01-28-26 EDC Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – DECEMBER 17, 2025 4 Councilmember Monson said encouraging people to visit the businesses is a great idea. Is this swag, is it the passport? We want to do the advertising throughout the year. Commissioner Poelzer said branding could be offered on various merchandise. Some people like a hat, some want T-shirts and sweatshirts. Most people don’t have stock. They take orders and order the amount paid for so you don’t have left overs. She thinks people would purchase items like that. Senior Planner Fransen said there are a lot of great ideas. She said we can summarize the discussion and share the recommendations with the 75th Anniversary Committee. We want to engage businesses during the event and after. Councilmember Monson thinks a 5K walk may be difficult, logistically. She said she would like EDC to help with outreach. Discussion ensued regarding promoting bicycling to the event and having extra bike corrals. Commissioner Poelzer said maybe we want to consider something special for only Arden Hills residents or Mounds View students. Senior Planner Fransen will follow up with Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky about the sponsor amounts discussed here. She will bring this back to the January EDC meeting. Discussion ensued regarding how the drone show works. Will the logos be shown the whole time or will it just be flashed for a few seconds? Commissioner Bonine said that should be clarified before we ask companies to sponsor. Commissioner Poelzer asked if the band in the evening could be set up on the tennis courts where there could be a dance floor. It would be a cool thing. Councilmember Monson said it may be good to have EDC members on the 75th committee. It could fast track some of these things. She asked commissioners to connect with Staff if they are interested. B. EDC Work Plan Senior Planner Fransen said the draft work plan is in the agenda packet. She said there are three buckets that were identified. She called out some specifics under each bucket. She said the list is long. Her goal is to pare it down a bit and prioritize the plan. Senior Planner Fransen said a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) can be established for some of these items. She said we can be in contact with the communications coordinator. The adopt a park program was identified as something the EDC can help with but it still falls under the PTRC. Commissioner Bonine thinks the business license/registration process is priority. He said outreach to businesses is difficult when we don’t have a system in place that gathers information. At minimum every business in the city should have to submit their information. We have a roster. Staff needs to manage that program. It is not about chasing the businesses down; it’s reminding them about it.