there a different ter thinking about well at least the ter I think you're talking about is still there right I'm wondering if it's the right one mhm yep that's right hi Deb can you hear this can you hear me okay can you unmute your mic and
try speaking to the group too yeah can you hear me perfect um I just want to let you know that during the presentation I'm going to lose visual sight of you so if you like raise your hand or whatever I I won't be able to see you but other than
that I should be okay I should be able to see you and everybody else will have you on their their monitors too yeah just just interject dab thanks for setting this up okay no problem I will e ready cuz e
all right I think we're ready to get going call this meeting to order we have a roll call please thank you Mr chair members present today at The Economic Development Authority board include Anderson Balco kot Moore sheld and
online joining V virtually is Deb White thank you thank you Amy all right the previous meetings minutes are in your packet like a motion and a second on
those so move by scheld second C all in favor I any opposed previous meetings minutes are approved and Sherry we'll have you up good morning I'm Sher Larsson I'm the
executive director for the Morhead Business Association the Morehead Business Association mission is to protect and support the the growth and success of our members in the greater Morehead area we Foster on a thriving business community Through networking
opportunities advocacy events as well as providing business resources needed to succeed let's talk business we need every Wednesday at the mor American Legion at noon and each week an MBA member shares their story because their story matters this week presenting will
be Wendy gerlock with behind the lens photography the MBA nonprofit connect we meet the third Thursday of every month at Village Inn at 7:30 a Roundtable discussion for the nonprofits sharing their supports and materials for the greater good of our community for
profits they are also encouraged to attend to stay involved make connections and learn how they can help on March 20th Bill Burnside with the rur Minnesota sep will be sharing their story are you ready to roll in some friendly competition don't miss on this
out the chance to strike out for some fun outside of the office it's rolling with the MBA bowling socials sponsored by Clean response flood and fire protection on March 25th at Sunset Lanes we're going to have 24 teams that will be enjoying the afternoon of networking
team building and of course bowling and after bowling we invite you as members of the MBA and the community to come out to the Scooby-Doo Master challenge aim is the key to build a monster a fun test for all Bowlers are you hiring well April 16th
will be the annual MBA job fair from 10: to 2 at the msum Christensen Alumni Center register your business today as a vendor I invite you to engage grow and succeed with the MBA any questions I think so thank you Sher
thank you very much right I don't believe we have any reports from Eda Commissioners so we'll move on to the 2024 development report thank you Mr chair uh Dan and I will kind of go through this a little bit but I'll kind of give a a general kind of
rundown of the development report I'm not going to go Slide by slide but that's uh in your packet if you'd like to kind of look through that a little bit more specifically but you know overall I think um you know 2024 marked a historic um had some historic milestones for Morehead there's many any
great uh projects and accomplishments within the report and then here's just a couple highlights that I think are worth you know noting in it too so the Planning Commission and the city council they successfully started work to modernize the city development code uh code implementing several amendments based on citizen engagement and the
goals outlined in the onward Morehead comprehensive plan and it's nice to have you know the consistency of our downtown plan our our comprehensive plan those guiding principles to really kind of help us continue to move along uh major infrastructure uh projects uh made significant Pro progress including the
11 Street underpass and the north Morehead flood mitigation project uh there were over 1,400 building permits issued in 2024 and I think most importantly for Eda the new commercial construction reached a record valuation of more than 58 million uh setting a new
Benchmark for Morehead so just really shows great work which again in times where uh even I think as staff we sit back and we look at it maybe thinking it's a slower year and next thing you know we hit a record Year too so uh it's just a fantastic kind of a credit to to
what's happening in our community uh in collaboration with Morhead public service and financial assistance of two grants nearly 300 street lights along key corridors uh commercial corridors were converted to LED enhancing Energy Efficiency and lighting
quality uh construction began on two major uh downtown projects including the loop Morehead Library uh and 650 Center Avenue the Kevin barer mixed use building uh bu which are leading the way in reshaping the cities downtown
