##VIDEO ID:Xi_V3Tn-pJ8## e e e e e e e e e good morning we had some technical difficulties so it is now 802 a.m. on Tuesday January 14th 2025 and I call The Economic Development Authority meeting to order our first item of business is the roll call we do have five members present which is a quorum item two .1 is oath of office we welcome Dave Christian to our commission okay know the routine raise your right hand I Dave Christensen do solemnly swear I David H Christian not Christianson do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota and faithfully and impartially discharge the duties and faithfully and impartially charge the duties of the office of Commissioner of Economic Development Authority of the office of commissioner of the Economic Development Authority said city of New in city of newm in the county of brown in the county of brown and state of Minnesota and state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God the best of my judgment and ability so help me God thank you welcome item three is the election of officers Commissioners would you like to take this one by one or should we do it as a slate I think doing it as a slate would be appropriate I am not um thinking of any changes I guess in the agreed so is that a motion to keep the same officers sure yes I move to retain the same officers as 2024 second we have a motion and a second any further discussion um I think the one thing that we did note is the secretary and treasur is of one position now is that correct no it's still you it's just there was something different with my position versus oh okay perfect yeah you're good all right perfect then no nothing else isn't that what it was all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries item 4.1 Eda December 10th 20 24 minutes I make a motion to approve the um minutes of December 10th 2024 second we have a motion in a second all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries IA 5.1 administrative activities December 2024 all right good morning president Mark gra and Commissioners um I do have a couple items to highlight for you in the report this month um note under the Section 8 report um that we've been notified that linderhof Park Apartments has decided not to renew their Section 8 contract with HUD um that contract will expire April 30th 2025 um it's our understanding that HUD will issue us an additional 56 vouchers um for those tenants um and I have since the agenda went out been in contact with the hfield office on this um they are applying to the um Washington DC head headquarters uh for these vouchers for us I don't know that any board action needs to be taken to accept the vouchers I think it when a Project based housing project doesn't renew their vouchers tenant protection vouchers are issued to the local Housing Authority so those tenants don't lose their rental assistance um so those 56 households will get a voucher from us they can choose to stay at linderhof with that voucher or they can um move elsewhere um like they could with our voucher they can choose where they want to live um so we're expecting to find out sometime in March if that um application's been approved so that we'll have the vote VES um starting you know hopefully May 1st so those tenants don't lose any rental assistance um also the Pipestone HRA has contacted us to find out if we'd be interested in taking some of their vouchers um their program is severely underutilized and they would like to um not administer vouchers anymore um they have I think about 22 vouchers leased so we said we would be willing to take take those um and maybe a few extra so maybe 25 to 30 of their vouchers they are waiting for the Blue Earth Mano Eda to notify them if they'll take the remaining vouchers so we're waiting to hear back from from them so with those changes if we receive all of these additional vouchers um we would need to hire another part-time housing aid to help uh manage that increased workload so the vouchers that we're taking Are all uh for the most part being utilized so it wouldn't help or hurt our program but it would um help the households keep their rental assistance um were there any questions on that because those are some big changes coming for us is there a reason people are dropping the section eight or the HUD sorry um as far as like why Linder is not renewing or I I don't know why they've made that decision um you know those apartments have been around for many many years in new Alman have been operating as a Project based Section 8 I don't know why their management has made that decision um okay wondered if there's different regulations coming down that made them want to not that no not that I'm aware of um and then you said we would have to hire an additional staff yeah so those vouchers come with funding and that funding would pay for that additional um part-time staff person um none of none of those um positions are paid for with local taxpayer money or city budget that's all federal funding that we receive to administer those programs all right um and then I just wanted to note under the Eda fund um the city had some remaining arpa funds that they transferred to the Eda just over $1,400 so um just wanted to note that otherwise are there any other questions seeing none I will offer a motion to approve the administrative activities report for December of 2024 I will second that we have a motion in a second any further discussion I'll in favor say I I I opposed motion carries item 6.1 Eda January 14th 2025 claims list Commissioners what are your wishes I didn't see anything on here out of the ordinary so I will move to uh approve the Eda January 14th 2025 claims list second we have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries item seven is The Economic Development Authority the first one 7.1 through 7. for are filling the loan programs and various programs that we have I do have something to