The Odessa Development Corporation may soon have an outside law firm and a new accounting firm checking on grantees and their contracts.
Several months ago, members of the ODC board split into small committees to vet outside law firms and accounting firms.
ODC Chair Kris Crow and board member Jeff Russell had concerns at the length of time the accounting firm of Weaver and Tidwell had been given the responsibility of making sure companies had met the benchmarks spelled out in their contracts and were entitled to their grant incentives.
Not only had it been a long time since anyone else had been given the opportunity to bid on the job, but Crow said the ODC compliance committee had found issues Weaver had missed.
The board also decided they were interested in occasionally having someone other than a city attorney writing and/or reviewing contracts, particularly in cases where the grantees are large corporations like Nacero.
The board has talked about amending the language used in incentive performance contracts so everyone has a better idea about when capital expenditures qualify and what constitutes a “discrepancy” or “construction.”
The board needs to determine, for example, if a company is in the construction phase if it’s only been plugging wells or conducting environmental studies? Or must they have broken ground?
Last month, ODC member Melanie Hollmann said she and fellow board members David Boutin and Larry Robinson had spoken with a law firm that was willing to work for the city at $1,000 an hour.
On Thursday, Hollmann said they met and spoke with Jeff Moore of Brown and Hofmeister, who said he would charge the city $250 an hour.
Hollmann described his experience representing economic development corporations and working with municipalities as “impressive” and his overall skills as having “hit the bullseye.”
He was a city attorney in Austin and he worked on an economic development handbook while the head of the Texas Attorney General’s Office’s Municipal Affairs Section, Hollmann said. He currently represents about 40 economic development corporations.
His firm caters to municipal organizations and that’s why his hourly billing is so affordable, Hollmann said. He’s also the city attorney for several small communities.
According to the Brown and Hofmeister website, Moore goes around the state speaking on economic development for Texas cities, including sales taxes, Chapter 380 agreements, tax abatement agreements, tax increment financing, the Texas Open Meetings Act, and the Texas Public Information Act.
She, Boutin and Robinson spoke with a third attorney, but even he recommended Moore, Hollmann said.
The board agreed Hollmann and the others should meet with Interim City Attorney Dan Jones as to how they might work with Moore. Once they come up with a game plan, they’ll present it to the Odessa City Council.
Hollmann said when Moore gave them his hourly rate she had him repeat it and it came as a pleasant surprise.
As for an auditing firm, the city put out a request for proposals in July, but only Weaver and one other firm expressed interest and the second firm never returned phone calls.
Crow later reached out to Whitley Penn to try to convince them to submit a bid.
On Thursday, Odessa Director of Finance Larry Fry told the board Weaver offered to continue doing the same work they’ve been doing for $8,500 per report, but they also offered a second, less expensive option, Fry said.
If city staff or the ODC worked with the grantees to gather all of the relevant documentation, they agreed to check for compliance and charge $5,000 per report, he said.
Fry noted Weaver has often had to go back to grantees multiple times to get the documents they need to verify they are in compliance with their contract.
Whitley Penn offered to check on grantees’ compliance for $6,500 a report, Fry said.
The board voted unanimously to ask the Odessa City Council to hire Whitley Penn.
They also agreed Whitley Penn should reach out to Tom Manskey, the director of economic development for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, or his staff prior to the compliance review for assistance in getting the correct documents from the grantees.
