Economic Development Commission Meeting

Highlights

• 📨 Initial chamber/EDC business survey launched (April 1 email); only a handful of responses so far, so commissioners will re-share the link personally and give firms until the end of April to reply before analyzing trends.
• 🗞️ Commission began drafting its Q1 update to City Council—capturing work since the last report (Glencoe Opportunity Area planning, downtown storefront improvements, business outreach).
• 💵 City Manager Bill Reed walked through the draft FY 2025‑27 budget, focusing on the Urban Renewal Agency (URA) fund (656) and how much flexibility remains for property-improvement grants, professional services, and the upcoming URA plan amendment.
• 🏗️ URA sunset extension + plan rewrite will be the biggest near-term expenditure (~$325k); the EDC will likely serve on the advisory committee once the process begins.

Notes

• Business Survey

  • Chamber emailed ~120 businesses on March 28 and again April 1; commissioners agreed to forward the link individually to boost participation.
  • Goal: gather baseline data (employee counts, permitting hurdles, desired incentives) before presenting any incentive recommendations to council.
  • Survey will remain open through April; results/discussion slated for the May meeting.

• Q1 Council Update

  • Draft outline includes:
    • Subcommittee progress (Glencoe Opportunity Area site-readiness vs. downtown storefront focus).
    • Capio/NPEA business-support partnerships (event table, ice cream social, National Night Out).
    • Business incentive research (neighboring cities’ façade grants, tenant-improvement stipends).
    • Survey launch + upcoming communications workshop with Theres Kent.
  • Commissioners will fill in details via shared doc and aim to submit the report late April.

• Budget / URA Discussion

  • Bill Reed highlighted two main buckets:
    1. General Fund/EDC line items (training, active economic-development professional services).
    2. URA Fund (656) for capital/tranched projects inside the dog-leg district (Glencoe → West Union → Commercial).
  • Key URA priorities:
    • Extend the URA sunset (currently two years left). Small amendment, but needs consultants/legal.
    • Launch a “substantial amendment”/plan rewrite to refresh the project list and potentially tweak boundaries; expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars but opens new opportunities downtown.
    • Maintain the food service tenant-improvement grant (property-improvement grants); only ~$100k of the $300k budgeted this biennium was spent, so staff will rebalance/expand eligibility (e.g., other retail types).
  • Commissioners stressed the need to keep the URA nimble, focusing on obstacles like utility hookup costs, missing sidewalks, and small storefront retrofits.

Follow-Ups

• Commission

  • Re-share the survey link with assigned businesses; bring a response tally to the May meeting.
  • Populate the Q1 council-report template (subcommittee leaders to own their sections) so it can be approved electronically before submittal.

• Staff

  • Schedule the URA amendment kickoff (scope, consultant RFP) and flag when/where the EDC should plug into the advisory committee.
  • Provide the commission with a one-pager summarizing URA grant balances so members can promote the program to prospective tenants.