MADILL — A newly created TIF district will apparently remain in place after a petition drive failed to produce the requisite number of signatures, according to petition sponsors.

In a press conference Monday at the Marshall County Courthouse, spokesperson John Wigley of Kingston announced that the group of volunteers working to gather signatures came up about 100 names short. The group sought to force a referendum to challenge a recent decision by the Board of County Commissioners to create a tax increment financing district to assist with project costs for a Lake Texoma venture being planned by Pointe Vista Development, LLC.

Wigley nonetheless reiterated the group’s misgivings about the TIF district and commissioners’ handling of the process.

“We are concerned about the consolidation of power that has been occurring both nationally and locally,” Wigley said in a prepared statement. “That concern has been brought into focus here in Marshall County by the recent decision by our two elected county commissioners and the one appointed deputy commissioner to grant Pointe Vista Development a TIF district at the former Lake Texoma State Park and Lodge.”

Monday marked the deadline for petition organizers to submit the signatures.

Referendum supporters remained upbeat despite the shortfall and clung fast to their belief that voters should have decided the question. Wigley praised volunteers for “a gallant effort,” and thanked those who signed the document.

Workers said they had at one point believed they had enough signatures to validate the document, and they conveyed that belief to the media.

After culling out unqualified signers, however, volunteers determined that they had missed their goal.

‘We’re Not Friends’

Petition organizers, some of whom are former members of the Friends of Lake Texoma State Park, made overt efforts to distance themselves from that group.

Wigley’s opening comment in his press statement issued that assertion.

“Let me make it perfectly clear that this group is not, I repeat, is not affiliated with the Friends of Lake Texoma State Park,” Wigley said before proceeding with the rest of his message.

“We believe that they are a radical group, and we have different opinions than they do,” petition supporter Shannon Giles said, speculating that the group now essentially consists only of Director Stephen Willis.

“There’s only one person that’s Friends of Lake Texoma State Park now, and that’s Willis,” Giles said.

Wigley and Giles said they are not former Friends members, but petition sponsors Boyd Steele and Vicki Gaylor held offices with the group before renouncing their membership earlier this month.

Ironically, Willis issued a press release earlier Monday applauding the group’s efforts.

“While we did not sponsor the campaign, we fully supported the efforts of the referendum petitioners for a ballot measure to overturn Marshall County’s approval of the Pointe Vista TIF Resolution and Economic Development Project Plan,” Willis said in an e-mail to The Madill Record.

Willis asserted his belief that the failure of the referendum petition efforts does not represent the opinion of county residents about the TIF project, citing “miscommunication” as the reason for the shortfall. Point Vista Chief Operations Officer Scott Fischer sees it differently.

“We certainly respect the rights of citizens to voice their opinions one way or the other about a matter,” Fischer said in an e-mail. “All along, we believed the overwhelming majority of Marshall County residents recognized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring quality jobs and economic gain to this area through the Pointe Vista development.”

Steele was not specific when asked if the newly assembled group of area residents plans any further action in regards to the TIF process, but said aspects of the development, including the issuance of bonds for the project, bear watching.

Last week, the county commissioners demonstrated their intention to press forward with the process despite the petition movement, which was under way at the time.

Commissioners Royce Bartee and Wayne Scribner were joined by Deputy Commissioner Chris Duroy in creating an Economic Development Authority to oversee tax increment funds, as well as perform other duties related to development in the county.

Pointe Vista Development is a private company which has purchased or plans to purchase the approximately 1,700 acres of Lake Texoma State Park. Pointe Vista officials plan to build a resort/conference center, as well as restaurants, a water park, a shopping center, residence condos and other amenities as part of an estimated $3 billion project over the next 25 years.

The Friends of Lake Texoma State Park oppose the sale and have offered resistance in various forms over the last 17 months.

— Article courtesy of The Madill Record