The Economic Development Partnership Board on Oct. 8 voted to move forward with consideration of a contract renewal for STOKE Denton — operated by Hickory and Rail Ventures — while asking staff to collect clearer performance metrics and a shorter work-plan summary for the board before future renewal action.

Heather Gregory, owner of Hickory and Rail Ventures, told the board she operates STOKE’s coworking and entrepreneur-support programs under a public–private partnership with the City of Denton and described growth since the partnership began in 2017. “We provide ecosystem building between the entrepreneurs that are in our membership,” Gregory said. She said STOKE now operates just under 12,000 square feet (expanded from roughly 9,000), with 28 private offices, three conference rooms and a larger community room, and that staff-run programming served roughly 100 member companies monthly (about 130–140 individuals) over the last year.

Gregory provided program results the board discussed: an 8.9 out of 10 member satisfaction rating, a 7.5 net promoter score, over $30,000 awarded to local businesses through a pitch competition, and cohort-based programs such as AccelerateHER (an incubator for female founders) and Spark (programming for creative entrepreneurs). She said the pitch competition produced winners who reported revenue and hiring gains; for example, one past winner’s revenue was reported to have grown 400% since participating.

Board members pressed for clearer, contract-level performance measures. Board chair Britney Saltillo and city staff said a written work plan exists and can be shared with the board; staff said the draft contract was on an expedited path through legal and will go to City Council Oct. 21. City staff suggested the board could provide feedback on specific performance metrics to be inserted into the contract. Board member Rick (last name on file) moved that the board request additional clarifying information and a concise summary of performance metrics to be provided before future renewal consideration; Amy (last name on file) seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The board did not change program funding levels at the meeting. The packet presented the proposed city funding amount for the program as $158,170 in the agenda materials; the board action was limited to recommending clarifying contract documentation and performance metrics to City Council, not to renegotiating the contract terms at the meeting.

Gregory and staff said STOKE’s programming emphasizes early-stage business formation and growth (participants generally in their first 1–8 years). Staff acknowledged some contract language and performance metrics were written earlier in the decade and proposed updating them to reflect 2025 priorities, including potential future focus on tech-sector recruiting in partnership with UNT.

Board members requested a short (one-page) summary of contract deliverables and measurable metrics to accompany future recommendations so the board can more easily evaluate whether the program is meeting the city’s economic-development objectives.

The board’s motion specifically asked staff to return with clarified performance metrics and a brief work-plan summary; staff indicated an extension of the current contract period was a possible option while performance metrics are updated but no extension was voted at the meeting.