10-08-25 EDC Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – AUGUST 27, 2025 6 Senior Planner Fransen said the middle section of the program is the updates to local businesses. Councilmember Rousseau has been identified as the main speaker for that portion. There has been previous discussion about a panel discussion with multiple speakers. She asked the commissioners what their vision is for the middle section that is after the speakers but before the table conversations. Commissioner Bonine asked if there were topics that Council Liaison Rousseau would like to discuss. Council Liaison Rousseau would love to create awareness around zoning ordinance updates and how they may effect businesses. She would like to discuss the Gateway Visitors Grant. She shared about an agency who came to the City to request conduit debt bonding. It can save a certain percentage with their loan if it is done through the City. We can do it for any business, if the improvement is good for our community. She wanted to make more people aware of the option. Chair Murchie said we want to help the business community see that the EDC exists and that there are opportunities to plug in. It would be nice to highlight some of the EDC members and discuss why we serve on the commission. It would be a structured conversation but will help the business community understand what the EDC is, who is involved and why we think it’s important. We want businesses to know we can be a conduit for the City and the community so everyone is aware and know where and how they can engage. There are only 15 minutes for that section so it would have to stay tight but that is how he pictured that business updates section. It would be a primer for the conversations at the table. Commissioner Bonine asked if the goal is to recruit people or just let them know we’re here and try to find out how to engage businesses. Chair Murchie thinks it’s both. There is limited awareness of the EDC. The conversation at the tables will give us feedback. Commissioner Gronquist said we also want to connect the business owners together so they will want to continue attending these types of events. We want to make the connections and state why it’s beneficial to come together as business owners. Commissioner Bonine said he is concerned that it sounds, to him, that we are inviting them there to tell them about us. This started by trying to figure out who the target audience is and find out what businesses want or need from the City. But we want to be engaging them to ask better questions. Maybe we want to explain the challenges we had with trying to connect with the business community. Maybe they have better ideas on how to do that. People know we’re here now and that is important but he wouldn’t want it to feel like we are just re-introducing the EDC. Commissioner Sorenson agreed. He said a brief introduction of the Councilmembers may be appropriate rather than giving one Councilmember a full 15 minutes to talk. Then during the table talks the EDC can talk about how businesses can engage with the commission and ask what the businesses want to see in future events or initiatives. Council Liaison Rousseau agrees with that. She thought it could be a brief Council intro and a nod to Staff.