Jefferson Local Development Corporation
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by President, Joe Calnan, in Boulder at the City Hall. Meeting minutes from 5/23/07 were adopted as written. 2. JLDC Management Discussion a. Ad Hoc Committee MOU and Resolution Tara said the County Commission reviewed and signed the two documents. The JLDC now needs to adopt and sign them. Tara said the County Attorney congratulated Chuck and the Committee for their hard work in doing this. He said it is long overdue and serves a great purpose to document the relationship and helped everybody understand more clearly the relationship between the three organizations (JLDC, County Commission, and MSU). The MOU will go to MSU for their signature after JLDC adopts and signs it. The Resolution will not go to MSU as it is just between the JLDC and the County Commission. Bob made a motion that JLDC adopt and sign the MOU and Resolution. Jan seconded the motion. Joe commended the Ad Hoc Committee for a job well done. He thanked Chuck for raising the issue JLDC thought was already in place but wasn't. Motion passed. Joe will sign the documents after today's meeting. b. Annual Planning Session Joe asked for comments on this year's session as there was a different format from the past. Bob said there was a gap of time that was very informal and helpful where the group had an opportunity to just talk amongst themselves. He felt this was a very productive part of the meeting aside from the business part of it. Joe asked about the facilitator at the meeting. Tara said Dan Clark was the facilitator and his general idea was community development is a larger umbrella and economic development fits under that. Solid infrastructure is needed in order to be successful in economic development efforts. Barbara said the group did not get to utilize him as a facilitator in planning and discussion because the agenda was revamped due to a funeral held that day. The plan was originally for him to be more involved in discussion of the projects. Joe asked if JLDC would like to have a facilitator in the future. It was decided to have a facilitator again next year. Tara will bring the yearly meeting schedule that was devised to the next JLDC meeting. Next year's Annual Planning Session will be held in May with a review of the Strategic Plan in November. c. Staff Review Joe said he has everything he needs and will complete the report soon. d. Review Meeting Schedule Tara will bring the coming year's schedule to the next meeting. Joe asked if meetings would continue being held on Wednesdays. Tara said the group talked mainly about the location of the meetings and the date for next year's Annual Planning Session. They talked about rotating the monthly meetings around the county. Tentative plan for the August meeting is to have an optional tour before the meeting at Ash Grove Cement and Gold Country Mushroom with the regular meeting starting at 2:00 p.m. at the Clancy School. Nothing has been confirmed on this. Joe offered to talk with Dick Johnson, Ash Grove Cement, about touring his facility and get the information to Tara. Tara has contacted Gold Country Mushroom. e. Board Vacancies and Officers The Nominating Committee, consisting of Tara, Joe, and Barbara met prior to today's meeting. Tara talked about officers for next year. JLDC bylaws state officer elections happen the meeting after the annual meeting; so that would be the October meeting. Anyone interested in holding any of the officer positions on the JLDC Board, please contact Tara, Joe or Barbara. As far as board vacancies, three board members terms are ending this September, staff has contacted them and it looks like they are all interested in remaining on the board, so may not need to fill any board member vacancies. Bob said nominations need to be done a month before the Annual Meeting and they need to be advertised. Tara said the board elects the officers. She said we may need to advertise in the newspapers for the board positions and Tara will look into this. Pat said she would like to see the announcement for vacancies anyway in the paper. Joe said the Nominating Committee discussed the order of the Chair position. In some organizations, he said, the first Vice President automatically becomes President the following year. Joe said there are up and down sides to this order. JLDC does not currently have that type function; however, if this is what we are doing, JLDC may want to adopt this into the bylaws. Joe is not unhappy with the way things currently are, just wants the board to think about it. The Board members had no comments. f. Web site and JLDC brand identity proposals Tara said the board requested JLDC advertise for a vendor to do the web site and logo and try to find someone from Jefferson County. JLDC advertised in the newspapers for three weeks in all three Jefferson County newspapers. Several vendor proposals were received. Tara would like a couple board members to look at the proposals and help Tara decide who to go with for each of these items. Tara said the same group would deal with both items. Joe said the group will be called the Web Site Ad Hoc Committee as once they accomplish this task, they are out of existence. Pat and Dick volunteered to be on this committee with Tara and Tom. Tara would like to meet within the next week and will contact Pat and Dick with details. Joe said the committee will need to elect a spokesperson/chairperson and give reports to JLDC as things progress. 