City Workshop Series – Texoma Council of Governments

TCOG City Series: Tapping the Funding Source for Water Infrastructure Needs

Eric Bridges — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:20:56 +0000

Join us for a live session featuring guest speaker Scott Galaway, Outreach Specialist with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). Mr. Galaway will elaborate on the diverse ways in which the TWDB can support local communities in funding their water infrastructure projects. The TWDB offers financial assistance programs for drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and flood mitigation projects.

Click here to register.

TCOG City Series: Trends in Economic and Workforce Development

Eric Bridges — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 15:12:16 +0000

Thanks to the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Community Development Block Grant program for Rural Texas, Texoma Council of Government is proud to host a Live webinar on July 25th from 12pm – 1 pm. TCOG has been fortunate enough to procure the services of Alysia Cook with Opportunity Strategies, LLC to speak with communities of Cooke, Grayson and Fannin.

As many know, primary objective of the TxCDBG program is to develop viable communities by providing decent housing, suitable living environments while expanding economic opportunities principally for persons of low to moderate income. Alysia will bring that objective to life during this 1 hour webinar by presenting cutting-edge economic and workforce development trends – any community will be inspired for the transformation that is on the horizon. We welcome you to come and learn innovative strategies for growth and prosperity.

Click here to register.

The Alphabets Soup of City Funding, PIDs, TIFs, TIRZs and Others

TCOG — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 21:36:42 +0000

TCOG hosted a City Series session on 08/16/2022, The Alphabet Soup of City Funding, Tools & Policies to Enhance the Local Planning and economic development, business environment & regional benefit.

Speaker: Joey Grisham is a long-time community and economic development professional, currently serving as the City of Anna Economic Development Director. Since his arrival in Feb. 2019, Joey has recruited and facilitated multiple deals including mixed-use developments, retail, medical, and industrial projects. He previously served as Asst. Director of Economic Development Director in Rowlett and Director of Business Recruitment for the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce. While in Irving, he worked on many successful office and industrial deals including McKesson, Atos, Pioneer Natural Resources, Verizon, Oki Data, Hilti Tools, and many more. He has also served as Director of the Hutto EDC and Lake Granbury EDC. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Mississippi, a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Memphis, and a Master of Science degree in Economic Development from the University of Southern Mississippi and is a member of the International Economic Development Council, Texas Economic Development Council, NTCAR, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Managing Growth, The Fiscal Impacts of Development

TCOG — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 21:39:46 +0000

TCOG hosted a City Series session on 05/24/2022, Managing Growth, The Fiscal Impacts of Development, Tools & Policies to Enhance the Local Planning and economic development, business environment & regional benefit.

Speaker: Kevin Shepherd (Verdunity)

Kevin is a licensed engineer with over 27 years of experience in civil engineering, planning, site development and municipal finance. He spent 17 years at global A/E firm HDR as a leader of the Dallas office’s municipal services program and later as National Director of the Community Planning + Urban Design market sector. In 2011, he founded Verdunity to provide people and resource-focused planning and engineering solutions to progressive cities and developers seeking to move beyond business as usual. Known for his willingness to challenge the status quo, Kevin enjoys educating others on fiscal and environmental impacts of various development patterns and thrives in environments where multiple perspectives must be brought together. Kevin has served as a Verifier for ISI’s Envision rating system and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the STAR Communities program is a vocal advocate for the non-profit group Strong Towns, and serves on the board of the North Texas chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He hosts the Go Cultivate! podcast and writes and speaks regularly on the topics of fiscally-based planning, small scale development, economic gardening and neighborhood revitalization.

TX-PACE Programs – Creating Budget Neutral Improvements

TCOG — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 21:46:32 +0000

Property Assessed Clean Energy (TX-PACE) is a proven financial tool that incentivizes Texas’ property owners to upgrade facility infrastructure with little or no capital outlay. Approved by State legislation and established by local governments, TX-PACE programs enable owners to lower their operating costs and use the savings to pay for eligible water conservation, energy efficiency, resiliency, and distributed generation projects. Owners gain access to private, affordable, long-term (typically 10-20 years) financing that is not available through traditional funding avenues.

Presented by Charlene Heydinger, president of the Texas PACE Authority, the nonprofit administrator of more than 45 Texas PACE programs. These programs have enabled over $105 million in new property investment in Texas to date.

Practical Suggestions for Helping Your Cities During COVID-19

TCOG — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 21:44:36 +0000

Lately we have all been really focused on the Coronavirus pandemic for the past few months and its devastating effects on our economy. We’re all looking for ways to help our communities rebuild, rebound, and recover and that’s what this webinar is all about.

Guest speakers include:

Jeff Moseley, CEO, Texas Association of Business
Steve Filipowicz, Executive Director, City of Bonham Economic Development Corporation
Audrey Schroyer, Executive Director, City of Gainesville Economic Development Corporation
William Myers, VP of Business Development, Denison Development Alliance

Municipal Budgeting 101

TCOG — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 21:41:06 +0000

This webinar covers the basics of municipal budgeting including:

Budget cycle, types, components, and calendars
Texas Local Government Code 102
Fund basics & tax rates
Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019

Presented by Terri Doby, Budget Manager for City of Anna, Texas.

Terri Doby is the budget manager of the City of Anna, Texas. She has twenty years of local government budget experience, with a strong background in overseeing the publication of annual budget documents, forecasting revenues, preparing multi-year financial plans, and five-year capital improvement plans. Terri is a Certified Government Finance Officer and also serves as a Government Finance Officers Association budget document reviewer. Prior to Anna, Terri has worked for the cities of Addison, Rowlett, Denton, and San Antonio, and Collin County. Prior to her time in municipal government, Terri taught high school social studies. She has a Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. Terri currently resides in Melissa, Texas with her husband Gary.

Building Business Community (Session 4C: Making Projects Possible – PACE)

TCOG — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:47:40 +0000

TCOG hosted an Economic Recovery & Resilience Workshop on 02/22/2022, Becoming A Resilient Region by Building our Business Community with Tools & Policies to Enhance the Local Business Environment & Regional Benefit.

Session 4C: Making Projects Possible by Charlene Heydinger (Texas PACE Authority, Austin) Charlene offered to create ways to make projects of all types possible by using the full set of tools and resources available. The discussion will include the use of the PACE program and more.)

To view the full-day workshop (Session 1, 2, 3, 4, 4B, 4C), go here:

Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAEJ7oZ0O0&t=0s

Booklet View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtpDuXrK2eU&t=0s

Building Business Community (Session 4B: Fiscal Health Builds Wealth-Funding)

TCOG — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:46:03 +0000

Session 4B: Making Projects Possible by Jim Webb (Goodman Corporation, Houston)

Jim offered to create ways to make projects of all types possible by using the full set of tools and resources available. The discussion will include the use of funding, grants, partnerships, development agreements, and more.)

To view the full-day workshop (Session 1, 2, 3, 4, 4B, 4C), go here:

Live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAEJ7oZ0O0&t=0s

Booklet view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtpDuXrK2eU&t=0s

Building Business Community (Session 4A: Making Projects Possible)

TCOG — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:44:58 +0000

Session 4A: Making Projects Possible by Tony Allender and Naina Magon (Hawes Hill & Associates, Houston)

Tonya, and Naina offered to create ways to make projects of all types possible by using the full set of tools and resources available. The discussion will include the use of special districts, partnerships, development agreements, and more.)

To view the full-day workshop (Session 1, 2, 3, 4, 4B, 4C), go here:

Live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAEJ7oZ0O0&t=0s

Booklet view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtpDuXrK2eU&t=0s