HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 04/20/2016MINUTES
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Location: CIC Room, City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave.
Time: 11:00am–1:30pm
For Reference
Wade Troxell, Mayor & Council Liaison
Josh Birks, Staff Liaison 221-6324
Dianne Tjalkens, Minutes 221-6734
Commission Members Present Commission Members Absent
Sam Solt, Chair Craig Mueller
Kristin Owens
Denny Otsuga
Ted Settle
Glen Colton
Linda Stanley
Alan Curtis
Ann Hutchison
Staff Present Staff Absent
Josh Birks, Economic Health Director Dianne Tjalkens, Admin/Board Support
Jackie Kozak Thiel, Chief Sustainability Officer
Wade Troxell, Mayor
Meeting called to order at 11:00am
Review and Approval of Minutes:
No changes. March minutes approved as written.
Agenda Review—No changes.
Public Comment—None.
Commission Member/Staff Updates—
Ann: Working with City and several partners to work on an action plan for workforce development.
Glen: School Bond Issue hitting the newspaper; make suggestion that we consider other costs outside of
City cost when we do our financial analysis.
Denny: Cluster funding included funds for Rockies Venture Club – specifically for angle network
development, angel investor education – mastermind series, and entrepreneurial – Another program
funded through the program – BizGirls – teaches high school aged girls to gain leadership skills through
an entrepreneurship program.
Alan: Taking Cityworks 101 – a great way to go hands on when we talk about these issues and challenges
here.
AGENDA ITEM 1— Recap: Presentations on Growth Trends and Data—Board Discussion
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Discussion/Q & A:
• Ann
o Presentations reinforce the position that growth will continue in NoCo – more important
about how we prepare for it
o Biggest ah-ha was state demographer’s perspective that we are losing our Gen X
population and therefore losing a key resource in our workforce; unable to find
opportunity here because of wage competition, cost of housing, underemployment, etc. =
a red flag for us – not sure how we fix it or what the City’s role is in fixing this.
• Ted
o Net migration (a part of this group) finally getting the impact of growth on the
community; feels like the Boulder train is on the track and not thinking that is the
direction we want to head.
o Question – don’t know the range of policy choices that we can influence to change the
direction of the train.
• Glen
o Overshoot, Over Population, Over Development – a book; a good resource on the
impacts to community, wildlife, etc. – we are ravaging the world.
o Question – Are the projections we hear inevitable or do we have a choice; will Colorado
really grow to 8+ million.
o Observation – If we continue on the same pace will have 3 million in northern Colorado
and 15 million in Colorado by 2100 – greatly underappreciate the compounding factor of
growth – up to individual communities to start saying that it can’t be allowed to do it
indefinitely.
• Sam
o What I did not hear: still looking for a better understanding of how the integration of the
Triple Bottom Line is happening across the City – didn’t hear what I thought I was going
to hear – need more from the Social and Environmental departments – what is
sustainability.
• Denny
o Big thing is providing useful service and comments to Council – what we need to focus
on are things the City can do and control – there are limits to those things and things the
City should stay out of because the scale is outside of the ability of the City to impact.
o Use data, and scientific-driven ideas should be used to develop the policy – not based on
individual assessment or views of the ideal future.
o Would like to see the group focus the discussion more on policy structure/fees to collect
funds to address the mitigation of growth.
o Can’t control whether folks move to Fort Collins or not; can’t build walls, etc. I like Fort
Collins the way it is today – not sure I would have moved here 30 years ago based on the
amenities and pattern of development from the past; change is going to happen – how are
we going to deal with this change and anticipate the future – the future will be different.
Let’s plan for it.
o Alan
o Wanted to wrap my head around the idea of growth from a 360° perspective – want to
understand the levers that we have to influence the growth “train” – what levers do we
have to either accelerate or decelerate the train – want to use an entrepreneurial approach
and look at peer cities for ideas of how this can be affected – use minimally viable
approach to testing an idea.
o Need to get outside of the Fort Collins centric approach and emphasis of this group –
need to be talking with regional partners; the problem is not unique to Fort Collins so we
need to engage with these partners so that we don’t just kick the problem down-stream to
other communities.
