HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 09/17/2014Minutes
City of Fort Collins
Economic Advisory Commission
September 17, 2014
CIC, City Hall
11:00am–1:30pm
For Reference
Blue Hovatter, Chair 493-3673
Karen Weitkunat, Mayor & Council Liaison 416-2154
SeonAh Kendall, Staff Liaison 416-2164
Dianne Tjalkens, Minutes 221-6734
Commission Members Present Commission Members Absent
Denny Otsuga Blue Hovatter, Chair
Linda Stanley Michael Kulisheck (Mike)
Glen Colton Jim Clark
Sam Solt
Michael Rechnitz
Ann Hutchison (arrived 11:30)
Guests
Mike Prusnick
Dale Adamy
Staff Present Staff Absent
SeonAh Kendall, Economic Policy & Project Manager
Dianne Tjalkens, minutes
Josh Birks, Economic Health Director
Meeting called to order at 11:10am.
Logistics
Approval of minutes
Linda moved to approve the August 13, 2014 minutes. Denny seconded.
Motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0. Ann arrived after motion.
Public Comment—Mike Prusnick is a District 3 citizen and president of Citizens for Recycling Choices. He
said that in regard to the bag fee, Councilmember Cunniff said option one was well vetted and option 2
was not well vetted, and the Economic Advisory Commission preferred option 1. What happened at
Council was that option 1 had good environmental protection, as did option 2, but the ordinance passed
by Council dropped all environmental protections and left the charge for bags. Prusnick stated that the
fee was set just above the bulk cost for major grocers, leaving profits to Wall Street, and harming small
businesses with greater bag costs. There is a petition due September 29 that will go to Council October
7, and Council will have to choose whether to honor the referendum or go to ballot. He would like the
commission to hold a special meeting to weigh in on the final passage of the ordinance. His concern is
that his reusable bags are dirty and he wonders what resources are necessary to wash them. He handed
out bio-plastic single use bags that are supposed to biodegrade and thinks this innovation is being
repressed.
• Linda asked if the petition is getting enough signatures. Mike said yes. He is confident that they
will get enough signatures.
• Michael Rechnitz stated that the commission did discuss this issue at the last meeting and was
pushing to get this rolling forward. The reduction in plastic bag use is significant. We want to get
there before worrying about too much more statistical information. He said recyclability and
washing were discussed and our recommendation touched on pros and cons of each option, but
overall the commission recommended passing an ordinance with a clause to reevaluate in one
year.
• Mike Prusnick said the full retail price for the biodegradable bags is 20 cents.
• Glen asked for the language on the referendum.
• Mike Prusnick said it is a referendum to repeal the ordinance. Council can choose to repeal or
put it on the ballot. There is a proposal in the packet he gave to the commission that discusses
how plastic bags will be replaced by purchased can liners, etc. He said we may change
responsible users of plastic bags into irresponsible users of reusable bags. Downtown businesses
were positive toward his petition. Mike would like the commission to look at what was passed
by Council and weigh in.
• Sam said the EACs recommendation to Council was very thorough.
Commission Member Updates
• Glen said he attended the last Climate Action Committee meeting and there is another
September 18. There is nothing to report from the last meeting.
Staff Updates—MOR—
• Josh said the confidential project previously discussed is still moving forward. This project has
been offered state based incentives. Between state incentive and the City’s manufacturers use
tax rebate, that is enough for the project to move forward. It will generate many jobs that do
not require a college degree and provide livable wages without the City needing to add
additional support. The City will work with the project group to put out a press release. The
Economic Health Office (EHO) helped create the relationship with the state and will highlight the
programs we have in place and how they benefit business.
o Linda is glad the City does not need to add support to the project. The rate of growth is
staggering now. She sees desire to create jobs, but who are they for? It is a national job
market now, so it may not be Fort Collins citizens who get employed. Saying we want to
create jobs really just creates growth. We are asking for taxpayer funding to have
people from outside move here for these jobs. EHO’s economic strategic plan should be
about how to keep our system healthy now.
o Sam said he is unsure there is data to support that people come here and we try to
create jobs for them.
o SeonAh added based on the recent labor market study that we are a net exporter of
jobs. People live here and drive out for work.
