are myself Commissioners Mills Benson Shackleton Anderson headstrom b gichi um no commissioner absent at this point so first item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda is there a motion to
approve the February 18th 2025 agenda so moved second great all those in favor I opposed great motion carries uh first item is the welcoming of our
newest commissioner hey so Alex Alex BB gich pronouncing that correctly you're two-thirds there Jud is the last part Jud Jud okay Jud wait is that that's wrong it's close we
all get there Jud Jud Jud you got it okay home R we'll get there yeah welcome otherwise known as Alex right go so Alex is our newest commissioner appointed by the city uh
brings great experience both uh in other States including Alaska as I understand uh as well as being a small business owner here right in gr marray which will be I think invaluable to the Eda so thank you very much all right next item is uh approval of the meeting minutes from our January
the 21st meeting uh you'll find those on pages 3 through five and they were provided in the meeting packet is there a motion to approve the January 21 2025 meeting minutes so moved
and second is support and I would like to make a comment on those beforehand yes um just to a clarification so on page four um there is a comment of um Siri
Anderson recommending that you know that she will assist the c um with some administrative work and I would just like that clarified that that is a personal effort
on your part that is not a board approved nor um recommended or ask of of that I just want that clarify ified okay and amended in the notes and you know thank you for of course you
know personally offering your time but I just want that clarified in the notes okay thank you all right well with that Amendment um are we good with the with the meeting minutes I approve okay u in favor I okay
opposed and we carry moving us on then to U the financials January 202 2025 financials and payments of the Eda and Superior National at Luts and Golf Course have
been provided in the meeting packet um commissioner Shackleton if there's any additional information or anything you want to illuminate for us uh the budget was submitted to the county for approval last year and they approved our budget submission without changes and so that's what's in the pack right now is uh mhm
so looking at that and as far as um Ed financials for the month of January if anyone has a chance to look at them have any questions we did um Heidi do you know if um the what was submitted to the
commissioner do include the budget versus you know if that was updated or not was it what was in the packet uh the official packet were not were not the update financials so we we do have so going forward uh the the monthly uh
budget will be in there so what I'm looking at right now has that budget number there so you compare uh the month of January to what the budget would allow for I'm not sure if the one you have right now has that but it looks in line so and cash position for for the
Eda is healthy 235 and 35 combined for 265 right now that would be the Eda if anyone has any comments on the Eda financials if not I'll move on to the golf course no questions or comments no super
National operation for January they're um the Pro Shop their open year round this is the third year they've done that um sales are up about 38% over previous years so it's improving it's not cash
flowing in a positive way but it helps um Golf Course financial position is at 239 in one account 111 another account very healthy it should get us to the beginning of this season without any problem so anybody have questions about the golf
course questions no all right is there a motion to approve the um report out on the golf course the Eda and the uh the bill approval status I think we accept them don't
we yes yeah I we accept them not approve them very yeah accept them they're not audited okay so I move to accept the treasures report thank you support all those in favor I I I
opposed they are accepted okay thanks how okay so at this point uh on the agenda is uh time for public comments and we would invite anyone from the public that wishes to share their thoughts or insights with with the board just to remind the Commissioners this is
not a an opportunity for for um debate but rather just to listen and to to to take on comments well sure I'm Bruce Martinson I'm the chair of the sh Township Board and I'm just here to back up Heidi when
she talks about the uh Tade Harbor strategic plan outline and moving forward but if you have any questions for me you know later one comment and that is uh of course you know Howard knows long overdue and the
shorter Township Board supports moving forward that's all thank you Bruce yeah good to see you Bruce any other public comments no okay let's move on to our resolutions then we'll start with resolution
2025 -8 uh approving amendments to the employment agreement for Garrett emman for services at Superior National Golf Course at luten in 2025 Commissioners might remember from last month that we produ uh approved
five uh employment agreements this particular one uh the golf course has has Revisited uh in light of the significant growth that that's been seen in the food to beverage area at the the golf course year-to-date revenues are up about 100
uh% uh and the discussion that we've had with golf course management is to elevate Garrett's position from assistant to uh to full director for food and beverages you can see some of the uh additional responsibilities that we pressure tested the golf course in
terms of documenting so it isn't just a a loose increase uh but the golf course committee recommends approval of this resolution um I read all of this and if I look on
page 10 um it it is the agreement it still says assistant manager and beverage director like am I not looking at the most the the one that's going to be changed I thought it was going to just be a food and beverage manager not
assistant anymore where do you see the assistant um maybe I'm looking in an older version right there um I think that's page 11 yeah it is Page 11 and that might be a change that didn't get picked up and that's
where I started to get confused like am I reading this correctly and then I saw your change you your descriptive changes but I didn't see this agreement seem to reflect it that might have been a change that they that they frankly missed they didn't provide me with um an
updated version oh okay of this because I've received I've received a version with changes and I believe a new one so it might be the just the wrong one we've got in here but um but we can check that the golf course committee met with
uh golf manager and staff and I I uh got to the point where I'm comfortable with the recommendations I'm fine with it I just this doc doesn't reflect it and it's like the recital doesn't refer to it as manag right it doesn't so and and I just
caught that so then I thought am I missing other changes that we're expecting to see in here that kind of made me stop like am I just confused or good point other questions or
comments I move the resolution yeah and we can replace this with the correct document which I have seen I've seen it before and an after um please support did you make
yeah support and then um so so I think the confusion is it's assistant manager slash food and beverage director versus assistant manager slash assistant food and beverage director so double assistant now it's
maybe head of food of Beverage no no it just says assistant manager and beverage director I mean that's what they were clearing out of and then that gets me back to is there anything else in here they didn't update I don't want to vote for think I want to know that we because
mine has a slash there can I also maybe just point out on page 16 in the description of the duties assistant manager/ food and beverages crossed out and rep purely with food and beverage manager there's another discrepancy in the specific jobs just food and beverage
