VCEDC agenda items
- Approval of Last month’s meeting
- Review Treasurer’s Report
- Funding from communities- where are we on requesting matching funds to help with the County funding? Reports from:
- Don- McCall
- Rob- Cascade
- Cammi- Donnelly
- Bylaw changes as presented by Scotty Davenport at last month’s meeting-
- Discussion
- vote to approve changes
- Update from committee tasked to research other ED communities and discuss job descriptions. This is the only one that I have with me. Karla and Bob have sent others. Can you bring these to the meeting for discussion.
Employee job descriptions
- Tina Wilson, Western alliance includes Owyhee county plus rural canyon county. 7 cities
- Funding from Dpt of commerce rural development plus Support from communities based on population and members of the alliance.
- Board is one elected official from each city plus commissioner from each county plus member companies including Idaho Power, not Blake. Pay to participate, as little as $100 and large ones $1000. Dept of Labor also participates. 12 total, plus or minus based on their availability.
- They have budget for normal salary and expense, additional considered by board case by case with extra funding. $75000 per year for ED salary and normal expense.
- Tina only paid position. Works full time.
- Owyhee county employee, get admin support there. Board members with expertise provide some support like accounting. She travels extensively through her jurisdiction. Including council meetings, chamber meetings. Roughly 1500 miles per year driving.
- Initially she did a lot of work networking with community and business leaders to get to know them.
> Board supports her involvement outside their jurisdiction as long as it doesn’t interfere.
> They rotate meetings thru the member cities.
> They have paid webmaster for web site.
> She feels it’s better to have dedicated address and phone for the alliance vs using your own or your business. - She works on retention, expansion, and new businesses in sectors that they have identified as important. Full time ED more important if we cover all those bases.
- She generated $700k grants last three yrs. since she started. Especially if adding paid staff consider adding New Meadows as paying member to help with cost share. She thinks county boundaries are less important than natural commerce and living area. She had original job description from Dept of Labor in county. It’s evolved now.
- She will send original an updated version. She thought our local Dept of Labor rep might have an off the shelf description.
Update from committee’s:
Strategy 1- Valley Talks- newsletter is being printed and will go out for distribution shortly- How to pay for ongoing letter will be open for discussion.
Strategy 2- Business
Strategy 3- Housing- Waiting on information from the real estate community before going forward on sub-committee. Update next month.
Strategy 4- Geothermal
Open discussion-
Adjourn