Alrighty. Alright. Well, we will call the Tuesday, 04/15/2025 Byron Economic Development Authority meeting to order. We would like to, I guess, ask any changes, corrections, any additions to the agenda before we call for an approval? Not from staff. No. Motion to approve. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Agenda passes. Minutes from last meeting. Any corrections or changes to that? Okay. Motion to approve those. Second. No. I need a motion.
I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Motion to approve. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Perfect. Communication reports and petitions. Anything, Al, you wanna point out from that stuff? Really straightforward, council minutes, P and Z minutes, newsletter, another outstanding product. Thank you. You do have your budget update in front of you. For an update, I I just had a couple of things to make you aware of. We are working with two different battery storage, locations, one northwest of town, one east of town. Both are working with their applications through the,
PUC currently. There are some meetings coming up, some public meetings coming up dealing with, hearings or or what have you over the next couple of months, so pay attention to that. I know there's one coming up in the April here for the one east of town. They are hosting a in person information meeting up at Summerbee, I think, on the twenty third, of this month. So if you want more information, it is outside of our legal boundary, but it affects us. And more specifically,
it affects our fire department, and and we're working with them on that. But, obviously, it has some impact on the city, because at least the one northwest of town is in our urban growth area. The one east of town is not, but, again, kind of in our same extraterritorial zoning district. So, I got a question on that. Yes. Can they force feed the city to serve them and all that stuff too or not? It's up to us to decide yes or no. It is up to us. Okay. The folks on the Northwest Side of town have agreed that they would be willing to pay for the water service to provide fire
protection at their site, to the tune of about 800,000 with the estimate. But if we put water out there, a couple of things to keep in mind is, council has to approve it because it's outside of city limits, and we'd be serving a client or a customer outside of city limits. There is no water service, we hope, or water supplied because it's only in the case of a a fire that they would use it. Mhmm. So there's some nuances there that go with it. In a positive way, the only way we'd allow it is if they loop the line.
So they'd have to complete the full, water service loop so we'd have fresh water out there and not, you know, stagnant water sitting in the line, type of thing. So we're wrestling a little bit with the pros and cons. There there's some some good and maybe some not as good, pieces to look at. But those are the things that we're talking about. When the other one if we do not supply the water, what do they do? Well? They they set up a well with a very large tank. Okay. And, fire department is not really interested in fighting a Tesla type of battery, with a tank of water because the only thing you can do is continuously pour
water on it, Not to put it out, all you're doing is keeping everything else cool. Cool. But but water will not put these fires out. So is it the same situation that we considered a while back where they're just finding different property to do this. And so after twenty years, we don't know what they're gonna do with these batteries if they're so we could have land with batteries laying around. Because it's outside of our city limits, we have less authority over it. I'm I'm trusting, and and talking to anybody I can about if you put these in,
make sure that there's a decommissioning agreement so that everything is removed. If they if they shut this down, they're responsible for restoring it down. And, you know, generally, what we've done in the past is two feet below their lowest foundation because anything that's seeped into the soil, anything that might be there, you want them to remediate that. But, you know, best practice would be going below, any of their footings, foundations, what have you, and then everything is removed and restored. Wow. So that it's I mean, it's just a part of what you have to look at in the decommissioning
agreement that should be in place before they ever start construction. Right. And the Northwest or here's the other one. Who's involved with those talks? Is it gonna be the CityU to make sure this is adhered to? Well, we have been talking to both of them. We've met with both both companies. It it's two competing, firms. I mean, they're doing the same thing. One has a little larger footprint proposed than the other, but they're both doing the same thing. And we're okay with two of them or just gonna be one or the other? We don't get a choice. I I hear you. I I if if if they wanna do it and they wanna put the money
into it and it's outside the city limits Now it's outside the city limits. That would be where it's me down the road. All of a sudden, we bump up to those, and then there's no decommission plan and then we we're stuck. Yeah. Going east, we won't get to the ones to the east. It's that that little substation hidden from the highway. Oh gosh. You buck can't see it from, Township Road 14 or Highway 14. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that that one's really kinda tucked away. I guess that would be a a favorable location from my standpoint because that's deep into the Rochester urban, growth area. The one northwest is a little bit dice here because we can see it.
