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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-07-13 Economic Development Council Minutes THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (EDC) MEETING BOZEMAN, MONTANA MINUTES   Thursday, November 7, 2013   Call to Order – 10:30 a.m. City Hall (121 North Rouse Ave.), City Commission Meeting Room Council Member - Erik Garberg: Present Council Member - Stuart Leidner: Absent Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Present Council Member - Anders Lewendal: Present Council Member - Teresa McKnight: Absent (Arrived about 10:50) Council Member - Tracy Menuez: Present Board Chair - Daryl Schliem: Present Guests present: City Commissioner - Chris Mehl and Natalie Meyer - City Sustainability Coordinator Public Comment – Please state your name and address in an audible tone of voice for the record. This is the time for individuals to comment on matters falling within the purview of the City of Bozeman’s Economic Development Council. This public comment period will be your only opportunity to comment at this meeting. Please limit your comments to 3 minutes or less. 10:35:43 AM Chairman Daryl Schliem opened public comment. Seeing none, he closed public comment. 10:35:52 AM Minutes - 9-5-13 Economic Development Council Minutes Motion and Vote to approve the minutes of the September 5, 2013 EDC meeting as amended. Council Member - Erik Garberg: Motion Council Member - Anders Lewendal: 2nd Council Member - Erik Garberg: Approve Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Approve Council Member - Anders Lewendal: Approve Council Member - Tracy Menuez: Approve Board Chair - Daryl Schliem: Approve Aimee Brunckhorst informed the Council that the minutes had been revised slightly per edits sent by Teresa McKnight. The motion to approve as edited via e-mail passed 5-0. Action Items 10:36:30 AM Bozeman Business Energy Program (Fontenot/Meyer) Brit Fontenot began the staff presentation for this item saying this program is the result of a collaboration between Economic Development and Sustainability. He explained that several years ago the City Commission developed an economic development fund for big box stores. Under that policy, three big box stores came into the city and paid into the fund. $50,000 of that money has been administered by the Big Sky Energy Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) to assist businesses that were saving money by saving energy through upgrades. This program had one success story – The Buggy Bath. The fund wasn’t marketed as fully as it could have been and was underutilized. Northern Rocky Mountain Resource Conservation & Development (NRMRC & D) is folding and the money will be returned to the city. The city would like to get that money working again for the community in a different fashion. They are proposing a grant program called the Bozeman Business Energy Program that when matched with private dollars will help allow small businesses to implement sustainability measures to help them reduce their energy costs. This involves a close collaboration with Northwestern Energy and some of their programs and the potential of collaboration with Prospera to manage some of the administration / financial details of the program. After further explanation and discussion on the program, city staff is asking the Council to take action to recommend this program to the City Commission for approval. 10:40:37 AM Natalie Meyer, Sustainability Coordinator provided a brief overview of the program components. She explained that a city sustainability working group, Bozeman Climate Partners was very interested in creating a business recognition program for businesses already doing sustainability work. This would be a two part program with the first being a recognition program using traditional means such as stickers, poster displays, recognition on the city of Bozeman website and the creation of a logo to recognize those businesses for their current sustainability efforts. Qualifications include completion of a Northwestern Energy appraisal – a free program on how to improve the energy efficiency of your building and other methods such as benchmarking with the EPA’s portfolio manager and other things outlined in the Community Climate Action Plan. Quarterly, hands-on workshops would be held focused on common energy opportunities for small to mid-size businesses. They would ask businesses to pitch in $50 per year to participate to help the workshops be self-sustaining. The incentive portion of the program would be a reallocation of the Big Sky RL funds and would offer a concrete carrot for retrofits. Business Partners that had completed the Northwestern Energy Appraisal would be eligible for $500 to $1500 for energy efficiency and secondarily renewable energy. Types of projects would include things like lighting, water heaters, ventilation, insulation and energy star appliances, etc. or as a secondary item, on-site renewable energy. This requires a 2 to 1 match up to $1500. Northwestern Energy approved contractors must be used with three quotes obtained with reimbursement to the business partner after invoice submittal and a visual inspection. They are partnering closely with Northwestern Energy and possibly with Prospera, and hope to partner with the Southwest Montana Building Industry Association. Lewis and Clark County and the city of Missoula have similar programs in place. We want to partner closely with them so in the future the city can look into grant funding to recapitalize this fund. The Commission approved a ½ time employee for sustainability work so that person would jumpstart this program. Brit Fontenot spoke regarding the outreach component of this program explaining they were at the Gallatin Association of Realtors at their meeting this morning and is in contact with the Downtown BID for an upcoming presentation. Erik Garberg asked about the match dollars and the program threshold limits. Natalie Meyer said the threshold for the match was found with other programs in the country and the program would target small businesses. Anders Lewendal asked about the rental market vs. businesses that own their property. Natalie Meyer spoke regarding rental properties completing the Northwestern Energy audits and having retrofits that pay off as a renter. 