HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-05-13 Economic Development Council Minutes
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (EDC) MEETING
BOZEMAN, MONTANA
MINUTES
Thursday, June 13, 2013
For minutes linked to the video of this meeting please go to:
http://www.bozeman.net/Departments/Administration/City-Commission/Streaming-
Video/Archives
A. Call to Order - 10:30 a.m. City Hall (121 North Rouse Ave.), City Commission Meeting Room
Council Member - Stuart Leidner: Present
Council Member - Tracy Menuez: Absent
Council Member - Erik Garberg: Present
Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Present
Council Member - Teresa McKnight: Present
Council Chair - Daryl Schliem: Present
Council Member - Anders Lewendal: Absent
City staff present was Economic Development Director Brit Fontenot, City Manager Chris
Kukulski, Director of Community Development Wendy Thomas and Deputy City Clerk Aimee
Brunckhorst taking minutes.
Guests present were Commissioner Chris Mehl and Director of the Gallatin County Planning &
Community Development Department Warren Vaughan.
B. Public Comment
None.
C. Non Action Items
10:35:44 AM North Park Property Update
Brit Fontenot informed the Council on the status of the North Park Property saying the Commission did
determined that the property was no longer necessary for the conduct of city business and that it was in
the public interest to sell the property. The city had already chosen a realtor and is currently negotiating a
listing contract for the sale of the North Park Property.
10:38:51 AM Status of the Economic Development Specialist Position
This position has been posted by the Human Resource Department. The application deadline is
September 13th.
10:38:55 AM Introduction of Wendy Thomas, Economic Development Director
Brit Fontenot introduced Wendy Thomas and in return the Economic Development Council members
introduced themselves, although Ms. Thomas had already met the majority.
10:41:11 AM Photonics and Optics Sector Development Initiative
Stuart Leidner said they intended the Optics Conference that MSU hosted. They are working with
leaders in the sector about getting a Montana Optics Cluster Association started. Larry Johnson, retired
from ILX Lightwave will be the Interim Steering Committee chair. A group of business leaders will
meet to investigate the value of having an association here and what opportunities there may be for
growth and in having a Bozeman or Montana presence in photonics West in San Francisco. This
association would report back to the EDC.
10:43:13 AM Main Focus in Sector Development Initiatives
Brit Fontenot spoke regarding the two main focuses in the sector development initiatives being the
expansion of the businesses as well as workforce development to fill the jobs that will be created. We
have the resources to provide those needs. We are trying to help this sector inspire employees with a
passion for the sector to come here for employment.
10:44:47 AM Outdoor Sector Development Initiative
Brit Fontenot explained he and Rob Gilmore have tapped into a core group of local outdoor sector
businesses and outdoor philanthropists. Max Lowe an outdoor filmmaker will help us tell a story in a 3
to 5 minute film. An important piece is to get successful businesses successful to work together. With
support, their brand and success stories they can tell a story to the wider world to attract businesses as
well as employees that are passionate for this sector. Brit Fontenot explained there will be an outdoor
sector meeting happening in a month at Simms.
Their goal / vision is to host an outdoor industry association event here in Bozeman for outdoor sports
businesses and manufacturers as well as shooting businesses to inspire local and outside businesses.
They would also host a job share in partnership with MSU and Gallatin College that are trained in
appropriate areas and linking those potential employees with the businesses that need them. They are
creating a video with a number of local business leaders and philanthropists and MSU President
Cruzado.
10:48:38 AM Example of a video we would like to emulate.
10:54:05 AM Further discussion regarding the video being planned for production.
10:54:52 AM Stuart Leidner brought up how this video plays into the marketing collaborative.
10:55:09 AM Deputy Mayor Krauss spoke regarding the importance of showcasing the University.
Brit Fontenot explained that the premiere of the film will occur at the Emerson with the outdoor
companies invited. They are devising a marketing and distribution plan using local companies as the
catalyst.
10:58:28 AM Broadband Initiative
Brit Fontenot said they are trying to make something happen. They would like to get the right people
around the table in a broader context than just Bozeman to talk about how high speed internet access in
our region will benefit the local startup and smaller to midsize businesses that cannot afford to connect
to some of the services that are being offered. They have identified the I-90 corridor concept with end
points being Billings and Missoula. They have scheduled a round table meeting at Senator Baucus High
Tech Summit in a few weeks to talk about being in the lead on this to connect the organizations and
Institutions on that corridor.
11:00:59 AM Deputy Mayor Krauss
Jeff Krauss spoke regarding running against political ramifications. The way forward is to begin to make
the political case that the city and MSU should be involved or not.
11:02:12 AM Brit Fontenot feels the city has already said they want to support high tech business
growth. If we want to do that we need to support high tech infrastructure. It is time to bring in those that
have decision making and financial authority. He spoke about inclusiveness in this effort and the
importance of partnerships.
11:04:19 AM Teresa McKnight
Ms. McKnight spoke regarding the importance of a redundant path for Universities.
11:05:04 AM Stuart Leidner
Mr. Leidner spoke regarding the private sectors involvement with this Committee.