um I think a couple maybe quick tidbits since our last meeting um we do have obviously the announcement of Morhead Vision Morehead Vision has been in the uh transition of moving to their new location we know there's some construction delays there so excited to uh uh see Morehead Vision open here very
soon in the South A Street by the aul plaza location um obviously been been through a lot and seen a lot of construction in our downtown Corp for the last number of years so happy for them to get a a new start down in the South and a Town say say Derek yes let me pause one second Amy are we supposed
to be seeing the report on our screens we we can I don't I um I'm kind of given highlights of it too but we can flip through it if you'd like as well uh I don't what does everyone think I don't want to throw a wrench of things I I just I was thinking that we were just
pop through Amy as we go just kind of slowly go through it if we need to okay I appreciate that sorry for the interruption nope that's all right um work started on uh the $1 million reimaging key Park project which includes a new swimming pool uh new pool
building waiting pool skate park playgrounds pickle ball courts and more uh so excited to see some renovation on that side of town uh again none of these uh ambitious projects would be possible without the support of the city council the Eda and all of our other recommending kind of
groups that are in the city uh the builders and construction professionals also who bring this project to life too um last thing is the the work of the citizens as we mentioned you know the the plans and and the studies that have been done over the last number of years we've had um just record amounts of
Engagement from our citizens our businesses stakeholders organizations that help frame our onward Morehead plan our downtown master plan uh many other things too so the direct result of that input is is creating investment in our downtown uh creating great experiences
connecting neighborhoods fostering sustainability and supporting and celebrating businesses too so lots of big things I think some other um things worth kind of referencing as well is some of our our new commercial construction that happened in 2024 which
includes uh MCO construction uh women's child care or Women's Care Center sorry uh Odin and ay shop and business condos Morehead Vision as we mentioned uh Park Christian has their phase three we have the 650 Center Avenue mixed use building
Romy Park Spalding store warehouses the Library community center uh BNSF office and storage facility and fire station addition as well so um we obviously had a lot of institutional development as well at msum with their Alumni Center uh Park Christian
mentioned that the Klay County had a couple projects that came online including the DMV and the substance abuse and crisis facility um you know I think the experiences to is probably one other thing that I mentioned because the Eda has been a a large part of our placemaking initiatives including uh the
sunset on the riverfront event that uh American Crystal uh was on American Crystal's uh property but folkways provided that event last year it was great to see a lot of people along the r Riverfront and I know they're looking forward to maybe doing that again again again this year um we obviously had the
inclusive playground um we have the river arts and farmers market that had some great uh progress this year uh and then First Avenue had some new sidewalk stamps as well too so uh and lastly I shouldn't for foret is the rotary natural play Hill which I think has just
been a fantastic uh addition to our downtown core and and just seen a great use as we've as we've uh seen that open as well too so those are just some high level stuff um you know again I I would just really focus I think from the Ed's perspective on just our our our record
year of the $58 million in commercial uh new commercial value and that's just uh I think a fantastic tribute to just the hard work that Amy and the and the whole city team has has done to kind of put ourselves on the map here and uh really put our best foot forward to see new
business support not only to to new business but uh existing businesses that we've seen uh great expansion that are providing kind of a space for them to be successful for years to come so Dan maybe I'll kick it over to you if I've missed anything thank you Derrick and I'll keep my comments pretty brief here
but just want to start with a note of gratitude I mean I think what we have happening here are many people from different sectors coming together working together to try to figure out how we can get things moving at the core of what we were talking about a number of years ago was um even more so than
the physical projects I mean when we talk about the highest number of permits issued over 800 roofing permits um the highest new commercial construction valuation on record I mean those are those are big words for a community that really when we talk about um you know
Morehead growing by 18% since the last census and if we go back to 2000 it's 34% uh that's the residential character now we're talking about the parity between the commercial industrial and the people living here we talk about balancing it out and so we're going through a lot of
