Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-07-11 Economic Development Council minutes/ City of Bozeman Economic Development Council (EDC) Meeting Minutes April 7, 2011 10:30 am – 12:00 pm Madison room, City Hall, 121 N. Rouse Upstairs Conference Room Members Attending: Tracy Menuez (Human Resource Development Council), Chris Westlake (Midwest Welding and Machine), Cheryl Ridgely (Bozeman Deaconess Hospital), Daryl Schliem (Bozeman Chamber of Commerce), Chris Mehl (City Commission) Members Absent: Gary Bloomer (Montana State University’s Tech Ranch), Stuart Leidner (Prospera Business Network), Vacancy Staff Present: Chris Kukulski (City Manager) Brit Fontenot (Asst. to the City Manager), Aimee Kissel (Deputy City Clerk – taking minutes) Guests / Public Present: Gary Gannon Earl Mathers, County Administrator Chris Nixon, President of the NE Neighborhood Association Tom Rogers, County Planning staff Warren Vaughan, County Planning staff NOTE: These minutes are not word for word and should be considered in addition to the audio recording of the meeting. A. Call to Order – Chair Chris Westlake Chris Westlake called the meeting to order at 10:39 a.m. B. Public Comment Gary Gannon, Public Comment Mr. Gannon spoke regarding working with MSU and the Tester and Baucus office to promote ideas about true cost accounting. He is excited about some of the initiatives that may be happening at MSU focusing on job creation and new initiatives. Mr. Gannon announced he would like to submit an application for the vacant position on the Economic Development Council. Chris Nixon, Public Comment Mr. Nixon of 719 N. Wallace Ave., President of the NE Neighborhood Association spoke regarding the Bozeman Brewery wall issue. Mr. Nixon and the Association are concerned about preserving the remaining façade. They feel it is critical that this is the key structure for the historic brewery district. Mr. Nixon wonders why the community did not capitalize on this rare brewery district. If we lose the Bozeman Brewery wall structure we lose the district. Mr. Nixon has spoken with Daryl Schliem with the Chamber of Commerce, the developer who now owns the property, and Tate Chamberlain, with the Bozeman Beer Fest at the Fairgrounds 4-8-11, asking what can be done to save this structure and what is the community interest? Mr. Nixon would like the EDC to work together with the developer, neighborhood, and other interested parties to work something out so the city can get some notoriety for our brewery district. Earl Mathers, County Administrator, Public Comment Mr. Mathers spoke regarding the Counties intention to collaborate with everyone involved including Park County regarding economic development. One of the elements the County would like to accomplish is to r-establish the now dormant economic development district that was formally in place. Tom Rogers and Warren Vaughen with the County will be leading this process. Mr. Mathers explained some of the elements they hope to look at include the economic gardening model, collaborative efforts, and dealing with infrastructure issues. Infrastructure issues represent a significant limitation in certain parts of the County such as Gateway. Despite beauracratic challenges, Mr. Mathers emphasized the importance of re-establishing the district and updating the County development strategy so they can be eligible for federal resources. Mr. Mathers is excited to move forward and is happy to see more support with the County Commission than in the past. Tom Rogers, County Planning and Economic Development Mr. Rogers spoke regarding moving forward and forming collaboration. Mr. Fontenot said he will be meeting with Mr. Rogers and Mr. Vaughen tomorrow to determine where collaboration can begin. Mr. Westlake spoke regarding a recurring theme that economic development is not limited to the boundaries of the city, but is really regional. He feels it is encouraging that we can get together. C. Non-Action Items 1. Brief overview of EDC action and direction from the March 10, 2011 EDC meeting. (Westlake ~ 5 minutes) 2. Discussion of Commission appointment of EDC member to fill the recently vacated one year term. (Westlake ~ 25 minutes) The Council had a brief discussion regarding whether council members would like to add additional questions to the EDC application. Members decided they did not want to add to the current application. They also discussed whether they were interested in recommending applicants to the City Commission and decided they would not spend much time on recommendations and would leave most of the application vetting to the Commission. 