To the Mayor and City Council of Melissa, Texas,
I recently received a copy of a letter sent to Jim Luscombe advising him that the city council has fired the MIEDC (4A) board in its entirety. As a now terminated ex-member of the MIEDC, I'm very disappointed to find that this is how our city council responds to the presentation of our strategic business plan and how it treats its citizens. My credentials include 28 years as a senior executive of a fortune 200 high-tech company and I am currently a co-owner of a residential real estate brokerage, serving Melissa and the surrounding area.
There didn't appear to be any red flag issues during our presentations and discussion on Aug. 10 at the council meeting.
The 4A board did not expect the strategic plan or budget that we presented to be accepted exactly as proposed and knew that our presentation was a first pass to get the 4A board on the same page as the city council. The termination letter also states that the tax base and our proposed budget for next year were major reasons for the termination of the board. It seems incongruous that the members of the MIEDC board are not keenly aware of what these issues are? It's extremely difficult to understand why the city council would terminate this board without any opportunity to discuss and address the issues.
Based on the above, it seems clear that this decision was politically motivated, as evidenced by the fact this city council did not make any effort to communicate the issues to our board to offer us their direction and request our feedback. I will watch with interest as you appoint a new 4A board and I will await with great anticipation when they present their strategic plan and budget for the coming year. I hope they get treated with more dignity and respect than the outgoing board that you so unceremoniously canned.
There are a lot of wonderful people in the city of Melissa. It's very unfortunate that you, as their leaders, are such a cause for embarrassment.
Signed,
Michael Moore
Outgoing Melissa Industrial and Economic Development Corporation (4A) Board Member