Good morning. It is 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. I call the economic development authority meeting of the new alm to order. The first item of business is a roll call and we do have a full quorum of members. Number
two is the oath of office for Mike Lee. Welcome, Mike. >> Thank you. I don't know if you want to stand and raise your right hand. I, Mike Lee, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of
Minnesota. >> I, Michael Lee, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of Minnesota. and faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of commissioner of the economic development authority. >> and faithfully and impartially discharge
the duties of the office of commissioner of the economic development authority. >> Said city of New >> said city of New >> in the county of Brown and state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability. So help me God. >> County of Brown and state of Minnesota best of my judgment and ability. So help
me God. >> Thank you. Welcome Mike. >> Welcome. Welcome. >> It's nice to have a full quorum or full number of commissioners again. For item number three, election of officers, I will turn the gavl over to Director
Brego. All right. Um I'll just take this first item until we have a new um president elected to the commission and then I'll turn um turn it back over to the new president. Um, so, um, the agenda is a little bit out of order, so we're going to go to item 3.3, annual
election of officers, um, president. Um, are there any nominations? >> I'll ask if uh, President Mark would like to continue to serve in that role. >> Second. >> I would be willing to continue. >> Okay. And um with Robert's rules of
orders, I do need to ask a few times. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? Okay, we have a nomination for um Michelle Mark to serve as president for another year. All in favor?
>> I I opposed. >> All right, I will turn it back over to Chair Margraph. >> All right, we will go to item 3.2. to elect the vice president. Do we have any nominations? >> I'll nominate Commissioner Reinhardt
Caulk if she's still willing to serve. >> I'd be honored. >> Second. >> Are there any other nominations for vice president? Any other nominations? We have a motion and a second for Commissioner Kulk to be vice president.
All in favor say I. I opposed. Motion carries. And item 3.1, the election of a secretary treasurer for January through December. >> Andrea, you'll take it again. >> I'll nominate Andrea Bee for the vision
of secretary. >> I'll second that. Are there any other nominations? Any other nominations? All in favor of Commissioner Becker as a secretary treasurer say I.
>> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 4.1 EDA December 9th, 2025 minutes. I took a look and didn't have any questions. So, I'll make a motion to approve the EDA minutes from December 9th, 2025.
>> Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 5.1, administrative activities for December 2025. All right. Good morning, Madame
President and commissioners. Um, I don't have a whole lot of notes this month. Um, I did want to mention, um, under the public housing program, we have been notified that we will be getting a, um, HUD inspection of our public housing properties, and that has been scheduled
for February 18th. So, we are starting to prepare for that inspection. We were actually due for an inspection in 2024. Um, and this is the first, um, time they've been back for various reasons at the federal level. So, um, we have been
anticipating this for two years and finally got the email. So, we were expecting that. Um, I'll just note one application was received under the home buyer assistance loan program. And that is the end of my staff report.
I'll make a motion to accept the Economic Development Authority administrative activities for the month of December 2025. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed.
>> Motion carries. Item 6.1 is the EDA January 13, 2026 claims list. I looked um the only question I have is um obviously in regards to kind of that pest control, are we expecting a few more of those to continue? I know that
um we've had some flare-ups with um we are not expecting at this time any further bills like that. Um, we had a tenant that reported an issue early, um, got the apartment treated and we are hoping that will be
the end of it. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Other than that, I have no questions. >> I'll make a motion to approve uh the EDA January 13, 2026 claims list. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion or questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed? Motion carry. Item seven is refunding some of our programs that we do according to our strategic plan. We had talked about doing the same things this year and then throughout the year
starting to strategically plan how we would change these for the next year. Item 7.1 is the small business incentive grant program funding. Um, commissioners, one item I did want to ask is, uh, last year we had given a
priority to retail, restaurant, childare, and light manufacturing businesses. I just wanted to check if that is the same, um, are those the same categories we'd like to give priority to this year, or do you want to make any changes?
>> Would the changes be for this year or would they be for next year? The changes you decide today would be for this year. Okay. >> That will be one of our workshop discussions, correct? >> Yeah. And that will be for future years.