3. Discussion of expanding the EDC from seven to nine members, adding two “at-large” members. (Westlake ~ 25 minutes) The Council had a discussion regarding whether they should attempt to modify the EDC Ordinance to change the composition of the Council from seven to nine members. This idea was brought forward because a comment from the summit indicated the EDC does not have as much small business representation as they should. The Council decided not to attempt this modification as they felt the current number of members was appropriate for nimbleness of the Council. Motion and Vote It was moved by Tracy Menuez, seconded by Cheryl Ridgely to keep membership at seven members. The motion passed unanimously. County Commissioner, Earl Matthers stated that someone from the County would likely be in attendance at many of the upcoming EDC meetings whether a County position was created or not. 4. Discussion of community partnerships in the creation of a commercial property and commercial facility vacancy database. (Fontenot ~ 25 minutes) Brit Fontenot said he receives quite a few questions from folks regarding where to find commercial property and facilities and he feels some type of shared database map showing what is available would be helpful to economic development. He also spoke of the desire to work with the County and other organizations for exchanging, trading and benefiting from each other’s GIS information in keeping with the principles of economic gardening and providing data to the business community in a way that is digestible to them. He spoke with the president for the Gallatin Association of Realtors (GAR) about the possibility of providing some of that data and he seemed interested, but could not make a commitment at this time. The Council discussed this idea. Daryl Schliem also contacted the president of GAR Association about the possibility of the city/public having access to such a database. The President of GAR stated his realtors would need to offer their permission to share this information. Mr. Schliem then contacted commercial lenders to urge them to support this sharing. Mr. Schliem is hopeful GAR will be able to send a link soon to help with this issue. The Council also discussed the need to determine what types of facilities businesses are looking for but not able to find. Ms. Ridgely explained that in a conversation she had with a commercial lender he indicated that in the last six weeks he has had calls from five or six companies and only two places available to show them that may not meet their needs. Possible solutions / ideas the Council discussed: Continue building strategic partnerships/relationships and share information Polling / surveying realtors asking what specific types of facilities, features, functionality of space, etc. they have had requests for, but were not able to fulfill. GIS information shared between City and County and shared with GAR. Feasibility analysis of space. Periods of vacancies. EDC as a catalyst to have realtors deal with this. How can the city attract businesses to the vacant spots that are available? Information / advice from council members to Mr. Fontenot to build relationships. Metric of time to occupancy? Building costs? Catalyst. Easier to do business in Bozeman. Mr. Fontenot stated they are currently building a team made up of business people both in the public and private sector to assist businesses and developers including people in planning, building, water, sewer, engineering, NW Energy, etc. Realty profession as a key player. Specific type building, amenities, features – don’t want blind spot. Demand that doesn’t meet the current supply. Information to land lords and building community for what the demand is or has been. if there is a supply that is not meeting demands, are there simple things that can be done to help the supply better meet the demand? Zoning changes, etc. Visiting real estate companies individually because of the competitive spirit among realtors. GAR checking with individual realtors and then will need a vote from GAR. Feedback into system. Capture what’s missing and feed that back into the community. Looking at thematic issues. As simple as: Did you not see what you are looking for? Call us. Mechanism for realtors to let us know what they are seeing – email? Document needs, parameters a company was looking for? Gaps analysis. What are the gaps for local businesses? Identify those kinds of needs then those would be opportunities for another business to expand into or fill those gaps. EDC as catalyst / relationship role. Preference not to lose business out of community. Also – how does our space compare to other areas? Natural draw to higher level of vacancies. If able to better understand that information we will be better able to point them in the right direction. Safeway building soon to be empty as an example. D. FYI/Discussion (Westlake ~ 10 minutes) 1. Next steps/agenda items for the May 5, 2011 EDC meeting. (Westlake) Please e-mail to Mr. Fontenot. 