The Board of Directors of the Bonham Economic Development Corporation met for their regular meeting on Tuesday, August 5.

First item on the agenda was the approval of the minutes for June 17, 2003 special meeting, the minutes for July 3, 2003 regular meeting and the financial report for July.

Board member Richard Danner expressed his concerns about the trees that are dead along the Heritage District and feels that a professional is needed to take care of all the landscaping in the Heritage District. Emily Porter supported Richard on this matter and Tom Johnson was asked to check into this.

BEDCO’S decision to hire a Marketing Director has been put on hold until legal issues concerning the job description have been addressed and corrected.

The owner of the building (formerly CASA’s office) at 204 E. Fifth, has offered to lease the space to BEDCO for $1 per year. Danner suggested that this might be a good place for the Executive Directors office as well as the new Marketing Director and a temporary place for the visitor’s center. The motion died for lack of a second.

In other business the board approved:

• Six-month lease with the Dallas, Garland, and the Northeastern Railroad on approximately forty acres of land in the Powder Creek area.

• A request from Executive Director, Tom Johnson, to allocate not more than thirty five thousand dollars to "clear & clean" approximately forty acres of land in the Powder Creek area, and

• Jack Lipscomb is to replace Jeff Kincaid on the signature card on BEDCO’s checking account.

Executive Director, Tom Johnson, presented the 2003-2004 operating budget recommendations. The final figure the Director came up with was $446,577 for expenses, including the new Marketing Director.

The board went into Executive Session to consider purchase and value of real property for future use. They returned to open session with no action taken.