yeah yeah it's all over in here assist so uh it'd be nice if they so can we approve with those changes my my my uh motion to approve the resolution would uh include
necessary minor changes to the aing I would support that do we know what all those are besides descript I mean I saw can it be circulated by email and then we vote by email think we can just understand that it'll be corrected and then verified by
you know maybe an email communication I think we're kind of on board with what we're talking about we just it's not clear that the language is consistent or or clear all the way through I hear Tracy saying she's not quite on board with it well I'm you know
we got this list here and I don't that means there were changes to responsibilities I don't know if there I I quit reading to double check after I got the titling so I just want to make sure all the the rest of it is in there and it's not just a matter of search and
replace for assistant versus manager yeah Fair Point um and I think page 16 in particular illustrates that it's it's more than just that as the uh exhibit a list of responsibilities has been has been
reworked Mr President could I uh suggest that we request that the independent contractor that the Ada hired to to work on this sort of stuff make those Corrections yeah well certainly yeah I guess the only question now is do we
want to vote on this with corrections or or punt it until the next meeting once we have the corrections in front of us comfortable with it um thank you chair um I uh I think we I think the essence is there it's just that confusing um title and we are
voting to change that title so it's doubly confusing but um going down to page 16 I think does clarify the the duties um and so then it's just a matter of that the language for for the title
so and I think we are all on the same page this is the food and beverage manager or director so go down after it can I add that it was clarified to us that to make this change they were changing the
amount of hourly workers and so there isn't an increase in overall budget it's a shifting of the budget to this person rather than depending on hourly workers yes thank so maintaining the budget I'm in agreement with that
idea does this if we postpone this till our next meaning does that in any way influence Garrett's ability to get to work on what it he needs to do the the pay does not change he's the only one doing the work so that's not going to change the work
will be done by Garett but I I would question does it change his paycheck apparently not right well if he's going to get paid salary or paid hourly will that be the difference here he continue to be paid hourly M or he's currently a salaried employee so he's currently a
salaried employee just changing his job description with a slight bump and pay with a bump yes okay so this would prevent the bump and pay until the next meeting that correct okay retro it it's a month out we retro back pay
yeah we could do that I don't want to start a thing where we kind of let these things go it'd be one thing it was just a search and replace for a title but I'm and I'm not going to sit here and spend time to make sure that that job description reflects all these items that are listed
here because I want you know should be what it's supposed to be I'll withdraw my motion and uh make a request to uh get us a clean uh new job description M and then you know I'm getting the clear signal we
approve this but but not uh we need better documentation so sure with the intent of doing it on a retro basis corre if we communicate that I think they should be happy very good yeah totally support his efforts and what he can do for the golf course
completely I think it's a great Direction okay all those in favor there's no motion is it I withdrew the motion you withdrew a motion yeah okay just we act on next week next month no no motion
required for the homework right well I think we just yeah it's in the minute so we we'll require them to go back and done clean it up okay all right that takes us to uh 2025-the with SVN northo for the sale of
Superior National Golf Course at Lutsen you'll find the material on pages 19 through 26 and as you might recall last month the Eda approved resolution 202-6632
200,000 minimum commission 12month uh exclusive listing agreement um and Eda staff and the golf course committee recommends approval discussion or
questions I you know I was SE on the meetings I remain uh impressed with the Frank and his crew uh I think they're ready to hit the ground running and uh you know they ask a lot of good questions and I think they'll give us a lot of really good advice and councel uh
over the time here so I'm you know anxious to get them on board and running with it thanks Howard just for further context for new new um Commissioners um there were um uh requests for proposals sent out and then
um a selection based on criteria through that so A process I wasn't a part of but the golf committee was and then so they uh North Co Roos to the top and um um you know one thing I I'd like to know more about is just the if there's
any risks I mean um there is that uh risk of the sale not meeting our um expectations but that risk would happen regardless of who's doing this and this company seems to be most capable of
meeting our requirements so yeah it's a small for frankly U Nationwide especially regionally of of golf course sales um everybody knows everybody so whether they they may have the listing and
somebody else may sell you know just like a house but you know they'll aggressively try to sell it as well um and our instructions uh mostly from me but I think I've got the sense of the board as well our uh
desire is to have a public course there that's successful and ongoing and we take precedence over the financial uh wherewithal of a buyer to to keep it running and improve it over the highest possible selling point uh so
um you we're not out for all the money we're out to keep the golf course as a golf course and have it well managed and well maintained and and there is an asset for the community U into the future so that's the sense I've got from the board and it's certainly the sense and you
know Frank gets that you may or may not know there's a few um stipulations that go with the golf course the when the Nelson family gave the golf They gave the land to the golf course they ret retained uh right of
first refusal which uh uh they are seller the north Co is fully aware of and they also if the golf course cease to be a golf course uh they have the right of re-entry in other
words we want it to remain a golf course if it doesn't remain a golf course it gets really messy so um that's in everybody's interest and I think that's you know we go for with a full knowledge of that to any buyer and and it is a
great asset and and uh you know even though it's not highly profitable for the Eda it still carries it's on and you know yeah that's what it's supposed to do and I would say that um in case there's an algorithm out there that can
add this metric to somebody's Facebook page that has a lot of money it's cheap actually like you can buy this piece of property for less than a nice cabin on the shore and it's beautiful amazing views and what an asset to leave your
family y but it has to be a golf course it can yeah yeah it's a golf course but I mean generations of grandchildren playing there sure yeah yeah just one clarification
um it won't be a public golf course per se it'll be it'll be open to the public gotcha yeah yeah it won't revert to a private club and um was there more I don't remember yeah I guess that's where we are
all right is there a motion to approve 2025 I'll I'll I'll uh forward the motion to approve the resolution second I'll support any other discussion seeing none all those in