2. Gallatin Business Resource Network (GBRN) update. Mr. Fontenot said this one stop shop resource guide for local/regional area businesses is still in the development phase. Montana State University hopes to have the site go live in fewer than 30 days. 3. Legislative update. Recently 4 bills at legislature all related to TIFS. Mr. Fontenot was in Helena testifying against these bills. Mr. Schliem said these bills are all dead, although one had minor changes that did not have an affect here. Daryl Schliem provided the following updates: House bill 316 – Tourism, Convention Visitors Bureau. This is being carried by the speaker of the house and calls for another 10% cut from the 7% motel/hotel tax. The state will keep 10% more from the total tax collected, going to the general fund. House Bill 317 – sunset all regulatory bills. This would end the state having to distribute the hotel/motel tax back if they don’t feel it is worth their time. Chamber lobbyists in total opposition of both 316 and 317. Failure to get local government and local businesses on the same page to get local option tax so the taxes are controlled locally rather than at the state level. Legislative call 7:15 every Friday morning. House Bill 334, Work Comp: may save between 25 and 40% in premiums. Good for business. Business equipment tax looks good. Fair. Limits. 4. Gallatin College Programs Workforce Assessment Taskforce update. Bob Hietela has asked Mr. Fontenot to participate in a taskforce for workforce assessment. They continue to work on the scope and are meeting later this month. Mr. Hietela will be soliciting request for qualifications to put this assessment together. 5. Bozeman Video Tour Book update. Mr. Fontenot reported the video tour book is on track and thanked EDC members for their comments on the scripts. The video company will be filming in June with the videos likely online in July. 6. Staff and Board Photo Opportunity on April 12th Mr. Fontenot explained the City IT department will be taking photos if the EDC is interested. 7. Partner for April 20th radio program at KMMS Mr. Fontenot announced he is looking for a partner to speak with him about economic development on the weekly radio program at KMMS. 8. West Yellowstone – Interest in Economic Development Mr. Fontenot will meet with Pierre Martino, deputy Mayor of West Yellowstone who is interested in economic development. 9. Building relationships Mr. Fontenot has been out and about meeting with Senator Max Baucus, Senator Tester, the local rotary and other folks forming relationships and pushing the goals and accomplishments of the Council out broadly. 10. Discu ssion regarding what direction the EDC would like to go next as far as large items on the work plan Report Card – what the metrics should look like, methodology. Timeline. Mr. Fontenot may have a MSU political science intern this summer to help him with the report card. Gaps analysis – was touched on at the summit. What are needs that you can’t have met in our community right now? Time frame for the summits. Feedback from the summit survey indicated quarterly. Should we have an agenda for ongoing summits? Role as catalyzing relationships, more involvement, the more community interacting with each other. Responsibility to provide stimulus, talking points, etc. EDC do a few things really well – Find things we can accomplish, succeed at and add to. Reporting what is going on with EDC. Deadline/timeframe for report card Business school had indicated interest in helping to develop report card – has not moved forward at this point. Economic Development authority to push bold strokes. Is this important or not? Cr. Mehl said he would talk to Cr. Becker about this and they will get back to the EDC with possibly a third Commissioners interest. They could then ask staff to do a cost benefit analysis on this. Cr. Mehl would also like to talk to the County. Cr. Mehl said he would write something up on this and provide it before the next meeting. Decision tree – after background. 11. Senator Baucus’ office has provided $ for feasibility study for a development plan for the potential of a $5m facility here for the noro virus vaccine. Future of Bozeman as a Biotech center? 12. Letter from Baucus and Tester recommending to the director attempting to site a national solar observatory that MSU is a natural choice. 13. News articles / updates to the public The Council discussed placing more news / updates on the city website. Ms. Kissel will assist Mr. Fontenot place news on the city website. 14. Feedback to Chris Nixon, Public Comment EDC as an Endorser, etc. for economic development in that area, EDC would like to tie in to those things that would benefit the community. Mr. Nixon spoke regarding looking at what might be needed in the city that could incorporate the brewery wall that the developer could look into. E. Adjournment Chris Westlake adjourned the meeting at 11: 50 p.m. *NOTE – Full audio of all EDC meetings is available at: ____________________________________ Chris Westlake, Chair PREPARED BY: ____________________________________ Aimee Kissel, Deputy City Clerk Approved on: Economic Development Council meetings are open to all members of the public. If you have a disability that requires assistance, please contact our ADA Coordinator James Goehrung, at 582-3232 (TDD 582-2301).