HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-31-2005 Council Economic Development Committee
AGENDA
City of Iowa City
City Council Economic Development Committee
Thursday, March 31, 2005
10:30 a.m.
City Hall
Lobby Conference Room
410 East Washington Street
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Minutes - March 17,2005
3. Discussion of Request for CD SO Assistance - Extend the Dream Foundation
(Continuation from March 17, 2005)
4. Adjournment
MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
MARCH 17,2005
CITY HALL, PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CONFERENCE ROOM
Members Present: Ernie Lehman, Bob Elliot, Regenia Bailey
Members Absent: NONE
Staff Present: Steve Nasby
Others Present: Tom Walz, David McLee
CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Chairperson Lehman called the meeting to order at 2:02 pm.
APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 17. 2005 MINUTES
Motion: Elliot moved to approve the minutes from February 17, 2005 meeting as submitted. Bailey
seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.
DISCUSSION OF REQUEST FOR CDBG ASSISTANCE-EXTEND THE DREAM FOUNDATION
Nasby said that the project is going through a concurrent review between this committee and HCDC. He
said that the project consists of the acquisition of a multi-use building, the first floor commercial, and the
second floor residential. There are 3 one-bedroom apartments on the second floor and 3 commercial
condo units on the first floor.
Nasby added that there are essentially 3 applications for this project due to the different funding sources.
Two are for the economic development portion of the building (one with the Economic Development
committee and one with HCDC) and a third one with HCDC for the housing portion. He said that a
commercial realtor has evaluated the project and the value of the commercial portion is $147,000, and
the residential portion at $98,000.
Nasby stated economic development aspect of the Extend the Dream proposal would enable them to
expand micro-enterprise programming for persons with disabilities through supporting the opening of a
new retail store and developing a new training facility for e-commerce.
Elliot asked about the distribution status of the CDBG Economic Development Fund and how much
CDBG economic development funds are currently available? Nasby answered that the FY2004-2005
funds were not yet completely spent. He said that after allocating the $175,000 to the Lear Corporation,
there was $59,000 left in the FY05 CDBG Economic Development Fund, and starting July 151 the fiscal
year 2006 would start and there would be and additional $145,000 in that fund according to CITY STEPS
policies, but the FY06 funding would still have to go through City Council's approval.
Lehman said that there were 2 applications made to the HCDC, one for the housing portion, and for the
economic development. He added the recommendations from HCDC would be made at their March 17,
2005 meeting. He asked what was the amount requested for the HOME money. Walz answered they
requested $98,000 for the housing portion.
Bailey asked what kinds of figures are currently seen from profit sharing for salaries? Walz said that it
depends on what the disability state of the worker is. He mentioned that somebody on SSDI could make
up to $800 per month, while someone on SSI could make up to $85 per month. As an example he said
that a lady that runs Lesley's Luxuries is a SSI client, but very disabled, and very happy to earn her $85 a
month. He added that there would be a few persons that may not be on a disability program. Walz
mentioned there is a guy who currently supplies and gets training in internet commerce. He said that he
would have to work very hard in order to pay his livelihood.
Walz added they have a list of people who look like high potential, that is they are bright and computer
literate, and out of that list 1/3 may fail to succeed. Bailey asked how big the list is. Walz said there are 6
persons on the list
City Council Economic Development Committee Minutes
March 17, 2005
Page 2
McLee said that this would be a place that people would just pass through. He added that if there is
something that would be opened and those people would be capable at that time they would stick around,
but if there would not be activity at the moment they would end-up going some place else.
Walz said the typical person would be someone that has a disability benefit who will make, after training,
around $200-500 a month and this would make a substantial difference in their lives.
Lehman said the Counéil started to separate out money into different funds around 3 years ago and the
idea of having money into the economic development fund was to try to allocate those funds in a matter
that would have an economic impact in the community. He added that by his calculations, with the coming
FY06 allocations there would be around $200,000 in the fund. He said that for the project they have
applied for the same money from HCDC, and whatever the Economic Development committee would do,
would be contingent on what HCDC would do.
Lehman added that it seems to be more a social program than an economic development program but
understands how the proposal would help and would agree to come up some funds that HCDC did not
allocate.
Elliot said that he would like to see the funds representative, partially social, and partial economic
development.
Walz said that the jobs created are socially and economical meaningful to the individual relative to their
place in society. He asked how would the situation be about going to HCDC meeting.
Lehman said they probably could not give any certain assurance about the amount of money that would
be funded at this time, but that the Council Economic Development Committee would support the project.
Elliot said that the Committee is very receptive to the concept presented, but would not be able to commit
to the entire amount.
Bailey said that the first step would be HCDC, and the Economic Development Committee would be used
as a last resort. She asked if when the building would be purchased it would be pulled out of tax rolls
because it would be non-profit. Bailey said she saw the project at about 80% social and 20% economic
development.
Lehman said that if HCDC would fund the project, then he would be willing to take a closer look to the
project.
Elliot said that he believes that if the project would happen, the value of the property and the visibility of
the neighborhood would be improved.
Walz said Extend the Dream was recently notified that they would be given the Pierson's soda fountain.
Elliot asked if they would have the expertise to make that work. Walz said they would pull it off.
Bailey asked how would Extend the Dream would market the new business. Walz said they did not do a
lot of advertising. They tried to do it through editorials, paid advertising, or bus advertising.
Lehman said that it appears the Committee consensus is to support the project. Nasby asked if they
would be making any specific funding recommendation? Lehman said that he believes it would be really
hard to decide at this point, and that the Committee should wait for the HCDC decision. He said that
HCDC funding level would give some indication of their level of commitment to the project.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 2:35 pm.
Minutes submitted by Bogdana Rus.
s:/pcd/minuteslecodevI200S/edc03-17 -OS.doc
Economic Development Committee
Attendance Record
2005
Council
Term
Name Expires 02/01 02/17 03/17 00/00 00/00 00/00 00/00
Re2enia Bailey 01/02/08 X X X
Bob Elliott 01/02/08 X X X
Ernest Lehman 01/02/06 X X X
Key:
X = Present
o = Absent
OlE = AbsentlExcused
NM = No Meeting
= Not a Member