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Home My WebLink About08 17 2015 EDA Minutes FINAL Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 / www.cityofpriorlake.com 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes August 17, 2015 1. CALL TO ORDER President Hedberg called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Present were Commissioners Hedberg, Chromy, Sheehan-Kerber, Keeney and Choudek. Also present were members of the EDAC, including Erbaugh, Fleck, Tande, Colby, Henry, Prchal and Mahoney. Also present were Executive Director Boyles, Community & Economic Development Director Rogness, Community Development Specialist McCabe, and Finance Director Uram. Others present included Stacy Crakes of the Scott County First Stop Shop. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION BY CHROMY, SECONDED BY SHEEHAN-KERBER TO APPROVE THE AGENDA. VOTE: Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, Chromy, Sheehan-Kerber and Choudek. The motion carried. 3. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES MOTION BY KEENEY, SECONDED BY CHOUDEK TO APPROVE THE JULY 20, 2015 MEETING MINUTES. Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney and Choudek. Chromy and Sheehan-Kerber abstained. The motion carried. 4. CONSENT AGENDA No items were on the Consent Agenda 5. REMOVED CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS No items were removed from the Consent Agenda 6. PUBLIC HEARING No Public Hearings 7. OLD BUSINESS No Old Business 8. NEW BUSINESS A. Stacy Crakes, Scott County First Stop Shop Hedberg: welcomed members of the EDAC to the meeting; everyone present at the joint meeting intro- duced themselves. McCabe: introduced Crakes, Business Development Manager with the Scott County First Stop Shop (FSS). . Crakes: provided a history of First Stop Shop as being part of the Scott County Community Development Agency (CDA). She showed how their tracking of new jobs shows a total of 4,835 from 2013 through the present. During that same period, FSS had 265 business leads, including 82 of those in Prior Lake. Choudek: added that these figures describe a variety of jobs, including head-of-household, supplemental, retained, relocated and created. Crakes: described other aspects of FSS, including Open to Business, Economic Development Initiative (EDI) Grants, and a Customer Service Initiative. Of 79 businesses served in Open to Business, 16 have 2 been in Prior Lake. The City has received two EDI grants for downtown parking and Technology Village studies. Hedberg: further explained that the Customer Service Initiative came out of a SCALE report from the Carl- son School, which would help set Scott County apart from other counties in terms of customer service. However, Hedberg expressed disappointment that cities have not fully been on board with this topic. Choudek: agreed that buy-in is needed by everyone involved throughout the county, and that creating a culture of customer service is important. Boyles: said that this process to improve customer service comes down to common sense; the process is clear, and a quick “no” answer is better than stretching out a review and decision process. Keeney: felt that something is missing from this issue, including resident reaction to development in their neighborhoods. It may be important to include some process that leads to a conclusion for residents to bet- ter achieve positive development results. Crakes: added more information about the SCALE jobs goal for Scott Count y whereby 50% of the labor force here will be working within the county by 2030. She provided data showing 62,632 total workers in the county with 88% going outside the county for work. FSS is helping cities to market their buildings and land with 211 current listings (39 in Prior Lake). FSS assistance can now include the use of Demographics Now through the public library system, a resource for evaluating business potential. Sheehan-Kerber: asked whether FSS could help capture information about what ma kes site successful for new businesses, including the types of public incentives used for various development projects. Colby: asked how we can teach FSS more about all aspects of Prior Lake. B. EDA/EDAC Discussion McCabe: introduced this joint meeting discussion that allows the EDA to provide further direction to the EDAC, and allows the EDAC to interact with the EDA with comments and questions. Hedberg: started the conversation by providing his thoughts on the marketing plan for Prior Lake, which needs to be focused based on the city’s location “off the main drag”. Choudek: responded to Hedberg by saying that there are businesses that don’t need to have that kind of location, and