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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 03/20/2019Economic Advisory Commission Regular Meeting March 20, 2019, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Colorado River Room, 1st Floor, 222 Laporte Avenue 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER Time Started 11:10 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL List of Board Members Present • Connor Barry • Aric Light • Denny Otsuga • John Parks • Braulio Rojas • Ted Settle • Linda Stanley • Renee Walkup List of Board Members Absent George Grossman (Staff to contact and arrange time for FC Badge) List of Staff Members Present • Jensen Morgan (EHO), filling in for Economic Health Manager • Jennifer Baker (URA), filling in for Economic Health Admin/Board Support • Jim McDonald, Cultural Services Director • Christine Macrina, Boards and Commissions Coordinator List of Guests • One community member attended, no introduction or sign 3. AGENDA REVIEW None 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION None ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 2 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The February 20, 2019 meeting minutes approved as presented with correcting typo on page 4: “likr” to “like” 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS. a. City Plan Update (Listen/ Clarify) Connor— No work or meetings since the last time, so no update currently. b. Board and Commission Evaluation (Experiment) Update—Ted Settle (Listen/ Clarify) Ted reminded everyone of the meeting invitation 4/11. 5-8pm at Senior Center, Rain Tree and Shields. It’s been a long time coming, we will see how it goes. This body will be able to make a recommendation to Council. It is not critical for EAC to form a quorum for this meeting. We will be looking at TBL tool and its application to housing, this conversation is more about the application of the tool rather than housing. Ginny Sawyer will be the moderator, Jackie will be there to kick off the meeting. We are planning on having a session on the tool, housing and big chunk of time on evaluation. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. FoCoCreates Arts & Culture Master Plan— Jim McDonald (Discuss/Act) Jim McDonald: Presented FOCO creates draft to EAC Jim- Grew up in Denver, then moved to Seattle. Has been involved with the Arts his entire career. Moved here for the climate and has enjoyed working for the City. UPresented FOCO Creates Summary of Draft and Visioning Goals: Highly encourages everyone to reference the online guide. Jim has been working with the consultant since November, read over online survey comments (250), and two separate task forces, the plan then transitioned from the consultant to Jim. The document was distilled down to a 60-pages. This is posted on the webpage and open for public comment. Presented PowerPoint and would like to highlight Goal 2 is about creative economic partnerships, creative economy and economic health. There is a lot of momentum around this area and industry area with the City’s Leadership. This goal is very important to the City and will all be implemented over a ten-year period. Values and vitality are important pieces here. We heard from the community a desire for expansion of creative industries. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 3 Goal 1: Equity and Inclusion We and the City need to be inclusive and equitable to the entire community. We need to address how we can be a welcoming presence in the community. Partners need to be at the table. Partners need to know what is available to them. This is a City plan, but its implementation is dependent on true partnerships. Goal 2: Creative Destination This is about the large umbrella of creative industries in Fort Collins. This is about understanding what are the barriers, needs and what are the connectors that we can do? Economic Health is a huge part of this goal for the City. Part of this goal is to hire a manager of creative industries. This position will serve between the multiple non-profits and for profits business sectors with the City. The second strategy is about the built environment, understanding what we need and what our existing spaces are for creatives. Having the City understand the importance of creativity in the Community. Creative and talented people are moving where they want to live, and the companies are following. We need to build the City’s reputation as a destination for innovative companies and people. Nurturing the individual for better growth. Goal 3: Community Engagement We need to expand art activities throughout the community. We are asking Council for a position and programmatic monies related to this. We want to look at and engage every life stage. This is ideated in a portal where community members can see all activities related to what they need. One of the items that has come up in our outreach is building a new performing arts center. For this we need a capital campaign and the sustainability to run this. Carnegie Center for Creativity is a gem. This is an important place for the creative community to really come together, it ties back into our equity and inclusion goal to better include people in the discussions they need to be in. We need to have home and gathering space for these community members. There are areas where the City can take a larger leadership role in this sector than what has previously occurred in the past. Be less near sited, identify the shared interests to create a place for creatives. How do we build a greater capacity? Part of this strategy is to hire a Full Time Creative manager to activate the space around cultural and creative activities. Third Strategy: Around life long learning. We want to look at the entire spectrum of someone’s life long learning needs and interest. There is interest around these sectors particularly art and education. