That's was nice to see you the other day. >> Yeah. Then it was, you know what was so funny? We went there thinking um one is we want we always like supporting them and we saw especially want to go.
>> Okay, it is 11:45. So if we can call the March meeting of the Morehead um economic development authority to order. We'll begin with a roll call. Amy, if you would please do roll call. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Today, we
will be taking uh voice counts or roll call for each and every um of our of our um items today. Since we do have one attending virtually, so I will be calling your name whether you're here or not. Please say present.
Seam Amed, Amy Anderson, Evan Balco, >> present. >> Chris Howell, Derek H. Le Point, Sher Larson,
>> present. >> Note that Sherry's attending virtually. Emily Moore, >> here. >> Kim Schaefeld, >> present. >> Rob Soelick, >> present. Deb White.
Thus ends our our uh roll call. Thank you, Amy. Um agenda amendments. I believe that there is an amendment to the agenda today. >> Yes, we do have one um one item on the
agenda um 6A which we will move to a future meeting. Thank you. If there are no other amendments, um I would ask for a motion to approve the agenda as presented with the uh 6A amendment.
>> So move Deb White. Second more. >> Any other discussion? If not, all in favor? I >> I >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Thank you.
>> May I ask, do we need to roll call all I know in council when we have someone remote, state law requires us to roll call all votes. Yeah. >> All right. We will um we will start at the top. I'll read last names only.
Um of those who are present today, Balco, you just um state yes if you agree to the motion. Okay. Yes. >> Howell? >> Yes. >> Moore.
>> Yes. >> Schaeld. >> Yes. >> Soik. >> Yes. >> And White. Thank you. >> Thank you, Amy. Hey. Um, citizens to be heard. Um, it doesn't appear that we have any
citizens to um to be heard, but if I could um just stand in for Stacia maybe at this point or else I guess I could do it at a commissioner's report, but why don't I do it under commissioner's report then I've got a couple of them as well. So,
oh, I'm sorry. Um, yes. Move to a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you. >> So, move Deb White. Second, Balco. >> We will go through the roll call vote. Uh, Balco, >> yes. >> Howell,
>> yes. >> Moore, yes. >> Schaeld, >> yes. >> Soick, >> yes. >> And White, >> yes. >> And Larson, sorry, >> yes.
>> Thank you, Amy. Thanks, Deb. Um, so noi citizens to be heard. So, moving on to commissioner's report. I know that Commissioner White would have a short report. >> Sure. I actually just a a brief thing I just wanted to mention. We've been
hearing a lot about um small businesses in our community, particularly those that are um immigrant and refugee run and that have really been impacted by Operation Metrostorm. And so, just, you know, we've had other crises before uh the pandemic where we did a lot of
outreach to help out our local businesses. and we know that these um small businesses are vital parts of our economy. So, just wanted to encourage my commissioners to get the word out, encourage people to go grab lunch at Navus or one of the other great uh you
know um restaurants that we have in our community, visit our international markets. Um do what you can to help support these businesses during this difficult time. Thanks. >> Thank you, Commissioner White. Um and any other commissioner reports?
If not, I would just like to share a couple things with um the Morhead Business Association. Stacia Seitzma, our executive director, is out today. So, I'm going to do just a little update. Um, of course, we have our weekly Let's Talk business lunches at the American Legion. The American Legion
is of course a great supporter of Morehead and and all the events that there are held there. Um, I think the more events, the happier Scott is there. Uh last week we had Downtown Health and Wellness speak on all the wonderful things that they have going on. Um their
building that they occupy with uh Kev Kevin Bartram and just seeing that building of course go up over the last several months has been just a a blessing for downtown Morehead. Um Stacia of course continues to meet with business owners and find out how the
Morhead Business Association can support them. Um, last Thursday, uh, we held a nonprofit connect, our nonprofit connect group at the Bell Tower, which is quite an amazing amazing place up on that 14th floor. Um,
seeing all of all of our community is pretty cool. Um, Wednesday, March 11th, we're having a networking connection event. We're calling it rolling with the MBA and we have 24 bowling teams um all different businesses from throughout the community and it is full so that's
pretty awesome. Um but even if you're not bowling if you know it's at Sunset Lanes on March 11th from 1:45 uh to 5:00 p.m. just stop by and and visit with the local businesses. Um, one other event that I had attended
last week was the Greater Fargo Morehead EDC annual event um, held at the Avalon. Um, it was very well attended by both Fargo and Morehead businesses. Joe Reo did present um and Joe Reo of course
being the president and CEO of the Greater Fargo Morehead EDC spoke about the economic impact over that our community has had over the last several years and I did put um this economic impact event u little brochure by um
your packets and if you didn't get one you can sure I can sure give you one of those but it is pretty cool to see the impact that our economic development authority and the greater EDC has on our community. And I think it's a good
reminder to all of us as commissioners that we look at all the businesses and the industries that are boosted by one business coming into town and and don't ever think that for one minute what you don't, you know, what you do on this committee and this um this board is not
important to every person in this community because it really is. and it's it's quite an honor to be able to serve on the EDA. So that is it for my my part of the commissioner's report.
