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Home My WebLink About03-15-06 '2-11 RZEN HILLS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2006 7:15 a.m. City Council Chambers, Arden Hills City Hall I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES IV. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN RFP PRESENTATIONS • A. Barsness Consulting B. DeSCo Solutions V. DISCUSSION AND SELECTION OF CONTRACTOR—Bruce Kunkel, Karen Barton VI. ADJOURN AND SET NEXT MEETING DATE City of Arden Hills 1245 West Highway 96•Arden Hills Minnesota 55112 Phone 651.634.5120•Fax 651.634.5137 www.ci.arden-hills.rnn.us i i a , f r , A �i a= s � s d� v 8 G WY $ F dw t "- . e x � r + y a y l w M � a jO iF Y'ris k: x � -- J, - A �- -, ri a P F in to , ; 7-4 k-t - UIIIIIIIII P2 Yt n x t V � r 4 « F I . r __ _ ►. _ _ a �n V r � _w_., ._.. _ .......-„�..,_.e.-,._c_ .�...._,,..... .«+, •�: ... yam. .. :.. � 1 rr' si a , n be t-rl b�ll iy WL oo- « a. 00 ploll --- ------- ' , f t „ r / I r r Lip r Vi - T- 7 x N e F x ° 'l/// 3 ; - . . 7 A r1 v V sw I s (� CITY OF ARDEN HILLS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN RFP PRESENATION QUESTIONS 1. Please provide additional detail on the survey process; 2. Please address how the development of this plan will benefit the City of Arden Hills (what the end product will be and how it can be used); 3. Describe in detail how the SWOT analysis will be conducted and what the City can hope to gain through this process; 4. Who specifically will be involved in the development of the plan; 5. What do you view as the most important elements in the development of this plan; 6. Why should the City of Arden Hills select your firm to prepare this plan; • • 'It EN HILLS CITY OF ARDEN HILLS,MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION February 15, 2006 7:30 A.M. CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS-- 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 Chair Bruce Kunkel called the meeting to order at 7:35 a.m. Those in attendance: Chair Bruce Kunkel, Dale Beane, Ed Werner, Rob Davidson, Jim Paulet, Nancy Kneeland, Chris Ashback, Kevin Kelly, Ray McGraw, and Mayor Aplikowski. Staff: Community Development Director Karen Barton Minutes from the January meeting were presented for approval. Chris Ashback moved to approve the minutes. Ed Werner seconded. Motion carried. Mayor Aplikowski gave a brief Council update stating that they had appointed Vince Pellegrin to the vacant Council seat. She also noted that Mr. Pellegrin is the COO of Metro Transit and is a good addition to the Council. Karen Barton gave a brief update on TCAAP, indicating that the GSA was still reviewing our base-value offer and that our next step would be to write a letter to the Congressional delegation. • Barton also gave a brief overview of several proposed projects in the City including welcoming the new Holiday gas station, updates on Guidant, the Chesapeake RFP status, and noting that we had received the new appraisal on the Old City Hall/Public Works site. Economic Development Plan Copies of the Proposals received in response to the EDC's Economic Development Plan RFP had been previously distributed to the members electronically earlier. Barton handed out hard copies of the proposals. Three proposals had been received from 3D Strategies, DeSCo, and Barsness Consulting. Nancy Kneeland indicated that she like the DeSCo proposal because she felt they were likely to be more objective being located outside of the community. Ray McGraw stated he like the Barsness proposal because they are local. Jim Paulet liked DeSCo's website survey tool, and also liked the Barsness proposal. Mayor Aplikowski commented that Kathy Bennett of Barsness Consulting is well-known in the area. Nancy Kneeland commented that Roseville's Twin Lakes project has not gone over well with the community, and this was a project that Kathy Bennett had worked on while she was employed with the City of Roseville. Rob Davidson remarked that Roseville is challenging. Nancy further commented that she felt DeSCo's proposal was very thorough and complete. Jim Paulet inquired as to the depth of the competitive analysis for the proposals. Barton responded that during the conference call with the respondents, it was determined that due to budget limitations, a general competitive analysis of the area would be done. Rob Davidson asked for clarification of what we are hoping to have as an end-product? Mayor Aplikowski stated that we would have a SWOT analysis. Barton added that we would have an overall economic development picture of the City and a plan to focus future efforts. Bruce Kunkel also responded that Arden Hills has traditionally been a bedroom-community. This plan would provide us with opportunities to look beyond the bedroom-community,while incorporating the wants, needs, and values of the City's stakeholders. The Plan would set direction for us in regard to economic development. He further commented that we would want to revisit the plan in 10 years. Ray commented that he was pleased with both proposals from DeSCO and Barsness. Kevin Kelly stated that he prefers using a local company. Bruce Kunkel recommended tossing out the 3D Strategies proposal and there was a general consensus to do so. Bruce commented that he would like to bring both DeSCo and Barsness in • to talk with the EDC before we make a decision. He also instructed Barton to put together a list of questions for Barsness and DeSCo. Nancy stated she would like to know if both companies would be willing to do a survey. Rob Davidson supported Kunkel's comments. Rob also requested that both organizations references be contacted. Davidson moved to bring in DeSCo and Barsness for an interview to evaluate both proposals. Ed Werner seconded. All in favor; motion carried. Barton would contact both companies and ask them to make presentations to the EDC at the next Meeting on March 15. Business Retention and Outreach Dale Beane had arranged to purchase a list of businesses in Arden Hills. That list was distributed to the EDC members. Beane commented that the accuracy was not guaranteed on the business list (probably 80-90% accurate). However it would provide us with a place to start. Beane added that the list had not been merged with the City's business license list yet. Once he has that list in a useable format, he would then merge it with this list to get a more comprehensive list. Rob Davidson asked if the list could also reflect the number of employees. Beane responded that it could, and also gross sales information. Beane stated that he would get that information put on the list and send it out to the entire EDC. Chris Ashback inquired as to whether we could use this list to create a map in GIS? Barton stated she would research it and get back to him. Barton added that she would work with Beane to merge the lists and gather additional info and bring it back to the EDC at their April meeting. Bruce Kunkel thanked Beane and Barton for their efforts. Dale Beane distributed business cards that his company had made for the EDC,pro bono. Mayor Aplikowski asked everyone to consider inviting business owners and/or managers to our meetings. Barton requested that she be notified in advance if there would be guests at any of the upcoming meetings. Jim Paulet moved to adjourn the meeting; Rob Davidson seconded. Motion carried. Next meeting will be March 15, 2006 in the City Hall Council Chambers at 7:30 am. •