Valley County Economic Development Council
September 25, 2013, 4-6 pm
McCall Legion Hall
216 E. Park Street
Members present:Members Don Bailey, Karla Miller, David Papiez, Scott Davenport, Robb Terry, Ken Minshall, and Paul Johnson were present. Public members Bill Weida, Johnny Howard, and Michelle Groenevelt were also present.
Sub-Committee Updates:
Don passed out a draft of an Articles of Incorporation and explained the document and process. This document will be reviewed by the attorney (Steve Lord) and the next draft will be available for review at the next VCEDC meeting. Don said that he will request the $1,000 fee from the McCall City Council from the Economic Development line item. There was some discussion about if the organization should be a membership or non-membership structure. David will contact the County to see if they will pay the portion of the invoice for the Subset Incorporation.
Project Updates:
Business Plan Competition– Karla said the first workshop at the McCall Community College is scheduled for tonight at 7 pm and the second workshop is on October 8 by Bruce Moore in conjunction with a class he is teaching. There will also be two workshops at the McCall- Donnelly High School for technical assistance at the computer lab on October 23 and November 6. Judy Anderson and Johnny Howard have been working hard on the business plan competition effort.
Energy Committee– Rob gave an update on the geothermal probing effort which is likely to start mid-October. There will likely be two stages- first in the Cascade area then in numerous sites up to McCall. Scotty said the County has verbally committed to paying about half of the $3,500 cost.
VCEDC Development:
Strategic Plan– David said that the group might want to promote the strategic plan to the cities, counties and other organizations. The Star News asked for information about the Strategic Plan. There was some conversation about having the cities and county adopt the strategic plan with a resolution. There was discussion about the process and how binding the document should be. The City of McCall will draft a resolution for the strategic plan for the Council’s review that the other communities can use.
Idaho Power Infrastructure Workshop-Bill Weida provided an update by putting some information in the Star News to make sure the public is aware of the voluntary energy planning effort. Idaho Power announced the new energy plan without coordinating with the local energy effort. Bill has been communicating with Blake Watson and he has a copy of the strategic plan. There was some discussion about getting the energy plan adopted by the cities and county. The next Idaho Power meeting is October 17.
Idaho Economic Development Summit– in Boise (Sept. 30- October 1) and Kendra Kenyon (ICOG) will present statewide recognition of the effort. David talked with Kendra about the VCEDC accomplishments. Kendra Kenyon and Randy Shroll (Department of Commerce) will plan to attend the October VCEDC meeting. Bill Willey plans to attend the summit.
Round Table, Calendar and Public Input:
There was discussion on the Nerd Wallet Study Results and quality of schools in the region. The next meeting will include Steve Lord for the first topic and Kendra and Randy will be the second major topic.
Michelle provides the following announcements: The McCall Downtown Master Plan Workshop #3 is scheduled October 30-31 and will focus on implementation strategies. The Lardo Bridge public meeting is tonight at the Hunt Lodge from 5-8 pm.
The next VCEDC meeting is 4-6 pm in Cascade City Hall.