change change is never easy it was never supposed to be and it was never going to be so we're going through change but at the core even more so than what's important than these numbers is the idea that we're when we're out there talk like what I'm really seeing is when you're talking to two people that grew up in Morehead that are from Morehead
that moved here to Morehead the way people are thinking about this place is changing so we can change the way what we think is possible I think that's really what's kind of the most exciting and rewarding um across working through this team that I share that just by way of an observation I think we should put
a little light on it we should we should really celebrate it and as a challenge as I close it out is I think we just I think you know we're going to it's it's working and that we really need to kind
of put our feet on the gas it things get challenging environments change the way people feel change the way people go through loss changes all of that kind of stuff but if we can keep looking at what is good and heading to this to this better place that um that I I'm I'm
feeling like let's just keep it going and let's keep being honest and if something isn't working you know we had talked about I when we started kind of some of these initiatives we talked about accepting a culture of experimentation and trying new things finding out if they work doing a little more of that if they don't that's okay
we just won't do that anymore you know and just kind of offering each other the grace of that um and uh in that was this idea that we are really rather than even Economic Development kind of economic gardening getting into the Earth to like put seeds down that will grow into
something special so this is where I'll tell you um in terms of closing the loop in and thanking this Economic Development Authority the support around Derek talked about this exper experiential marketing where you know rather than like chamber newsletters or putting things on billboards and things
like that the experience of being in Morehead and promoting Morhead just by way of the incredible experiences we just had Sherry talking about this and the the partnership with the Morhead Business Association how that how that happens and why that is so important we've got this Community Center Library
where we've got this Center for entrepreneurship The Spark Center is what we're calling it where if you want to go to work you just go to the community center library and it's all set up we've set up we''ve got Laura Kon now engaged really knowing the history and the context and helping carry forward what this is going to look like
over the next 18 months this is staying ahead and so you know we're stopping we're reporting we're talking about where we're at and the only thing I would say is like let's not settle let's keep going and thank you for your support thanks for being honest thanks for sending an email thanks for making a call when you see something that's
working or when you see something that isn't and we just keep We Stand ready to to keep going if I if I can close too because Dan did an excellent job there and and we've mentioned this the last couple years these reports I think continue to get better and better every year partly just because the the team
that's being built out the communication side of of the internal city of Morehead um these reports are are great assets when we're talking to new and existing businesses to our neighbors to uh so many others uh we'll continue to to work on one that has a little bit more of a
condensed format that we can uh lay down easier this is a great uh presentation to kind of give on the road to a lot of clubs and and uh and groups out there but having something that's easily digestible to a group that's um considering Morehead and really thinking through and and wondering what's
happened this shows just the great the great work that's going and um and shows the progress that this community is having as well so grateful for the team that's worked on this to to put it in and and having these wonderful images to share in our community as well yeah thank you Derek thank you Dan
and and to all the city staff uh I think Dan you're really referring to momentum is you know really what we've got and it's the time to uh adjust you know if needed make small adjustments but to keep both feet on the gas like you said and keep building on that momentum it's
great and I would encourage anybody that would like to see it this report it's at city of morehead.ky so much um any other questions or comments from Eda commissioners yes commissioner white thank you Mr chair I just wanted
to highlight one other point in there and that is the median home sale price because you know one of the big issues that we are facing not just here but Across the Nation is that home ownership is becoming more and more out of the reach of families and what we can see is that this is still Morhead is still a
very affordable place even though the prices have gone up and not just in compared to other places across the country but even regionally and so that median home sale price is still significantly Less in Morehead than it is say in Fargo and West Fargo and so
you know you get more house for your money here and I think letting people know that this is a place where you can really achieve your dreams and put down roots with your family um is again as it becomes less and less accessible to people it's more important to get that
