I'm running around. Yep. All right. Good morning everyone. We're going to call the July 6, 2026 EDA meeting to order. Uh we do have a couple people online today, so we'll have to do um uh
individual votes uh for that. But Amy, can you do the roll call vote, please? Are Okay, here we go. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um by uh when I announce your name please say here
uh Seham Amd Ahmedi Seham is joining us online I see her. Can you say present please? Seam >> yes here. >> Amy Anderson >> here. >> Evan Boco >> here. >> Derek Le Point
>> here. Sherry Larson, Emily Moore >> here, >> Jason Ness >> here, >> Kim Schaefeld >> here, >> Robin So Rob Soelick >> here, >> and Deb White >> here. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you, Amy. Are there any agenda amendments today? >> There are no amendments to the agenda today, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you very much. And moving on to item number three, approval of the minutes of the June 1st, 2026 uh meeting
minutes. Do I have any comments or a motion for the approval of the minutes? >> So moved. >> I'll second more. >> Thank you so much. Any discussion on that? Okay, hearing none. We'll do a roll call vote. Amy,
>> this time I will read your last names only. Amd >> I. Anderson. >> Hi. >> Balco. >> Hi. >> Le Point. >> Hi. >> Moore.
>> Yes. >> Ness. >> Yes. >> Schaeld. >> Yes. >> Soick. >> Yes. >> White. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Motion passes. >> Okay. Thank you all. Uh, moving on to item number four, citizens to be heard. Stacia, are you going to give an update
or are we going to roll that in with everything? Perfect. Okay. Uh, number five, we got commissioners reports. Any commissioners have anything they'd like to report on this month? >> Kim, >> thank you. Um, I just, um, a couple
minutes I attended the Matson Field um, ribbon cutting and despite the rain and trying to keep everything at bay, um, it went really well. There were a lot of um Morehead Blues and Morehead Gold's
alumni there. The American Legion was very well represented. Um and it was just a fun time to see another thing in Morehead that's really positive moving back into, you know, getting more activity back here and hopefully some tournaments and and those types of
things and moving forward with with more fun in Morehead. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. Kim, anybody else have anything to add? >> I can give an update for Morhead public service. uh construction season is well underway and uh MPS teams up with the
current city projects to try to minimize expense uh through the 8 street corridor. I know there's quite a bit of u waterline replacement that's happening there. also continuing on with the uh lead pipe replacement process for homes
in the community. Uh over I think we discussed over probably the next 10 years they'd like to eliminate that uh as much as possible. Uh and then also just continued strategic planning uh for the future of the organization, keeping an eye on future businesses that might
want to come. Uh there's been quite a bit of conversation recently about the casino project and um how that may affect uh the utility services for MPS and also uh it is quite close into the u wellhead area for the Buffalo diversion.
So looking forward to the uh environmental impact study that's done on that. That's all. >> Thank you for that. Anybody else? All right. Hearing none, we'll move on to presentations. We do have one presentation today. Uh Matt, you're
going to kick this off for us today, right? >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Le Point. Um I'm happy to uh we're we're talking about the uh construction on on Center Avenue. This is between 8th Street and uh 10th Street that just opened or just closed uh here last week to get it started. This is a great example of construction
always happens and uh what what can happen when a bunch of really smart people get together and put together a plan. And so, um, I've got some really smart people that are going to come up to the podium to talk about their plan. Um, we're going to start with, uh, with Klay Lexon, um, with the city of
Morehead engineering department, um, just to talk about the the plan for construction and how it's going to be phased and how we can support the businesses there. Um, first, thanks, Clay. Thanks, Matt. All right, just for an update for
everybody, we've had this Center Avenue project, which I believe most of you are aware of. This is on Center Avenue, trunk highway 10. This is two blocks of Center Avenue from
8th Street to 10th Street. And this area, it's a it's a five lane section. It's all pavement for the most part. Pavement and sidewalk from edge of the rightway to the other side of the street. The project for proposed improvements.
Um this is a complete reconstruction. The biggest change from existing from the existing street is that we are going to take the street and we're going to reduce it from five lanes down to three. And by doing this, it adds room for some
new features on the street, including some on street parking on the south side of the street and then a bike path on the north side of the street, as well as some more space for landscaping amenities.