o Linda said OtterBox, for example, doesn’t just take applications from Fort Collins. We
are in an incredible growth period and some day it will crash.
o Josh said the economy is like a river, the City is like the boat, and economic tools are the
paddles. How do you create an environment in which you use your tool kit to shape
outcomes that are going to happen regardless, rather than letting them act on us
without our input? Economic health is not about creating economic activity, but about
shaping the future for the community. The economy is beyond our control. We don’t
have control over the pace.
o Linda said we have control over pace using incentives.
o Sam said there is a role that needs to be played. We don’t know when a business is
going to pull up roots and our community loses hundreds of jobs. We need to plan
ahead for these things.
o Glen said we have forgotten the discussion on the budget. We are losing opportunities
to weigh in. SeonAh said she has a presentation ready for today on this topic. Glen
would like to get the meeting agendas earlier.
o Glen added that we are trying to reduce GHG emissions, we have limited water, and we
are still trying to bring in more jobs, and these do not work together.
o Denny said a lot of topics discussed here are reactionary to what is happening or what
has already happened, or very tactical and narrow in scope. On the extreme end we are
talking about planet-wide issues, and it is not clear what the role of the commission is to
discuss these. How can we best impact what staff is doing? Our recommendations to
Council don’t seem to get anywhere. We should redefine our mission to be more
impactful on what we can actually impact. We can make better impact if we stay
focused on longer term strategic items.
o Josh said he spoke with Deputy City Manager Jeff Mihelich. He advised preparing a clear
work plan so staff can resource for the coming year. This will allow the commission to
address topics from beginning to end, rather than getting a narrow view of the work
going in around a particular item.
o Sam said we have had this conversation, but we need to have influence on the agenda
to do that. Josh said the best place to influence the agenda is the work plan. Then the
chair can make sure agenda items fit with the work plan; you have criteria to determine
if something is worth your time.
o Linda said we are advisory to Council on items related to economic health. We might
need to discuss meeting twice per month or forming subcommittees to do additional
work.
o Josh said we may want to reserve time at each meeting for Council requests and the
remainder for long term discussions. The current work plan is mission driven.
o Denny said staff members spend many, many hours doing the work. How well can we
understand everything they have done from a short presentation?
o Josh said the commission could narrow its focus to specific topics.
o SeonAh said she is concerned about the comment of directing staff time because that
time is very limited. Josh added that he would like alignment between staff and the
commission.
o Josh said the next work plan could get more focus. You must leave a little time for the
issue of the day, because that is part of the charter.
Agenda Item 1: Economic Health Strategic Plan Revisit—Josh Birks, Economic Health Director
Josh said that the last strategic plan was developed before the service area was created. The new
strategic plan will enhance partnering opportunities with the other sections of the service area:
environmental health and social sustainability. Additionally, we need to consider the coming impact of
climate change, build-out, pace of innovation and shifts in workforce demographics. There are themes
that have emerged are around creating a resilient community. Resiliency against outside pressure is not
just to survive, but to adapt in order to live better in the new system. The structure of the strategic plan
will parallel the Social Sustainability Strategic Plan structure. There will be a section on challenges, the
vision of the department, the roles the department can play, and goals with strategies, metrics and
outcomes. The five themes are Place Matters, Grow Our Own, Shared Prosperity, Think Regionally, and
Climate. For Place Matters, the vision is a balance of built and natural environment that the community
can take pride in. Challenges include land supply, infrastructure deficiencies, rising costs, aging building
stock, etc. The vision of Growing Our Own is an innovation system that supports entrepreneurs and
businesses. The vision of Shared Prosperity is employment opportunity across income and
education/skills spectrums. There are barriers to people being able to create their own jobs. There are
barriers to people maintaining employment. The cost of childcare is more than going to CSU. For Think
Regionally, the idea is to lead the region by increasing collaboration regionally. The objective of Climate
is for businesses and community to adapt to climate change in place. There are many challenges and
implications of achieving the current carbon reduction goals.
Comments/Discussion:
• Glen said food and energy are areas where we can make a lot of change and he does not think
we should bury these under climate change. We need to focus on what we can do locally. He
suggested adding a “Resource” section.