3. Boulder South Campus The roof on building 9 has been repaired and staff is happy with the local contractor who did the work. The current big project on the South Campus is the proposals for the sewer study so JLDC can do a sewer upgrade and get the sewer system across the highway for the BEAP project JLDC is working on. Five engineering proposals were received; three have been selected to be interviewed on Friday at the Boulder City Office. Folks from the city and from Headwaters will also be attending the interviews. Tara said staff has done some work on the subdivision of the South Campus. Team Vivrette is in the process of putting a proposal together for JLDC. Bob asked how the selection will be made after the interviews are completed. Tara said Headwaters put together a criteria sheet for selecting and helping with the interview process and each firm will be evaluated based on the criteria. Headwaters is organizing the selection process. Tara (JLDC), the City of Boulder, and Headwaters will make the decision. Bob has concerns due to non- or mal-performance from previous experience with the contractor for the business park in Whitehall. He would like firms selected with good reputations for getting their work done on time and with accuracy. Darrell said he feels the previous situation has made everybody more aware that this type situation can occur and suspects, in the future, JLDC will not get into this position. Ed explained his role in the Whitehall business park project at Joe's request. Ed said his role was to advise JLDC on cost, schedule, budget considerations, and provide what technical input he could. He said his technical input was minimal in comparison to what was done by the engineering group. There was a lack of project management on the consultant's side. They were trying to manage three entities informally and they needed more formal management structure. Joe asked Ed if he saw a need to have technical expertise at the interviews. Ed said the work breakdown should be well defined with what deliverables are to be received and hard dates tied to those deliverables. He said if this is understood upfront between the consultant and JLDC, as the client, then 99% of the project management will take care of itself. Darrell asked if Headwaters will be involved throughout the process, not just the selection process. Tara said the grant is actually awarded to Headwaters so they will be monitoring throughout. Joe asked if the board will have an opportunity to see the contract before it's finalized. Tara said Headwaters is handling the process but she will ask them. Ed suggested having a sample contract as part of the proposal so the contractors would know exactly what will be expected from their firm. Tara said the proposals have been received and they have specific timelines and all are very similar. Joe asked what JLDC will call the BEAP project area across the highway from the South Campus. Tom said the area is already named Evans Subdivision. 4. Montana Tunnels Mine / Montana Tunnels Advisory Group (MTAG) Tom attended a MTAG meeting in June. He said Montana Tunnels currently has 213 employees and are looking at stabilizing their work force at about 197 employees. The mine is still looking for some diesel mechanics. The mill is running at 90 percent production. May production was good; June's production is anticipated to be even better if the mill is up to full capacity. They are dealing with the DEQ working on the SEIS for their M-pit expansion. The mine is about a month behind their proposed reclamation plan development of designing wetlands mitigation on Clancy Creek. The mine changed their reclamation plan by having Clancy Creek flow outside the pit instead of through the pit which helps take care of some of the prior water issues. The mine is looking at early to late fall for the draft SEIS to be out and the comment period open which will entail public meetings, probably a September timeframe. There was discussion on potentially having a booth at the Jefferson County Fair in Boulder that would highlight what MT Tunnels does and its community impact to get awareness and visibility out there. Then when the mine goes into the comment period, folks will be able to comment on the project. Two new members will be added to the MTAG Group; Pat Flowers, FWP out of Bozeman and Bruce Dunkle, Clancy School Principal. They would like to also add a school board member from the Boulder-Basin area to the group. The North Metal Mines Committee anticipates meeting within the next month to organize their first grant cycle. Tom said they talked about the business park and discussed a potential letter from JLDC be sent to Tim Smith at MT Tunnels to move the process along by requesting him to either confirm or deny that the business park in Jefferson City is a valid project. Wrapped up the meeting talking about the SEIS portion and the legislation passed to update the bond recalculation. Need to firm up buildings for post mine closure at MT Tunnels and the reclamation plan for that which would involve recalculating MT Tunnels bond as they went into the M-pit process. JLDC and the county will need to look at the mine use facilities for post-mine closure. Joe asked if MTAG will take an active role in the public meetings after the draft SEIS is published. A year or so ago, MTAG was going to host public meetings in MT City and Clancy. Tom said MTAG did previously look at hosting some public meetings as they went into the comment period. For now, MT Tunnels is looking at potentially having a booth at the Boulder Fair for awareness and visibility. Tom said there was some discussion on MTAG hosting public meetings, but nothing was finalized. 5. Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM) / Community Transition Advisory Committee (CTAC) Tom said GSM has 142 employees and 35 contract employees, primarily the underground miners. They are in the process of starting their stoping. The mill is up and running and production is good. An accident occurred where an individual fell off a truck step and broke an ankle. The mine is implementing safety features for climbing into large trucks. More rocks came loose but the problem has been taken care of. Overall, things are moving along pretty good. The 5-C additional pit expansion received approval through the Barrick leadership to proceed with the pre-feasibility work and GSM is moving forward on that. The good news is if the pre-feasibility is favorable, it will probably add 1 ½ years to the mine life. Currently the mine is slated to close the third quarter of 2008. GSM also received exploration dollars through Barrick to move forward with the testing of some deep targets. GSM received a site visit from the DEQ Director and staff. The mine has been waiting for 3 ½-4 years for a Record of Decision. GSM thought the plan was to have the draft document or the ROD by the end of July, but they still haven't heard anything. MEIC is also pushing for a decision. The process should have taken 18 months. Wind development was discussed. The wind developer has merged with another alternative energy company. The wind project is moving forward. The wind developer has the towers and is looking for energy contracts. They would like to put 20 MG at GSM. There is a possibility the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) applications that Jefferson County, Whitehall, and Boulder are looking at may be a good fit; potentially 3 megawatts. With GSM slated to close in 2008, post mine land use was discussed. Recreation is a high concern. The mine has had appraisals done on the ranch property and there were rumors of subdivision. A community meeting was held where many folks expressed concern about leaving the ranch property alone. Candlestick Ranch, Piedmont, and Elk Calving Grounds (north of the mine), encompass about 5,000 acres including some prime land used by the public. Barrick started looking at Whitehall as a corporation model. A group meeting with CTAC was held and potential opportunities that might exist for post mine land use was discussed. Tim Dimock, GSM Manager, and Bob Brock, Lands Manager for Barrick, took this information to the Barrick leadership and Barrick was very receptive. Tom drew a diagram explaining what could potentially happen with the property. It would be a legacy for long after the mine closes. There will be more talks and plans firmed up as the mine moves closer to closure. Tom was invited to Alaska to talk with a community group at Donlin Creek. They are in process of starting a mine and there is a lot of interest in community-mine relations. The Native American group will again visit Whitehall in August to talk with local people to see what's happening in the community and relations with the mine. This will be their third trip in 1 ½ years. A community survey was distributed in the Whitehall Ledger's annual community mass mailing issue. The survey results revealed people are concerned about taxes, schools, and jobs after mine closure. Out of the 80 people who responded, 74 were property owners. The survey disclosed overwhelming support for the mine as a good neighbor, the mine does a lot of good in the community, and folks are looking at what to do with post-mine land use. Recreation is the big item; people want to make sure the mine sustains the opportunity for the public to use the lands as they have been. Another survey was completed by only mine employees. The county commission is interested in this survey as they are looking for the impacts of mine closure. Concern on the survey was for retaining jobs, getting retraining, and trying to stay in the area. Out of 140 employees, 106 said the mine is the family's main income; 30 employees said it was 75% of the family's main income, validating GSM is a significant employer for the area. Joe urged all JLDC board members to read the CTAC minutes that are emailed to them as CTAC is a model for what JLDC can do with MTAG and Elkhorn Goldfields. Tara said staff received a figure as to how much it would cost to build infrastructure for Phase 1, which would be 13 lots, at the business park. The engineer gave a large figure for Phase 1 that would have some of the infrastructure to serve the whole park. Tara said grant funding