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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-04-14 EDC Minutes'It ,7R� HILLS CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION JUNE 4, 2014 8:00 AM CITY HALL -- 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair Ed von Holtum called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Chair Ed von Holtum and Commissioners Dan Altstatt, Dan Erickson, Steve Heikkila, Jim Huninghake, and David Radziej Also Present: Council Liaison Ed Werner, Community Development Director Jill Hutmacher, and Associate Planner Matthew Bachler 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA It was the consensus of the Commission to accept the agenda as presented. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was the consensus of the Commission to accept the April 2, 2014, meeting minutes as presented. 3. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. Business Retention and Expansion Associate Planner Bachler provided a summary of recent meetings between staff and the cities of Coon Rapids, Hugo, and Forest Lake regarding the successes and shortcomings of the Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) programs implemented in their communities. All three cities worked with the BRE consultant team at the University of Minnesota Extension. Associate Planner Bachler reported that a benefit of working with the Extension was that a well -organized structure was brought to the process and that the consultants were able to supplement the skill set of city staff. He added that Hugo and Forest Lake saw their programs as being very worthwhile as a result of the business communication and development strategies that were developed. EDC Minutes June 4, 2014 Page 2 of 6 Associate Planner Bachler discussed some of the drawbacks of working with the Extension, including the difficulty of adapting the program to the local context, the number of meetings required, and the cost. He added that each city interviewed was able to find some amount of corporate sponsorship to help defray the cost of the program. Associate Planner Bachler provided an overview of the BRE program implemented by the City of Shoreview, which was done without the assistance of a consultant. Shoreview has focused on improving communicationsandvisiting a select number of priority businesses in the community. He commented that a benefit of this city -initiated approach is that the program can be tailored to the specific needs of the community and limited resources can be used more efficiently. On the other hand, this approach requires additional staff time and the data collected from businesses is not as detailed or comprehensive. Commissioner Erickson asked if staff had contacted any businesses or corporate entities about providing funding for the program. Associate Planner Bachler responded that staff was waiting to do this until a decision was made whether or not to work with the Extension's BRE program. Commissioner Erickson asked how flexible the Extension might be in adapting the structure of their program for Arden Hills. He also requested information on the program cost. Associate Planner Bachler commented that it would be important for staff to have conversations with the Extension about the particular needs of Arden Hills before entering into a contract. He explained that the cost of the program would likely range from $10,000 to $15,000 depending on the services included. Commissioner Heikkila commented that he saw advantages in both approaches. Shoreview was able to build on an already in place communication infrastructure, including their website and newsletter. Working with the Extension would bring an important outside perspective to the process. He agreed that customization of the Extension program would be important. Commissioner Altstatt asked how the City would go about prioritizing businesses to interview. Associate Planner Bachler responded that Shoreview used criterion such as number of employees, tax generation, and number of years in the community to develop their list of priority businesses. He explained that the Extension program usually takes a comprehensive approach that attempts to conduct interviews with arange-of different -businesses -in_ the_community._ Commissioner Erickson stated that he believed working with the Extension would be a good approach considering the structure they would bring the process and their ability to complete the program in a relatively short period of time. Commissioner Huninghake expressed concerns about the number of meetings that would be required of volunteers. He questioned whether the expected results of the program were worth the amount of time and effort that would be required of staff and volunteers. EDC Minutes June 4, 2014 Page 3 of 6 Commissioner Erickson questioned whether the Extension tracked any measurements of success in the communities that have implemented the BRE program. Associate Planner Bachler commented that he was unaware of data collected by the Extension on the outcomes of their program. He added that one way to measure success would be to evaluate whether the priority projects recommended by the Extension during the program were effectively implemented. Commissioner Radziej commented that meeting with business owners always has a positive impact. He recommended that the City be cautious about accepting the Extension's program as the only approach to doing BRE. He believed that Shoreview had implemented a strong program, but that more staff resources are required in taking this approach. Commissioner Erickson suggested that staff contact the Extension to request more details on the services they could provide and any data they track on the outcomes of their BRE program. Community Development Director Hutmacher suggested that the EDC decide on their general goals for the BRE program before staff contacts the Extension. She summarized the discussion so far, stating that the EDC was in favor of fewer meetings, less data collection, and a results -oriented approach. She stated that staff would bring a more detailed proposal to the EDC at the July meeting before contacting the Extension. B. City Video Tour Community Development Director Hutmacher reported that staff had drafted a video tour script and proposed filming locations based on the comments provided by the EDC at the April 2, 2014 meeting. She added that testimonials from two businesses and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce regarding the TCAAP project could be included as well. Community Development Director Hutmacher explained that with the inclusion of the testimonials, the length of the video is expected to be nearly five minutes. The original goal was to limit the length of the video to three minutes. She requested recommendations from the EDC on parts of the script that could be cut. Chair von Holtum commented that the section on educational attainment and housing could be shortened by