• Ann added that income inequality is a touchy subject for many.
• Denny said he has no problem with this approach, but the challenge is getting trapped into
objective prioritizations. Josh said he will return to this group to further discuss the role of the
City within our environment as well as the specific strategies and outcomes.
• Linda said in business there are SWAT analyses. Where do the strengths come into this
discussion? Josh said that work was done in 2011. Staff doesn’t have the time or resources to
redo that work, and it was thorough, so we are continuing to use that data to direct this plan.
We are creating alignment and including what has already been identified in the previous plan.
• Ann said this is about making Fort Collins a place where employers want to be, making this an
attractive place. Josh said it is more about being where the economy wants to be. Ann said she
assumes underemployment will fall under income inequality. Josh said yes. This is about
maintaining and enhancing the place we live. If we paddle incessantly without thinking about
where we want to go, we will not get what we want.
• Denny said he doesn’t think size has to be everything and it is okay to aspire to a different class
of size, infrastructure, etc. However, sometimes we are thinking about things that are not
relevant to a city of 250,000. Josh said Portland is progressive in addressing future challenges.
We are peers on that level, not on size or density. The dialogue we had was about approach, not
about getting Fort Collins to 600,000 people. They have had success in tackling challenges.
Finding peer communities is a challenge of its own.
• Glen said we have a community that employers and the community take pride in already. These
are challenges to more growth that assumes we need more growth and jobs. He doesn’t care if
we have a limited supply of land. He would like to see the land left used for agriculture rather
than employment or housing. These challenges assume we can’t have a nice community without
having more. At some point we are full and those companies can go somewhere else that values
things that we do not. Josh said the paradigm he views this from is that we cannot control
growth, but growth has consequences we need to have input on. We don’t make growth or not,
but we can shape how it impacts us. The broader job market and international economy has
more influence on our pace of growth. We can determine how we navigate. Glen said there are
states that could use growth, that are stagnant. Our paddle is bigger as a community than we
think it is. Do we try to solve problems of land supply, or let them exist because it is not a
priority for us to grow? Portland and San Francisco continue to stuff people in. Josh said we
cannot keep people from making choices about where they need to live. Glen said these
challenges should be left to the market to figure out how to deal with.
• Denny said our job is to look at the reality of the situation and determine how to maintain what
we have today and still accommodate the growth so it doesn’t go sideways and go where we
don’t want it. Glen said rather than challenges, we should look at this as our situation. Josh said
it can be described as a condition rather than challenges. He does not recommend that a
solution to limited land supply is to throw out the GMA. However, we have this condition and
more people coming, so how do we make sure we don’t end up with a community we don’t
want? This is not easy.
• Linda said people are upset about the growth in Fort Collins. This is a big challenge. Josh said
maintaining a quality place that we all are attracted to is the goal.
• Denny said it is not about creating more and more startups and putting in resources to keep
them going. It is healthier for the community to let some of them fail. If they don’t it is not good
for the community. The better the dynamism, the healthier the economy.
• Linda added that we are known for our talented workforce, but we are not creating them. Josh
said we are trying to work with employers and educators to get alignment. We cannot make
Front Range Community College or CSU change, but we can draw attention to the issue.
• SeonAh said the labor study shows the graduate certificates as opposed to the job needs. This
information was provided to FRCC, CSU and others.
• Glen said there is a distinction on keeping innovation going and developing businesses. We
could be an incubator and we don’t have to feel bad if companies leave. We don’t have to
provide jobs for every person from CSU. He does not want to become a Silicon Valley of
innovation. The cost involved in incentives is not worth it. Jobs can go to other places that have
lower populations. Josh said he hears this, but if more people move here, we will have a deficit
of jobs. We want the jobs that are created to be the kinds we want to have here.
• Glen said underemployment is a national and personal choice issue. We are not required to
provide employment. Linda said we will always have underemployment here. We look at our
utility of living in a particular place. When people start moving to a place, it is because the extra
utility is larger than where they come from. They may take a less well-paying job, but they are
happier. You will have underemployment in every place that is nice to live.