word out thanks yeah that's correct commissioner white I would second that uh being in that residential Housing Industry um you're absolutely correct and you know it's awesome to see Dan as you mentioned the
you know the uh awesome number of residential rooftops we've seen go up and more in the last few years especially compared to across the river and now you said like with the commercial matching that and creating that infrastructure it's also I'm really pleased to hear about long-term Morehead
residents unlike some other communities uh really excited and inspired by the growth and what we're doing here um and what's happening and changing in our community changing for the good um and changing um you know with the
satisfaction and appreciation of a lot of long-term residents as opposed to opposition great to see any other questions comments from Commissioners okay thank you
Derek moving on to business items uh Derrick or Amy do you want to kind of introduce the election bullet yes I certainly can and thank you all and thank you all for being here and I'll I'll preference by saying we do have uh still two vacancies on our Eda board so
we anticipate our uh our W members to um I think it's w one that we have and then we have a mayor's appointment as well so I know those are being worked on and we look to see those individuals joining us here in in April as well so uh to those that are obviously so new I look at you Evan and and we have another one Chris
who's not able to be here as well uh we'll look to have a more formal kind of onboarding with the group just as we know we have a lot of changes as well as you council member uh so we'll look to uh to do that in April um but we do have some holes on our board and and we were talking with uh Cher Anderson last week
and just kind of filling some of those one in particular is uh with Bobby Solen um um terming out of our uh Eda board and again we thank her for all of her service as well uh we do have a void in our our treasury position a secretary
position sorry I get my DMI board mixed up again our secretary position uh and then obviously our our chair current chair is Nate and vice chair is Chad as well so we'd look to reformulate that uh I know uh talking with Nate and with
Chad I know they're interested in still remaining in their positions um and then looking to see if we were able to fill that secretary position here for our Eda so maybe we'll start there and then I can go to the rest of it too we can do we can do everything in one vote at the
end but maybe if there's discussion on those individual ones then we can kind of fill with one motion at the end as well sure so starting with uh with the secretary position are we looking for a volunteer yeah I think that's the big thinger yeah volunteer and then
obviously then we'd have a vote on on that position as well but um as Bobby would probably attest if she was here it's a pretty uh um lowkey position we look for some signatures there's a few times Amy has to track the individual down to get a signature but um that's
mainly what that role is for for our Eda position okay so starting with the secretary position do any of the Commissioners volunteer for that role I would go ahead and volunteer for that chelt okay thank you Kim um anyone
else want to run against Kim okay very good thank you Kim um yeah let's wait to make a motion to the very end okay uh what's what's next so um I'm going to kind of skip a little bit of a different order than what's on the on the back side of your um um memo here
but I'm going to go to the Morehead Loan Fund Advisory Group so that's a five Person Advisory board that meets as needed um this is primarily for for our new members as well um we work with the West Central initiative if there's a um a gap fining financing that's provided
uh typically we receive that report from West Central and GRE Greg w er um and then our group ultimately decides if that's the appropriate use of the funds but we're kind of a recommending group from uh West Central and the use of our Morehead Loan Fund now that particular
position is uh dedicated to Ward one so that would be filled with the new appointment that comes on hopefully in April so no actions needed on that but that's how we'd approach on that one too um now I'm going to go down to uh Mara uh development control board so this
group and and again for our new members it's a five Person Advisory Board meets again as needed there's some um uh development standards and protective covenants in um certain areas of a Mara industrial park now there's certain areas of our park that those covenants
have expired and we have talked as we've continued land sales that the need for this type of board isn't really uh relevant anymore CU once a business is established it's been kind of already vetted through zoning and some other things but but we do still have uh some
parcels of land that are protected by the covenants and we do have a couple uh spots that are vacant in that um in that board so there's three members from the Eda our chair Nate Anderson is one of those members we have two vacant spots
