Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine Summer 2017 Issue | Page 6

Steve Paterson
President & CEO
League City Regional Chamber
2017
Board of
Directors
Command & Control
Your future is determined in two ways; proactive and reactive. In
other words, we can help control our future by proactively involving
our thoughts and opinions of what we would like our future to be or
collaborating with like-minded individuals who support for our thoughts
or opinions to help shape our future. The reactive solution is to put
others in command of our future and have it determined by them.
Currently, League City by not being proactive in the past in economic
development planning has put the future of our community in the
control of others, mostly outsiders, to develop our community to their
benefit and not necessarily to the benefit of the residents of our city.
This was not intentional by any measure. The rapid growth of our
community over the past ten years has mitigated many efforts to be
proactive as city government has changed over and over and with no
clear direction established from administration to administration and
compounded by addressing infrastructure needs as our growth spurt
has necessitated. These actions have drawn the attention away from
putting a comprehensive plan in place for the total community and not
just sections. So, efforts to try and meet those challenges of controlling
our economic development future have been weak.
Good news though, since November 2015 the City of League City
and the League City Regional Chamber of Commerce have been
working in partnership, through a taskforce made up of city officials,
city staff, businesses owners and operators as well as developers to
start the process of a putting forth a recommendation to City Council
of a comprehensive master plan for the city. The purpose of which is
to develop open land parcels their best use and recommend specific
zoning and ordinances for the city to adapt, so we can be in command
of our future through proactive planning.
As of this month, we are at a point where the three sub-committees
of the taskforce, which are transportation and infrastructure, zoning
and planning, and procurement and investment will be drawing up
documents to recommend to the taskforce group to adapt. Once
approved and adapted, we will move it forward to the City Manager
and staff for review.
There are plans at this point, to move forward and pass a resolution by
the City Council to form an economic development board. We applaud
this as a great next step in the command process. The Chamber stands
by to help to continue to support these efforts as they move forward. We
believe by having a solid well thought out plan in place with oversight
and continued support, we will be able to empower the economic
development director and his staff to market our city in a way that will
benefit the residents of our city. They will be able to do so by building
a solid tax base from the types of businesses we would like and desire
to have in our community. That in turn will continue to improve the
quality of life we enjoy now and into the future. More importantly, if
done correctly, this will offset the tax burden residents will feel more
so without being proactive and in command. We would like to thank
publicly all the members of the taskforce for volunteering their time,
expertise and skills to this relevant and important task, which is a very
important first step in helping our city take back both control and
command of our future.
Steve Paterson
6
MOMENTUM / Summer 2017
Chairman, Ray Soto
Soto Financial & Insurance
Treasurer, Charlton Cotton
Norman Frede Chevrolet
Secretary, Jason Long
UTMB
Past Chairwoman, Jill Kaiser
UFCU
2018 Incoming Chairwoman, Rebecca Lilley
Memorial Hermann
2019 Incoming Chairman, Bill Provenzano
Hometown Bank of League City
Ben Casmer
Bay Area Regional Medical Center
Laura Dupont
CCISD
Gloria Greene
Elite Care 24 Hour ER
Julie Howell
Lakewood Yacht Club
Matthew Mathias
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center
Bix Rathburn
Galveston County
Dan Seal
BAHEP
Becky Trout
UTMB Health
Teresa Vencil
Haute Flowers & Finds
Leonard Woolsey
Galveston County Daily News
Peter Wuenschel
CIS - Bay Area
John Baumgartner
Ex-Officio, City of League City
Theresa Rodriquez
Ex-Officio, Baytran
Lisa Howard
Ex-Officio, HOT Tax Board
Laura Teatsworth
Ex-Officio, HOA Alliance
Amanda Fenwick
Ex-Officio, Mayor Pro Tem, Clear Lake Shores
Dr. Warren Nichols
Ex-Officio, College of the Mainland
Peggy Zahler
Ex-Officio