favor I I opposed motion passes Okay resolution 2025-the memorandum of understanding between the Eda and Pete Mt independent contractor to provide small business
consulting services in 2025 so I'd refer you to Pages 27 through 35 and as I think you all be aware the Eda has an annual Consulting agreement
with Northland Foundation to provide small business consulting which has been done terrifically by by Pat over over the years uh We've attached the 2025 agreement for your reference uh and of course Pat has decided to retire after
many years of of terrific service um and through a search process including Pat and Heidi and uh Northland we have identified uh a
terrific uh new sbdc consultant in uh in Pete M so it's our recommendation that resolution 2025-the because we have had this has been a Northland position and we contract with
Northland contracts with us yes so is this the same as we had with with Pat or different the same it is the same so we had a we had agreement with you just a little bit more formal you know when I started this job we didn't really think about contracts much right but now that
um things have progressed it makes sense to do this and Northland suggested it and I think it's a a nice piece to formalize this with the EPA as well since for the most part we work together on most Stu so uh Pete will consult with
us and Northland will reimburse us for the cost then that's exactly what happens we take and um note all of our hours for the months send Northland the invoice North and um Mark get the Heidi
get the can have it if he wants it and approves it sends it back sends up the check and then you pay then weren't we getting a little cut on that too no you don't no I we were ask a little bit of cut from you guys
see no it works pretty well it's pretty spinless at this point okay yeah they have never not given us the money no I know that yeah so uh sorry to be a little brain dead here but so in
the past you have used up all your hours by like November and then they they found money to help pay you through the end of the year typically this contract shows just how many hours they're Contracting with us I've always in the 10 years I've done this job gone over
and they found additional hours that other um Consultants didn't use right they can't guarantee that but they haven't have that happen so that Arrangement is the same going forward with Pete what now is that that going be the same AR arrangement with Pete going
forward same Arrangement rep Pete going forward same same number of hours same budget same situation slight increase in the hourly rate rate per hour went up this year okay but that's about the only difference good all right is there a motion to
approve 2025 and we'll come back to introductions uh later in the agenda motion to approve thank you commissioner Shackleton is there a second second thank you uh all those any other discussion nope all those in favor say I
I I and those opposed all right resolution carries all right taking us to the uh last resolution of the day that's 2025-the consulting firms to facilitate the Strate strategic planning process for
the former tanite Harbor Energy Center site in Schroeder Township that was a mouthful anything you wish to add to that Heidi um not other than the fact uh thank you Bruce for uh being here and
and supporting this and being involved and looking at the outline um prior to uh the Eda seeing it and I think it's it's you know being that the site is located in trotor Township it's important that um you're involved as
chair of the the supervisors um so thank you very much um and I just wanted to um also add that I don't know if the Eda ever saw the um press relief release about the grant so I just stuck it in
the in the packet um one of six communities in the State that's going through this transition um from um mostly coal power plants um so it's a big deal and it's um quite an
honor to be working on it and very exciting and I'm looking forward to this process um of going through strategic planning so a million dollars great no no that includes for the planning 200 for the planning 800 for
the the transfer station when we put this application together Teresa and Mike and a group of us um Teresa thought it was better to put them together I would have just kept them separate because they're not really joined but they did and then it so it comes back as
a big number if you're not watching carefully yeah and you don't realize that the mountain share of it very understandably went to um the waste sure transfer thing but to get 200 grand for something we've been trying to work for for the last few years
very hard when I know you weren't here but I personally spent a lot of my time trying to get this and the fact that we need a very serious project manager and I don't that to me is the thing that's missing in this whole descriptive and um this is a long-term
project um so I would like you to kind of explain because I'm really concerned about what I'm seeing here at all I've been to your Township to meet been to tofy to meet and discuss this because it's schroer but I think T you know the
whole West End as Bruce understands really gets affected by this hugely and we've already met with Minnesota power elite or whatever they're called now we went down and met with them we realized that Cleveland Cliff is a big issue for us and they have not come to the table
yet um I'd like for you to give I didn't include me in this so I'd like a high level of how you got to this because I'm not sure I understand it as far as time frames and fully encompassing some of the issues that are before
us the outline yeah let just high level it for me yeah I think page 40 might be the the place to okay focus on which is really the the approach over the next several months um the outline was created with um mainly
from talking with Tamara ly who has been through this process already in Cohasset with the itas itasa EDC um and uh so she suggested a phased approach so that's why you see the phased approach uh she's been through it already in in her
community um and so uh that's I mean that's pretty much why it's it's a phase um and this is just a document to guide the actual drafting of an RFP right and then the RFP would be presented to the
the tanate harbor committee uh to look at the actual document before it goes out I guess my first thought then I just thought you maybe I'd hear something that would make me not make any more comments um the time frame to me is extremely
unrealistic for a project this big and some of those other communities that we've been reading about and looking at from Becker to over by still water and all of those you know they're replacing and looking for an energy solution
contrary to Coal anymore that's not necessarily what we're looking for in tanite Harbor at all and we have a lot of people at the table who aren't at the table yet including Cleveland Cliffs and is Elite what are they now they got bought out I want to reference them they
call them Minnesota Power oh now they're back down no that's just what I call them call them whatever inite bought Minesota power but you know they've made it perfectly clear to us at least before that they're only going to sell and they can't give this land to me
that's a big issue to think through so we got to get everyone at the table we have to identify some of the issues not just the possibilities which I just don't think fits into this time frame um realistically
um and we need also help I think in identifying the possibilities I've heard so many people in the last few years in our community give me ideas what they think could happen here but I don't think they're very broad-reaching and I don't think they come close to the potential of what we could do and I
spent a lot of time reading about around the other parts of the country about what other you know it's the focus hasn't been as heavy on Minnesota and some other parts of the country have really done more and and um some of the issues other communities have had aren't