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 4 Goal 4: Sustained and Thriving Sector First Strategy: Public Funding. We need to explore this space and ways in which we can capitalize on these funds for our community. We have a number of models to look at for this regionally and nationwide. There is interest in the City to take larger leadership role in this. Second Strategy: Private and Philanthropic funding sectors. This is about exploring a mission tax, regional sales tax and/or public private partnerships. Fort Collins needs to be a driving attraction, we need to identify the shared interest. Goal 5: Dynamic Identity This is about brand marketing. How do we brand Fort Collins as a destination for creatives to live, visit and work? This can only happen through partnerships. There is mention of a go-to webpage, such as Greeley Unexpected. Comments: Renee – Very Excited about the Plan. Linda – A lot of what I’ve heard is from people who see the Cultural Tax as something for elitist. We need to show them that arts and culture are very important to the area. Jim –This is addressed in Goal 1 and relates directly to my background where I focused on inclusivity. Connor – Funding is common theme, what is the actual number, where is the short fall? Jim – Every community is short on funding. In this community we have ½ million in Fort Fund, then funding drops, its about increasing the breath of where the funding is coming from. This is the balance of plan specificity. Looking at the Denver Regional Sales Tax, the tax was passed during a recession and has uplifted the arts. Linda – The Denver voter base is very different than Larimer County. I would like to sit down and talk with you about this, I have a lot of experience with sales taxes and voter buy-in. Jim – I would be happy to sit down and talk with you about this. The history of science history and culture in Denver is very interesting, they started as part of the general fund. Renee – Regarding the feasibility study for a new performing arts center. Why do we need another venue? Jim – This has been a long-standing interest with Board members. With a larger ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 5 venue, we can have a larger theater, such as Broadway come in. If we want to be destination, we need to build something. If we don’t then one of our neighbors may. The other side is that we don’t know if we can get a larger performance here, there is a monopoly with Denver. We need to keep our ear to the ground and be aware of the need to do this. The other portion of this is who controls ticket sales, which brings the question of if we could get these types of shows here. John – In terms of funding, you mentioned doing an admission tax? Do you know of other municipalities that have done this? Jim –These are very common particularly in Seattle, primarily these have been for profits enterprises. The tax in Seattle has gone up significantly, most of which has come from foundation control. The tax started as a tax that was then repurposed through grants. In Fort Collins our array of activities to include with an admission tax is much less than that of Seattle. Denny – This feels like the right model to me, for profit entities to create spaces that can generate spaces for economic good, for us the lens is economics. We need to look at this as creative space for everyone. My interest is from a start-up perspective, there has to be a beginning investment to later have the impact on the community, how do you create that? What can we do to help you? We are working on creating more memos in support or against ideas, tell us how we can help you? Jim –Email me directly with any thoughts that you may have. Braulio – Your first goal is inclusion and equity, these are hard to measure. Are you considering working with schools and the education system? Jim – Yes, we are planning on working with schools. We can better manage grants from other organizations, we know what get and what we can project. We know the diversity of our boards, this is measurable. Schools, we have liaisons but would like to have more formal relationships there. We are not programming in school time, but through funding we may be able to better support people to work in school time. Braulio – The general intention is to promote cultural integration, this is where our future generations are. This is our main market, after your 20s your likes/dislikes are built. Our main target market is the young and young adults, so that they feel included. Linda – Housing for creatives, sounds like elitist. Our need is so great, that this is a hot button, what about the rest of our non-creative population? Jim – This is debatable and frequently comes up with artists’ housing. A lot of the artists in our community are the minimum wage earners. Art space has been very successful. I personally hope that goal is more of an “and” than “what”. Ted – Goal 2, can you expand on creative industries? Jim – Broad umbrella, this includes traditional and non-traditional arts but it’s more a ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 6 broad element of the makers in our community – those that think outside the box. The up coming generations are not silo thinkers, they think outside the box in a holistic way. Ted – We need to drive talented people to drive the right company. Talented people are everywhere. Jim – Creative companies are following the creative people, we need to draw them to Fort Collins. Connor – On the Web portal for life-long learning. Do we need to reinvent the wheel in a web-based platform? We might be better to generate our own type of resource for this. Jim – I was referencing more a directory through the webpage, not a series of posts on a calendar. This is more of a directory type webpage where resources can be found through there. We are not creating this on our own. Its very specific to learning opportunities, activities and programs, it’s an engagement piece. Ben Withers from CSU and has been very supportive of creative industries. Linda – Does Council Adopt this? Jim – Goes on April 23, May 7P th P it goes to first reading. Council was given this about three weeks ago. Denny – If everyone would like to send comments to Jim. Board Expectations— Connor Barry (Listen/Clarify/Discuss) Denny – This is part of the larger role of being chair. Before we go into it, let’s do a vote on memo, relating to the opportunity zone. The original memo did carry with two against it. Connor – Presented Memo - about a proposal to expand on opportunity zones and State Enterprise Zone, we would like to see these specifically mentioned. We would like to see them specifically mentioned for the City to consider and review. The memo is collaboration between Aric, Denny, Connor and Josh. Aric made motion to adopt the memo, seconded, John. Discussion: Ted –The language in the memo referenced Federal funding rules and regulations, where is the Segway? Denny/Connor- There is a lot of overlap for funding from Federal and State programs, this is why the memo says relevant Federal and State programs. Linda – the Denver Post had an interesting article about opportunity zones and how ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 7 they can be a good tool but not a catch all. There is a big opportunity for mis-use of them. Denny- The Federal regulations are still in discussions. Referencing what SeonAh had shared some of the larger parts of these funding mechanisms are still in public discussion. UThose in favor: 7 UMotion passed Conner Barry – Yes Aric Light – Yes Deni Otsuga – Yes John Parks – Yes Braulio Rojas- Yes Ted Settle – Yes Renee Walkup- Yes Linda abstained George Grossman – Absent Denny – New business item discussion of expectation of what this commission is about and its expectation for members. Josh and Denny went to City Code and do not have a number of bylaws and rules relating to our role. Connor has been developing a document outlining our expectations so that everyone is on the same page of what is expected of them. Connor – One of the things that important is understanding that this is not meant to be a bylaws but more to define what it means to be a board member on this commission. This is something for us all to agree to and I am willing to talk and change items on it. No one is getting paid, but we are putting the work in, that’s where the 2-5 hours comes in, prep time, this may include going to Council, other meetings, etc…Other information are general recommendations, areas that we would like to be a part of, serve as liaison to, representing the community is a good portion of the City Charter – this is important for us as a commission. I’ve also included a number of resources within the City that we can use for reference. Other information in the memo is about our board making recommendations, to be aware of and make recommendations to Council. We serve to advice as a commission ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 8 and representing citizens voices here, act as a conduit. There is also an appendix of information on the back and references to the City Charter. I would like to send this out over email so that the information is more accessible. Denny – Related to this document is how we have a process to select people that we invite to this meeting. Josh, Connor and I meet 2 weeks prior to select topics and people to have the discussions for these meetings. The pathway of communication is sometimes more structured other times or organic, we’ve left this at staff’s discretion. For types of things sent to the whole board, feel free to respond back on your own. You don’t have to share thought with whole board, it is up to you on how you prefer to handle conversation. Board members can respond directly back to staff, feel free to do that on your own. Ted – As an addendum, we’ve always tried to ask the speaker to have an ask from us in mind. That way they can come with an ask from us of what they want from us. We’ve also sent them our goal as a committee, so they better understand our focus. Renee – Well done document. The EAC affects everyone in our community. I think it’d be useful to have 1 person from our committee to attend Council meetings once a month. Even though we can look at the notes, I think it’s more useful to have someone attend and share back on what the Council said vs. what we read on the docket. All of the issues that are brought up relate back to Economic Health. Aric – Good idea, easy to implement. I agree, there are minutes but are seldom read. It wouldn’t be bad to have a greater awareness of what is brought up at City Council. John – One of our struggles has been connecting with City Council. This seems like a good step to increase our connection. It is a big-time commitment, especially with long meetings. We need to show that we are involved and active. The question is, do we attend the whole meeting? Renee – I think it’s important to physically have someone there, so that Council can see we have a presence. Ted –This is maybe one option. We need to look at this idea in the context of other ways committees are engaging in the core context. As long as we are willing to make the commitment… Right now, we are discouraged to do it. This is all on us, 9 people. Denny – Connor, Josh, and I spend above and beyond on this committee. I echo Ted’s point. I encourage email-based discussion because of the time. Going to City Council is a significant ask of time that I feel uncomfortable asking someone to perform. Connor – I agree this is a huge commitment. But we can create a rotating schedule. Being aware and having a presence has more value in creating a connection to ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 9 Council. Linda – Ultimately, it’s up to City Council on what they expect of us as a commission. I feel like I know what’s going on and that I wouldn’t have much to report back on. Renee – We know what’s going with Council. But with Citizen comment, they bring up points that can give us a pulse of things affecting our economic