>> In my opinion, I'd like to leave it alone then. We're going to work on it this year. Our policies, procedures, if we change it, we change it for 26 27, excuse me. If we don't, we don't. Okay. >> I agree with that. Yep. Just wanted to point that out and make sure we address
that. I'll motion to allocate the 2026 funds in the amount of $50,000 for the small business instead of grant program. >> I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
>> Um I also should ask um I had proposed um opening the grant cycle February 1st to March 31st. That will give me a little time to publicize that we're opening the grant window um so people can be ready to apply. um and then um have the applications
open for two months. Um that's what we did last year. Um and it worked well. So, >> are you asking people who had applied maybe earlier thinking the funds would be available? Are you reaching out and saying you're going to have to reapply or are you just going to you
know, would that be fair? I mean, I could or do I just publicize it and let them apply if they're still interested? >> Would they understand that they could reapply? I guess would be my question of that on that. If they didn't get it last year, like is the window closed for
them. I I don't think it should be. >> No. So, if they applied last year, um because I can't remember, did we take out the year requirement in there? >> I was just going to ask that. >> That has not been changed. So, that
would be the only thing is if they have been open over a year, then they might not be eligible. So that might be something we'd want to consider changing. >> Yeah. But most I would say most of the businesses that applied at the beginning of the year probably got it and it's the
ones that opened at the end of the year. So they would technically still be eligible for the February through March um application period. And do you remember how many there were that >> there were um I believe two applicants
last year that one was in the priority group I believe it was a child care um but they were the sixth application so they didn't get funded and then there was another business that was in the service
industry so not a priority um and they didn't get funded so we funded five of the seven applicants last year. >> I mean, I would be okay with maybe just reaching out to them to say that the window is going to be opening if they want to reapply if they're still
eligible. >> Like I don't think a business should be necessarily punished for opening at a certain time of the year or not, you know. But um yeah, that's all. >> Okay. We have them.
>> So, so are we saying that the two applicants that were not funded last year, even if they've been open for over a year at this time, we would consider their application or are we extending that? >> I don't I wouldn't say break the rules that we have, but I mean, if they still
qualify. >> Okay. So, they still need to be in that 3mon to one-year window. >> I would say I would say with the way that we have the rules written now. Yeah. >> Okay. I just wanted to be clear. >> Yeah. But if they don't qualify, then I wouldn't reach out.
>> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion or questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 7.2 Get it Ready Single Family Rehab Program. All right. Um
based on the payments that we've had come in from loan payments, um the finance office has instructed us that we would need to um add additional funds of 105,37363 in order to bring that loan fund back up
to $120,000 for 2026. Um, as you can see, um, we did get two loans repaid early last year. A little over $25,000 came in. Um, as a result, we were able to fund some additional
loans, um, last year. So, we actually funded loans in the amount of $145,120 because of that additional money that came in. Um, the average loan received was about $29,000. Um, so five loans uh were able to be
funded last year. >> A question for the finance director. I know it's a hard one, but self-funding, you really don't know or or three to five or >> Well, you know, in the years where the program isn't used completely, it pushes that date back more. And then um when
people pay them early and then we give out more loans, you know, that year than we would normally, um it changes the date. Um I'm looking at both for this program and for the multif family, I think the self-funded year has moved out to like 2033 2034. >> Okay.
>> Assuming the program would be fully used, >> fully >> between now and then. Yeah. U I'll make a motion to allocate 2026 funds in the amount of $105,37363 cents for the get ready single family rehab program. >> Second.
>> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion or questions on this program? All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 7.3, Home Buyer Assistance Loan Program. >> All right, President and Commissioners.
Um, as you can see in the report, um, we had three loans repaid early last year around, uh, $25,500 additional funding came back in. Um, as a result, we were able to fund seven loans last
year and the total amount of $65,25. The average loan uh, received last year was 9315. Um the average loan amount has been increasing over the years as home prices are increasing. So when we have our work
session on this, we may want to look at, you know, do we want to keep the amount at 10,000 or do we maybe need to look at potentially increasing that amount um just to keep up with home prices. Um, so the EDA would need to allocate
$30,126.96 to bring the available balance back to 50,000 for loans in 2026. If there's no questions, I'll make a motion to allocate 2026 funds in the amount of $30,126.96
for the home buyer assistance loan program. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Item 7.4, 4 multifamily rental rehab program.
