Hutto council keeps EDC board

Board, council ease tensions during Monday meeting

By JEFF CASPERSEN/Leader Staff

It took quite a bit of dirt, but the hatchet was buried.

Mellowed attitudes and compromise resulted in progress between Hutto's City Council and its Economic Development Corporation board.

While tempers raged early at Monday's council meeting, the two sides eventually pushed aside the bad blood and began ironing out an EDC budget.

An item calling for the dismissal of the entire EDC board headlined Monday's agenda, sparking a swirling mess of emotion and a sordid exchange of verbal blows.

Councilmember Jerry Fowler proposed the item, which failed by a 3-2 vote. Fowler and fellow councilmember Jeff Phillips were upset with the EDC after a series of missed meetings and questions about the legality of certain EDC practices. Chiefly, the EDC had not been seeking council approval before making project expenditures, something required under the guidelines of the 1979 Development Corporation Act.

Fowler expressed his frustration with the EDC's lack of compliance with the law.

"Either they did not full understand what they were volunteering for, or it was not made clear to them that they need to answer to the city council and conduct business according to state law, in which case they were operating in ignorance to the law. Either that or they chose to ignore it, in which case they were operating in defiance of the law, which is stupidity," suggested Fowler, adding, "Ignorance is curable. Stupidity is terminal."

Fowler's comments did not sit well with HEDC Board President Ron Whitfield.

"To say we're stupid is pretty sad," Whitfield said. "That's all I can say. I'm not going to step down. I know we're doing a good job. I don't know of one person in this room that doesn't make mistakes, and a lot of them."

The back-and-forth sparring aggravated councilmember Tony Franzen.

"This whole thing sounds like a group of elementary school boys out behind the fence," he said.

The issue surfaced when the corporation, which derives its money from sales tax revenue and uses it to entice businesses to open up shop in Hutto, approved contributing funds, $19,000 this year and the same sum next year, to building a 20-foot tall, 40-foot long fiberglass hippo -- Hutto High School's mascot -- on Hutto ISD property near HIghway 79.

Councilmembers questioned the legality of such an expenditure, prompting Phillips, among others, to investigate proper EDC procedures. Further research revealed that the council reserves the right to approve or reject any project proposed by the corporation, as well as the EDC's budget.

Irritated that this practice had not been in effect at any time during the corporation's history, the council scheduled a series of workshops to iron out an EDC operating budget for the 2002-03 fiscal year.

No EDC board member attended the most recent council meeting, despite a scheduled workshop. Feeling snubbed, the council responded by freezing the EDC's spending ability, save an exception made for covering payroll expenses.

At the Oct. 7 meeting, the two sides made limited progress in working out a budget. Therefore, the Oct. 21 no-show elevated the council's frustration with the EDC to a new level. While prior engagements and family illness were furnished as reasons for the absence, a faction of the council did not buy it.

After extended discussion, plenty of air-clearing and the eventual vote to retain the EDC board, the two sides eventually did begin hammering out budget details Monday night. A budget workshop will be held Nov. 13 to clear up all the final details. The city council also unfroze the corporation's spending ability, although any project must be approved by the council prior to pursuit.

EDC board member Barbara Kaman stressed that the whole dispute was merely a misunderstanding and vows her board will comply with the rules from now on.

"Until recently, we didn't know we had to get city council approval for any projects we might give money to," she reasoned. "I'm quite sure that if we remain on the board, we'll get approval for any project. We just want guidance from the city council."

Contact Jeff Caspersen at 255-5827 or by e-mail at jeff@rrleader.com.