health in the City and community. Braulio – I agree, it won’t hurt to attend but it is a big ask. We may want to leave it voluntary with the option to listen or watch online. This can be valuable for board members reporting back on issues they hear about. Deni – Board member reports is about Board members reporting back on things beyond the committee that they’ve attended. City Council is another avenue to do this. Linda – I commend people for attending Council. Renee – I don’t see it has very formal, more organic for someone to go if they have the open time. For me, I find it interesting because of how it ties to the TBL. It would be positive to represent our selves better and be able to report back on citizen comment. Braulio – I have not been able to define what our economic goals in the City are. This is something that we need to expand on. CSU’s economic department has a plethora of resources that may give us a better sense. We need metrics backing up our goal so that we have measurable goals towards our direction. Our metrics need to show if our work is supporting our goals. Denny – This is why I asked Linda to send her thoughts on goals for economic health. If you have specific thoughts, I would like to encourage everyone to have an email discussion so that we can relate this back to Josh. From a procedural point, we report to Council, staff assists us with information and needed materials, but we work side-by- side with staff. Braulio – The philosophy of the economic documents are awesome but there are no metrics to them. We need more definitions in terms of our community needs with a metric measuring that. I don’t want to force staff to do excess work but some of these ideas are crucial for us. Linda – I think that’s true, there are very few indicators of the TBL in the City meeting its goals. I think this is something the City has struggled with. Braulio – For us to serve as an advisor, we need to have measures and indicators so that we can provide meaningful advice. Aric – Anne mentioned this last time, we need GPD indicators of our City. It brings up the idea that we don’t know what is in the mixture. Denny – Documents such as FOCO creates are what we need and should reflect, we ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 10 need to know how many artists don’t have the space. There are the kinds of things that we need your input on this, I highly encourage you to participate. City plan is likely a 20- year plan and I really encourage you to add your input to it. Our expectations sheet is really codifying this. Ted –Seems like one of the areas we’ve struggled is what we spend our time on. If there is an expectation of what we should spend our time exploring might be worthwhile. Denny – With elections, a lot of Council’s 6-month agenda calendar is empty. Next month, we have Larimer County and Josh to present and give us the opportunity to be broader and more strategic rather than issue by issue. This a good opportunity to have a holistic view of what’s happening. I really encourage you all to provide some focus on issues that we can spend our time on with future agendas. I also encourage you to share over email your thoughts on time spent each month outside of meeting and agendas to spend our time on. Connor – We are also going to add topics during board member reports for agenda items to be added. Anyone can share thoughts over email, or you can bring it up during reports to get it added to the agenda docket. Denny – Made motion with additions to adopt as internal document not part of City Code. This is not a bylaw, it is an expectation document that will serve to internally serve our commission. We spoke with Josh about this and he said this is allowed. John- What about adherence to guidelines, such as attendance? Denny – There are minimal negative repercussions with the exception of missing two meetings without prior notification. This is grounds for dismissal Linda –This isn’t enforceable. If someone gets on here because they want to participate, they won’t know about this until after they’re here because it is not required by Council. Ted – I think it would be good to let people know what the target is. Linda – We serve at the pleasure of City Council. Maybe this is better to frame as expectations. Braulio – I think knowing about this would have been helpful for me to know about prior to joining the commission. Renee – The City Council supersedes this anyway, I think it’s more of a helpful document that is consistent with City. It does not violate anything the City has set up, I think its non-specific enough that it serves well to provide guidelines. Ted – I move we adopt with suggested changes by Connor. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 11 Renee – Second UThose in Favor: 7 UMotioned Passed Conner Barry – Yes Aric Light- Yes Deni Otsuga- Yes John Parks-Yes Braulio Rojas-Yes Ted Settle-Yes Renee Walkup-Yes Linda- abstained. George Grossman- Absent Rest- Voted in favor. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS John – Private reality leadership training hosted by Al Gore in Atlanta. It was about environmental justice which was very interesting in terms of socio-economic and environmental damage. A majority of the population afflicted with poverty are also in areas of high environmental damage. I would like to share this presentation with you and some of the climate plans such as the Paris agreement. Truth in Ten is the presentation, I would love to present this to the Board in one of our upcoming meeting. Denny – Please share the link with everyone 9. OTHER BUSINESS None 10. ADJOURNMENT Adjourns 1:04 p.m. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 3/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 12 UPCOMING TOPICS UApril:  Regional Economic Development Presentation  Open Slot UUnscheduled:  Update on Industry Cluster Approach – TBD (Listen/Clarify) U2019 Priorities:  Talent Development, Economic Dashboard, Business Engagement, & Cluster