West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
Meeting Minutes
August 1, 2019, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
City Hall – Donnelly Community Room
Members in Attendance: Sherry Maupin (President), Cynda Herrick (Secretary, VP), Nicole Musgrove, Lindsay Harris/Jill Chapman (telephonically), Linnea Hall (telephonically), Thom Sowers, Gene Tyler, Dylan Martin, Patty Wold (telephonically) and Andrew Mentzer (Executive Director).
Members Absent: Dave Bingaman, Heather Soelberg, and Julie Good (Treasurer).
Agenda: Welcome visitors & guests – Delta James, Phil with Holladay Engineering, and Laura Veitch joined the meeting.
Treasurer’s report: Postponed to the following month – bank statements are not out yet.
Approval of July minutes: Gene moved to approve the minutes. Dylan seconded the motion. Motion carried.
- Invoices/checks for the month (paid): Will pay the McCall Winter Carnival advertisement fee to the Chamber for $125
- Letters/requests: None this month.
- Community reports: Cascade, Donnelly, McCall, New Meadows, Valley County
Donnelly – Farmer’s Market is doing well. Huckleberry Festival is next weekend. Tamarack had a media day. Main Street pizza is now a breakfast/lunch restaurant. Working on Tamarack involvement.
Cascade – Paved Mill Street and Spring Street to the school. Valley County fair this weekend as well.
McCall – First downtown block is finished, working on new ordinances, new urban renewal district being proposed.
Valley County – Proposing three new ordinances for land use (short-term rentals, RVs, and ADU changes), property tax exemption ordinance.
New Meadows – Community foundation is busy, Nicole is joining their board. They are doing a business directory.
- Census marketing budget allocation—Cynda: May get $1,000 from the county. Andrew explained the complete count committee and the $1,483 dollars for each additional resident in Idaho going towards mostly roads, medical, and student loans; portion of the existing marketing budget; Gene moved to approve up to $200 for marketing, Cynda seconded. Motion carried.
- Regional co-working spaces for nonprofits–where in McCall, Donnelly, Cascade, New Meadows? i.e. Andrew needs a working space and meeting room. Discussed various locations in each community.
- Thank you letter team: we need to do thank you letters for various contributors. Nicole volunteered to take the lead.
- Business attraction: Gene–diesel, sports equipment rental, etc.: different businesses that could anchor each community. Donnelly needs a sports rental shop; child care facility; dry cleaning. “What does each community need? Recycling and climate change. Should set up a table survey at the summit. Possible businesses would be an IT shop, rodent control… what services are we importing? Commerce has leakage data–looking into a broader discussion to elevate ideas.
Recommend doing a county-wide business license.
- Fundraising update: Need more fundraising for ED professional position and the summit.
- Strategic plan update: Internal document has added some long term strategies to ensure we are meeting all the community’s needs. Still includes a tactical plan. Board to review revisions and template for future years.
- Grants
o Packer John revitalization – Epikos may be doing pro bono work on the trailhead master plan this fall.
o EDPro – fully executed $30K.
o NPS recreational/trails assistance – will hear within a week if approved.
o Yellowpine – finishing excavation, should be done in September.
o Northlake – working through administrator changes but should head into design shortly.
- Economic Summit update
o Nomination results and next steps (invite presenters) – will send survey and will do pecha kucha.
- Strategy 1 – JOBS
o CTE update–recap of correspondence with Dona
- Strategy 2 – EDUCATION
o See above
Ag education in Cascade and posible CTS facility may become an option if the districts can agree on a long term approach.
- Strategy 3 – INFRASTRUCTURE/ASSETS
o Fiber next steps – joining group to craft document of what to do in lockstep with the state. There are a number of things going on around the area and state.
o Housing: Should we engage with an urban renewal or community improvement district attorney? 546 responses with good data so far on our housing survey. Perhaps a county wide tax to fund housing? Purely speculative, but we need to keep innovating in this space.
o Cascade ADV–new maps live – 100% complete.
o McCall Chamber strategic initiatives: Recycling update – Andrew has been talking with Scott at Lakeshore; paper, aluminum is recycled. Plastics are a challenge.
At the summit we’ll should highlight successes. Need to invite presenters this month.
- Strategy 4- PROSPERITY
o Business engagement:
- Round Table, Upcoming Events & Public Comments
Round Table, Upcoming Events & Public Comm
Meeting Adjourned