This project also includes a few minor kind of storm sewer upgrades as well as new on street lighting as well. So the overall for the schedule um work completed to date this project started largely on on June
24th with removals on Center Avenue. The removals have been largely completed. There are a few areas where sidewalk has been left in place to facilitate access to some businesses who do not have
either either rear kind of like parking area access or side street access. So there's there's not sidewalk along the entire length, but there there is sidewalk in in a few areas. The area
behind Napa um has been paved. We removed and replaced the pavement back there. That was a of of all the requests we got for parking lot improvements or pothole improvements. That area was probably brought up the most. The storm sewer as of last Friday, the new storm
sewer was about 75% complete and we're expecting that to be finished now in the next day or two. We've had some rain delays and we've also we have a little bit of contaminated material that we've encountered which is common for this
area. It's not a substantial amount but that has that has been a factor in the schedule as well. In the next couple couple weeks, what we're planning to do is finish the storm sewer this week and then we're going to begin immediately uh excavation for
construction of the street. will remove quite a bit of material and then we will start laying down new courses of of base material and fab fabric and drain tile. That'll be happening over the next couple weeks.
And then what we're we're hoping schedule-wise is that the week of July 13th, we're going to actually start paving. So, we'll have pavement that'll that'll start going down. and once they get going that um it's it'll be a pretty
big change in in just a couple weeks. The overall schedule, we have 90 days on the contract for this schedule. However, in some discussion with the contractor, we have restructured some of that contract and some of the in financial
incentives that we had to incentivize them to complete the project within 60 days. So, the contractor is on board with that. They want to do that. that's what they're shooting for. Even with the rain delays and some of the other things that have caused us to lose a little bit of time, we're still on track though for
that schedule. So, appreciate the contractor working with us on that. Um, and our our goal is to be in and out of there in and out of there just about as reasonably as we quickly as we reasonably can.
One of the other bigger elements of this project was uh you know temporary public access. We have signs out on a street that list all the businesses that are in this area. And then kind of in these temporary public area, the access routes
that are that are using the existing parking areas, we do have a couple other additional signs and and wayfinding signs to help people get in and out and find the businesses that they're they're trying to get to. We've got some additional signs for kind of sidewalk
guidance and those will be coming hopefully this week. Lastly, we do have a agreements with Asentia and then the American Square building that we are working on which would kind of officially allow us to sign and use their parking lots for over
over kind of overflow parking for the businesses during construction. So, that that is also in the works and expected to be completed here shortly. And that kind of completes my pre my presentation if any of you have any
questions. >> Thank you, Clay. Any uh questions from the commissioners? >> On that again, start to finish. >> Yeah, start to finish contract allows for up to 90 days. What we're hoping for is essentially substantially complete
within 60 days. >> Yep. Other commissioners, any comments? Clay, I just maybe one very I'm assuming very similar aesthetic to what's been done to uh to the west here on Center Avenue from an aesthetic standpoint.
