Council member questions adherence to chamber contract
The discussion started with City Manager Nick Edwards talking about how economic development work is done for the city. He said the city contracts with the chamber for the services.
The chamber submits an invoice for the work, the finance department checks the invoice and the chamber is reimbursed monthly for expenses. The contract requires that the invoice be submitted 'with supporting documentation within 15 days from the end of each calendar month describing the services provided and expenses reimbursable by the city incurrent in the prior month.'
'We reimburse for actual expenditures,' the city manager said, adding that 'the rest of the contract lists performance measures and activities the chamber performs.'
The contract allows the city to spend up to $252,000 for what is called 'a consulting fee' for services outlined in the agreement. The contract also allows for the council to adjust the amount it will pay annually based on budget appropriations.
The city a decade ago paid the chamber an annual payment of $335,000 until a 2015 audit by then-Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway criticized Joplin's handling of the payments.
That audit specifically criticized the city for not properly monitoring its contract and expenditures paid to the chamber. That is when a written contract was put in place and the city required the chamber to submit more detailed invoices.
The city manager said that monthly reports consist of 'the city manager, some city staff, the mayor and mayor pro tem meet(ing) with chamber staff to go over economic development activities for coordination meetings. They share things they are working on, leads they may have, and any changes in the economy.'
Council member Doris Carlin said the contract states the chamber is to provide a monthly report to the mayor and council. She said she has never been given a monthly report.
The city manager said there is monthly communication but he would not call it a report. There is a quarterly report to the council that provides a running list of 'those items I've presented to you each quarter,' Edwards said.
Carlin said the contract specifies that the chamber's monthly report to mayor and council is 'to outline tasks accomplished and include statistics for each performance measure outlined.' Carlin asked the mayor if he has seen that language.
Mayor Keenan Cortez said he did see that the contract calls for a monthly report. He said representatives of the MOKAN Partnership, the regional arm of the chamber, 'give us all the leads they're working on and things that are happening. Again that, for me, has been relatively informal to this point. They keep us posted and updated on all that. We do have a loose agenda we follow on all that. I don't know if that information has been disseminated down.'
He described those involved as an 'economic development team,' although that description does not appear in the contract.
The performance measures required by the contract are enumerated as:
• Written report to mayor and council.
• Quarterly presentation to council.
• Timely updates to mayor and council on potential and ongoing projects as necessary.
'The city recognizes that the overall economy will affect some of the performance measures and success will be outside of the control,' of the chamber, the contract states. It continues by specifying, 'the City expects JACC to show evidence of experience in conducting comparative market and trend analyses and due diligence in amassing the detailed information necessary to support the economic development efforts.'
The contract is outdated. The copy used for Monday's discussion was signed on Oct. 30, 2023, and specifies that it will be in effect for a year until Oct. 31, 2024.
The discussion came on the heels of the exit of Travis Stephens, chamber president and CEO. The chamber board announced in an email June 11 that he was no longer the president and CEO and that the chamber's vice president, Erin Slifka, would oversee staff and monitor day-to-day activities while the chamber board conducts a search for a new leader.
Stephens was placed at the chamber helm in 2022 with 14 years of experience in economic development work.