• Linda
o We have an audacious/sticky/complex problem – we need to get away from the idea that
if we just create more primary jobs it will just be okay – will reiterate a number of things
that were said by others – I would like to see how the Social and Environmental integrate
into this economic thing…we know that certain things put things in motion that may not
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always have positive outcomes – want to truly understand the impact of a given decision
– look at the complexity of these issues – and what decisions are made.
o Certain questions are not asked when considering decisions and support of specific
economic actions – let’s put some numbers to these things so that we have a greater
understanding of consequence – what does it mean in terms of housing prices and water
etc. – need to really understand these things work against each other – how does
something here impact other things.
• Ann
o Same integrated approach needs to be made on the social and environmental choices as
well.
• Denny
o All that needs resource and it’s probably above and beyond the current level of resource.
• Ted
o This seems to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest thing, so it should not be an issue of
resources.
• Kristen
o Been here for about a year and half – want to be able to explain to folks not on this
committee what we do and how we help the community – if this group was no longer
meeting what holes would be created and what guidance would be lost – we need to sit
back and look at that – not saying what has been happening here hasn’t been good
discussion, but to what end?
o What about it? Fundamental question – we have got lots of data and good presentations –
what are we doing? Are we influencing, are we truly advising? What role does this group
have as a group?
• Mayor Troxell
o Can resonate with all the comments.
o Try to take the long view – looking back and forward. When I was born here there were
20,000 now there are 160,000 – eight times more people.
o Can remember in 1961 – someone left Fort Collins because it was getting to overrun with
folks.
o Boulder Train – Boulder was very intentional about not breaking the 100,000 cap –
Louisville, Superior, Niwot, Longmont, Lafayette have exploded – I don’t want Timnath,
Severance, Wellington, etc. to become the same.
o Fort Collins has always had values of economic and social diversity – there was never
really an other side of the tracks in Fort Collins –want to keep this alive as a value –
Coach Kinard – set a standard for all – across all social and economic bounds.
o I think we can be very intentional about what we value in Fort Collins and what we
cherish – want to keep our eye on these things and how they make Fort Collins Fort
Collins.
o A hallmark of Fort Collins is the discussion that just happened around the table; we all
love Fort Collins – we may not all agree about what the future of Fort Collins is and we
still want to engage in the discussion – good dialogue – not always easy and at least
always civil.
AGENDA ITEM 2—Open Discussion on Growth Dialogue —Board Discussion
Discussion/Q & A:
• Sam
o Based on the frustration I’ve had on since being on the EAC – when I first joined the
EAC it was irrelevant – then we worked hard to get some traction on economic, growth,
population – this has been an opportunity.
o We talk about managed growth – I can only talk about management from my perspective
from the tech industry – I wonder who is pulling whose levers and what levers?
Take a look at NCEA – they are pulling a number of levers – who anointed them
to pull levers?
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You can go around Larimer County/Fort Collins and find all the levers that
“manage” growth and see who is controlling them – seems like Fort Collins is at
a point of inflection where we could make something happen – this whole
concept of managed growth is perplexing to me for those reasons.
Can we document the levers and who is pulling them as a start to the
conversation? Not sure how we do this and share my frustration about this…
• Kristen
o We can’t manage growth. However, we can identify the players and understand if there
are creative ways to shape growth.
• Sam
o We do have a lever – to advise City Council – that is our lever.
• Ann
o We are supposed to advise Council and we are in May and have not seen a presentation
on a single item that has come before City Council.
• Denny
o I share your (Kristen’s) frustration because I am action oriented.
o When we had the most influence I felt was when we were able to provide direct
comments on a specific document going before Council.
• Kristen
o Would like us to get back to that role.
• Ann
o Six month agenda planning calendar – Mountain Vista Plan – plenty of opportunity for us
to have the growth dialogue discussion in this context – Work Session on April 26.
o Would like to refocus on providing this input.
• Linda
o Have found the discussion on growth very interesting – would like to understand the
things that we can do – would be good to see what are the things we can do.
• Glen
o Want to follow up on things that we can do. We have 3.1% unemployment and 3%
growth rate – why should we be doing anything to fuel an already hot economy? Let’s
change our policies with the times.