>> Yep. Yep. If you were to look at the at the area right in front of the new library, it's going to look very similar to that. And then is there still coordination with DOT as far as I know this is the city portion the DOT as the underpass project but is there coordination on uh I think they were called construction
and coffee or uh some of those connects is that still happening too? >> We we have some coordination with the DOT as far as them sharing some of the updates that we have on our project and vice versa. Uh we also with the businesses we are also holding uh like
weekly coordination meetings to give the businesses an update and keep them apprised of what's what's happening out on the project as well. >> Great. Thank you Clay. >> Y >> Matt kick it back to you. >> Yes. Thank you. Um up next uh we Derek Chair Le Point for your knowledge when
the con coffee and construction happens um there are center avenue businesses that attend that regularly and so we do talk about the projects even though um MIDOT is not uh running that one so we we keep it top of mind. Uh next up uh we want to talk about tour to cones. We
have Staca Sitzma from uh Greater MBA and then Sean Severson with Swing Barrel. And so, uh, after the construction, we knew that the construction was coming. This, uh, great group of, uh, business owners and the and the greater MBA got together to talk about, so how can we highlight these businesses to let everybody know that,
uh, they are open. Um, and and you can get there. I'm happy to say I was at Sean's place of business on Tuesday uh, night. Uh, it was easy to get there and holy cow did people ever come out of trivia. So, there must have been a few people there. So, it's good to know that
uh the signs are working and you still got some parking. But here's the uh the plan for the group on how they're going to how we're all going to support these businesses through the construction. >> Thank you, Matt. Uh hi, I'm Staca Seitzma, the executive director of the
greater Morehead Business Association. Um this week I brought reinforcements with me. Um, last week I kind of gave you guys a little bit of a call to action and a request and now I'm following up with actual information for you guys to
share. So today was our first kickoff on tour to cones. Um, what this is is basically just uh Sean and I got together one day and said, "What the heck are we going to do?" Because, you know, these businesses are hanging on as is and then they're going to be closed
even more. So, what it is is going to be a social media platform um where every week one of the businesses gets highlighted and I did bring some flyers if you guys want to take some and um put some up for me that would be great. Um
but also I can email it to you. Um, but like this week I sent off a email this morning already with um a graphic for words to live by and the specials that she'll be having and we're going to highlight them and what they're doing
and then that'll just happen every week. So, if you would like to be on that email list, please let me know. Um, and then the point is we're just going to blast social media with everything that they're doing. Um, it's interesting that
something so simple could be so complex at the same time. So, I really have appreciated especially Sean's help, but Laura from over at the library and then Michelle um >> Carney >> Carney um they both were really helpful in kind of getting more of the process
and logistics things done. Laura even had Ian come from um the SPDC and talk about a specific program you guys have for businesses in construction and that information was super helpful as well. Um but yeah, the biggest thing is we
just need to get the word out there. The MBA is going to have a couple of socials. I'm just waiting for uh the parking lot to open up so that hopefully we don't have to walk a mile, but we will if we need to and that'll be fine. The goal is we're all going to meet at
one spot and go through all the construction together. So, we'll have three of those. Do you have anything to add, Sean? >> I'd just like to say thank you uh for helping us get the word out. If you can, uh it's pretty amazing what we can all do if we just come together and talk to
each other a little bit as not just as separate entities and businesses, but as a community of businesses together. And that's it's really uh gives me hope uh that we can have a really really cool and connected downtown Morehead when all
of this stuff is done. So, let's just all get there. >> And I will say too, Clay's been really great to work with and like together we're all getting the information out there. So, um, you know, it's not pretty
right now, but that's okay because it's going to be gorgeous and we're all going to get through it together. Does anybody have any questions? >> Thank you, Staca. Sean, uh, questions. I see uh, Council Member White has her hand up online.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I great to get the update on this and I think I'll put our city manager on the spot if he's in the room. I can't see, but I I believe we're going to have Stacia come and speak to the city council and it'll be nice to get them involved and uh I think
all of us if we can reach out to art networks and I also wonder if we can share this on some of the city social media and you know I I love that the businesses are being so creative and putting on things to um really get the word out and and uh you know get people
down there. But anything that we can do I would love to see us doing. So, if Dan is there and if he could speak on some of that, that'd be great. >> Yes, happy to. Council member White. Yes, I here present and um definitely on the team. And so, the plan is to be um participating in the initiative through
