The Hutto Economic Development Corporation unanimously approved minutes from its Dec. 9, 2024 meeting and accepted the corporation’s December financial report, each by a 7-0 vote.

City Controller Christina Bishop presented the financial report and told the board the corporation’s finances are tracking to plan: “your expenses are tracking well. Your sales taxes are tracking well. You’re at exactly 25% through 3 months, of your budget, which is perfect.” She said the ledger currently shows a $655,000 deficit only because an outstanding reimbursement to the corporation for a previously issued check (Jordan Foster) has not yet been received; once that reimbursement posts the corporation would show a surplus of roughly $1 million. Bishop also explained a returned check to a vendor (positive-pay issue for Red Trucking) is being reissued and will be processed in the current signing stack.

The board then discussed a draft incentive application form that staff has built for the CivicServe platform (an online incentive-management module the city uses). Staff said the form is intended to be a smart, online application that reveals questions conditional on prior answers; the board decided not to publish the form until members have time to review and coordinate feedback with the city council. Staff will circulate the draft and provide screenshots or administrative access for review; the board agreed to place the item on the February meeting agenda for formal feedback.

Board members also spent substantial time discussing proposed bylaw amendments for the Type A and Type B corporations. Proposed changes — which board members asked staff and legal counsel to redline and return for formal consideration at the next meeting — would include clearer duties of the board, a semiannual reporting cadence to city council, clarification of powers and permissible activities, a review of whether ETJ residents may serve (board members noted state law limits for Type B corporations), explicit references to public information obligations, and housekeeping language tying the corporation’s fiscal year to the city’s fiscal year. Members also raised two operational proposals to include in the bylaw review: (1) authority for a corporation-level purchasing/credit card to reduce reimbursement paperwork and (2) limited delegated authority for staff to sign low-risk instruments such as routine rights-of-entry to avoid project delays. Board members asked legal counsel to review proposed delegation language and for staff to prepare redlined bylaws showing suggested edits for a vote at the February meeting.

No additional expenditures were approved at the meeting; the board did ratify non-substantive date corrections to a prior resolution and a second amendment to an option agreement related to Project Sequel, as reflected in the packet. Board members also discussed ongoing coordination with the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership and upcoming community events such as the Chamber Gala.

Next steps: staff will circulate the incentive-application draft and screenshots for review, work with legal counsel on bylaw redlines and any proposed signature/delegation language, and present formal bylaw amendments and the incentive form for board action at the February meeting.