You know, it's straight north of the simplest substation. And, so we gotta see more about where does that go and what is that doing. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Interesting. We also have an existing company that is looking to expand. This one is, I think, pretty exciting because, it's a proven company that wants to add three to 5,000 square feet of facility in Byron. And right now, the location that we're looking at is, directly adjacent to Fairway. It's that three acre lot that we own. They're not quite ready to come to the to the EDA with a a proposal,
but, we're working with them to see what might make sense. And, so the only thing I'd ask you to ponder is if you are willing to consider anything similar to what we did with the, community center, something that's somewhat of incentive on the on the land. Currently, our land is priced at at $3.50 a square foot. I I'm not sure where that number came from. I I'm not saying it's a bad number. I just don't know how we developed it. But, I do think that there's an opportunity here for us to support an existing growing
company that fits, the zoning in that area would fit the the the character of of that zone or of of the fairway strip in there, if you will. So pretty exciting. I I think that, optimistically, we'll have something next month, but I don't want them to come in here until they're completely ready. We're working with them on a formal business plan. They have a great business concept, but we need a business plan. I think they owe it to themselves to have a business plan, and that's what they're working on. But they are a long ways down the road of this expansion and growth,
and so we'll kinda find out where they end up once they, put their their numbers together and get their banker on board. So this is the banker. This is the Fairway building that's expanding? No. No. It's a different It's a different the lane next to Fairway. The three acre lot that we own? Yes. Right next to The 12 acre lot went to the community center tentatively. Yeah. We haven't got that formalized yet. But there's still a three acre lot in between there, and that's the one that they're looking at. Okay. Awesome. And because we're talking about that, if all this comes together,
fourth Street becomes a little bit busier. We've got the apartment building coming online shortly. That traffic is going to increase. So the council on Tuesday last week approved a, professional service agreement to begin looking at a roundabout at Fourth And Tenth Avenue. So the first phase is to do a a feasibility study, for lack of a better term. It it's a technical study that has to be done for traffic control, and this is you know, roundabout is a form of traffic control.
So we're starting that process with a goal of, should everything move forward, maybe start construction next summer, next spring. Al, are they only looking at a roundabout? Are they looking at other options? We've investigated other options. And when we break all the traffic, regulations, control options down, the only one that makes sense is, a, leave it alone, or, b, put in a roundabout. We look very seriously at a four way stop, and there's a lot of traffic engineering philosophy behind it.
But a four way stop is the worst option that you have available to you. So I would agree with that. So With the train tracks right there. But it's yeah. It the the roundabout is the most practical. There's three different sizes of roundabouts, generally speaking. We'd be looking at kinda something in the middle. It isn't a tiny one. I think Cassin has a real tiny one. That doesn't fit. But if we can get a little bit bigger, get into that medium size, we can fit mostly within the existing right of way. I mean, it it looks on paper like it fits,
but now that's where the feasibility study comes in. So I think that's all of my updates. We are still waiting for the community center funding piece. I know that, Nate is working diligently on it. It's not dead in the water. There's just a whole lot of stuff happening behind the scenes, so don't give up on them yet. They're they're doing a lot of interesting things with the SBA. He's working with the SBDC on this, so I I have confidence if there's a way to pull it together, they're on the right track. Okay. Wonderful. Assuming this is all VDA update verbal.
