Haslet HCEDC Type B Board suspends Building Improvement Grant Program for legal review

The Haslet HCEDC Type B Board voted unanimously Feb. 26, 2025, to suspend its Building Improvement Grant Program pending legal review after members raised concerns that the program lacks written performance agreements and may not comply with the statute governing economic development corporations.

Board member Mister Mayer, who presented the item, said the program — described in board materials alternately as a "business development program" and a "business improvement program" — appears to predate 2014 and contains inconsistent language about matching amounts. "Stop. Second paragraph, first sentence. The business improvement program offers a 50% matching grant up to $10,000. Okay. Tell me which one is it," Mayer said, referring to a separate passage that lists a 50% match up to $5,000. "The big program doesn't have anything like that...so what I'm asking is that you just suspend this program for further evaluation," he said.

Mayer told the board he had reviewed a comptroller notice about performance agreements and discussed the matter with the board's attorney, Jeremy Page. "I have spoke[n] to... Jeremy Page, the attorney, and he agrees," Mayer said, arguing the grant lacks accountability language such as job-retention schedules, capital-investment thresholds, repayment terms, and written performance agreements. Mayer also said the program text obligates staff to provide technical assistance and design help — obligations he said have not been accounted for.

A board member moved to suspend the program "pending legal review of the document, to a more satisfactory version." A second was called, and the chair put the question. "All those in favor? It is unanimous," the chair said; the motion to suspend carried with no recorded negative votes. The board did not record an individual roll call in the transcript. The suspension is explicitly pending a legal review; the board did not adopt revisions or set a timeline for completion during the meeting.

Earlier in the meeting, the chair read the board into executive session under Government Code Section 551.072 "deliberation regarding real property purchase exchange lease or value of real property" to discuss sale and acquisition of HCEDC properties. The board returned to open session at 7:29 p.m. and announced there was no action taken from executive session.

Board members and staff also asked staff to locate where the program materials were posted; Mayer said Katrina White found the document "out there somewhere in the Ethernet." The chair directed that the suspension be placed on the record so staff and legal counsel can complete their review. The board briefly discussed moving its regular meeting time and asked to place that item on a future agenda.

What the suspension means: the program remains paused while legal counsel and staff evaluate statutory compliance, required performance terms, and internal accountability measures. The meeting transcript does not specify a deadline for the review, a replacement policy, nor individual vote tallies beyond the board's unanimous affirmation.