New Louisville economic development group takes shape ahead of first meeting Wednesday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new group focused on business growth in Louisville is starting to take shape ahead of its inaugural meeting.

The Louisville Economic Development Alliance incorporated in early July as a nonprofit corporation, with its main address at the offices of Fifth Third Bank at 401 S. 4th St. downtown.

The initiative is the brainchild of Mayor Craig Greenberg's administration and is funded with a mix of taxpayer and private dollars.

Under the the articles of incorporation, the alliance's aim is "promoting the common economic interests of all the commercial enterprises located or doing business in Jefferson County."

To accomplish that, documents show, the new corporation known as LEDA plans to work with state and local government "to fashion incentives for business expansions," as well as with "all relevant stakeholders to ensure that best efforts are made to pursue business attraction, expansion and retention leads."

Those efforts won't change the public approval process -- at the state or Metro Council levels -- for tax increment financing incentives and other public subsidies now in place.

The alliance, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting Wednesday at Humana's Waterside Building, also will "convene key stakeholders around talent development, entrepreneurial support, policy analysis, and research and advocacy."

As it prepares to meet, the nascent organization is at the center of an ethics complaint filed by Terri Hathaway, a past administrator of Metro’s small business and commercial property loan program. She claims Greenberg and other officials are breaching city ethics and personnel rules in creating LEDA.

In particular, Hathaway alleges that LEDA "gives particular influence and access to developers who will both sit on the board and be the most likely to financially benefit from project contracts resulting from projects prioritized and publicly subsidized."

The complaint was filed in June and now is before the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission.

The alliance received $1.5 million in Metro’s budget for the current fiscal year and has raised another $2 million in private funds, Greenberg told reporters late last month. The board, which is being appointed by the mayor and his administration, could range from 3 to 50 people, according to articles of incorporation filed with city and state offices.

Although it is organized as a nonprofit corporation, LEDA will be subject to Kentucky open meetings and public records laws and will follow Kentucky procurement policy until it creates its own, said Caitlin Bowling, spokeswoman for the city’s Cabinet for Economic Development.

Certain bodies created by local government actions, such as an executive act, must follow open meetings and records laws in Kentucky.

However, LEDA already has taken action without publicly meeting, according to documents obtained in an open records request. Those documents show four board members "in lieu of meeting and waiving any notice" approved 17 resolutions that took effect July 5.

The actions were taken by four board members: Jim Allen, vice chairman of Baird; Condrad Daniels, president of HJI Supply Chain Solutions; Kim Halbauer, regional president of Fifth Third Bank Kentucky and Bill Moore, president of UPS Airlines.

Those initial board members also appointed Pat Mulloy, Louisville’s deputy mayor for economic development, as the organization’s president and Greenberg as its initial chair. They approved a conflict of interest policy and retained on a volunteer basis the Wyatt Tarrant & Combs law firm, which was involved in the articles of incorporation, as legal counsel.

They also approved bylaws that require the board to meet at least twice a year and establish a quorum of one-third of the board members to take formal action. New board members must be "employed by or otherwise affiliated" with dues-paying members of LEDA, according to the bylaws.

Bowling acknowledged that some actions occurred before Wednesday’s initial meeting, including the approval of straightforward legal and other documents. She said LEDA and its organizers are "trying to get the building process started."

She noted that the board is expected to review the initial work and can make changes as necessary.

But Amye Bensenhaver, a retired assistant state attorney general and a founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition, said these early steps amount to "purposeful action" taken prior to a public meeting.

"You cannot cherry pick what is convenient and ignore what is inconvenient," she said. "From the get go, you need to adhere strictly to the requirements of these two statutes--open records and open meetings."

Among other things, the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting includes an overview of those laws, a review of LEDA and board action to name Mulloy as interim CEO and create a search committee to pursue a permanent executive.

The agenda also includes a report on the organization's staffing, which is expected to have employees from the city’s economic development cabinet work as contract employees.