• Sam
o Follow-up on Ann’s comment on Mountain Vista.
• Ann
o It’s an update to a subarea plan – its setting a vision for the future of that part of town and
how it will grow up.
o It should be taking into account water issues, PSD’s plans in the area and whether they
will be developing there or not – it’s part of the past.
• Glen
o Should we subsidize water to those districts in Mountain Vista? Subsidies create an
incentive for growth.
o Mountain Vista is a great place to try out our thinking on growth.
• Ted
o Who are the actors and what are the levers?
o Who can we get access to that can help us answer those questions? City, University, etc.?
o Josh can you provide some thought to that and where we go from here?
• Denny
o Pitkin County was mentioned as a place that managed growth and avoided some negative
outcomes.
o Was State Demographer going to provide additional data on other Counties?
AGENDA ITEM 3— 2015 Revenue Review/City Forecasting Philosophy—Mike Beckstead & Tiana
Smith
Item Postponed
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AGENDA ITEM 4—Introduction to CSO—Jackie Kozak Thiel
• Came from Hawaii – 12 years working with the University and State Gov’t – spent final years
working for the Governor as the State Sustainability Coordinator.
• Sustainability can mean many different things – just reading about the different generations of
sustainability – started with defining, second measuring, third certifying, and fourth (current)
connecting.
• Integration/Connecting – what attracted me to this job and was part of my Hawaii role was
around connection – most of my peers are very narrow in focus – current position has a very
diverse spectrum of work.
o Only position that was intentionally focused on the three areas across all current available
positions in sustainability.
• Role of the boards is to provide the different lenses – help to equip our organization for each
individual to be able to apply those different lenses.
o Historically has been very reactive application of TBL.
o My vision is to make TBL proactive and integrative – how do you, from the beginning,
equip the paradigm shift to think about TBL and focus early on in the process?
• Recently, social sustainability has gotten more and more attention in our community and there is
opportunity for integration.
• Vision – actualize the integration of the three areas as part of our operationalization of these
challenges and issues.
o E.g., local food, childcare, workforce development.
• If Fort Collins is going to be a pioneer then we should create a path that others can follow; we
have a very dedicated and caring citizenry that enables the organization and the community to
take action in these spaces.
• Enormous global opportunity to solve these wicked problems locally and share those lessons with
other communities.
Discussion/Q & A:
• Sam – What are the top two or three challenges:
o Jackie – Top Issues
Diversity and equity are going to continue to be an issue here – saw this coming
from Hawaii which was very diverse – in the context of Fort Collins this is
interesting – we are in a privileged position here because we are growing – this is
not an issue that is easy to drive – diversity provides a broader perspective and
can help to create broader and better outcomes.
Affordable Housing – lens is skewed because of experience in Hawaii – come
from a place where it was a lot worse.
Transportation – come from a place where it was much worse.
• Ted – A long journey from the theory of TBL to the practice of TBL. How well is that concept
understood in the senior leadership of the City?
o There is a familiarity with the concept as a key brand term for the City of Fort Collins.
o Example – preparing a first time presenter to the City Council and found there are a
number of folks that would ask specific questions related to TBL.
o We have a tool that completed a one-year pilot – was good, but it needs to be improved –
still a long way from an approach that actually considers the mutual advantage of all
three legs of the TBL.
o Two strategies to implement/execute:
Soft approach & relational
• Integration and coordination.
• Need to understand the collective impact.
• Our division can provide the backbone that can be the foundation for the
operationalizing of the TBL.
Measurement
• Clear definition – Fort Collins has a clear definition and governance
around the TBL.
• Clear milestones – clear goals in several areas.
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• Clear metrics – this is our missing piece of the equation – this is where
the accountability comes from.
• Glen – think that Fort Collins is not sustainable because we are growing at 3%.
o Addressing the paradigm of growth is required to be sustainable.
o How do we balance not shutting the door after ourselves?
o Also, how do we deal with the carrying capacity question as well?
o Need to have a regional or state level and approach to develop these solutions.
Meeting Adjourned: 1:30pm
Next Meeting: May 18
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