Jefferson Local Development Corporation
Tara gave an update on the South Campus. Not much progress has been made on the subdivision since the last meeting. Staff did meet with Harold Stepper, Jefferson County Planner, regarding the subdivision process. The sale of the property is contingent on the subdivision. The subdivision is under county guidelines. After the City of Boulder annexes the property, JLDC will move forward on the sale of the property. Staff has not yet received invoices from AYA for the replacement carpet costs approved at the last meeting or the itemized monthly maintenance charges per the maintenance allowance agreement. Staff met with Mayor Craft regarding city services for the business site of the new BEAP project approved at last month's meeting. The site is located within the Boulder city limits but currently does not have city services. Mayor Craft is open to tapping on city sewer for the business. He is also interested in annexing the South Campus property. Mayor Craft said work and planning for the Rest Area in Boulder is progressing. The motor burned out in the new boiler installed in building #8 at AYA. The problem was fixed yesterday. At first it was thought the control panel was the problem; however, it was discovered to be an installation problem and is under warranty. JLDC staff is getting a landscape design for the south campus at a cost of $200. Ed said the old boiler from building #8 at AYA was put in cold storage after removal and said if JLDC is going to do something on it, do it or dispose of it. Tom L. asked about taking legal action against the plumbing company who installed it. Byron thought that was JLDC's intention. Bob said it was preserved in storage so JLDC could have the option of legal action or not. He said there is probably salvage value in it. It was decided Tom will bring costs and information on the old boiler to the next meeting and a decision will be made as to what action JLDC will take on this issue. 3. Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM) a. GSM Update Tom H. gave an update on GSM. The Community Transition Advisory Committee (CTAC) met last week The manager said the mine has 150 employees and 15-20 contractors. The underground mining contractors are just starting to arrive and will increase to 35 in mid-January. Production is down as ore from last month was not as high grade as projected. Mine closure is still expected the third quarter of 2008. Underground mining closure is expected early 2009. The mine hit two targets doing exploration drilling. The assay reports showed poor results. The mine is looking at another pit wall to see if they could get ore out economically. A contract is close to being finalized with another supplier for remote ore processing. The BLM environment assessment has started for wind development at the mine. Anemometer information has determined there is more wind than thought and, due to turbulence, the turbines will need to be spaced further apart. The big problem is how to get the turbines to the site. GSM will help the wind developer figure a way to get the equipment to the location. There was a good newspaper article recently in the Montana Standard by Nick Gevock on GSM's underground mining, which began this month. This is the type of supporting documents needed for the Phase 2 EDA grant JLDC will be applying for in January for the Business Park. Ed said this is the type of positive public relations story JLDC needs to keep pursuing to help with getting the information about the JLDC disseminated. b. Update on Architecture and Engineering (A&E) The A&E is moving forward. Staff and Ed have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon with the architect and engineer. Extensive changes and modifications have been made and the final documents are expected at this time. Staff will send a complete set of documents to EDA to close out the Phase 1 A&E grant the first part of January and submit an application for Phase 2 funding also in January. c. Lease Status The business park lease is moving forward. The mine has asked for an appraisal before finalizing the lease. Barrick would like to have a lease signing celebration event and will help with the public relations effort. Plans are to include Barrick's President, the Governor, and other officials in the celebration and have press coverage. The event will happen probably toward the end of January. Additional insurance coverage still needs clarifying in the lease. Tara is investigating umbrella insurance requirements and will contact the mine manager with recommendations. The lease will then be ready to be signed. Joe asked if an appraisal or market appraisal is being done on the business park. Tom H. replied JLDC is having a formal appraisal done to establish the price now. The land will be appraised at agricultural land value. Staff feels it's in the best interest of JLDC to do this. The mine is also doing an appraisal. d. JVP Lease Status JLDC's lease on the site expires March, 2007. A couple different groups have approached the JLDC for leasing the site. The Sportsmans Group would like an indoor and outdoor shooting range; another group would like a fast-track motorcycle track. GSM is open to the shooting range site option, not the motorcycle track. An assessment of the site will be made by NRA over the holidays. The FWP grant cycle is now and an application needs to be in by March for the shooting ranges. There is about $50,000 infrastructure currently at the site. GSM wants to deal with JLDC as the intermediary for the group; they do not want to deal directly with the Sportsmans Group. The NRA assessment should be done by the next JLDC meeting. 