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Friday June 28th, 2019

Center for Regional Growth Logo

MINUTES of the MEETING
of the BOARD of DIRECTORS

Friday – June 28, 2019- 8:30 a.m.
34 West Fulton Street Gloversville, New York

Directors Present:Tim Beckett (arrived late), Terri Easterly, Greg Fagan, Leslie Ford, Kent Kirch, Travis Mitchell, Ron Olinsky, Geoffrey Peck, Grant Preston (left 9:56 a.m.)

Directors Absent: None

Staff Present: Ronald Peters, Ken Adamczyk, Jennifer Jennings. Desiree Perham

Other Attendees: Ashley Onyon, Leader-Herald; Mike Albanese Esq., Legal Counsel; Warren
Green, County Liaison; Scott Henze, Planning Director Fulton County; John Blackmon, Gloversville Supervisor; David D’Amore, Fulton County IDA & Tim Munn, Fulton County IDA

Public Session

8:33AM

Call to Order/ Introductions/Meeting Minutes:
Roll call by Desiree Perham
Kent Kirch called the meeting to order at 8:33 a.m. He welcomed the Directors and guests to the meeting.
Motion to approve May 31, 2019 Meeting Minutes was made by Leslie Ford and seconded by Grant
Fagan, Terri Easterly abstained as she was not present for the May meeting. No additional comments.
The motion passed.

Administrative Matters

Chair Report:

Kent Kirch-

  • Noted it was a busy month of meetings; segue into committee reports.

Conclusion of Chair Report

Committee Reports:

Executive Committee: Kent Kirch reported on one personnel matter, Ron Peters’ contract is to be
extended to the end of the year. Financials focused on a new model and performance goals were sent out; reviewed in executive session. A Board retreat for Board training was being considered for July 16th 2019, but has not been finalized; need to coordinate schedules. The retreat will be discussed more in the executive session. CRG hired an Economic Development Specialist Ken Adamczyk.

Governance Committee: This Committee has not met since the last Board meeting.

Finance Committee: Ron Olinsky reported on the committee’s June 26, 2019 meeting. The Committee reviewed the organization’s cash position, financial and expense reports, and budget. A report was made on the EDC loan pool. The budget for next year is due to the County in July; Ron Peters will sign off on the budget after input from the Board. There were a couple of items for the executive session. They had a quorum at the meeting.

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: Grant Preston reported that he met with Ron Peters to
review an agenda

Gloversville Downtown Development Specialist Report:

Jennifer Jennings:

  • Please see attached report.

County and City Reports:

  •  asked Warren Green if he had anything to share. Warren did not at this time.
  • Scott Henze had IDA-related items to discuss during executive session. Noted that the CRG
    website was commendable.
  • David D’Amore requested discussion time during the executive session.
  • Mike Albanese, Esq. had nothing to share at this time.

