funding
Odessa Development Corp. members were crunching numbers down to the last cent, finally deciding to limit funding to the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce during the ODC monthly meeting Thursday.
ODC members Austin Keith, Kris Crow and Frank Deaderick decided to allocate $45,000 to the OHCC and approved the amount as part of ODC’s 2011-2012 budget. ODC members Charles Carlson and Rick Carlton were absent from the meeting.
The amount is 35 percent of OHCC’s total expenses of $128,675, included in the chamber’s 2012 proposed budget. OHCC president Manny Puga said he dedicates 35 percent of his time on ODC matters, trying to bring industrial and manufacturing jobs to Odessa. ODC members applied that 35 percent to the total expenses to determine the $45,000 amount.
“I’m too pissed to talk right now,” Puga said after the meeting, refusing to comment on the situation further.
Raymond Chavez, owner of Major Electric, said he helped Puga on the OHCC budget and thought the funds were too low.
“They got it wrong. It’s supposed to be 75 percent,” Chavez said on Puga’s dedication to ODC matters.
The amount further reduced Puga’s second funding request of $94,000.
ODC president Austin Keith made a proposal to the board to either cease funding completely to the OHCC or provide the $45,000. ODC members voted on the $45,000, with the stipulation that Puga improves reporting OHCC funds to ODC in the future and improves results on providing more manufacturing and industrial jobs in Odessa.
Keith said since the ODC began funding the Hispanic chamber in 2006, the chamber has only produced two contracts, both of which were made in 2008. ODC gave a $25,000 grant to Navarrete Industries and a $16,640 grant to Antonio Porras doing business as T and R Enterprises, Keith said. Twelve new jobs were created from those contracts.
ODC functions under the regulations that the organization must only make industrial and manufacturing expenditures to qualify for 4-A sales-tax incentives. During the August ODC meeting, Keith said around 71 percent of the funds they were giving to the chamber were going toward payroll.
“When you look at the overall main concern, it’s the return of investment,” Keith said. “We’re not seeing the return on our investment.”
Keith suggested after the meeting that the chamber network and make contacts locally to find more companies.
During the economic agency reports, Puga reported to the board that he is in serious discussions with a company from Mexico that builds “cherry pickers” and tool boxes for trucks and other equipment. Titled “Project Cherry Picker,” the project would bring in 30 to 40 people to assemble equipment.
Puga also told the board that OHCC members visited with 14 manufacturing companies in August and mailed out 20 letters to companies, which they plan to visit this month.
The OHCC funds were the only business incentives to change in the final resolutions of the ODC 2011-2012 budget and the 2011-2012 outside agency contracts. ODC’s proposed total expenditures are $15,217,529, of which $12,394,217 will be spent on business incentives.
The board also amended a contract with Coca-Cola Refreshments USA to change ODC’s original payment date from Dec. 31, 2011, to Dec. 1, 2012. The change will give ODC enough time to determine how many employees Coca-Cola hired within their contract’s termination date.
ODC members also heard economic agency reports from MOTRAN, the Odessa Chamber of Commerce and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. CVA Advertising and Marketing gave their committee report.
