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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 12/17/2014Minutes City of Fort Collins Economic Advisory Commission December 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 Blue Hovatter, Chair Linda Stanley Michael Kulisheck (Mike) Denny Otsuga (arrived 12:15) Glen Colton Ann Hutchison Michael Rechnitz Sam Solt (via phone) Guests Dale Adamy, citizen Ted Settle, citizen Staff Present Staff Absent SeonAh Kendall, Economic Policy & Project Manager Dianne Tjalkens, minutes Ginny Sawyer, Policy and Project Manager Karen Weitkunat, Mayor Meeting called to order at 11:04am. Logistics Approval of minutes Michael moved to approve the November 19, 2014 minutes as presented. Mike seconded. Motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0. Denny arrived after vote. Public Comment—Dale Adamy gave well wishes to Blue Hovatter, as this is his last meeting as chair of the commission. He attended the Finance Committee on Monday and brought a list of items the EAC should consider: • Someone from the commission should liaison to the Finance Committee. The chair should request being added to the email list. Boards and commissions should have more crossovers. • Set-asides, elections, etc. have a long-term impact. He recommends a transition packet for new board and Council members. • Revenue diversification was discussed in greater detail by the Finance Committee. Jessica presented slides and this board should view them. Colorado Springs completed a premiere study and the commission should view it. • The triple bottom line approach was not addressed in revenue diversification. That should he heralded by this commission. • Mike Beckstead did something very important in Denver, which was discussed at the Finance Committee meeting and the minutes should be reviewed to be aware of this. • Blue Ocean Enterprise is purchasing land to create a parking lot [Jefferson Park]. He suggests the City purchase the land instead. People use the park that is currently there. He suggests speaking with Beth Sowder. o Mayor Weitkunat noted that the Finance Committee is a committee of Council that does not take action. All the financial policies of the City, bookkeeping, and other finance issues are reviewed by this committee. The involvement can be as an observer. The minutes are public record. o Blue suggested a member find a way to participate. o Ann added that she can provide a quick summary from the Finance Committee meetings. Commission Member Updates • None. Staff Updates—MOR— • SeonAh gave the following updates: o Economic Health Strategic Plan—Got feedback from Council at work session. More public outreach will follow and the commission will have another opportunity for input. Agenda Item 1: Q & A with Mayor Weitkunat Blue said that the commission has been discussing its direction and work. The commission has questions for the Mayor to clarify the role of the group. Mayor Karen Weitkunat said she participated in the creation of the commission and bringing Economic Health to the City. In 2005 the City created the Economic Vitality and Sustainability Report. As we move forward, the commission can have a greater impact on conversations regarding the economy. Everything the City does is triple bottom line: economy, environment, cultural/social, but the three- legged stool is lopsided. The economy is not pulling its weight in the conversations. We chose the people on this committee due to their expertise. Two new members will be joining in 2015. Members are the eyes and ears in the community, enhance our competitive position, and engage partnerships. The commission must remember that its role is advisory. We are looking for information to advise Council. EAC does not create policy. Futures Committee is looking at population, we are creating a UniverCity Connection again, and Planning is always looking at population. There are documents to guide the commission. The Economic Health Strategic Plan is the guiding document. It gives history on the vision. The commission should be involved in the new Economic Health Strategic Plan development. Getting an opinion from the commission on where the City is going is important. The commission also has a reactive role in that it must advise Council on items of Economic Health. But avoiding the strategic plan or any other plan that affects us economically is a mistake. One area the board can be proactive is to give the economic perspective on projects. The City wants to get a triple bottom line analysis on all projects. The commission should decide what projects to weigh in on based on the 6-Month Agenda Planning Calendar. Comments/Discussion: • Blue said the board is feeling that they are part of a roundtable of getting topics checked off on public opinion. Everyone who comes to the commission tries to put an economic spin on their topics. • Mike said we can opine on topics that are related to economics. We have to remind ourselves that we are not creating policy. Some members may feel we are not having an impact when we aren’t creating policy. • Mike said Council and the Mayor know where they need advice, but the commission is not aware of the needs. The commission could use more direction on what Council wants the commission’s input on. • Michael said weekly Council packets are enormous. To have the commission insert more information is challenging. We want our input to be important. We want to focus our efforts. This commission often discusses items that are not on the Council agenda. We want to give our opinion and advice in the right place so it is taken seriously. We suffer because our intention is to help, but the timing needs to be right. • Mayor Weitkunat said the Council’s 6-month planning calendar is the road map of where Council is going. For example, the airport has been on the calendar for six months. Have you discussed this? Time should have been spent four months ago looking at the airport. What are you hearing about the airport and its impacts in the community? • Blue said it is important for new membership to understand this. There are members now who when they signed up, had they understood this charge, perhaps would not have made the commitment. • Mike said the airport has clear economic implications, but is also a broad topic. We could use focus on what the challenges or concerns are, or what the Council would like information on. How can we be useful talking