Yes. Okay. Perfect. Just wanna make sure we weren't missing something else. Awesome. Any other questions in regards to that stuff, you guys? Okay. No unfinished business or public hearing here. So new business, Byron Chamber of Commerce request. We did get a formal request from the chamber. We had talked about, using, the EDA to fund a chamber position, a more permanent, type of position. Their request is for 50,000 a year for five years. 50,000 is the maximum allowed by state law for,
the EDA to fund a chamber of commerce, and a chamber of commerce in state code is specifically identified. But promotions, tourism, what have you, you can fund it, again, up to that state limit of 50,000. That's where the number came from, at least in part. We do have some money available that we are funneling through the EDA, but we don't have 50,000 available this year. We've taken on the cannabis study. We've taken on that that process. And, we've invested an awful lot into,
hey. Is this worthwhile for us? And can we move it forward? And we're still moving forward with that. Currently, there is 25,000 available for this year. But that would be the the max that, I could recommend to you based on our our current expenditures and what I anticipate for expenditures, again, with the municipal cannabis dispensary sitting in front of us. Moving forward, I anticipate the reason for a five year commitment is they don't wanna hire somebody and then have the money run out and not have somebody. So they're they're looking for a a longer term commitment,
which I guess I support. I I thought it was a good idea all the way through here. I think that the chamber is in a position where they need more continuity and more stability with a staff person. Nothing against Greta. She's done a great job. But, I think that there is a need there for something more if they're going to continue to grow. The EDA is the only mechanism that we have to do that through the city. The the city can't directly from our general fund, finance this position or, you know, finance the chamber this way. Is the chamber doing anything to raise funds to
kick in towards this? Or are they looking strictly for the EDA to fund their full time position? Well, I don't think it's a full time position. But, they are currently Greta, maybe I'm speaking too far out of Greta knows better than I do what they're doing now. Stop, Greta. Can you hear me? We're not doing anything. We're surviving. I work for almost nothing. So even though I am paid, I understand what Al's saying, but I also hesitate to get government involved in a chamber. All of you are cognizant
of government getting too involved. On the other hand, we may lose the chamber if we don't do something. It's a conundrum. As long as I'm available, it'll work. But the issue is how long will I be available? So, I really appreciate your guys' just a discussion. At the top of our when we had over a hundred members at two fifty a year, which is a lot. We can't get people to do that unless you have Mark Brennaman around, right? He could get anybody to do anything. We're right at 70 members at 125 a year.
Our little thing that we put out once a year, the community guy, makes $10. So Not a ton. There it is. Right. And all of you, I think, have served on the board. And I think the way that worked was you all had somebody in your office that did a lot of the work or something. I don't know. I don't know how hard it is. I just don't know. Yeah. You it is hard. I mean, we've I think we've all been volunteers on the chamber for years and kind of got burnt out, right? You just only have so much you can do and then you let the next
generation do it. Yes. It's very difficult. Understood. Right. There One idea Al has, this isn't recorded, is to blend with rot. And if you take that a step further, if they would be our umbrella and all the little towns, say use your software, which would be a huge help, just something like that where we had some continuity. Yeah. I know that's been on the table for a long time. Okay. Yeah. John Wade came and talked to all of us. Yes. President of the chamber.
He was talking with Rob Miller back then. Everybody got, you know, pretty upset that then we'd lose our identity and Right. You know, those kind of So it's been around the block for a long time now. Yeah. Exactly. But if they set it up, we were actually separate. Mhmm. Right. We we still could maintain identity but have the benefit of being part of a larger, conglomerate here of towns, right, and having the resources. But, yeah, that's a discussion for the chamber. But Did I answer the question? You did. Thank you. At least for me. I don't know.
Does anybody else have any questions for Greta? Greta, would you be taking on, like, good good neighbor days? Like, I know that's been brought up too. Like, the volunteers have kinda pulled back on that. So my personal opinion, those women rock. They are amazing. If you stick somebody in there that's paid, I shouldn't say this, but you're gonna piss them off. It would be it would upset me. K. He is the president. He keeps it going. I understand we we're scared because we lost a big mookland shaker. It does kinda run,
though. Don't you think, Daryl? Yeah. It does. But there's still parts of that that work with the city that oh, sorry. I'm gonna side back a little bit. We've had this discussion before. Is this position gonna help the city out with what we've talked about, these events? The well, let me finish that that whole thought process because we're kinda Thank you. Digressing a little bit. The whole concept of this really started when, Good Neighbor Days lost their their champion. And and, by the way, those are all outstanding people, but they had a leader that was really holding that altogether,
with the recommendation that there be a a paid staff person to perpetuate what good neighbor days was doing because of all the work that goes into it. And, that doesn't fit very well for city to look at a paid position to do community events because all of a sudden, it becomes a city event instead of a volunteer driven event, and that was the concern. So make the the short leap from good neighbor days having a paid staff person to why doesn't the Chamber have a paid staff person that can bring together Good Neighbour Days and BurrFest,
which is a Chamber event, and help coordinate with Good Neighbour Days, the the summer fun, or or music series, etcetera. Bring all of these together under the same umbrella. And, not having somebody full time that is expected to do everything because they can't, these are still very, very much volunteer driven. They just need somebody to help coordinate and and drive the the focus for each of these events. So we came up with the concept of why don't we put $20,000
a year into the chamber to help fund a portion of a position? Or that was what I threw out as a starting point to generate the discussion. I still think that all of these events should be under one umbrella, and I don't care if you call it the chamber or the good neighbor days or Whatever. Yeah. Whatever. I I think that they all are are focused on doing the same thing. And that's where the city's real interest should be is making sure that these thrive. And and that's the way we can do it. Besides the the work that we do, the city will always be there to assist,
but we can't be the one sponsoring and putting on the event. We don't have enough manpower to do that. And the fear is once the city's involved, do the volunteers go away because now you have the city doing it. So we don't wanna create that image. So we're back to why don't we create a chamber position that helps coordinate the volunteers on all of these events and, quite honestly, the chamber has other things going on that this person could help coordinate sponsor, you know, helping the chamber to thrive and and hopefully grow a little bit?