>> All right, President and Commissioners, uh we would need to allocate funds in the amount of $65,47845 cents um in order to bring this fund back to $150,000 for 2026. Uh four loans were funded um last year
and the total amount of $150,000. The average loan received last year was $37,500. Um, one loan was repaid early in the amount of uh just over $41,000. Um, and that came in right at the end of
the year. So, that amount carried over. Um, and that's why we're not having to put quite as much into this fund this year. I will make a motion to allocate 2026 funds in the amount of $65,47845 cents for the multif family rental rehab
loan program. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> I'll just mention I do already have two applicants for this program and a third um application is expected to come in this week. So that fund may already be
out of money for the year. >> That's good. We have a motion, a second. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 8.1 is Wendy Anderson service agreement. And I see
that we have Miss Anderson here. Should anyone have questions? >> All right, President and Commissioners. Um Wendy has given us her proposal for 2026. Um she is asking for a $200 a month increase in her contract. um bringing
the total for the year to $42,000. Um the contract includes two training sessions, um in-house client meetings twice a month here in New Alm, as well as follow-up um consults in her travel time. Um I know um Wendy typically puts
in hours above and beyond what we're paying her for. So, she's available by phone, by Zoom, um, beyond the two meetings a month. Um, but like you said, she is here if you have any questions
for her. She can come up to the podium. >> I don't have any questions. And, uh, we did authorize it in our EDA budget. So, I'm going to authorize the city manager to execute an agreement with Wendy Anderson, the amount to $42,000. >> Second. We have a motion and a second.
Any further discussion or questions? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Item 8.2 is the new brick 2026 funding request and we have Mr. Brown here.
All right. Um yeah, President, commissioners, um Newick did um submit a funding request for 2026 in the amount of $50,000. Um, this is a contract we've had for several several years now and they're asking for another year of funding. Um,
like you said, um, their executive director, Steve Brown, is here if you have any questions for him. >> Yes, please come on up and state your name and address. And >> Steve Brown, uh, president of New Brickers
President, you want my address? It's 1604 Howenstein Drive. in New Home, Minnesota. >> Do you have anything exciting and new happening? >> Well, >> I read something about robotics.
>> Yeah. Well, now the robotics is is uh I think the the public schools are now really starting to get involved with robotics, which I think is fantastic. and um I've been doing a lot of work with the other other schools and and I think that they're really coming on
board and um our CTE committee has grown u dramatically this year and also our tiny home project is we have permits now. Um we're ready to break ground. We're just have the weather issue. So,
as soon as things clear up and we have a good clean window, probably early spring, I'm hoping that we'll uh get the first projects going. Any other questions? Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> We have had this request for several years and every year I feel we say only one more year that we are going to fund this. Right now my position is to not fund this. However, I am excited with some of the things that you are doing at Newick and I think it folds into some of
what our strategic plan is. I would be more willing to like say you have a funding need for CTE. I would be more willing to fund something specific rather than general funding to New Brick. other commissioners,
>> not a commissioner, but as mayor um sat in on the last several years about 50,000 while it was stated this may be the last year, it was never fully action to be only the last year. I believe that new deserves an investment in economic
development and because we don't have full-time staff as you did try at one point to have a full-time position dedicated to EDA that it's important for us to look in in a broad stroke what uh
new or new brick is doing. uh they dovetail into education which is part of our strategic plan going forward and uh they're working on the tiny house project but it doesn't end there. there's a lot of other behind the scenes and I don't know how you could have them
come in and specifically add for a particular project going forward that might be more realistic but I think we're in still in transition looking for them to be sustainable on their own and I see it as an opportunity to support