bring up before we discuss 7.1 through 7.4 and that is um I would like to discuss tabling those until another meeting till we have the time to do strategic planning to decide how we do want to spend this money this is $245,000 that we would be spending otherwise so um while I don't disagree for strategic planning that is something we're going to be doing this year and doing a strategic plan just in general um that I think Heather we're going to bring that to the February meeting to put out the RFP for that um these programs were put into place uh over time from 2019 2020 2021 somewhere around there um with the purpose of being revolving loans um and we're kind of in that process right now as you see most of these programs um are below what we would allocate normally so when you look at home buyer assistance um that's a $50,000 revolving Loan Fund that we're trying to establish we only need to put 32,000 um and that goes for all four or three of the programs the last one the small business cent of Grant is just a grant so non-revolving on that um I would I would recommend putting the money in for 2025 while we go through the strategic planning process um so we can get the funds out because when we look at the home buyer assistance program that pretty much gets spent every single year get it ready is fairly close the only one that I think is underutilized would be the multif family rehab um and then look at potentially non-f funding um those in 2020 26 uh when we go through that strategic planning process um because we do have some interest in I know for sure the home buyer assistance and a couple for the get it ready um this year I have a question about the When you mention um the multif family rehab loan being underutilized that surprises me because I feel like that should be the most utilized do you think it's just a lack of awareness cuz there's quite a few people doing these projects downtown that would probably qualify it's very low interest I'm wondering why they're not applying I would say probably the cost to rehab is probably the the biggest piece where the ones that are currently under construction though there's a few that are actively yeah um renovating it depends on what they're doing because they need at least for this one they need at least two and they can't be um they can't be Airbnb they have to be actual apartment rental units um so that's part of it um the other side is it's purely bones of stuff so someone would could use it you know just for the roof and that literally spends their entire amount there and they've done nothing to the apartment so part of it is cost but um again we do get kind of the same users using it most of the time when when they do when they do use it so um every time we do a radio spot or after usually after this meeting if it's approved you know there's uptick in in inquiries but people just don't follow through sometimes okay um I have two questions for director Jorgenson the the amounts here that are very kind of specific down to the to the sense those are to True kind of essentially true up what we normally budget right for those corre we leave the programs at their full amount would be able to go out this is just the money needed to replenish those programs and then that money if it would not come out this month say we table it it would just be retained where it it just sits in the checking account basically until somebody asks for it you're just approving the use of those funds so if somebody would apply for a loan or or or go through that process those FS would be available and then next month would these amounts all need to change based on the payments and the changes in the balances or would these kind of be the numbers moving forward I would anticipate they'll keep going lower each year I mean like each month like if we don't approve it till next month would we be looking at these same it would be it would be about the same because these are all based on on the end year end 20124 year end 2024 got it and just I mean they are loan programs I mean if the money goes out it is going to come back eventually more than likely um so it's not other than the grant program of course um it's not just us giving the money away and and never getting it back um regarding strategic planning which I know is starting um what is the timeline on that being completed like if we table this for a month would we be able to revisit this next month or I mean it would six-month process at a minimum because we have to put the RFP out so that would go out after the meeting in February about 30 days for that to come back um and for us to review so either the March um or April or we have a special meeting to approve the consultant getting them on board and then going through that process which at a bare minimum probably two or three months seems to me it would make sense to fund it and then to take action on our findings of strategic planning once we know what we want to do rather than putting a program that seems to have been effective uh on hold at this time is there time in February for us to do in-house strategic planning look at the city strategic plan and say which of those do we want to move forward within this year yeah we can set up a special meeting or right after the or I would probably let's do well we'll send out a doodle to do do something kind of a special work study session um that way by the February meeting you know kind of we can piece that together if that's what everyone wants we can do that you want to do that before the February meeting we can do that one are we able to at least approve the small business incentive grant program given we've put that out there for 2025 and they applicants and I mean that's not one we would change or adjust I'm assuming let's let's go through one by one and we can just in terms of tabling everything or can we table I would say let's go through 7.1 go decide which ones