is becoming more and more scarce, so staff has asked the engineer for a bare bones figure to get funding and also for an interim system to get someone in the park within the next couple months. She said this is related to the Phase 2 grant application. A dollar figure is needed before the grant application can be finalized. Headwaters is working on the grant application and staff is working on getting the bare bones number for the infrastructure. Bob asked who was doing the estimate. Tara said it is the same engineer from Bozeman they have been working with. There will be an additional cost for the engineer's work. Ed thought it would be good if Byron, due to his experience, could also take a look at the cost estimate. Byron said he'd be glad to but said it's tough keeping up with prices and sometimes they miss the boat on the costs. 6. Community Development / Human Service a. Horizons Tara said staff has been participating in the planning of the next phase of the project which is a community visioning process and community action. That should wrap up August through October. There are a lot of things going on in Boulder and a few in Whitehall resulting from work done the first part of the year. Tara said Horizons is an 18 month project and will end next June. b. Boulder Housing Advisory Board Dick reports the project is progressing. As with all similar projects, challenges arise that need to be dealt with but Dick feels positive they will be worked out. The lots are pretty well cleaned up; however, some work remains to be done yet. The county signed off on the subdivision; the city still needs to. Right now the big change has been the Senior Survey that showed quite a bit of interest there. Instead of having 13 single family residences, there will be some senior housing. Dick thought maybe seven single family residences that there are 45 applicants for. The senior condominiums project will have 10-12 senior residences; a couple may be rentals. Seniors are age 55 and up. Dick said it's a good project. A couple people attending the Planning Meeting had some questions; Dick felt their questions were answered. Another concern was for spacing; that the houses may be too close together. The lot size was changed from 7,000 sq. ft. to 5,000 sq. ft. which, for affordable housing, is good as that keeps the cost of the lots down. Dick said they need to keep emphasizing this is not low income housing but affordable housing. Bob asked for the senior element of this project, if sweat equity will be required of the seniors. Dick said it is not required of seniors; they can do, but don't have to. He also said senior housing will have a lot of input in developing what they want. Dick said there are also a couple spec homes being built in town, so Boulder has something other than affordable housing available. Tara said National Affordable Housing Network (NAHN) had a buy-sell on 15 acres of land in Whitehall; discovered there was actually no access to the land. NAHN's plan was to develop 45 plus units on the land, which is now not possible. 7. Staff Reports Tara said she switched the format of the staff report to be in line with the work plan for the year. Tara contacted Gold Country Mushroom about the BEAP project. They have increased their production so marketing is an issue. Tara said there are a lot of resources to help with marketing. She will connect them with those resources and watch their business grow. Staff has made a couple contacts for potential speakers at the Annual Meeting. Staff presented the County Extension budget and requested operating funds for JLDC to the County Commission earlier today. Budget decisions are made at a later date; today was staff's opportunity to talk to them about projected budget needs and expenditures for the coming year. Ed likes the staff report format; he said it will help keep JLDC focused on the business plan. He remembered from the Annual Planning Session talk about inviting another person to speak at the annual meeting. Tara said that person apparently has spoken at another one of JLDC's meetings. Nobody could remember him speaking in the past, though. Joe also had another speaker suggestion for the annual meeting. Date selection and location of the Annual Meeting is pending the speaker. Tom told a success story regarding community-mine relationships. Two key individuals from Elkhorn Goldfields have been attending the CTAC meetings and are impressed with the process. They contacted staff and asked them to help with their public meeting. Staff met with them. They are in the process of working on an operating permit, dealing with DEQ, and meeting with several residents up the Elkhorn. There was a public meeting in Boulder last Tuesday that had a fair turnout. The exchange was positive and they are working hard to answer questions on the challenges they have such as repairing roads, safety concerns, etc. Positive articles came out in the newspaper as a result of the meeting. They want staff to help start a community group. Staff is looking at the first part of August to do something similar to MT Tunnels and GSM here in the Boulder area and get people involved in that. Joe asked what role JLDC would play. Tom said we are doing it right now; they have asked