all of our communication channels. Um I'll tell you what, just in the last few weeks, the level of communication here has been really fantastic. I think we're really seeing each other. I hope we could do more of this sort of collaborative work across all of the functions uh in the city. So, I think
this is one of these areas where, you know, it really isn't a zero- sum game. It's all of us lifting together. So, really appreciate the business community coming, the nonprofit, I mean, greater Morehead, uh, Greater MBA, um, Clay and the engineering team has been just knockout in terms of what communication
looks like to get through with what on the other end is going to be pretty incredible for, um, you know, upwards of 50 years. So, um, just appreciate everybody, um, working together on this. Um, we have a lot to do in this area. There's no question about it. Um the
thing that I think the the u how do they say it? It's it's kind of like the gosh our ability to get it done really relies on the quality of our relationships and to be able to see each other. So appreciate the the work um and
and and the help here too. So let's get there and let's have a great celebration on the other end. >> I do want to add one thing. Uh we forgot one person that I wanted to make sure we mention. uh design work for the tour to cones project like the poster itself and
kind of what you'll see a lot of is done by uh Nick Bordwell who is with Swing Barrel Brewing Company. >> Yeah. So, it's been a lot of hands in in this um initiative which has been really cool. It is part of what makes Morehead
so great and so special, right? the the amount of people that come together and work together and and even just some of the businesses that have been collaborating with each other has been really cool to watch and I'm just really glad I've gotten to be a part of it. So,
>> if I could add one other thing, too. Um, it's related to history and context. So, you know, the community was built really around the railroad when it came in. It was when you talk about economic development, they talk about the railroad being very significant in in terms of of that whole initiative. Um
but the um what what happened you know when when this 11 street project came up I think discussions on it hap started in the mid70s. So this is like the culmination of I don't know 50 or 60 years worth of work in what what like
turned you know downtown when it changed in the 70s which was which is kind of funky with these two railroads that kind of came real close and then divided and really kind of split the downtown and it created you know confusion as to how um trans you know transportation looked getting around accessing the businesses
public safety there was a number of things. So, the fact that, you know, those of us in this time agreed tried to figure out how to get this massive um project done is really something special. I think that that should be um kind of kind of lifted up because
they're never easy. Change isn't easy. Uh it never is. And so um the extent and the like what you know these businesses have gone through the fact that you know over 40 years where it's been really tough if any if any if anybody truly deserves kind of credit for keeping the
lights open for business in downtown Morhead. It is these businesses that are like standing here. I can't help but think Matt I remember we had the conversation we were so excited about Swing Barrel opening. You and John brought in cookies and two weeks later CO landed on your head. That's bananas.
And you know, we replaced in between then and now, they replaced all the sewer systems in the downtown project. Half of the stuff that's in the sewer, we know what's in the sewer comes right through this area. You made it through that. I mean, you know what I mean?
These businesses have made it through a lot. So, um, I think that again, this idea of listening, learning, kind of believing. I mean, the fact that you can stand here and stay positive. I'm just I'm just so inspired by that. really appreciate the effort. >> What I hear is that we need one heck of
a good block party at the >> Amen, brother. >> Amen. >> I I was just going to echo the same thing, Sean. I mean, you've been through a lot and and obviously as a business owner, too, to to put others and bringing other businesses into play in this conversation. It's truly uh
celebratory for you. Um I think there's a lot of gratitude that you have and your your belief in this community. So to you and Stacia, what you're what you're continuing to do around the conversations and the outreach is is special and we thank you for that. For sure. We'll try to help and glad to hear
that the city's on board when trying to uh share that message as well. Can I add one one other thought and that is um you guys have done a great job of creating this tour to cones excitement but the rest of us need to take uh this is a call to action for the rest of us
to use our social capital to help promote the work that you guys are doing and I think this has the potential to help all these businesses thrive even more once this construction is done than they were thriving prior to the construction. So, I'm feeling really
hopeful and I hope the rest of us can do our part. >> Fantastic. Well, thank you all. Appreciate it and appreciate the update. Clay from the construction side, too. >> Thanks for the opportunity. >> Thank you. >> All right, we are going to move on to
item 7A, which is the Renaissance zone application uh request from Essentia Health. Matt, I'll turn it to you and I know we got Carrie here from Essentia as well, so thank you for being here, Carrie. Yes. Good afternoon, commissioners. I see
it's just turned over lunch, so um we're finally there. Um really excited about this project. I'm I'm sure you've heard a little bit about it, uh uh when Entia first bought the building and we had the um the announcement uh several months ago. Um we're at the point now with the
