September 2024 Board Meeting Minutes

by | Nov 26, 2024 | Meetings & Minutes

West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
September 2024 Board Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 3:00pm
Donnelly City Hall (Community Room), 169 Halferty Street, Donnelly & ZOOM

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

ATTENDEES IN-PERSON: Belinda Provancher, Dylan Martin, Sherry Maupin
ATTENDEES ONLINE: Cynda Herrick, Joni Osterman, Delta James, Vonna Torrey, Julie Good, Judith Nissula, Linnea Hall
GUESTS: Elaine Murray (in-person), Lindsey Harris (in-person), Trace McKellips (online)

  • Call to Order at 3:04pm
  • Introduction of Guest: Elaine Murray. Elaine and her husband recently moved from Park City, UT. They were there for the large growth period, looking to support initiatives.
  • Approval of September Agenda ACTION ITEM
    • Motion by Belinda, 2nd by Sherry.
  • Approval of August Minutes ACTION ITEM
    • Motion by Sherry, 2nd by Belinda.
  • Treasurer’s report: money from PayPal moved, still have the 150K Money Market, small invoice in September to be added. Spoke about the Economic Summit Funds, Dylan suggested we leave 10K in the fund and we can transfer those funds in the future back to the general fund. Sherry suggested we choose a percentage option, so we can better move the funds, perhaps 20–25% of the funds in the Economic Development, we can always move from general funds into the ED Fund.
    • Approval of August Treasurer’s Report ACTION ITEM
      • Motion by Sherry, 2nd by Belinda.
      • Amended Item: Economic Summit funding discussion
        • Motion by Dylan. 2nd by Linnea. Post-summit, 10k allocated for summit bucket, the remaining amount put back into general funds, with 25% of the remaining profit allocated to ED Pro position.
      • Letter(s) of support or Items for Signature:
        • ITD Corridor Study Regional LTR ACTION ITEM
          • “To Whom It May Concern” verbiage and Julie Good’s suggested edits to change. Perpetua requested to be included for a letter as well.
            • Motion by Dylan with edits, 2nd by Julie.
          • City of McCall HUD PRO Housing Grant ACTION ITEM
            • This is a large and competitive grant ask, but they are going to shoot their shot. Julie asked what the $1million would be used for. Delta clarified those funds who help offset the cost of infrastructure and construction that they would go through an RFP process to award, but they want to at least try to compete.
          • City of McCall CDBG Water System Improvements ACTION ITEM
            • $500k
          • Motion by Julie, 2nd by Joni HUD. Motion passes.
          • Motion by Julie, 2nd by Joni CBDG. Motion passes.
        • Early Childhood (moved up in agenda for September)
          • Little Sprouts/Roots & Southern Valley Rec Preschool Program Forest School Funding Request ACTION ITEM
            • Little Sprouts/Roots Forest School Funding Request has been reduced to $630 to fund the shortfall in funding for the 2025 school. Julie voiced a concern regarding funding of tuitions and we do not want to set a precedent.  ICCP Idaho Child Care Program through Idaho Dept. of Health & Welfare is potentially lapsing, which would mean possible closure.  After discussion, Belinda is connecting with Trace to say Perpetua will cover the cost.
            • SVRD Motion by Belinda, 2nd by Sherry.
            • 2nd financial request for Roots/Little Sprouts Perpetua
          • ICCP LTR of Support: Letter was read regarding an ask for the board to sign on a letter of support for the stalling funding at the State level for early childhood programming that would be to submit to all stakeholders at the State and our regional constituents
            ACTION ITEM

            • Sherry Motion, Belinda 2nd. Motion passes.
          • Update Cascade Rec Center: new pre-school program in Cascade, requesting $750 for general supplies, with the list of supplies to be submitted and approved ACTION ITEM
            • Motion by Belinda, 2nd by Sherry. Motion Passes
          • Executive Board Update – covered earlier.
          • Executive Director Update: Dr Brand resilience event with BSU Hazard Climate Resilience Institute was cancelled this week because of the fires flaring up and the region being stressed, but she will meet with anyone one on one regarding a hazard resilience conversation in general. Also looking at coming in October. Economic Summit Sponsorship and is open and we will focus on funding now. Planning the Valley / Adams Transportation Planning event in fall with the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council (LHTAC). Housing needs assessment, still some monies left over, seeking board input, looking for some guidance from the board and CAT team on what to do with the money.
          • Community Reports
            • Valley County – Payette Lake has a Milfoil issue in specific bays. The Idaho Dept of Agriculture was going to try something, but that has not been effective. They are working on a plan of mitigation, and it will be an herbicide, without any toxicity to the drinking water.  HCRI Conversation and U of I is working on it as well, trying to mitigate and protect our waterways.  Additional funding is available, Lindsey is going to speak with the Commissioners on Monday regarding our initiatives, additionally there will be a presentation on the creative district. Funding ends in September, so we are planning a special session.  RFP to design an events center in Cascade, 5 acres available, looking for diverse options with the building.  P&Z, Building, Assessor and Treasurer are moving into the Ameri-title Building in Cascade.
            • Cascade – Applying for a CBDG Grant and for some of their water projects. Introductory conversations with Southlake water and sewer.  Continue to contract out the water meters being updated.  Chip sealing by the lake currently. Sidewalks are finished and now come solar lights.  No issues regarding the evacuation processes, plans in place with ITD and Idaho Power.  Forest Service is considering bringing another overhead team to support fighting the fires
            • Donnelly – Huckleberry festival was the largest ever, huge success with vendors. Placer AI is a company that spoke with Belinda and she believes they could be a support to us at the county level.  Perhaps connecting to the EDC, he was able to tell her how many people came, where they were parking, pinch points and where money was spent.  This data would be so helpful for grant writers and it has additional information that would be helpful to the region.  The city has spoken to Placer as well.  Perhaps ITC could also be a connecting resource.
            • McCall – New City Manager’s 1st day will be the ED Summit.
            • New Meadows – Ground breaking center is Monday at 4:30, building has been raised 7 feet to place footings. Great community engagement to fund this project and the funds keep coming in, expected cost is going to be about 1M. Oct 5th is the fall festival, Mural Partnership with the Depot, historical society. Grind Blind was selected to build the skatepark.  The Gold Line continues to exceed expectations and now looking to expand the reach further to Council.  Meadows Valley Days was a huge success, BBQ was a hit.  Great weather and great attendance. Getting ready for facility planning for storm and waste water.
            • Adams County – Community enhancement group – flower décor was beautiful this summer. Moving over to fall décor, with pumpkins upcoming. 5 big boxes of school supplies that have been donated by the local community.
          • WCMEDC Updates
            • Housing
              • Regional Housing Assessment
              • WCM Housing Trust
            • Community Development
              • Creative District Update (Delta) – scheduled to have some business training this weekend, but postponed due to the fires and air quality. Upcoming planned an in-person gathering at Cassa Rosa in Donnelly at noon. Request for funding to the county on Monday.
              • Payette River Scenic Byway (Cynda) – 10/17 next meeting
            • Infrastructure – Updating the resource directory with new information. Water, Wastewater management meeting forthcoming.
            • Broadband – no update.
            • Workforce – fall programming we had aimed to do is actually get implemented into the summit Idaho Small Business Development Center and some roundtable discussions to get feedback from our attendees on what small businesses in the region need.
            • New Business – none.
            • Public Comment – none. Thank you to Elaine for joining us.
            • Adjournment at 5:07pm