to table on individually okay all right let's go to 7.1 home buyer assistance Loan program director jensson what's the balance in that approximately um $1,132 C okay um I'll make a motion to table item 7 .1 home buyer assistance Lo program until we can meet and discuss um direction for the Eda are there any pending applications right now on this program I have two loans that are scheduled to close this month but that wouldn't be affected because we already okay cut those checks so and they were from the 2024 progr they applied in2 into these numers um new applications I have not received any um so okay we have a motion do we have a second motion dies for lack of a second councilor what are your wishes for 7.1 this seems like a program to me I don't necessarily know we should adjust too much but um know I'll just say um from a staff standpoint this along with the grant program have probably been our two most popular and active programs um I'm I'm a little worried about the beginning of the year tends to be the busiest getting into the spring you know home buying season um so if if we are tabling this you know I certainly would want to let the Realtors and lenders know not to send people my way um until it's you know been decided but all right I will make a motion to allocate the funds um in the amount of $ 32,896 74 for the home buyer assistance home program I'll second we have a motion and a second is there any further discussion in favor say I I opposed I motion we need to do a roll call vote then okay um commissioner culk yes commissioner bker yes commissioner Christian yes commissioner hen yes president Mark Graff no motion carries item 7.2 get it ready single family rehab program so we have 96 um that we need to refund which means it was probably a pretty Pro uh popular program last year is that right do we normally use fund there were two large loans in 2024 yeah I do have one person that's contacted me that intends to apply I don't know the dollar amount they want to apply for so if this is tabled I don't know if there's enough um available for that application but um you know whatever we decide today I can communicate to that applicant Nicole did you say two five was family I confused the two programs yep five loans were funded in 2024 in the total amount of $17,988 and we allocate $120,000 so um this program was almost completely utilized last year we did have a a loan repayment come in um also uh just under $8,500 so with that and what was left we have roughly 10 or 11,000 available um at this time are most people making a monthly payment on this this is a program where um you can wait until your house is sold to repay that loan yeah if you're overage 65 you do not need to make loan payments um there's a lean on the house and when the house is sold the loans repaid in full at that time I don't know how many most are being repaid I want to say there feel half and half maybe are paying and half aren't over the course of the years bring my spreadsheets with I don't know but for sure because are they paying interest on that then or is there interest accumulating on I believe this one is a low interest one or two% but there's not interest accumulating on those 65 right if they're overage 65 there's no interest it just is repaid when the house sells so I mean in my mind those might be some of the things that could be looked at in terms of making some changes not necessarily getting rid of the program but if it's adding value to the house and they're going to sell that house and then it gets repaid is that something where it would be good to still accumulate interest even if it's just one or 2% on that population as well I don't but maybe some questions that could be asked on that program it's also a little bit larger dollar amount um where we could discuss that a little more so this is a program that I guess I would make a motion to table until February I'm really proud that we have this program to offer I really think it's a great thing to offer our city it it helps get homes back into um the buyer field yeah exactly the marketplace um I I don't know that I would make any changes to it I like the low percent interest for the over 65 like zero um and then we need to get more homes back on the market because there's just not a lot of Supply there I wouldn't necessarily want to make any changes to this but I would agree it feels like we just do things because we've done it in the past without really looking at them and seeing if it is good and this could very well be a program that we to keep I would say one month is not going to change what people do if we want to table it I'll just um note uh I am looking on the report here we have 11 loans out at this time and of those six are making payments so it is about it is roughly 5050 um and it is a 2% on those that are making payments and those that are not making payments it is zero we have a motion to table do I have a second I'll second we have a motion and a second do we have more discussion I'm enjoying the discussion we're having so far and to just to clarify tabling it doesn't mean in my mind get rid of the program or decrease funds it's can we make it better do we put more funds into this if it's well utilized um looking at what the interest rates and the are for each group um so definitely not we should get rid of or decrease um because it is a great program so we can have a special meeting before February because it's going to be spring I mean not today you couldn't tell but uh people like to get their projects going in Spring and they want to have their funding set up so but we can approve this in potentially in February yeah we'll we'll send out a d poll to do um a special work study session sometime between now and probably the end of the month so that way we as staff have time to make any changes uh that need to be made to present in the Feb in February all right I'm okay with