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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-20-21 CITY OF FARMINGTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES REGULAR MEETING September 20, 2021 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Community Development Director Samantha DiMaggio at 6:15 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OFALLEGIANCE Director DiMaggio led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Members Present: Bernhjelm,Hoyt,Pearson,Porter,Wilson Members Absent: None Staff Present: David McKnight,City Administrator; Samantha DiMaggio, Community Development Director; Kalley Swift,Community Development Specialist Others Present: Kara Hildreth,Journalist 4. APPROVEAGENDA MOTION by Bernhjelm,second by Hoyt to approve the Agenda.APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 5. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION by Bernhjelm,second by Pearson to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: a) Monthly Financial Statement b) Approved Meeting Minutes (June 17,2021 Special and June 24,2021 Regular Meeting) APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS a)Amendment of the EDA By-Laws Director DiMaggio reviewed the amendments made to the EDA By-Laws with the reorganization of the EDA becoming the City Council.Items that referred to state law and/or city ordinance were removed in addition to reflecting new meeting dates,times and overall structure.Director DiMaggio also outlined the new formatting of the individual meetings.The EDA will be less discussion based and more approval and decision-making based.The EDA will let staff know if they like the way items,programs and projects are progressing or if they wish to see change.For example,the EDA won't be designing the new downtown banners and discussing their possibilities.Instead staff has quoted out banner designs and prices from three vendors,staff is bringing those designs to the downtown business coffee&connections next week,the downtown businesses will vote on their favorite(s) and staff will bring forward the top two banner options at the next meeting. Director DiMaggio opened the item up for discussion.Member Wilson asked about the EDA work plan that was created right before the EDA transition.Can the EDA get an update to the work plan?Director DiMaggio will provide the updated calendar at the end of the meeting and it will also be reviewed at the November EDA meeting.Director DiMaggio noted that we are still wrapping up projects the EDA has started this year. MOTION by Bernhjelm,second by Pearson to approve the amendment to the EDA By-Laws. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. b)Appointment of Chair and Vice Chair With the restructuring of the EDA,a new Chair and Vice Chair needs to be appointed to perform the duties for the remainder of 2021.Director DiMaggio asked for volunteers or a call for nominations.Member Wilson is interested in serving as Chair and the group was supportive.Member Bernhjelm was the previous Vice Chair and was comfortable remaining in the position. MOTION by Hoyt,second by Porter to approve the appointment of Member Wilson as Chair of the EDA for the remainder of 2021.APIF,MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Hoyt,second by Pearson to approve the appointment of Member Bernhjelm as Vice Chair of the EDA for the remainder of 2021.APIF,MOTION CARRIED. c) 2022 Fagade Improvement Program The EDA has funded a Downtown Fagade Improvement Program for the past five years (2017-2021).The grant program was created as an implementation step to reach adopted goals within the Downtown Redevelopment Plan and has been highly successful.There have been 12 fagade projects in downtown which has resulted in$293,808.32 worth of facade investment with an overall ratio of 2.6:1 applicant funding vs.EDA grant funding. After the review of fagade grant applications at the March 2021 EDA meeting,the EDA expressed the desire to change the guidelines of the program for various reasons.These reasons included grant amounts being too high,no scoring or selection process available when the program was over-applied for,the program should be expanded outside of downtown,a desire to highlight minority,women,veteran,immigrant and small businesses, etc. City staff took all suggestions into account and drafted a new version of the facade grant program.High level changes include changing the name of the program,expanding the geography,addition of a map and scorecard,new timelines and changing grant award maximums.If approved,the new fagade program will go into effect and applications will begin to be accepted starting on January 1,2022. Specialist Swift opened the room for questions or proposed amendments to the new version of the facade program.Chair Wilson asked if the scorecard could be incorporated into the EDA application review no matter how many applicants and funding requests they receive each year.Staff confirmed that will occur.The EDA approved of the fagade program amendments and saw no issues which should be addressed.Specialist Swift explained that staff will do targeted and direct promotion of the program for the remainder of the year. MOTION by Hoyt,second by Porter to approve the 2022 Facade Improvement Program APIF,MOTION CARRIED. 8. DIRECTOR'S REPORT&OTHER BUSINESS a) SourceLink Activity Report EDA Regular Meeting Page 2 September 20,2021 Director DiMaggio has implemented the software SourceLink for Director DiMaggio and Specialist Swift to utilize.The software hosts our business list and tracks interactions that we have with city businesses,prospects,developers,etc.The software allows us to see how many interactions we have and for what type of assistance they needed.SourceLink also hosts surveys and will be the new home for BR&E information.In August 2021,staff had 60 interactions with roughly half of the interactions being assisting people with site location assistance. Director DiMaggio reviewed our new quarterly coffee&connections which will begin next week.City staff will host this once a quarter and will focus on different sections of the city for each meeting.The first meeting will be downtown businesses and the December meeting will be Highway 3 businesses. Director DiMaggio reviewed the updated EDA calendar.At the October regular meeting the EDA will review the new BR&E survey,revisit downtown banners and review the remaining EDA funded programs. 9. ADJOURN MOTION by Bernhjelm,second by Porter to adjourn at 6:51 p.m. APIF,MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Kalley Swift Community Development Specialist EDA Regular Meeting Page 3 September 20,2021