EDA and new >> I'm at a tail tailgate on the mayor's comments this is one of the first times that I'm more than famili familiar with the funding when the city did it and the whatnot with those positions. We never saw a lot of activity the last couple of years. I'm happy we've seen some of this
activity. Kudos to you. I mean four years we got no reports, no nothing and we were shelling out a hundred, right? >> No. Oh, and the city or 50 I mean excuse me years ago >> the city gave 50,000 and PUC gave 50,000
um back when it was the economic development corporation and their executive director would report to the economic development authority monthly. >> I mean I'm still forunding it if we say one more year because I am seeing activity more than I have in the 15 20
years. That's my honest opinion. I agree with Dave and we do have a lot of work sessions. We plan on being really busy this year so we can kind of make more plans and and in this year make changes going forward if we feel like we need to. Um
I I feel okay funding it this year and then as we discuss things further this year, maybe make decisions and changes if we need to. >> I'm going to agree with um that as well and the mayor. Um I think
previous to Steve coming in um we weren't seeing or getting what we needed. Um since then there's been a lot of movement and what I would say a short amount of time and progress um actionable progress. And
to me, I don't know that it would be realistic to um expect them to be fully self-funding in that short of a time period just looking from the time that um Steve started and where we're at today. So if progress is happening and
measurable and we're all these things are in motion um and to me this is the most collaborative um that people have been with each other in several years. So um why break that momentum? Um so I
would be in favor of funding this again another year. I also feel at least in our side in my world a private economic development arm is very valuable. Sometimes when things got it into the public realm it can affect the outcomes of things. So
I'm I'm 100% behind the funding new brick for another year. >> I guess it's my turn. Um so I will say that I do agree with uh President Mark that we want to look at funding kind of specific needs so that we know where these funds are going. again cuz we're
accountable for these dollars. But, you know, given just kind of the the track that we're on right now with New Burk, I'd be fine supporting that 50,000 for another year. You know, with the understanding as we go through these meetings and have these strategic planning sessions um and use the information that we've received from our
consultants um to make some decisions that we we take a really hard look at making sure that we're funding more specific needs in the future. And just for perspective on on my side of things, um you know, we always talk
about them looking for other sources of funding. And I can tell you in the meetings that I've been on with Steve, um with other um consultants and things like that, he is actively looking at other sources of funding that aren't specifically tied to government agencies
and things like that. Um, you know, it's it's few and far between when everyone's fighting for housing dollars and a lot of things, but I know that Steve is actively out there trying to find other sources of funding for his projects and kind of thinking of creative ways. Um,
and much like everyone here, you know, they are actually getting to that self sustainable phase. I mean, they like Steve said, they have the building permits. That's the first actionable item since I've been here that that E
new slash the EDC has actually taken in that step to be self-sufficient. So, I'm excited to see that moving forward uh and what that outcome's going to be. >> One of the things I look at is where we were a year ago to a year to today. And
it will probably be a question for the report coming up, but last year we talked tiny homes and at the time it was going to start second quarter of last year. And I asked at the time, is that feasible? And the answer was yes. And we're still here with no tiny homes. And
I understand things happen and you have to work with a city that's maybe slower and things, but I I also want to make sure that you know what we see in your report is actually going to happen to make it unanimous. I am willing to vote
with my peers, but I do also want to see in this next year that what is said is going to happen this year, we see actually has happened by the end of the year. Commissioners, what are your wishes? >> I'll motion to approve the new home
business resource and innovation center 2026 funding request in the amount of $50,000 and authorize the executive director to execute the contract. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion or questions?