So presentations with a being tabled. Um Matt Lys, welcome. >> Good morning everyone. Matt Lysath with Downtown Morehead. Uh I'll take the opportunity to go through the uh development report. Um it's the full report that was in your packet, but I'll
only touch on the ones that I think really need some uh a little bit more explaining or a little bit more color onto uh the great work that's being done. Uh as the slides are coming up, just a call out to the city staff on this great work. Um you know, to be able to pull together all this information
and make it concise and actually readable and understandable, um is is a major work of art. And so I just appreciate all that they have done. Um we'll just flip through. So uh always, you know, for all of us who love Morand, it's always great to see, um, you know, the vibrancy that can continue. Um, from
the first slide of, you know, the original Carnegie Library that is a museum right now, the RO art museum to to the new loop that's going to be opening up soon. And just the other part, you know, the Simon Warehouse and the Cassin Block. There are still great old properties here in Morehead that are
really more vibrant today than they probably were when they first were built. And you know, that's something to be very proud of, you know, to mix the new and the old in our community and be able to have a really vibrant space, especially so close to downtown. A little bit bigger properties as you start moving out across uh the East 10
area. Um really some re revitaliz revitalization there as well. Um if you look at the old and new on the East 10, um from back in the 80s, it was almost completely empty and it's almost completely full now today. Um so we really are seeing a resurgence uh with
businesses. They're all different. Um, but it's new businesses that are coming in and really serving our community and really the greater area. Um, for those of you uh that have uh have been around long enough, you u you know this the five big ideas for our five-year plan. Um re um number one, reinvesting in
downtown. We're right in the midst of that as we've uh been redeveloping the Morehead uh uh center mall site. Uh creating great experiences in existing and new places. And this is really, I think, our calling card for Morehead. It's the experiential piece, you know, something. Why do people live here? It's
the experience that we have. It's the people we live with. It's the different things that we can get to do. It's really going to be a strong suit for us as we redevelop downtown and really create that into the rest of of our community. Connecting our neighborhoods. It's walkability. It's it's bike paths. Being able to really u make sure that
we're all one community, not just one community um and then one neighborhood and se separate out. It's it's really the city of Morehead fostering our sustainability, really taking care of the great things that we have and making sure that they last for generations and supporting and celebrating our businesses. It's a real key. We want to
make sure that, you know, along with vibrant citizens, we have a vibrant uh business space um that can serve those citizens and we want it to be great for everybody involved. As we look about investing in downtown, these are a lot of the great projects that are coming. It's a wonderful mix of of new of, you
know, new uh spaces coming in place, but also that experiential as we think about what can be done on the riverfront and what's going to be in our plaza. Um it's really going to be a great combination of things happening uh within our city. Uh again, some really new great spaces.
Again, a reuse of the Fairmont building. Um the Sterling mixed use at 650 Center. Um just great space, new people um being able to live. our 11th Street underpass. Um it getting closer and closer. For those of you that have passed through on 1 Avenue North and and Maine, that hole
keeps getting bigger and bigger and you just know um it's going to happen. And I'm I don't know about you, but I'm so excited to not have to wait for another train just by taking a block or two a detour around that. um all the the great thing
about inter investing in our downtown site. Um the plaza that's going to be coming up, city hall that will be fully renovated by the end of this year. Um and then our sculpture walk, a sunset on the riverfront, we've had two years of it. Um uh Folkways has helped us program that. Just another great event that we
can have and think about I always think about the future of how can that expand into our plaza. How can we do more uh place setting things that will really bring the community together? our renaissance zone which you're you're all aware of. This is the uh the vehicle that's helping us really redevelop this.
We continue to have uh great people participating already with new buildings and uh continued conversations uh within that uh within that district. It will be key to our whole core to make sure that that downtown renaissance zone is filled.