about the airport? • Mayor Weitkunat said Glen has served on many boards. How many get direction from Council? • Glen said they are mostly self-directed. • Mike said the commission talks about business and economy constantly. If our job is to talk about the economy and you tell us to figure out where it’s important we weigh in, that is not fair. • Glen said we can talk about the airport, but without knowing our goals around economic health and sustainability, we can’t do that. If the City’s goal is growth, that is one thing. He would prefer not to pave over everything. Glen state that the discussions have been in a vacuum. He doesn’t believe we’re doing well economically, even though we have economic growth. He would like goals and metrics. • Mayor Weitkunat said this is in the Economic Health Strategic Plan. • Blue added that each member is here to bring a different perspective. • Glen said he does not believe there is consensus in this community about economic growth. • Mayor Weitkunat said the strategic plan is the policy document of the City. The Sustainability Office has some upheaval about where it is going. Those are sub-issues. You are not reinventing what we have done for the last 10 years. If you don’t buy into the premises in the strategic plan, then we have difficulty. You are not here to debate the policy; you are here to help guide council with projects into the policy. There are extreme economic issues that come with the airport. Housing affordability policy is a major piece of what happens in the community. What are the ramifications of this? It relates to jobs, land use, housing, and transportation. Our business incubation strategy is a pillar of our economic health. Can you give opinions on these without additional direction from Council? We are looking at B&B policy. Your background, your knowledge, of how this is working in the community and your expertise are valued. When we have many perspectives we get enlightenment on how these things should work. The Climate Action Plan is coming forward and there are major strategies that affect the business and economic climate of the community. • Mike said the vacation by owner issue is a fascinating topic. Should we task staff to bring the right people before us? • Mayor Weitkunat said Council will often ask staff if the project has been presented to the Economic Advisory Commission. She is looking for thought on the effects. Do you know what is happening in tourism and lodging? That is a large part of our economy. The commission should request staff find information on these topics. She expects to hear from the commission. There is room for ideas. • Mike said you bring someone who has experience before the commission, and we have perspectives that can be used to interpret the information presented. We can mold the different perspectives into information that can be sent to Council. It is a gut check. • Blue thanked the mayor for her time. He asked the commission if they feel the information received when they signed up for the commission matches what they heard from her. The commission has big ideas for how we want our community to grow, but it is good to have guidance on what Council expects from us. • Michael said he believes the charge was made clear. He is very analytical. It’s difficult for him to see numbers on projects without seeing how the budget was developed. The analysis from this commission can be finite and specific, but the topics are broad and there are many. Our ability to do analysis on these things is limited. We all want to do the analysis, but to be effective in doing the analysis requires more information. Right now people come in as a check off, but do not present the deeper level information. He would like to look at budgets to make appropriate recommendations. This commission can be information gatherers and analysts if we are given direction to do so. So many items that come through here are budgetary, capital improvement, and infrastructure items. Some project budgets are so broad that the information going to Council is not even helpful. There are too many items on the calendar to do an in-depth analysis on all of them. If there is something you are really looking for, we would like to do the quality of work to provide the quality of opinion you need. • Mayor Weitkunat said she is hearing the commission would like more financial analysis. The City never expects its boards or commissions to be technical or so detailed on the finances. You are volunteers who meet once a month. A lot of times those details don’t exist when you see the presentations. For the airport, we are looking at how to build an economic plan with strategies and actions to help it become solvent. It’s the principles, theories, and cerebral side of how the economy works we are after. There is no expectation to do deep level analysis. That is asking too much and is a staff function. • Michael said because this is voluntary, we know we are not tasked with analysis, but many of us are willing to do the work. To get to brass tacks we need both high level and nitty-gritty. When presentations come through, we know we could use more information to give a well-crafted opinion to Council. Perhaps the board needs to have a conversation about how to give advice. • Mike said for the mall and Woodward projects the commission got a couple of fairly thorough briefings and gave good feedback. • Ann said at one point the City had discussed having an outreach plan that Council could review for each project to make sure staff is getting the appropriate input. At the time that felt like a great idea because it would have given Council the opportunity to give direction to staff on what boards and commissions to get feedback from. She encouraged Karen to reinvestigate this issue. For example, Council asked staff to seek input from stakeholders on the Economic Health Strategic Plan. It might be helpful for staff to have this information in the beginning. • Glen said it is important to weigh in on all the appropriate calendar items, but he does not think the City has good metrics and goals on economic health. How do we measure if the economy is healthy or not healthy? Most people he knows think the economy is overheated right now. We need to be able to bring those thoughts to the presentations. We need measures for a sustainable economy. What is appropriate growth? • Karen said the metrics dashboard comes out