4. BEAP Tara gave the board a quick update. The BEAP project approved at last month's meeting is moving along. The business met with Headwaters RC&D's small business specialist. The next step is infrastructure. Staff will have more information for the next meeting. Tara received another BEAP project proposal. She distributed an overview sheet to the board members on the interested business. The proposed business is a mushroom growing business in Clancy. They have been growing mushrooms full time for seven years and currently sell 50,000 pounds of mushrooms per year through a distributor to Helena restaurants primarily and their goal is to increase production up to 200,000 pounds of mushrooms per year. Tara gave the pros and cons of the proposal. She said this would be a high profile project with not a lot of work commitment from the staff. Discussion followed. Dick asked if we should look at their Profit & Loss statements before committing to the project. Bob said the board doesn't necessarily look at this first. Darrell said mushroom growing takes commitment and he feels the owners have shown a lot of commitment, are very intelligent people, and they have done a lot of work on this already. They have written a comprehensive business plan and are very serious about making this work. This would be a two-year BEAP project. The business owners have a "Growth Through Agriculture" loan and grant from the Montana Department of Agriculture which they are matching with labor and their own capital. They are seeking assistance with financials, marketing of increased production, and consultant fees over the next two years to further refine their operation and increase production per square foot. Tara said JLDC budgeted for two BEAP projects this year and have not received any other proposals. This would be a "one-half" project as it would be for $4,000 per year for two years. Pat made a motion to approve the Clancy business for the Business Expansion Assistance Program (BEAP), Byron seconded the motion. Ed commented that the increase of five employees to a local business is a good point to bring to the public's attention and an excellent example of how JLDC is helping county businesses with growth and expansion. Motion passed. Tara will contact the business owners and proceed with the project 5. Metal Mine Grant and Loan Drafts Tom H. distributed a DRAFT Metal Mines Disbursement Grant and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) program guidelines the Commission asked JLDC staff to do. Staff drafted some guidelines at the request of the Commission. The draft was based on the programs presently being used and working well in the south end of the county. The DRAFT is just that and is open for discussion. Darrell asked if the original proposal for the south end was used for the draft or was the original tweaked since its inception. Tom H. replied that some revisions and improvements have been made and its been pretty sound. Ed asked if the programs are only available to non-profits. Tom H. said the grant is only for non-profits; the loan is for both profit and non-profits. There was discussion on the drafts. Tom L. would like the recommended committee makeup on the grant and loan program eliminated. Bob would like the availability sentence eliminated. Tom L. said to eliminate both items. Tom H. feels there should be mixed areas represented unless nobody applies, then the Commission would need to appoint members. He said there are three-four communities in the north end and this gives an opportunity to have a mix of members. Tom L. said the Commission would not appoint, but rather interview, to select members. Tom H. said there is a time commitment of a couple days per year members need to be aware of and commit to. He said the RFL has the same verbage as the grant document, so both documents would need to be changed. Ed said not to put too much of a JLDC stamp on these drafts as they are really Commission documents. JLDC needs to back away and let the Commission go forward on the documents. Pat said there needs to be a public/community meeting for input. Tom L. said the newspaper announcement needs to be included in the Helena Independent Record in addition to the Boulder Monitor and the Jefferson County Courier; notices will also be posted at the usual places. Bob said this is a draft proposal to the Commission, requested by them from JLDC staff, that they can revise if they so choose. Bob made a motion to forward the drafts of the Metal Mine Disbursement Grant and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) documents to the Jefferson County Commission. Pat seconded the motion. Motion passed. Ed asked Tom L. if the draft documents received from the staff met the Commissions expectations. Tom L. said they did indeed. He said after he asked the JLDC staff to do the drafts, he thought he probably should have instead asked the South End Loan Committee for the drafts. Tara will prepare a cover letter to forward the drafts and transmit to Commission. Tom L. thanked JLDC for the drafts. Tara distributed a DRAFT North End Metal Mine Fund Disbursement Proposal based on the $1.7 million available to Jefferson County. A previous JLDC / MTAG letter only addressed $900,000 since this was the figure that was provided for possible disbursement. Tom L. said he considers JLDC the economic development arm of the Commission and said it's appropriate for JLDC to come in with some type of recommendations for a starting point for the Commissioners and the public to have something to look at. Tom L. said some