02-28-24 EDC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – FEBRUARY 28, 2024 6 C. Economic Development Commission Work Plan Senior Planner Fransen stated that a summary of the previous month’s discussion was in the memo and a copy of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan Chapter 8 was attached, as well as a draft Work Plan. She asked for comments on the Vision and Mission statements and any suggested changes to the Work Plan. Commissioner Bonine thought partnership seemed to be the easiest priority to leverage existing relationships. They talked about some type of welcome but it sounds like the City already feeds the information about the Chamber to new businesses, and the Chamber directory search function is nice but he thinks people go to Google to search. He wondered how much outreach and advocacy they could leverage with existing partnerships and see what was left after, or what they don’t like or want to cover. He felt that could then lead to communications and marketing, and business outreach and support. He thought they should look at what resources they have first before they commit time to building it out on their own. Senior Planner Fransen thought the businesses listed on the Chamber website were members but she could double check. She could verify what the City has on the website that references the Chamber. She noted the Chamber works with a larger geographic area than just Arden Hills. Commissioner Brausen said when Beverly Aplikowski was Mayor they used to have a yearly meeting with all of the businesses that was separate from the State of the City. He wondered if they could have an evening meeting and invite businesses to come to talk about things like signage and promotion. Senior Planner Fransen noted that having some sort of event had come up in previous conversation. Commissioner Brausen wondered if there was a section on the website where businesses could leave comments, for example a business frustrated with a signage problem. Senior Planner Fransen said there is a complaint area on the website where someone can report code issues, there is also an info email address and those emails get routed to the right person. They could discuss having a specific comment area for businesses. Commissioner Bonine asked for clarification of the Vision Statement and EDC Mission and why there were two. He felt the Vision Statement might be better for the EDA or City Council, and he didn’t think they could impact the things listed unless the Council gave them something specific to work on. But he could relate to the EDC Mission. He wondered if they needed to have a Vision Statement and a Mission Statement. Commissioner Murchie felt the Vision might be more encompassing beyond what the EDC does, but is more like the vision for the City, and the Mission feeds into the Vision. Senior Planner Fransen said the Vision Statement was more general and for all of Economic Development, while the Mission was more specific to the EDC. She welcomed other comments and questions. She noted that she provided some additional materials, including a previous EDC