My pleasure. What's the cost sharing between us, the EDA, and the chamber then? What was my question? Well, the city and the EDA are synonymous. The city can't do anything beyond what we're doing, putting out barricades, helping set up the park in in advance of the events. But that's really all we're doing is putting some labor into it, boots on the ground. The EDA is the fiscal agent. Any money that we have that goes to this would have to come through the EDA. But we got the EDA funding, and how much is the chamber gonna stick into this this position?
That's up to the chamber as to what kind of a position that they're looking for. From my standpoint, we are funding it to an extent that makes it feasible, but I don't know that we wanna be the only dog in the fight. Exactly. That was my point. We're gonna commit maybe twenty twenty five. The chamber needs to come up with whatever left to for that position. But and I I wasn't part of their conversation, so I don't know the 50,000 other than it's very, very similar to what the state maximum is. So, you know, maybe there's more thought to it than that. I I wasn't part of that,
so I don't know. I know that this year, '25 is all you could do because of what I know is coming down the road or what you've already invested. And I don't regret that. I think our investments to this point are on point with our goal to, to drive business forward. But for a five year commitment, I don't know how you wanna look at that. I I appreciate the five year commitment because of the ongoing continuity. I do think that any money that you put in there for this position is contingent on documentation that it is going to a position.
I I I think that that's nothing against the chamber, but I don't want that to get lost in years four and five and turn into something else. I mean, I think the purpose of this is to drive a staff position for them. I think having a staff position will create some continuity too because over the years, as volunteers leave or whatnot, if that person's there for any amount of time or just the record keeping for these events will remain in one place under that umbrella, so that's a good thing. But I do agree, this is just a point I would say is that I'm not saying we don't
commit to a five year term, but we have to have some checks and balances along the way to say, Okay, we've done this. What are you guys doing to it? Right? Have you added some fundraisers? Have you looked at can we increase dues? I mean 125 isn't a whole lot of money. I'm not saying Mhmm. It's low. It's very low. For chamber Correct. And I'm not saying that if dues aren't raised you won't lose some people because you will, right? We know it's small. I've been in your shoes. I understand. But there are things I think that can be done that haven't been done for years to increase some revenue coming into the chamber too.
So I think, are there ways we can create some checks and balances to say, you know, are we getting a return on that investment that we're looking for or progress towards that. Mhmm. To say, okay. We wanna look at that before we renew it again for the the following year as well. I don't know. What do you guys think? Yeah. I think that's fair. Still agree with this. I'm still worried about the only we're the only one contributing. Until I find out what the chamber is willing to donate addition to our 25, I'm no. I don't wanna be the only one doing $2,530,000
for a position that's benefiting a lot of people, but benefits down if they don't put any money into it. Yeah. Well, I do see the benefit to the city if we have a full time person working on these events and they become a little bit more consistent and whatever. So I think we all benefit from that. But in response to what Greta says is that if they know now they're getting the support, they may be able to now do a few more things to contribute a little bit more support from their side too. Right now, they probably don't have the plan to do it other than the guide being their
only fundraiser. I mean, that's what we started way back when to at least get some money coming into the chamber. But that means the chamber needs to think of other ways to raise funds to you know, are they doing any other fundraiser type things to create that revenue coming in for that position, whether it's dues or whatever? So the concern I have and you touched on it. The concern I have is I'm not sure that they have, it sounds like I'm being negative. I don't mean to talk derogatorily. I don't think they have the vision of a staff person and what that could do at this point.
I think it's been tried and failed, and so they're really gun shy about even stepping into it. And and so I guess I would suggest that if you're going to do it, start it. I think that we have to put the checks and balance into place. But we might be the only game in town for the first year because they need to get that shot in the arm to to get them over that hurdle, and they need to find somebody that can help drive that vision for how do we sustain this.
