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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-24-19 MINUTES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Regular Meeting October 24, 2019 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Simmons at 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Simmons, Butterfield, Cordes, Craig, Jolley, Wilson Members Absent: Bernhj elm Also Present: Adam Kienberger, Community Development Director; Lauren Siebenaler, Communications Specialist 2. PLEDGE OFALLEGL4NCE 3. ROLL CALL 4. APPROVE AGENDA Community Development Director Kienberger added 345 3rd Street Facade Grant Application under discussion items. MOTION by Wilson, second by Craig to approve the Agenda. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 5. CITIZEN COMMENTS/PRESENTATIONS 6. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Jolley, second by Craig to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Meeting Minutes (September 19, 2019, Regular Meeting) b) Received Monthly Financial Statements APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8. DISCUSSION ITEMS a) Business Retention &Expansion Communications Strategy Update This item is part of the ongoing discussion about business retention and expansion. Over the past months the EDA has discussed messaging, communications,what we currently do and how we communicate with businesses and residents. Communications Specialist Siebenaler spoke about the different ways the city communicates with residents and businesses. She explained changes to the website and what is available from the website and explained the different social media options available. There was a lengthy discussion regarding NextDoor as far as what it is, how to sign up, and how it works for businesses. Every new NextDoor does a favorite for your city. Blue Nose won for favorite coffee shop. The role of the EDA could be to facilitate some of the knowledge of NextDoor to businesses to make that connection. Prior to that, EDA Minutes(Regular) October 24,2019 Page 2 EDA members will join NextDoor and see how it works. There are 4,800 residents on NextDoor now and the amount of people seeing it continues to grow. Viewing of posts averages between 700 and 1,000. On Facebook the city has 4,100 likes. The 4,800 on NextDoor are verified Farmington residents. The 4,100 on Facebook,we don't know where they are from. On NextDoor you create a post and you gage how many people see it. On Facebook you get comments and likes. On NextDoor you get daily digest feeds and it continues to grow from there. On Facebook we promote ribbon cuttings for businesses. We have to be careful we are not favoring one business over another with specific events they may have. Everyone is very supportive of our ribbon cuttings and like to see new businesses in town. In addition, the business gets a spot in our Farmington Currents. The role of the Communications Specialist in the business retention and expansion plan will be determined as the plan is developed. Currently residents sign up for e-notifications through our website and messages are sent to their email. Receiving text messages is not available and an additional software would be required. There is a way to push messages out through our website app and staff can look into that further. Community Development Director Adam Kienberger and Community Development Specialist Kalley Swift recently attended a two-day business retention and expansion program at the U of M. It was very technical and has national accreditation for what a BR&E program can look like. Member Butterfield urged staff to keep in mind,the main goal of the EDA is to expand the tax base from businesses and keep those we have. Staff noted 80%of new projects in a community happen from within. So it is best to allocate a lot of resources internally rather than attraction pieces. Member Simmons asked staff to look at the EDA website pages. Staff noted the discussed changes have been made to the website. Community Development Director Kienberger developed a standardized questionnaire for business visits and asked for comments. Member Simmons would like to see added to outcomes an engagement of community and solutions. She had a discussion with a business that left and asked what drove them out of Farmington. They noted their lease price was too high. They would have liked a spreadsheet showing comparable buildings in Farmington so they could have argued the lease price is much higher so they are going elsewhere. So that type of engagement and partnership would be a good thing to have. She would like to take every opportunity we have to promote the work we are doing, because we consistently hear that the EDA and City Council are not doing anything. If we are making these visits and doing everything we can to get that picture we need to get the word out so we are demonstrating we are actively trying to do things. Member Craig noted if the building is privately owned,we can't control what they charge for the lease. Member Simmons stated that is why the spreadsheet of other lease prices would help. Staff stated we do have some of that information in EDA Minutes(Regular) October 24,2019 Page 3 our available spaces listings. Member Wilson was very uncomfortable with engagement from the city to market forces of what is going on. The city runs lean the way it is and he doesn't want to start prescribing that the city makes sure we are connecting all the dots. Businesses are going to come and go. We believe that as an authority we have some grand power over that and we don't. Member Butterfield agreed we don't, but as a charter of this organization business retention and expansion is something we need to have a pulse on and we need to drive programs and grants and incentives so that is not happening. Anything we can do to get the feedback and get in front of it so we know we are spending our discussion on the right things to incentivize that in the future,that is why he signed up. Member Wilson noted we are not a Chamber of Commerce and we are not a sales organization. Since the time he has joined,this has become a sales organization. Ultimately Member Cordes is on the School Board, he works with big financial activity with the school, Councilmembers Craig and Bernhjelm have activity on the City Council. Regarding the points of investment in time and energy to create favorable text calls, create favorable communication on how business can do well,would all be germane. He fundamentally disagreed that we are here once a month to be a marketing effort on behalf of the city when we have two extremely talented people who are interacting with