that we have a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor say I I opposed motion carries item 7.3 multifam rental rehab program I'd make a motion to table this we have a motion to table do we have a second I think if we're going to be holding a special meeting to discuss one that this would be another good one to discuss I think this is a fantastic program and I'd be more curious to understand um why it's underutilized or how we can um push this a little more um especially in certain areas and with strategic planning coming up this could be a uh great thing for a lot of people that are um rehabbing some of these older properties downtown um or other parts of town so I would I would second tabling this one we have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries item 7.4 small business incentive grant program funding my thoughts are we've had these discussions multiple times um we've gone back and forth on it looking at 7500 versus 10 you know 10,000 we're we are trying to make improvements to this program through um giving higher priority to businesses that we are looking to have um I would be fine approving this because we did approve opening the application window in November closing that application window um I think that this is an expectation and I am going to make a motion to allocate 2025 funds in the amount of $50,000 for the small business incentive grant program we have a motion and a second any further discussion I I just want to mention that um we did receive seven applications six of those would have you know met our criteria for the priority businesses and one did not um I just want to make sure everyone's aware of that when you're deciding on the amount so the first five that applied will get funded and the other to I'll I'll notify that they um won't and they probably won't be eligible to reapply because they have to be within their first year of business so next you know if we open up the application cycle again at the end of next year they'll probably be over that onee Mark so I just even if we allocate the funds we could change that potentially for next year though where if you didn't receive the prior year you can reapply is that right technically yes and I would agree we have spent quite a bit of time this past year in 2024 discussing this program and people are expecting it so I would not see changes for it it's also a small business incentive grant program not a new business I mean it is for new businesses but yes we have some flexibility with this because we know that this is the most popular program we have we have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries item 7.5 Eda 2024 annual report I will just note that um the electronic version's in the packet but you all received a printed packet as well um it's up to you if you want to go through it or just receive it I really liked how this was done last year um it just kind of highlights a lot of the things that are going on that not a lot of people maybe understand are there other um areas where this is available this report if somebody wanted to pick it up and just take a look at what we've been doing I have extra copies in my office of the the paper version that you know if someone wants one they can come get one um otherwise it's online in the agenda packet but we can put it on the um website sure as well the chamber can have as well M unless there are any questions I'll make a motion to receive the Eda 2024 annual report as presented a second we have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries item 9.1 new Al business resource and Innova Innovation Center newb fourth quarter report 8.1 oh sorry 8.1 Economic Development activity report um president mcgraph and Commissioners thank you for having me just go ahead and yep we got mixed up we're confused we're on 9.1 we're good hi so I uh thank you for accepting my report I for last quarter I uh I assume everyone has received it and is able to review it um I also uh submitted our request for additional funding for this uh for the future funding for this year and uh I I understand that you've all accepted that or have seen it but and then that will be postponed for later after the financials have been uh discussed so um I'm open to any questions or comments uh that I can answer for you probably um some clarity for me around initiative to business incubation I'm I wonder if there's a disconnect between what incubation means to me at from New Brick because to me that's small business isn't working with small businesses um but you've been very clear that small business is not new Brick's Focus that you're more Focus towards the larger business so I'm curious how that in incubation you see working I mean it's one of your initiatives so what are you doing in that area we're we're we're working on developing an incubation Center for that we've been discussing with 3m actually a land grant to build a incubator that would basically work in Automation and Robotics and being able to uh attract people to work in high- Tech businesses that we can then as startups can come to new home um and create a Workforce Development for the large industry that's here and that's ongoing right now um we're just uh we basically completed the study with with Corey uh and that was all last year spent uh a significant amount of money about $125,000 on on uh making sure that that was something that the community needed and that's all complete uh pretty much there's one more phase uh to do that and then that'll allow us to get grant money to uh actually build the incubator in in the in the city so and in the meantime I I have been working with small businesses that have been coming to me and uh mostly all the restaurant businesses in town that's a big expertise of mine so uh I've been as people ask me i' I've been absolutely uh working with them and have done a couple business plans and uh that's all moving