And I think then it can become a cost share, more so. But initially, to be blunt, it'll never happen, just from what I see of the chamber and and where they're at today, and their past experiences, I think they need a little bit more guidance, to get over that hurdle. More structure. Having a staff person is scary to some folks when they've had a bad experience. I think it's pretty straightforward. I think we have a job description, we have a plan, we have, you know, something to go by. Are we accomplishing the things that we said we expect of this position?
And, you know, whoever you hire, a Greta or anybody else, they deserve to know what's expected of them before they walk in. And and I think that Yeah. If both sides agree to that at the beginning, now you've got a common ground and you have a chance to succeed. And I wasn't here, but I don't know if that was really the way it was handled in the past. And, again, I know that most of you guys would know that better than I do, but I I just don't have a sense of there was clear direction from either side on expectations. Is this a chamber position or EDA position or what? It is a chamber position.
It is not an EDA position. It is not something I'm gonna caution you. If the city has a position in there, I'm afraid the city will end up running everything, and that's not good for us. That's not good for the chamber. Okay? Alright. Yeah. I'm more in favor now because we had discussions with them and they wanted nothing to do with that position. Now, obviously, they've changed. There's other benefits, so that's helpful. Well, I think what? Before discussions were, it was going to be like a shared position. Right? Like, it would work for the city and it would work for the chamber?
Or was that am I not remembering that? They didn't want to have a body to manage. And that was the main concern. Now all of a sudden they've taken that on. I'm okay with them changing their mind, but, yeah, they didn't want nothing to do with the body. I didn't wanna manage HR or anything with that. Right. Now all of a sudden they want that. I'm appreciative they've changed, but Well, they've changed because the city has said we're not doing it. Yeah. I mean, it it flat out it is not a good position for the city to be in. We did a lot of research on what other people are doing. You know, Daryl, you and I had a conversation about some other communities.
We thought somebody from the city was fulfilling those duties, and it wasn't the case. And and so the deeper we dig into it, the more it it just, it's not a city position. It's difficult. Like I said, the majority of us have been there and we know it's very hard. We have to build value as the chamber to the chamber members for them to give back and contribute back whether it's financially or of time. It's very difficult, to get that consistency. So having And these are deep discussions unfortunately the chamber's going to have to have. Either we can do it on our own with the help of EDA and then
we can start to figure out how we can contribute to build that up whether it's down the road adding another staff person, whatever, to kind of create a bigger and better chamber, or to merge with Rochester which provides a lot of the resources we just can't provide at this time. So that's a tough discussion but I would be in favour of a contribution this year with the caveat of, we'd like to see your plan on what you're going to be doing then to help Mhmm. Foster this chamber.
Like, what are you gonna do to con you know, continue and to contribute towards this, to continue to make it better? Right. I don't know what you guys think. I agree with you, but it's gonna it's gonna be hard to get started. I think with that, that's the Well, $25, I don't know what you're gonna start with. Well, do you guys have a job description in place? That's what I mean. We're kinda just what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of what kind of discussions?
Here's the issue. The president changes every year. So the reason we did this I didn't do it. Somebody else did it who I'd probably be here Yep. Because somebody offered us $50 and and it was implied that we could use that for lots of stuff besides hiring that we could hire a consultant to do our software, which would be a huge help. And so, it's a soup that needs to be stirred, but I'm the only person with it. There isn't anybody else. They come and they go.
The president stayed two years this year because nobody else was there. I can't see how this will work. You can give me as much money as you want. I mean, I guess that's it. It's like if the chamber hasn't formulated this plan in place to then come forward and say, Look at what we here's we've got it. We're ready. We just need the funding. It's kind of hard to you know, it's like throwing silly putty to the wall and let's hope it sticks. Right? So, yeah. Yeah. It seems difficult because even going back to some of the HR stuff,
who's handling the paid family leave now and who's like, these are volunteer people. I don't think the board is set up to have an HR. A community. And and just a request of money, they're just if they just get a pool of money, of course, it can be spent. Right. But that's we're not giving them money to just spend. We're giving them money. Yeah. So that's what you're you're right. It's like you gotta be ready to add a position before we say, perfect. Here's the money for it. Perfect. Well, let let me change the conversation, if I may, just a little bit. And I appreciate with the
changes in paid family medical leave and, earned sick and safe time and all these things that are coming down from the state, it adds another nuance to it. But it is not as big of an issue to me as simply having the job description and the expectations. All the other stuff you can contract somebody to do, that that HR piece. It it it's not difficult and it's not rocket science. It's just a pain in the neck. Yeah. But it's another expense out of the, you know, out of the bucket. It is a it is an expense that comes into it.
