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EDA Minutes 01-28-2013 (Joint/Special Meeting)MINUTES SPECIAL JOINT MEETING — MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTORITY Monday, January 28, 2013 — 5:30 p.m. Mississippi Room, Community Center, Monticello MN Present: Absent: EDA- present: EDA- absent: Other: Clint Herbst, Lloyd Hilgart, Tom Perrault, Glen Posusta, Brian Stumpf None Bill Demeules, Rod Dragsten, Matt Erie, Bill Tapper Tracy Hinz Jeff O'Neill, Wayne Oberg, Angela Schumann, Wayne Elam, Mark Pultusker, Jeanie Pawelk 1. Call to Order Mayor Herbst called the Special Meeting to order at 5:31p.m. 2. Purpose of Workshop: Economic Development Objectives Staff and Consultant Support for EDA Status of EDA Projects and Properties Jeff O'Neill opened the discussion and explained he and Angela Schumann will be going through the various points on the agenda. 3. Review Economic Development objectives a. Comprehensive Plan Update — Economic Development Chapter Jeff O'Neill will be looking at the overall goals of the Comprehensive Plan and preparing for updates that match the current economic climate. A small group of Planning Commissioners, EDA Commissioners, and IEDC representatives have been assigned to guide the data update of the Comp Plan and look through the policies of Chapter 4 to determine if they are appropriate. Hoisington- Koegler is working on the data update and the small group will be called together to work on Chapter 4. b. Overall Goals • Attracting new businesses and industry - diversifying tax base and fostering living wage job development • Support growth of existing business and industry base • Downtown Redevelopment - ReSTORE Downtown Special Joint City Council -EDA Meeting Minutes— January 28, 2013 Page 1 Jeff O'Neill reviewed the overall goals listed above and talked about the importance of attracting new business as well as supporting existing businesses. In addition, the City will continue to guide the downtown redevelopment process. Jeff O'Neill pointed out the multitude of changes in Monticello in the last 20 years. The city is in a great position for business development with such amenities as a hospital district, the school district, high speed intemet, available land and others. Jeff O'Neill noted that he has had discussions regarding marketing initiatives and talked to Wayne Elam regarding property sales. Jeff O'Neill said the city should be looking toward hiring someone that can lead the sales and marketing and be a prospector for business development. This person would work with current businesses and develop leads outside of the city. This person should be able to promote the unique status of the high speed broadband opportunities within the city. Brian Stumpf asked if the City belongs to some partnerships whose purpose is to develop leads. Jeff O'Neill stated that a group like the Wright County Economic Development Partnership does that, but the City needs a person to follow up on those leads. Jeff O'Neill emphasized that they really need a person that is able to spend a significant amount of time outside of the office working on leads and with business development. This person would probably report to either or both Angela Schumann and Jeff O'Neill and would provide information to the EDA and IEDC. This person would not necessarily be tied down with administrative responsibilities in the office. Glen Posusta commented that he sees this person would not necessarily be an employee of the City and possibly not even on a retainer. Instead the City could perhaps reward the person for delivering results. Rod Dragsten stated that he feels it is important that this person be directly hired by the City and responsible for developing opportunities for the City. Bill Demeules said it will take some time to find the person with the best fit who can do the marketing. Glen Posusta feels that it is important to hire someone with a good history of Monticello. Mark Pultusker stated that it is far easier to educate someone about the history of the city than to train them how to sell. Bill Tapper suggested consideration of setting up a commission pay structure to drive the results that are being sought. Angela Schumann noted that it takes time to develop a good marketing plan and sell industrial land. There was some discussion about advantages of bringing in new businesses to the community. Bill Tapper explained that he relocated to Monticello when Arve Grimsmo was Mayor. Mr. Grimsmo made direct contacts with Tapper's company and worked to make it happen. Wayne Elam mentioned some comments he recalled from BR &E surveys that were done a while back. Most companies described their reasons for choosing Monticello. Wayne encouraged the City to strongly consider hiring someone to work with economic development. He feels it is an important time as there are good opportunities out there. Special Joint City Council -EDA Meeting Minutes — January 28, 2013 Page 2 Jeff O'Neill noted that the City has a strong staff that can support the EDA and IEDC and provide administrative support; however, staff does not have the capability to get out and market the City and develop business opportunities. Jeff O'Neill reviewed some of the areas that he would expect that position to handle, to include: business outreach, maintain rapport with business community, business financing incentives /subsidies, marketing strategies, etc. Bill Demeules stated that he would like to see that the person that comes in has clear expectations from city staff and city council. Bill Tapper suggested that the city has this person focus on economic development and not just industrial development. Angela Schumann commented that the city's median wage is lower than overall Wright County. She suggested that as such, one of the goals may be that the person would encourage more livable and higher wage job development. Bill Demeules would like to see a budget developed for this position to match what is expected of the person and to find a source for the budget. Clint Herbst reiterated that he