July 2024 Board Meeting Minutes

West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
July 2024 Board Meeting Minutes
July 9, 2024 3:00pm
New Meadows City Hall, 401 Virginia St, New Meadows, ID & ZOOM

ZOOM MEETING LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88412171046?pwd=QWhaZGlDaHo4MUl1cHk4aUZuVytzQT09

Board Members Present: Julie Good, Linnea Hall, Dylan Martin, Sherry Maupin
Online: Cynda Herrick, Belinda Provancher, Kelly Hill, Vonna Torrey
Guests: Lindsey Harris (in-person), Trace McKellips (online), Tiffany Dobbs

Executive Session 2:30 (Open unless otherwise specified)

• Review agenda items
• Creative District Liability Form
• Gem Grant

Board Meeting 3:00pm

• Call to Order
• Approval of AMENDED July Agenda ACTION ITEM
  • Motion by Julie, 2^nd by Sherry.
• Approval of June Minutes ACTION ITEM
  • Motion by Julie, 2^nd by Linnea.
  • Request by Julie for Secretary Vonna Torrey to sign June Minutes for the bank for the funds transfer. Vonna will complete.
• Treasurer’s report
  • Approval of June Treasurer’s Report ACTION ITEM
    • One small change for $99.99 for GoDaddy that needed to be reallocated to the Payette River Scenic Byways budget. Julie is combining all housing funds. Sherry asked about the Paypal funds and Julie will move those over to the general account, but they are reflected in the fund balances. City of New Meadows donation of $1,500. Additional invoices were sent out.
    • Motion by Linnea to approve June’s Treasurer’s Report, 2^nd by Dylan. Motion passes.
  • Letter(s) of support:
    • LTR of Intent for Fiber Coalition
      • Motion by Julie, 2^nd by Linnea. Motion passed.
    • Executive Items
      • Fundraising Special Session Update (Dylan): Group agreed that the economic summit’s financial success should have additional funding moved to general expenses, administrative costs, etc., but keep a base amount (such as $10k) allocated to summit specifically. Board went through the initial list of contacts and who would reach out to whom. Dylan has started on a working sheet, Lindsey will provide a one-sheet to help promote/market what the EDC does and who we are. Clarify their summit contributions vs. these annual givings.
      • ELAC Expenditures from IDAEYC Funds:
        • Zoom & CUB membership ACTION ITEMS
          • Motion by Sherry, 2^nd by Linnea. Motion passes.
        • Board asked if Trace can coordinate with Renee at CUB to get the WCMEDC a direct invoice for 6 months of membership. These are all approved expenses through the IDAEYC funds.
      • Executive Director Update
        • Rural ED Pro Grant, should know at the end of this week if awarded.
        • Idaho Gem Grant, awarded 35K to the regional housing needs assessment and additional funding available for future. Working on the reimbursement process with Julie.
        • Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, we were not awarded this year. Applied for website revamp and new marketing collateral, which Lindsey knew would be a lower priority for their grant awards.
        • Perpetua Resources has dedicated $5,000 to the WCMEDC.
        • City of Donnelly, $2,500 from LOT funding for the housing needs assessment, additional clarification needed on the application of those funds.
        • Summit 2024 “Economic Resilience through sustainable innovation: celebrating our regional efforts”
      • Community Reports
        • Valley County: Attorney completed an in-depth review of legislation – Board of Equalization, review of State Law reviewing Tax Exempt status for Church Camps and Non-Profit organizations regarding the use of their properties for events, internal and external. Nonprofit or religious organization can rent within their own congregation legally at tax-exempt status. The County has met with these organizations to determine what use was for membership and what was for outside use. This will help alleviate tax burden for the rest of taxpayers. Waste management discussion. EDC connected the County with an innovative company out of Eagle on waste solutions. DF development approached the County yesterday on a potential partnership as well so there is a lot of synergy occurring right now in the region. County just was awarded $180k for fire mitigation. New product that can be used on dirt roads that lasts for up to 10 years. County looking at options for road improvement. Tamarack Resort has open houses for their expansion project. Opportunity for offsite impacts discussion. Payette Lakes Water Quality presentation this Thursday as well at PNF supervisors office from 630-830pm. For now, the HWY95 Expansion discussion has been shut down through Indian Valley.
        • Cascade: replacing all sidewalks, removing trees on main street, expanding sidewalks the 3^rd week in August. Working on aeration of their lagoons to expand capacity. Potential rejuvenation of South Lake Sewer & Water District.
        • Donnelly: Belinda met with Mayor of Donnelly yesterday. West Roseberry Road initial plat was approved (“Mountain Meadows”) that will add 450 homes to the City. Discussions occurring about potential interest for a new gas station east of Stinker – Circle K has been seeking out potential property. Discussion as well of a stop light for that busy intersection at Roseberry Road and HWY55 if new gas station went in. Donnelly Elementary has been pursuing after school programing options and partners through the PLCA. Trace has been engaged in this discussion as well.
        • McCall- Roadway, sidewalk, and bike path construction is in full tilt in numerous locations in the City through October. LOT collections (lodging and sales tax) are still below 2023 collections levels to date, but slightly above 5 year average. City Manager recruitment continues. City Council has identified two more individuals to interview in the coming weeks (four candidates total as of now), then will schedule a community meet and greet with top 2-3 candidates, likely in early August.