um the Renaissance zone application. And this is about um the work that Innov is going to do. I think there's a slide. There it is. All right. So, you can get a little bit of a piece of that. I'll go over it. Um so, this is the uh the new Morehead Clinic that they're going to
put in. We have uh it's taking over the old Wells Fargo building. You can see the rendering on the outside, which is just absolutely fantastic. um in my opinion uh really uh keeps the uh the unique style of that building and then really brings it up into the uh the 21st
century with some of the uh the cladding that they're going to do on that. So, it's really going to be a great entry piece um for our city for anybody that's crossing 8th Street and Center um as they go through. So, it's going to be um really wonderful. Uh this is a multi-phase project. Um and the first uh
phase is on the first floor um which is going to be featuring the uh the family medical um medicine. Urgent care is going to be there um which is um really desperately needed in Morhead um for urgent care uh throughout the week. Uh radiology, laboratory services, the
retail pharmacy, physical uh therapy. Um and so that's it's really going to be an all-ervice clinic for for people in Morehead. So, it's going to be a great addition not only to Morehead but to the downtown. The other two floors, the mezzanine and floor three um will be
expanded in the future um as they need um space uh and bring in community partners. And as I talked about, the the building improvements are going to be um really going to help enhance the corridor. Uh the the numbers on the
project um are um in your packet. Um it's a total uh reinvestment into this area of $8682 million. So that's building acquisition um financing cost, design cost, and then uh total construction cost, which almost
reached $6 million. Um when we do our square square foot uh calculation on that, the $8.6 6 million. Um um divided by the total square footage within that building which is 35,500 comes to the uh total of $245
square foot reinvestment um which um greatly exceeds the minimum of $150 um dollar per square foot. So this is um a real investment back into it. And with that it's a 15-year property tax exemptment um which year 1 through 5 is
100%. uh years 6 through 10 will be 75% and years 11 through 15 will be um uh at 50% as it stages back up into it. Uh if approved um the construction is going to start uh in September with uh with an
anticipated completion date in the spring um early summer of 2027. So it's really about a six-month turnaround. Um and uh this public hearing is scheduled for the city council on Monday, July 13th. With that,
are there any questions? >> Thank you, Matt. Any uh questions or comments from the commissioners? I see Council Member White has her hand up online. I'll maybe go to you first. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just I want to say how excited I am about this project.
First of all, having this come to our downtown, we've talked about livability and having a medical facility right there for people is going to be great. Um, but also I want to focus on the exterior part of it because earlier we were talking about the work we've been doing
on Center Avenue and if you look at the design uh you know that we've been provided some of the some of the uh photos and things like that of what they're thinking about, it really ties in so nicely. We've been focusing on changing wow we've been working on it for about eight years of changing the
layout of that road to make more walkable, more bikable, um make it be a place where we can have parades where people can be out and meet their neighbors. And I I can see that they're really um tying right into that. And so to have that as a addition to center a
and then we'll have the city hall plaza right next to it will be great. And on a smaller note, but just just to show what a great addition and a great neighbor um Assentia is going to be, they haven't even they're just starting the renovation. Um last month I was over
there after we had a swing barrel did a 5K and people were allowed to use that as a parking lot. The next day, Essentia already had folks over there do working on all the landscaping, making sure that the parking lot was clean, that the, you know, because the building's been empty,
the grounds have become a little overgrown. And so, even though they aren't, you know, they still have a long way ahead before they actually are using the building, they're already excellent neighbors and making sure that that place looks good and is a, you know, a nice asset in downtown. So, I'm just
again on so many for so many reasons. I'm really um happy to support this project. >> Thank you, Council Member White. Any other comments, uh questions from the commissioners? >> I'll just say uh Carrie, I know this has been a long time coming, even from my time at downtown Morehead, Inc., too.
So, um I'm so glad to see we're at this point of the Renaissance zone application. Um certainly the investment is is well uh needed and well uh deserved for that building. Uh but what Esra is going to provide from a healthc care standpoint and the community health
of this uh area is so critical. Uh and I know you guys are going to do fantastic uh work with that space. So thank you for all your due diligence and your whole team's due diligence on this uh process. With that, we do have a recommended motion to um and and maybe I'll back up.
Um the Morehead EDA is a recommending body to to city council for uh the Renaissance own application. So, we would be recommending this approval to city council in the upcoming meeting. Uh with that being said, is there a motion for what is recommended in our packet?