staff to help set up a similar process. Bob asked what stage they are in. Tom said they are currently in exploration. They have 10 employees doing assay and feasibility work with DEQ. Bob said he read an article in the paper stating they were thinking of shipping the ore and having it processed at Montana Tunnels. Tom said that is the plan right now. Bob said there are some concerns that need to be worked out. Tom doesn't think they have totally made a decision on that yet. Joe said it's good for JLDC to be involved because there are completely different conditions than at our other mines; Elkhorn is a historic district and a tourist site. Tom feels that's the purpose for the community group; safety concerns, infrastructure upgrades that would help residents there, etc. Tara said she was impressed with Elkhorn Goldfields; they are very sincere about doing it right and doing the right thing. She said they have five salaried and five hourly employees; the hourly employees are all residents of Boulder. Tom said they have a real honesty factor. Joe said the staff report will be handled in the following manner at future meetings: JLDC board members will receive the staff report prior to the meeting, members are to make marginal comments and only those questions / comments will be addressed at the meeting. We will not go through the report item by item. Tara said Cameron Clark, MSU Extension Agriculture/4-H Agent for Madison-Jefferson Counties, resigned and accepted a position in Wyoming with the NRCS be a soil scientist. It's sad to lose him; however, a great opportunity for him. MSU is putting together a job description and both sets of Commissions (Madison and Jefferson) are deciding if they want to just replace him or if Madison County wants to have their own full time Extension agent and Jefferson County have their full time Agriculture Extension agent or Agriculture/4-H or Agriculture/Community Development. Discussions are currently being held and will know more as decisions are made. 8. Comments & Questions a. Public Jan Anderson said she toured Printing for Less in Livingston. They have a wonderful facility and their employees were really positive and seemed to enjoy working there. They're doing work from all over the country. Ernie Kenison thought Linda Norden was brilliant in the Planning Meeting July 11th. He said she was probably primarily responsible for the Planning Committee to rethink the 7,000 sq. ft. lot size as well as Linda also redirected the planning attention back to walk widths along frontage. The way that the Planning Committee was leading it, they did not carry the specifications through. The proposed ordinance was a minimum of 50' widths which would have taken the affordable housing project out of the picture for the current zoning draft. Linda was able to refocus them to get it down to making sure that at least a 6,000 sq. ft. lot and a 40' width on the frontage would be acceptable in the zoning ordinance. That was acceptable to the Planning Board but will need to go back to the City Council again and historically, that brings people from the City of Boulder out in groves. Nonetheless, Linda was tremendous in the way she caught that and directed the Planning Board in a way that was supportive of the housing opportunity in Boulder. Joe congratulated Ernie on his Secretary position with the Boulder Housing Authority. Ernie Kenison thought Linda Norden was brilliant in the Planning Meeting July 11th. He said she was probably primarily responsible for the Planning Committee to rethink the 7,000 sq. ft. lot size as well as Linda also redirected the planning attention back to walk widths along frontage. The way that the Planning Committee was leading it, they did not carry the specifications through. The proposed ordinance was a minimum of 50' widths which would have taken the affordable housing project out of the picture for the current zoning draft. Linda was able to refocus them to get it down to making sure that at least a 6,000 sq. ft. lot and a 40' width on the frontage would be acceptable in the zoning ordinance. That was acceptable to the Planning Board but will need to go back to the City Council again and historically, that brings people from the City of Boulder out in groves. Nonetheless, Linda was tremendous in the way she caught that and directed the Planning Board in a way that was supportive of the housing opportunity in Boulder. Joe congratulated Ernie on his Secretary position with the Boulder Housing Authority. b. Individual Board Members Tom said Frontier Days are in Whitehall this weekend and invited all to come. This year's theme is "Back to the Frontier". The parade will be Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Lots of fun, crafts, competitions, BBQ's, activities, and a street dance are planned. There is also a big 4x4 rally that has been in the works for about six months; are expecting 160 participants plus their families. Ed said a lot of times he looks at geology and thinks back 10,000 years ago and he can see the different levels of stuff. Using the same perspective on JLDC, from meeting to meeting it doesn't look like sometimes a whole lot gets done but, when you look back about 5-6 years, there have been some pretty cool