West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
Meeting Minutes
February 2, 2017 from 4pm – 6pm
Valley County Courthouse, Cascade, Idaho
Members Absent: Rob Terry, Cami Hedges, Bill Willey, Scotty Davenport, Donald Bailey, and Eric Borchers.
Guests: Randy Shroll – Dept. of Commerce, Gina Schatteman – STEM Programming. Donna recommended we obtain online meeting platform (like Go2Meeting) for video conferencing.
Treasurer’s Report:
Viewed new formats for reporting. We are doing away with Quickbooks and will use an Excel spreadsheet. Gene is transferring all information that he has to his spreadsheet. Format will be decided by Gene Tyler. It will provide all transactions for the month with a check register. The report will be sent out prior to each meeting electronically. Sherry presented an invoice submitted by Jay Kiiha in the amount of $588.00 for his legal counsel in the employee hiring process. Blake Watson moved to approve the payment to White Peterson as submitted, Bob Giles seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Minutes:
Cynda moved to approve the minutes from December 1, 2016, and January 5, 2017. Gene seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Visioning Statement:
Discussion concerning the visioning statement. Andrew summarized information from the previous meeting – threw out keywords: growing, lifestyles, diversity, success, health, community, sustainability, mobility.
1) “fulfilling our commitment to a dynamic, sustainable regional economy for the West Central Mountains that fosters the highest quality of life.”
2) “to become the organization that facilitates personal and business growth while leveraging local entrepreneurship and infrastructure to achieve sustained positive growth.”
3) Fulfilling our commitment to a dynamic, sustainable regional economy.”
Gene moved to adopt “Fulfilling our commitment to a dynamic, sustainable regional economy.” Bob Giles seconded the motion. Motion carried.
New Policies and Procedures:
We do not have a manual at this time. We will be developing a manual this year. It will address attendance, financial transactions, and personnel. Andrew commented that he has discussed this with other Economic Development (ED) professionals. He has read from other manuals. Personnel text will be done when we have an employee. Need to have two signatures on checks. Lots of discussion concerning amount for expenditures. There should be a maximum of $300 with approval of the executive committee for flexibility. Anything over has to be approved by a quorum of the board. Cynda moved to have the policy read, “Can spend up to $100 per purchase not to exceed $300 per month, up to $1,000 per year – if immediate action is needed prior to the next meeting the executive committee can take appropriate action.” Gene seconded the motion. Motion carried. Jonne voted nay. Blake moved to approve the Snake River ED attendance policy as read by Andrew.
“Removal of Directors/Absentee Policy. A Director who misses three (3) consecutive meetings without a preauthorized excuse (contacting the Chairman of the Board of Directors or the Executive Director before the meeting) or a Director who misses five (5) Board of Director meetings in one year with or without an excuse can be removed by a majority vote of the Directors then in office.”
Gene seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Strategic Plan Update:
Discussion concerning the long-term funding structures. Andrew stated the strategic plan will implement the budget. Cynda reviewed her comments of the 2017 WCMEDC Strategy and Work Plan. There was general concurrence. Next step is to adopt the Strategy/Work Plan and then share with our funding partners. This plan is for items with potential for this fiscal year. Discussion concerning solar energy partnerships, etc. Discussed sustainable, managed growth – not growth for growth’s sake – will change to “prosperity.” Discussed infrastructure and assets as used in the plan. Gene Tyler moved to accept the Strategic Plan as amended. Blake Watson seconded the motion. Motion carried.
ABC Update:
April 19 we will go pick up our $3 million dollar check in Kirkland, WA. This group will be impacted by a strategy meeting on February 15 about what to do with the money, besides implementing the long range plans. Thought is that a community foundation would come through our 501(c)3 designation.
ED Report:
Will have the newsletter out soon. Will share the ED Strategy and Work Plan. Should highlight the centennial and sending people to the abcidaho.org website. Will also summarize the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, ASAP, stats on healthy community, YAC initiatives. March 6 will be a training on credit – how to protect, how to obtain, etc. Will be another class on basic budgeting. Asset Development: Housing Trust applied for funding through Idaho Housing Authority and were awarded $700,000.00 to purchase four homes for rentals. A condominium was also donated. (Should include in newsletter.) Pathways are on the move for adventure biking at the Cascade Mobility group. Will be the central biking area for the region. ASAP results have not been released. Will fold into a leakage analysis. May be some ripple mapping done by extension office. Steve Lord, legal counsel, is working on name change and will cost approximately $250. In March, Idaho Power grants are due for marketing funds. Robert Wood Johnson will be into the third phase. Next meeting in McCall. McCall meetings conflict in October, November, and December. Perhaps we could have meetings earlier.
Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.