City to create economic development department

After years of failed attempts at sustaining an economic development partnership between the city, county and chamber, the city of Granbury is going to create its own department.

City Manager Chris Coffman made the announcement during a recent interlocal government meeting at Granbury City Hall that included members of the Granbury City Council, the Hood County Commissioners Court, and the Granbury ISD.

Although the department will be funded and controlled by the city and not dependent upon any other entity, Coffman indicated that the city will be open to any requested collaborations.

The most recent collaborative effort was headed by the chamber.

In 2019, Mike Scott, at that time the chamber’s president and CEO, received buy-in from local government entities to help fund an economic development position. Agreements were signed after Scott made presentations before the Granbury City Council and Commissioners Court.

After securing those agreements, Scott hired Shea Hopkins in fall 2019 to serve as vice president of economic development under his leadership.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic hit within a few months of Hopkins’ arrival, hampering her efforts to some degree, Coffman and County Judge Ron Massingill praised the strides she made in bringing jobs and businesses to Hood County.

Hopkins resigned last year shortly after questions about the partnership were raised during Commissioners Court meetings.

That same year, Scott retired.

The economic development collaboration was ultimately dissolved.

At the interlocal government workshop, Precinct 2 Commissioner Ron Cotton expressed a desire for an economic development discussion to be put on a future agenda.

He said that he stills receives “a lot of calls” related to economic development and said he feels that the city, county and chamber are “missing the boat” in that regard.

Coffman then announced the city’s intention to create its own economic development department.

“We’ve seen this over and over again in our county and city, how we start something with economic development, stop it, start it, and come up with something different,” he said. “We’re going to try to go with it as a city department and try to create some stability for that candidate that we finally recruit.”