Um our comprehensive plan um which started in uh um in 2025. So, um, what we're really looking for is the mixeduse, commercial, residential, and industrial zoning districts. We want to make sure that everything is up to date. City-wide zoning maps, all done using
regulations and site development standards, uh, the canis cannabis business retail uh, registration, uh, property management and rental codes, online inspection surveys, and Morhead assessor's office, and online inspection scheduling. This is all part of the city
services that we're trying to be more efficient and make it really easy for businesses and for homeowners to come into our city because we know where it's zoned. We know what the rules are and there's not a lot of second guessing when they come in um and think about Morehead, which is just really great work that the uh the city has done. Our
residential as we want to continue um another 117 fully serviced buildable lots um across um we just need to continue uh to make more space. the Partridge Creek um addition is coming. Um there's going to be a uh um we got to
put streets in there um to keep this thing moving. Uh good and bad news, we don't currently have too many lots available in Morehead. So, good news, people want to keep building here and are building houses. Bad news, we got to keep opening up more spaces. So, it's going to keep us on our toes as we move
to make sure that there is there are spaces um throughout um the housing market. You can see the medium price sales um uh in Morehead versus Fargo and West Fargo. Um all depends on what is the percentage of um new houses being
built and and other things like that. So um not always a an easy story to just look at one city compared to the other and say one is winning or losing. It just is different. Our residential contractors continue to build. You can see our single family uh
um builders and our multif family uh uh developments that are happening. Our specialized housing, a couple of them that have been completed this year, the Silver Lining Apartments, which was opened up um on 30, if you follow 34th Street. Um so that one is um is fully
engaged now. Riverview Apartments has also opened and there's another uh section for Riverview Apartments and Bennett Park Cooperative that are underway. So, we're continue to have uh um different living um environments for for the citizens of Morehead. Single
family incentives that we continue to have. We want to make sure that single family homeowners um have a has a reason to jump into Morehead um and make sure that it is competitive, not only a great place to live, but really some incentives along um for that. Multif
family incentives continue um with residential development and for our housing related services that are in place. And so those are both working uh well and our commercial industrial which is always going to be our big push for Morehead to to level out our tax base um to get more uh commercial industrial in
there. Some of the projects that are underway already um within Morehead it was pretty good year for um for Morehead Development even though overall it was a down year um for the metro area. Um, if anybody's driven by Seven Brew, like I do all the time, um, there are a lot of
cars there and unfortunately my kids are in that line all the time. Um, so they must have a really good business model. Um, industrial development, it's always a little bit a smaller list, but still continued um, interest in Morehead as we continue to uh, to move forward. We have
great lots, we have great areas um, for the industrial customer as well. Um the Mara uh business park expansion has continued. So we have more buildable lots. This is one of the uh shovelready green spaces that uh the Minnesota uh deed has listed on their sites. So this
is actually really good space um when industrial uh partners are looking for it that they know that it's shovel ready. They can start building without a lot of uh a lot of delays. uh property tax exemptions that we still uh provide for um for our uh building customers.
You know, between 250 and 1 uh 4 1.249 uh million gives them um some property tax exemptions in there which helps bring some new businesses in. Our institutional uh educational, we've had a few uh sites with Morehead Schools,
Park Christian and MSUM uh continuing to invest in our community and their spaces. our public sector. A lot of work uh continues to get done. Um the highlights of course we have the city hall um renovation in the loop, but uh don't forget Romkey Park is coming up
online uh this summer which will have a huge impact uh on our community. Um storm water, how can you not talk about flood control in this area? We live at the bottom of an old lake and we need to keep making sure that that is taken care of. um our legislative uh updates um
that uh uh Lisa Bod obviously uh really uh focuses in on um just making sure that we're going to continue to to advocate for the things that are important for Morehead. We want to make sure that we're taking care of our citizens and making sure that the capital uh that we need to to run and uh
live in a great city are are very important. our infrastructure. Um flood mitigation is always going to be on the top of of our list along with wastewater, our 11th Street underpass. Um and then we still have some more street construction uh happening on First Avenue North this year. Um and
Center Avenue and 40th Street that uh will get uh approved uh going through processes here in the next coming months. Um just to make it uh better walkable, drivable um and safety uh is always one of our uh big pieces that we want to make sure we're doing.
