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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-19-20 MINUTES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Regular Meeting November 19, 2020 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Vice-Chair Wilson at 6:00 p.m. Members Present: Simmons, Bernhjelm, Butterfield, Cordes, Hudlemeyer, Wilson Members Absent: Craig Also Present: Adam Kienberger, Community Development Director; Kalley Swift, Community Development Specialist 2. PLEDGE OFALLEGIANCE 3. ROLL CALL 4. APPROVE AGENDA MOTION by Bernhjelm, second by Hudlemeyer to approve the Agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 5. CITIZEN COMMENTS/PRESENTATIONS 6. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Cordes, second by Bernhjelm to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Approved Meeting Minutes (October 22, 2020, Regular Meeting) b) Received Monthly Financial Statements APIF, MOTION CARRIED. 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS 8. DISCUSSION ITEMS a) Business Retention and Expansion Survey Business retention and expansion are the core strategies of the EDA. The BR&E program is ready to go when safety measures allow. In the meantime, a short survey was sent to businesses (home-based and storefront). Staff received 50 responses and they were very scattered. During the pandemic, some businesses lost 75% of their revenue and had to terminate employees, while other businesses saw a 75% increase in revenue and hired employees. Approximately 66% of those surveyed were unsure whether they wanted to participate in the traditional BR&E program, which would consist of an in-person visit. Staff will look at how to make the program successful. The city is trying to be a champion for getting information on assistance to businesses. The Library has workshops helpful to businesses and a link was sent to those who responded to the survey. Through the survey results, staff noted a number of businesses do not use the internet to promote their business. EDA Minutes(Regular) November 19,2020 Page 2 Member Wilson stated Covid has allowed us to obtain more information through the survey and an opportunity for outreach. Six businesses have existed for five years or less. Some are looking to expand or considering other communities. Staff should follow up with a concern regarding a business wanting to build an addition. He asked if we are sending thank you's for participating and a high- level response. Staff will be sending those out next week and wanted to bring the information to the EDA first. Member Wilson suggested having an economic development communication mailed to businesses we have engaged to keep communication open. Staff noted a letter was sent to 226 businesses,but an email and social media seemed to have a bigger impact as far as obtaining a response. Member Butterfield noted we had a 25%response rate. Very few responses were new businesses. Most have been in business 1 —6 years. The majority have an optimistic outlook for the future. Staff noted building permits are much better and there have been several commercial permit inquiries. Member Wilson wondered if it would be too much to contact the businesses by phone? Staff agreed a couple need phone calls as a next step. Member Buttterfield felt for the 30 looking to expand, a personal follow up would be outstanding and inform them of the Redevelopment Program. Staff noted this survey provided a quick snapshot of what the community looks like now and provided an opportunity to reach out. It is also a good tool for an emerging communication strategy. Member Bernhjelm asked what the next two or three things are to be done in 2020. Staff will reach out to selective businesses and develop a list of what to address and why. Chair Simmons stated it should be determined who is the most appropriate person to make those contacts. If it is to provide information, it could be the Community Development Specialist. If it is to talk about relocating a business it should be the Community Development Director or an EDA member. The second piece is how to document and track these contacts. At the last meeting the EDA talked about telling the story of a business. We need to think about documenting now. Staff noted there is a lot of timely information coming out now for business assistance and we need to be prepared to get it out. Member Butterfield noted businesses with 1 — 10 employees made up 50% of the responses. He wondered if it was the 1 — 10 employee group that have the positive outlook or the 11 —20 employee group. b) City Council Update/Member Roundtable Member Bernhjelm stated on Facebook there is a Spirit of Giving promotion by the downtown business owners which runs from November 28 to December 19 on Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm. Each retailer offers their own promotion. Other planned activities have been scaled back due to Covid. EDA Minutes(Regular) November 19,2020 Page 3 Board and Commission applications are open and interviews will be held in January. The EDA is not listed because staff is working on revising the ordinance. Staff noted the EDA is a 7-person board now. The terms for resident seats are six years. There is one school board seat and two council seats that run with their term. Chair Simmons has been elected to the school board,but that doesn't affect the EDA school board seat. Member Cordes will be vacating his school board seat. Chair Simmons has a resident seat and her term is not finished. Member Wilson sits in a resident seat and was elected to the Council. Members Bernhjelm and Craig sit in Council seats. The Council will have to decide in January what they want to do. Staff will provide the Council with options. Member Bernhjelm stated as of now, we are not recruiting for the EDA. Councilmember Hoyt was elected as mayor so his Council seat is open for appointment. Member