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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-04-14 Economic Development Council Minutes THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (EDC) MEETING BOZEMAN, MONTANA DRAFT MINUTES Thursday, September 4, 2014 Due to technical difficulties the first several minutes of this meeting are not recorded. A. Call to Order – 10:30 a.m. City Hall (121 North Rouse Ave.), City Commission Meeting Room Board Chair Daryl Schliem called the meeting to order at 10:32 a.m. Council Member - Erik Garberg: Absent Council Member - Cheryl Ridgely: Present Council Member - Teresa McKnight: Present Council Member - Tracy Menuez: Absent Board Chair - Daryl Schliem: Present Board Member - Bryce Ledbetter: Absent Board Member – Rebecca Mahurin: Present Ex-Officio Member – Sean Becker: Present Commission Liaison – Mayor Jeff Krauss: Absent City staff members present: City Commissioner Chris Mehl, Police Chief Ron Price, City Manager Chris Kukulski, Economic Development Director Brit Fontenot, Economic Development Specialist David Fine, Judge Seel and Deputy City Clerk Aimee Brunckhorst. Guests present include reporters Jason Bacaj and Erin Schultz and photographer Adrian Sanchez- Gonzalez from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. B. Public Comment None. C. Minutes - May 15, 2014 Motion and Vote to approve the minutes of the May 15, 2014 EDC meeting as submitted. The motion passed unanimously. D. Non-Action Items 1. Rouse Justice Center Presentation (Price) City Manager Chris Kukulski provided an introduction to this topic saying that as city employees they are not advocating for or against the ballot measure related to bonds for a Rouse Justice Center but are providing extensive education about this November 4th ballot measure. Chief of Police Ron Price began an informational presentation. Chief Price began by saying the city of Bozeman is the safest city in the state of Montana for any major city. This is a result of a commitment of those in the police department, the entire justice system and the community that lives here. On the November ballot there will be several items related to the Rouse Justice Center. He explained the Justice Center is designed to provide community interaction and community rooms and areas for victim services to meet with victims to move them through a very daunting system. He spoke further about the experiences of victims within the Justice system. The city attorney’s prosecution staff, municipal court and the police department will also be located there. The police department and municipal court are currently located in a converted 1960’s era High School that was never designed to take on the functions needed. The deficiencies were apparent when they moved into the building in 1994 with 29 officers. Right now, they have 65 officers and the space is bursting at the seams. Both service calls and court cases have doubled since then. The city of Bozeman is projected to continue to see rapid growth. 00:04:53 Chief Ron Price showed a picture illustrating the challenges with the current police building space showing the space they rent and occupy. There is no privacy, not enough desks for all the officers, not enough storage, etc. 00:06:07 Ron Price showed a picture illustrating insufficient evidence storage space. 00:07:24 Ron Price showed a picture illustrating the current inadequate locker/restroom. 10:44:48 AM Judge Seel continued with the informational presentation talking about the current challenges experienced in the municipal courts space which include a serious lack of space, no mediation or conference rooms, no security, major safety concerns and absolutely no expansion space. He provided further details about these inadequacies. 00:10:52 Judge Seel showed a picture illustrating seriously insufficient court file storage. 10:48:23 AM Judge Seel showed a picture illustrating the challenges with the current municipal courts space. For example, the jury assembly room is 12x12 yet they need to accommodate 30 people. The lack of facilities affects community members. 10:49:38 AM Chief of Police Ron Price continued with the presentation speaking about the guiding principles that moved them forward in design and into the future. He then spoke regarding the plans for the Rouse Justice Center. He talked about the proposed location and design and why these would be ideal for the needs of the city now and into the future. The land the Center will occupy was obtained through a land swap between the city and the Montana Department of Transportation and is currently the MDT shop complex located along Rouse spanning the area between Tamarack and Oak. As proposed, the building will be a two story structure, built to essential services standards. The first floor contains community rooms, the police department and victim services. The second floor will contain the prosecution offices and municipal courts. The lot provides for built in expansion. The site is ideal and provides a corridor of basic city services; it provides a civic presence in a primary entry point and fills in a brown field site. This is an excellent use of property. He spoke further about design details. He mentioned that this section of Rouse will be expanded by the Montana Department of Transportation in 2016 bringing it in line with the completion of the facility. This location is equal-distant from their largest call volume areas, has great transportation routes and is along the bus route. 