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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-26-24 EDC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION JUNE 26, 2024 7:30 A.M. – ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Present: Vice Chair Sreya Subramanian, Commissioners Julie Gronquist, Bobby Bonine, and Jud Murchie Absent: Chair Frank Cupery, Commissioners Rob Williams, Ted Brausen and Youth Commissioner Katherine Schneider, Council Liaison Emily Rousseau Also Present: Community Development Director Jessica Jagoe and Senior Planner Elena Fransen 1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA A motion was made by Commissioner Murchie and seconded by Commissioner Gronquist to approve the agenda. The agenda was approved unanimously. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. May 22, 2024 A motion was made by Commissioner Murchie and seconded by Commissioner Gronquist to approve the May 22, 2024 minutes. The minutes were approved unanimously. 3. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. Meeting Schedule Senior Planner Fransen shared staff is asking the Economic Development Commission if the group would like to consider adding a July meeting to the calendar. The EDC could elect to add a meeting on July 24 or July 31 and can determine if a quorum could be met on one of these dates. The meeting schedule for August through December will remain as scheduled due to staffing availability. Senior Planner Fransen indicated a July meeting could be centered on continuing efforts for the in-person business visit strategy. Other topics or possible presenters could be suggested by Commissioners for the group and staff to consider adding to the agenda. She asked the Commissioners to discuss their availability for the two shared dates. She imparted that two ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JUNE 26, 2024 2 Commissioners who were absent from the meeting indicated that they would be available for a meeting on either date. Commissioner Gronquist shared that both dates work for her. Commissioner Murchie indicated that July 31st would work better for him. Vice Chair Subramanian stated that either date would work. Commissioner Bonine agreed. A motion was made by Vice Chair Subramanian and seconded by Commissioner Gronquist to add a July 31st, 2024 EDC meeting date to the 2024 city calendar. The motion was approved unanimously. B. In-Person Business Visit Strategy Senior Planner Fransen shared that staff requested the Economic Development Commission revisit the In-Person Business Visits strategy discussed at the May meeting. Commissioners should review and discuss the details established at the last meeting, suggesting edits and additions as appropriate. She mentioned that the Subcommittee had drafted questions for in-person business visits to distribute at the meeting. Commissioners should discuss and comment on the drafted information. Senior Planner Fransen presented the drafted details for in-person business visits, asking Commissioners to review the information for missing details, additional timeline and milestone information, and what information needs to be prepared for in-person visits. Vice Chair Subramanian commented that the intentions are in alignment with what has been discussed. Commissioner Murchie added that the goals of the strategy connect with the mission of the EDC and are both aimed at informing the EDC’s work and benefitting the businesses. Vice Chair Subramanian asked about the target audience for in-person business visits. She asked if all businesses would include online businesses without a physical place of business as well as small businesses and national franchises. She also asked who the individuals would be to answer the questions. Would that be a business owner or manager or any employee. Commissioner Murchie commented that starting with smaller businesses could be the way to go. Commissioner Gronquist provided clarification that all businesses could be included as some franchise owners are local and managers tend to be more local even if the business is a franchise. She stated that the visits could be with a business owner or manager to get more specific information about the business. Commissioner Murchie asked how the Commission might handle a visit if a representative is unavailable at that time or if they only have a quick minute and cannot answer the questions while the Commissioner is present. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JUNE 26, 2024 3 Commissioner Bonine discussed that in those instances, the idea is that a card could be left behind, with the possibility of using a QR code for the business representative to access the questions later. He mentioned that the card could also include contact information for the City. The card could be kept brief to keep the process of implementing the business visits moving forward. Commissioner Murchie said he liked the idea of using a QR code and commented that he thought most people were fans of using QR codes to come back to. Vice Chair Subramanian mentioned that the link could also include a link tree, with other links to the City’s Business Resources webpage and other relevant links for businesses. Vice Chair Subramanian asked how the businesses would be approached for in-person visits. Would they sign up for a time and indicate interest or was there some other plan. Senior Planner Fransen stated her understanding was that the business addresses would be divided by area with each Commissioner taking an area of the City to plan out how they would coordinate their visits. Commissioner Gronquist agreed that the businesses could be broken up into regions and shared with the Commissioners. A discussion ensued about how to communicate back to the business community the findings and share the details with the wider Arden Hills Community. Ideas included sharing the information in the Arden Hills Newsletter once information is collected. Commissioner Murchie mentioned that maybe the EDC could share updates to the community through the newsletter, letting community members know that the EDC is working on engaging with the business community and any initial findings or statistics. Senior Planner Fransen offered that perhaps there could be some photographs taken of early visits to share in the newsletter. A newsletter feature could also include the updated EDC mission statement and a contact to reach out to for more information. Commissioner Murchie indicated support of this idea. Commissioner Bonine agreed and added that Commissioner Brausen had previously shared an idea to put together a letter from the Mayor or City Council directed to business representatives. He said that in discussion with staff this letter could be a later follow-up in order to keep the process moving forward with the initial visits. Community Development Director Jagoe offered that there could be an opportunity for the EDC to attend a future City Council Work Session to share the results from the visits to demonstrate the work the EDC has done. The results could help bolster requests for additional resources when putting together the 2025 EDC work plan and that work session could be an opportunity to ask the Council to sign off on a letter to businesses with members of the EDC. The EDC could drive this conversation based on what is learned from the business representatives who were visited. There was support among the Commissioners to pursue this course of action once the visits were completed. