02-22-2008 EDAMEDA Board Meeting
Minutes
Main Conference Room — City Center
7 AM Friday February 22nd, 2008
Members Present in Bold
Tim Ulrich Steve Jansick Mike McGraw
Jim Haugen Diane Gordon Marc Vaillancourt
Staff
Miles Seppelt, EDA Director
Lee Miller, EDA Assistant
Ken Merrill, Finance Director
Liaison
Bill Corby, Chamber President
IV
V
Minutes
Mr. Ulrich called the meeting to order at 7:03 a.m.
Approve Agenda No action taken
Review Meeting Minutes
A. January 25th Board of Directors
Casey Stotts
BR & E Visits
✓ Hillyard
M /S /P: Jansick, Vaillancourt to approve minutes from the January 25th EDA Board of
Directors meeting. Approved unanimously.
B. January 16th Finance Team
M /S /P: Vaillancourt, Jansick to approve minutes from the January 16th Finance Team
meeting. Approved unanimously
Review January Financial Statements
The January Financial Statement was unavailable for this meeting. Both January and February
financial statements will be reviewed at the April 4th EDA Board of Directors meeting.
Director's Report
Mr. Seppelt reported the following:
A. Cenex Project
• Moving ahead as scheduled. Should be moved in by the end of February.
• Working with a group called "The Green Institute" to help reduce demo costs at
the old fertilizer site. They will dismantle and recycle what wood they can.
B. Customer Elation Call Center
■ As of this date they are on schedule. The building has been enclosed and is
being heated to help thaw the ground so the floor can be poured.
■ There was some discussion about the possibility of sharing some of Warrior's
parking lot with Customer Elation if their own parking lot is not finished by the
time they want to open. Customer Elation is planning on using a gravel parking
lot until theirs is finished.
C. Recognition Event
■ The recognition event has been pushed to April.
D. Cornerstone Commons
■ Mr. Miller has been working with Beacon Bank to set up a direct deposit account
for Cornerstone's monthly loan payment of $1,114.56.
E. Business Recruitment - RKadia / Haugen Furniture
• RKadia is a furniture manufacturing company looking to locate in the Midwest.
• Mr. Jansick informed the Board that they will be partnering with Haugen Furniture
at first as Rkadia's design and manufacturing would complement Haugen's
distribution network.
F. County EDA
• Every town in the county has been visited with the exception of Biscay. Mr.
Seppelt will be scheduling a visit to their next city council meeting.
• Letters and an information packet have been sent to the 16 townships in the
county prior to meeting individually with the county commissioners.
VI. Company "X"
• Representatives from company "X" came to Hutchinson on February 21 st for a
presentation by the EDA and to meet plant managers at 3M and Warrior
Manufacturing regarding labor force of the area.
• Company "X" would require 10 acres for a 100,000 sq. ft. facility for
manufacturing and assembly. They would create about 250 jobs within three
years. Hutchinson would be their North American Headquarters.
• Discussion followed about possible incentives to offer them. The Finance Team
recommended:
1) JOBZ
2) $500,000 equipment loan at 2% for 7 years (proposed in partnership with DEED)
3) $500,000 equipment loan at 6% for years (proposed in partnership with SWIF)
4) Up to 10 -acres in the new Hutchinson Energy Park FREE (set up as a 7 -year
forgivable loan)
M /S /P: Stotts, Haugen to approve the proposed assistance package as recommended byt eh
Finance Team. Approved unanimously.
VII. Energy Park Drive
• Mr. Seppelt asked the Board for their thoughts on the name "Energy Park Drive"
to be used for the new road that will run south from 5th Avenue through the new
industrial park. Mr. Seppelt informed the Board that some members of the
Planning Commission thought people might get confused as there is an Energy
Park Drive in St. Paul.
• The Board indicated that the name "Energy Park Drive" was fine.
VIII. Business Incubator
■ Proposed site would be the Ridgewater East campus. The site is just over 6
acres. The facility has 18,000 sq. feet, with about 12,000 sq. ft. to be used for
production space and the remaining 6,000 sq. ft. to be used for office and
classroom space.
• The project would include locating several small business resources under one
roof to improve access to start -up businesses.
• Mr. Seppelt informed the Board that there is some funding available from the
Blandin Foundation to use towards a feasibility study of the campus to see what
it will take to refurbish the building to meet our goals. This architectural review is
Step 1 in this project.
• The Business Incubator Exploration Team will be traveling to Owatonna on
February 27th to tour their incubator and to ask questions about the process.
• Mr. Seppelt informed the Board of a grant from the USDA that might fit this type
of project.
IX. Hutch Iron & Metal
• An initial quote for constructing a fence along HI &M's property line came back
much higher than anticipated. EDA staff will be working with staff from the Parks
Dept. to create an alternative plan that would include creating a berm and
planting trees.
• Discussion followed about having the City maintain the berm and trees.
X. Look at lots around Hutch Iron & Metal / Teletsky Property, etc. (LOGIS)
■ Utilizing LOGIS, the EDA Board reviewed the areas surrounding Hutch Iron &
Metal.
XI. 2007 Annual Report
■ The annual report is nearly complete and will be distributed shortly.
XII. Grant & Loan Applications
Sign & Awning Grant Program
Wendling Insurance Services, INC — Jim Wendling $2,000.00
40 Main Street North
M /S /P: Haugen, Stotts to approve a grant request of $2,000 to Wendling Insurance Services,
INC. Passed Unanimously.
XIII. Other Business
None.
XIV. Chamber Update
Mr. Corby gave the following report:
• February 21St Community Connection had over 20 organizations participate.
• Ladies Escape Weekend will be held Friday, February 29 — Saturday, March 1
• Friday evening activities at My Inspiration Spa, 7 -9:00 p.m.
• Saturday events include Ladies Retreat at the Event Center, 8:30a.m. to
2:00 p.m. and a wine tasting at the Best Western Inn, 7 -9:00 p.m.
• Ag Seminar Tuesday, March 4th at the Peace Center, 4 -8:00 p.m.
o Speakers include: Edward Usset — Grain Marketing is simple, just not
easy
Cheryl Glaeser— SWIF, Alternative Energy
James Wedgewood — Ventriloquist
• Business speaker Rick Segel will be in town March 12th at the Best Western
speaking at two sessions. A.M. session — How to Survive during a Slowing
Economy.
P.M. session — Customer Service... Who Needs It?
McLeod for Tomorrow Workshop — April 3 d, from 1-4:30 p.m. at the Brownton
Community Center. Topic is "Looking into the future, how will communities in
McLeod County be affected by the changes in demographics and transportation ".
o Speakers include: Tom Gillaspy, State Demographer
Patrick Wiedermann, MNDOT Planner
John Brunkhorst, McLeod County HWY Engineer
XV. The next EDA Board of Directors meeting will be Friday, April 4th in the City Center
Main Conference room at 7:00 a.m.
XVI. With no further business needing to be attended to, the meeting adjourned at 8:22 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Miller
EDA Assistant