businesses all day long. Member Simmons asked for other comments on the questionnaire. She appreciated the recent designations the city has received. Member Craig noted the City Council wants to be more assertive in promoting the good things that are happening in the city. There were no further comments on the questionnaire. b) EDA Program Financing Update Members wanted to get a feel for the EDA's finances before making policy decisions. All plans are based on operating dollars transferred from the City Council paid monthly. Other unrestricted revenue includes interest earned on investments of the fund balance. Restricted revenues include outside funding such as CDBG dollars, grants or other special funds. Additional revenue sources to the EDA include an HRA/EDA tax levy. The city has not historically used this. A year ago the decision was made to not transfer dollars to the EDA because we had a healthy fund balance and only small amounts were designated. Façade Grant Program—We allocate $20,000 to this program every year. The grant amounts have changed over the years. One thing we could do is lower the grant amount from $10,000 to $5,000, but put it back up to $10,000 for special categories, such as historical properties. There are 16 historic properties. Site Readiness Program—We allocate $20,000 to this program every year. Grants up to $5,000 are available for qualified commercial/industrial site preparation. This program was created in 2017 and has not been used. Commercial Rehabilitation Grant Program.—This is through the Dakota County CDA. The available amount is $39,000. There are a lot of restrictions with this EDA Minutes(Regular) October 24,2019 Page 4 program, but it can have a significant impact on a property. We have to make sure we have enough cash flow as these are reimbursement dollars. Open to Business—The city contributes $5,513 annually to support small and emerging businesses. The current contract runs through 2020. General Operations—We allocate $20,000 to cover legal, IT,professional development,programming expenses and the Open to Business fee. Other appropriations—The EDA earmarked $100,000 in mid-2018 for the creation of a Rambling River Center Plaza. This project has not been scheduled for implementation. Wish List—We have unfunded or yet to be created programs included in adopted plans. Such as the Highway 3 Corridor Plan,wayfinding improvements noted in the Downtown Redevelopment Plan,potential property acquisition to further either the Downtown Redevelopment or Highway 3 Corridor plan goals and other infrastructure improvements or cost participation necessary to remove barriers to redeveloping key properties. Member Butterfield asked if the funding in the EDA budget has to be allocated to a general program and cannot be allocated to any particular business. Staff noted that is correct. Member Simmons would like to learn more about cost participation necessary to remove barriers to redeveloping key properties. Is it a program or options we don't have in place that would have a bigger impact? It seems we are trying to balance things that can be done quickly and have visual effect for businesses, but also if things such as site readiness exist,we would like to learn more about what that would look like. Staff recommended the EDA craft a program that is general in nature and not site specific. So if you fall within this geographic boundary and meet this criteria, you are eligible for these funds. Member Cordes would like to learn more about SAC and WAC programs. Member Butterfield asked what is a meaningful program the EDA can put together that gets past the we want to pull in retail stores and is something that will be a large development effort with significant job opportunities to have the residents actually work in Farmington. With the lack of businesses that could expand, how do you get business in that would have 100 to 200 jobs to create a tax base and draw in new talent. What does that look like versus a façade grant program for small businesses? Staff stated TIF and tax abatement are the programs for that. Member Simmons stated for areas such as Highway 3 and downtown is the influence of code enforcement. It would help her to know what types of things would be resolved by proactive code enforcement on the appearance of a business. There are design guidelines for the Highway 3 Corridor Plan. Staff will be outlining that work at the November Planning Commission meeting. EDA Minutes(Regular) October 24,2019 Page 5 Staff noted we also have to have a reserve for known opportunity costs. Approximately$50,000 of the EDA's fund balance is uncommitted. The EDA will be receiving the $40,000 transfer in 2020 and 2021. Member Wilson noted we have one or two meaningful discussions with the City Council. We can be a strategic partner with the Council if we knew what their priorities were and how we can work together. Councilmember Craig agreed. At each meeting we try to give the EDA a little of what we are working on. Member Wilson would like the City Council, EDA and Planning Commission to get together once a year. c. City Council Update Councilmember Craig didn't have any additional information. Last time they discussed not raising the tax levy this year and utilized left over 2018 money to keep the tax levy the same. d. 345 Third Street Facade Grant Application Repairs to the Fletcher Building at 345 Third Street were discussed at the October 8 and 22, 2019, Planning Commission meetings. The item was continued to the January 2020 Planning Commission meeting. MOTION by Butterfield, second by Wilson to continue the façade grant application for 345 Third Street to the January 2020 EDA meeting. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 9. DIRECTOR'S REPORT a) March Director's Report The owners of Homestead Community Church are in touch with us about purchasing the Riste lot. Our City Attorney is working on a Contract for Private Development with them. This will be brought back to an EDA meeting. The City Council/board and commission reception will be December 5 at 6:00 p.m. at Bourbon Butcher. It will include a summary of the work done by each group. Member Butterfield would like to review the work accomplished at the November EDA meeting. Member Wilson recalled one year we took city transportation and the EDA and City Council drove around town and discussed the various land owners and activity going on. It was super valuable. Maybe we could do that in April 2020. 10. ADJOURN MOTION by Cordes, second by Craig to adjourn at 8:18 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, ClJ.wtln%a Mu.LLev Cynthia Muller Administrative Assistant