One of the most exasperating things to see over 22 years of “economic development” is the ridiculous amount of conventions, courses, webinars, summits, workshops, clinics, and travel these “economic developers” waste mountains of time and money on.
If all of these clinics and workshops worked so well, why are you still going to them after 22 years? Reminds me of “couples therapy” that lasts for 5 years. If you can’t figure your shit out long before that, you are clearly being ripped off by charlatans who just want to keep you coming back so they can bill you even more.
Here is just a small sample from ONE LEDC meeting back in October of 2006:
“Board member Yancy stated that she had attended the AUSA convention in Washington D.C. – she felt the convention was a good tool to promote Lampasas”
“Board President Hetherly stated that she had attended the Texas Municipal League’s “Conference on Small Cities Problem Solving Clinic” and that the clinic was very informative in regards to Economic Development.”
“President Hetherly stated that she had attended the ICSC Texas Conference and Deal Making. She stated that it was a good conference to attend.”
All of these conferences, workshops, clinics and nonsense cost the taxpayer a bundle in travel, hotel rooms, meals and fat registration fees.
Naturally, this still goes on today. Our very own City officials travel to the Texas Municipal League convention every fall and do important work like ride on teeter-totters and sing karaoke.
I have covered this before, of course.
Why, just recently, Mandy Walsh informed the LEDC she had joined the Rural Sparks Roadmap Course, run by another charlatan named Jimi Coplen. Hey it’s “only” $247, but if this chick finds 15 or 20 government-employed suckers who have tax dollars to spend for a few courses every year, that adds up to a nice side hustle for her!
I’m going to have to start keeping track of all the conventions and clinics on this page so we can see just how ridiculous it all is. I don’t have the costs for all of these and it’s frankly too much work to dig into. If cost is listed in the minutes and easy to see, I’ll post it.
This list will be updated frequently:
Grand Central Texas Conference in Atlanta, Georgia [April 2024 LEDC packet]
AUSA Convention in Washington D.C.
Texas Municipal League – annual convention
ICSC Texas Conference and Deal Making
TEDC Legislative conference
Economic Board Retreat hosted by Opportunity Strategies LLC (cost of over $2,500 and suggested/approved by Misti Talbert)
“Save Your Town” presentation/training by Deb Brown (2019) – $4,500[this looks like a COMPLETE SCAM run by two charlatans]
Rural Economic Development Summit (Tulsa Oklahoma – 2019) [page 29]
Lion’s Club Courtyard Square Association
Angelou Economics ($25,000 for “Economic Plan” back in 2003 and 2004)
Dr Ray Perryman (at least $10,000 for economic reports and suggestions for development around 2005 and 2006)
LEDC “Strategic Plan” – 2017
Halff Associates ($120,000 for “Comprehensive Plan” in 2019)
Numerous LEDC junkets to California to “recruit businesses” (Masonheimer years)
Texas Midwest Communication Network for Economic Developers
Technology Infrastructure Assessment ($42,000 in 2017 to Foresite)
Texas Workforce Commission Workshop
Impact Data Source software purchases to help with “economic development” ($4,000)
Heart of Texas Defense Alliance
Regional EDC meeting (Marble Falls)
CTCOG membership and dues
TEDC Basic Economic Development Course
Community Development Institute “Year 1” Course (The Woodlands, TX)
Austin Young Business Professionals Network
Texas Rural Challenge (TRC) conference (New Braunfels)
TEDC Tax Workshop
Angelou Economics 2007-2008 Economic and Technology Forecast Seminar
SUSTEX 2019 Conference (Killeen $295)
TEDC Mid-Annual Conference (Dallas 2023 – $500)
Economic Development: Best Practices Summit (Temple TX)
Development District of Central Texas (DDCT) board meetings to develop a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) document
TEDC Legislative Conference
Rural Sparks Roadmap Course
Texas Downtown Association Conference (Corpus Christi, Georgetown)
Community Development Institute (CDI) for the “advanced course” and retaining PCED certification [page 19]