ours like retraining necessarily which has been heavy for Wyoming and some parts on the East Coast or access to broadband has been a huge stumbling block for a lot of these communities that's not ours um but I do think we need help with possibilities too and
that's where I think this part of the planning part stage why we're hiring somebody for 200 Grand is to get a high level project manager who can look at a lot keep a lot of you know balls bouncing at the same time but um there's
a lot to that before we'll ever get to any kind of planning I think identifying issues identifying possibilities and we have to bring in I think a large you put a ring around Tade Harbor that gets us identifying stakeholders which includes
Lake County so am I understanding it correctly that you want to use the 200,000 to hire a project manager to to handle this process exactly that's why we asked for it to begin with that was okay because I was totally unaware that that was the reason I thought it was
Strate uh uh for strategic planning well it gets to that point but that's what we want I mean that's part of strategic planning is all these things there's no way in 6 months we're going to have a plan of what to do with that land not even close we haven't even gotten key
Partners to the table to tell us what it would take to be to play ball with us including Cleveland Cliffs and I don't see that happening in a real tight time frame like this nor the time we can have to get our community at the table to
think of the possibilities um was the rest of the Eda aware of that that was the case I assume so we of hiring an actual project manager um it it was my understanding that we were hiring basically you know
strategic planning um so at the end ma your team I mean that yet to be determined but that that would that would be the output of strategic plan yeah and then at the end you know it's that's when the project manager uh phase three number nine comes into play more um
but um well I think that leads to strategic that is strategic planning I just think the timeline here is unrealistic when you you can't start planning when you don't even know who all your stakeholders are and what their issues are going to be and what the
possibilities are too cuz I what I've heard the voices in our own Community they've been way too limited about what we could potentially do and I want the time spent to bring in the possibilities for people to examine more of what we can do with that property and even you
know it's a lot of property I don't even know how much of what we would even utilize we haven't even defined that that's where I think we need so we need a I don't consider Heidi's got a lot to do I don't consider that something that she can spend all of her
time she spend a lot of time on it but that's where I think we need someone to me that was why we were getting a project manager was to help in all of this in you know all the things you have listed here but um this is big I I agree I agree I
raised um similar concern I think I think the timeline is way too fast for what what's proposed and it didn't I I didn't have the sense and I don't know I don't know anything I don't I know enough I did go there today and walk around to get a on
the ground site feel for it but um and of course I've been D driven by it for 50 years but um I think there's a lot of I think we want to blow up the amount of what could
be possible there and this the time to get the money and all that thing doesn't seem you know grants aren't three months processes and um I love uh that we want to make something great happen here and that'll
be big for the community um and all the stakeholders I I did suggest several things that I shared that we can make sure everyone has if we like the um um the University of Minnesota has a department that is funded to support
projects like this and they will help us with the grant writing process and thinking about it and it's what they do so they can bring value ad and I suggested one group and I understand from talking to Heidi today that um um in your in the way she was
imagining it we were going to solicit groups that would potentially lead the process um like the group that I suggested which was strong towns I don't know if you're familiar with their work but they do some interesting things and they have a two-year process that they
do for something like this so just longer than 9 months yeah and I um um I I agree that the schedule is is aggressive um I'm not one
to say we need to stick to the schedule but I just like seeing the three phases I think they're very well identified as far as phase one uh identify stakeholders right that's exactly what you were saying um May Benson and um and
you know it wouldn't surpris me if it was a 2-year process um you know um but I liked having these goals set out for us to get moving on um aside from the timeline do um board members see
problems within the phases as far as uh order of operations or scope or anything like that because personally I thought it was I was I was impressed and yes the timeline was aggressive but I let's go go get them you know like let's do it so
um that didn't uhu yeah and I had asked I had asked Heidi to include an element of of time in each of these phases because what I would not support is something that's just open-ended and goes on forever sure because that is a mistake in the opposite direction are
these times right probably not uh will they will they adjust when we talk to Professionals in this space who really know how long these will take most likely they will but we ought to work against some timeline yes mhm when would we solicit proposals for these
professional consulting firms can we start that now or we going to want to get further along theine work I think what I'm hearing what I heard is the the group is going to get together and develop the
RFP and i' I've been kind of hung up on the it's just a guide guide I've been hung up on the um project manager description is really not I mean when we first got into this looking at the money it was available
knowing that we wouldn't have the resources to do all this kind of work inhouse we're looking at and there's at a few years ago there were firms out there that did and maybe Siri is right the university has people like that but firms out there that would be a
consultant to us that would guide through the process and maybe that's what you mean by project manager but you know the consultant would would help us through all this and then also be at the back end uh the consultant to uh when
when the vision is somewhat gelled then be the consultant to find uh the resources to do whatever we end up collectively wanting to do because it'll you know the 200,000 is a drop in the bucket of what it will take to to um
enact any vision of uh of De Harbor it I'm I'm a little confused too I mean you know the I don't want to get uh all the land owned by Minnesota
Power tied up in uh the with the footprint of the plant itself because the the land in a lot of ways is just ANC to I mean it's nothing to do with power plant they just happen to own a lot of land but you know
the the the footprint of the power plant and the the economic activity and the business that happened there and the employment I mean that's what the community is missing is those 30 high paying jobs the tax revenue coming off that power plant
that has disappeared and as I understand the cold dependent communities the the grant monies is to help replace the loss of that economic activity and employment so I think that in my mind is what wants
to guide us going forward um as we hire this consultant or um reach out to find a consultant yeah I I think that's exactly and I don't think I'm saying or trying to say anything really different than we've all said but the timeline and you
