Approved at the July 12, 2017 Skowhegan Economic Development Corporation Meeting Minutes SKOWHEGAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION REGULAR MEETING June 14, 2017 7:00 AM Renaissance Center – Conference Room Members Present: Members Absent: Jason Gayne, Chairman Kristina Cannon Doreen Poulin, Vice Chairman Kurt Maynard Todd Smith, Treasurer Betty Austin Matt Dubois Sally Dwyer Billy Finley Reid Gibson Others Present: Dena Rich, Recording Secretary Jeff Hewett, Director of Economic & Community Dev. David Beers, Owner Eaton Mountain via Skype Darryll White, Business Development Project Management for Eaton Mountain • Agenda item 5 a. was moved before item 2 for guest presentation. 1. Call regular meeting to order. Jason Gayne called the meeting to order at 7:03 a.m., quorum was met. 5. New Business a. Skype conference call with Dave Beers owner of Eaton Mountain to have a round table discussion about the future of Eaton Mountain and SEDC might help. David Beers gave a presentation on Eaton Mountain and his ideas for growth, please see slideshow at the end of minutes. Jeff Hewett asked David Beers if he had any debit toward Eaton Mountain at this time. David Beers said he owns the Mountain free and clear and could use it as collateral for backing for financing to assist in purchasing the T-Bar. David Beers logged off Skype at 7:25 a.m. Jeff Hewett let the Board know that today was not about making a decision but to think about how to help assist Eaton Mountain with ideas or potential funding to get the T-Bar on the Mountain. Darryll White said he has been spending some time reaching out the local colleges to peak their interest on ski programs. He has also started to reach out to the local schools in the area as well. He has also been working on the all season side for the use of the Mountain. He has been work with local groups about trail activities. Darryll White said he believes there needs to be connectivity with Run of River, the Downtown and also connectivity with Lake George is really important from a broader brand perspective. Jeff Hewett said to Darryll White if between now and the Board’s next meeting if he or David had any other ideas to contact him and he would email them out to the Board. Darryll White did say that he has been in contact with a Law Office in Waterville to do a pro bono establishment of the Non-Profit piece. Billy Finley asked if the T-Bar David said he was gonna be used on the existing towers on the mountain; and is that the towers for where the chairlift is now? Darryll White said yes those are the only towers on the mountain. Jeff Hewett said he wasn’t sure how that would work out later if they decide to use the chairlift again. Jeff said he would contact David and get the information to the Board. 2. Approve the Skowhegan Economic Development Corporation minutes the “regular” meeting May 10, 2017. Motion by Billy Finley, seconded by Todd Smith to approve the minutes from the “regular” meeting May 10, 2017 as written. Vote 5-0-3, motion carried. 3. Approve the Skowhegan Economic Development Corporation financials from May. Motion by Matt Dubois, seconded by Sally Dwyer to approve the financials from May. Vote 8-0, motion carried. 4. Old Business a. Discussion on Renaissance Center Heating/Cooling System. (no update) Jeff Hewett let the Board know that he has not got any estimates as of yet but will be working on this in the next few weeks, and will bring this information to the Board. 5. New Business a. Skype conference call with Dave Beers owner of Eaton Mountain to have a round table discussion about the future of Eaton Mountain and SEDC might help. Agenda item moved to beginning of meeting due to Skype presentation. b. Discussion and decision on a one year renewal lease for Genplex Inc. in the Northgate Industrial Building. Jeff Hewett let the Board know that the only reason this is coming to the Board as a one year renewal is at this time for both Genplex and our Office it is very busy time of year. Jason Gayne said he was not in favor of a one year, and with the estimates of fixing this alarm system it sounds like over a one year lease it would need to be increased up to $750.00. Matt Dubois agreed with Jason Gayne and felt better about having longer terms as well. Motion by Matt Dubois, seconded by Billy Finley to renew a three year lease with a 3% increase ($5,011.00) with SEDC installing a basic alarm system and if the tenant would like it monitored that cost will be an addition to their lease. Vote 8-0, motion carried. c. Discussion and decision for RLF loan check list what is expected and what is optional. Jason Gayne said this item is on the agenda from the last loan we had on our agenda; the package was incomplete with the credit report coming out after the meeting. Jason Gayne said this is to make sure we have everything on the check list for the Board and what we want to see before the applicant comes before the Board. Jeff Hewett wanted to let the Board know that the system that we have right now is set up so that if a loan application comes in front of you, the Board can postpone a vote and push it back a few days to hold another meeting and still be within the same time frame to go in front of the Selectmen. The Board agreed that the current list does not need to be changed. The Board agreed that if the Loan Package the applicant presents has everything that pertains to their company in it from off the checklist, the request can come in front of the Board, but if it is an incomplete package it will need to wait for all the information to come in before being presented to the Board for a decision. Betty Austin left the meeting at 8:14 a.m. Sally Dwyer did say she believes we should charge a fee to process an application. Jeff Hewett said we don’t charge an application fee but we do charge closing costs of 1.5% for what they are borrowing for. Sally Dwyer left the meeting at 8:17 a.m. d. Discussion on past due balances for loan payments. The Board agreed that there should be a protocol followed and every loan should have the same protocol followed when in not good standings. The Board agreed to send out an email and have ideas brought back to the next meeting of how past due balances should be handled. e. Discussion on Alarm system for Northgate Building. Jeff Hewett let the Board know that there were some issues up to Northgate a couple weeks ago. It started when one of the sprinkler heads was leaking. Our Office contacted Eastern Fire to come in and fix it. The problem after they did this, less than 30 minutes later the fire alarm went off. Jeff let the Board know that the fire alarm in the building at Northgate is actually two fire alarms not connected to anybody. The way this building gets away with that from the Fire Chief is that the Genplex side is operational 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The first time the alarm went off we thought it was from when they changed the sprinkler head and drained the water and when it was filled back up and an air pocket set off the system; because it is very sensitive type of system. Eastern fire was called back again and changed the timing in the sprinkler system switch so that it wasn’t set for one second but for thirty seconds. When they came to do this they found that the panel itself in Genplex was going bad. Jeff said he is in the process of getting estimates of what it will cost to update that system and at the same time what the costs are to tie New Balance side in making for one alarm system for the whole building. He is also looking for the price for a monitoring system. Jeff Hewett did check with the Fire Chief and he said he would allow it to still stay unmonitored. 6. Member Topics Broadband- No updates for this meeting. Natural Gas- No updates at this time. Acquisition/Development- No updates for this meeting. Marketing- No updates for this meeting. Run of River- No updates for this meeting. 7. Items by the Members No items by the Members at this time. 8. Economic & Community Development office Items Jeff Hewett apologized to the Board about the email he sent out for the request from Main Street to apply for a grant through SEDC from Wal-Mart that was for Run of River. The grant is actually for Riverfest. He misread the email from Main Street seeing the word River and assumed it was for Run of River. Jeff Hewett let the Board know that down to Southgate where Civil Arms is in the process of doing some earth work. The Contract Merle Lloyd is taking the fill from the Civil Arms lots and expanding the first lot in on the right of Southgate. Jeff Hewett has asked the Contractor to get him the cost to have them level off the lot for sales purposes.