quarterly. The City is a data driven organization and the metrics are there. What is included on the dashboard can be discussed by this board. There is a place for performance measures. If we are missing an indicator, that is a place for input. If these don’t meet the need, work on it. Your analytical nature can be used here. Economic Health in the City is still relatively new. Presentation Debrief: • Blue suggested for future meetings to review the 6-Month Agenda Planning Calendar and have SeonAh give input into what is most important for the commission to review. • SeonAh said staff does their best to get items on the planning calendar, but understand there are additional items that will come up. This is a large organization, so she can give more information on what is happening in Economic Health. Her opinion is that presenters are sometimes asked to present, but not ready for an action, and when they are we cannot get them in on time due to meeting constraints. • Blue added that a lot can happen between meetings and the commission may not always have time to give input. We can have special sessions for large, important projects. Agenda Item 2: Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2015 SeonAh mentioned that the Boards and Commissions Manual says to hold elections of officers in February or March because new members begin in January. The commission decided to hold off on elections. Sam will lead the January session. Agenda Item 3: Review Work Plan for 2015 Not discussed Agenda Item 4: Review Additional Information: Past recommendations, EAC attendance, agenda format Comments/Discussion: • SeonAh had an intern comb through commission recommendations to Council from 2007 to present. She provided copies of the information to the commission. She noted that recommendations have slowed down in the last two years. • Michael suggested creating packets of recommendations for Council to add weight to the opinions. • Mike added that the commission would be better used if Council prioritized issues for commission input. For BOB2.0, we bring good input. There are other items that are slightly economic related, but don’t need to come before the commission. • SeonAh said the communications plans are internal, but Council does not see that until a work session. • Ann added that many items on the agenda don’t have work sessions. That is yet another challenge. • SeonAh said another challenge is that some things pop up quickly. She appreciated the direction from the mayor to use the Economic Health Strategic Plan for direction. The mayor asked about the commission’s involvement in developing the new strategic plan. She will ask Josh to present to the commission and have another conversation on the strategic plan. The new plan will add both social and environmental components to enhance the outcomes. • Ann suggested there is a disconnect between what Council and staff think happens at boards and commissions and what actually happens. She appreciates SeonAh directing members to the Strategic Plan. • Mike asked what it means that this should be our guiding document. • SeonAh said staff uses this tool to develop the work plan. Staff determines if projects fit into the goals and use the plan to determine which staff member is responsible for each project. For example, now that the labor study has been done, staff is looking at actionable items. For the commission, her overarching idea was to use the theme areas to guide meetings, but many projects came up over the year which interfered in following through with this concept. In 2015 staff is looking at what is being promised on the budget and looking at metrics quarterly. • Ann requested staff updates include staff work plans and metrics, and updates on the plan of action. Josh used to give project updates. The metrics update the City releases quarterly can be reviewed by the commission as well. • SeonAh said the dashboard is updated by staff and she is happy to review with the commission. • Ann added that there should be discussion on whether the metrics are the right ones, as Glen suggested. • Mike requested a staff member walk the commission through the dashboard giving explanations of each metric. • SeonAh will request Lawrence Pollack present the dashboard to the commission in February or March. • Michael requested the commission review all of the topics mentioned by the Mayor. • SeonAh said Lucinda has requested to present the Climate Action Plan in January or February, and Nature in the City is going to work session in February and the Economic Health Strategic Plan is going to Council in March. • Blue added that unless a presenter can delineate the economic impact, they should not be presenting. • SeonAh will follow up with Lindsay Ex and request she share an economic analysis with the commission. • Ann asked about the airport. • SeonAh said Mike Beckstead, Darin Atteberry and the Mayor are working on this. • Ann said it would be good to get working documents to the commission. • SeonAh said a citizen group is working on the governance model. • Ann asked if the commission can comment after the fact, since this topic is not going away. She suggested discussing vacation rentals in a following meeting. • Glen said Uber is supplanting many taxi companies. This is a similar internet offering that is changing the model. • Blue suggested sending a question to staff on that subject. • SeonAh will invite Katy Schneider and Jessica Ping-Small to discuss vacation rentals. • Glen asked about the Housing Affordability Policy Study. • Ann said many advocates have asked for a broader conversation. There has been limited conversation about cost of fees that the City controls and how that affects the costs of homes. The presentation she saw on Friday was focused on solutions for affordable housing, including establishing a fund to build subsidized housing. Another recommendation was to waive fees for other organizations than FCHA to build affordable housing. • Glen said economics has a huge impact on housing affordability. Boulder has created more jobs than housing. If you want a balanced community, you have to understand the interconnectedness of these topics. • Ann added that you cannot look at just Fort Collins either. She will send the slideshow from Sue Beck-Ferkiss to this group. • SeonAh will send the link to the Housing Affordability Policy Study to the commission. • Glen said Utilities is changing to a service