Jefferson Local Development Corporation
Tom Lythgoe, Tara Mastel, Tom Harrington, and Nancy Wheeler. Guest: Terry Dimock. 1. Call Meeting to Order and Minutes The meeting was called to order at 2:08 p.m. by Vice President, Barbara Sunderland, at the Clancy School. Bob made a motion to approve the meeting minutes from 7/18/07 as published; Pat seconded the motion. Motion carried. 2. Business Tours Prior to the meeting, the group toured Ash Grove Cement in Montana City and Gold Country Mushroom in Clancy. Bob commented it was interesting that Ash Grove has a concern not with production but with an encroachment of people moving in on them. Barbara said she enjoyed both tours and was impressed with the innovation of Gold Country Mushroom. The tour was very informative. 3. Boulder South Campus a. Sewer Study Tara gave an update on the sewer study. Ken Weber, a Headwaters RC&D representative, the Boulder Mayor, and Tara Mastel met as a committee and heard presentations from three engineering firms. Based on their presentation, by a unanimous decision, Stahly Engineering was selected to do the project. A scoping meeting has already been held to discuss the project and what it would entail. Stahly Engineering contacted staff and projected the project to be completed by mid-November. Tara said this would be great timing as JLDC needs to apply for some grant funds to get the actual work done. Tara informed the board that Stahly Engineering's contact is with Headwaters RC&D and the contract was signed prior to her having a chance to review it. Byron spoke with the project manager and confirmed the November 15th deadline. b. Subdivision Bid Tara said one of the items discussed at the annual planning session in June was the subdivision of the South Campus; the status and the reason for the holdup of the project. In preparation for today's meeting, Tara spoke with a couple different individuals recommended by the county planner about getting assistance with doing the subdivision and asked for bids. Team Vivrette submitted a bid of $2,500 to do the subdivision. This is above and beyond the regular costs of doing a subdivision. They have extensive experience doing subdivisions and work with the county planner regularly. Team Vivrette said they may possibly be able to get something going by mid-September. Once the subdivision is going, JLDC can enter into some serious conversations with YDI about buying the buildings. Tara said Team Vivrette are also brokers. If JLDC does sell the buildings, it was previously decided to go through a broker to be fair and open to everyone. Once the buildings are sold, the EDA funds can be rolled over into another project. The RLF fund would also be fully funded giving a good resource for some county businesses to borrow from. Tara said Team Vivrette lives and works in Jefferson County and, technically, they are the only bidder; the other bid was verbal only. Bob asked if the contract for $2,500 is simply to do the subdivision and is not a condition of the bid for them to be the brokers. Tara said that is true. They did state they are interested in being the brokers and would like to be considered. She said a land plan is already surveyed and ready to go. Bob asked about a time completion date. Tara said Team Vivrette could start on it right away and have something before the Commission possibly mid-September. Jan moved that JLDC accept the $2,500 bid from Team Vivrette to do the subdivision. Byron seconded the motion. Motion carried. 4. Montana Tunnels Mine / Montana Tunnels Advisory Group (MTAG) Tom reported the MTAG meeting was rescheduled for tomorrow evening. Apollo Gold's quarterly report was released today and they are pleased to announce operating results for second quarter 2007 recorded a net income of $2.4 million or 2 cents per share for the three months ending June 30, 2007. Dave Russell, CEO of Apollo Gold, stated this is the first ever income in a quarter which is another significant milestone indicating the progress Apollo Gold has made during 2007. Montana Tunnels mine continues to perform well leading Apollo to record both profit and positive cash flow from current operating activities. Further improvement from the mine is expected during the second half of 2007. Tom said he spoke with John Schaefer and they are planning to do an information booth at the Jefferson County Fair in Boulder to distribute information on Montana Tunnels, their impact on the community, taxes, employment, etc. The mine is getting ready to go through their SEIS process for the M-pit expansion and the public comment period will start probably the first part of September and run 30-45 days. 5. Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM) / Community Transition Advisory Committee (CTAC) Tom reported the mine had some pit wall issues about 7-8 months ago that caused some concern. An engineer was brought in and the problem was rectified at some pretty high costs. The mines concern now is that about 13 years ago the mine was shut down for seven months due to mill ground shifting. Monitors are currently on the mill ground and this last month there was about an inch movement. The cause is unknown and engineers are investigating what caused the movement. Underground operations are going good. The mine currently has 146 employees and 54 contractors. Barrick has approved some deep target drilling. The challenge has been getting drill crews. Test results will probably be sometime after the first of the year. Barrick also approved a feasibility study to be done for some minor pit expansion which may expand mine life by one-one and a half years. A contingent of about 14 Alaskan village chiefs / leaders are arriving at GSM next week from the Alaska Donlin Creek project. They have attended our CTAC meetings twice before. Barrick is using Whitehall as a model community to show how a mine and a community can work together. It's a good question and answer time and a good opportunity to talk with them. A public meeting was held in Alaska within the last month that went good. Donlin Creek is about a $10 billion mine operation with about 300-400 people just doing exploration. They have been exploring for about five years and are now in the process of permitting to go under production there. The wind development is moving forward. The county, the City of Boulder, and the Town of Whitehall have moved forward on CREBs; a bond tax credit program. GSM is a good site for this. There was discussion on post mine land use for the 6,000 acres the mine owns. Barrick will leave a lot of their land to the state in the hands of the public. The Candlestick Ranch will remain as an agriculture operation and will be turned over to the state for management so it has continuous access for the public as well as the Piedmont Swamp area and the Elk Park in the Bull Mountains. The mine's plan is to leave these to the State of Montana and work out some tax write offs and set up things for economic development and habitat maintenance for environmental issues. Barrick wants to see what the feasibility study and the underground drilling show. They do not want to turn the land over before the mine closes and will defer land transfer closer to closure. The SEIS is out; the preferred option is the underground sump option. Let Tom know if interested in looking at the report. It needs to go to the National Register as a federal agency is involved. EPA currently has a 30-45 day period to review and to put their stamp on. After announced, it will then be the formal Record of Decision. 6. Community Development / Human Service a. Horizons Visioning and Community Action Tara said Horizons is now on the next phase which is visioning, where the community comes together and works on the vision they have for the future. Staff is working with another Extension Agent from White Sulphur Springs to help Whitehall and Boulder work through their visioning. Whitehall will tentatively do their visioning on October 10 & 11. The Horizons program statewide has asked Tara to help Forsyth and the Crow Agency with their visioning. Tara will attend Crow Fair the end of this week to meet the people she will be working with and learn more about their culture. Fifteen percent community member participation in one way or another is required. Examples of community member participation include a community survey and community meetings for input on visions for the community from various groups and will also build off what has been done in the past. Dick said Boulder is bringing in a gentleman from North Las Vegas Saturday, September 8th, to talk about development. He's a developer or city planner. He thanked JLDC for helping with his airfare and invited everyone to attend. Tara said invitations are also being sent in the mail. Tara said the gentleman has an impressive resume. He has turned this part of Las Vegas around and the Boulder community wanted to bring him to speak and get some ideas. This is a fitting event for JLDC to participate in. The Boulder Area Chamber is also supporting this event. Darrell said it's encouraging for him to see Boulder's enthusiasm to improve their conditions and feels it's good for JLDC to help. Dick thanked JLDC again for their help and support. b. Boulder Housing Advisory Board Update Tara said there were some cost overruns on cleaning up the land purchased. Tara went before the Commission to ask for additional assistance on behalf of NAHN. The Commission already gave $19,500 in support of the land clean-up for this project. There were some cost overruns on the land clean-up, especially with the abatement and unforeseen engineering fees. The Commission granted another $14,000 to assist with the land clean up costs and the engineering fees. This is very helpful in making the project happen. There are some challenges with the project. NAHN has sunk over $300,000 into the project. Ground may not be broken until spring instead of this fall. The timeline is yet to be determined as there needs to be some engineering reviews and some process used through the City of Boulder. Tara said if NAHN if doesn't build now, there are some costs involved. They have to pay interest over time so there is a cost to the project; it's not just a delay for the families. There are some risks. The project will not go away, but interest accrues over time. Some families may need to reapply. Things change. Other projects more ready to go like the Dillon and Butte projects may get priority. There is high competition between affordable housing projects as funders want the money to go into making more housing. Tara said it will happen, it's just a matter of time. Dick said part of the delay is the DEQ approval process that could take up to 60 days. The City of Boulder has a no dig policy after Oct. 15th that could delay the project. The Boulder Housing Board is working on these issues. Dick invited interested persons to attend the Housing Advisory Board meeting Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Dick thanked the county for their help and support in the project. 