from Eda and then we also have um uh individuals from the industrial park and we are looking at uh potentially filling that vacant position on the private side but again this I think we've met maybe one or two times in the last probably 3 years so it's it's pretty uncommon but
uh I think for the purposes of just in case we do need to meet we should fill that position as well so be looking for two volunteers for the MAA uh development control board can we get two two volunteers from this
board I will volunteer Shelt thank you Kim I'll volunteer as well Kota okay thank you Chad any anyone else any interest in doing that or are we good with those two thank you perfect all right and then lastly is
our MAA real estate um RFP that we went out to as well so we've um the the re well the rfps have been out the the announcement for that we had submitt due last week so we have submitt from firms
across our region um our internal group from City so um a few of us are looking at the review of that uh initial RFP selection and then we would look to have interviews with broker candidates uh to make recommendations to to city council
obviously in form our Eda as well we thought it was appropriate um for the interviews itself especially with how closely I work with these organizations and work with everybody regardless of they're um responsible for Mao or not uh we thought it was an appropriate time to
maybe look at our uh potentially our seats of our Eda members of our council members here as well as maybe two Eda board members to sit in on those interviews uh Amy Thorp would facilitate and kind of um um kind of host the the
interviews but look to having two Eda board members and then two um maybe a mayor or our Eda Council Representatives be willing to serve on the interview committee with these uh real estate rfps the the targeted interview dates would
be March 24th and 27th we would anticipate uh no more than three or four interviews so hopefully try to get it done in a pretty short order um but we know that this is an impactful decision and and we felt that it was appropriate to bring in uh outside kind of
leadership and expertise to maybe be a part of these uh interviews I know chair Anderson has um asked to to be a part of that as well so that could be one of our uh spots for the Eda board members uh we could go larger if there's more more interest on this one too but uh I will
say we don't want to get too large with just the the room and maybe only having a couple people come in from the firms to interview so I would respect we try to still keep it concise but uh if there are volunteers willing to be a part of that interview committee and then I would look maybe to uh Deb and Emily if
you're willing as our Council reps of the Eda to see if you're interested in being a part of those interview uh selections as well counc member white I see you have your hand up yes will those be in person or would there be a chance to
participate remotely I think we could accommodate remotely if need be okay I may need to but I then I'd be happy to do it okay perfect uh council member Moore yep uh are you willing to do that as well yes okay wonderful um how about
the other Eda Commissioners does anyone have an interest in sitting on that Comm I would have interest in it okay anyone else okay I'd be willing to I if we want to keep it concise I'm fine stepping aside if the two Commissioners want to be a
part of that yes there may be value in an odd number too um three I think if we have five in the interview that's not a bad thing good point Dan y all all right are we okay leaving it at
at that then so okay very good just a a question so those those dates are set March 24th and March 27th so that's just a range at this point in time so we're um we just had the obviously the submittal happen last week so we'll vet through them here as soon
as possible I know we talked about meeting um potentially next week as a a small group to confirm everything and then we'd look out to to reach out to those individuals with uh with a date but we can work with this group to see if there's a preference um maybe now that we know that Amy can work with this
group of interest to see what's available and then we can have that as a couple different options for this group as well okay excellent so we need a big motion for all that we just discussed uh
Amy do you want me to try and summarize or do we want to summarize for the record I got it okay perfect all right so i' like a motion and a second uh for all the election of officers and positions we just discussed
so move chelt second more all in favor I hi I any opposed okay motion carries thank you all next item is Market study discussion
yes thank you Mr chair and uh apologies for not having a a memo or report on this this really just kind of kind of came together at the end of last week as we um started having further conversations with development part Partners in our downtown Corp um and after talking with our city manager Dan
Molly and chair Anderson too just um we thought it was appropriate to bring forward to the the Eda as just maybe getting a a consent around the the the tables here or maybe some head nods of seen if this is an appropriate thing to explore and some background on this is and actually going back to council