that the City should focus on those types of businesses for growth. Keeney: supports the aspect of new business growth versus relocation due to the fact that existing em- ployees being relocated further out in the metro area tends to be a negative factor.. Sheehan-Kerber: agreed that more “business to business” companies makes the most sense for Prior Lake’s future. Fleck: said people currently living in the Prior Lake area are likely to be the best candidates to tap into for new or expanding business growth. Erbaugh: supports the Shakopee marketing plan approach, and he feels that the City has all of that infor- mation available to complete such a plan. Colby: believes that Prior Lake can benchmark itself against other like communities; she would like to see investors attracted more to support business growth; Colby also stated that the local school district is amaz- ing as a key positive element for business attraction. Prchal: said that there has been confusion for some time now about the relationship between the EDA and EDAC; she would appreciate more direction from the EDA. Hedberg: responded that the EDAC should focus most of its time on business retention, while the EDA focuses much more on new businesses. Keeney: added that the EDAC’s role should include helping businesses to succeed in Prior Lake. Choudek: said that business expansion is important, and she likes the liaison approach for direct business visits and contact. Sheehan-Kerber: supports the EDAC as the implementation arm of the City’s economic development pro- gram; she thought liaison reports to the EDA would be a worthwhile addition. 3 Hedberg: also supports the EDAC helping to market key development nodes within the City, including Deerfield Business Park, Highway 21/42 area, and the Downtown/Village Commerce area. However, Hed- berg noted that further growth and development in the downtown area needs to wait unti l the City begins the significant improvements to the intersection of Highways 13 and 21. That will trigger other changes downtown, including the Main/21 intersection, the Arcadia intersection, and a new access on Highway 13 to Pleasant Ave. Keeney: described the EDA/EDAC relationship as the EDA being big -ticket and big-picture, while the EDAC is on the ground. Tande: described his customers as also bringing potential new businesses into Prior Lake. Henry: asked whether the EDAC should have a direct relationship with FSS, and the answer was no. C. Resolution to Approve the Proposed 2016 EDA Tax Levy and Budget Boyles: presented the proposed 2016 EDA tax levy and budget for EDA consideration and approval. Mr. Boyles reviewed the proposed budget and highlighted budget changes from the 2015 to 2016 budget. Mr. Boyles added the EDA could consider an overall change in its budgeting by recommending a transfer of a portion of the funds the city receives from the fiscal disparities pool to the EDA budget. In essence, the special EDA tax levy would go away and replaced by Fiscal Disparities revenue. Hedberg: suggested the EDA eliminate the EDA levy and use fiscal disparity funds in 2016 with no com- mitment to continue utilizing fiscal disparity funds in the EDA budget beyond 2016 until an economic devel- opment plan is in place. Keeney: asked if fiscal disparities were intended to balance the scales related to commercial and industrial development or be used as an economic development tool. Mr. Keeney was hesitant to utilize fiscal dispar- ities for economic development until a plan was in place and was opposed to utilizing fiscal disparity funds in the EDA budget in 2016. Mr. Keeney added the EDA Levy item on the property tax statements creates more transparency than use of fiscal disparities. Chromy: supported Mr. Keeney’s comments and was in favor of the EDA Levy. MOTION BY CHROMY, SECONDED BY KEENEY TO APPROVE A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PROPOSED 2016 EDA TAX LEVY OF $155,000 AND BUDGET OF $181,425. Ayes by Hedberg, Keeney, Chromy, Choudek and Sheehan-Kerber. The motion carried 5-0. D. Downtown Planter Program Due to time constraints, Agenda item 8.D. was postponed to the next meeting date. 9. OTHER BUSINESS A. Commercial & Industrial Development Update Due to time constraints, Agenda item 9.A. was postponed to the next meeting date. B. Economic Gardening Program Due to time constraints, Agenda item 9.B. was postponed to the next meeting date . 10. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY CHROMY, SECONDED BY CHOUDEK TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. With all in favor, the meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m. ___________________________ Frank Boyles, Executive Director