President and CEO Report

Ron Peters:
Discussed

  1. Introduced Ken Adamczyk, Economic Development Specialist who then took the floor and touched on the following:
    1. Micro Enterprise Grant Program-laid out the education portion, in the process of rolling it out.
    2. Reviewed positive trends in website analytics (handout attached). Noted CRG site has “What do you want to know?” theme, has seen more involved engagements.
    3.  Making visits to approved Micro Enterprise Grant participants, developing contacts,taking photos to upload w /links to their business.
    4.  Working with Twitter
    5.  Catching up with Membership renewals and recruiting new ones.
    6. Fifteen businesses coming to training sessions so far.
    7. Kent Kirch welcomed Ken, commented on the nice job he is doing and how he hit the ground running.
  1. Ron Peters gave an update on Pioneer Windows
    1.  Equipment (cutting machine) not in yet at Evolution property. An open house is
      planned for the future. Also, reached out to Congresswoman Stefanik for a visit to
      Pioneer by President Trump noting the tax cuts have helped, 40+ jobs have been added
      and pay-scale is up.
    2. Geoff Peck asked if the Hudson-yard Development used Pioneer windows (not sure).
    3. Pioneer and Taylor Made are teaming up, still looking for sites, more space is needed!
    4. Taylor Made is a great partner. We are trying to get the Marine Division Headquarters in Fulton County; perhaps build to suit.
    5. Micro Enterprise Grant program has one application underway (training is complete)
      and more are being added every week. Looking for training space options – CRG’s 2 nd
      floor space or in the Gloversville Free Library.
      f. Evolution is in closing mode, within next 30 days.
  1.  In Community Outreach, tour programs will be continuing to reinforce “what’s going on in
    Fulton County”. Requested John Blackmon and Warren Green help out with participation.
  2.  Northville 5 and Dime is doing well, second floor is gorgeous- refinished and has A/C.
  3.  The Family Counseling Center – continuing with work on their addition.
  4.  After three years of effort, Gloversville has the EPA Grant! Currently evaluating eleven sites;
    working with Scott Henze.
  5.  Toured the True Value site in Gloversville and met their CEO. They have added seven full time and seven part time jobs. The Grand Opening is scheduled for June 29th• Leslie Ford, Kent Kirch, Bob Smullen and others plan to be there.
  6.  In Johnstown, currently financing a smaller restaurant and tentatively looking at offering a
    presentation on how to expand opportunities.
  7.  In Caroga Lake, working on financing a restaurant, should close by end of year. Should look for more “firehouse” opportunities.
  8. In Mayfield, financing one group, other is not looking for financial assistance.11. In the Town of Johnstown there is a possible distillery in review.
  9. We have reached out to Dolgeville’s IDA director to develop a Herkimer/downtown-Dolgeville partnership
  10. There were no new New York State inquiries. The County is looking for a start-up site. A broker reached out with interest in a warehouse/ distribution site. A second broker reached out for a build-to-suit site needed in about two years.
  11.  Looking to make a presentation on Fulton County opportunities to an Albany real estate group.
  12.  No meeting was held with regards to the Combined County Marketing Effort.
  13.  The Evolution loan will be closed soon. Reviewing three applications now. Anticipate a loan pool of twenty-five by the end of the year.
  14.  TD bank is doing a financing symposium in the Fall.
  15. 34 West Fulton Street update:
    1. a. Fiber optics have been installed, waiting on modem from Frontier. The Family
      Counseling Center should be moving in next week.
    2. b. Ken is working on Incubator upstairs.
    3. c. Grant Preston noted work is being done on Mb upgrade for Gloversville. A developer was
      in this week, fourth in last two months. They are working on finance options.
  1.  Ron Peters, Jack Wilson, Ron Olinsky and Scott Henze attended the Select USA Investment
    Summit. While there, Wilbur Ross visited the Fulton County CRG booth and stayed for a photo. Neighboring NY State booth sent contacts over to CRG booth; we have a good relationship with them and they are strong advocates for us. Looking at even more cohesive booth layouts in future where the state is surrounded by various regions in one area.
  2.  Working with local bank on a first-time home buyer program. We will not be administrators;
    plan to hand off to county group. Geoff Peck stated that this is to be a longer term
    accounlabilily program so a borrower is prepared to obtain financing. Leslie Ford noted that it
    would be good to have Chamber support on this and Ron Peters was sure we could involve them.
  3. Looking at economic development opportunities for farmers: an Agriculture Park, Cornell
    University tie-in, determine what their needs are and look into resources for them.
  4. Ron Olinsky brought up that we are not working with Launch NY while twenty-one counties are involved in their venture capital work for start-up funding. Ron Peters noted that we are
    looking at meeting with CEG and Launch NY in the future.
  5. Desiree Perham handed out an Anti-Nepotism Policy for review and approval as required by the Grants Gateway. Leslie Ford made a motion to accept the new policy as written; seconded by Terri Easterly and passed unanimously. The anti-nepotism policy will be filed in the CRG’s
    Policy Binder and a pdf uploaded to the Grants Gateway.

This is the end of the President and CEO Report

Adjournment to Executive Session to Discuss Legal Issues

At 9:17 a.m. Geoff Peck moved for a motion to adjourn to executive session and Terri Easterly seconded it and it passed unanimously. Returned from executive session at 10:29 a.m.

No action was taken.

At 10:30 a.m. Geoff Peck moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and was seconded by Ron Peters with
unanimous passing.

Respectfully Submitted,

________________________________                    _________________

Greg 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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