Friday March 23, 2018

MINUTES of the MEETING
of the BOARD of DIRECTORS

Friday – March 23, 2018 – 8:30 a.m. 34 West Fulton Street Gloversville, New York

Directors Present: Kent Kirch, Gregory Fagan, Ronald Olinsky (via conference call), Grant Preston, Travis Mitchell, Terri Easterly and Timothy Beckett

Directors Absent: Geoffrey Peck and Leslie Ford

Staff Present: Ronald Peters and Sarah Egan

Guests: Ashley Onyon, Leader Herald; Scott Henze, County Planner; John Blackmon, County Liaison; Michael Albanese, ESP., Legal Counsel

Public Session

Call to Order / Introductions/Meeting Minutes:
Vice Chair Kent Kirch called the meeting to order at 8:32 a.m. He welcomed the Directors and guests to the meeting. Kent welcomed Terri Easterly and Timothy Beckett to the Board and asked that they give a brief statement about themselves. Terri Easterly is the Co-Broker for Coldwell Banker in Johnstown and Amsterdam and Timothy Beckett is the Senior Vice President of Townsend Leather. Kent asked for a motion to approve the meeting minutes from February 23, 2018. Greg Fagan made the motion to approve the minutes; Grant Preston seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Kent then asked for a motion to approve the Finance Committee Meeting Minutes from February 21, 2018. Grant Preston made the motion to approve the minutes; Greg Fagan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Kent also briefly went over the two resolutions, Amendment to the By-Laws and Elected Board Members, that were approved in the last Board meeting.

Administrative Matters

Chair Report:

Vice Chair Kent Kirch had nothing to report at this meeting.

Committee Reports:

Executive Committee:

This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting.

Governance Committee:

This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting.

Finance Committee:

Ron Olinsky advised the Board that this Committee met the Wednesday prior to the Board Meeting. The Committee reviewed the current financials and also had a visit with the Auditors to go over the audit for 2017 from West & Company. The Auditors stated that we have received the highest rating by Accountants and we also received an unmodified opinion which is the best opinion anyone can receive. Ron stated that he was very pleased with these findings and thanked Ron Peters, staff, and Phil Beckett for a job well done. Ron also said they will be signing the 990 form and that the tax returns will be sent out shortly.

Audit Committee:

This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting.

Building Committee:

This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting.

Membership & Marketing Committee:

This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting but Grant Preston presented a revised 2018 Membership List to the Board and noted that four new memberships have come in this past week: Cooling Insuring Agency, Susan Martin, Mohawk Harvest Cooperative Market, and Epimed International, Inc. Grant presented the list of new members to the Board and asked for it to be ratified. Greg Fagan made the motion to approve the list; Kent Kirch seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

ABO Guidelines Review:

Sarah Egan reviewed ABO Policy number 17-01: Board Member Training, with the Board. She also provided all members with the Conflict of Interest Policy, which is due annually, and asked that it be filled out and returned.

Gloversville Downtown Development Specialist Report:

Jennifer Jennings: was not present but she provided a written report to the Board prior to the meeting. In Jennifer’s report she states that the Business Owner Newsletter went out at the end of February and how members of the Downtown Business Roundtable have asked for the discussion to occur on a monthly rather than quarterly basis. Also in her report, she discusses the Placemaking 101 Conference coming up April 18th and 19th and how she has 9 people registered so far but she would like to see a few Board Members either come onboard as honorary committee members or register for the event. Jennifer’s report also discusses the Artist in Residence Program, Tactical Urbanism Installation, and Grassroots Gloversville. She will be heading to the National Complete Streets Conference in Nashville April 2-5 to learn more on how to make Gloversville a more pedestrian-friendly city.

County and City Reports:

Scott Henze stated he had nothing new to share since our last meeting.

President and CEO Report

Current Projects: Ron Peters informed the Board of current projects that he has been working on. Ron has been working with the Johnstown Planning Board on a 125,000 square foot expansion of Pioneer Windows that will create 75 new jobs. He also stated he is working on 7 projects in the Industrial Park that will create 90 jobs in one to three years.

Microenterprise Grant Programs: Ron shared a summary of the 2016 program, which in 2017, 6 grants were approved and funded. He informed the Board that the state approved a 6 month extension and that he will be applying for another round of grants in July.