Mhmm. Not real significant from my experience, but I agree with you. Would you be willing to approve a $25,000 request subject to them bringing back to you the job description, the hourly rate, the the plans that you're looking for. I think if you say no because you don't have it, they might stop it. I'd rather see it give them a carrot. Give them something to shoot for or strive for. I I think that they're in a spot right now and, again, I'm talking to chamber members, and I apologize because I I don't wanna get ahead of,
of where you're at. But I I really believe that they need that encouragement because it won't happen. The reason for a paid staff person at the chamber is because of what Greta said, the turnover, the the the changing of the board. You need that consistency or you will never have an organization because nobody's maintaining the focus. And, in a in a previous life many, many, many years ago, I was a chamber director, and I understand what they're going through. I understand their struggles right now. That's why I'm passionate about it. I I think it's something that the city,
through the EDA, has an opportunity to make a difference. And I think in Byron, we're at a turning point. I mean, we're at a spot where we really need to make that change. And I can't force it on the chamber and I can't force it on the EDA, but somehow we have to broker this this partnership. And, I think your concerns are valid. I share them. It's the same thing I shared with the chamber board is you have to have that job description. You have to have those shared expectations. The rest of it, we'll figure out. But but that part, you have to know what you're doing before you hire somebody because you have to tell them what they're supposed to be doing.
Right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I think if they know that there's money out there, if you'd be willing to do that subject to them bringing that back to you, I think that could be the encouragement they need. Well, do we have to actually do an approval subject? Can we say we see the value, we understand the request, but we aren't ready to make a decision until we know you know what you're doing with it and you've got a plan in regards to this position. You put me in a bad spot because, no, you absolutely can do that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't I get what you're saying.
We're not saying no right now. It's just like, let's just see some more information. We're just saying you're not you're not really prepared with I mean, if like you said, if anybody else were to stand up here and ask us for something Right. We'd be like, what's your you gotta present your plan. Show us everything, right? And we haven't done that. You're just coming here saying we want the max you're willing to give us. But and we're going to use it for this. But you don't really know how you're going to use it or what your what the steps are. So, I don't know that we should say we're approving it contingent on.
Let's just say we are very open. Right? We're open to the consideration of the money, but we're not going to approve anything until we know you know what you're doing with that money, for sure. So if I put it on my entrepreneurship hat, can I just say trust me? That was a joke. That's a joke. Yeah. So, I mean, that's I guess. I appreciate that. Do you feel that's enough just for us saying, go forward, give us a plan? Will the chamber come up with that? Will the chamber wanna willing to do that? Chamber is me. I'm sorry You guys are very sorry.
I feel sorry for you. Okay. Are you feeling our nugget? Are you Well, and I think the way you spell it is you agree with what we're saying Yes. For the most part. Like, you know? All I know is we thought we could use this money for some other stuff. Yeah. And Sean, back to your question about Good Neighbour Days. Two of us from the Chamber, Shelley and myself, the new membership director, are heavily involved in community. They're on the committee now. We've brought in sponsors. We're helping a lot. So, just FYI. But there isn't anybody to do that. It's the catch 22 of all time.
Who are they did they report to? Nobody? Right. That's what I'm concerned about. You say you're chamber right now, but I'm still concerned as I've met with, the the board a few times. I don't know if anyone is is ready to come up with this plan. That's my I don't have confidence that they're gonna come up with this plan. Well, and someone's gonna have to sit with this person and say, here's how Good Neighbor Days is run, right, and here's how this event has been run, and here's kind of what's happened in the past, here's what we're expecting from each one of these events. I mean, who's going to put the time in to do that?