member White's comments um at our last meeting of how we kind of tie back and refresh and relook at our uh downtown master plan some of the stuff from the land Institute one thing that um we are hearing from some folks is and actually just a question that we're getting is is
there a market an updated Market study done uh for our downtown core uh the reality is the downtown Market study the latest one we have was done at the end of 2020 uh as a part of our downtown master plan that was prior to covid and
now pushing 5 years so a lot has changed since that I mean just Co alone has changed market analysis significantly um we felt that uh in the conversations that we've had with uh some of these development partners that it may be uh
relevant for us to explore what the cost uh and time frame might be to update a market analysis for our downtown core uh I know with talking with uh Cher Anderson on Friday um he mentioned maybe even exploration of some targeted areas
around town that could also benefit from a a market study not just our downtown core um what I looking maybe around the table today is certainly discussions questions uh but not um not necessarily an answer today but maybe for the ability for Amy and I to start exploring
the marketplace of what timing and cost may look like uh to do this um you know not only just for downtown but maybe some of these targeted areas and then come back to the Eda in April or a later time frame to maybe uh ask for some consideration and use of Eda funds to do
this study um I think it only helps us in the long run by have in this I know a lot of communities do keep up with this um and I I think it will ultimately spur some development interest by having that as well just it's one more what I would maybe refer to and Amy would refer to as
just a a shovel ready kind of piece that we're able to provide as a community as well and I think it has value that we as an Eda and as a city uh own that um instead of having you know the you know a private developer just how to own that property that's not getting really
shared others as well too so open for discussion uh your questions or maybe may maybe some head nods around the table if that's something Worth US exploring over the next month here yeah thank you Dereck that was a great suggestion um I'm I'm supportive of that and expanding the scope um to some other
maybe targeted areas of growth around the city um interested in any comments questions from other Commissioners guess for me um it's it's almost imperative that we do something like that especially the last study being done preco and and with Rising
building costs and and I think just have a realistic scope of things because you know what I hear on the street is we'll never be able to go downtown because it's going to be too expensive so let's have some accuracy and some some solid background onto what those costs will be
and and the probability of new of new businesses coming to our downtown area yeah and also if we're if we're operating off nearly 5-year-old numbers traffic counts things like that you know we can be really telling a much better story even with more relevant accurate
data for you know potential developers or commercial tenants that are looking at those parts of town any other comments questions Commissioners oh commissioner white thank you I think I think I we should do it and two areas I would
include would be the area around the current library because we're as we look at that will be the maybe the next growth area in downtown and then a couple years back we talked about um when we were we had a subcommittee looking at incentives we were thinking
ahead of the impact of the 2021 underpass and so I would say that area over by the high school um would be good to include and thinking about what might happen in that area yeah those are great suggestions
and I think um again things we we can consider when we talk to these groups of of the geographic area that that they can incorporate as well cuz it could be uh just a wider geographic area that we can conclude in our downtown core as well other areas we thought of um in just a conversation on Friday is maybe
East 10 uh our eth and 94 Corridor uh potentially even MAA too so um we'll um if there's other suggestions happy to do it again I I I don't want to put a guess on what a cost would be to do this at this point in time I think our intent to
is to remain at you know that um in certain areas maybe incorporation especially downtown incorporation of multif family and some housing but other areas looking at more of that commercial uh core um but open to suggestions as well there if others have ideas
too I think unless there's any objections I think we're seeing a lot of head nods here uh that we'd like you guys to proceed with or to investigate some of that and costs and bring that back to us a future meeting the only thing and I'm going to throw a curveball on this one too the only thing that I I
have thought about and maybe this is something that again we give ourselves some time is is our potential selected development partner for MAA uh Real Estate Services and Citywide inquiries could that individual group uh provide these Market studies as well again
that'd have to be an amendment to it we didn't ask for that as a part of our RFP as well but um I I think in in short we should still explore it and and then um maybe as we get closer to the interview process we could consider that as well yeah that's a good
