August 2023 Board Meeting Minutes

West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
August 2023 Board Meeting Minutes
August 8, 2023 3:00pm
City of Donnelly Community Room

In person: Cynda Herrick, Sherry Maupin, Belinda Provancher, Kelly Hill, Joni Osterman, Vonna Torrey
Remotely: Julie Good, Delta James, Tiffany Dobbs, Rachel Wessel
Guests: Trace McKellips, Beth Wegener, Lindsey Harris

Executive Session 2:30 (Open unless otherwise specified)

• Review agenda items
• Housing Needs Assessment
• Board Involvement
• New Meadows City Council ask

Board Meeting 3:00

• Call to Order
• Approval of August Agenda ACTION ITEM
  • Belinda motion, Cynda 2^nd. Motion passed.
• Approval of July Minutes ACTION ITEM
  • Joni motion, 2^nd Motion passed
• Treasurer’s report
  • Approval of Treasurer’s Report ACTION ITEM
    • Sherry motion, Kelly 2^nd. Motion passed.
  • 25k for housing will be transferred for executive director position that was approved last month will happen this month because of timing etc. 5k additional from Valley County.
• Letter(s) of support:
  • City of McCall (2)
    • Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program ACTION ITEM
      • Motion by Sherry, Joni 2^nd. Motion passed.
    • ITD Local Transportation Project grant program ACTION ITEM this letter is for Phase II of the current project.
      • Motion by Cynda, Kelly 2^nd. Motion passed.
    • City of New Meadows Child Care Expansion Grant ACTION ITEM
      • Motion by Belinda, Joni 2^nd. Motion passed.
    • Valley County Child Care Expansion Grant ACTION ITEM
      • Motion by Joni, 2^nd by Belinda. Motion passed.
    • Internship Update (Beth) Working on sponsorship packet, images for website and summit collateral, website content assessment, social media posting.
    • Executive Director Update (Lindsey)
      • Year in review; one-on-one meetings with board members
    • Grant Updates
      • Department of Commerce Rural ED Pro Grant Award ACTION ITEM
        • Motion by Cynda, 2^nd by Kelly. Sherry Maupin abstained. Motion passed.
      • City of McCall LOT
      • “Forever Idaho” fund deadline August 15^th for any interested nonprofits. Open to most nonprofits, Sherry mentioned St Luke’s community foundation’s grant has opened.
      • Luke’s Foundation grant now open
      • Library Facilities and Expansion Grant Updates: Cascade was the one library awarded in the region. Donnelly and McCall were not awarded.
    • Community Reports
      • Cascade: Pal Sartori field renaming the sports complex. Did not get the grant for the water wells, so will go after a bond initiative. After fair this year, Valley County will be leveling and re-doing the fairgrounds to make it a more regional event center. Chalk on the Walk August 26^th. Birds sculpture contest. Arts Walk on August 26^th.
      • Donnelly: Huckfest this weekend. Music, huck trot, vendors, huckleberry breakfast Sunday morning. 70 vendors. Donnelly Elementary will be opening their expansion this school year. August 24^th back to school BBQ for the community and tour the facility from 5-7pm. Joel Onckuzzi was suggested as a potential Donnelly representative. Lindsey will reach out to see if he has any interest. Group agreed he had a lot of qualities and experience that could be a great contribution to the Board.
      • McCall: City just collected LOT through end of June. Trending flat from last year. Almost exactly like that. Street LOT (sales tax) is actually slightly down, but may rebound in July. Building permit revenue is down slightly from last year. Water conversation in effect due to two water intake pumps that are down. They are 20 years old and should be able to continue to operate, but a bond will likely need to be passed in the next few years. Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) policy sewer district presentation that could impede ADU creation for local housing.
      • New Meadows: booster station for their water system is going up quickly, new reservoir tank will be going up this month, hope that the outside work will be done by Labor Day weekend. Friday’s groundbreaking of the skate park and exciting announcements. Ribbon cutting event from 5-10pm. Recycling center conversion for childcare. New Meadows former graduate has his artwork featured at the train depot building. Guggenheim featured. Name is Dick McLean. Deputy Clerk position available. Youth efforts with the Youth Advocacy Coalition. Bike Park will be taken on by the City Parks & Rec.
      • Valley County: EMS District conversation. Current EMS district was created in 2011 the bonding/levy limit was 2%. To provide ample ambulance district funding, Valley County needs over double what they currently can fund by State constraints. If the County forms a new district, the new district would be subject to the old levy. This would require a voter override. County needs help communicating why this is critical initiative for our residents and visitors. One ballot measure will be an override for the levy rate, second ballot measure would be to create a new district. ITD announced that in FY2024 they will be doing a full corridor study, slow turnout lane to be established in round valley. The broadband last mile grant application just had one negative comment from another private internet provider to relay that out of the 1000 or so unserved homes the grant application included, they currently service 11. So those 11 homes will be removed from the project. This would also provide 1000/1000 service aka very fast broadband. Valley County has allocated $10,000 to go towards a working group to bring regional communities together for long term planning and issues. It was pitched that the WCMEDC be the group that spearheads this effort as a neutral organization.