All in favor say I. I >> opposed. Motion carries. Item 9.1, economic development activity report. >> All right, president and commissioners. Um, as you see in my report, um, at our
partnership meeting last month, we discussed St. Peter's Community Land Trust Program. Um, that's something that we are, um, potentially considering looking at in the future for new. um
child care team is continuing the planning for the spring provider uh child care provider training weekend. Um and then we have Wendy Anderson here to present her fourth quarter report. Um if you have any questions for her,
she can come up to the podium. She is not here. The only other thing that I'd like to add to the report is I know um we had said we were going to bring back uh Oakill's um loan this month uh per their request. We're probably going to bring
it back u sometime at a later date, potentially February, but I would say probably March or April is going to be a better time for them to um have that loan. Commissioners, what are your wishes? >> I just want to note real quickly, I
think Heather might be checking to see if Wendy is here. Um, that we're funding Wendy. um was it 42,000 and which isn't that far off the mark
from what New Brick is asking but I I'm observing a difference in standards here in terms of what the expectations are for reporting measurements this is also a large amount of money and I get a little confused why one person is held
to one level of expectation and another I mean can give a very vague two sentence report. Um so if if that is something or that is something that's going to continue to be
funded that um that should also come with the expectation of some measurable outcomes and um who's being served, how many are being served um instead just kind of flying under the radar here.
because I I take it she's not here to give her report. She She was here. She stepped out. I I don't know where she went. Um I know in the past she's been told that what she's providing is um
acceptable. Um, so I think we need to give her some clear expectations of what we want to see from her in her reports and I'm sure she'd be more more than happy to provide that. Um, I know chair Mark Rrad Mark graph had asked for some
numbers and and in the past this has been um communicated to her that this is this is great. This is what we want to see. Um, so I think if if we're wanting to see more than that, we just need to be clear with her what exactly
you want her report to include and we can communicate that to her. And I think one of the things that would be helpful is um we see the meetings, but what was the outcome? Because one of the things we were saying with New Brick, I mean, how many times have they met on
tiny homes? Uh, that probably could be in excess of nine, but we don't have the tiny homes yet. Here we have business meetings to encourage businesses and assist them. Uh but how many of them have actually opened and or not as a
result of the investment that we've put into this? >> Maybe a dashboard would be good. >> We're I'm working with nine businesses. These are in this phase, this phase, this phase. maybe two dropped off and decided not to open, which can also be a
win that they didn't put their time and effort into something that wasn't going to be viable. But um yeah, and what does that businesses assisted mean? What what kind of work is that? >> And I think utilization is important.
Um, I think it's great that she's making time to be available and be flexible uh to meet with small business owners or um help plan, but is that being utilized? How much of that time available time is
being utilized for that? Does that make sense? >> Uh, yeah. Yeah, I know she >> if she's here, you know, 2 hours a week or 4 hours a week, how much of that time
is spent engaging with prospective business owners? >> Yeah, I mean, she does sort of include total hours in here with prep time and meetings attended, total hours, not including travel. Um, you're
saying you want to see that broken down more specifically? She has that she spent 109 hours with, you know, prep time, business plans, business marketing, performance, loan requests, business startups, applications and forms, entity and
review agreements, loan prep. Um, yeah, I think maybe just tracking that a little bit more. So, how many hours on each area or >> or potentially like sharing successes like what have these outcomes been?
>> We we I honestly know nothing about any of the companies that she's worked with. Are there any success stories that we can share? >> Direct interaction. >> And do we want her naming the businesses she's working with? I mean, that's kind of we said nice thing with new brick.
No. >> No. We kind of said with new brick it's nice that they don't have to be public. I think it would give an option. I mean, wouldn't we want to share success stories? I mean, leave it up to the business, but if you know, >> right? They don't have to share.
