City and MEDC staff used the board meeting to announce several community-facing initiatives and program updates, including a public input meeting on street safety, plans for a community-led approach to homelessness, and details of new and expanded CDC grants for neighborhood resources.

Paul Grimes, city manager, said early voting is open at City Hall's second floor and noted the city will hold a public input meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 for the Safe Streets McKinney initiative, which will solicit public feedback on speeding and high-injury roadways and intersections. "This is an opportunity for the public to get involved, share their perspective, and be a part of that process," Grimes said.

Cindy, representing the McKinney Community Development Corporation (CDC), told the board the CDC concluded its FY25 grant cycle with two retail infrastructure grants: one for a strip center called 380 Marketplace across from Raytheon and a second for infrastructure at the Cotton Mill. Cindy said the CDC also approved an amended request to increase funding for a community resource neighbor hub from $500,000 to $1,700,000. She said Catholic Charities of Dallas will be a significant partner, Nourishing Neighbors will open a food pantry, Catholic Charities will operate a medical clinic at the site (moving from Medical City), and the CDC is working on securing pharmacy and other service providers. "Scott Elliott and his team at 1 Heart McKinney will serve as the navigators when people come in, and shepherd them to the resources that are needed," Cindy said.

Aaron Warner, executive director of Visit McKinney, reported exceptionally high hotel occupancy related to recent events: "Friday, we had 94.5% occupancy in the city of McKinney. Saturday, 95.4% occupancy," he said, adding an average daily rate near $138 per night during that weekend. Warner also noted McKinney will host the NCAA Division II National Football Championship on Dec. 20 and a FanFest on Dec. 19.

MEDC staff highlighted other organizational items: two summer interns will present final projects in the coming weeks; the city's public works team was nominated for excellence at the Trimble Innovate 2025 Users Conference and uses technology such as Cityworks and drone heat imaging for leak detection; and the MEDC reported a pipeline of roughly $1.3 billion in potential capital investment representing over 5,000 jobs across 46 projects (staff noted that number has decreased as agreements were executed).

Ending: Board members were reminded that several homelessness ordinances and the Better Together initiative would appear on the city council work session and council meeting agendas; the board did not take policy action on those items but was briefed on the upcoming council discussion.