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10-28-2005 EDAMHutchinson EDA Board of Directors Minutes of Meeting Friday, October 28, 2005 at 7:00 a.m. Members present in bold print: Members: Tim Ulrich Steve Jansick Jim Haugen Duane Hoversten Casey Stotts Mike McGraw Staff: Miles Seppelt, EDA Executive Director Erin Eberdt, EDA Assistant Ken Merrill, Finance Director L Tim Ulrich called the meeting to order at 7:03a.m. II. Approve Agenda No action taken III. Review and Approve Meeting Minutes a. Review minutes from September 30th EDA Board Meeting Don Walser Marc Vaillancourt M/S /P: Hoversten/Jansick to approve the minutes from the September 30th EDA Board meeting as written. Passed unanimously. b. Review minutes from September 28th Finance Team Meeting M/S /P: Jansick/Haugen to approve the minutes from the September 28th Finance Team Meeting as written. Passed unanimously. IV. Review September Financial Statements — Ken Merrill o On Pg 1 under operations for the EDA, there is $32,230 cash on hand. The total fund balance as of September 30th, 2005 is $32,450. There is the continuation of the land write down. Total Mortgages receivable is $90,238. o Pg 2 and 3 is the statement of revenue and expenses. Total expenses for September are $9,325. The EDA has spent down a total of $8,825 for the EDA Board Meeting October 28, 2005 Page 2 of 6 month of September. The EDA has spent down a total of $90,930 for the first nine months of 2005. • Pg 4 under the EDA Loan Fund, there is $147,314 as cash on hand. The Ashwill Industries Loan was not closed on until the start of October, so this will show up on the financial statements at the next meeting. • Pg 5 under the EDA Downtown Loan Fund, there is $511,793 as cash on hand. Mortgages receivable is $754,321. $93,857 has been collected this year for loan repayments. A total of $199,382 has been paid out thus far for 2005 including loans, downtown grant program, and miscellaneous. The balance sheet reflects spending down a total of $105,525. M/S /P: Haugen/Jansick to approve September financial statements as presented. Passed unanimously. V. Director's Report Miles Seppelt gave the following report: A. State Theater — One of the retail spaces is open. It is a small antique shop. One of the three apartments will most likely be rented out next week. Right now, Mr. McMonagle is spending more time on running the theater. There is going to be a promotion for the holidays at the Theatre and information is going out to merchants about this. Merchants will have free tickets to give out for two movie times every Saturday and Sunday for three weekends starting after Thanksgiving. People have to go to merchants downtown to get these tickets. The cost to merchants to buy into this is $35. Each business will start with 100 tickets but they can get any many more as needed. B. Liquor Hutch — The operations will move over to the new side over the weekend. On Monday the new part will open and from there it will take 2 -3 weeks to get the old side renovation. The date for substantial completion is November l ltn C. Cornerstone Commons — Rix Corner Redevelopment — The Pawn Shop will be moving this weekend to the other half of the Dry Cleaners building. On Monday or Tuesday the asbestos will be cleaned out of the building and after that it will be demolished. D. Downtown Streetscape Project — This project is just about complete for this year. The 16' streetlights will arrive today and start to get installed next week. All of the lights should be installed by the second week of December. There is a decorative fence to create a seating area by Dairy Queen that will still be put in this year. The water fountain, the Washington Ave and Cornerstone Commons concrete, and the planters and benches will all get done in the spring. The traffic signal poles will also be painted black in the spring along with getting countdown signals at the crosswalks. EDA Board Meeting October 28, 2005 Page 3 of 6 E. Industrial Park Development — 1. Wetherell Property Site Prep — This project is done, the only cost left if to put some covering over it for the winter. The fill will start coming in the spring as it becomes available through city projects. 2. Industrial Park Signage — Mr. Seppelt stated that there are about 7 -8 companies interested in this project. He has the bids for the sign, but still needs to collect bids for the concrete and electrical work. Mr. Ulrich asked if it could ever get expanded. Mr. Seppelt said that he would look into that. It was also discussed to put the JOBZ logo on it. Ideas about how the maintenance and electric bill could get paid were also discussed. 3. JOBZ & Signage — These signs have been installed under the population signs as you come into town. F. Business Recruitment 1. Company "X" — Mr. Seppelt is closing on the sale of the land after the meeting today. 2. Company "Y" — No report was given. 