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Commissioner McGuire thanked staff for their efforts to let the public know what’s going on. <br />Chair Wicklund requested staff provide him with information on how many people are visiting <br />the Rice Creek Commons website. Director Mitchell stated she would pass this information <br />along to the JDA members. <br />b. Review of Prior JDA Development Solicitation Processes <br />Director Mitchell stated the JDA has undertaken two solicitation processes for development <br />partners in the past. The primary documents for these two solicitation processes were <br />presented to the JDA in detail for review and discussion. <br />Commissioner Jebens-Singh questioned who did the evaluating of the proposals. Director <br />Mitchell explained an evaluation subcommittee was formed to complete this task for both <br />solicitation processes. <br />Chair Wicklund stated back in 2016, the City Council was finalizing the TRC as a developer was <br />being selected which allowed for conversations with the developer as the code was being <br />finalized. <br />Commissioner Jebens-Singh commented on the differences between the 2016 and 2023 <br />solicitation processes. She asked what drove the differences. Director Mitchell stated she does <br />not have a really great answer for this, noting she was not part of the 2016 process. She <br />commented on how the scope of the project changes from 2016 to 2023. <br />Commissioner McGuire questioned how many proposals the County received for each <br />solicitation process. Director Mitchell stated the County received four proposals in 2016 and in <br />2023 the County received six. <br />Commissioner Monson asked why the feedback on the proposals was submitted anonymously <br />in 2023. Director Mitchell indicated she thought this was done at the advice of one of the <br />attorneys. <br />Commissioner Monson commented she would like to avoid an anonymous feedback process. <br />She believed this process was incredibly limiting and she received a great deal of feedback from <br />the public about the approval process because the JDA relied heavily on staff for <br />recommendations. <br />Commissioner Jebens-Singh supported holding the negotiations in a closed session in order to <br />protect conversations and matters that are discussed. Attorney Tierney stated this was a <br />complicated instance because the County owns the property and the JDA was not directly <br />negotiating the sale of the land. She was uncertain that a closed session for the JDA would be <br />necessary.