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Friday February 21st, 2020 Minutes

Center for Regional Growth Logo

MINUTES of the MEETING
of the BOARD of DIRECTORS

Friday – February 21st, 2020 – 8:30 a.m.
34 West Fulton Street Gloversville, New York

Directors Present: Gregory Fagan, Dr. Leslie Ford, Grant Preston, Kent Kirch, Ronald Olinsky, Geoffrey Peck

Directors Absent: Timothy Beckett, Terri Easterly, Travis Mitchell

Staff Present: Ronald Peters, James Hannahs, Ken Adamczyk, Desirée Perham

Other Attendees: Richard Argotsinger, County Liaison; Michael Albanese, Esq., Legal Counsel; Jennifer Jennings, DDS Consultant; David D’Amore, Fulton County IDA; Ashley Onyon, Leader Herald

Public Session

Call to Order: 8:34 a.m.

Welcome and Call to Order

Dr. Leslie Ford called the meeting to order at 8:34 a.m., thanking everyone for attending.

Roll call was taken by Desirée Perham.

Approval of Meeting Minutes

A motion to approve the January 24, 2020 CRG Board Meeting Minutes was moved by Grant Preston and seconded by Gregory Fagan. No additional comments.  All present voted in favor and the motion passed.

Administrative Matters

Chair Report – Dr. Leslie Ford:

  • Nothing new to report.

Conclusion of Chair Report

Committee Reports

  • Executive Committee Dr. Leslie Ford –Has not met since last Board meeting.
  • Governance Committee – This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting.
  • Finance – Met on February 19, but did not have a quorum. Noted that reporting is difficult to track as the year goes by, partly due to the accrual system used.  Phil Beckett will revise his report to improve on this.
  • Audit Committees – Audit is underway, nothing reported at this time.

Conclusion of Committee Reports.

Membership & Marketing Report

James Hannahs: (Report was included with board package.)

James covered the Membership & Marketing report in Ken’s absence. He touched on the four pillars: Marketing, Training, Events and Membership

Marketing

  • In Social Media: an ad was placed in the “Portraits” insert in the Leader Herald, Front Page Gloversville 2000-post reach, 18 new followers and engagements are up (2nd place only to MyGloversville)

Training

  • Microenterprise Grant training completed on February 3rd; eight businesses completed the training. Notary Public training was added throughout the year and will be run by an outside organization.

Events

  • A tentative date of November 19th has been set for the Annual Fall Gala. A Spring Gala will be added, more family-friendly, to increase exposure. Several downtown Business Symposiums have been planned for mid-day. A Northville Merchants meeting is being held on Feb. 24th, chaired by CRG, to help get them up and running again. Three Business-to-Business session are coming up.  Discussion ensued around the B2B timing for Caroga Lake; April may be too early.  The option of having theirs in May will be reviewed.

Membership

  • The membership drive letters (to last year’s members) are out.

Conclusion of Membership and Marketing Report.

Gloversville Downtown Development Specialist Report

James Hannahs:  Invited Jennifer Jennings to touch on Placemaking and sponsorships.

Jennifer Jennings (consulting with DDS):

  • Placemaking 101 is expanding – week long. Placemaking 2020 will begin on Wednesday April 29 & 30 with dinner on 29th. Keynote speaker will talk on revitalization and has a book out which will be available. 100 in 1 Day will be on Saturday, May 2.
  • Sponsorships are needed (handout) – corporate sponsorships by Feb. 28 to make the first round of advertising. Honorary committee sponsorships due by March 7.
  • Funds are at $12,000, need about $27<000.
  • The American Planning Association is offering Continuing Education Credits which helps pull in developers.
  • 80% of speakers are lined up; arts, investor info, projects for public spaces.

 James Hannahs: (Report was included with board package)

Shovels in the Ground

  • Linking Developers to buildings – conducting building tours (old City Hall-restaurant, the Carriage House-healthy structure, The Rose-residential, Shine-minimize vacancies).

Revenue

  • Collaborating with Ken to develop new members and increase numbers in downtown.

Enhanced Collaboration

  • Empire State Development – have a seat at the REDC meeting.
  • By Tuesday (Feb 25) may know if Round V CFA will be available.
  • Brian Stratton is presenting the Governor’s budget at the Glove Theatre on Feb. 25.
  • Placemaking is kicking off now. Hope to bring in other areas, Johnstown, Amsterdam…it is a good source of community pride.
  • Sunflower garden may going into old First Baptist Church lot. Collaborating with Ag Ptech and Susan Casey.
  • Will be working on Economic Developer certification. The IEDC is best at this training which will take place March 26-28.

