City of Goodview

City of Goodview Economic Development Authority Minutes July 6, 2016

The meeting was called to order by Mr. Dick Ledebuhr at 6:00 p.m.

Upon Roll Call: Mr. Dick Ledebuhr, Ms. Ashley Czaplewski, Ms. Alice Zimmer, and Mr. Charlie Andring were present. Mr. Dennis Meyer was absent.

City Staff Present: City Administrator Mr. Dan Matejka, Secretary Ms. Lori Eschweiler, and Ms. Jessica Ganrude of CEDA.

The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

Ms. Czaplewski moved and Mr. Andring seconded to approve the agenda for the meeting. All voted aye and the motion carried.

Mr. Andring moved and Ms. Czaplewski seconded to approve the minutes of the March 9, 2016 EDA meeting. All voted aye and the motion carried.

Under New Business; a) Mr. Matejka spoke about the one-day Economic & Community Design event being coordinated by the University of MN SE Regional Sustainable Development Partnership on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at the Winona Elks Lodge. He reviewed the agenda and the RSVP list, and encouraged Board members to invite more local businesses to attend. This is going to be a great opportunity to listen to what residents and businesses have to say. b) Ms. Ganrude and Ms. Natalie Siderius have been conducting business retention and expansion visits in Goodview and Ms. Ganrude asked the Board for direction about what businesses they would like her to visit in the future. She and Ms. Siderius had a positive experience when they met with Oz Lifting Products, a manufacturing company. There was a discussion about focusing on businesses who may be interested in expanding, noting it may be difficult to find them because those companies may want to keep their intentions confidential. It would also be good to find businesses that possibly could use EDA assistance. Mr. Matejka suggested meeting with a smaller business, followed by a larger employer. Ms. Zimmer added that although we may not get immediate results, we are demonstrating that we care and the word will spread to the community. Mr. Ledebuhr feels getting a Realtor’s input would be helpful. Mr. Andring asked about the jet fuel company and the boat manufacturer that were looking to expand and relocate. Ms. Ganrude said she submitted proposals to them on behalf of the City of Goodview, but has not heard back from either of them. Ms. Ganrude shared that we did not receive either of the two trail grants applied for to connect the LaCanne Park trail with 54th Avenue along Highway 61. Ms. Zimmer suggested using the information we have to apply for other funding for this trail project. A few possibilities are the Winona Community Foundation, the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, the Morrie Miller Foundation, and Ashley Furniture. She offered to work with Ms. Ganrude to condense the information to use in future funding applications, saying there may be less competition here with the smaller foundations.

Ms. Ganrude presented the EDA section now available on the City’s website. After a brief discussion it was decided to put the current EDA agenda on the website, but not the meeting minutes. The meeting minutes are always available by contacting the City office. It was also suggested to add a link for the various business subsidy applications along with a description of what each of them entail. c) Mr. Matejka opened a discussion about the EDA levy, reporting the EDA received its first tax payment of approximately $20,570 for the year, with another payment scheduled to arrive in December of this year. He asked the Board if they wanted to do this again for taxes payable in 2017 and it was decided yes. It was pointed out it will be good to build up this fund for a few years so there will be money available to loan if a business approaches the EDA for assistance. Mr. Matejka said he will bring the Resolution recommending this action to the next EDA meeting scheduled for September 7, 2016 for consideration. If approved, the Resolution will then be forwarded to the City Council for their approval to include it in the tax levy for 2017.

Under Old Business; a question was posed as to who might be the first recipient of the appreciation award the Board has decided to give to a business in the community. Mr. Ledebuhr asked that we table this decision until the next meeting in order to consider any useful information that comes from the July 12th Community Economic Design Day. Everyone agreed to come back to the September meeting with recipient suggestions. This award will highlight something a local business has accomplished (e.g., showing good customer service, introducing a new product line, the number of years of service to the City of Goodview, etc.) that the community would enjoy learning about. There will also be a photo taken of them receiving the award, which will be run in the Winona Daily News as recognition for both the business and the EDA.

There was no Other Business.

Ms. Czaplewski moved and Ms. Zimmer seconded to adjourn. All voted aye and the motion carried.

Adjournment at 6:43 p.m.

NOTE: The next regular meeting of the Goodview Economic Development Authority will be on Wednesday, September 7, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. at Goodview City Hall.