Mayor Roy West said the City of Beaumont has taken several steps this year to promote business growth downtown and attract private investment.

"We've hired the city's first economic development manager to actively promote economic development here in our city," Mayor Roy West said, adding that the city "passed the TERS, which is a tax increment reinvestment zone that gives us money to reinvest in our downtown area and promote business growth and development." He also said, "The council and I have recently hired Stonehenge Holdings to do predevelopment for a full service convention center hotel on Main Street in Downtown Beaumont along the Natchez River."

The mayor described the TERS as a tool to generate reinvestment dollars for downtown projects. He said Stonehenge Holdings will perform predevelopment work for a convention center hotel; West did not provide a construction timeline or final cost estimate for that project.

West also cited a separate private-sector project tied to regional industry: "We're actively partnering with ExxonMobil on a $100,000,000 plus advanced recycling plant for the Beaumont refinery. It will mean more jobs and will bring advanced recycling to Beaumont," he said. The mayor did not specify what city approvals, permits or incentives, if any, have been granted for that project.

No formal council actions or votes were reported in the address. West framed the initiatives as steps already taken (hiring and ordinance adoption) or in early development (predevelopment and private-sector partnership).