you're right you have to have a timeline but this one just I don't with all the people at play and knowing how real life works is Not Practical and I want to overemphasize how much I want want
outside help in identifying where we can take this we always lend to go with what we know and one thing we learned thanks to Visa county is we have 81% of our Economy based on tourism this may be our
one opportunity to finally bring some diversity um to our economy and we have an opportunity to take another segment of our County in our area and make it as you're saying Howard a good economic piece again for us and it's a do which
I've said multiple times it's a DOT with a circle around it so we've got Lake County in on this too there's it's a bigger stakeholder than just us and that's all good but I just think we have to recognize the time and energy it will
take and that's where a project manager who you I've worked with lots of them over the years it doesn't matter if it's a project whatever it is they're this there to keep to set timelines to keep those timelines in knowing what slipping
against something else and just keep everything moving and that's what we want and that's what we've been missing like you were saying Howard we tried with some of these other agencies who are there for this purpose and they're vesting their time on these coal-based
communities but we didn't have the money and now we finally got a grant for the money to hire them and that's what we why we did this so you would wish that we hire this professional now rather than later is that correct yeah that's why we asked for this money to lead us
right now in this process and I'm not I think everything that you've got in here is is great but that's what we were it's not for you know then we we'll probably need more money and more whatever you know as things go but this is to get us
started right off the bat Peter and um commissioner Mills you were in the grant implementation meeting with the state with the with the provider of the funds um I was not uh I don't believe that they said that
we could use this These funds to hire someone that's new to me then because that's what we were applying for yeah that's completely different and I'd like to I guess now that we're having this conversation till I read your notes today I was unaware that meeting happened I've been one of the key people
at the table for this and if you guys met January 17th nobody put me on that meeting I'm not looking at you or anything but it's like wow okay and I wasn't involved in any of this process either it was the state who hosted the
meeting not us right yeah I caught that that's what I me and I'm not here to however I I you know I I was deeply involved early on and then kind of handed it off to to others you know moving forward um but clearly in my mind
it was the money would be for a consultant to help guide through the whole process and and Bruce you know we we were in some early meetings and I don't even know how many years ago now but that was the understanding then um you
know dam was there too and I if that has changed that's kind of news to me and I don't know no my recollection from that meeting with the state was more operational and less about the constraints about the how the money would be spent it would be the steps
taken necessary to actually get the reimbursements but what what restrictions do you understand there to be well I I used to work with this the energy transition office director and um several of the other people who are
involved in the project and it's just always been my understanding that that was not the case I could be wrong so definitely um talk to Carla Vita um and our grant um mic our grant contact and
clarify to make sure okay um but I I never once um thought that was the case and so that's I'm very um confused this is news to me so um I in our meetings the fourth Carla she was aware that that
was a a you know an issue for us not having that resource to move it forward and knew that's why we were so if and I am in constant contact with Carla I mean if not a consultant then how would we spend a 200
Grand maybe if we give us 200 Grand what what were they thinking we were going to spend it on right yeah to create a strategic plan yeah but then so really that means you're hiring somebody to help of that whole process though correct or this be in your there
there may be uh different facilitators yeah but obviously I misunderstood so I'll have to go back to to the state and um clarify what we can spend the money on yeah I mean were was your understanding
that you would you as our director would take on this word no no okay no wait yeah that's that was our analysis quite a few years ago it's like yeah we can't do this so so um you know resolution
[Music] 2025-the seems pretty direct and clear to me it feels like the biggest rub is the timeline but then maybe also just the understanding of who's doing what um and
to what what capacity um so um if we need to clarify that more or if we want to amend the timeline um but it would be great if we can if we can find resolution today couple things from my standpoint
we can we can put TBD on the timeline but recognizeing we're going to need a timeline um and whether it is an individual project manager or a consulting firm or some other form of team that is what the RFP will be will
be seeking to commissioner mills's Point uh and this is the first step in getting to that RFP so if directionally we think we need to get the right stakeholders at the table gather the right data do the right planning that can at least
inform what the RFP looks like so we're not going off in the wrong direction so this has been a good discussion uh but we can move this forward next time we can see a draft RFP well and I think I heard Heidi say Bruce that if we approve
this then we'll go to the townships and help develop the RFP is that correct no no what did they hear um well well that would be going to the townships and putting that stakeholder crew together that would be part later um um but yes the the committee because
the Eda has its own teeken night Harbor committee they would be assisting developing not not all the townships but certainly we we can do that if that's what the Eda wants to do but I I thought that the committee it was the committee's role to to do those this
sort of thing okay well I mean other people can be invited to the committee work MH so and I don't I don't think we have to back up and start over again I think we can keep moving forward with that process and in the meantime you can
clarify with Carla or whoever you know what what actually can we use the money for and then you know that will help Define how we we write the RFP as well or let them see RFP and approve it or make edits to it I mean it's it's uh
they're there to help us so um and they've been you know when I was more involved they were pretty helpful and answer all the questions so it seems like we're got a path forward commissioner Mills yeah I I agree with with Howard
and I also just want to applaud Heidi for jumping right in right out of the gate and uh and and tackling this because it's a it's a big animal that we've been wrestling with for for many years um and I also want to just um idy thank you for um reaching out to someone
who's been through it uh and leaning on that resource because I think we can learn a lot that way and I'd encourage you to continue to do that and um and could I just add to that um Carla Vita was the person who suggested I reach out
to Mar to Tamara ly so I have been following yeah her um guidance at the state level throughout this whole process so this this is not just willy-nilly and if you see at the bottom um as well um Mike is our Minnesota
Power rep who has been in contact with me constantly um and then um Bruce as well uh so yeah well no sorry it didn't it didn't it doesn't feel willy-nilly to me um so that's why I'm just thanking