thought yeah the I would just add to that the benefit there is that the people that are or the team that's out promoting marketing these properties also know the have all the data and all the information just in terms of you
know when we're talking about people investing um and we're communicating clear as kind and that is you know those are the folks you'd want to have as much information and ability to inform data driven decision-making as possible yeah if they're capturing a lot of that already it might find some real
efficiencies by going that route yeah okay yeah I think we're we're in agreement on that thank you all appreciate that last uh item here Economic Development report thank you Mr chair I'll just keep on rolling here so we got
um again great progress in our downtown Corp um librar Community Center um you know you can really see the steel structure start to come out just each week there's more and more steel coming up which is great to see uh 650 Center is really Trucking along I mentioned the the movement of Morehead Vision I know
there's an accelerated push to uh try to get uh downtown Chiropractic in the new space and 650 Center by the end of the summer and early fall uh so excited to see what happens there um I have to give credit to Amy she did a ton of work on uh submitting another deed Redevelopment
Grant we're hopeful by March that we'll uh get some input from the state of Minnesota and deed on on maybe some funds coming back for some additional demolition um speaking of demolition uh we are uh continuing work to uh start
demolition for Stuff west of City Hall uh here in in the next month or two uh which is super exciting uh we need to make way for the infrastructure projects that are going in so the stub of Fifth Street going um kind of past Shields towards City Hall uh the the westward
progression of Minnesota Avenue and then Red River Avenue as well too so new streets coming in at downtown which is exciting as well um there's also just um again ton of inquiries that we're still getting about the downtown project which is which is great I think the
conversation we just had on the market study is a is a relevant one with just making sure we're understanding the needs it's a complicated site it's a a promising site but there are a lot of moving Parts with it so the more we're prepared the more um the more easier it makes these developers to make the
decision to come down and and invest in our community as well uh so excited to see just the the Contin continual proog uh progress on that as well um some chamber events that happened um you know on January 9th the chamber hosted their state of the Cities I I just I think
it's worth mentioning uh Shelley Carlson our mayor uh as well as Ted heran from our downtown Morehead ink board is and and obviously a representative of RDO uh both did just an excellent job they represent our community U extremely well speak very eloquently of just the the
Partnerships and um and I just think stand out really well on those events as well uh I also like to thank our our team involved we talk about this development report but the the communication the handouts the presentations that our group is able to put together as first class and I think
that shows extremely well in these events too when you have clear and concise documentation and imagery that reflects the the great work that's happening as well um for those that aren't aware um a number of us are are headed to the chambers uh Morehead area
day at the Capal that's March 4th and 5th so tomorrow and and uh Wednesday uh I know some of the city staff is there for its League of Minnesota cities right afterwards so um uh a lot of a lot of our city leadership is is there for the rest of the week but I know the chambers
lined up a lot of uh meetings with legislators uh obviously lots of good work that Lisa bod and and our legislative affairs group are working on but excited I think there's 35 individuals from the community and businesses that will be there in St Paul and uh always a great opportunity again
to showcase the good work that is happening in in Morehead and Dan I might put you on the spot a little bit too but I I just think I mentioned this in the Edom conference we're we're making noise in a very very good way in uh in the state as well well as the capital so I don't know if Dan you wanted to share
some of the stuff that you're hearing and the times that you've been as well you're just teasing me he knows I can't stop talking once I start the um so yeah no the you know um we've been down to St Paul a couple of times um we've had very positive visits
um and so um appreciate the work it feels like if anything's going to happen this year it's going to revolve around compromise and so what we're we recognize that and um the other thing we're really trying to push forward is that Morehead our community here is the
second largest metro in the state of Minnesota that um when combined with our neighbors to the West that we our population is greater than that of Duo Superior Rochester stcloud area Mano so this is an urban area and these are Urban issues and we have some things