funds are already committed to the schools, JLDC operations, and housing. The schools funds have been increased by an additional $142,000 from the county portion of the Metal Mine account. Tom L. said the Commission will receive proposals next week from a couple consultants on mining issues for the Legislature and Forest Service roads. Funds for these areas will possibly come out of the Metal Mines money. Commission is asking JLDC for a proposal to recommend what's appropriate on the draft proposal distributed at today's meeting. Joe said this will be an agenda item next month. Ed said we will discuss this at next month's meeting; he thinks this is a step function. Tom L. suggested everything from $400,000 down on the draft proposal go into reserve. There was a consensus to reflect on this and pass constructive thoughts on to Tom or Tara and it will be discussed at next month's meeting. Tara asked if JLDC would come forward again next year for operation funds. Tom L. thinks it's appropriate to do that. Discussion followed. 6. Community Development / Human Service a. Horizons Grant Project Tara said the Horizons program is an 18-month grant funded program administered through MSU Extension. Its purpose is economic development through leadership development. Both Whitehall and Boulder are participating in the program. Staff and steering committee members from both Boulder and Whitehall attended training to facilitate "Study Circles", which is the next step in the program. There will be eight groups of "Study Circles"; each "Study Circle" will be comprised of 8-12 people from diverse backgrounds. The Steering Committee members are in the process of recruiting individuals for the "Study Circles". There will be Planning Meetings leading up to a big kick-off event on January 16th for Boulder and February 2nd for Whitehall. The "Study Circles" will meet on a weekly basis for five weeks after that, then come together for an action forum and decide on community projects. Tara views this process as a "needs analysis" with the outcome possibly being used to obtain grants for needed projects in Jefferson County. She expects 100 people from each community to be involved in the process. Tara said the process will be fairly time extensive this spring. Joe asked about JLDC's involvement in the project. Tara said she is involved as an MSU Extension agent as this program is administered through MSU Extension. Some board members are also involved. Joe inquired as to the merits of the program and is concerned as the staff is already overbooked and overworked. He asked what project(s) JLDC is forgoing for this project. Dick does not see this as a JLDC project but rather a community issue. Tara and Tom H. helped facilitate the program to get it off the ground, but it consists mainly of community people. Barbara Reiter said there is a lot of interest in the Boulder community and said the program will give JLDC groundwork for future planning. Tom L. said it's a good thing for the community and the grassroots of what JLDC is about. He feels it should be on JLDC's agenda now as it's important for Tom H. and Tara to be involved as it will add to the foundation of what JLDC is doing. Barbara S. said JLDC projects change from what's decided at the annual planning meeting. Jan said the annual planning meeting work plan included putting effort into human services and she sees this as a fit. Pat asked if JLDC needed to formally recognize this as a part of JLDC's work plan. Joe agreed this is a good program; the only issue he has is what the trade off is as the JLDC staff is overbooked and overworked now. Tom H. said that regarding the trade off Joe is concerned with, nothing is happening with the Montana Tunnels Business Park and JLDC did not get the Brownsfield grant. Tara said Joe has a valid concern. She said the project fits into the "unscheduled block" in the work plan. Tara said she has an annual review coming up and feels JLDC is trying to be everything to everybody, but can't be. She said being overbooked and overworked is part of economic development and she will try to keep all projects going. Joe asked if MSU would be willing to hire extra help for the Horizons project. Tom H. said he has been asked by MSU if he would like to go one-half time Extension to work on Horizons so he feels they would be willing to give us extra help if needed. Darrell feels JLDC staff's role should be facilitators for the program as JLDC will benefit from the program. Ed asked about the possibility of the annual planning process being flawed. He said rather than the annual planning process, perhaps JLDC needs to review the work plan quarterly. Tara agreed with Ed. Larry Swanson will discuss this topic in his presentation to JLDC in January. b. Boulder Housing Committee Tara gave a quick update. The Boulder Housing Task Force is working hard to make things happen. They are working with Barbara Miller of the National Affordable Housing Network. She has a buy-sell agreement for a piece of land close to downtown Boulder that would hold approximately five single-family homes and eight-ten senior housing units. The land purchase should be finalized in January, it's confidential until then. If all goes as planned, could be breaking ground in April for the single-family homes. The Task Force will be working on a community survey of housing quality as well as a survey to determine the demand for Senior housing. Tara distributed applications to board members to give to people interested in applying for the single-family housing to be built this spring. The Human Services Committee held their quarterly meeting December 11th in Boulder. Tara said it was a good meeting; heard first hand about the groundbreaking event scheduled for that week for MDC's new high-security unit. The project is moving forward. Tara advised Kathy Zeeck, MDC's Superintendent, that she may want to hold public meetings regarding the new construction of the facility as there are some public concerns and misinformation out there about the facility. 