• Josh said we are looking at what build-out looks like if we have the same access to jobs we have
today. People come here because they want to be here. If we create the right jobs, we can
maintain our sense of place.
• Ann said saying we are going to lead the region is not a comfortable statement, especially for
other communities. She encourages staff to find new language.
• Commission members requested to receive the presentation via email and will send comments
and suggestions directly to Josh Birks.
• Josh said the presentation will be presented to Council for further direction. The goal is have the
revised strategic plan approved at the end of the year.
• Glen said he did not see anything in this about getting more people into local agriculture. As the
price of energy increases and the water supply changes, we need an economy where we can get
more locally. Josh said the local food system will find a place within these five themes. There is a
staff person who works almost entirely on this topic. The Local Food Cluster is funded as well.
The land supply issue is as much a condition that impacts local food production as business
development.
Agenda Item 3: Labor Study Overview—SeonAh Kendall, Economic Policy &Project Manager
When SeonAh talks to businesses, a common issue they have is acquiring the “right” talent. Many
partners were included in this labor study project, which will be presented at Bixpo. Larimer County is a
live, work, play area that is considered one of the best. The state demographer will talk about the state
demographics at Bixpo. This study focuses on Larimer County. The biggest issue is a skills gap. Labor
force is calculated as eligible people who can work in Larimer County are those over the age of 16, and
we have nearly 69% participation, which is above the national average. The age demographics graph she
presented shows that there are more young adults than experienced people. This is largely due to CSU.
Only 5% of the population does not have a high school diploma. 45% have a bachelor degree or higher.
The current available jobs require less education than our population has. There is a lot of
underutilization of people with degrees. A lot of employers are looking for specific technical positions.
Commuting patterns show that people who live here and commute (44,000), are commuting for a higher
salary rate outside the County. A lot of people who live in Weld county commute to Denver metro due
to housing costs being lower in Weld. She showed a map of the labor shed. 1.5% of people are
commuting as far as Colorado Springs. The wages are higher in communities they are shifting to. The top
industries in Larimer include health care, retail, education, lodging, manufacturing, and science and
technical services. The fastest growing industries are communications equipment manufacturing,
specialty hospitals, business schools, performing arts, etc. The fastest declining industries are travel
agents, agriculture, reporters, cabinet makers and bench carpenters, furniture finishers, dental
laboratory technicians, computer hardware engineers, etc. The top 10 most difficult positions to fill
nationally are skilled trades, sales representatives, drivers, IT staff, accounting and financial staff,
engineers, technicians, management/executives, mechanics, and teachers. The study compared the
degrees being attained with the employment needs. Manufacturing has some niche areas in Fort Collins.
The chart also shows wages, new growth, replacement, turn-over and retirement. SeonAh will be
sharing this information openly. The health care sector has many rules and regulations to get them in
training and practicum, which is difficult to fulfill and therefore leaving a gap. The employer survey that
was conducted did not get a large pool of participants. The employers who responded employ 4,771
people. SeonAh will pull data on how many are from Fort Collins. The survey asked for what positions
the employers plan to hire in the next 12 to 24 months. The greatest need is in professional and
technical and is also where they look outside of the area for applicants. Employers are identifying
candidates mostly via referrals and word of mouth, internet job boards, and colleges/trade schools.
They know about local workforce centers but are not using them effectively. Social media such as Linked
In are also being used to find employees. We have many great resources for training, but employers
want customized training. 83% said they do it in house with their own staff members.
Comments/Discussion:
• Linda said everyone goes to college now, but a lot of people could get two year certificates
instead. SeonAh said a lot of people have degrees for which there are no jobs right now. Linda
added that college is not just for getting a job, but for developing as a citizen, as well.
• SeonAh said there is a stigma now that you need a degree. There has been a major shift.
• Denny asked if there is more data than what is shown on the slides. SeonAh said there is a lot
more data. Denny said separating the bachelors into masters, doctorate, etc., would show stem
versus non-stem degrees. Those with non-stem are probably falling into the categories of
commuters and underemployed people. SeonAh agreed to share the spreadsheet with him.
• Glen said that HP looked everywhere except locally for talent. They hire from top 10 and 20
universities. They want diversity. SeonAh said the talent they need is not being generated by our
higher education as well.