accomplishments and he commends the group on that. Tara said she had an opportunity to attend the Pacific NorthWest Economic Development Council Conference in Helena Monday-Wednesday. She said the conference was amazing and relevant to what JLDC was talking about in their annual planning session. It makes her think about what we can do in the future with the economic climate we are in and demographics, etc. She will write something up on the conference to share. She said speakers were people actually speaking from their experiences and gave examples. Bob had the opportunity to go fishing in NE Alberta. He said Fort McMurray, Edmonton, and Calgary are absolutely blooming places. Industry is every place; little towns as well as big cities. He said it comes back to what kind of infrastructure you have. There are workers, good wages, with no place to stay. Some drive 285 miles a day, there is some public transportation, and others live in a 5th wheel with no hookups. Waste wagons service the 5th wheels. Bob said it's remarkable how much is going on in Alberta, our neighbors to the north. He said there is development on oil sand. It's an open pit operation, they strip out a ¾ mile square and take the vegetation off. They start digging sand out, similar to coal mining. There is a water level to deal with, they take oil sand to the processing plant and deal with some type of microbial project to start with, then heat up, have a pipeline coming out of there with stems all over the place to all these various plants that process the crude into fuel. Makes Bob think that it's easier to develop something like that in Canada than here as they got it done in about two years. He said it was very interesting to see something happening. Tara commented that a third of the people at the conference she attended in Helena were from Canada. Joe said there is a name change for Evergreen Clancy Health & Rehab Center; it's now Elkhorn Health & Rehab Center. They are owned by a new company so have different management but have kept the same personnel. Joe said this JLDC meeting is being recorded; the plan is to record the meetings but not save the meeting minutes. Joe asked about OT Mining's status. Tom said they are moving forward. They got permit approval for the additional drill holes and should start drilling the end of the month. Joe asked if a CTAC type group is needed with them. Tom said it would be worthwhile exploring. They have a base operation in Basin, but are different in they're just doing exploration and not looking at putting a mine into operation. Tom thought it would be a source for good information flow to the community if they are interested. Joe received a copy of the Governor's Economic Development magazine. He said there was some real good and interesting information in there about what the thrust is; it's a classy, quarterly magazine. The Montana Mining Association also has a good magazine. Joe has a copy of it. JLDC is mentioned in there for the lease signing with Barrick on the business park. Barrick has a full page ad in the back; shows an aerial view of where our business park will be located. Joe said referring to what Bob mentioned and also Frontier Days, sometime over the Memorial Day weekend, Joe had an encounter with a trailer hauling about eight 4-wheelers on it from Great Falls heading to Pipestone to ride the trails. Joe said JLDC should think about if and what JLDC can do to enhance or develop that. He also gave a suggestion for another good speaker for JLDC's annual meeting. Joe also brought up that it's just a matter of time before a giant fire strikes the area. JLDC might want to think about that and figure out how to react when fire happens. The Fire Camp ended up at the school for the last fire. As a group that has the interest of Jefferson County in mind, JLDC may want to preplan and give thought about what we can do the minute the fire starts. If we act quickly, it will preempt a lot of things that take money out of our county. It would be good to keep the money in Jefferson County for goods needed and purchased. Joe explained the purchase of supplies, food and lodging when a fire happens. Bob asked if it would be possible for someone to contact the procurement person in the Forest Service and register as an interested party. Joe said that's a good idea, just need to get our foot in the door and get pre-positioned. Some local businesses should get on their list. Dick suggested contacting the Red Cross also. Joe felt the Red Cross is there but insignificant in the big picture of things. Businesses need to think outside the box of what they typically would do, Darrell said, and gave some examples. Joe said he'd think more on this. Tom said there is a Fire Management Officer right in Whitehall. Tom will ask the Forest Service about this and find out if they have a contract list for people sign up on. Barbara Reiter reminded those present that Tizer Gardens is hosting the fundraiser for the Montana Artists Refuge on Sunday evening from 4:00-7:00 p.m. in lieu of the annual Jazz Brunch they've had in the past. 8. Adjourn Next meeting will be August 15th, 2:00 p.m., tentatively at the Clancy School. Meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Notetaker Close Window |