sustainability again, taking care of the things that we have and making sure that uh this is a this is a great place to live. Um with uh community gardens and the storm water resiliency and and pollination, I mean, we're we're doing a lot of things and this is just adds to the livability of it. Um and in a lot of
cases, it doesn't cost all that much more to just be a little bit more sustainable or a little more thoughtful. And so this is great that this is part of our thoughts uh to make sure that this is a livable city. um some of the plans and studies that we're working on. No surprise, um there is no shortage of studies that we need to do um to figure
out where we're going to be in 10 and 20 years. I I point to the top lefthand corner, the 20th Street I94 interchange study. Um the lanes are filling up. It gets busier and busier as people come into town. How do we make that traffic flow easier? Um this is a great example of we talk about it uh 10 years before
any work will get done. But at least um we'll have a great plan uh by the time that really comes to fruition for us. Uh permits and investments. Um here's one of the things just to add a little um color into it. Um you know the annual investment in building you can see from
2023 to 2025 it has stepped backwards. We've had less investment. It's the same for residential and and commercial values as well. I was at the commercial connect event um that Goldmark put on last week um Thursday and they talked about the entire market and and they
broke it all down. This is the exact same thing that's happening in every single city. Fargo is seeing the step back. West Fargo is seeing the step back. A lot of it in 2025 was driven by, you know, interest rates and uncertainty which which happens a lot. And so people
just kind of backed out. um they have a pretty good um they believe that the next year is going to get better and better and so um and they're in commercial real estate. They should be excited about uh that next year will be good. But it really follows not only our
market but it also follows a nationwide trend where they've been spending more like even in commercial they've been spending more in rehabbing what they have instead of putting new new buildings in the ground. So we're really following the trend. when you stack us up against the rest of the world, we're
still fairing better. Doesn't mean that we should be happy with that, but it's not as bad as in some other places. And I think we have a really good foundation set with our downtown core and the incentives and everything that we have put in place for Morehead that we are positioned to take advantage of when
this market starts to tick upwards. Uh art, culture, and placemaking. Um just this is this is going to be one of our core things in Morehead. um which I just think is wonderful. Um how do we can continue to have community events that bring people together? Um how do we have
spaces? How do we just have walkability and places where people are happy to be? Um that and this is this really pulls us in together making sure that the experiences matter. Um we want to be part of a community but these are the things that make us a community um more
than a neighborhood, more than um just one park. So I think it's great. Wings and Wheels, some of the examples that happened. Um the car show and the air show at the Morehead airport. Um river uh arts and farmers markets that are continuing all the time. These are really vibrant events for those that
haven't been to them. Um it's continued to go really well. Um the farmers market, I think it's almost finalized. It's going to be moving from um this parking lot here uh to Trinity on 8th Street. So um after their remodel and new parking lot. So it's going to be great visibility. So, we think not only
better visibility for the people in the booths, but um more customers are going to see it and I think it's going to be more vibrant and probably add uh some more excitement to it. So, uh just great way of again how Morehead shares spaces and invites the community in um for
different for different events. our downtown experiences. Uh Mary's light tunnel. Um if if we could like g like track people's phones, we could probably see the thousands of people that come down to this park just to walk through that and get a picture. I mean, it's it's one of those little just nice side
pieces that Morehead is providing that a lot of other areas don't have. Um so it's a it's a it's a great piece. Sunset of Riverfront, I talked about that already. It's it's going great. Um, and hopefully we'll just continue to make it bigger and better, uh, as the years go on, as people see it as a as a great as
a great event. Um, and then community amenities. Um, Davy Memorial Park, um, the skating ribbon was added, um, which is which is a great feature for people who can skate, not me. Um, but, uh, it continue to see people down there and enjoying the weather. And that's what's
great about Morehead is we know it's cold, but there's still a lot of fun things to do outside. Uh Matson Field is going to be coming in. Uh it's not going to be it'll be completed this uh this spring. Uh we know lots of events there, a lot of youth baseball being played all the time. This is bringing people from out of town. It's really a great
showpace place for us as they're seeing visitors and along with all the other great things that we're doing in Morehead. It's going to help them enjoy Morehead, spend a little bit more time and spend a little bit more money. Uh Romke, I cannot wait uh for this to come online as I drive by and see the
progress that's happening. Uh this is going to be another it Rompki Park was busy that pool was busy in the summer with a really bad facility. I can only imagine what's going to happen um when this new vibrant place is out there um inviting more people and really having a
great space for people to hang out um you know with the park improved and everything that's going to go into it. Um this is this is going to be really a showpiece for us and I think we're all going to be very proud once it's opened. um in the loop which is coming uh books are being moved now. So if you're trying
to rent a book um um it might be a little difficult. It might be in the wrong location for you. So be patient uh as we move forward. Um and exciting you know the Spark Center for Entrepreneurship is part of that and we're having lots of conversations about uh getting that opened. Just another uh
piece of of Morehead that will provide um for those entrepreneurs and people starting businesses. And always highlight the downtown uh Morehead fund. Um, you know, this is through the FMA Foundation, a great organization. Um, just a way for people to um when they're thinking about end of
life planning and and places that they want to make sure that their money can go to something that's going to outlive them um and be good for a community. This is a this is a great opportunity um for us to to make sure that uh what we're doing in Morehead can continue for generations.