>> White moves to approve. >> Okay, we got a f a motion. Do we have a second? a second. >> Okay, we have a motion, a second. Any discussion on that? Okay, hearing none, we'll go to Amy for a roll call vote. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Amdi,
>> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Balco, >> yes. >> Le Point, >> yes. >> Uh, Moore, >> yes. >> Ness, >> yes. >> Schaeld, >> yes. >> Soik, >> yes. >> White,
>> yes. >> Thank you. Thank you. The motion passes. >> Thank you. Appreciate it all and appreciate Carrie for you to be here. Uh moving on to 7B, we have uh consent to assignment of the TIFF note and redevelopment agreement for the Emory
apartment project. Amy. >> All right. Thank you. This is a little bit of an administrative task that we're going to um talk about today and it's related to the Emory apartment affordable housing tiff. the developer of that project, Enclave,
is moving from a construction financing situation to permanent financing. And in doing so, um, they need to have they they have some renaming and and whatnot to do on the the developers agreement
and the TIFF note. And so as part of that agree our master development agreement um this requires the EDA to consent to that type of a transfer and so um the city attorney has reviewed
that document and has approved that transfer. So we are are just looking to clean that up a bit and approve that transfer for Enclave for their permanent financing. >> Thank you Amy. uh more of a cleanup
item. I know we've done this in the past for for some of the projects as well. So, um any comments, questions for Amy on item 7B. >> Okay, hearing none. Is there a motion on 7B? >> So move, Chael.
>> Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second? >> I second. Anderson, >> any discussion? Okay, hearing none, we'll do a roll call vote. Amy. >> All right. Thank you, Amdy. Yes. >> Anderson.
>> Yes. >> Balco. >> Le Point. >> Yes. >> Moore. >> Yes. >> Ness. >> Chauffeelt. >> Yes. >> Soik. >> Yes. >> And White. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Motion passes.
>> Thank you, Amy. Uh, moving on to 7C, the economic development report. Matt, >> thank you, Chair Le Point. Um, my uh the economic development report is uh contained in your packet. Um, but I'm going to um shift off to a more of a a
conversation about like what's happening in the news right now. And so, one of the things that I think we've all seen is business closures. And as Morehead residents, we're always a little more sensitive to uh when a Morehead business close, it's, you know, we take it personally. if a business closes in any other town, we're not as concerned about
it or we don't follow it so closely. So, I just wanted to bring it up and um this will kind of set up um next month's meeting when we really talk about what we can do as an EDA. But, so the first part is, you know, we've heard there's been a several closings that have happened that we've we've seen in the
news, whether it's a coffee shop or we see um other um businesses struggling. We want to know what we can do about it. And and that's always the hard part. um whether it's on the city's behalf or what can the EDA do, what can we do as citizens and and our our start is
businesses open and businesses close. That is going to be part of this um about this, but it does feel like it's happening a little bit more than usual right now. And that's that's the question is what can we done? And and it's not easy to answer that. Um most of
the time, you know, from our from from sitting in my chair, we never really know why this the stoing. um whether we see a rumor of why it happened or it was in the newspaper and and we get well not enough sales too
high of rent which is pretty generic um uh through there. So we don't always get the the the real message of what's happening which could be health legal problems or other things that that really don't have anything to do with the business but their exterior you know their external factors that that make a
decision um the owner make a decision to just not do that anymore. Um and and the very rarely um they will tell you the business closed because the food I cooked was horrible and nobody wanted to
eat it or I couldn't figure out my service model and everybody was mad when they left my business. You know, you don't hear the real stuff. Um so it's always tough to for us to try and fill in the blanks. Um sometimes that's frustrating and we see it a lot of times is um a me a message gets broadcast over
social media that the business is about to close either tomorrow or in 30 days if if it doesn't happen. At that point it's really hard for us to do anything when it's imminent. Um we really do want to help businesses out. We want to we want to be able to connect them with the
right resources um when we do have time. There are lots of organizations uh in place. Um there's the small business development center that can help with business plans and and how do you work through um something that's troubling you in the business model. Uh the West Central initiative which is um um part
of you know can support with low interest loans or no interest loans depending on the situation within it. But all of these take time to be able to really connect with these businesses and it's it's really about transparency. if if they're connecting to whether it's it's a council person, it's somebody
that's on um this commission or just somebody in the city that says, "Hey, I'm dealing with this right now. I could really use some help." That's where we can be alerted and and really figure out where the services can be uh to help them deal with it effectively.