I just got a really side question is, does the chamber have to have every year change or can can that person go for two or three years? Well, bylaws would have to change. You'd have to rewrite them, which you can do. Yeah. I think that might be something to do for somewhere down the road. And every board is going to be set up so that you have some continuity and overlap so that not everybody's leaving at the same time. But, yeah, you just it's just a simple rewrite. Now I vote. I have offered to sit down with the chamber board to create exactly what you're asking for, the the expectations,
the the job description. It I don't think it's as big an issue as what we make it out to be. Yeah. It is simply putting on paper what our expectations are Mhmm. And and making sure they're realistic. I there there's other things that have to go into it from a legal standpoint, but setting expectations is not a challenge. It's just agreeing to what they are. Right. And, to this point, we haven't done it or it hasn't come together, which is fine. I've I've put it out there and I'm I'll continue to be willing to do that, if there's a way I can help them with that. I do think you putting it down on paper,
looking at what that's going to cost you to really find hire somebody of quality to, you know, who who can save for a few years, you have to know, as a chamber, what that's going to cost you. Because if we agree to 25,000 right now, but it's really gonna cost you 35 or 40,000 to get someone in there for what you need. How are we what's the plan then to make up the difference, right? Because the whole it'll fail regardless if we can't, you know, cover the cost. We're a third of the way through this year. So if you look at it on a calendar year,
you know, by the time they got somebody on board, they'd be halfway there. I mean, in in in my mind for this year. But and again, that's why they're looking at the five years. They don't want that rug pulled out from, okay, we found a person. Now we can't afford them because the city pulled their funding. But, even year two, let's say we say 25,000 for the next two years. You're saying the 25,000 we would give this year would pay for the second half of the year. Well then, we're going to cover the first half of next year. Who's covering the second half of next year,
right? And what's the plan to do that if it's going to cost $50,000 to hire a good quality person and cover whatever expenses you need to cover to have a staff person? So I guess that's kind of part of the plan is Which comes first, the really good person that can help generate that or figure out how to generate that and then find the really good person? But it takes the right the right mindset. It takes the right person to make this successful. It doesn't matter how much money the the EDA puts in or,
you know, anything else. Somebody has to put this plan together, dues are pretty low Mhmm. For for a chamber Pretty low. If they wanna do something. Right? I mean and again, I really see the chamber at at a point where we're either gonna exist or not exist. I I I think that it is again, I'm not that long here, so I'm I'm going on my perception, but I think it's kinda ebbed and flowed a little bit. It it hasn't really had a strong presence in a while. Yeah. Well, dues used to be double. They used to be $2.50 or whatever.
But that's back when there was a part time or we started with a part time person, and people felt there was more value in you don't mind paying another hundred over the year. That's $10 a month. Right. You know? I mean, you don't mind paying that when you feel that the value is there. So But also that you gotta remember, is this really a full time position? When you have your discussion, maybe it's only twenty hours a week. I mean, you think about the whole process. We have a few events, but not a lot. What do they do with the other twenty hours of the of the so that would help the finances that I'm getting at,
you know, cutting it in half or a third or, you know, two thirds. But I don't know if it's a full time position. I and I don't think anybody is So you lay it out. It's really laid out. Lay it all out. And maybe it isn't. Like you said, I put full time I think I said full time. I don't think anybody else said full time, so I apologize. Oh, is it? It was in there, but and maybe she was just saying full time. Yeah. Maybe she wasn't. Forty hours a week. Okay. I don't think that's why. I feel like we dream this fall. Yeah. We're up to our ass in alligators. Yep. Gotcha. Here's the I I can't tell you how many hours I work. It's sad,
but there it is. Because every day there's an email from somebody, Will you fix my membership? Will you have this contact? The bags. The infamous bags. Those take so much. Etcetera, etcetera. Right now, it's a lot of work. Yeah. If it was ever put together, it would be a part time position. Yeah. I think we're all agreed we need a plan. And I'm hoping, Al, if you wouldn't mind helping facilitate that with the chamber like you have been. I'll I'll continue to offer I feel comfortable then with Al involved there that since he's had expertise in that field,
that they'll come up with a good plan and then present that to us. And well, I think we're all in favor of it. Yeah. We should have a plan. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could even come up with, like, three plans. Yeah. Like, the broads are in gold. Right. Mhmm. Yeah. Let us react to it. And if nobody's willing to take the time to sit with you and make a plan, then that just tells us exactly what, you know Right. I'm not trying to put it on you. It needs you. That's exactly right. If nobody steps up, what the hell are we doing? It sounds like it can't be you. It has to be somebody else. It has to be the president and vice president. That's Yeah. Well, at least for the year, whatever the uptime left.
