Recap about the $80,000 investment to Land of the Dinosaurs LLC that was voted on by GREDC/4b and voted on by the city of Glen Rose. There was NO contract or agreement signed between all the parties, with an attorney present, before the check was handed off to Mike Dooley in February 2010. I wondered how GREDC tracks their investment to LOD and whether losses in the first year are what were projected, etc., especially after hearing Mike Dooley go before Somervell County Commissioners Court to strike a deal not to pay on time. After I was told by Darrell Best that there was no contract or agreement, but that they would be doing one at an upcoming board meeting, I asked.
 

1. The date, check number and amount of money for Land of the Dinosaurs production given from 4b/GREDC, as well as the date cashed by Land of the Dinosaurs.

2.    Report on how much money the Land of the Dinosaurs production brought in, total, how many days the production ran, how many people in the production itself,  how many shows, what was the total count of attendance, what were the expenses, including monies owed to what entities, and what was the net profit or loss.

The first, of course, was to determine whether money had actually changed hands. If, for example, there was no contract, but then again the GREDC or City of Glen Rose never gave money to LOD LLC, the whole issue would be moot. The second request is also very reasonable. If the City or GREDC is going to use public tax money to invest in a private entity, the ROI stats should be available upon request. I mean, it's not like the GREDC is some private entity loaning out money or investing hither and yon, they represent the PUBLIC. And the public gets to know how their investment is doing.

I got back some of what I asked for today. Some of it I will post at a later date as it's the original proposal for LOD, a study by impact data about how LOD would help the community, etc. Right now I want to focus on some very specific information in timeline form. Reference this PDF which has some of the material scanned in.

First up, what exactly did the GREDC investors get? p 1 shows a membership document that has 8 membership *interests*.

Sept 2009- Land of the Dinosaurs told Somervell County Commissioners Court  they had no need for money, as they had private investors.

Nov 12, 2009- Billings Productions, which has the animatronic dinosaurs agreeed to provide Mike Dooley with 7 dinosaurs. It's not clear from this letter if these were supplied gratis or there was a lease payment involved.

Dec 8, 2009- Darrell Best discusses over email Mike Dooley's request for money.

Jan 28 2010 -Funding application from LOD to GREDC asking for the money (p 7-14). Note that Dooley wanted originally an outright grant of the money but said he would consider an investment or loan. On p 12 Dooley checks neither of the boxes having to do with Conflict of Interest-why not and why was this application okayed without all fields being filled out?

Feb 9, 2010- Letter of confirmation that the City of Glen Rose approved the request of GREDC to invest 80,000 in LOD LLC (p 4)

Feb 11, 2010. Mike Dooley sends an invoice right away for that check. (p 5)

Feb 17, 2010- 8 Membership Interests at $10,000 apiece, total $80,000, paid 2/17/08 (?) Even though I was not supplied, per my open records request, with a copy of the actual check, it's clear that the check very quickly changed hands. Presumably, the mayor, Pam Miller, would have been the one to sign the check without making sure there was first a contract governing the exchange.

What exactly does GREDC own? From p 15

2.2 Company Ownership- Land of the Dinosaurs, LLC seeks investors for permanent equity ownership in all phases of the production. Investments will be treated as loans to the company and will be paid back before distribution to principals occur. Pro Forma, Section 8.0 targets five (5) years to pay back all investors.

2.3 Equity Position. Each point of ownership (equivalent to 1% of the total value of the company) is valued at $10,000.00 (ten thousand dollars) with a beginning cash position of $250,000 (two hundred fifty thousand dollars). Of this initial investment, $105,000.00 (one hundred five thousand dollars) represents reclaimable assets in the form of costumes, props, show equipment and office equipment.

Upon payback,which will include interest at a rate of 2.5% simple yearly interest, investors will own a full and permanent percentage of the company equivalent to their initial loan to teh company (ie a $10,000.00 investment will equate to 1% ownershipo of teh company) of all physical and intellectual assets of the company as they pertain to the production in Glen Rose, Texas or profits from *spin offs* from this production. Future intellectual creations of the Pricipals (sic) not associated with Land of the Dinosaurs will remain the property of the indivual (sic) Principals. At the low, projected average rate of return over ten years will be ??????.

p 16 shows the projected rate of return on investment per each $10,000 invested.

Now, here's my point. Unlike Mr Best, I believe that once public funds are used to invest into a private company, the entity in charge of giving those funds not only has every right but ought to proactively be looking into how the investment is doing. Best said.

As far as the requested information on the LOD play, we have not had an update from LOD as to their stats, but expect LOD will make a presentation at a future Board meeting where they will make certain information public.

Why should GREDC be waiting to hear from when LOD wants to do a presentation and only with *certain* information? He had said before that he thought

As LOD is a private corporation they have the right not to share their information publically.  Their only obligation is to the EDC and they can share that in executive session, without public disclosure. 

I believe he is entirely mistaken. IF LOD, as a private corporation, chose to get private investors and not take public tax money, then yes, they can keep all their dealings private. And really? The EDC believes that the LOD can just tell stuff in executive session about their investment and the public doesn't get to know? Absurd! Who does the EDC represent anyway, IF NOT the people who are paying in those taxes? (and that includes Somervell County residents who don't live in the city but also pay the 4b taxes at some establishments.)

Citizens have every right to know how tax money is being spent and whether the ROI is a good one for LOD, not something to be kept quiet, in an executive session with only those parts that the LOD would like to let people know. Let's just say that that's 1, that tax money can go to whoever, with only the oversight, IF the entity chooses to even go ASK for it, of the EDC. How would the public know if the EDC is making good decisions about how to spend money when it comes time to appoint new GREDC board members? Or whether to do the same type of investment or grant or loan if there were certain facets that made it a less than stellar choice? Or vice versa?

And can someone explain how it is that a check gets given out for 80,000 bucks to an entity, presumably signed off on by the mayor, without a contract?

One more thing. There is a supposition here that the LOD LLC company had 1 milliion dollars in investment, right? Because each 1 membership *interest* whatever that is, is worth $10,000, so 8 of them is $80,000. But the intiial investment that is listed for LOD is actually $250,000 per a page I don't have scanned but which shows the startup costs. IF that's all that got put in to invest in the company AND NO MORE MONEY WAS PUT IN, the 80 thou would actually be about 1/3 of the company, right? Instead of 8 percent? What proof is there, via a bank account statement that the company actually had 1 million bucks in the bank? Do you see where I'm going with this? A company is worth X amount. If they invested 1 million dollars then the company is worth 1 million dollars and the 80 thou investor is only a small percentage-but if they didn't put in that much money, then seems like the *membership interest* would be much more compared to the total.

P.S. This is slightly off topic, but I'm going to raise this again. Why is the City of Glen Rose going to okay giving 4b money to the Chamber of Commerce as a paid position for festivals, etc through the 4b? I thought that the 4b gave out money PER PROJECT, not to hire out positions, plus there is a perception of a conflict of interest there. Otherwise, where do I line up to ask for public money to fund a permanent position for my private company? p 13 of the PDF linked above shows that GREDC considers *projects*

UPDATE: Got cc on a letter from the AG's office to Darrell Best telling him he must either come up with the information asked for in the request or reply back to explain why not.  Letter was dated Nov 30 2010. Will be waiting in next week or two to see what action is taken.

Update #2: Jan 1 2011- Another letter from AG's office where Best told the AG he had given me the information. Heh. Assuming that is 1, that means that the 4b board has ZERO information on how well their investment of $80,000 is doing. That's pretty incompetent.