Unfortunately, we don't have millions of dollars sitting um in a bucket for us to just uh fix problems like right now. Uh but there are services that we can do. Um, I've got a great example that we've been working on. Um, you've probably all aware
Mexican market had a fire um recently. It's probably been two months now. And Amy Espinosa, the owner, has been working through the cleanup um and getting um getting back into business. Um, we discovered as we've just been checking in with her and um and Amy
Thorp has been really good about following her on Facebook to to get all the the good information. um she shared that as the cleanup has come along um insurance will not cover the full cost of replacing her tortilla making machine. And so we heard that and we're
like, "Ah, I bet we can try and connect her with somebody." And so um we've reached out uh we actually have this meeting tomorrow with Greg Wagner from uh from the West Central Initiative to talk to Amy for just that thing. It's whether it's a low interest loan or it's gap financing from the bank, there are
services. And so we'll have that conversation tomorrow um and give other options. So it's it's probably our best example of when we know something is happening and um we're trying to help and assist of businesses, there are resources out there that we can connect
people with, but we need to know um before it has happened to use a um Jason will appreciate this as a as a fireman. Um don't call us about fire protection after the house burned down. We need to know a little bit before um the emergency comes and then that way we can
pull resources. I I would like to point back to our businesses on Center Avenue. This is a great example of having a conversation long before there becomes a problem. Uh I think I talked to Sean about this probably he was sharing this five months before. I mean I think it
was in January. Um the businesses in that group were already talking about okay we know that construction is going to be tough. We know, you know, we'd rather, you know, wave a magic wand and have it done in one day, but we know it's going to be timely. How do we how do we work through it? How do we prepare for the construction? How do we work
through it during construction? And what are we going to do after construction? And I think just in your flyer of tour cones, that really shows they've done all those three pieces to make sure that they're stable throughout and and give them a great chance. That's the piece of uh as we work on economic development,
how do we connect with businesses? how do they share the information that they need or what they're looking for? Because a lot of times we can connect people um to these businesses that need it. Um uh another example and I have not made the connection yet, but um I think
we saw sifted and suite um you know is is looking at either exiting the business or having a partner come in. I happen to have a a nice discussion uh with a potential business startup um that could use that commercial kitchen. And so I'm trying to make those
connections and um you know it's very urgent when it's when it's really late like this. If it would have been two months ago or three months ago, it might have been a lot easier to to start those conversations. So again, the information getting to us sooner than later really helps us connect with our um with our
resources to really help them walk through um and sometimes it's back to the SBDC to talk about their business plan. Um and and just have a relook and and that's the the big piece. And so we want to hear about uh as businesses um how we can try and help or what are the
resources that we can connect people to. Thank you, Matt. Uh, is any comments from or questions for Matt? I see council member White has her hand up. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, Matt, I really appreciate that. And, um, I just want to
add to that. I think I agree with you that right now there are circumstances that, um, are just a little bit different. And it reminds me very much of how we responded to things during co that you know in normal times as you said businesses open businesses closed
but right now there's things that are particular challenges that are unique to what we're have experiencing now. You know we've had higher inflation now for an expended extended period of time and along with that higher interest rates we have um tariffs we have um supply chain
issues. So these aren't, you know, these so what we're seeing is businesses that in previous years would have been would have been thriving, but right now things are particularly challenging and you know and so I I think we all feel like we want to do everything we can to keep
those businesses and help them weather these what we hope are limited, you know, short-term or temporary challenges. And so the one thing I would say is I know I uh I'm not the only one who has been talking about this. It'd be great if we took some time right now to
look at some of the tools that we have and see if we might tweak them a little bit to help some of our um current businesses. So examples such as the we've got the border city enterprise zone fund um employee credit. That's a
great resource, but it can only be used for new and expanding businesses. And similarly, we have the Morehead Revolving Loan Fund that also is for new and expanding businesses. So, I'm just wondering, I'd love to get the ball rolling of could we um have a meeting
soon to try to look at some of the current tools and see if we might want to tweak them a little bit to see if we can help um help to meet some of the the existing needs to keep those businesses going because in the end, we know that