and our 2026 forecast. Um these are the legislative priorities and uh um Lisa will talk about these more in depth uh when she gets to us at a later meeting. Um and all very important for us and then coming in 2026 um this is going
to be a year of ribbon cutings. Uh so hopefully everybody will clear their calendars for these. These are really great opportunities for us to really showcase what we've invested in, the long hard work that it's taken to get all of these completed. Um, a a lot of times the, you know, the community
thinks, well, city hall got done in a year, but it was really 10 years before that talking about how we got to this point. Um, and and it's it's just really exciting to see all of these coming online uh in the same year. And that is uh um the snapshot of it. I know you
have it in your packets. Are there any questions um from the EDA board? >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Ma Matt, I had just a couple of things. one uh Amy I don't know if you can go back to that
slide about home costs uh looking comparing us to other areas and and I just wanted to emphasize that again I know we've we've talk about this all the time of what a new home cost in Morehead compared to >> um other parts of our region and I just
wanted to highlight that because right now you know one of the big issues across the country is affordability and you know young families that are trying to be able to purchase a home and just to remind people again how you can get more home for your dollar here in
Morehead than you can in um other places in our area. And it was nice even to see it go down a little bit. And it's not surprising that we see so many new families coming and calling Morehead home. Um and then I wanted to mention the looking at the downtown. Um this
weekend I had the opportunity to bring I have a running group and I brought about 60 people to downtown health and wellness to do a run from there. And so one was they got to see this new great state-of-the-art facility that we have in our downtown. And then they got to do
a run by our, you know, um uh center, our city hall under renovation by our library and community center. And people were so impressed. And I think people have been sort of avoiding the area because of the construction. And so to have all of them get a chance to run by
and check things out and see all the progress, it was just um it again people were really really impressed and and just the excitement um that they had for what's happening and uh we know we've got a lot of good things that'll you
know we'll be wrapping up this year. So thanks. >> Thank you, Commissioner White. Are there any other questions, comments from commissioners? >> Chair. >> Yes, Mr. Molly. >> Myself.
>> Yeah. Um, and now I forgot. No, I didn't forget what >> it was that evil eye. >> The um Yeah, the So, I can't help but speak related to housing affordability. Um
this is one of the positions that Morehead's in that is so incredible. Um there's a 60% home ownership rate um on this um side of the river. One of the reasons is because of the preservation of existing affordable housing units too in these older neighborhoods and that
we'll never be able to build we talk about this that we'll never be able to build um what was there again like that to that quality. So the preservation of those units is so important to the work that we're doing as well. includes um
preserving the homes that are in these older neighborhoods around the downtown. And that because um the cost of construction for new construction makes it really hard for people to afford when we take a real look at what the cost is for a mortgage payment or a rent
payment. It's very challenging. And so um as part of this whole strategy um this is where when we look at um the development report um how important it is to preserve what we have um in addition to building new and there was another point that I got tripped on.
What was the second you had mentioned the running group council member White? >> I'm not sure which part. >> Oh yeah that people haven't been able to get to it. That's what the one that tripped me up. So this spring all of these roads Minnesota Avenue and Red River Avenue will be open. There'll be a little more construction, but it won't
be certainly as much as we've experienced the last couple years. And then we have one more this spring and summer to get through the 11th Street. So, things are really going to be opening up in a significant way. There's a lot that's been happening over the last five years. No question.
