Wkreda Quarterly Business Meeting

wKREDA Quarterly Business Meeting Thursday, June 17, 2010 Dighton, Kansas

Present: Mendi Alexander, Kara Renz, Eric Depperschmidt, Susan Nickerson, Carol Meyer, James Foster, Barb Hake, John Foster, Steve Radley, Bob Muirhead, Dan Hartman, Ron Newman, Roger Hrabe, Rodger DeGarmo, Randy Hrabe, Pat Veesart, Cheryl Schmale, Lynette Miller, Helen Dobbs, Clare Gustin, John Kennedy, Rita Martin, Neal Gillespie, Sharla Krenzel, Ralph Goodnight, Gabe Schlickau, Dale Staab, Jeff Hofaker, Mike Michaelis, Mike O'Kane, Kevin Carr, and Nikki Pfannenstiel. Also present at the meeting were Jim Holder from Waypoint Private Capital, and AJ Swope from Class 4 Winds.

1. Call to Order President Mendi Alexander called the business meeting to order at 9:10 am in the American Legion in Dighton. Mendi Alexander thanked Dan Hartman and the Dighton/Lane County Economic Development office for their hospitality and effort to arrange the meeting.

2. Presentation by Jim Holder, Waypoint Private Capital, Inc. Jim Holder, managing director for Waypoint Private Capital gave a presentation on current economic conditions and issues within rural communities and what actions can be taken to raise the capital needed to move forward.

Business Meeting 3. Minutes The minutes were available on the website for review. Members were encouraged to notify Nikki Pfannenstiel with any suggested changes to the published minutes.

4. Financial Report Treasurer Nikki Pfannenstiel distributed the balance sheet to the membership, reporting a balance of $48,623.31 in the checking account and $30,236.50 in the savings account as of May 31, 2010. The balance sheet was accompanied by a profit and loss statement. Dan Hartman made a motion to approve the financial report as presented. Jeff Hofaker seconded the motion. Motion carried.

5. New Business A. Presentations President Mendi Alexander introduced AJ Swope with Class 4 Winds, a non-profit wind energy advocacy group from Texas. Mr. Swope gave a brief overview of the organization and talked about expansion into Kansas.

6. President’s Report/Board Update President Mendi Alexander reviewed board action taken at the last board meetings. She presented the membership with a list of benefits for each level of membership that was prepared by Jeff Hofaker. She also presented the membership with a sample RFP that can be used in future years for communities interested in hosting a wKREDA quarterly meeting. She then mentioned that the board agreed to provide two scholarships for communities in the northwest and two communities in the southwest to attend the upcoming Community Development Academy. President Mendi Alexander reported on a roundtable discussion with the board and USDA Director, Patty Clark to discuss ways wKREDA and USDA can work together. She covered several areas of discussion including leadership development, implementation of a federal tax credit program, creation of an industrial park readiness program, succession planning and a new program for housing assessment and inventory. We anticipate further discussions with USDA regarding these topics. 7. Committee Reports President Mendi Alexander gave the chairperson of each committee the opportunity to update the membership on their work.

A. Business Development Committee Business Development Committee Chairperson Mendi Alexander deferred her report to the chairs of each committee.

i. Dairy Team Neal Gillespie reported the activities of the Dairy Team. Neal reported that the southwest Kansas dairy tours were well attended and feedback was positive. The group has received some positive press and some interesting leads from the process. We continue to develop the www.dairyinkansas.com website and have submitted ads in Progressive Dairyman, promoting the website. The web analytics show that the website has been a success and dairymen are spending quality time on the site.

The dairy team nominated Royal Farms Dairy for a virtual tour at the World Dairy Expo held in Madison, Wisconsin. The World Dairy Expo accepted the nomination, so we will travel with representatives from Royal Farms to the show this October. With the assistance of the Kansas Department of Commerce, we will also have a booth available at the show.

ii. We Have Jobs Committee Jeff Hofaker, co-chair, reviewed the web analytics from the www.westernksjobs.com website. Referrals to the website are coming from HaysHasJobs, Finney County, and Google searches. Roger Hrabe reported that the webhost would be changing to a different company which could hinder job postings for a period of two days.

Jeff also reported the on the insert to the Kansas Economic Development Guide that was published this spring. Several copies were given to the organization and he encouraged each of us to take a stash to share.

Jeff also brought up the idea of allowing individual companies to post ads on the www.westernksjobs.com website in an effort to grow the initiative. There were some concerns over members current ads not posted correctly on the site. Jeff and Roger will follow up on these concerns.

iii. Wind Energy Component Manufacturing Committee Dan Hartman reported discussions regarding western Kansas manufacturers and the limited capacity for components. We identified the need to put together a networking social event that will bring business, manufacturers, suppliers and contractors together on this topic. The group will work with local partners like the Department of Commerce, MAMTC, and AMI. We need help identifying manufacturers, suppliers and contractors in the region so we can put together a comprehensive data base of companies. wKREDA Minutes June 17, 2010 Page | 2 B. Professional Development Committee Roger Hrabe thanked Dan Hartman for his assistance in arranging speakers for CD101. He noted the next meeting will be at Greensburg where we anticipate a large focus on entrepreneurship. If you have areas of interest for the next CD101, please send them to Roger Hrabe.

C. Legislative Committee Helen Dobbs and Diane Stiles have agreed to co-chair the legislative committee. Helen passed around a sign up sheet for those interested in participating in the planning stages for 2011.

D. Public Relations Committee Nikki Pfannenstiel noted that she will work with Mike Michaelis and Diane Stile to begin working on an RFP for the wKREDA website.

8. Upcoming Quarterly Meetings President Mendi Alexander announced the upcoming dates and locations of the wKREDA quarterly meetings in 2010: September 15 and 16 in Greensburg, and December 1 and 2 in Hays.

9. Announcements Applications for the Community Development Academy are now available. Scholarships are available through the Huck Boyd Foundation, wKREDA and regional resource partners. The Community Development Academy will be held September 23, 29, 30 and October 6. If you’re interested in being a community coach, sessions will be held on September 22 and October 7. For more information you can visit www.k-state.edu/cecd/cda.

The National Rural Economic Developers Association annual conference is scheduled for July 11-13 in Portland, Oregon. For more information you can visit www.nreda.org.

Plans for the 2010 Kansas Marketplace are underway. Speakers have been selected so please make plans to attend. The Kansas Marketplace will be held November 16-17 in Dodge City.

Susan Nickerson reported on the green jobs grant dollars available through the Kansas Department of Commerce workforce initiative. If you have green jobs training needs, please contact Susan Nickerson.

10. Presentations Kevin Carr from the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) gave a presentation regarding KTEC’s role in economic development in western Kansas. Mendi Alexander also gave a presentation on the rural broadband expansion in northwest and north central Kansas.

11. Adjournment With no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes respectfully submitted by: Nikki Pfannenstiel for Diane Stiles wKREDA Secretary

wKREDA Minutes June 17, 2010 Page | 3