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JUNE 26, 2024 4 Senior Planner Fransen summarized that staff could communicate with the Senior Communications Coordinator about timing for featuring the EDC’s in-person business visits in the September or October Arden Hills Newsletter. Commissioner Bonine asked the Commissioners to review the questions drafted for the in-person visits and indicate if they would recommend changes. He mentioned that the subcommittee worked on the questions together and taken in some feedback from staff to get the questions to their current state. He shared that the intent behind the questions being asked was to increase visibility with the businesses and to help the EDC identify allies for the EDC’s work in the future. Commissioner Murchie commented that he thought the questions were great. He asked about the categories for the industries and if these would be detailed enough for sharing with the community. Commissioner Gronquist commented that the subcommittee went back and forth on the industries and had originally had a much longer list that was narrowed down to the ones shown. A brief discussion ensued about how certain industries such as food services could be added. Commissioner Jagoe shared that this question could be removed, and that Commissioners could put in any value they like, leaving this type of information open ended. There was general support among the Commissioners to remove this question and for Commissioners to indicate an appropriate industry for the businesses they speak with. Commissioner Murchie commented that he liked the question about owning or leasing space in Arden Hills and asked about the intent behind this question. Community Development Director Jagoe echoed this question, mentioning that most multi- tenant development businesses lease the space from the owner of the development so it can be identified who is or is not the owner of their business location. Commissioner Gronquist mentioned that the idea was that businesses that own their space could be more engaged and rooted within the community. Commissioner Murchie commented that this question could be construed as intrusive by some business representatives. Commissioner Bonine added that he could see this being the case and that if there was a chance of this being an issue the question could be removed. He mentioned that there had been previous discussion about business licensing which is of interest to several commissioners but might not be the right thing to bring up during an initial conversation where the EDC is being introduced. Senior Planner Fransen mentioned that this question could also be removed and be something to follow-up with the engaged “Allies” identified after the initial visits. Her understanding is that there could be some distinctions between engagement from space leasers or owners and this could be a future area of study for the EDC. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JUNE 26, 2024 5 There was general support among the Commissioners to remove this question and for Commissioners to indicate additional information as appropriate on this topic. Commissioner Murchie suggested adding a question about the business’s primary customer. There was general support among the Commissioners to add this question to the list. Commissioner Bonine asked if there were other questions to add to the drafted list. Senior Planner Fransen mentioned that something to consider asking about is if a business would like to be added to a City email list for businesses. She asks this because the EDC had previously identified a possible work plan strategy of putting together a list of business emails and content for emails to this group. Commissioner Gronquist commented that this could be addressed in other questions. Commissioner Bonine agreed, stating that the representative would be asked if they are open to the EDC contacting them in the future so that would be the opening to this question. Vice Chair Subramanian asked how the Commissioners would plan on getting responses to the questions and how they would be added to a spreadsheet after completing the visit. Commissioner Murchie offered that each Commissioner could enter in their results using the QR code. He offered to help with putting the questions into an online format that could be completed using a link. Senior Planner Fransen shared that she could speak with the Senior Communications Coordinator about online services used and how this could be done using existing resources. A motion was made by Commissioner Bonine and seconded by Commissioner Murchie to approve the in-person business visit questions as drafted with the discussed revisions. The motion was approved unanimously. Senior Planner Fransen recapped the follow-ups, that the revisions to the questions would be made by staff and shared with the commissioners, staff would follow-up with the Senior Communications Coordinator regarding featuring the work of the EDC in the newsletter and working with Commissioner Murchie on the QR code, and staff will work on putting together the business areas that can be divided among commissioners. 4. COMMENTS AND REPORTS A. Staff Updates Senior Planner Fransen recapped that several members of the EDC attended the June Planning Commission meeting to share the EDC’s proposed revisions to the City Sign Code. She shared that there was agreement from the Planning Commissioners and that they looked forward to the next steps. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JUNE 26, 2024 6 Senior Planner Fransen also shared that the Commission and Committee Appreciation Picnic had been confirmed for July 16 at 6:00 p.m. and that she hoped the Commissioners would be able to attend. B. Economic Development Commission Comments None. ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn was made by Vice Chair Subramanian and seconded by Commissioner Gronquist. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 a.m.