Conclusion of GDDS Report.

Chamber, Fulton County, IDA, and City Reports

Dr. Leslie Ford requested reports from the City and County members present.

Chamber – no report

Fulton County – no report

Fulton County IDA – Dave D’Amore:

  • IDA members will rotate attending CRG Board meetings throughout the year.
  • Johnstown Renewables project – going through recapture. There is gas and electric to site and shell of building remains. Not large, but will be available again.
  • IDA hired Betsy Emery for website design. Betsy talked with site selectors about what they want to see on an EDO site – key information in a five minute hit.
  • Hired C.T. Male to revise the Tryon site plan.
  • State Book cost is $5,000 – could share 3-ways for $1,667 each. The IDA moved a motion to approve the $1,667 spending. Betsy would provide data for all three groups.
  • Development Team – All three groups need to review organizing this Development Team.
  • Capital Resources Corp. (CRC) to issue tax exempt financing (bonds) for non-profit organizations in Fulton County. Talking about that now. Model to shadow IDA structure. It is a good tool to have on-hand.

Leslie Ford thanked Dave D’Amore for engaging and having representation at the meetings.

City – no reports

Conclusion of County and City Reports.

President and CEO Report

Ron Peters:

Current Projects

  • 34 W Fulton St Revitalization – finalizing numbers with Nick Zabawsky and Dave D’Amore. Building Committee will be meeting soon.
  • National Grid Lighting Program – The grant to replace current lighting with LEDs was approved after additional funding was made available for non-profits. There will be no added cost to CRG.  The project costs will be recouped over one year with no-interest payments to National Grid.   The CRG portion will be incorporated into the normal billing process and will be covered by the energy savings upon completion of the LED installation. Once payments are complete, a savings of approximately $4,000/year in utility costs is anticipated.

 MicroEnterprise Grant Program Update

  • No new information to report

Community Outreach Programs

  • Business Tours for Elected Officials
    • The February tour of Northville businesses, The Local Five and “Dine”, Five and Dime general store and Happily Baked bakery was well attended. The restaurant will be open next month. The bakery is popular and doing well. It was suggested that tour start times be changed to 8am or 4pm as opposed to mid-day to see if attendance increases.
  • Community Assistance
    • Northville – Has opportunities for development. Sewer is their biggest issue. Zoning has been updated. They may not go for DRI this year.
    • Gloversville – James has good momentum on LWRP and Burr St Development.
    • Johnstown – Working on a small restaurant and a potential anchor project. EPA package is a three-year process.
    • Caroga Lake – Looking into LWRP, funding in by end of July. Takes 3 years to go through program but 50% funding from State once through.
    • Mayfield – Business-to-business networking is planned.
    • Dolgeville – Herkimer County BOA – we have a good relationship; no needs from CRG at this time.

Business Marketing Inquiries

  • Joined the NY Farm Bureau. Will participate in the Taste of NY event in Albany on March 2nd with two booths and a variety of partners.
  • Microenterprise grants – talking with farmers, increasing involvement slowly.

Loan Applicant Updates

  • Loan committee closing in 30 days on Caroga Lake. Pool will be down to $26,000 with 20 loans under our belt. Looking into more options for loan pools, do not see a downside to the process.

Other

  • Albany Business Review articles (handouts) published after local tour of four facilities
  • Westmeadow Creamery in Johnstown spent five million on facility. There will be buses to Farm for tours and eating areas inside and out.  Yogurt and ice cream are planned in the future.

Conclusion of the President and CEO Report.

Adjournment to Executive Session to Discuss Legal Issues

At 9:21 a.m., Grant Preston moved a motion to adjourn to executive session, Kent Kirch seconded the motion and it was passed by all present.

Geoff Peck moved a motion to return from executive session, Kent Kirch seconded the motion and it was passed by all present. The Board returned from executive session at 9:37 a.m.

Action Taken:

  • Develop a Board Member rotation list for attending the monthly IDA Board meetings which typically take place on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 10:00 a.m.

Meeting Adjournment

At 9:38 a.m., Geoff Peck moved a motion to adjourn the meeting which was seconded by Kent Kirch and passed by all present.

Respectfully Submitted,

________________________________                    _________________

Gregory Fagan, Board Secretary                                                Date

Board Meetings are held the Fourth Friday of the Month
at the CRG Main Office
at 8:30 AM

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