    • WCMEDC Updates
      • Early Childhood Education (Trace)
        • Working with New Meadows and Valley County on their workforce development grant applications. WICAP is unable to partner on the Valley County facility project due to their own internal constraints and limited capacity. Question of who will be staffing these projects is a challenge. Wage and benefits continue to be a challenge for childcare centers. State and federal leaders need to be engaged. After school programs are also eligible for this grant. Trace has been engaging with Donnelly groups to expand their after-school program access. Melissa asked about the Century 21 grant that was used in Cascade and Trace relayed that Sherry at Donnelly Public Library had plans for that. Met with McCall Donnelly High School new early childhood center director to try and be open by early September. Has been a huge effort to get all this done in a short amount of time. August 24^th is a proposed community day to help them get their center ready. They will be looking for community support to get their doors open. Group would like to gather letters of support for early childhood education to send to our representatives both State and Federal. We received some additional funding that we hope to provide some quality toys and tangible items they need for children to our local providers.
      • Economic Summit (Lindsey): Planning team met earlier this month and has regional groups participating, which is great. Cascade Chamber is helping plan, McCall Chamber was also on the call. Moving forward with the two venues at Trinity Pines & Palooza Base Camp. Solidifying speakers and sponsorship packet, along with marketing the event.
      • Payette River Scenic Byway (Cynda)
        • Federal grant for updating scenic byways was awarded to ITD, which is the first time there has been funding for scenic byways in a very long time. Last meeting was in July at Tamarack Resort. Will be finalizing the itinerary with the National Travel Center company to help promote the communities in the scenic byway.
      • Community Development
        • Creative District Update (Delta): successful July for the creative district with the soiree at Bistro 45 to launch the strategic plan and also the sponsorship of the live music downtown. In September, the group will be meeting again at The Roost in Donnelly to discuss next steps for the group.
      • CAT Updates
        • Housing
          • Moved to the top for action item. Regional Housing Assessment Update & Proposals received for the project: Clearwater Financials, Leland Consulting Group, Points Consulting, Stantec, Agnew Beck ACTION ITEM
            • Motion by Cynda to accept the five RFPs to be accepted and considered by the housing committee (CAT), and then on to the board for final decision by September 1^st. Joni 2^nd. Motion passed.
          • WCM Housing Trust Updates: transfer property management to Frost Property Management. Outreach for new board members. Three (3) units in Cascade underway with Pam at Umpqua bank in Cascade. Also Amerititle.
        • Infrastructure
          • Draft regional infrastructure guide underway
        • Transportation:
          • October 24^th Valley Adams Planning Partnership meeting has been established with LHTAC.
        • Business Retention & Expansion – ongoing.
        • Broadband – mentioned above under County report.
        • Communications- covered in internship report.
      • New Business:
        • Melissa Hamilton, UI Extension presentation on Regional Pathways Coalition. Melissa wanted to follow-up with the EDC on the questions and considerations the Board has re: the regional trails coalition. Melissa passed around the last meeting minutes from the spring meeting to help the board understand what was discussed and who was at the meeting to see who’s participating. Now the coalition really is just an opportunity for these various groups to get together twice together a year to share updates/information/resources.
          • Cynda Motion to continue to be the fiscal agent, use our regional logo, and for Lindsey to participate with the semi-annual meetings for the coalition. Dylan 2^nd. Motion passed.
        • Kelly Hill proposed her Park Street building she has been trying to lease and looking for ideas. Incubator space discussion. Culinary needs for the area, commercial kitchen space. McCall College & Chef idea.
      • Public Comment
      • Adjournment at 5:16pm

ZOOM MEETING LINK:

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