Community Outreach Programs: Ron discussed how the tour at the Leader-Herald went extremely well and Kent stated that it was really neat to see the entire printing process from the beginning to the end and how the Leader-Herald does more than just print newspapers. The next tour will be at CMS Broadcasting, which will happen next month, the date is still being confirmed.
Ron went over the Main Street Program in Northville. He stated that we need at least 5 businesses for the program to take place.

Ron stated he has not heard back on the EP Grant yet. He is currently working on 7 projects. He also discussed the grand opening of True Value, which will be in 2 or 3 months.

Ron discussed working on 6 different projects in Johnstown, and how he is meeting with Major Vern Jackson on a monthly basis to go over these projects. He also stated we are still waiting to hear about the NY Restore Grant.

On May 17th, Ron will be doing a presentation on expanding our presence in Broadalbin.

Business Marketing Inquiries: Ron discussed that 310 Marketing is not up and running yet but there are at least 7 inquires as of now. These inquires range from a taxi cab company to a forestry company.

Combined County Marketing Effort Update: Ron and Scott met yesterday to go over marketing ideas for property listings.

Property Disposition Update: Ron stated that he is going to bring this up in the executive session.

Loan Applicant Updates: Ron said we should be closing the Stump City Brewery loan Tuesday, March 27. Evolution’s loan process has been approved and should take 30-45 days to process. Ron is working on recasting 3 existing loans with 2 going through the process in 30 days. He stated with these loans we have reached the cap for the year, so come April he is going to push to close all open loans.

2018 Proposed Events: Ron reviewed the list of events on the agenda:

1. Grand Opening of The Center – To Be Announced
2. Placemaking 101 Conference – April
3. Joint Financing Symposium with MVEDD – May
4. Drum Corp International – July
5. Undetermined Business Symposium – October
6. Annual Event – November 15

2018 Events Attending / Participating in: Ron reviewed the list of events that he will either attending or CRG will participate in:

1. ICSC Table Setup- March 24-26
2. IAMC Spring Professional Forum – May 5-9
3. NYSEDC Annual Meeting – May 23-25
4. Southern Adirondack Wine & Food Festival – June 9
5. Select USA Investment Summit – June 20-22
6. IEDC Economic Future – June 24-26
7. Fancy Food Show – June 30 – July 2
8. Woodworking and Fine Arts Weekend in Northville – July 20-22
9. IAMC Fall Forum – September 15-19
10. Site Selector’s Guild Fall Conference – TBD

Events Attended

1. MVEDD Annual Meeting- January 29
2. Membership Kick-off Open House Event- January 30
3. NYSEDC- January 31-February 1
4. Site Selector’s Guild Conference – March 19-21

34 West Fulton Street: Ron updated that he is still working on the Restore NY Grant process, which will be drawn on quarterly. It should be complete in the next 30 days, and then he will get an RFP ready to send out. Ron also stated that he has a Real Estate Broker coming to look at the property and that we have a potential tenant coming to look at the basement space.

Adjournment to Executive Session to Discuss Legal Issues

At 9:20 a.m. Geoffrey Peck asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting to Executive Session. Terri Easterly made the motion; it was seconded by Kent Kirch and unanimously approved. Geoffrey dismissed the guests and thanked them for their attendance at the Board meeting.

Legal and Staff Issues:

The Directors discussed several ongoing legal issues. These discussions were informational in nature. No action was needed.

Adjournment from Executive Session

At 9:30 a.m. Geoffrey Peck asked for a motion to adjourn from Executive Session. Greg Fagan made the motion; it was seconded by Kent Kirch and unanimously approved.

Ron Olinsky then discussed the contract for the 3 year Audit. He stated that West & Company was the preferred bidder and they are not as expensive as their competition. Kent Kirch suggested that we look into rotating our Auditor every 3 years.

Adjournment to Executive Session to Discuss Legal Issues

At 9:47 a.m. Geoffrey Peck asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting to Executive Session. Greg Fagan made the motion; it was seconded by Terri Easterly and unanimously approved.

No further minutes were recorded.

Respectfully Submitted,

________________________________ _________________
Leslie Ford, Board Secretary Date