model. He is not sure how the contracting industry feels about this. This is a total energy management model. • SeonAh said she had a subcontractor tell her about various programs available through the City. • Michael said he has received a free thermostat from the City and that kind of program can affect local business sales. • Mike said the new model makes sense since you have to address your current building stock. However, there is concern that building stock leasing will be affected when utility costs are not level across the community. • SeonAh added that the annual report is due in January, which includes recommendations from 2014. • Blue suggested revisiting the work plan. Ann said to make sure it matches the strategic plan. • Mike added that the commission should not be concerned about cancelling or shortening meetings if there are not topics. • SeonAh said staff has been talking about the creative district, downtown plan, broadband, and metered and/or off-street parking. The commission may want to discuss these topics. Agenda Item 5: Building on Basics—Ginny Sawyer, Policy and Project Manager Members reviewed the project list online. Ann gave her explanation of each project, and told the group which projects have recently been moved off the list. Many projects moved off of the list may move to general operating costs. Ginny arrived and provided the most recent project list including O&M costs for the next four years, and inflation on real construction costs. Many projects are actually “funds” which helps leverage dollars. The southeast community center will include an outdoor pool with no contingencies. The Gardens on Spring Creek fund is now focused on the visitor center, and they will need to fundraise $1 million for the project. Funds for new vans were reduced by half, as federal money can be leveraged if the City can match funds. The Community Marketplace is high on the list, but not in, because the plans for it are nebulous; the property and partner have not yet been identified. As the Local Food cluster matures, the project may become more feasible. Comments/Discussion: • Glen asked about the pool and community center philosophy. People have asked why the City is getting involved in health club type facilities in an affluent area of town. • Ginny said the City feels it is their responsibility to provide no- and low-cost recreation across the community. There will not be a basketball court, but there will be fitness rooms and opportunities for outdoor fitness activities. There will also be creative and innovation facilities. Staff has heard need for a pool. An outdoor pool will bring in enough revenue from user fees to cover the pool’s operation costs. • Denny asked about budgeting for the community center. • SeonAh said she and Jill Stillwell have visited other communities with innovation spaces. Many of those spaces are donated or sponsored by companies. Jill is starting to look at what types of machinery and equipment will be needed. Jill Stillwell is working on numbers, for this location and the Carnegie building. • Glen asked to talk about Lincoln corridor. He thought more of the costs would be covered by street oversizing fees. Ginny said Council adopted the plan, and what is in there now is street work with urban design elements. It does not include the bridge. Council will be continuing discussions about the bridge and other design elements. Staff will complete additional outreach events and review citizen input. • Glen said 10 years ago there was discussion around including expansion of arterials into street oversizing fees since arterials get traffic from new developments. New development should pay for impact on arterials. Council failed to act on that, which would have lowered the cost of this project. • Ginny added that this is for a fund that allows the City to leverage funds and add improvements as development comes in. She added that many of these funds are continuations from the previous BOB quarter cent tax. Ann moved that the Economic Advisory Commission send a recommendation to City Council that they are supportive of the list as presented because it includes cultural and transportation enhancements that have a long term positive economic impact. Mike seconded. Motion failed, 2-3-1. Michael, Glen and Blue voted against. Denny abstained. Motion Discussion: • Blue said he would not vote for a broad-brush recommendation. KFCG keeps us at a higher tax level, and funds are coming into the City there. • Denny said he does not feel he has enough information to vote on these projects. • Mike said he supports what is proposed because all the things are enhancements to the community and have positive economic and cultural impacts. He is willing to continue to pay more in taxes because these improvements offer positives in the long run. This has economic impact and it would make sense for us to comment. • Blue said he does not know enough about each item to feel comfortable with these. He views this as a list created to keep a tax continued. • Mike said the reality is that the general fund is limited and cannot grow enough to pay for these enhancements. The City is affected by statewide fiscal policy. • Ginny said the City has done capital projects through tax for 30 years. This system allows for more community input and more accountability for projects. The budget is harder to look at that closely. • Ann said we are still 10 years away from being honest about the cost of our community. In Council’s Saturday session Councilmembers said we should build capital funds into our budget. We are turning a corner. We went through the recession and are back in a positive gain and our leaders will hopefully include these items in future budgets. • Blue said many of these are great projects he would like to see in the community, but for many we don’t know what they are. This is how the City has been doing business for capital projects, but the street maintenance and other items should be in the operating budget. • Glen said half of the items would be good, but some should be paid for by new growth such as Lincoln corridor, intersection improvements, etc. Maybe we should break these off into smaller pieces. Meeting Adjourned: 1:40pm Next Meeting: January 21, 2015 11:00am–1:30pm, City Hall, CIC Room Approved by the Board on January 21, 2014 Signed ______________________________________ 1/26/2015 Dianne Tjalkens, Administrative Clerk II Date