3. Ashwill Industries — The loan was closed on at the start of October. The UCC statement was filed and it was received back already. Samples of things that can be cut with the water jet cutting machine were passed around. VI. Grant and Loan Applications Si!n and Awning Grant Program The Glass Apple, Cheryl Labat $1,451 M/S /P: Haugen/Stotts to approve the Sign and Awning Grant for $1,451 for The Glass Apple. Passed unanimously. Storefront Revitalization Matching Grant Program The Vacuum Gallery, Lee Gruenhagen $5,000 M/S /P: Stotts/Hoversten to approve the Storefront Revitalization Matching Grant for The Vacuum Gallery for $5,000. Passed unanimously. Titan Cleaners Building, Skip Quade $5,000 M/S /P: Jansick/Stotts to approve the Storefront Revitalization Matching Grant for Skip Quade for the Titan Cleaners Building for $5,000. Passed unanimously. VIL Request to defer assessments on Wetherell Property With the sale of the north part of the property, $145,623.11 of the assessments will be paid. If the board wants to defer the payments on the remainder of the land, a formal request must be drafted for the city council. Mr. Seppelt said that the Finance Team's EDA Board Meeting October 28, 2005 Page 4 of 6 position was that if the EDA were to pay the assessments on the remainder of the property, it would be hard to recoup those dollars. Mr. Merrill said that assessments can only be deferred for seniors and disabled persons, undeveloped land, land outside of the city limits, and over -sized city lots. He suggested that the EDA pay the assessments over a 10 -year period. For next year, the payment would be just a little over $11,000 and this number would go down every year for the 10 years. This would be an option to not have to pay the whole amount and tie up cash in assessments. It will also help to make sure that the assessments do not get too high because of the interest accruing. No motion was needed because the board chose the 10 -year payment plan and no formal request is needed for that. VIIL Proposed Downtown Redevelopment Project Mr. Seppelt presented a proposed idea for a downtown redevelopment project. He mentioned the possibility of getting a TIF District set up. He asked for any discussion and suggestions. There was discussion on the possibilities of this project. Keeping the Post Office downtown and getting the new Post Office built was brought up. Mr. Ulrich did not want a project to happen that could potentially alter the plans for a new post office. Mr. Seppelt stated that he will start working with the local post office and work up from there to try and get the post office back at the table where it was a few years ago. It was recommended that next month this topic be brought back with more numbers and any new information. There is the land that the depot is on which was discussed as being a good place to have an anchor in the downtown when the roundabout is put in. The only problem is that this property is still owned by the McLeod County Rail Authority. Mr. Seppelt will keep looking in to different options and get back to the board. IX. Goebel Property Transaction Mr. Seppelt showed a slide with the dollar amounts of the assessments that exist on the four Goebel properties. The same background from last month was given. If the EDA were to assume the assessments on the four properties (approximately $143,000) the EDA would get in return the two eastern lots. The pond on the property would be deeded to the city. The Finance Team discussed the EDA assuming the assessments on the two lots that Mr. Goebel would keep and in return the EDA would still get the two eastern properties, but the assessments could be deferred until the properties sold. This would keep some cash available incase it were needed. Mr. Merrill said it would be better to pay off all of the assessments. The EDA would get 5.698 acres. With paying the assessments on all four properties and getting the two lots in return, the cost per acre comes to approximately $25,000, which is similar market rate for EDA Board Meeting October 28, 2005 Page 5 of 6 that land. The board felt this was a good idea, but they have to wait now and see if Mr. Goebel likes this idea or not. Mr. Seppelt will keep pursuing this and come back to the board next month with more information. X. Project Ideas for 2006 — Part II Mr. Seppelt discussed a handout that had the project ideas the board generated last month. He told the board to let him know of any ideas they had. Mr. Hoversten suggested looking into a virtual incubator, which does not require a physical building. It was also suggested to look into a way to get the old vet clinic taken away. Mr. Seppelt informed the board of a grant program from DEED that may help with this. Mr. Hoversten said that the SBDC being at the City Center is still up in the air but that he would keep the board informed. XI. Downtown Christmas Lights Anthony Hanson brought up this topic at the Finance Team meeting. He discussed that the Jaycees were looking at taking on a project to bring back the Christmas lights on the tops of buildings. They could provide some labor and money, but they are looking at partnering with other organizations to get it paid for. It was recommended that the HDA should take the lead on this project. Mr. Vaillancourt said not having the lights this year will be a catalyst to get people excited about wanting to do something next year. Mr. Ulrich said that the Finance Team discussed the possibility of giving one of the downtown grants as a contribution to this project. It was stated that the EDA would support this initiative. XIL Chamber CVB Update Marc Vaillancourt gave the following report: It is the second month of the leadership program. Yesterday was a Community Day that looked at the past, present, and future. There were very good reviews. There was also a panel session. The Planning session for 2006 is November 15th. The Chamber CVB has also been asked to sit at the table to discuss the public arts initiative. Member visits are also continuing. XIII. Other Business The First Annual Downtown Gathering will be on November 3rd at 5:15p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend and listen to the guest speaker talk about "Downtown Sense of Place." EDA Board Meeting October 28, 2005 Page 6 of 6 XIV. The next meeting will be December 2, 2005 at 7:OOa.m. XV. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 8:22a.m. Respectfully submitted, Erin Eberdt EDA Assistant