Lago Vista EDC forms planning subcommittee, explores membership models and grant pipeline

The Lago Vista Economic Development Corporation on May 12 focused on how the newly incorporated EDC could fund and scale economic development projects without a dedicated sales‑tax base.

Tom Mullins, an economic development consultant who helped build a privately funded EDC in Tyler, told board members small communities can create effective programs through membership drives, contracting and targeted grant or loan funds. "We started the economic development group with 22 members and about a 150,000 in pledges," Mullins said, and later described how the organization grew to 122 investor/members and "a $10,000,000 balance sheet" over decades of development work. Mullins described membership tiers (annual fees ranging roughly $2,500 to $25,000), examples of contracting with a city, and the use of federal grants to seed revolving loan funds.

On financing tools Mullins described a common loan‑fund structure that pairs SBA and local capital: in his examples a 50/40/10 arrangement (50% SBA, 40% the EDC, 10% the entrepreneur) where the EDC holds a subordinated position to attract bank participation while supporting small business fixed‑asset loans.

Grant opportunities and match strategies were presented next by Britney McCoy of McCoy Consulting, who recommended pursuing several open and rolling programs — notably the T‑Mobile Hometown Grant (maximum $50,000; next window closes June 30), an AARP opportunity, a Texas Parks & Wildlife youth engagement grant (up to $40,000), Lowe's community nominations (up to $100,000), and a Department of Energy voucher program (examples cited near $90,000 for small communities). McCoy emphasized that volunteer labor and in‑kind equipment can be documented as match where allowed and recommended assembling a mix of executive letters of support and community signatures to strengthen applications.

Board members asked practical questions about membership value, ethics and bylaw limits on board members contributing in‑kind match; McCoy advised checking the EDC bylaws and the board’s attorney for conflicts and offered to provide sample budgets and volunteer‑match templates.

The board then considered how to convert planning needs into actionable work. Development services director Jordan Straumann briefed the group on the Unified Development Code reorganization and noted the city’s code still references the prior advisory committee name (EDAC) rather than the now‑incorporated EDC; staff and the city attorney will propose ordinance language to align code references. Straumann said Titles 1 and 2 of the UDC are drafted and the full UDC reorganization is expected to continue through summer with a target for adoption in August or September.

Action taken: the board voted unanimously to form a three‑member subcommittee to evaluate and initiate discussions with planning assistance firms and to develop an approach for economic development planning and strategy. The motion was made by David Von Alarkey and seconded by Don Jondrow; the chair and the two members will meet to review prequalified firms and the city’s vetted vendor list and report back. The board also approved the April 14 meeting minutes with two corrections (removing an incorrect reference to a certificate of occupancy for a Dairy Queen item and adding a last name for a golf committee member).

What happens next: McCoy will send sample application materials and budget templates; Mullins offered to share revolving‑loan fund documents with staff; the new subcommittee will begin vendor outreach and develop budget estimates and a scope to present to council if assistance (including possible use of hotel occupancy tax or other sources) is recommended.