would like to look at other cities that have such a position. Bill Demeules indicated that he regularly gets inquiries from entities that are looking for leads, mostly from the southwest United States. Mark Pultusker suggested they may want to send out inquiries within a 50 mile radius to let them know what the City can offer. Wayne suggested putting together marketing plans to entice business based on unique things that Monticello can offer, such as the high speed internet. Mark Pultusker talked about the difference between companies that might want to bring in a data center versus companies that might want to utilize the services that FiberNet could offer to a data -based business. Mark Pultusker emphasized the need to develop a plan that focuses on the assets the city can offer and market to companies that might be attracted to those assets. He suggested that it might take a little time for a person to become familiar with the assets that Monticello can offer. He also suggested that there may be other assets that could be developed in Monticello such as high -end apartments or a college. Bill Tapper suggested talking to another entity that has experienced business growth, such as the City of Rogers. He pointed out their industrial park and the huge myriad of businesses that occupy that area. He thinks it might be helpful to talk to someone at Rogers to find out what really drove that growth. Clint Herbst suggested that the City concentrate on identifying all of the assets and then develop a list of businesses or areas to target for potential business development. Wayne pointed out that Monticello should have an advantage in regard to property taxes. Matt Frie commented that the group has pointed out a number of advantages that Monticello can offer but now it's time to find a person that can do the marketing. Jeff O'Neill summarized that there seems to be an interest in pursuing development of a position for the City to serve in economic development and marketing. It seems that the next steps are to put some information together on what costs will be involved and what the expectations would be for this position. Special Joint City Council -EDA Meeting Minutes — January 28, 2013 Page 3 Tom Perrault stated that he is apprehensive about hiring a full -time position without knowing what direction the economy is going. It was pointed out that it could be rather difficult to hire a part-time person for a position like this. There might need to be some incentives in place to make it worthwhile. Glen Posusta suggested that the position might be better as a contract position. Bill Demeules noted that it will be important to set clear expectations so that person knows what they need to do whether they report to the Council or to city staff. Jeff O'Neill stated that city staff will continue to pull together more information and report back to a joint group of EDA and Council on various options that might be available. 4. Discuss Staff and Consultant Support necessary to achieve objectives a. Review job focus and objectives for Economic Development Position b. Review and discuss skills and abilities required for position C. Identify roles and responsibilities for City Administrator, Community Development Director and Finance Director relative to Economic Development Position d. Identify relationship of new hire to City Committee Structure This portion of the discussion is incorporated into #3 above. 5. Review status of various EDA Projects and Properties a. TIF 1 -22 Management Plan — management direction discussion b. Review of EDA Workshop Topics • Block 34 and Anchor Block Work Products • Marketing EDA Properties • Housing Projects and Increment Angela Schumann talked about the TIF 1 -22 Management Plan and noted that there are several scenarios that have been analyzed by Northland Strategies. Angela Schumann explained Scenario A, B and C and noted that the EDA will be meeting to discuss the various scenarios to decide which is the best option to pursue. Angela Schumann stated that Scenario A would allow the City the most in terms of the tools it has to accomplish redevelopment within the downtown. Jeff O'Neill explained that there are some tax levy advantages to Scenario C. Angela Schumann pointed out that the EDA is responsible for selecting the management plan for TIF 1 -22; however the EDA's enabling resolution requires that the EDA keep the City Council informed on such decision in order to maintain consistency in achieving goals. This will be discussed further in upcoming EDA meetings. Angela Schumann reviewed some of the topics that will be discussed at future EDA workshops. One of the workshops will focus on Block 34 and the downtown Anchor Special Joint City Council -EDA Meeting Minutes — January 28, 2013 Page 4 Block and understanding the costs and opportunities for development of those blocks. Glen Posusta said that he sees the problem with that development is putting too much money into subsidies and incentives and not getting the value out of it. Another discussion is to look at marketing of EDA properties. The EDA will also take a look at housing opportunities which is the arm of the Housing and Development Authority which was folded into the EDA. Angela Schumann talked about the Autumn Ridge development which was proposed last fall as a housing subsidy plan using tax credits and tax increment. The EDA actually has excess tax increment available which could be used toward that type of incentives. TIF 1 -6 will need to be decertified at the end of 2013 and this might be one area to look at for the excess TIF generated in that district. Angela Schumann summarized that all of these topics will be presented at upcoming EDA workshops. 6. Adjournment TOM PERRAULT MOVED TO ADJOURN THE SPECIAL JOINT MEETING AT 6:46 P.M. BRIAN STUMPF SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 5 -0. Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman OW Approved: February 11, 2013 /J Attest: /[aa.—C.1� 0 inistrator Special Joint City Council -EDA Meeting Minutes — January 28, 2013 Page 5