Butterfield asked why Council is not filling that seat with the third highest vote getter in the election? Member Bernhjelm stated we could have, but Council decided to open it up for applications. Those who ran in the election are free to apply. We will get a broader range of candidates this way as some do not want to run a campaign. Interviews will be in December. Council will put someone in that seat once Councilmember Hoyt is sworn in as mayor. That seat will be for a 2-year term. Member Bernhjelm stated residents will see a lot of dialogue regarding the liquor store in 2021. The Pilot Knob store is doing very well, but the downtown store is not doing as well. Part of it is due to Family Fresh closing. Decisions are coming whether to renew the downtown lease or move elsewhere. The liquor stores contributed$300,000 /year over the last five years to city projects. It has been very helpful in balancing the budget. Member Wilson recalled he was appointed by being in third place in an election. It seems the most transparent. There were two seats and people voted for two people. He would like to see other community leaders as part of the interview process just to provide input. He has served on the EDA since 2013. Ideas from this current group and the energy is dramatically different. Community Development Director Kienberger has brought a lot of structure and stability. There has been uncertainty between the Council—EDA—staff as to who does what. He would like a strategic planning session with Council and EDA to determine roles and where Council is going. Member Bernhjelm noted staff will be scheduling a joint Council/EDA meeting after Council goals are set. She noted the Water Board remains and the city is seeking applications. Member Bernhjelm asked what the plan is for ribbon cuttings. Staff is looking at a December/January rollout for a business campaign. She asked with another pause, is there more we can do to help businesses? Chair Simmons noted there has been a pause on promoting ribbon cuttings. There are limits on gatherings and safety precautions, but nothing that should stop one staff member from going to a business and welcoming them. Community Development Director Kienberger stated staff takes direction from the City Administrator, and he is EDA Minutes(Regular) November 19,2020 Page 4 looking at how staff time is allocated. Member Wilson asked if ribbon cuttings normally flow from the owner to the city? Staff stated it is a resource offered by the city. We coordinate with the FBA, Chamber and elected officials. Member Wilson stated we are part of the Dakota County Regional Chamber,but the attention is given to bigger cities. We have a big opportunity to re-introduce the city to the Chamber and want them to be more engaged with the city. Member Bemhjelm agreed we need to do a better job with partnering with the FBA and the Chamber. Member Wilson felt this EDA is much more pro-business and we just need to identify a process. 9. DIRECTOR'S REPORT a) November Director's Report The Dakota County CDA finalized a total of 24 Farmington small business relief awards and all received a $10,000 grant. The county board has also allocated$5 million for business relief. No updates have been received. Member Butterfield stated the window for these programs was very small and there was not enough time to get the word out. Staff stated the hardest thing was to determine how long to leave the dollars out before they get recouped by cities. Staff scrambled to get the program out and the county had to review applications to make sure they would stand up to an audit. Hopefully Farmington businesses took advantage of the $5 million grant. Staff gave an update on active business projects. The next meeting is scheduled for December 17 at 6 p.m. Chair Simmons would like to keep this meeting on the schedule and for staff to create a snapshot of what we have accomplished this year. It would be good for the next EDA. She wanted to recap action items for the next meeting. Member Hudlemeyer stated action items would be: - Work on achievements and follow-up with additional data analysis from the survey - What we each would like to see in 2021 - Where we are with the BR&E program Member Wilson stated the Governor may be planning things for a month from now. As a visible way to support businesses, can we on our website home page have a link to ways to support Farmington businesses during Covid? He suggested reaching out to businesses to list their hours and what they are about. We would have to be careful to not show preference to a specific business. We would just have a link to their information. Staff noted the communications staff is working on something similar. Member Butterfield asked what more can we do to make the business community thrive? We lost 10 businesses the first time around. Member Wilson liked the idea of a 2020 wrap up. Would it be better to have it in January with the new EDA? Staff stated the EDA has funds available and the ability to develop a program with what we have. We can bring ideas to EDA Minutes(Regular) November 19,2020 Page 5 the January meeting. Chair Simmons reminded everyone we want to highlight stories on businesses. Member Wilson added action items: - Provide highlights of 2020 for the December meeting - Have a preview of 2021 actions - Ideas for grants to support businesses Member Bernhjelm added - A status update on the signage plan for 2021 Chair Simmons asked if it would be reasonable to create two stories for the Heikkila building and Exchange Bank building and Weng's. Member Hudlemeyer noted that is important to show the board is results driven. Staff will talk to communications staff to see about priorities. 10. ADJOURN MOTION by Hudlemeyer, second by Bernhjelm to adjourn at 7:36 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, C, wtKo Mu.Uer Cynthia Muller Administrative Assistant