10:47:16 AM Continued discussion and questions on the presentation. This program would go before the City Commission for final approval on December 16th. 10:47:39 AM Daryl Schliem Mr. Schliem asked about the $50 that businesses would pay for the yearly workshops. Brit Fontenot explained the fee would help pay for the workshops, advertising etc. and also helps with buy-in. 10:49:20 AM Anders Lewendal Mr. Lewendal asked about the origination of the funds. 10:49:46 AM Motion and Vote to recommend approval of the Bozeman Business Energy Program to the Bozeman City Commission. Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Motion Council Member - Erik Garberg: 2nd Council Member - Erik Garberg: Approve Council Member - Stuart Leidner: Absent Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Approve Council Member - Anders Lewendal: Approve Council Member - Teresa McKnight: Absent Council Member - Tracy Menuez: Approve Board Chair - Daryl Schliem: Approve Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Motion Council Member - Erik Garberg: 2nd Council Member - Erik Garberg: Approve Council Member - Stuart Leidner: Absent Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Approve Council Member - Anders Lewendal: Approve Council Member - Teresa McKnight: Absent Council Member - Tracy Menuez: Approve Board Chair - Daryl Schliem: Approve The motion passed 5-0. Tracy Menuez asked what the status would be of the tasks that the Big Sky Revolving Loan Fund has been handling. 10:51:40 AM December 5, 2013, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm, Maury Foreman – “Build my Business” Workshop, Emerson Center, 111 South Grand Ave., Bozeman, MT (Fontenot) Brit Fontenot asked whether the EDC would like to cancel next month’s meeting and attend the Build my Business Workshop on December 5th instead. He would encourage members to attend and said the $10 entry fee per person could be covered by the City of Bozeman. Motion and Vote to cancel the December 5, 2013 EDC meeting and encourage EDC members to attend the “Build my Business” Workshop sponsored by the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District. Council Member - Anders Lewendal: Motion Council Member - Tracy Menuez: 2nd Council Member - Erik Garberg: Approve Council Member - Stuart Leidner: Absent Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Approve Council Member - Teresa McKnight: Approve Board Chair - Daryl Schliem: Approve The motion passed unanimously. 10:53:43 AM FYI/Discussion/Updates ED Specialist update; Brit Fontenot explained that the last series of interviews will take place this week, with an offer made at the end of this week, or the beginning of next. 10:54:31 AM Broadband initiative; Brit Fontenot explained that the public and private sector steering committee has contacted the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute (MERDI) which has a model to leverage e-rate funding. In this case, federal funding provided to school districts to meet technology thresholds. Those technology thresholds cannot be met here without Broadband efforts. There is a Resolution of support on an upcoming County agenda. The City Commission has already committed their support. The steering committee is looking at funding to put together a feasibility study. Mr. Fontenot intends to schedule a policy session with the City Commission on this soon. There has been a lot of interest generated and models to look to. 10:56:26 AM Sale of the North Park property; Brit Fontenot announced that an offer for the North Park property is expected to come in during the next week. 10:57:18 AM Photonics/Optics sector development; and Brit Fontenot explained they continue to work with Prospera on the optics sector development initiative. Two meetings have been held so far with another scheduled in January to continue to further the organization of the photonics sector in this area. Larry Johnson, one of the founders of ILX Lightwave has volunteered to be the liaison with the business community. They will work on both business and workforce development simultaneously. Mr. Fontenot explained he has been receiving positive feedback from sector community leaders. 10:58:29 AM Montana Outdoor Industry Association event – Nov. 14, 2013. Preview of the Bring it to Bozeman outdoor sector development film Brit Fontenot explained that they have been working with Rob Gilmore and the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District on this sector development. The amounts of money spent within this sector are staggering. Mr. Fontenot provided details on this industry and its high growth potential. Leaders from the outdoors industry, local and state politicians, leaders and other interested parties have been invited to a launch of a discussion regarding the value of an organized sector for the industry and then for the showing of a new marketing film Bring it to Bozeman. The event will also include an explanation of the marketing plan for the film. He spoke further regarding the marketing plan details. They also eventually envision an event showcasing the local outdoor industry with a career fair. This could possibly be sponsored by the Montana Outdoor Industry Association and perhaps co-sponsored by Montana State University. Brit Fontenot showed Council members the Bring it to Bozeman outdoor sector development film that was recently made to highlight the sector. 11:10:16 AM Discussion regarding the film. Brit Fontenot explained that the video will be premiered next week at the Baxter and that Max Lowe made this film for us for $9,000. We leveraged our relationships with outdoor companies. The Council discussed using similar videos for all sector development and how we can use this type of media to tell our story in the future. Mr. Fontenot explained marketing plans for the video in further detail. 11:15:09 AM Further FYI Erik Garberg explained he is now working for Sanderson Stewart. He also explained that the Zoning Commission on Tuesday night recommended a new artisan manufacturing designation. The city is trying to acknowledge a difference between general manufacturing designation and an artisan designation. Adjournment 11:16:09 AM   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 5823232 (TDD 5822301).