West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
Meeting Minutes
July 11, 2019, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Valley County Courthouse – Cascade
Members in Attendance: Sherry Maupin (President), Cynda Herrick (Secretary, VP), Nicole Musgrove, Lindsay Harris/Jill Chapman, Dave Bingaman, Heather Soelberg, Gene Tyler, Linnea Hall and Andrew Mentzer – telephonically (Executive Director).
Members Absent: Patty Wold, Thom Sowers, Julie Good (Treasurer), and Dylan Martin.
Agenda: Welcome visitors & guests – Tom from the Cascade Medical Center joined the meeting.
Treasurer’s report: discussed reallocation to Andrew’s contract from other line items. Gene moved to approve the Treasurer’s Report, Dave seconded the motion. Motion carried. Need to send an invoice to Midas and McCall Chamber.
Approval of June minutes: Nicole moved to approve the minutes. Gene seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Invoices/checks for the month (paid)
o $1230 FIG board insurance – paid last week.
o $150.28 Chris Mitchell fiber reimbursement – squared up and covered.
IMBA plan presentation and data collected to date – Andrew described single track pathways between communities and public desires. Valley County Pathways has been socializing the plan with various groups in order to proceed with an agreement with the VC Road Department. Plan is to prioritize routes to/through each community, based on IMBA plan.
Census outreach engagement—Cynda explained the impact the census numbers have on the income to the state of Idaho. We would like to get snowbirds etc. to register in Idaho. The Complete Count Committee is pursuing a number of efforts such as stuffing tax bills, going to individual taxing districts, and some public functions.
Commerce MOU–business engagement list: requested minimum 50 business engagements. Each board member should submit names to Cascade of our top 10 picks for each community.
Andrew’s annual review: completed in Executive Session
Business attraction–how should we approach it? Discussed types of business to attract that would not draw employees from other employers; discussed map of marketability of broadband.
Idaho Community Foundation recap: case statement and testimonials – community discussion – case statement [booklet with testimony]. Andrew will work on collecting testimonials over the next few months.
Fundraising update – did not discuss
Grants
o Packer John revitalization – local team is working on this project; possible engagement with Epikos.
o EDPro – we increased BRE visits this year versus other years, 106 total in FY2019.
o NPS recreational/trails assistance – applied, 9 partner letters submitted to get planning grant.
o Yellowpine – project underway.
o Northlake – working with Travis to get it in the pipeline.
Economic Summit update
o Jim Thomas (BSU soccer coach) $1,000 – Cynda moved to approve, Nicole seconded, motion carried.
o Board nominations for pecha kucha presentations from each community; make recommendations for participants. Andrew will send out survey via email.
o Board nominations for businesses for panel discussion – each of us need to make recommendations. Andrew will include this in survey as well.
Strategy 1 – JOBS
o CTE update–meetings with the state and districts
Strategy 2 – EDUCATION
o See above
Strategy 3 – INFRASTRUCTURE/ASSETS
o Broadband task force presentation July 17th, Twin Falls–City of McCall presenting.
o Cascade ADV biking update–signage in, maps updated, digital campaign live
Complete except for 20 minutes work – handed off to the Chamber and Peppershock.
o McCall Chamber strategic initiatives: recycling – might move to Lakefork. May require local innovation. More to follow through meetings with McCall Chamber committees.
Strategy 4- PROSPERITY
450 responses to the housing survey at this time – 35% of people are not secure.
Round Table, Upcoming Events & Public Comm