you for for going after it the um oh forgive me for not thinking of this before but um in other projects whether it's the County's Capital Improvement plan or or other um strategic planning or or what
have you often times the consultant will create the timeline and they maybe have a better understanding of what's realistic so maybe we can eliminate that and just you know lean on the consultant for that yeah I'm sorry I mean that's basically one of the key parts of a
project manager is to set those time lines once you identify what you're working on and who's involved and all of that so that you're probably right with solve itself but it should be it should be a requirement and it' be a natural one but
we can put that in RFP so Bruce said y yes Bruce uh yeah I think you know uh commissioner Mill said right on I think the consultant or project manager they would you define the you know timeline I would think that site planning maybe too
aggressive that you be know longer but there's no reason why you have to stick to a you know particular you know timeline delays you know come but one thing is dist stress you know sense does matter move forward
there are 11 you know co- plants you know that have been you know closed and lot I shouldn't say closed some only a couple have been closed and the rest are going to be closed in the future but we were the very first one to close but
according to Carla you know VA of the 11 we're at the very very end as far as know planning everyone else all the other 10 are way ahead and they're giving money to these communities they got the Strategic plan completed right
now they're giving money to them the plant's still open but we need that strategic you know a plan done timing is of the sense well that's why we've been asking asking to get this money so we could get the right people to the table
to help us do it Bruce we've been working on this now for a couple years and this has been our stumbling block till we got this grant so am I am I can we do you think are you comfortable with the outline if we get rid of the timeline or um the
outline is I yeah I it seems to me like that piece of it doesn't really fit because the person is going to say what actually needs to happen with the things that they do the consultant yeah it's not
just the dates it's I think the whole V envisioning of what it is has to be done by the person or group that's going to hold it but maybe the 20251 part is generic um the resolution yeah the
resolution itself I think words out really well so we should keep this process moving along but I I would just add uh the whole purpose of the outline we can just ignore it is
to help us draft the RFP so we get the best possible proposal so they fully understand what we're asking of them um so if we want to just like burn this let's do it um the purpose was to was to
launch us as quick as we could to find that person who's going to take take us through the process um that's what I how I view the the outline just a just a guide I agree too yeah Y and if yeah um
to to series Point um the consultant comes in and be like yeah we're doing this they at least know you know the flavor of what we're looking for or the the guidelines or whatever and then they'll get in the specifics of this is what you should do and this is exactly how and blah blah blah but um well in
light of those positive comments is there a motion to approve 202- 111 I'll second oh yeah I'll move and yeah thank you very much all those in favor right any
opposed okay good thank you passes so with that clear Direction you can move forward I think so I I think I'm I I think so if not I will ask yeah we'll get the committee together to go
through building the RFB then I believe okay item number seven on the Howard well I just wanted to encourage the committee then to reach out to people like Bruce and maybe a couple others to you know sit in on that of course yeah okay all right thank you
item number seven on the agenda sbdc report and the formal introduction of our new consultant Pete M Pat sorry I'm still back in the the whole conversation there and trying to figure out what happened um I um gave you my
report I'm excited that we have found a great replacement for me um I just want to make sure you all understand the world is safe because yesterday the SBA told me I had to remove my pronouns from my my signature line so don't anybody
worry about the Dei there I don't know what's going on there but anyway um I'm going to work with Pete over the course of March and I will be done at the end of March Pete will be certainly in place and ready to go and I will be able to help as needed and so
will Northland um I think we're going to be able to put together a pretty good plan as to what the um timeline will be as far as who's doing what over the course of the next 60 days or 30 days and that will be good and I just like Pete to talk to
you a little a little bit about himself and what your background is um Pete nice to meet everyone to earlier could you go to the microphone yes thank you I can go to it but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to use it
properly um so uh it was nice to meet all of you earlier uh my name is Peter Mt and uh I am a longtime Minnesotan um uh I grew up in minona and I moved to Cook County about 8 years ago uh to be
the state park ranger for judge Magny and Cascade River State Park and a couple years ago my parents ran into some illness and I decided to to take that time off and help them out and just a few months ago
um that work was completed and uh and I I was just very fortunate that this opportunity came up at the very same time I'm very excited to be working uh with the economic engine of Cook County and I really like uh the aspect of small
business and local business because I know how that provides a significant economic impact locally so I'm very excited to start my work welcome Pete thank you okay okay item number eight uh West
End quad pod for directions dwellings in Luton Heidi um this is just a discussion item um you received a memo from um the uh the the one roof community housing
executive director with a request um I am presenting his request uh to the HRA tomorrow during the HRA regular meeting at 3 um and this is uh uh the second request that we received from one roof
community housing in the last couple months and so we're just uh reacting and following up and and basically asking the H HRA since they are uh the housing experts now uh for the county um to weigh in before the Eda makes any
decisions um because the the only reason the requests are coming to us is because we as the Eda uh are pretty much the the Fiscal Agent for the money that they received for the original project projects
plural so I could answer any questions about about it did this come before the H last month too um no a separate request came to the went to the HRA and that was regarding whether or not the Eda would remove the covenants to allow
one ref community housing to sell a a piece of property that the property that's right yes got it okay yes so this is now request to loosen up the some of the covenants on hoodle rent to yes got
it that make sense everybody so um the the main um idea is on page 45 number two that's what's being proposed that they can use it for um seasonal workers
I think so yeah yeah the originally we put covidence in there so that there would be four workers in Co County but you know if they're unsuccessful in that they want to be able to fill a space and so I think
that's a reasonable request but we we're trying to kick that to the hre to to make that decision yeah I mean I just uh interacting with a little um you know my partner has gopher we do rental for
low-income whatever uh workers in the community it seems highly overpriced for what what's available there so doesn't surprise me that people that it's targeted at can't do it because yeah it's the value ad isn't