that are really happening in order to make this community for all and so we've been real receptive to to um some of the posit that PE when I say receptive like feeling that feedback coming back to us that people are are seeing and understanding that and then there are these incredible projects like the
possibility of this DG fuels a sustainable aviation fuel project where we have some real Heavy Hitters in the state like Senator rest that are saying such positive things about Morehead and our uh Representatives that are that are helping lead the way too so uh the
experience I'll be frank is is is very very good in terms of kind of the level of conversation and what what's happening so it's going to be real interesting to see we all know that you know when it really happens is in the last three days of the session anyway so I as be honest about that maybe I'm
missing something but I might as well be be very direct so um but anyway um certainly appreciate the openness and the willingness of people to to talk and and let us share our story um while we're down there and actually and I'll say too to Lisa bod and the governmental
Affairs division that have been just so clear in terms of communicating what are uh legislative agenda and our strategy is while we're there and back home yeah it's it's just exciting I think you know I mentioned here in the Edom uh conference that Amy and I attended in late January and I I think I might have
attended uh two sessions otherwise I was pulled out in the hallways to to talk with individuals which I feel like is maybe a a baseline of having a good conference as well as if if people really want to know how we're doing things and how they can help and um just really encouraged by by the work and um
yeah it's it's fun to see and that doesn't you know mean that everything is Rosy we're still working through other challenges and and you know we mentioned this at the last meeting about the anheiser bush uh malting plant and unfortunately you know that that is uh closed at this point in time but I will
uh say that we've been having some really good conversations with the the local and National broker brokerage firm that is representing them and that's uh CBR um there's a lot of interest in the the land uh that the raw land that just
to the south of the plant as well as the company is working with uh direct individuals about the the use and repurpose of the actual Factory so excited to to see how we can help facilitate that one and see a quick uh quick change and um I'm going to skip
over DG fuels I'll kind of end with that one too but uh as you see at the end of the development report just lots of uh different uh city council action either approve or pending here but a couple things I think worth uh mentioning uh on this as well as we had the deed Redevelopment Grant um that phase three
demolition that was in January um we approved our land availability resolution so that's all like our industrial land and some other land that the city notices um which makes it an easier sale transfer uh when we get requests and and notices you'll see on
February 24th there's a lot of amended tax agreement transfers so we've had a lot of sales of properties um that have existing and um remaining uh taxes uh tax incentives on it um we had to kind of go through and rectify some of that
to make sure that the new entities uh receiving that remaining benefit as well and then the upcoming events as we mentioned um March 4th and 5th the Morhead area day at the capital uh March 19th is um some um real estate closings the tolton real estates uh real estate
doing businesses du rentals uh so that's uh a new project out in in industrial park um the BNSF stuff kind of over by the high school as council member white has mentioned and then again the the RFP here with the real estate uh services and some of the interviews too last
thing I'll close on is um is DG fuels so uh Dan said it a little bit we are still working um with the state with the company with many many partners on this this one's uh in a lot of ways so much bigger than just us here in Morehead but um I know Amy um has been sharing some
of the Articles to the Eda one of them's in our packet here um I I think the more we see these the and the more tie directly to to Minnesota not just sustainable aviation fuel at large but uh some of these ones of why they picked you know Minnesota why they picked
Morehead and um I think there's just some great uh quotes in here that again will continue to use to hopefully promote additional business expansion and New Growth as well cuz um you know we stand ready as we've always mentioned with DG fuels um there's been a couple hearings in the House and Senate uh
regarding the the fuel tax credit that the state of Minnesota has and those have been overwhelmingly supported by uh the entire state so excited to see those continue to progress because um again federal state local everything is going
to need to kind of align together to um really secure a project of this size and magnitude too but a lot of great things over the last months and um yeah we're we're we stand ready to kind of help in any situation too so with that I'd be
happy to answer any questions the Eda may have any other questions from Commissioners I don't believe so okay I think that'll do it for today we'll adjourn thank you all thank
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