EDA Minutes 12-10-2008•
MINUTES
CITY OF MONTICELLO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
6:OOpm
1. Call to Order:
Chairman Demeules called the meeting to order and declared a quorum at 6:OOpm.
Roll Call:
The following Commissioners were present:
Chair Bill Demeules
Vice President Dan Frie
Treasurer Bill Tapper
Commissioner Bill Fair
Commissioner Bob Viering
Council Member Mayer
• Also present Executive Director Megan Barnett
2. Approve minutes:
MOTION BY COMMISSIONER MAYER SECONDED BY TAPPER TO APPROVE THE
NOVEMBER 12, 2008 MINUTES. MOTION CARRIED. 6-0
3. Consideration of additional agenda items: Commissioner Tapper added reviewing
language in the Tax Increment Financing Business Subsidy Criteria.
4. Approval of the EDA Invoices:
Commissioner Tapper questioned the invoice from Lamar. Executive Director reviewed
Lamar made a mistake in billing. Staff was able to negotiate the billboard staying up
additional month without charge.
Council Member Meyer questioned whether the amount the City is paying to publish an
ad in the Business Journal is worth the value. Commissioner Frie stated the feedback
received by site selectors is positive and is a resource they read often. Barnett supported
such statement and indicated it is important to continue to include marketing ads on a
• consistent regular basis in order to be most effective.
• Commissioner Tapper questioned a WSB invoice. Barnett stated there are still a few outstanding
documents and work that will need to be completed in order to close out the project. The EDA
will receive invoices from WSB for the stated projects in the future. Mayer requested that the
City Engineer include a summary statement for each WSB invoice. Barnett stated that she has
worked through a procedure with the City Engineer to detail each invoice for EDA review.
MOTION BY COMMISSIONER VIERING SECONDED BY FAIR TO APPROVE EDA
INVOICES. MOTION CARRIED. 6-0
5. Public Hearing and approval to amend EDA Greater Monticello Enterprise Fund (GMEF)
Business Subsidy Criteria.
Barnett stated she completed a review of the Greater Monticello Enterprises Fund (GMEF)
Business Subsidy Criteria. Staff simply reformatted the document at this time. Executive
Director noted contact was made with DEED to verify how the Small Cities Economic
Development Set Aside criteria is to be administered within Monticello's GMEF criteria. A
representative from DEED stated the additional criteria under Small Cities loan has not been
redistributed and therefore the City is required to maintain the additional criteria at this time.
Commissioner Tapper reviewed the different "funds" within the GMEF. A portion of the money
derived from liquor store revenue and a portion from a grant that was awarded to Twin Cities
• Die Casting. Tapper reiterated that the assumption is that money obtained from the small cities
loan funds must be redistributed differently than money originally obtained as part of the start up
funds. Tapper stated he is recommending two documents be created in order to clearly separate
how each fund can be distributed.
Executive Barnett stated additional research needed to be completed in order to determine if
creating two separate loan criteria was appropriate.
Discussion ensued regarding how the GMEF criteria should be handled. Commissioner Tapper
stated he would like to see the money tied by the Small Cities criteria re-distributed sooner rather
than later in order to ultimately get the funds back into the general GMEF. Chair Demeules
cautioned separating the two fund balances due to the fact the GMEF criteria allows the
combination of both the general GMEF and the Small Cities balance to be combined when
factoring in how much can be loaned out at one time.
Commissioner Frie stated he would like the document to be simplified in order to be easier to
read and implement.
Staff stated additional research needed to be completed to
MOTION BY TAPPER TO TABLE THE ITEM AND DIRECT STAFF TO COMPLETE
• ADDITIONAL RESEARCH SECONDED BY FAIR. MOTION CARRIED. 6-0
. The Commission appointed Tapper and Demeules to meet with staff to further revise the GMEF
document.
The Authority closed the Public Hearing.
6. Proposed Marketing Budget:
Barnett reviewed the staff report. Discussion ensued regarding the cities website and the
monticelloland.com website.
Commissioner Frie stated he was interested in seeing the City list the industrial park land with a
commercial broker.
Commissioner Tapper stated if it is the desire to include printed ads in the Business Journal it
should be more frequent than not. Frequent consistent exposure would seem appropriate.
Commissioner Viering asked if a $20,000 budget is adequate. Director Barnett stated the
approved 2009 budget does not allow for any additional marketing funds. Mayer stated staff and
the EDA should get involved in the budget process in May in order to provide the City Council
with enough time and information prior to approving a preliminary budget for the following
year.
• MOTION BY BILL TAPPER SECONDED BY VIERING TO APPROVE THE 2009
MARKETING BUDGET LEAVING THE DETAILS TO THE DISCRESION OF THE
MARKEITNG COMMITTEE. MOTION CARRIED. 6-0.
7. Reassignment of Developers Agreement for Prairie West:
MOTION BY TAPPER SECONDED BY VIERING TO REASSIGN THE DEVELOPERS
AGREEMENT FOR PRIAIRE WEST TO LINDA A SMITH. MOTIONED CARRIED. 6-0
Commissioner Viering stated the City should not be responsible for the cost associated with
processing the revised Developers Agreement.
8. Elect Officers for 2009:
Will be completed in April of 2009.
9. Report of Committees: Updates were provided in the Executive Director Report
10. Report of the Executive Director:
Barnett reviewed the opportunity the City has to obtain funds from the Minnesota Housing
Finance Agency (MHFA) to address the foreclosure situation in Monticello. The grant
• application is time intensive, detailed, and will require the City to obtain a partnership with an
organization that has administered grants like Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
rsarnett reviewed statics obtained through in field inspections and Sheriff data as to where a
majority of foreclosures are occurring. She further stated the grant application submitted to the
state would include three main components: 1. Down payment assistance 2. Acquisition and
rehabilitation 3. Purchase for demolition. Staff is recommending the City partner with Central
Minnesota Housing Partnership in order to complete the application.
Additional Item:
Commissioner Tapper stated he is concerned with the language in the Tax Increment Financing
Business Subsidy document section 4.03C. Tapper stated he felt the existing language was
confusing and proposed revised language.
Mayer stated staff should research if legal believes the proposed language is applicable and
acceptable and report back to the EDA.
Councilmember Mayer stated this was his last meeting and extended congratulations to
Executive Director Barnett. He further stated in a short time he has witnesses a lot of growth and
enthusiasm from Director Barnett.
Chair Demeules extended his thanks to Wayne Mayer for all of his efforts and time while serving
on the EDA.
MOTION BY FAIR SECONDED BY MAYER TO ADJORN THE MEETING.
Meeting adjourned at ~:15pm.
~~~
President