11:06:25 AM Redevelopment and Infill Policy
Wendy Thomas, Director of the Community Development Department spoke regarding the joint effort
of Public Works and Community Development to work on this. When she began as the director she
noticed projects in the downtown area where they were redeveloping sites and there were issues with the
Unified Development Code which was written mainly to address green field development on the edge of
the city. The North Seventh Urban Renewal Board was also looking at an infill policy regarding how
they can jump start improvements to the corridor they have jurisdiction over. She felt this Issue should
be looked at comprehensively. As part of the Budget process the Commission allocated funding to look
comprehensively at this issue city wide. They have identified a series of issues. Staff has developed a
spreadsheet they have been taking to the public and have invited stakeholder groups to meetings to ask
design professionals and property owners what they see. They have provided feedback. a few focus areas
are shaking out. One is the historic preservation program, the certificate of appropriateness program.
This has been successful in protecting and enhancing historic and overlay districts. They are looking at
how the program can change to encourage infill while still protecting historic neighborhoods. They
would like to utilize infrastructure in place now to its maximum capacity instead of creating new
infrastructure that we then have to start maintaining. One issue we have heard from the development
community is how they can get credit for private investments. They have also talked about park land.
The cash in lieu system is onerous. Residential customers are talking about accessory dwelling units and
deviations as well as parking and utilize programs similar to the downtown parking district. Also,
planned unit developments were a great idea but their time may have come and gone. They are looking
at the most effective utilization to encourage creative development and having a code that encourages
creative development by its nature. They are also looking at a pink code which is a code Red tape light
and designed to be more agile and responsive to creative development. On September 23rd they are
taking the City Commission on a bus tour to talk about infill and redevelopment. They anticipate taking
some changes to the Commission in January.
11:16:50 AM Erik Garberg
Mr. Garberg said he was at one of the workshops and heard there are small vs. large infill projects, and
balancing the development community’s wish for flexibility with their desire to not have unknowns. Mr.
Garberg spoke regarding the hard work the staff has been doing on this.
11:17:38 AM Cheryl Ridgely
How are utilities being addressed?
11:18:16 AM Wendy Thomas
Northwestern Energy should be included in the upcoming discussions. She also said schools are
important to involve.
11:19:15 AM Brit Fontenot
Brit Fontenot said he meets with Heather Bellamy regularly and brought up laying conduit for broadband
while the streets are already dug up for their work. Craig Woolard said he will coordinate discussions
with the Northwestern engineering team when infrastructure work is on the horizon and talking about
when the ground is open what can be done to make infrastructure investment cheaper in the future.
11:20:20 AM Daryl Schliem
Mr. Schliem asked about capacity issues.
11:20:48 AM Wendy Thomas
Engineering is looking at updating the Water and Sewer Master Plans.
11:20:55 AM Cheryl Ridgely
Ms. Ridgely spoke regarding what barriers we should anticipate in the future and how the Montana
Department of Transportation (MDOT) or other agencies fit into this?
11:21:41 AM Wendy Thomas
Ms. Thomas spoke regarding having a great relationship with the District MDOT office and have
ongoing conversations. They are continually looking at the overall transportation infrastructure.
11:22:59 AM Daryl Schliem
Mr. Schliem congratulated Wendy Thomas on the steps she has taken and the quick time frame it has
been happening and spoke regarding the important elements of this discussion that are being included.
D. FYI/Discussion (Schliem)
1. EDC Meeting Schedule (Schliem);
11:25:24 AM
The Council members decided to set future Council meetings to end at 11:30 instead of 12:00 and
extending the meeting to 12:00 only when necessary.
2. Marketing subcommittee report (Ridgely);
11:27:01 AM
Ms. Ridgely reported she has been focused on one on one discussions with stakeholders.
11:27:32 AM Stuart Leidner
Mr. Leidner said the state has a plethora of images and video we can use through their tourism office.
Brit Fontenot explained he has sent off for a drive of those and should be receiving them soon.
Daryl Schliem said the Chamber has commissioned through the Tourism side, films and high density
pictures.
3. Incentives subcommittee report (Garberg).
Erik Garberg said he will be getting Mr. Fontenot some language on local incentives for the website. The
bigger issue is generating consensus from the EDC as to the right direction to go forward. For example,
looking at infill and/or tax abatement. He said that he will get together with subcommittee member
Teresa McKnight in September.
11:30:08 AM Montana Technology Connection
Stuart Leidner spoke regarding this meeting and companies discussing their need to attract cyber security
information technology employees for their workforce. They are working with the College on certificate
courses to develop cyber security IT professionals. The main request from the private industry panel was
getting funding for workforce development. In return, the private sector was asked to go before the
legislature and testify for that need. Budgets cut. Another large portion of the workforce needs are
around the health care industry. He also spoke regarding talking points provided to the EDC for the mill
levy vote coming up for Gallatin College. The Friends of Gallatin College (501c3) will be reaching out
to people to raise several thousand to get the marketing out to get the mill levy passed through Gallatin
County.
11:35:53 AM Discussion regarding Streaming and Broadcasting the EDC meetings.
Aimee Brunckhorst, Deputy City Clerk and recording secretary for the EDC explained to Council
members their choices regarding streaming online and broadcasting their meetings on cable channel 20.
The Council made the decision to stream and broadcast live and play the meetings back at a later time.
11:42:38 AM Senator Baucus Summit in Butte
Deputy Mayor Krauss said an aggregate presence of Bozeman leaders would make a good impression at
the summit in two weeks.
E. Adjournment 11:44:35 AM