• New Meadows – Dalrymple construction was awarded the construction contract and they are local and familiar with the uniqueness of the project for the childcare center. Additional $50k was awarded for a grant for this project. Gold Line is 5 days a week (226 riders in first month). $60k Fire/EMS fundraiser was successful last weekend. The skate park builder is personally coming to oversee this project. CEO of Grind Line will be visiting himself in August. Summer sack lunch program is bustling and also they include extra services for these kids. Applying for a wastewater facility planning grant. This could expand service for up to 500 more hookups. City intern has been preparing an informational packet to educate P&Z commissioners. We asked if perhaps this would be a good template for other communities to use. 45^th Parallel stop has some improvements. The committee overseeing that stop has been working hard to keep it updated and clean.

• WCMEDC Updates
  • Early Childhood Education (Trace): Donnelly and PLCA efforts. Symposium update from last month. Trace drew a lot of inspiration from the guest speakers and being able to network. Jordan from MD Center found the weekend very beneficial and she felt refreshed and renewed with their mission. July 30^th Trace and the ELAC will be hosting a booth at the Ponderosa Center. Looking at hosting at the Cascade Library grand reopening and assessing the other communities and their events to see for other table opportunities to get in front of the community. Valley County Fair was thrown out as well. “School readiness project” will be in McCall July 25^th at 530p at the CUB.
  • Housing
    • Regional Housing Assessment: Sherry suggested a launch party concept as an idea to bring all the collaborators together to celebrate when the needs assessment is completed.
    • WCM Housing Trust: Kelly provided an update on the continued work for the trust to streamline and work with the new property management company.
  • Community Development
    • Creative District Update (Delta): Delta was absent. July 31^st Summer Soiree at Roseberry in conjunction with the Idaho Commission for the Arts for their annual listening session as well. Dylan did meet with the group yesterday to discuss the liability waivers and we have sent to our insurance for review as well.
    • Payette River Scenic Byway (Cynda): LTR for beautification and nuisances along HWY55. Rainbow Bridge.
  • Infrastructure
    • July meeting postponed
  • Broadband – covered in letter approved earlier. Middle Mile project is ongoing to solidify contracts for construction.
  • Workforce
    • July 29^th Event Cultural Exchange. Lindsey will send the flyer out to the Board. Lindsey will get the CAT together to plan the fall workshops the EDC would like to host.
  • New Business: safe sitter class coming up with St. Luke’s in August. Family Ignite event went very well with over 200 attendees. These funds were going towards their crisis center.
  • Public Comment – None
  • Adjournment at 443pm