all that talking. I forgot my my question this this came up is as I know this was in your report for this month is um people were asking about once city hall leaves that where their um the current facility they were wondering what Mr. Kevin Bartram's plans were and
I know you mentioned that so if there's anything you can share I know people would love an update that's just another um you know thing that'll be coming soon in downtown. >> Yes. Um Kevin's plans um he is um already working on his um renaissance
zone and u um it's a Minnesota historical tax credit uh because of the age of the building. And so his initial um thoughts were the middle floors two through five were going to be a hotel. Um and so he's he's got that planned. It
won't be a branded hotel, but it'll be more like um what he's done at Brew Hollow where it's the Airbnb, but there'll be enough units that it will actually require a front desk and a hotel feel um for that. And then he has, again, I'm not holding Kevin to any of this. Um but he always seems to get
stuff done. Um main floor restaurant is really what he wants um he's thinking about is how to bring a restaurant in there and have a a place to eat, not only for the not only for the people in the hotel, but for the rest of us as well. Um and then top floor thinking of cocktail lounge and meeting spaces. Um
you know with the age of the building I think it's a little bit more difficult to get a full kitchen up there um to today's standards. So it probably cocktail lounge but I think he sees the value of you know being able to rent space up there you know for small weddings or small venues uh like that. I
know that's what the treetop used to do. Um, I know my mother has said, you know, she remembers going to wedding receptions on the seventh floor of the treetop, you know, because they had space as well. So, um, kind of bringing, you know, again, bringing the old back because it's cool now.
>> Okay. Thank you, city manager Molly and Commissioner White. And thank you, Matt, for that very comprehensive report. That was like drinking out of a fire hose here for a little bit. >> Yeah, you can you can reread the the the deck anytime you want. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you.
>> Okay, so we'll now move into our business items for today. Um, and we have obviously two two items. The first and probably most important is is um the election of officers. And what I
neglected to say in the beginning was we do have two new commissioners that are coming on board. Uh Derek Le Point who I'm sure that we have all encountered at some point. He was um you know eight years with downtown Morehead Inc. He's
been with the city of Fargo, city of Morehead and you know his his degree is in urban development and planning and just has done so much for the city of Morehead. So Dererick is coming on and Seam Amdi is coming on as well. And
unfortunately both of them had conflicts today. So perhaps next month they would be able to to be here and we can welcome them and and maybe um spend a little time um listening to what they hope to contribute to the the EDA. Um so
um voting procedure. So, I am This is very new for me, so I apologize that I am going to read off of here. Um, but um we'll open it up to nominations
and once the nominations are closed, then we'll proceed to a vote. Um, if there's only one nominee, um, we can just make a motion and cast um or make a motion, second that and move on if if
need be. We also do if we have multiple people or if you um are interested in nominating yourself and that's very uncomfortable, we also do have some ballots that we can use if if people are comfortable and would request that as well. I just want you to know that we
are open to that. Um, so if um there aren't any questions first, I'll now we can take nominations for the president, vice president, and if necessary, secretary. >> I do have a question. Can you nominate a
full slate or do we have to go one by one? >> Amy, you can nominate the full slate. So, so would nominate uh Derek Le Point as chair, Kim Chaeld as vice chair, and Evan Balco as
secretary. And if I butchered your names, welcome to my life, and I apologize. >> White seconds. We will take a roll call vote on that. Um members present, please state yes for
um accepting that slate. Belco Powell Larson, >> yes. >> Moore, >> yes. >> Chaeld, >> yes. >> Soik, >> yes. and white. Motion has passed.
>> Motion carries. Well, that was easier than I thought that that was going to be. >> Congratulations to those wonderful people who chose to accept their nominations. >> Thank you, Rob of Matt's turn again for the economic
development report. Good afternoon everyone. Um really um good news. There's always something happening in Morehead. So another uh busy month as uh as we're continuing to put everything together. Uh downtown redevelopment, you know, things continue to happen. Um the last month we
announced uh that Essentia was coming in. They bought the Wells Fargo building. Um we've already had meetings with them. They've already engaged with their architect. they are getting close to having um a builder already present and they're starting to work on their plan um for redevelopment that will come
before us um before the near future. Uh they have plans of August, September to to be really breaking ground on the building um as they redevelop that. So um we're working ahead to make sure that nothing um we do not want to delay them and they are really interested in
working ahead. So, just another great part of that downtown vibrancy, having a full-scale medical center uh right there within walking distance for many of our residents. So, that will um continue to be great stuff. Um FM uh the Fargo Chamber had a their Midwest um economic
outlook summit. Um the uh the keynote speaker was uh was Neil Qashqari who's the president and CEO of the Minneapolis um Federal Reserve. Um what a great um conversation that uh was had. um just the insights that as a as a commissioner
they need to have um when thinking about policy for the United States. And if the other um there's eight, right? Seven of them are as half as smart and articulate as Neil was about what goes into why rates go up, why they need to go down.
