3.1c EDSR 05-18-2015Meeting of the Elk River
Economic Development Authority
Held at the Elk River City Hall
Monday, April 20, 2015
Item 3.1c
Members Present: President Tveite, Commissioners Burandt, Dwyer, Westgaard, Provo,
Olsen, and Wagner
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Economic Development Director Amanda Othoudt, Community
Operations and Development Director Jeremy Barnhart, and City
Clerk Tina Allard
I . Call Meeting to Order
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Economic
Development Authority was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Tveite.
2. Consider 04/20/2014 Agenda
Staff added Item 3.5 regarding the appointment of the Executive Director
Moved by Commissioner Westgaard and seconded by Commissioner Dwyer
to approve the April 20, 2015 agenda as amended. Motion carried 7 -0.
3. Consider Consent Agenda
Moved by Commissioner Westgaard and seconded by Commissioner Dwyer
to approve the following consent agenda:
3.1 EDA Minutes
a. March 16, 2015 Closed
b. March 16, 2015 Regular
c. March 27, 2015 Special
3.2 Check Register as outlined in the staff report.
3.3 Balance Sheet as outlined in the staff report.
3.4 Revenue /Expenditure Report as outlined in the staff report.
3.5 Appoint Amanda Othoudt as Executive Director for the Economic
Development Authority.
Motion carried 7 -0.
4. Open Forum
No one appeared for Open Forum.
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April 20, 2015
S. Public Hearings
There were no public hearing items scheduled for this agenda.
6.1 Business Subsidy Policy Amendment
Mr. Barnhart presented the staff report.
Commissioner Provo questioned why the city should care about the type of business
and the different rate types as long as they met the same job goals and scored equal
or better than the standards of the city's business goals.
Mr. Barnhart stated the Finance Committee wanted to have a higher level for
businesses that are retail or service - oriented and some of the concerns were the
lower paying fast food restaurants who may qualify.
Chair Tveite stated one reason the city has tried to attract manufacturing and
industry is due to the permanence of the business, whereas retail can be transient.
Commission Dwyer concurred.
Chair Tveite stated the Finance Committee supported paying 175% of the state, or
federal minimum wage.
Moved by Commissioner Dwyer and seconded by Commissioner Wagner to
recommend to the Councila an amendment to the Business Subsidy Policy as
outlined in the staff report paying 175% of the state, or federal minimum
wage, whichever is greater. Motion carried 7 -0.
6.2 Finance Committee Appointment
Mr. Barnhart presented the staff report.
Mr. Hardin discussed his background.
Commissioner Wagner commented Mr. Hardin is very active in the business
community and the Chamber.
Moved by Commissioner Westgaard and seconded by Commissioner Wagner
to appoint Ryan Hardin to the EDA Finance Committee. Motion carried 7 -0.
7.1 Resignation of Executive Director
Mr. Barnhart noted this would be his last meeting as he is moving to a position in
another city. He stated he enjoyed working with the Commission over the years.
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April 20, 2015
Page 3
The commission thanked Mr. Barnhart for his work, noted he did a great job, and
wished him good luck in his new endeavors.
The Commissioner recessed at 5:44 p.m. in order to go into worksession.
The Commissioner reconvened at 5:47 p.m.
8.1 Process Discussion
Ms. Othoudt distributed a handout and discussed Economic Development
Department processes.
Commissioner Dwyer stated Item 6b is important and the city has put a lot of effort
into getting projects shepherded through the various departments without
conflicting issues coming back to the business. He stated the city has worked very
hard on this item and he hasn't heard any complaints recently. He further stated
meeting with real estate industry contacts is important for future lead potential.
Chair Tveite concurred. He stated sometimes projects take too long to get through
the system and understands the need to have balance with following policy but there
also needs to be a way to streamline and make the city more attractive to developers
and builders.
Ms. Othoudt stated the timeline for each project isn't as streamlined as it should be
so key dates aren't missed. She stated she would like to develop a framework
outlining who is responsible for the six items identified in her handout.
Commissioner Provo suggested sending a survey to past customers to find out how
the process went. He stated he has gotten negative feedback from the community
and the city needs to do damage control across all departments. He stated a lot of
what needs to be done is handholding of certain business customers and turning
around and offering them the same deal in a different manner.
Ms. Othoudt stated a survey could be developed for consideration at the next
meeting.
Commissioner Burandt suggested measuring the city timeline against other
communities to see how competitive Elk River is.
Ms. Othoudt stated the city has a very good process in place compared to the City of
Becker noting the HRA /EDA meetings are scheduled back -to -back with Council in
order to get approvals done in one night. She stated we could market our timeline as
an asset after completion of the city comparisons.
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April 20, 2015
Page 4
Mr. Barnhart stated the biggest impact a city can do regarding timelines is remove
Economic Development Authority and City Council approvals, which can be hard to
give up and would be a policy shift. He noted most cities don't want to give up this
authority to staff. He noted most times the Authority or the Council doesn't have
comments on certain projects. He cited restaurants as an example. He suggested
going through the zoning code and figuring out what the boards don't want to issue
a conditional use permit for and removing those uses from that process. He stated
generally, since 1982, uses have become a conditional use permit in response to a
complaint.
Ms. Othoudt reviewed Points to Consider in her handout.
Commissioner Dwyer suggested meeting with lenders about SVA programs.
Commissioner Provo stated he would like to "dumb down" the score sheets and for
a person to be able to go to the website and score their business so they can
determine what they qualify for before turning in a request.
Mr. Barnhart stated the city can do the online scoring currently, but the challenge is
that there is not weight to it because it is the decision of the Authority to determine
what to give; which historically they haven't wanted to give away because they want
the flexibility to determine how much is appropriate.
Commissioner Provo stated he likes a standardized process based on equation rather
than emotion.
Mr. Barnhart noted staff has wanted to do this for many years and it is being worked
on internally.
Commissioner Dwyer stated this issue came up when the data centers wanted to
locate in Elk River because everything had to be based on job creation, but the
centers offered big tax bases but not much for job creation.
9. Adjournment
There being no further business, Chair Tveite adjourned the meeting of the Elk
River Economic Development Authority at 6:25 p.m.
Dan Tveite, EDA President
Tina Allard, City Clerk
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