Denton's Economic Development Partnership Board will spend part of its Nov. 4 meeting deciding what it should look like once it is cut nearly in half.
The City Council told staff on Sept. 15 to shrink the board to seven members, the same size as other city boards, and to drop the separate nominating committee the board uses whenever a seat opens.
Staff now want the board's own advice on which groups should hold the seven seats, and a recommended makeup is scheduled to go to the council on Dec. 1, according to the agenda information sheet from Assistant City Manager Christine Taylor.
Created in 2003 to guide economic development policy alongside the Denton Chamber of Commerce, the board has 13 voting members today, according to a January staff report.
Its seats are set aside for two representatives of the Denton Chamber of Commerce, two council members, two people from the city's 20 largest taxpayers, the presidents (or designees) of the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University, one aviation seat, one seat each for the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce and the Denton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and a resident with relevant expertise.
The city manager, the chamber president and the Denton ISD superintendent sit as nonvoting ex officio members.
The staff presentation lists those groups as options for the smaller board and adds a few new ones for discussion: a top employer, someone from one of the city's target industries, and North Central Texas College.
Part of a broader cleanup
The change is one piece of a review of all of Denton's volunteer boards that began with a proposal from Council Member Jester in September 2025. Mayor Pro Tem Stevens followed in July with questions about how nominations, vacancies and absences are handled.
An August staff report counted 117 council-appointed seats on 27 resident boards and committees. At that time, 21 seats had no one serving in them and 16 members were serving past the end of their terms while waiting to be reappointed or replaced, leaving about 32% of seats without a member on a current term.
