Business View Magazine | October 2020

315 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 C I BOLO, TEXAS and is carving out its own unique identity as a thriving residential, commercial, and industrial powerhouse of Guadalupe County. A key player in that transformation is the Cibolo Economic Development Corporation (CEDC), a non-profit entity created in 2007 by the citizens of Cibolo and tasked to create jobs by attracting targeted industries and commercial development to the city, while simultaneously working to retain and assist in the expansion of its existing businesses. The CEDC uses money raised by a sales tax for a wide variety of projects, including land, buildings, equipment, and facilities expenditures and improvements. “The city has been proactively aggressive in working with business,” explains Kelsee Jordan Lee, Interim Director of Economic Development for the City. “And we’ve seen a shift from just focusing on incentives that might support one or two businesses (although we do have a strong incentive program that we can pull out when it’s needed) to laying the groundwork that supports all of our businesses through infrastructure improvements, workforce development partnerships, and investing in more quality of life projects.” Regarding the first item on that list, Lee reports, “The city has been tackling infrastructure and moving away from a reactive position to a more proactive strategy. We’ve recently issued $7.5 million in certificates of obligation for road improvements to major thoroughfares around the city. We also have a street maintenance fund, which receives part of the collected sales tax, which the city then reinvests into roads around the city. The city has also expanded its sanitary sewer, and is constructing a new lift station along one of our major commercial corridors to help expand capacity and be prepared for additional commercial, residential, and industrial growth. This is in addition to expanded water