Um we're in really good um shape. I know we'd all like to have a 1% mortgage. Um but they're really taking this into consideration um and really looking at our market. on on how the economy goes and so just really good to have somebody that's actually come in boots on the
ground living in this area to understand what's happening here. So um if you had the opportunity um it it was a great event. Uh next uh sustainable um aviation fuel or SAF as we as we know that DG fuel is has made the comment that they are interested in building a
very large facility um working with um uh Julia Silvis with greater MSP whose goal for the state of Minnesota is 1 billion gallons of staff um in in the very near future. So it's not just a Morehead facility, it's going to be facilities like this all across the
state. Um our position will continue to be to push forward with DG Fuels um because if somebody is interested in the property, we want to make sure that we can say yes to as many things as possible to bring it in. But at the same time know that there could be another staff producer out there that wants to
do it a smaller uh phase or may come in later. Um, so we're going to continue to have conversations with uh with Julia and anybody available because um what I've learned in my short time about staff is you need to have these these uh agricultural products available to make
it and we are in one heck of a great space um with a lot of agricultural uh call it waste or uh sendoffs that can be used for making uh fuel. And again, another call out to the Macara. Um, it is, uh, industrial sites with rail
access, and that seems to be more and more important as I learn more about SAF. Um, this is how it's going to get moved around. So, um, you do have to have access to rail and then on top of it is we have access to sewer, water, and electricity all right there ready to
go. So, we're in a really great space. We'll continue to have as many conversations as we need uh to to bring those uh to fruition um as we move forward. So, Center Avenue Construction, we know that uh that's going to get uh done this year and that's from 8th Street into 10th, which is going to have
another impact on those businesses. I've already had a conversation with uh with Greater MBA with Stacia. We're just talking about how do we make sure that we're very vibrant, we're transparent with uh with our business owners, what do they need, what kind of signage, what are the things that uh that we can do to
help facilitate that. And Greater MBA is already working on a great plan. Um um think of it as a I may be stealing this wrong, Kim, but like a bingo card kind of thing. As you get to all the the businesses, you know, you have a prize or something like that, which I think is the innovative kind of small business
kind of thought. All of these things can't be done by a city, but we can really encourage it and be there and uh make sure that our work is transparent so they can come up with these great plans to make sure that um they they remain vibrant through the uh the six months of construction.
The uh Morehead Library building is on um is on is for sale. The existing one, we've already had a few uh people looking at it, so um that is great. Um it hasn't been on the market very long and it's $1.4 million. So, um, serious people only really would inquire about
that. Um, so I I think that is a a really great thing. Uh, the last piece I just want to touch on, the AAA, I went I I accompanied Travis Schmidt, our general manager of Morid Public Service to the American Public Power Association. It's their legislative rally. And so really their talking
points about what's important for um, municipal power, which is our Morehead Public Service, our uh, city-owned utility. Um, and it really ties into our economic development. Um, you know, a lot of times we think electricity and, you know, water doesn't really, but it's
really the core and our ability to be able to manage that and make decisions really can help us uh in the future. I just wanted to highlight a few of the things that um that we were talking about that were important to us. We were able to meet with all three of our legislators um uh Fishbach, um,
Clolobashar, and Smith. Um and the good news is they all are very aware of our issues and they're all very supportive of it. So um good news is our three agree there's just a few other hundred that need to be on the same page. So um but uh the big one uh was mu municipal
tax issues. It impacts more in public service but it also impacts the city um to be able to continue to have tax um exempt municipal bonds. That saves us about a 2% uh rate of interest um over the life of these which is millions of dollars. And so municipalities like uh
um like the city of Morehead, but also um public power, we really need this to continue to invest in our infrastructure um to be able to put up new transmission lines and to make sure that we have, you know, properly operating really efficient equipment um for the delivery of power for our for our customers. And
that does include water and getting all of the uh infrastructure in to make sure that it's clean, reliable water under the ground um every every year that we're in. So really big piece. Everybody is interested in that. Um protecting our federal power programs. Um for those of you that may not know, um 50% of our
power um comes from WAPA, which is the Western Area Power Association. Those are the dams that are on the Missouri River. Um and so that is a federal agency. Uh it has been kicked around and sometimes people say stuff and and it's not they don't really mean it, but they're just talking and it was that
should be privatized. Well, if that was privatized, that'd be really really bad for us. um at more in public service and anybody who pulls it um because uh one of the things that we've been doing is um these our allocation and members like Morehead who have been taking power