there so um I would encourage lowering the rent um significantly to try to get somebody in there who meets the criteria but I don't see any problem with seasonal workers as the renters either um it's also above what people
pay for seasonal workers yeah right usually they're doing like 300 or less a month for a seasonal worker so you can put four people in there maybe that would be 1,200 it's high and it's far away so I
don't think it's going to work but and the HRA will discuss this tomorrow okay yeah yeah I if you recall the Eda uh when we were when you were considering last month's request there was a lot of questions um regarding this particular
request reg regarding these reoccurring vacancies in um this this project um so I just wanted to have it and keep it on the radar of the the Eda you know it'll be coming back again next month um for
this one um but it's um just just something to to think about when you know the Eda is is is the applicant for um subsidies for Workforce housing um that the Eda is ultimately responsible
to um to uh to take care of the covenants or review them and consider amendments and Etc it falls on the Eda Al this is allowing an employer to sign a lease for X number of months and be
responsible for the rent so it's not necessarily a seasonal worker or four that are being allowed to occupy this an employer is guaranteeing the rent so it's and they can't fill it or they can't find employees that want it
they're still on the hook for the rent right and it's for four of whatever 16 units right so this four of 16 right so this is kind of a experiment so to speak on if employers from Grand marray specifically can provide access to this
housing to their employees right so the money's there I mean the rent's being paid if an employer signs a lease right yeah when we when we built that uh that's exactly how it happened they went out and got uh a few of the businesses in the West End to
guarantee uh 25% if you remember b a good you know good percentage of the units were were paid you know from uh the businesses in the West End at that time I mean they're all full but
I mean that was was kind of the guarantee that helped get the project forward to to have that full occupancy from day one so okay I would approve what's being asked
so what would it take for uh this to fall into the H's purview instead of ultimately the Eda because uh that seems more appropriate I know we own it you know we're we're tied to it but yeah I think
all the documents are signed by the Eda I mean that's going to I mean we could make this decision but I think it's just uh and the next decision and the next decis sound like yeah well we discuss that that's a good question and and you know one of
the options might be the next time we get into a position like this perhaps there is a a memorandum of understanding between ourselves and the HRA that will approve this up front and then they manage it on a go forward basis CU right now we're we're tossing it over them
each and every time so we we were both right exactly exactly time yeah we both okay all right so we'll hear what the HRA has to say tomorrow taking us then to agenda item number nine which is
committee and commissioner reports are there any reports to share last month we discussed uh committee assignments and we have um our newest commissioner Alex who has raised hand
generously to be on the the grant committee um we keep committee membership to to three the current Grant committee is Shackleton Anderson and kold uh I would suggest that Alex take my place on the grant committee freeing
up more time for for this role uh and I think providing the grant committee great input as a local business owner if you're still willing to do that Alex yeah absolutely okay and we had one other op for him to fill too was that was that design design committee
personel he can take my place on the golf committee if he wants all of a sudden it's like at least you were here when they made these assignments I wasn't so regarding the design committee that only has two currently is that
right I I I already made the decision to add um Alex yes congratulations Alex I I did ask him briefly this morning or this afternoon it's almost mood because we don't have any more lots to sell
right hardly yeah yeah which brings me to something I want to talk about um could I ask uh considering you have a lot more time now that you're off of the grant review um committee we only have two on Personnel I feel like chair might
be valuable on the Personnel committee um well oh Alex is on personel sorry I'm looking at yeah maybe he doesn't mean you guys can this is the happy to have happy to have Alex on there I was just looking at
the um our our packet here and those are the minutes not the and and a shout out to Heidi for making these lovely helpful binders for us very nice design Personnel okay are you comfortable being on three committees yeah I I'm happy I
think I point out to Heidi earlier today is that my my desire is to participate in the grant Review Committee that's my primary interest and then I'm happy also to um step into any other committee role that okay the organization might need so short answer is yes thank you okay
commissioner Mills are you satisfied yes very okay director report or yes Heidi oh Howard I'm sorry you have well I just to give an update the other one of the hats I wear is uh County real estate fund we have uh not closed to the bank
load yet but we have uh uh made a down payment to Dynamic homes who are going to build or are building our building uh we're working through all the other processes and we expect to break ground probably in April um break it with the
dynamite unfortunately is all rock but uh I think the Bild schedule is uh April May so all goes according to plan will start delivering in June um and they're all modular so that goes up pretty fast so anyway that's that project where and
where is it it's called we call it the heights it's just the side of disappear right just just the side of up yonder yeah yeah right and that's 50 that's 36 units and the H project is 51 units so
by this time next year we'll have 81 uh and are are those um also restricted for who can buy them Porsche um they're rental they're rents okay so I don't remember what the H project is I think half of our units are uh are reduced uh
income per income um but they're not cheap I mean you can't build anything so I mean your comments about prices uh noted but uh I mean they're they're both the project that uh our group is building and the H project are are going
to be similarly priced to what we saw on the but maybe nicer nicer and closer closer yeah I mean they're in town rockable so yep there's 18 that'll be 80% Ami um view what percentage of the view is
the view is oh is that the view for the heights no that's 51 unit so what percentage of 51 is income and is there six Monon lease or have to don't I don't have that clear looking
for 12 month lease yeah yeah right and then you could be like somebody in town said well you're only going to rent them for a month a year I mean what are they going to do then no it's a renewable onee lease yes yeah the rents my understanding the
rents of the heights for the studio is um 1358 for a one-bedroom it's 1455 and a two-bedroom is 1746 and those might change but that's not the income
adjusted numbers so oh okay so that's the sticker price price yeah any other commissioner reports all right seeing none director okay I'll go as fast as I can because it's getting late um could I Barrow this
yeah yeah so Peter actually had this idea I just put it together so I just wanted to tell you what's in there real quick um the you know the first page is is Eda specific contact information
you'll see the committee assignments um it's filled in that's as of today so hopefully that's correct if it's not then then let me know um the next page is our is a listing of all the elected officials
