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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-17-25 EDC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA Special ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION DECEMBER 17, 2025 7:30 A.M. – ARDEN HILLS COMMUNITY ROOM CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Present: Chair Jud Murchie, Commissioners Ted Brausen, Julie Gronquist, Kristine Poelzer, Bobbie Bonine, Ihsan Isak, and Youth Commissioner Kayleigh Shrom Absent: Commissioners Jess Daniels and Kyle Sorenson Also Present: Senior Planner Elena Fransen, Community Development Director Jake Reilly, Council Liaison Emily Rousseau, Councilmember Tena Monson and Councilmember Brenda Holden 1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Chair Murchie called the meeting to order at 7:38 A motion was made by Commissioner Poelzer and seconded by Commissioner Brausen to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Poelzer would like to add an update on Accessory Dwelling Units to the agenda. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. November 5, 2025 A motion was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Commissioner Gronquist to approve the November 5, 2025 minutes, as written. Motion passed unanimously. 3. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. 75th Anniversary Update Councilmember Holden outlined that the Arden Hills 75th Anniversary Celebration will be on Friday, July 17. It will be at Cummings Park; the Penny Carnival will be first. There will be a band for younger age groups. A car show will be held and another band will play later in the evening. The drone show will last about 15 minutes. Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce will fund the drone show. Their logo will be shown during the display on the drones. She is seeking input on what we should charge for sponsors at the different levels. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – DECEMBER 17, 2025 2 Discussion ensued about the large corporations in Arden Hills and which ones may sponsor certain portions of the celebration. Commissioner Brausen said we can put it out there and see what the reaction is. Councilmember Monson said we don’t have time to start high and lower it. It may be better to have smaller amounts available to sponsor some of the amenities like bounce houses. Commissioner Gronquist thinks $5,000 seems like a reasonable ask for the drone sponsor as long as there are smaller opportunities for the smaller businesses. Commissioner Bonine said he has seen $1,500 for petting zoo and a score board sponsorship is about $5,000 for a season. He thinks it would be good to have other places where the company is mentioned. Discussion ensued regarding who to contact at the big businesses. Staff may have some contact info. Councilmember Monson said the big companies are hit up all the time. There may be restrictions in their policies. Chair Murchie asked if volunteers are needed. He said some companies may be more likely to provide bodies. Maybe the employees volunteer and have T-shirts. He pointed out banks and financial institutions often have programs that encourage their employees to volunteer. Commissioner Poelzer said an Old National employee attended the Flaherty’s business event. She said Transwestern is a very large employer with buildings everywhere. Councilmember Holden said they are getting a list of the businesses as well as non-profits that the surrounding cities use. Councilmember or EDC Member can reach out to those businesses. Commissioner Bonine said some businesses may prefer to just write a check. He said it feels good to know where the money is going. He said we should outline what the money is going toward. Smaller donors may donate if there are smaller amounts available. Councilmember Holden said the bands are $6,000 each, the drone show is $20,000. This will all go toward the event. Commissioner Brausen said getting the message out sooner rather than later will be key. Discussion ensued that the Gateway funds can only be used for advertising the event and cannot be spent on supplies, attractions or activities. Councilmember Monson said she thinks we need to reach $20,000, not including the drone show. She said they are hoping there will be a beer garden. Councilmember Holden said there is security required. We are getting up to around $40,000. She said she doesn’t think there is really a big need for volunteers. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – DECEMBER 17, 2025 3 Commissioner Poelzer asked if there will be a commemorative T-shirt that could list all of the sponsors on the back. Councilmember Holden said there will be a poster for the sponsoring businesses to display. There will be signs that show sponsors, as well. Commissioner Poelzer said the T-shirts can be giveaways or maybe they are for sale for a $10 or $20 with the anniversary logo. She thinks it is a revenue pull for small businesses. She visited smaller businesses for the October EDC event and she would be happy to reach out to businesses. Commissioner Bonine said the sponsorship form shows a kid area. He asked what that is. He thinks the booth space seems light. He thinks the kids’ activity area could ask for $500 for the bounce house. If there is a table there maybe that’s $250. Chair Murchie thought there could be a 5K walk the next day that could go from Cummings to Lindy’s. That would bring walkers right past all of the businesses. Councilmember Holden said she is interested in finding ways to get people to the business area. Discussion ensued regarding how the booth space can be higher price because they’ll be there all day. Most places are going to prefer to write a check vs. setting up a 10x10 booth. Councilmember Monson would like to see this be a launching point for an annual event. She said the role of the EDC is to support this event. She said we can build our team that way. Discussion ensued regarding how much is needed. Commissioners thought $40,000 sounds like a small amount. Commissioner Poelzer said we can go to the businesses and ask how much they would donate and what they would expect for that amount. Commissioner Bonine said he thinks the band sponsor should be $2,500. He said the form doesn’t outline what each sponsor level gets the business. He said if we need $40,000, we can back into what we need with smaller amounts. Chair Murchie said the purpose of the EDC is to build connections in the business community. Having an Arden Hills walk the next day could help build a bridge with the business community and it helps people see what and where the businesses are. Commissioner Bonine agrees we want something more sustainable for the businesses rather than just a logo. Chair Murchie suggested an Arden Hills Business Day on the following day. We can do a business passport. That would help attract sponsors and would benefit the business. Commissioner Bonine said there could be a passport that includes all participating businesses. Commissioner Brausen said the sponsorship opportunities should be offered to Arden Hills businesses first. 