from that since the ' 40s is we have been paying to maintain the infrastructure. So we make sure that those dams are still fully whole and operating right. We replace turbines. We make sure that the transportation um of that power out to us is maintained. And
so even though it is a publicowned space, we are the ones that have been maintaining it. So we took the position of it's like we've been paying a mortgage for 30 years and you just took the house away from us. So uh again, everybody is in favor of this um in our
support of us. It's just one of those we got to make sure it never happens. Um so that was a that was an interesting piece working on permit reform. say I can't help but poke in there by helping maintain he I think you're talking about to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Yeah. I mean that's a
significant investment. >> Yes. >> Yeah. It it it's very big money over um >> I I've got my notes here. So we've uh WA customers Morehead included have um advanced over $793 million for hydro
investments. So, and that's from 2020. That's from 2001 to 2023. So, that doesn't include the the 30 40 years before that of of investing in investing in that infrastructure. So,
it's a it's a pretty big deal. Uh permit reform is something that we're just everybody's just trying to speed it up. um an example of one of the uh MREs projects, Missouri River Energy Services, who manages our uh power allocation after WAPA. We built a dam in
Pella, Iowa, um which was more hydro power, which was good for the system. 10 years to permanent, five years to build it. That time frame just doesn't work. You know, it takes too long. And by the time you actually get to build it, um with inflation, your costs have doubled and
now the whole thing doesn't work. So, we're not um and none of this is advocating that you drop requirements. It's about the um it's about the government doing it faster in in in reviews, you know. So, we're not talking about changing environmental regulations
or anything. It's we've got to get this work done faster. So, let's figure that out. Um the last two um that were in there which um um supporting FEMA reform uh part of it um is the the reality is when FEMA comes in and there's a natural disaster and they they promise $20
million to a community or 50 or 150 um it's very possible that funding doesn't come back to the community for 5 to 10 years. And so a lot of these communities if um you know you've you've reinvested in your infrastructure whether it's our public utility or the streets and things
that happened in Morehead after a flood um you're still holding the bill for years and years. So this is this is a decadesl long problem that has continued and so um just calling out that there's an issue uh within FEMA on payment on the back side. So we wanted to bring
that up. The last one is pole attachments and so this matters to us more because of our public utility but so more public service in the city we own all every pole and the power that's going across it. Um we have worked very well with um telecommunications if they need to use the pole. Um there is a
state law that uh that forces that conversation to happen between the municipality and and um and the telecommunications. Um there is a bill that is being pushed around that they want to kind of eliminate that need that the telecommunications can just use our
polls uh whenever they want it um and speed up their process um which makes it really hard to get it approved by the MPS board and the city council within 30 days. So it's a really really short period. Um the the issue comes when
these poles that were put in the ground 60 years ago don't have the capacity to put up to hold the equipment that telecommunications people want to put up on there. So now it's it's hurting the uh the structure um which could hurt reliability. Um there's even cases when like the city of Morhead as we go
underground because of reliability and safety having that down there. Um there are polls that are out there that are only holding one telephone wire and the municipality has to maintain that line for somebody else. And so it it's it's really uh
it's really a it's they're just looking for something that just doesn't work for the rest of us. And all of the smaller municipalities, we work really well with telecommunications people. We've not had an issue to date. When we go underground, they go underground. So, it's one of those big oversightes from
the federal government that somebody is looking for something that just won't work for us. So, those were the the five big pieces that we were pushing. Um, again, all of our uh representatives not only were informed about it. Um, I know they do their homework before we come
in, but they were very informed about it and very supportive of it. So, hopefully that will uh uh mean good things for us as as we move forward. Um, and then the other one to just call out, um, uh, March 9th meeting, which is next week, uh, we'll have a public hearing, uh, the
approval of the tax, uh, exemption and employee credit for, uh, Midland Assisted Care, which is doing business as Beehive Homes. It's their second property up on Caddy Drive heading into the, uh, Morehead Country Club.
Ends my report. >> Thank you very much, Matt. That was also a lot of information. Very valuable information. Thank you, commissioners. Are there any questions or comments for Matt? Okay. Um, if no questions or comments, we'll kind of just briefly go through
the information update. Um, you can see the items on there, the Spark Center for Entrepreneurship, the Downtown Morehead Vision, the Loop, um, building and housing updates, and the 11th Street underpass project. Um those are all
links to very important information that we should be familiar with um as commissioners here. So I will just encourage you to go on and look at those and if there is nothing else we can adjourn.
Okay, meeting adjourned. And now that the meeting is adjourned, I do have something to say. um oath of office, if you would just stop by here and grab one of these and um give this to Amy.