• Linda said her center offers on the job training. Taking a class would take too long and not be
geared toward the employer needs. SeonAh said CSU is starting a program to offer specific
training that employers need.
• Denny said most job training is very specific and it is very difficult to create curriculum.
• Michael said we still send our kids to college, though.
• Glen said the degree has become a filter, not necessarily a needed qualification.
• The commission requested a copy of the PowerPoint presentation and the full study.
• Glen asked what we do with this information. SeonAh said staff looked at the degrees and
certificates available versus the five year job projection and sent this list to the community
colleges. They have advisory boards that tell the community colleges where the needs are and
help drive curriculum change.
• Michael said it is easier to tailor training at the community college, and it would be great to see
similar change at the university level. He is a huge proponent of being trained to do something.
In his opinion we are doing a terrible job of training people. If 90% of training is on the job, do
people really need a well-rounded $600,000 education to teach 3rd grade math? No. We have a
huge number of people who have degrees, but 60% of the jobs don’t require the higher
education.
• SeonAh said FRCC has 25,000 students as well, across all of its campuses, but the Fort Collins
location has about two thirds of the students. The manufacturing sector meeting had shop
teachers, principals, FRCC, CSU, etc. in attendance. Industry is saying what they need.
Manufacturing is paying for a substitute teacher and buses to get students to the manufacturing
sites. We are seeing that in health care as well and will be implementing for the energy sector
too.
Agenda Item 2: Agenda Planning/6-Month Agenda Planning Calendar
• Sam said he would like to put at least one to two hours of talking about agendas on the agenda.
He would like members to present what they want the agenda to look like. He could see having
half of each meeting for “punch card” items and half for our own concepts. The commission’s
charge is to give input to City Council, so we should continue to look at the planning calendar.
• Denny said when we try to get input from Council on what we should comment on, we don’t get
a sufficient response. That process is not quite working. Council has not provided us with a list of
items to weigh in on.
• Sam said the previous mayor started this commission as a focal point for Council. Council wants
substance from this commission and it should be able to provide that.
• Denny said it is okay for us to say what we are going to do since Council will not tell us.
• SeonAh said the 2015 Work Plan is due in November. If each member could present his/her top
2 items for the Work Plan, the commission can take a vote. Climate Action Plan would like to
present in October.
• Denny said he does not like the commission to be a box checking stop.
• Linda said all boards she has been on have discussed this. She was on a board that created an
economic plan that Council then used.
• SeonAh said when she brings presentations to the board it is because she wants feedback.
However, the commission has the right to say no to requests for presentation time. The chair of
the commission has been making those decisions.
• Linda said the strategic plan should be taking a large portion of our time. We should have gotten
involved much earlier to develop our own plan, to give input, rather than just giving reactions to
a draft. That time has come and gone but we can still get involved in this process.
• Sam said we did that last year, but we did not carry through on it.
• Denny said he would like to list things we can do, and pick those that have the highest impact.
• SeonAh said there is a BFO offer to revisit City Plan. She is willing to narrow that down to the
Economic section to see if the commission would like to weigh in on this. Additionally the City is
starting to have Super-Board meetings to get input from boards on those check-box type items.
• Linda said many boards had little or no representation. This will not work without participation.
• Glen asked for the commission to be able to give input on the budget.
• SeonAh will send the City Manager’s proposed budget. Some changes are that Block 33 was cut,
the Economic Health reserve fund was cut to $50,000, and SBAC was cut completely. We have
reduced funding for Northern Colorado Development Corporation as well. Economic Health
looks to have a lot, but much is for utilities. Josh is writing a memo to Council in regard to this.
SeonAh will send this memo to the commission as well. October 7 is the public hearing on the
budget. First adoption is October 21. The next EAC meeting is October 15.
• Commission members agreed to review the budget before the October meeting and come
prepared to draft a recommendation to Council.
Meeting Adjourned: 1:36pm
Next Meeting: October 15, 2014 11:00am–1:30pm, City Hall, CIC Room
Approved by the Board on October 15, 2014
Signed
______________________________________ 10/16/2014
Dianne Tjalkens, Administrative Clerk II Date