7. JLDC Management Discussion a. Staff Review Joe has that information and was unable to attend today's meeting; will address at next meeting. b. Meeting Schedule Tara emailed the meeting schedule for the coming year to board members. Next month is the annual dinner in lieu of the monthly meeting. It was decided the annual meeting will be held September 19th. A committee consisting of Jan Speirer, Bob Marks, Tara Mastel and Tom Harrington will meet to work out ideas and details. If anyone else would like to be included on the committee,please let Tara know. This year's speaker at the annual meeting will be Danton (Dan) Rice, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for PrintingForLess.com. Tara emailed board members his biography. c. Elevator Story Tara said an elevator story should communicate the core of the organization. She has written several draft versions and would like to wrap the story in with the web page project as she feels the elevator story will fall out of that nicely. 8. Web and Brand Identity Committee A committee consisting of Dick Norden, Pat Lewis, Tom Harrington, and Tara Mastel met recently to review the proposals submitted for the logo and web site projects. They reviewed the web sites of several economic development organizations around the state of Montana. Following discussion, they decided to look at the web site proposals first. Proposals were narrowed to three organizations; two from Helena and one from Bozeman. Earthtalk Studios out of Bozeman fit JLDC's needs best. Their work samples were very unique with an earthy outdoorsy feel that fit well with Jefferson County; they were clearly laid out and easy to navigate. The committee felt that to be an advantage as JLDC is interested in making connections in the Bozeman area for potential businesses for JLDC's 200-acre Sunlight Business Park. Earthtalk Studios has experience with marketing real estate which is another plus with looking at the business park. JLDC will continue doing their own updates. Software for the site can be purchased through MSU at a discount and JLDC can host the site where we choose. Following a unanimous agreement on the web designer, the committee agreed to also have Earthtalk do the logo design so the logo fits together nicely with the web page design and it's all very cohesive. Tom L. reminded Tara the county is also looking at redoing their logo. Tara said she didn't talk with Earthtalk Studios on that issue but it would be nice if the same person did both JLDC's and the county's logo design so they would compliment each other. Discussion followed on the proposals received. Let Tara know if you're interested in seeing the bids received. Pat made a motion to accept Earthtalk Studios proposal and to allocate funds as presented in their proposal. Jim seconded the motion. Motion carried. 9. Nomination of Officers, Board Vacancies a. Nomination of Officers Tara said JLDC's By-Laws state officers are elected by ballot by a majority of directors at the first meeting following the annual dinner, which would be the October meeting. All officer terms expire annually; board member terms are staggered. Barbara said anyone interested in serving on the at-large position on the executive committee should contact Tara, Tom H., Joe, or herself. This position will be appointed by the Board President from the interested individuals list. b. Board Vacancies Three board members' terms expire in September. All three existing members are fairly new and are interested in serving another term. The By-Laws state the nominating committee brings forth a slate of nominees that is voted on at the annual meeting. The nomination committees' slate will be the three members whose terms are expiring. Pat asked if JLDC allows an opportunity to fill the vacancies from the general public. Tara said the By-Laws state additional names of candidates for directors can be nominated by a petition bearing the genuine signatures of at least 10 qualified members of the Jefferson Local Development Corporation. Such petition shall be filed with the nominating committee within 10 days after publicity has been given the names of those nominated. Tara said the By-Laws state we need to publicize in the official newspaper of Jefferson County the persons nominated at least twice in the 21 days prior to the annual meeting. Bob recommended we combine the board vacancy notice with the public meeting advertisement. 