10:54:43 AM City Manager Chris Kukulski continued the presentation speaking about an energy efficiency plan that was determined with a 15 year cost benefit analysis. They will go through the LEED certification status. He then provided illustrations regarding the cost of the bond. The bond is a 23.8 million dollar bond that will cost the median home owner $72/year or $6/month. He explained how the cost of the bond per tax payer will decrease as the tax base grows. There are two questions on the ballot: the bond to build it and the second question is 5 mills to pay for operating costs, maintenance, grounds. This second levy would cost the median home owner $18/year or $1.50 per month. Mr. Kukulski then explained the schedule moving forward. This includes extensive public education meetings and conversations between August and October prior to the November 4, 2014 election. If the bonds pass they will break ground in spring of 2015 with the facility opening September 2016. 10:59:02 AM City Manager Chris Kukulski answered a question regarding demolition that will occur on this site by Montana Department of Transportation. The city will be able to break ground on the northern end of the site, while MDT still utilizes the southern end of the site awaiting the completion of their new facility. It is MDT’s responsibility to hand over a clean site environmentally. 10:59:38 AM Cheryl Ridgely asked about whether the costs of furniture, fixtures, etc. are included in the bond. 11:00:06 AM Ron Price explained that the cost of security, technology, furniture and fixtures are included in the bond measure. He also spoke regarding the security and technology components that would be included in the new facility and compared that to the current lack within the present site, providing examples. 11:02:12 AM Sean Becker asked questions regarding the permanent levy. 00:26:06 Chris Kukulski spoke regarding the net increase levy and the costs now with the Gallatin County lease arrangement. 00:26:35 Sean Becker continued questions regarding how the existing facility costs net out on the $445,000. 11:03:26 AM Ron Price spoke regarding the costs related to maintenance, utilities and staffing needs. This is another item that has a high water mark and then they will use every means to reduce that. Ron provided examples. The staffing identified is a ½ FTE for an evidence technician. They have been in need of expanding for 2-3 years for this position. The larger piece is records management and staffing for meeting and greeting the community. That service is currently provided by the County through the 911 emergency services. They have been in discussion with the County about continuing with those same services but talks were not concluded at the time they went before the City Commission. 11:05:54 AM Chris Mehl, City Commissioner answered a question from Sean Becker regarding what would happen if one bond measure passed and the other did not. He said the Commission would be back to ask again as this has been our highest priority for many years. In terms of taxes, in 2007 a public safety levy passed that allowed the city to increase police officers. The sheriff is now going through that. By the city moving to a new facility we will save the County (and all of us as County tax payers) an enormous expense because they can move into the facility space we would be vacating. He spoke further about the projected increase in growth and the necessity of this Center. 11:07:53 AM Sean Becker spoke regarding the general obligation bond passed for the improvements of Durston and how, over the course of its life, the tax per person diminished significantly. 00:31:47 Chris Mehl spoke further about how property values have consistently increased over time and that trend is expected to continue. Over time, they expect the cost of the levy to go down for the typical median homeowner. 11:08:37 AM Sean Becker spoke regarding the insufficiencies at the current facility. He asked what new efficiencies would occur and what the return on investment will be with this new facility, both direct and indirect. 11:09:29 AM Ron Price spoke regarding the insurance component with the ability of preventing bad things from happening in an essential services facility. He spoke regarding first response in the event of a disaster. He then spoke to efficiencies and provided an example regarding the protection of the police fleet. He spoke further about the numerous efficiencies that would be realized in a facility that is designed for this use. 11:11:40 AM Ron Price answered a question regarding why we are not moving forward with the County on this facility saying that this is a complex project that requires a high level of commitment and timing for everyone involved. Chief Price explained that the Sheriff’s office priority is staffing levels at this time. They are moving at different times and different spaces. The amount of space that would be available to build on the current site was a problem. Once the County decided not to move forward with a joint design, it became an inadequate piece of land. The site on Rouse is far superior. 11:13:07 AM Chris Kukulski also said the County does not have any plans to invest in a facility. There is not an alignment of timing to invest in this type of infrastructure. As County residents, we will all benefit from the opening up of space in the existing County facility. 