forward so that's our goal is to to help help the community and and build a Workforce that that uh is available for High-Tech industry and we hope it we know it's going to happen so has 3M given any kind of update on where they stand from the land donation standpoint well the land donation is basically complete um there there's just some administrative things that have to be done they went through a plant management change recently and that's taken a lot of their time time so the new plant manager has been sort of shelv this for a while and so it'll be probably the fourth quarter of this year is our plan to really uh be able to get it moving in the meantime we're working on plans and I re redrew the whole uh plan but the the basic plan there includes warehouse space incubator space uh Workforce housing and child care space uh so and I think we've gotten the budget completely reor worked so that so that it all makes sense and uh I'm just finalizing that to be able to present to them and and uh hopefully they it motivates them because they need all those [Music] things the other question I had was on um sustainability in the tiny homes which is an interesting concept and one I thought could work in New Alm as you um do the performa and you start to look at when the income starts coming from that how far out do you project that it will be before you see income from there hopefully soon I uh we actually had our board meeting yesterday and we approved uh the funding to work on immediately on land acquisition and I've already started working on the plans for the first ones what what are our goal is is to be able to get to late spring early summer and and build basically get a land where we can build two sample homes um so that the community can walk through see what these are all about really understand it it's just so difficult in just pictures and things to real get a feel for it so I think we can get them built by the end of summer and then everyone can see it feel it and then we'll sell those uh um at a profit and be able to then hopefully in that that meantime get a larger parcel and things ready to go where we already have the drawings we've already improved the concept we've approved the budgeting and everything by the end of summer and made some money and then be able to um actually do a larger project whether it's on 3M land or other land uh that's available we get help through the city or um other donors as well so um hopefully soon do you have a Target population for this and I think sou Falls has a tiny home Community that's veteran specific and it has veteran services and all of that are you considering a Target population or is this open for whomever would like to have a tiny home um it's open but we really were are you know we're not because we want to really work on Workforce um you know a lot of these we want to be able to do them as short-term rentals you know where Workforce can come through they're they're just all these new projects and things that they're doing they're going to be either market rate or long-term housing and so it really doesn't fill that Gap that that we think we can fill by providing shortterm so that you know if there's somebody who comes and has a new job here and needs a place to stay for three months they can actually have a nice place to stay for three months and then then they can move out or and we can keep them at at a lower rate so that we can work well with the grants that are available as well so I think it's completely different thing but uh we want them to be really nice and and uh good little communities and and I think when people actually see the product they'll they'll be like wow this is a really great thing and and they're not the tiny home is a uh it's kind of a misnomer it's more of a description that fits you into a building code in the size that it is but but when I drive through town here there's there's a lot of very small homes on the streets you know especially in the the early stages that with new home you know a lot of the homes were very small and and in this exact same size range so it's really nothing different it's just being able to build them and have space and be different from an apartment or so uh I I think it'll be a great project and it'll it'll provide sustainability for New Brick as well any other questions for Newber what are your wishes on 9.1 I'll make a motion to receive the new brick fourth quarter report a second we have a motion and a second any further discussion or questions all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries thank you no you're welcome thank Youk now we'll go back up to 8.1 Economic Development activity report um I just have a few things um under the commercial property rehab loan program Note One loan closed in the amount of $1,430 um we did receive one small business grant application during the month of December and uh Wendy Anderson's fourth quarter report is attached um she was not able to attend uh the meeting today but if you have any questions for her I can certainly relay those I don't have any questions um I'll make a motion to accept the economic development activity report for December 2024 I'll second that we have a motion and a second any further discussion um just one more oh one more update um we should be closing on the three lots by the end of the month uh all necessary documentation has been submitted so the Title Company's compiling all of that so closing on those three lots should be before the end of this month thank you those are the lots on Broadway and fourth yeah yeah and so um with the money that we'll be taking in when that sale happens and the fund balance in the rental fund um that'll be about $200,000 that'll get transferred into the Eda fund at some point so right we have a motion in a second any other discussion all in favor say I I opposed motion carries there being no further business this meeting is