10. Staff Reports Tara said staff is continuing to refine the new format. If anyone has suggestions or comments, please email them to Tara. Another person approached staff to be a potential BEAP project. He is a "serial entrepreneur" involved in high growth companies. He has less than 20 employees currently with a potential for high growth and is looking for assistance with the growth. Staff is trying to figure out the best way to help him. Bob asked what kind of help he wants. Tara said he would like management help. Bob commented that JLDC has sort of a competing location situation that is good; the business park in Whitehall and also the South Campus in Boulder. JLDC is in the process of subdividing the South Campus and the buildings could be put into a marketable situation even in their present condition. Jim said a couple in Whitehall are looking at bringing a fairly large event to the Whitehall area next June. Jim asked if they need to come to JLDC or does JLDC contact them to ask what they need and if they need assistance. Tara said she plans on contacting and talking with them. They are very well known living historian people. The event would be significant and a character image for Whitehall. Tara feels they would qualify to apply for a Metal Mines grant. Tom H. said to read the CTAC meeting minutes for more indepth information on the event. The Keokuk, Iowa website has pictures and details of a historical event they started there about 20 years ago and it has evolved into a very big event and is a big economic boost. The organizers have approached the mine about some land for the event. The mine is receptive to working with them in identifying a temporary site and eventually will look at locating a more permanent site. Tom said the event has a lot of potential and he thinks they are on the right track; they've approached CTAC and the mine. Jim said where it was left at the CTAC meeting was that Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM) will talk with their attorneys regarding liabilities to be concerned with. Tom H. said the organizers may want to come to a JLDC meeting and give a presentation. Tara said some of our office computers have new software, Microsoft Office Word 2007. Some folks may have challenges reading staff's email attachments. Nancy will email a link to board members that will update your Microsoft software so staff's attachments are readable. Please bear with staff as we work through our new computers. Tara gave an update on the two BEAP projects. JLDC is starting to pay out on them; assisting with their consultant costs, architecture costs, and some software all aimed at expansion. The agriculture agent position in our office is vacant. Both Jefferson and Madison Counties have approved and authorized the advertisement of the position. Both counties are interested in adding a second agriculture/4-H agent eventually. In the meantime, things will remain as they have been in the past with one person doing the agriculture/4-H and go from there. The position will be advertised shortly and it's likely the new person will not be on board until January 1st. Tom H. said staff is working with Elkhorn Goldfields Mine and will have their first community meeting tomorrow morning at the Boulder City Hall modeled after the CTAC/MTAG process. They hope to set up committee positions. The mine is moving forward on their operating permit and are pushing hard to get something going by the end of this year. Hosted a meeting about three weeks ago at the courthouse that was pretty well received and a lot of good questions came out of the meeting. Looking at implementing the same process we have going in Whitehall (CTAC) and Montana Tunnels (MTAG). Tom H. said staff has been notified that a private golf course developer has decided not to develop a golf course project in Whitehall. That opens some potential to look at the project JLDC had several years back for a 9-hole golf course on about 100 acres of land the mine has. It would be located adjacent to the business park. More to follow on that. 11. Comments & Questions Tom H. answered a question Bob had on the financial report regarding the 4x4 transactions. Whitehall 4x4 was an event at Whitehall's Frontier Days and staff worked with them on a budget for various line items. They wrote a check to JLDC a check for $3800 to cover their budget items. The 4x4 Associations donated $700 they had left after their expenses were paid to various organizations in the community. They were pass-throughs. Jim thanked staff for the Chamber's donation. Tom H. said a lot of businesses were appreciative for the shot in the arm from the 4x4's business in the community. 12. Adjourn Jim made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Pat seconded the motion. Motion carried. The JLDC Annual Dinner/Meeting will be held Wednesday, September 19th, and will be in lieu of the regular monthly meeting. The dinner will be held at St. Catherine's Parish Center in Boulder with the program starting at 6:30 p.m. Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Notetaker Close Window |