removing the specific data points. He requested that the line, "Arden Hills is nearly fully developed," be removed from the script. Commissioner Erickson suggested that the description of the adult degree programs offered at Bethel University and the University of Northwestern be removed. Commissioner Heikkila recommended that a title block be used to identify individual businesses in the video. EDC Minutes June 4, 2014 Page 4 of 6 Community Development Director Hutmacher commented that once the video was completed, staff would likely be able to identify sections where visuals could be used to tell the story rather than text. Commissioner Erickson commented that the length of the video should not be a significant concern, as those seeking out the video would likely watch it if it goes beyond three minutes. Commissioner Radziej recommended that the sections of the video including testimonials be interspersed with images. C. Revolving Loan Fund Associate Planner Bachler reported that staff presented recommendations to the Economic Development Authority (EDA) on April 28, 2014 on how the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) program could be improved. These recommendations were reviewed by the EDC at the April 2, 2014 meeting. Generally, the EDA was supportive of the proposed RLF guidelines. Associate Planner Bachler provided an overview of the revised guidelines and outlined how the loan approval process would work. He explained that the City would be responsible for determining eligibility based on the proposed improvements, obtaining a third party review of underwriting done by the participating bank, and completing a Participation Agreement. The participating financial institution would be required to complete the underwriting, disburse the loan funds, and collect payments for both the City and private portions of the loan. Community Development Director Hutmacher explained that the underwriting done by the participating bank would be sent directly to the third party reviewer. The reviewer would then provide the EDA with a memo that would summarize the financial analysis and include a recommendation for approval or denial. She commented that this process would keep the financial documents provided by the applicant out of public records. Commissioner Erickson asked how the cost of the third party review would be paid for. Community Development Director Hutmacher responded that the cost would be minimal as the review could likely be completed within one to two hours. She explained that this cost would be paid for by the applicant as part of the application fee. Commissioner Erickson questioned how the program would be marketed. Community Development Director Hutmacher stated that City would primarily rely on participating banks to market the program. Information on the RLF would also be provided on the City's website and in the community newsletter. Commissioner Altstatt stated that it will be important for the program to be easily accessible for businesses. He questioned whether there would be much interest in the program given how low commercial lending rates are currently. EDC Minutes June 4, 2014 Page 5 of 6 Chair von Holtum commented that interest in the program is likely to increase as commercial rates begin to climb. Commissioners discussed how the City's portion of the loan would be positioned in relation to the private portion of the loan. Commissioner Huninghake commented that if the City takes a subordinate position to the bank's portion of the loan, this would provide the bank with an additional incentive to participate. He stated that the proposed approval process included too many required reviews. Chair von Holtum stated that the EDC was in favor of keeping the program as simple as possible with a streamlined approval process. Community Development Director Hutmacher explained the need for additional due diligence by the City if its portion of the loan will be in a subordinate position. She added that staff did not have the necessary training to complete the type of analysis that could be done by a third party. Commissioner Erickson stated that additional information was needed on the services that would be provided by the third party advisor. He commented that the program could always be amended at a later date if the proposed approval process does not work efficiently. Commissioner Huninghake commented that the City of White Bear Lake manages a similar RLF program and also partners with local banks. He noted that over 30 loans have been issued through the RLF since the program started in 1990 and that there have been no defaults. D. 2014 State of the City Community Development Director Hutmacher provided a summary of the State of the City event held at Flaherty's Arden Bowl on September 12, 2013. She requested that the EDC discuss where the 2014 State of the City should be held and the preferred date for the event. Commissioner Huninghake commented that Flaherty's was centrally located in the community and that the space provided for the 2013 event was an appropriate size. He suggested the basement space in the Country Financial building as another option. Commissioner Erickson noted that there were audio-visual issues during the presentation last year that would need to be addressed if the State of the City were to be held at Flaherty's again. Commissioner Altstatt recommended holding the event at Flaherty's because the process of organizing the event would be streamlined. He agreed that the technological problems encountered last year would need to be fixed. Chair von Holtum stated that holding the event at a local business was very important. He recommended that the table arrangement be rethought so that the presentation is easier to view. EDC Minutes June 4, 2014 Page 6 of 6 Community Development Director Hutmacher suggested that it may be helpful to have those presenting at the State of the City to rehearse before the event. She asked the Commissioners to discuss an appropriate date for the event. Commissioners agreed that the tentative date for the 2014 Sate of the City should be Thursday, September 25. Community Development Director Hutmacher added that the City would also likely host a community event on a weeknight or Saturday at the end of September that would be targeted to residents. 4. UPDATES A. TCAAP Update A written report was provided to the Commissioners. None. B. Commission Members C. Council Liaison Council Liaison Werner provided an update on road construction projects that will be completed in 2015. He discussed how three bridges would be impacted — County Road E over Snelling Avenue, County Road F, and the Highway 96/Interstate 35W interchange — and noted that MnDOT would attempt to coordinate the temporary closure of these bridges to reduce impacts on local traffic. D. Staff Comments None. ADJOURNMENT Chair von ffolton adjourned the meeting at 9:40 a.m. -711 Ed von Holtum, Chair Jill tmacher Corfimunity Development Director