>> I mean, I'm all for confidentiality and privacy on, you know, things that are kind of in the works. And, you know, I understand that because we've seen many, many instances of things kind of fall apart because, you know, people get wind of something when they don't have all of the information. But >> um but you know if there are success
stories that have come out of the work that she's doing I think that I mean even just to share with us so that we understand that we're getting value out of that because um I do agree with Lindsay you know we're making an investment in her that's almost as high
as what we are investing in new and that it does make sense. I agree with Lindsay about a little more in-depth report, but I just asked the manager. We'd have to check if that is actually public information or not. Can she name the
businesses that she's dealing with? >> So, I think initially no, but >> don't either on opening obviously. >> Yeah, on opening. So, I know one of the businesses that she she's worked with is actually open and being really successful and I think it's
a huge impact to the community with what getting them through that phase. So, you know, I think stuff like that we can probably put out there um because it is now an open business just we help them assist them. >> Some of the business been working with is opening this week as well. Some of
these things could be um achieved without breaking confidentiality too. Um so if we're looking at one week here, that time spent could be with one
business and at the end of this interaction or is that business opening? Did they get the funding they need? How long have they been open? So the time can be spent, but is the outcome what we
what we would want in order to continue to invest in this? And is that outcome one or two success stories a year? Do we want to see more than that? So just something that we can kind of measure while still being respectful of
confidentiality um to make sure that we're getting a return on this investment. So in our timeline that we got um every month or every other month we plan kind of plan on having a work
session. Am I right? Like we have a we have a timeline where we want to talk about each thing that we want to work on for the next year. Um that's definitely those like like with our loans and our grants and and Newick and and Wendy. I think those are all things that we can hash out and change what we want to
change what our expectations are for the next year. Where is that? >> I would agree with doing that, but just maybe providing something now that gives a little bit more uh specifics on what we'd like to see from her report, and
that's not >> to any fault of hers. She has given us exactly what we asked for. So, I would just say if we can ask for a little bit more um in-depth report, something that we can measure a little bit more um and
then we can work on any other details like Char said as those work sessions come up. >> Yeah, I can definitely ask her to provide more detail in her reports going forward um for 2026. and
I made some notes. So, I hope I'm asking for what you're wanting to see. We'll find out. All right. Where are we after all this great discussion? I don't remember. Do we have a motion on the floor? Yeah, I think there was a motion and a
second approved that already. Yep. >> All right. Just in case. Go ahead. >> Just in case. I mean, I can make a motion to accept if we don't have anything. >> Right. I don't think we did. >> Make a motion to accept the economic development activity report for December 2025 activities.
>> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Thanks for bringing that up, Lindsay. >> Yes. >> All in favor say I. >> I. opposed. Motion carries. Item 10.1 is the new brick fourth quarter report. And I'm not
sure if Steve forgot that he had this report on the agenda and thought he only needed to be here to find out if their funding got approved because he also has left. Um, unfortunately, >> yeah, I do like myself reading the report. I know what they're working on,
what they've established, how close they are to their goals. >> It it would be nice to ditto on the last topic similar to this. >> Yes. I was I was curious um on the item two or initiative two last year. He had
mentioned perhaps using the CTE center for that, but that I'm wondering what happened if the CTE center just said no or because it looks like they're looking for another place. I thought the discussion previously had
been the land they were trying to get donated from 3M to build the incubator space. Um, yep, they had said that and they also said perhaps the CTE center. I mean, that's a question we can we can
ask Steve kind of that question and we can email that out to to the commission on where they are with that. >> One other thing I did want to mention in the report, they are working with the small business development center um to
open a satellite office in New Alm. um should that happen then we may need to discuss whether we want to continue the contract with Wendy Anderson because that would be a duplication. So if if that happens if that comes to fruition
that may be a gamecher for us on that front as well and mayor I believe you are on the committee that's doing development for the CTE center. Is that correct? >> That's correct. How's it going? >> I am as well too. Okay.
>> And great progress there as far as um uh that group has agreed uh to seek funding uh for the coordinator position which seems to be the reason that that project hasn't taken off as it could and should.
uh like having a principal in the school. Uh we need a coordinator for that project that can not only oversee daily operations but look for funding. And so um that um committee has agreed to look for at least two years of
funding which would be 240,000 or three years would be the desirable goal which would be $360,000. Um so that was at the last meeting that was the decision. So, uh, very encouraging.
>> Would that be funded through the school district still or would that be a separate? >> That would be a capital campaign asking businesses to donate. >> Who's who's receiving the donations? >> I believe >> it's the ISD88 foundation is going to be
the fiscal agent for that fundraiser. Okay. >> Um, we're waiting to get confirmation on that, but I believe that was the plan. Well, it sounds like we had a chance to kind of uh review the report. If there's no questions, I will make a motion to receive an order filed the new own
business resource and innovation center fourth quarter report for 2025. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. There being no
further items on the agenda, this meeting is adjourned.