Agenda Item Wording:
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Membership Agreement - Authorize continued membership in the Tulare County Economic Development Corporation through December 2025 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025/2026 in the amount of $30,000 while staff assesses current and alternative service options.
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Deadline for Action: 10/6/2025
Submitting Department: Community Development
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Devon Jones, Economic Development Manager, devon.jones@visalia.gov, (559) 713-4190
Paul Bernal, Planning and Community Preservation Director, paul.bernal@visalia.city, (559) 713-4025
Department Recommendation:
Receive a report from the Tulare County Economic Development Corporation (TCEDC) and continue membership for FY 25/26 through December 2025 in the amount of $30,000, direct staff to assess current and other potential service options for the remainder of FY 25/26 and report back to Council on these potential options.
Background Discussion:
The TCEDC is providing the attached report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024/25 activity and requesting continued membership for the City of Visalia for the FY 25/26 in the amount of $60,000 (budgeted in Economic Development division budget). In general, staff believes there is value in partnering in regional efforts to promote economic development. However, due to the City’s own efforts to provide a high quality industrial park with many viable ‘shovel ready’ industrial sites, coupled with the efforts of a highly invested industrial development community of well-established speculative builders, property owners, local industrial real estate brokers, and the close partnership with the Visalia EDC and other strategic economic development partners such as the Tulare County WIB and the COS Training Resource Center, it is difficult to assert that all of the services TCEDC offers are necessary for continued growth in the industrial park. Currently, several other TCEDC member jurisdictions are scrutinizing the return on investment of TCEDC membership in its current configuration and with the current work program in place. It is Staff’s understanding that several jurisdictions have not yet signed contracts or paid for the current fiscal year dues.
Given these issues, staff recommends working with other jurisdictions to determine what service alternatives may exist or if there were service modifications that TCEDC could provide to demonstrate more value. Given TCEDC has continued to provide services since the beginning of the fiscal year, and it will take some time to determine if there are feasible alternatives, staff would recommend paying the first half of the annual membership amount through the end of December 2025. Staff will return at a later date to seek Council authority to proceed with the remaining budget for these services for the remainder of the FY.
TCEDC prospect inquiries are mostly industrial in nature, though TCEDC’s real estate database (<https://tularecountyedc.giswebtechguru.com/>) markets commercial properties of various types and their broker and site selector network may also represent other types of projects such as retail. City staff works closely with TCEDC staff on prospect activity and ongoing marketing of the city. The report indicates some metrics pertaining to Visalia project leads, with a brief synopsis on those metrics as follows:
- Two shortlist projects include:
o RFI 1136-24 which was a large distribution/warehousing use that was seeking 165 acres to build a 1.75M square foot facility. Ultimately, this prospect is now only considering the Southern US region, but staff made a valuable site selector contact in the process.
o The second is RFI 1147-24 which is a waste to manufacturing company seeking 150K square foot of space. Staff is still in discussion with this prospect.
- There were three site tours, all of which were associated with RFI 1136-24. One took place in November 2024, another in January 2025, and the last in March 2025.
- The four assists included:
o 1131-24A: Manufacturer represented by developer seeking introduction to City of Visalia
o 139-24A: Nonprofit inquiry regarding real estate
o 1150-24A: Retail real estate inquiry
o 1151-24A: Biomass feedstock manufacturer
The attached report includes strategic goals for the coming fiscal year. Also attached to this report is a mock prospect response packet as provided by TCEDC. These are the packets of information that are sent on the participating jurisdiction’s behalf in response to any prospect RFIs that may have eligible sites for the prospect to consider. The TCEDC’s goal with these are to get any of the participating jurisdictions’ sites ‘short-listed.’ Once short-listed, site selectors or brokers (or in some cases, company representatives themselves) then follow up with the TCEDC to get more in-depth information on those sites of interest or to set up site visits. At this point, typically city staff, community representatives or in some cases, brokers that represent the sites of interest, take over the process. In most cases, City staff work in tandem with the appropriate brokers and property ownership.
TCEDC membership for the entire FY 25/26 would be the same amount as this year, $60,000. This amount is currently budgeted in the Economic Development division budget. Last FY, the City made biannual payments of $30,000.
Fiscal Impact:
$30,000 from the Economic Development Division budget, budgeted at $60,000.
Prior Council Action:
• 06.17.2024 - Authorized continued membership,
• 08.07.2023 - authorized increase in membership cost to $60,000,
• 04.17.2023 - authorized continued membership
Other: N/A
Alternatives: Per Council direction
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to receive the update report from the TCEDC, to authorize staff to continue membership through December 2025 for Fiscal Year 2025/2026 in the amount of $30,000, and direct staff to assess current and alternative service options.end
Environmental Assessment Status: N/A
CEQA Review: N/A
Attachments:
• Attachment 1 - TCEDC report and mock prospect response packet
• Attachment 2 - PowerPoint Presentation