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 City branded merchandise could be offered. 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. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – DECEMBER 17, 2025 5 Commissioner Poelzer agrees. She thinks the fees need to be clarified. The fees aren’t welcoming. This looks like we’re doing a money grab. Without a registration fee, we ask they just tell us they’re here. She agrees we need to have a way to have everyone included. Commissioner Gronquist said we have talked about the licensing fees but keep missing the window. We may need to start earlier to make any change. Chair Murchie said individual sub committees may help keep things moving between meetings. Council Liaison Rousseau said sometimes the Chair will come to City Council and share the work plan for approval. That discussion may give guidance on prioritization. Chair Murchie said he thought there is a plan to bring it to Council. Senior Planner Fransen outlined the draft work plan should be complete by March and the EDC can bring it to Council in April. The final work plan can be approved by June. She said drilling down what is NOT working will be important. The EDC can help with identifying and contacting businesses that aren’t being reached. Commissioner Bonine asked if the City is open to have it be a requirement. It has to be a Staff decision. Community Development Director Reilly said that is an excellent point. How do we become an effective municipality with business participation? For the first time in a while, we are fully staffed. There is great intention but no follow-through. Councilmember Monson said we also had strategic planning. Community Development Director Reilly agreed this fits into the strategic plan by the buckets that Senior Planner Fransen created. We have to work through this first year. It may be 6 months into the year before we start working on it. He said possibly by the July meeting. Commissioner Bonine said the work plan is empty. We have been blindly walking through this process. The City has to know who is in the buildings. If there is a consistent pattern with the landlords we need to have something that is enactable. He feels like the EDC is just waiting for their terms to end. There has to be a purpose. Community Development Director Reilly said that is what we are looking at today. Discussion ensued regarding who is responsible for compliance. Council Liaison Rousseau said the EDC can bring those process failures to City Council. Councilmember Monson said Council will support this. She isn’t a fan of someone turning in a blank form to a business to have them complete it. She said she supports committee members bringing concrete info. Council Liaison Rousseau said staff can’t move forward without Council approval. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – DECEMBER 17, 2025 6 Commissioner Bonine said this is a big lift. Maybe EDC brings info forward. What holds this up is there are so many unknowns. Senior Planner Fransen said there have been discussions regarding the process. She thought we can put together a better visual of the process and look for weak links and then suggest how it can be improved. We can talk about what is missing. Commissioner Bonine understands EDC is just starting back up. This hasn’t been a priority. Chair Murchie said businesses don’t understand what benefit they may get by registering. What is the value for the business? We can say its required. But if there were a benefit to the business it would feel more welcoming and help connect businesses to the City. Councilmember Monson said newsletter features are difficult because it can be seen as the government supporting certain businesses. Chair Murchie said there are different businesses. We could highlight certain businesses based on the season. He said you can highlight how each business may be able to help fulfill a need. Commissioner Poelzer said it is hard to see business items take space in the newsletter. She envisions an insert. She thinks it needs to go to the residents as well as anyone who frequents the businesses. We can outline business details. Chair Murchie said the point is businesses need to see a benefit. How can we create that bridge? If the work plan makes sense to us, we can build out the proposal. That’s the whole point. Commissioner Brausen said a welcome package can be offered to new businesses. Senior Planner Fransen said discussion on the licensing and registration will be in January. C. 2026 Meeting Schedule The next meeting will be on January 28, 2026. Staff has identified monthly meetings would be beneficial. She will incorporate the dates for the chamber meetings. 4. COMMENTS AND REPORTS A. Report from the City Council Council Liaison Rousseau said there will be two openings on the EDC. She said the Economic Development Authority (EDA) can help guide economic development. Council opened two spots to include two EDC members on the EDA. The Mayor will determine the selection process. She asked if there are any commissioners interested. Chair Murchie and Commissioner Brausen said they would be interested. Council Liaison Rousseau will touch base with the commissioners who aren’t present. The Mayor will make his recommendation and the full council will approve. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – DECEMBER 17, 2025 7 B. Economic Development Commission Comments Commissioner Poelzer would like to discuss Accessory Dwelling Units at a future meeting and how they relate to what the EDC does. 5. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Commissioner Brausen seconded by Commissioner Gronquist to adjourn at 9:04. Motion passed unanimously