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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4-22-26 EDC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION APRIL 22, 2026 7:30 A.M. – ARDEN HILLS COMMUNITY ROOM CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Present: Chair Judd Murchie, Commissioners Ihsan Isik, Kristine Poelzer, and Ted Brausen, Bobby Bonine and Kayleigh Shrom Absent: Commissioners Kyle Sorenson and Jess Daniels Also Present: Senior Planner Elena Fransen, Community Development Director Jake Reilly and Council Liaison Emily Rousseau 1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Chair Murchie called the meeting to order at 7:36 A motion was made by Commissioner Poelzer and seconded by Commissioner Brausen to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion passed unanimously. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. March 25, 2026 A motion was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Commissioner Poelzer to approve the minutes, as written. Motion passed unanimously. 3. COMMENTS AND REPORTS A. Report from City Council Council Liaison Rousseau thanked the EDC members that attended the Council Meeting to present the EDC work plan. Positive feedback was given. She said budget conversations usually begin in June. If we want something, that’s the time to ask. Council suggested recruiting for the empty EDC position at a larger company. Council Liaison Rousseau said Commissioner Shrom will be leaving the commission in the fall when she goes to UCLA. Commissioner Shrom noted she has a friend who may be interested in the open youth position. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – APRIL 22, 2026 2 Council Liaison Rousseau connected with some business owners at the Taste of Shoreview. Commissioner Poelzer said she attended too and it was a really well organized event. Council Liaison Rousseau connected with the Rotary and Lions at the event. They both support our cities in many ways. Commissioner Brausen said Breezy Point does a butterfly release. It’s a really cute event. He thought the City could look into a similar event. We could get sponsors and it’s over in about an hour. Council Liaison Rousseau said another event she heard about was a tug of war over the river in Stillwater. We could also get involved with non profits. Commissioner Brausen talked about Jacks Baskets, an Arden Hills charitable organization supporting families with kids born with Down Syndrome. Commissioner Poelzer thought the City Hall Community Room would be a great space for a Taste of Arden Hills event. Chair Murchie said we can talk about those opportunities once the 75th is done. B. Economic Development Commission Comments Commissioner Poelzer asked if there are any updates on the Airtopia business. If they come in soon, they could be a partner sponsor and make an introduction to the community. Commissioner Poelzer said Council suggested a table for EDC at the 75th event. She thought the commission should discuss that. It could be a combined table with the PTRC. Commissioner Poelzer has begun visiting businesses to solicit sponsorships for the 75th Anniversary celebration. Commissioner Isik said he and some other students started a nonprofit. They have used funds to supply blankets to retirement homes. He would like to be involved with any nonprofit event in the future. 4. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. EDC Work Plan Senior Planner Fransen said four EDC members attended the City Council meeting to present the Work Plan. It was well received. There was discussion of previous plans. There is a lot of support for how this aligns with the Strategic Planning the City Council did. The timeline presented to Council will be used to track the EDC’s progress. Senior Planner Fransen said Staff talked about gateway signs. The topic first came up in 2024. The EDC set it aside, at the time. Council would like to have a recommendation from EDC. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – APRIL 22, 2026 3 Community Development Director Reilly said the request is to add a line item in the work plan that addresses the clear city boundaries through gateway signs. The May or June agenda will contain information on the proposed sites for that discussion. There is $310,000 budgeted for these signs. Recommendation is requested no later than March of 2027. Staff will prepare information on the history, costs and right of way work. Discussion ensued regarding sign regulations and if gateway signs need to follow current sign code. Commissioner Bonine recalls that this is a lot of money and we need to discuss what value they bring. The geographical area will be based on RCC. What boundaries are we talking about? Will developers pay for gateway signs? Council Liaison Rousseau asked when the sign ordinance will be reviewed by Council. Community Development Director Reilly said signs had their own chapter but the zoning code consultants have moved them out of their own chapter. Staff would like signs to be their own chapter