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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-2-12 EDC Minutes -SIN HILLS CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MAY 2, 2012 8:00 AM CITY HALL -- 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair Ed von Holtum called the meeting to order at 8:01 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Chair Ed von Holtum, Commissioners Rob Davidson, Dan Erickson and Jim Huninghake. Also Present: Council Liaison Ed Werner; City Administrator Patrick Klaers, and Community Development Director Jill Hutmacher. 1111 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair von Holtum requested the item of "How the Commission Can Best Serve the City" be added to the agenda after Item 3A, State of the City. It was the consensus of the Commission to accept the agenda as amended. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was the consensus of the Commission to accept the February 1, 2012, and the March 7, 2012, meeting minutes as presented. 3. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. State of the City Community Development Director Hutmacher recapped that the City held its first business- oriented State of the City event on September 14, 2011, the Wednesday prior to the September 17, 2011, Celebrating Arden Hills community event. She indicated approximately 50 people, in addition to staff and Council, attended the State of the City event. She stated at the event, Councilmembers gave a presentation which covered several topics and that feedback was • positive. EDC Minutes May 2, 2012 Page 2 of 7 • Community Development Director Hutmacher asked the Commission for input on whether a business-focused State of the City event should be held in 2012. Commissioner Huninghake felt the event was beneficial and well attended because of the focus on the stadium. He indicated he was not sure if it would be beneficial cost-wise for 2012. Commissioner Davidson stated he agreed with Mr. Huninghake and did not feel it would have the same draw since the stadium was no longer an issue. Council Liaison Werner questioned the cost of the event. Community Development Director Hutmacher stated the main cost was for catering and technical expenses and believes the cost would be less this year. Chair von Holtum asked how soon they needed to decide on whether or not to hold the event and felt they would need to contemplate a reason to get people to attend, like possibly the B2 district. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated she would like to bring this to Council in May or June and would like to know if they recommend holding the event for 2012. • She indicated there would already be two public meetings regarding B2 before the State of the City event and questioned if the interest would be such that businesses would want to attend another meeting if already attending the public meetings. Discussion ensued on the current traffic issues in the B2 district and the effect on the businesses. Commissioner Erickson suggested, since the main cost was for the catering, they adjust according to the RSVP list. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated they did adjust according to the RSVPs but that they still over-estimated because staff did not know if additional people would be showing up because of the stadium, and felt they would have a closer assumption this year. Commissioner Erickson suggested they send out the RSVPs earlier and indicate a threshold date and if not getting X amount of responses by that date, cancelling the event. City Administrator Klaers indicated the Council may then go back to a residential State of the City event. Commissioner Huninghake agreed that they hold a residential State of the City as opposed to a business State of the City. • City Administrator Klaers indicated that staff will give Council feedback on this discussion and then the Council can decide how the City should proceed. EDC Minutes May 2, 2012 Page 3 of 7 • B. Best Utilization of the Commission Chair von Holtum stated that in regards to website design, the group has given their input as best they could but did not feel any of them were website design people. He questioned how the Commissioners, with their various strengths and backgrounds, could best be utilized to benefit the City. He does not think the Commission has been effective the past two years. The members agreed and felt they needed a little more direction on what they should be working on. Community Development Director Hutmacher recapped that the EDC does have a work plan. Commissioner Huninghake indicated he is beginning to feel like the work plan needed some work and thinks they should review it once again. City Administrator Klaers indicated that maybe the EDC should meet with the City Council and talk about what the EDC wants to work on versus what the Council wants them to work on. Community Development Director Hutmacher reported the EDC work plan was based somewhat on the City Council's goals which included the website and business outreach. • Chair von Holtum agreed that their main purpose is to facilitate the City Council's goals. City Administrator Klaers indicated if they would like to talk to the Council about adjusting the EDC work plan he could set up a joint meeting in May to get direction from the Council. He indicated at this point staff is just responding to the direction of the Council on the top priorities and goals. Commissioner Huninghake suggested the EDC take a look at the work plan before going to Council. Community Development Director Hutmacher reviewed the items on the work plan that were approved at the February meeting and indicated she included those meeting minutes in the packet. Chair von Holtum asked that the members review the work plan and e-mail him any additional goals which he will then pass on to Community Development Director Hutmacher and City Administrator Klaers and then the group can discuss at the July meeting. Commissioner Huninghake suggested they take a look at what projects the EDC of other cities are doing. • Community Development Director Hutmacher stated by reviewing other cities' websites, the EDC would understand what other cities are doing to promote economic development since any EDC Minutes May 2, 2012 Page 4 of 7 • economic development activities would be promoted on the City's website. She indicated that the website project is not just about design, but determining what the City can and should do for economic development and how to communicate with the business community. C. Website Design Project Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated she understands that the Commissioners are not website designers, but that was not what was intended. She indicated that currently there is nothing on the website for businesses and this is the first place someone is going to look, before they even call, if they have a question (i.e. zoning for property, permits needed, how to get a business license). She indicated the information that is on the current website is not organized into one package for businesses and that is what is trying to be accomplished with the redesign. Community Development Director Hutmacher stated she has spent a lot of time looking at other websites to try to get the feel on what other cities are doing, what kind of information they have out there, and what kind of programs they are offering. She indicated that a main point of the website project is communicating to businesses and offering services that help them do business in Arden Hills. She understands that it may be frustrating to Commissioners because it is not what they want to do, but feels it is the bedrock of what the EDC needs to do and that they • can build from there after they have the bedrock. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated she did send out e-mails to get the Commissioners' priorities and did not receive any responses. Therefore, she went ahead and included items, from website discussions over the past few months. Community Development Director Hutmacher then showed an example of a website that she felt was well designed and indicated that "Business" would be included on the City's global navigation bar which is at the top of every page on the website. Community Development Director Hutmacher stated that her goal is to have everything for the businesses in one place so that businesses do not have to search for what they are looking for. Commissioner Huninghake stated he liked the idea. Commissioner Davidson asked about the idea of having available properties in Arden Hills listed and how that was actually going to function. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated she realized they would like that on the website but does not know yet how it will function. She suggested maybe they develop it but not turn it on until they figure out how to work it. She stated the company that is being used has a real estate module, and she thinks it is a great idea, but does not know how they can get the information on an updated basis. EDC Minutes May 2, 2012 Page 5 of 7 • Discussion ensued on the idea and how to get the information on the properties and it was brought up they may want to link it to just the Arden Hills MLS or the public site for the Minnesota Commercial Realtors Association. Commissioner Erickson suggested that after going live, they see what links people are looking at the most in order to determine what is important and then expand from there. Chair von Holtum suggested having a list of all the banks in Arden Hills and SCORE. Community Development Director Hutmacher added that she changed the heading "Starting a Business" to "Locating a Business in Arden Hills" and has added all the things that the group discussed and will also add banks and SCORE. Community Development Director Hutmacher mentioned she could use help for the content column and also on what information is helpful to businesses. Chair von Holtum indicated he feels Ms. Hutmacher has built a good template and that they tweak the website as they go after identifying which links are being viewed the most. He also suggested removing items as well as adding items. • Community Development Director Hutmacher felt that was a very good point. She agreed a website is not a place to archive every piece of information that has ever been collected but it is to answer the top 90 percent of questions. Commissioner Erickson also felt the main bullet points were listed and the deeper content would evolve afterwards. He also questioned if the group would get a mock-up of the website before it goes live. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated she believed they would, but it would also depend on the timing of approvals during the last months of the site development. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated one item that she has included as a page that may be turned on later was the Revolving Loan Program which may be developed later. Discussion ensued on the Revolving Loan Program and it was the opinion of the EDC that a lot of time is put into these programs but they generally do not work. D. Meeting Schedule Chair von Holtum recapped that the June and July meetings were cancelled and asked the Commissioners for their availability on either June 20 or June 27. He asked that the • Commissioners e-mail him on which date would work best for the meeting. EDC Minutes May 2, 2012 Page 6 of 7 • Commissioner Huninghake asked if it would make sense to have a subcommittee for the website. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated they could either put the website at the beginning or end of the agenda and time the agenda. That way if it is not a topic of interest, a Commissioner can either come late or leave early. Chair von Holtum asked that the website be put at the end of the agenda. All members were in agreement. 4. UPDATES A. TCAAP Community Development Director Hutmacher stated that the Ramsey County League of Local Governments (RCLLG) held its April meeting in Arden Hills and that the TCAAP presentation, that was part of that meeting, would be rebroadcasted on CTV at 5:00 pm throughout the month of May and is also available via web stream on the City's website. • Community Development Director Hutmacher also informed that there is a purchase agreement between Ramsey County and the General Services Administration for the TCAAP property. The County will be considering whether to proceed with acquisition and remediation in preparation for private development. B. TIF White Paper Community Development Director Hutmacher reported that at the April 16, 2012, City Council work session, staff asked the Council for direction on how to proceed with the White Paper. The Council indicated they would like a formula or matrix that scores TIF applications and that at some point this document might come back to the EDC for review. She indicated there are a lot of rules and strings attached to the TIF on how you can use the funds. C. B-2 Implementation Plan Community Development Director Hutmacher reported that in moving forward with the B-2 Implementation Plan the City Council did appoint a Corridor Advisory Committee and that they had their first meeting on April 11. She indicated that a subsequent meeting would be scheduled for early June and the focus of that meeting would be on transportation issues. D. Commission Members • None. EDC Minutes May 2, 2012 Page 7 of 7 • E. Council Liaison Councilmember Werner reported that at the last Council meeting they discussed Valentine Park. He indicated that bids were received to correct the drainage issue and park amenities and the cost of the improvements will come in at approximately $491,000. They will be using funds from the Surface Water Management fund and the Permanent Improvement Revolving fund. F. Staff Comments Community Development Director Hutmacher reported staff is getting quotes for the Gateway signs and the City will install the first gateway sign by Walgreen's on County Road E and Lexington and if the City Council likes the sign they will replicate a sign at the triangle parcel at the intersection of Lake Johanna Road and County Road D. City Administrator Klaers indicated in regards to the newsletter, the Communications Committee is willing to help put business-focused articles together as long as they get good leads and core material from the group. Community Development Director Hutmacher indicated Commissioner Erickson is assigned to do the article for the July 6 newsletter. She informed the EDC that Commissioners could • utilize the Communications Committee as much or as little as they wanted. The Communications Committee would be willing to write the entire article or just edit a written article. 5. ADJOURNMENT Chair von Holtum adjourned the meeting at 9:31 a.m. 1//1 - Ed von Holtum, Chair Jill tmacher C munity Development Director •