September 2023 Board Meeting Minutes

by | Jan 2, 2024 | Meetings & Minutes

West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
September 2023 Board Meeting Minutes
September 13, 2023 3:00pm
Idaho First Bank Building & Zoom

In Attendance: Dylan Martin, Julie Good, Kelly Hill
Remote: Rachel Wessel, Delta James, Vonna Torrey, Cynda Herrick
Guests: Trace McKellips, Lindsey Harris, Kim Glineski (Commerce), Jerry Miller (Commerce), Joel Ockunzzi, Melissa Hamilton (UI Extension)

Executive Session 2:30 (Open unless otherwise specified)

  • Liability Insurance
  • Leadership Academy for Trace McKellips
  • Regional Chamber participation
  • Solidifying onboarding for new board members
  • Idaho Small Business Development Center opportunities

[One-Hour Presentation – “Board Best Practices, Roles & Responsibilities” by Jerry Miller – Dept. of Commerce]

  • Board Meeting Call to Order at 3:55pm
  • Introduction of Joel Ockunzzi of the Donnelly area, who is interested in serving on our board to represent the southern end of the region. Joel was a planning commissioner in Jackson County, Oregon and has a lot of experience in mater planning, regional planning, business background, ranching background has had property here for 13 years. Lives fulltime now. Is currently a realtor for Brundage Mountain Realty.
  • Approval of September Agenda, with one addition to approve a payment to our attorney for assistance with regional housing needs RFP process.
    • Julie moved to approve
    • 2nd by Kelly
    • Motion passes
  • Approval of August Minutes
    • Kelly moved to approve
    • 2nd by Julie
    • Motion passes
  • Approval of Treasurer’s Report: Julie moved the money allocated for housing.
    • Joni moved to approve
    • 2nd by Dylan
    • Motion passes
  • $90.75 payment approval for attorney invoice to MPH Law re: legal review of RFP process for housing needs assessment.
    • Julie moved to approve
    • 2nd by Kelly
    • Motion passes
  • Letter(s) of support
    • Ignite Idaho Child Care Expansion Grant
      • Julie moved to approve with change of tense with one word.
      • 2nd by Joni
      • Motion passes
    • Executive Director Update – Lindsey
      • One-on-one meetings with board members, a few left to complete. Thanks for the time. It has been very beneficial.
    • Grant Updates
      • Department of Commerce Rural ED Pro Grant Award
        • Should be able to request 50% of funding now that this is completed.
      • Community Reports
        • Cascade – No representative available. Ongoing discussions with the community to have representation on the EDC Board. Excited to have Cascade Chamber people on the summit planning committee.
        • Donnelly – No representative, Dylan says Café Rossa seems to be busy; Farmers Market has been a success.
        • McCall – McCall City Council has adopted the necessary ordinances to establish an impact fee on new residential and commercial construction to support McCall Fire. Residential impact fee is about $1800 per unit; commercial is about $.74 per sq. ft.

McCall City Council’s FY24 adopted budget includes funding for a new position dedicated to the operation of a McCall Housing Authority. A joint meeting with the PLRWSD board will be held on October 4, 9am to 1pm, to discuss the Sewer District’s ADU policy. LOT receipts for FY23 (both lodging and sales) are still trending under budget projections and under last year’s collections signaling a slight cooling in the number of visitors, lengths of stay, and sales revenue.

  • New Meadows – New Speed limit read out signs have been installed at all 3 entrances to town. Flashing crosswalk signs are in place at the corner of the park. The Meadows Valley Days event over Labor Day was very successful despite the rain on Sunday. New water tank is installed and the booster station is built. The Mehen Memorial Skate Park received a $249,000 grant from the Albertsons Foundation which brings total funds raised very close to the goal! Construction should begin in the spring with an expected completion date of September 2024. The Bike Park project is moving forward and the lease should be signed by the School and City this week. The final Farmer’s Market will take place on October 7th and will also be their annual Fall Festival. Live music, fresh apple cider, games and prizes for kids and local vendors will all be there! They will be scheduling for the planting of our community Christmas tree now that the water project in the park is wrapping up. Very excited to have a tree on City property that can be enjoyed by the community and visitors alike throughout the holiday season. The Gold Line from New Meadows to McCall and back will continue to be in service on Mondays and Wednesdays through the winter and we will re-evaluate ridership and funding in the spring of 2024. So far, it has been a very successful venture. Will be curious to see how many people use it in the winter months. New City Council member, Troy Black. Troy and his wife Dolly own All Season Refrigeration and HVAC in New Meadows and serve on the Meadows Valley Fire Department.
  • Valley County – No representative, Impact fee hearings coming up to implement capital improvement programs.
  • WCMEDC Updates
    • Early Childhood Education (Trace): Last Wed attended the early learning center open house, great celebration. They opened the following day on Thursday. Distributing early learning kits funded by AEYC and State of Idaho. Grant deadline for workforce development coming up, working with Mayor Good and others, Valley County will not be participating, but perhaps in the future, timing was not a good fit. Ignite Idaho is providing counseling and resources to families, looking to expand into FT Child Care. Trace submitted an application to the WCM Leadership Academy, requesting funding at $600 for partially or fully funding that program for him.
    • Economic Summit (Lindsey): Receiving attendees and financial support sponsorships. Advertising in the Star News the next 2 weeks. Event agenda is nearly finalized. Liability Insurance requirements for the event, more to come…
    • Payette River Scenic Byway (Cynda) – no updates
    • Community Development
      • Creative District Update (Delta) – no update, Lindsey implementation of the creative district and a bootcamp opportunity for 4-5 evening sessions to support business and community development.
    • CAT Updates
      • Housing
        • Regional Housing & Needs Assessment Update: Agnew Beck has accepted the bid for the project. Awaiting their timeline and hoping for a representative to attend the Economic Summit. They will be working on a contract as well. They were amenable to our proposed changes to budget for $90k in exchange for the EDC assisting with market assessment data. Valley County had an extra 5K the EDC received that can be put towards the additional cost for the assessment.
        • WCM Housing Trust Updates: Moving along, moving away from the Housing Company. The units in Cascade the MOU has been signed. County employees with have first right of refusal to those. Rob Lyons joined the board last month.
      • Infrastructure
        • Draft regional infrastructure guide underway. Meeting in 2 weeks, speaking about a readiness team concept. Document is coming together and will be submitted to all entities who are mentioned for review and approval.
      • Transportation
        • ITD is hosting a Lowman / Banks highway meeting. October 24th the EDC is helping host LHTAC and also the Valley Adams Planning Partnership group for their annual meeting, which will be held at the McCall Ranger’s Office from Noon-5pm.
      • Business Retention & Expansion
        • Summit emphasis
        • Next month may have a guest from ISBDC to discuss support work for them that could be an additional funding source for ED position. More to come.
      • Broadband
        • Ramon, Idaho Broadband Director, will be here for the summit and will be able to provide us with a rural broadband initiative update.
      • Communications- no updates. Summit promotion at this time.
    • New Business
      • Joel Ockunzzi – Interest in joining the board as a representative. Board received his information and resume.
    • Public Comment – None
    • Adjournment at 4:54pm

ZOOM MEETING LINK:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85476090711?pwd=UkxQU2QwU3JielVERjlVcEdGWFd4UT09