7. Staff Annual Review Joe said Tara found a good proposal for non-profits to use as a model evaluation for Tom H. and herself. Joe said the Evaluation Committee will finalize the form and send via email to all board members. He would like them returned to him via email. Joe said the evaluation comments can be as detailed as each wants. Joe will consolidate them and get back to the board. Joe said the evaluations were originally dovetailed with MSU evaluations and Steve Siegelin, MSU Western Region Department Head, was looking forward to the evaluation results. The Evaluation Committee now thinks it would be a bad idea to interface with MSU this year as the evaluations will be an informal give and take process this year. He said perhaps next year the evaluations could be a part of the MSU process. Joe said Steve was going to interview constituents on Tara's performance. Joe has not informed Steve on the committee's decision yet, but feels JLDC evaluations to be a learning process for all this year and the committee is not ready to be merged with MSU. Later this week, Joe will send each board member a form to fill out and email back to him. Tara distributed her MSU job description from when she was hired by MSU to board members. 8. Staff Reports a. Tara said the MERDI report needs board approval to pay. The report will be discussed at next month's meeting due to lack of time. b. Tara distributed information on the upcoming Outlook Seminar that Tom and Tara will attend February 1st in Butte. c. Tara distributed a DRAFT Communication Strategy for Economic Development Efforts in Jefferson County. The goal is to increase the public's understanding of Jefferson County's economic development efforts and the role and function of Jefferson County's Economic Development Extension Agent, the purpose and structure of JLDC, and updates on specific projects or issues. Tara read through the proposed ideas to enhance exposure of the JLDC. Byron thought the newspaper articles every other month would be a super effective way to get word out on JLDC. Darrell said public relations are important to JLDC; however, the schedule presented is pretty ambitious. He suggested the Commission do the public meetings for Metal Mines. He said JLDC could help, if asked, but the meetings should be from the Commission side. Bob felt the schedule is ambitious with all the coffees stretching Tara's time. Bob feels there is ample access and he hopes the board reviews the schedule at another meeting and streamlines it. Ed thinks reliance on coffees is labor intensive for the value received. He feels JLDC should use newspapers and solicit people interested in an email newsletter to reduce legwork (get email addresses at coffees). Tom L. said with JLDC turning recommendations over to the Commission on Metal Mines funds, all Metal Mines issues will go away. He feels the JLDC has a high profile because of the Metal Mines piece and all Metal Mines needs to be taken away from JLDC and the Commission will do what they need to do. Tom L. said Bob is right when it comes to people attending just so many public meetings and he gave examples. Joe is in agreement that public relations are important for JLDC, but feels the schedule is a big bite to take off right now, is a bit of overkill, and includes too many meetings. He would like the board members to look it over and put on next month's agenda to arrive at a sense of direction. He feels night meetings should be held around the county at various locations instead of being held only in Boulder. 9. Comments & Questions a. Roundtable Went around the table giving the board members a chance to comment on any topic of their choice. Dick informed all of the upcoming Business Days at the Capital on January 4th & 5th. Email Dick for more information if interested. Ed said JLDC needs to come up with an "elevator story" telling what JLDC does and what good JLDC has done for the community. He feels this would be good for public relations. Tom H. reminded all that Legislature is coming up. The JLDC staff and board members need to keep each other informed on issues in and affecting our county, especially mining issues. Staff will try to keep all posted. Byron echoed what Tom H. said, the board needs to check out and keep track of what's happening in the Legislature and keep each other informed. Jan supports Ed's "elevator story". Pat feels everybody, staff and directors, is doing a good job and thanks everyone for all their efforts. Pat suggested JLDC write a letter to Senator Burns thanking him for his past help and support. Tara will draft a letter. Tom L. said to take all Metal Mines and annexation issues from the JLDC as these are Commission items. The Evaluation Form the committee has developed thus far is way too long, needs to be shortened. Joe would like Commissioner Notbohm's letter to Tara emailed to board members along with Tara's draft response. The board is to read the letter and decide on a course of action and respond to Joe before next month's meeting. Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 17th, 2:00 p.m. at the Boulder City Hall. Meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Nancy Wheeler Notetaker Close Window |