in the county including the township supervisors um the next page is this year's uh official Eda budget uh then there's the bylaws um then there is the Strategic or I'm sorry then there is the
organizational chart that my predecessor put together last year um it's just a nice visual to show um how the Eda is organized including you know where Pete Falls in um um uh as a as the spdc
consultant um then there's a kind of a open meeting law for dummies sheet uh in there and then um not saying anyone here is a dummy but more that's more for me um and then the next thing
in there is the Strategic plan um that is already you know it's it started last year it only goes through 2027 so that's another strategic plan that you're going to have to update in a couple years so that's your handbook if you
want anything added to it let me know I now have the Eda now owns a three hole punch nice not b a comment on the open meeting law it's been my training that uh we're not supposed to communicate to
the board as a whole so when you do a reply all it's probably not what you should do you should reply to Heidi right CU you're we're actually violating open meeting law by replying all that's my understanding
so yeah yeah and so on that note we can't vote by email yeah yeah y okay um next thing office space um I was uh just asking some questions as I do and uh noticed that the HRA was was
spending you know like 400 bucks a quarter on um office space to be in our office space and I learned that's because um um there was an arrangement between um the spdc and the and the HRA
for for the spdc to use more of the space so basically the H was getting a huge discount and the Ada was paying most of of the office space and so uh basically uh we're going to um Peter and I are going to meet with uh bill gabler
of the H and and kind of talk this out and see what's going to work for both organizations to to continue to effectively share office space um the next item um is regarding the grant guidelines and I'm trying and I'm hoping
to schedule a meeting with the three of you uh Grant uh committee Grant Review Committee folks to start looking at the next round of amendments for the guidelines that were created last April and as you recall there were no
guidelines before last April so uh this uh this is an Ever from what I was told by uh former Eda President Steve serba this the guidelines were meant to be kind of an a fluid and and ongoing you know amendments being made to to them to
make the program um better um so if you haven't gotten back to me on your availability for a grant Review Committee I you use um you use Microsoft or what's your word what's your outlook or your email
rather for scheduling meetings uh just Gmail okay yep through I just wondered if you could access my calendar oh I don't know not sure um okay and the next item and this this was uh we it's related to what we
talked about as far as the Eda applying for funds and then being on the hook to to um basically administer or do all the paperwork for those funds and I just wanted to to bring that back to light that you know now that there is an HRA
there's probably it'd probably be a really good idea to have some sort of a future memo of understandings of of who's going to sign the documents you know for instance Peter and I signed a $1.3 million grant or loan agreement um last month for an HRA project um and uh
I also had to sign the you know prevailing wage to certify that we are going to um make sure that prevailing wages were paid for HRA projects which is is a big deal um so um me in the
future as as the Eda executive director I don't know if I want to be signing all those documents for a project that's not an Eda project Etc so maybe just the president will be signing documents in the future or or something like that but I think there there should be um some
sort of um we're gonna we're going to discuss this with uh bill gaer of the H uh when we meet on Thursday with with him as well is just some sort of process because it is uh a uh some heavy uh some
heavy lifting from the e uh Eda um for HRA projects and um maybe there's some way to to lessen that burden on the Eda um for future agreements and and finally uh the
financials so um in my latest director um report you probably saw I was asking questions about how the financials are are done and I I feel like Mark is very very burdened um as a commissioner with
uh the amount of financial work you do for the uh Eda not saying you ever said that but I see it and it's a lot and then there's also the we have the Eda has the um Serena doing um accounting as
well for financials and um so I was just wondering if there was maybe a uh uh well I know that there's a need for the finance committee to to uh to potentially meet to talk through this more of you know who's doing what and
maybe there's some more efficiencies um maybe seren doesn't even want to do the accounting anymore I don't know um so I just wanted to throw that out there to the Eda to see if there was any you know
history that I'm not aware of or um or anything like that I did I did request um I have the um a basically job description from the eda's accountant Serena of what exactly she does each
month which is a lot as well so between Mark and Serena it's um you you know it it's it's a it's also a very very uh heavy burden to to have so I don't know
if Mark wants to say anything about that well I don't know because when I was asked to do this I didn't know what was expected or not expected so I just assumed the role and did as much as I could so it is it does take a lot of time especially with the golf
course I think if the golf course sells uh the burden will be a lot more man that's for sure but I get your point with uh the combination of Serena who has a fulltime job and then has multiple part-time jobs and she's carrying this
load as well so I think maybe there's a good opportunity to revisit this maybe there's a professional service that we could inquire about you know taking on these responsibilities you know so that's a good to know that I just thought coming on too for not that long
I just assumed you were sort of like in the moment trying to get things organized and get everything cleaned up and then it wouldn't be this effort but it sounds like it would require that continuously and that is not a good solution either I don't think right I
agree years ago I tried to get the city to take on the accounting and I got a big fat no on that as you might imagine and really now you look over here okay and also um I think you know seems to me
that that uh the county you know Brady's office could handle us very easily especially if we don't have the golf course and Brady has been reluctant but uh you know as I walk by there there seems to be quite a bit of Staff involved there and might be worth
another try and I just I just wanted to add to that um my final thought is that so it's been 23 years and working for edas and this is the first time I've ever seen an officer a treasurer do what you do Mark
um usually it's just the whole you know on the annual meeting the the the commissioner says yeah I'll be the treasurer and it's nothing there's there's no work involved at all and so this is a pretty big deal I think and so um I just well he has to follow Scott
Harrison that's his problem so by no means did I want to um offend anyone by questioning I just I just saw an opportunity that that maybe there would be some um some more efficiency I think that's really good to know to get that update and know that we should
be looking at something different yeah sustainable yeah yeah okay great thanks Heidi uh last U item is then adjournment so those are a motion to adjourn the February regular meeting of
the Eda here at 5:23 p.m. I don't think we have to vote on okay thank you next meeting is March the 18th thank you all thank you much before we know it I won't be here
then yeah we're go I uh have a conference