Right. Exactly. To be fair to the chamber and whoever they might hire, it has to be the entire board because this is a position governed by the board. It isn't the president and vice president that govern this person. It has to be the full board. Right. How many sit on the board? I'm the president, vice president, treasurer, secretary. Yep. And they have an at large, don't you? And an at large, yes. Or they used to do. But I am interim director at large. Past president used to be. You no longer have past president? Oh yeah. I'm sorry. Since there's nobody,
the same president is both the president and the past president. And we have no VP right now. So it's just Yeah. Can I step back in time again? You guys have been with Amber, wasn't she in a position to govern? Yeah, well I mean, Amber Yeah. Well, I mean, I was I've always been on the chamber, but as a board member active that was not the problem with that. I can't recall. It was Amy McGinnis. Yep. Yep. And then there was I mean, we've had tons of Amber was probably in the past, and it's worked well. You guys that's why I'm asking you guys. Yeah.
I think it did. I think especially when it got to Amber. I mean, there she was, like, third maybe in line, and so things were probably set up a little better, and it worked pretty well. I think She did great. COVID killed us. Yeah. That that's true. Exactly. So it's not like we haven't done this in the past. We just lately, we have not. And that's, I think, what the problem is and why the chamber's losing some of the steam is because that person we're talking about isn't there anymore to help push this along with ideas and and pulling things together and memberships and stuff. So the position I think is needed just I agree because the volunteers just are
like they're burnt. Right? And we don't Was the city paying for that position? They don't know. No. Okay. We probably came to the city. That's maybe when those, like 5,000. Yes. Yes. That's exactly what it was. Yeah. I think that's what it was. Yep. Yep. And again, two things I want you to take away is, first of all, good neighbor days, bird fest, those events are critical to the community. We we have to have them. That's why the city should have an interest. The EDA should have an interest. But our interest, again, the EDA is our only funding mechanism through the city, so that's why it's here.
I don't want you to think I'm avoiding the council or or trying to, you know, sneak it into your your coffers. It is the only mechanism that we have legally to to do this. So it becomes your your decision. I'm more than willing to do it. I just see the urgency because we need these events and and the significance they play to the city. That's where I'm, coming from. So Okay. Yep. Yep. And I'm happy to with Greta's help, carrying the word back and saying, we have to sit down and put this together.
And and, I get it. Yep. Yep. Thanks, Greta. Thanks, Greta. Thank you. It was no help at all. It actually was. I mean, I think it was very helpful. Yes. Okay. Public comments. Anything? Good morning. Okay. And no public comments? Alright. Anything else before we adjourn? Motion to adjourn. How'd the survey go? I mean, we touched a little bit on the council just to do positive? The survey is very largely positive. 70% in favor of a municipal dispensary would be well received.
It's higher than I expected it to be. I I think it's still open right now. I haven't looked at it since I got back yesterday, but, it has been very much a positive. So that's looking good. Thanks. Good. I guess the only other thing I'd share with you is, we do have the health inspector coming to look at the municipal pool this week to find out, you know, where we at. We're kind of at that go, no go decision again this year, and and we're hitting it earlier than, we were able to last year. To be blunt,
it's marginal at best. I do have a request into the school district to try and meet with their board, about a possible partnership, next to the CEC. There's some land north of the existing pool that the school district owns, and we have suggested that a new pool in that green space north of of where it currently sits might be a good spot. We need more parking for a pool. The CEC needs more parking, but never at the same time. So maybe we could exchange parking for land.
It's not the it's not my preferred place for a pool, but it is the best thing we have. And if we don't get the pool open this year, I mean, we're two years away from having a pool if we start today, and and we've got those things to work through. So I hate to cry wolf, but I gotta put people on notice that, my optimism is waning. It was, it was by a wing and a prayer last year, and I think this year, it's gonna be that much tougher. So we're we're gonna continue to move that. Location is the first priority. Until we get a location definitively,
accepted, we're we're just kinda waiting. I was at the finance, facilities meeting when they talked about that. You weren't there, and they were they were favorable to it. They liked the parking part of that, and so they hated to give up the green space, but they realized the need for the parking for the for their programs and then how it would benefit sharing the the parking lot. So that's where they were favorable. Yeah. And and I think where it's at when I exchanged emails with, mister doctor Nubeck, I think May 5 is their study session. So that might be our next
connection with the school is at their study session. K. Anyway, I don't mean to drag it out. I just thought I better share that with you. Yeah. I appreciate it. No. Okay. Nothing further then. Let's have a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Great. Let's get out of here.