11:14:04 AM Judge Seel said they have very little interaction with the justice or district courts so it would not affect them at all to be in a separate facility. Since there has been no room for expansion of the District courts, the County had to build an external shed for an additional Judge. This will allow for a 4th district judge in the County which is currently needed but unable to happen because there is not a space currently available. 11:15:28 AM Cheryl Ridgley asked about plans for the community room. Ron Price spoke regarding the benefits of having many different groups use the community room. This would help establish positive interactions between the public and law enforcement. He spoke to the importance of providing a human face to a function. 11:16:43 AM Chris Kukulski spoke regarding the high demand for community rooms. 11:17:33 AM Ron Price wrapped up the presentation. He asked the EDC if they would pass on information about other groups they should provide presentations to. Brit Fontenot thanked the presenters for this information and for making the community safe and the ties safety has to economic development. E. FYI/Discussion/Updates (Schliem, et al) 1. Update on the Bozeman Broadband Initiative (Fine) David Fine provided the Broadband update saying they are moving through the Broadband master planning process. Consultants from Design Nine conducted several public meetings and a meeting for service providers. This network will be great for increasing private sector competition and driving down costs. Twelve providers participated in that meeting. The consulting firm has been meeting with community stakeholders and business leaders regarding what types of challenges the community is facing. There will be several more stakeholder meetings in October about business models and how we are actually going to pay for this model. Yesterday an online broadband survey was released with distribution help from Prospera, the Downtown Bozeman Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce. We hope Bozeman businesses will fill the survey out to let us know what their service needs are and how their Broadband service can be improved. 11:21:18 AM Teresa McKnight commended the ED team for their work on this broadband initiative and spoke about her experiences with Broadband failures. 2. Member Tracy Menuez leaving the Council 00:45:44 Brit Fontenot explained that Tracy Menuez has accepted a new position at Montana State University. She has been part of the Council since inception and has provided a great perspective. While there is no defined role for members, he would ask if the Council would prefer asking HRDC if they would have an interest in forwarding a name from someone at HRDC or whether the Council would like the vacancy opened up in general. Daryl Schliem spoke regarding asking HRDC if they would like to forward an applicant, but also opening up the vacancy to the entire community as well. 3. Update on Sector Development Initiatives (Fontenot) Brit Fontenot said the Montana Photonics Industry Alliance headed by Larry Johnson has a lot of momentum and are working with Prospera. They are planning on showcasing photonics in some upcoming marketing materials. The Bozeman Outdoor Network continues to make slow but steady progress. Under the umbrella of the BioScience alliance, a statewide organization, they are trying to organize a local chapter to address local needs in the biopharma area. 4. Evaluation of a North 7th TIF District Expansion (Fontenot) Brit Fontenot reported they are working with the North Seventh (Urban Renewal) TIF board on expansion of those TIF boundaries and whether that would have value to the community. He spoke further about these conversations. They are also working with Community Development looking at the management of the TIFS (exclusive of Downtown) and having discussions on how to pull those together under one management plan. 5. Update on the Marketing Collaborative and other marketing efforts (Fontenot) Brit Fontenot announced this is continuing to progress. They are working with Flying Horse and the Chamber collectively to put together a media library. He thanked the Chamber for their leadership on this. They are also working with the Chamber and the TBID on a Communities of Distinction project, a nationally televised program that looks at communities identified for a live, work, play combination. They are working with them now on a shoot time and scripts written. This is a professional show that will air at least one time nationally with 19 other airings in markets that we can choose. 11:28:37 AM Daryl Schliem asked for any other FYI’s or questions. 11:28:50 AM Cheryl Ridgely asked about the biggest challenges being faced by the ED team right now. 11:29:05 AM Brit Fontenot said the challenge is keeping up with the pace set by the economy. The ED team is hard to pull together for impromptu meetings when they come up considering the increased work load of everyone on the team. Mr. Fontenot consistently receives calls from outside companies looking to relocate. Mr. Fontenot and Mr. Fine are constantly providing information. The word is out regarding Bozeman as a place to do Business. 6. Montana State University pursuing 11:30:49 AM Rebecca Mahurin announced that the University will be pursuing a new designation for Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities from the Association of Public Universities and Land Grant Universities. She will be reaching out to the members for assistance with this. F. Adjournment Seeing no further business, Daryl Schliem adjourned the meeting at 11:31 a.m.