every time we lose a business, you know, we're trying to bring in new businesses and expand, but every time we lose a current business, that sets us back and it's going to be that much harder to really get to where we want to to have a more thriving uh commercial uh you know
base in Morehead. >> Thank you, Council Member White. Uh Dan, do you have anything you want to add on that? >> That that would be great. Yeah, Council Member White makes great points. I think we all agree that, you know, and it's time to take a look at our tools and so we hear that and we also hear the sense of urgency that we want to get going
right now. So if it's okay um maybe the team can pull together some information resources and then have that um uh well we we have some things moving now that almost will work as a demonstration to how we can make improvements. There's also some opportunities to work with say
Minnesota deed with our enterprise zone fund border cities how that can be interpreted things like that pull some of that information together so that in the next few weeks possibly probably the next EDA meeting we could be um talking about what decisions look like and what um pulling some of these levers in
regards to what the tools um can be. >> If I can add to I I would say um there's a couple different points and I appreciate Council Member White and Matt's uh comments there too. You know, I think of the collaboration that we have on the EDA right now. We got Amy with SPDC. Uh we've got a greater MBA
here as well. You know, I think that collaboration, we talk about how it's working on the center avenue with the tour to cones of this partnership and working together, having that open uh ended communication of what real issues are and and again, some of them we may
not be able to solve with money. Uh some of them could be just communication and how we spread the word. Some of it could be specific legislation that we need to go for in future years or program tweaks, etc. So, you know, if that that sense of bringing the right people
probably at the table might empower uh some of those folks that maybe are just neck deep in their business work that they just can't uh take the time away to uh to be able to have those uh honest conversations with what's going on. So, there's any way we can kind of continue to kind of bridge that gap, open those
doors. Um, you know, get the right people in the room to have those conversations, I think it would be helpful. Um, I agree. I think, uh, looking at the programs, I think would be helpful just to know where we we sit on things. Um, you know, again, I don't know if money will be the answer on it, but money doesn't always have to be the
answer. It could just be that communication that we need to figure out, too. So, uh, I'll look to, you know, Dan, Matt, um, and obviously our partners in the room. Maybe we can just work to see if we can bridge that gap and bring people together. >> Chairman, the point. Can I Yes, please. >> Can I just interject something here?
>> Um, you know, I think that this is probably an eyeopener of what we what we think every day when we drive through Morehead. We are the city of Morehead. I feel like and why I live in Morehead is because I feel like we are a very
relationshipbased community. And with those relationships, it isn't just with the city council. It isn't just with the EDA. It's I I mean, we have so many opportunities in Morehead to build a relationship with these smaller businesses right now. I
just I want to hats off to to Staca for boots on the ground that she has been for the greater MBA because Dan Molly can't do that. Well, can you Dan? Just kidding. But the I mean the city that's not what
our city does. You know, there's we've each got a role in this like Amy had brought up earlier. You know, now it's up to us. Here's the action plan that's come about. Now we go out and spread that word. But I really think that we need to look at the relationships in a different way than just money. It's
supporting your neighbor because each and every one of us, you know, Shauna is our neighbor. It doesn't matter who that business is. They are our neighbors and they are our community and they may be there for us sometime that we need the help as well. So, I just really want to
drill down on that relationship piece and not forget about this once Center Avenue is paved and done and and let's stay the proud Morehead that we are and built on relationships and not just a business in Morehead. Let's let's just focus on that relationship piece
especially moving forward and not lose that. >> Thank you, Kim. Um maybe other one other comment I would have if we're leading into that August workshop is maybe just looking at best practices. cuz I know, you know, this isn't unique to Morhead. We certainly have a unique community
being a border one, but um the economic uh inflation, the other uh impacts that are out there are being uh you know, affected in other communities. So maybe if there's some other uh you know, like cities or cities across the state that are doing some things and I mean most
cases like economic development, it's ripping off the best idea from somebody else too, right? So uh let's look around and maybe see it and bring some of those ideas to that August workshop too. That being said, any other comments uh from the group? Okay, hearing none. Thank you, Matt, for your your report
there. Uh eight, again, as always, just a reminder for the public and for our members here, too. Uh we got information updates on there on the Spark Center, downtown Morehead Vision, building and housing updates, and the 11th Street underpass. So, uh feel free to uh look at those if you can. And without any
other comments, we are adjourned. Thank you all.