for ease of future review and revision. He hopes to get the sign code done even if the rest takes longer. He would like council to see it sooner rather than later and get the Planning Commission’s opinion. Commissioner Poelzer asked if someone can look into when we had flags on the light poles on County Road E. She said those flags faded in the sun. The technology has improved. She thinks we should discuss using flags to brand Arden Hills. Discussion ensued regarding the need for identifying Arden Hills similar to how Hugo does it. Flags could highlight businesses. Further discussion ensued that the EDA has some budget but EDC does not currently have anything budgeted. Senior Planner Fransen said we are still on schedule to get everything back to council. Community Development Director Reilly said it would move along faster if we amend the plan now to have that Work Plan item added. He thinks there are intern opportunities. We can adopt the work plan as the final, with the addition of the gateway sign discussion. A motion was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Chair Murchie to approve the EDC Work Plan, as amended to include gateway signs. Motion passed unanimously. B. Arden Hills/Shoreview Business Connect Discussion Senior Planner Fransen said part of the work plan is to connect to the Arden Hills/Shoreview Business Connect. Arden Hills hosts two of the four annual meetings. They establish the date and time. The meeting is open to all. Senior Planner Fransen said the last meeting was on March 11 in Shoreview. Attendance was higher than the RSVP responses. A presenter provided an update on the headquarters for the fire department. EDC is being asked to define what this event looks like. These are established events, vs. us trying to create our own event. We should think about how EDC can be involved when Arden Hills hosts the event. We can consider speakers and locations. She understands this is an additional meeting. So on the months when Arden Hills hosts, that can count as the EDC meeting. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – APRIL 22, 2026 4 Discussion ensued regarding the Fire Department presentation at the event. Commissioners think the public would be interested in knowing how many calls the fire department answers and the mutual aid calls they go on in support of other cities. Further discussion ensued on the communication coordinator position. Chair Murchie asked how EDC can play a role in these business events. Are the chamber meetings of value to business owners? How can the EDC use those meetings to build the bridge between businesses, residents and the City? Commissioner Bonine said visibility is important for the City at those events. Business owners will attend based on their schedule and on the topics. It’s a marketing event. If the topic isn’t relevant owners just won’t go. He thinks targeted meetings would be a better way: realtors one time, maybe restaurants. Otherwise it’s a variety show where you sit through an hour meeting and 15 minutes were relevant. Council Liaison Rousseau said she is interested in identifying businesses with targeted meetings. Commissioner Shrom said most attendees were there to network and the presentation took so long. If she were a business owner she thinks she would attend such events to network, not necessarily to hear the speaker. Senior Planner Fransen asked if the city presentation portion was of interest to those that attended. Commissioner Brausen noted the fire department has a really good rating so that is helpful for businesses because that lowers the insurance rates for businesses. Commissioner Shrom said the fire department was talking about the new building. She thinks it would be better to highlight the low rating. Business owners talk about money. Council Liaison Rousseau said there is a franchise fee on resident’s utility bills that is paying for the fire department building. Commissioner Poelzer said we had the Sheriff at the October gathering. They did a really good lead and then reinforced with examples. It’s important for speakers to include why it matters to business to keep attendees interested. She said she would like to see networking opportunities at the beginning and another time at the end. Having a table with printed information can make a difference. Council Liaison Rousseau said if you are going to carve out time the speakers need to be aware of what they have for time. Community Development Director Reilly said the Business Connect event is free because it’s run by the city. We have control over how the Arden Hills meeting runs. We have no control when it’s Shoreview’s turn. He agreed the presentation was long in Shoreview. The EDC needs to decide if we want to have the EDC meeting in June or replace the June meeting with the Business Connect event. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – APRIL 22, 2026 5 Senior Planner Fransen said all of this feedback will be shared with the Chamber. The June agenda isn’t set yet. She can bring presentation topics or speaker suggestions forward. She suggested the fire department and possibly the event center as places to hold the events. It would open in more spaces in the community. Council Liaison Rousseau said the Chamber is collaborative. She noted we have a lot of connections with business owners and EDC members from Shoreview. Senior Planner Fransen said changing the name from a council to a connect event may help attendance. We can increase attendance with speakers and locations. Commissioner Bonine said common themes are always good. One suggestion is integrating AI into businesses. Bethel has a course about that. He thinks businesses would like to learn more. Mature business are always looking for younger perspectives. How can businesses improve the bottom line? What are some common things they aren’t thinking of? In the short term we can nail down some of those topics. We aren’t going to make anyone an expert, we just want to pique their curiosity. Chair Murchie said we have access to universities. Allowing a 10-minute conversation with a professor or another expert could be a draw to the event. Commissioner Poelzer recalls going around the room and people introduced themselves and said where they were from. The horseshoe set up for that event makes conversations more difficult. She’d rather see tables of 6-8 people. She thought the event was worthwhile and she enjoyed the fire department presentation. Senior Planner Fransen asked if the group is okay with cancelling the June 24 EDC meeting and having the June 17 Business Connect event as a special meeting of the EDC. Chair Murchie said he is comfortable with that. We can make that decision in May when we have a better idea of what to discuss and determine what help is still needed for the 75th Anniversary. C. 75th Anniversary Update Senior Planner Fransen said Staff asked EDC members to help with dispersing the sponsorship information to garner support for the 75th event. EDC is being asked to make businesses aware of the program. It’s important to note who has already been asked. The 75th Anniversary Committee is asking for volunteers. She doesn’t have any specific tasks she was just asked to see if there is any interest from members. Commissioners Brausen, Poelzer and Isik all volunteered. Commissioner Poelzer said she visited 25 businesses and has 6 to still visit. She had three businesses provide corporate contacts for soliciting sponsorships. She asked businesses to post the flyers. She outlined the sponsorship levels. She stressed we want the event to be free to residents. People were receptive and displayed the flyers immediately. Senior Planner Fransen said the 75th Anniversary Committee is meeting regularly. There are more opportunities to promote the event. She said the committee is planning to approach the National Honor Society (NHS) to gauge interest for volunteers. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – APRIL 22, 2026 6 Commissioner Shrom said the NHS is less active in the summer but there some members who like to get summer volunteer hours. They would definitely help promote the need for volunteers. She said there is another club called Volunteer Outreach (VO) Club they partner with the Rotary. for a lot of their events and may be a better option than NHS. Commissioner Isik said events during the school year could lean on NHS. Advisors tend to make mandatory volunteer hours. There would be a large access to volunteers. Commissioner Poelzer said nonprofits are a good source. We could put together a list of nonprofit organizations. Commissioner Bonine said we could provide a table at the 75th Anniversary for organizations that send volunteers. Chair Murchie said if we create a newsletter feature we could do one for volunteers and nonprofits. Commissioner Poelzer said she told people that she is only asking for sponsorships from Arden Hills businesses. She said Shoreview businesses have approached her. Commissioner Brausen said we should keep focused on Arden Hills businesses. He would like to see the list of who has been contacted. He could reach out to those we haven’t gotten responses from. He knows a lot of business owners in the city. Senior Planner Fransen said at the next meeting there will be an update on who has been visited to help identify gaps. Commissioner Brausen said they are sponsoring the car show. He got Michelin to donate four tires to raffle off. He asked how that would work. Senior Planner Fransen said he should direct them to Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky. Commissioner Poelzer said she is concerned that the website doesn’t make it clear about who gets what. The font size should be equal. Chair Murchie suggested carving out time for Isik to discuss his HOSA achievement and his ideas for social media that was discussed at Council. Commissioner Isik said the HOSA project is a personal achievement. He doesn’t think it needs to be on the EDC agenda. He would be happy to share his work regarding social media. 5. ADJOURNMENT Chair Murchie adjourned the meeting at 8:58 a.m.