The chamber board has advertised the job and sought submission on applications by July 25.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fidelis Insurance Holdings' (NYSE:FIHL) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year
Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited (NYSE:FIHL) will increase its dividend on the 26th of September to $0.15, which is 50% higher than last year's payment from the same period of $0.10. This makes the dividend yield 2.4%, which is above the industry average. AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. Fidelis Insurance Holdings' Projections Indicate Future Payments May Be Unsustainable Estimates Indicate Fidelis Insurance Holdings' Could Struggle to Maintain Dividend Payments In The Future Fidelis Insurance Holdings' Future Dividends May Potentially Be At Risk While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Fidelis Insurance Holdings is not generating a profit, but its free cash flows easily cover the dividend, leaving plenty for reinvestment in the business. We generally think that cash flow is more important than accounting measures of profit, so we are fairly comfortable with the dividend at this level. EPS is forecast to rise very quickly over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we could see the payout ratio reach 222%, which is on the unsustainable side. View our latest analysis for Fidelis Insurance Holdings Fidelis Insurance Holdings Doesn't Have A Long Payment History It's not possible for us to make a backward looking judgement just based on a short payment history. This doesn't mean that the company can't pay a good dividend, but just that we want to wait until it can prove itself. Fidelis Insurance Holdings Could Grow Its Dividend The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Fidelis Insurance Holdings has impressed us by growing EPS at 8.0% per year over the past five years. Even though the company isn't making a profit, strong earnings growth could turn that around in the near future. As long as the company becomes profitable soon, it is on a trajectory that could see it being a solid dividend payer. In Summary Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. The company is generating plenty of cash, which could maintain the dividend for a while, but the track record hasn't been great. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment. Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Fidelis Insurance Holdings that you should be aware of before investing. Is Fidelis Insurance Holdings not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Results: NCR Atleos Corporation Exceeded Expectations And The Consensus Has Updated Its Estimates
Explore NCR Atleos's Fair Values from the Community and select yours NCR Atleos Corporation (NYSE:NATL) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. It was overall a positive result, with revenues beating expectations by 2.0% to hit US$1.1b. NCR Atleos also reported a statutory profit of US$0.60, which was an impressive 22% above what the analysts had forecast. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results. Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. Taking into account the latest results, NCR Atleos' six analysts currently expect revenues in 2025 to be US$4.35b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to leap 47% to US$2.56. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$4.31b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.55 in 2025. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates. Check out our latest analysis for NCR Atleos With the analysts reconfirming their revenue and earnings forecasts, it's surprising to see that the price target rose 12% to US$44.67. It looks as though they previously had some doubts over whether the business would live up to their expectations. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. There are some variant perceptions on NCR Atleos, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$60.00 and the most bearish at US$34.00 per share. This shows there is still a bit of diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation. Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that NCR Atleos is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 3.7% annualised growth until the end of 2025. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 0.5% annual decline over the past year. Compare this against analyst estimates for the broader industry, which suggest that (in aggregate) industry revenues are expected to grow 8.0% annually for the foreseeable future. Although NCR Atleos' revenues are expected to improve, it seems that the analysts are still bearish on the business, forecasting it to grow slower than the broader industry. The Bottom Line The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving. With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have forecasts for NCR Atleos going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here. Plus, you should also learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with NCR Atleos (including 1 which is concerning) . Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
We're Not Very Worried About Odysight.ai's (NASDAQ:ODYS) Cash Burn Rate
Explore Fair Values from the Community and select yours There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, although made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse. Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether (NASDAQ:ODYS) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves. Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. When Might Run Out Of Money? A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. As at March 2025, had cash of US$37m and no debt. In the last year, its cash burn was US$9.3m. Therefore, from March 2025 it had 4.0 years of cash runway. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time. Check out our latest analysis for How Well Is Growing? At first glance it's a bit worrying to see that actually boosted its cash burn by 4.4%, year on year. Given that its operating revenue increased 100% in that time, it seems the company has reason to think its expenditure is working well to drive growth. If revenue is maintained once spending on growth decreases, that could well pay off! We think it is growing rather well, upon reflection. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years. Can Raise More Cash Easily? We are certainly impressed with the progress has made over the last year, but it is also worth considering how costly it would be if it wanted to raise more cash to fund faster growth. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn. Since it has a market capitalisation of US$72m, US$9.3m in cash burn equates to about 13% of its market value. Given that situation, it's fair to say the company wouldn't have much trouble raising more cash for growth, but shareholders would be somewhat diluted. How Risky Is Cash Burn Situation? It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way is burning through its cash. For example, we think its revenue growth suggests that the company is on a good path. While its increasing cash burn wasn't great, the other factors mentioned in this article more than make up for weakness on that measure. After taking into account the various metrics mentioned in this report, we're pretty comfortable with how the company is spending its cash, as it seems on track to meet its needs over the medium term. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 4 warning signs for (2 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts) Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
