Rural Economic Development Public Facilities Advisory Committee

Rural Economic Development Public Facilities Advisory Committee

Board Meeting Minutes

November 18th, 2016 @ 9:00am

Lewis EDC Conference Room

9:00A.M.call to order by: Reggie Hamilton, Committee Chair

Committee Members Present:Reggie Hamilton, Committee Chair; Mark Anders, Port of Chehalis;Dennis Dawes, City of Chehalis Mayor; Bonnie Canaday, City of Centralia Mayor

Others Present: Matt Matayoshi, Lewis EDC; Marrianne Schumacher, Lewis EDC;Randy Mueller, Port of Chehalis; Tom Meade, Industrial Commission

New Business:

9:00 A.M.:Mark Anders made a motion to approve minutes from the September 9th, 2016 meeting. Dennis Dawes provided a second to the motion. The motion to approve the minutes passed unanimously.

9:00 A.M.: Matt Matayoshiprovided a brief description on the .09 Fund Evaluation form. Randy asked who would complete the form for each application. Reggie stated that there have not been any criteria in place before this form, it is a work in progress. Mark Anders suggested to attach the evaluation form to the application. Matt stated that there is a possibility that the application needs to be revised with regards to the evaluation form.

9:05 A.M.: The committee reviewed emails and a spreadsheet from Becky Butler regarding the distressed counties fund balance.Matt provided a brief description on how the unencumbered amount was derived according to the spreadsheet. There is approximately $2 million by the end of year in unencumbered funds.

Reggie stressed the need to have transparency with the amount of money left in loan funds as well as in grant funds.

Matt is tasked with going back to the county to get more clarification on obligated, used, reserve, and unencumbered funds.

Reggie requested that work be done on the process of reclaiming loan/grant dollars that were loaned/granted to projects but were not used. There must be a timeline in place that an applicant must follow to either use the funds granted/loaned or returned to the .09 fund.

A meeting will be scheduled in February of 2017 to discuss .09 funds and the tracking process for grants and loans. The .09 committee, and the county staff, particularly Becky Butler, will be invited to attend the meeting.

9:25 A.M.:Matt Matayoshi provided a brief introduction of the 2 applications that the committee would consider.

9:27 A.M.: Randy Mueller provided detailed information regarding the application for a Regional Storm Water Facility project. There was some discussion among the committee members about the project. Randy stated that the project would create approximately 10 jobs with the possibility of creating more as it will open the availability of another Port of Chehalis building.

9:40 A.M.: After discussion, Reggie asked if there were any further questions regarding the project. No questions were presented. Reggie asked for a motion to approve the application for $250,000. Dennis Dawes made a motion to this affect. Bonnie Canaday provided a 2nd to the motion. Mark Anders recused himself from the vote. The motion passed unanimously.

9:45 A.M.: Matt provided detailed information on a Bio-medical company that is seeking a possible relocation to Lewis County. This provided the segway to Randy introducing the 2nd application from Port of Chehalis for the Dawson Road Commercial Site Development.

9:50 A.M.: Randy stated that the project would initially provide 200 new jobs within the first 2 years, then an additional 300 new jobs to the community. Dennis Dawes asked how we might get over the problem of housing for an additional 200 families. Matt provided some information on some manufacturers he had spoken with regarding housing. Discussion between committee members of housing shortage problems and solutions followed.

Reggie stated that the EDC Board of Directors is very aggressive about recruiting this business. The business will make its decision about which location it will relocate to in January of 2017.

10:06 A.M.: Bonnie Canaday made a motion to accept the grant of $200,000 upfront with an additional $800,000 granted upon signing a contract with the Bio-medical company. Dennis Dawes provided a 2nd to the motion. Mark Anders recused himself from the vote. The motion passed unanimously.

The committee made a statement that this is the type of business that provides high paying jobs and a new sector of manufacturing that we want to see and support in recruiting to Lewis County. This is the type of business that fits the criteria for dispersing the reserve fund that the .09 committee has kept in the .09 fund.

Some discussion on clean coal, clean air and carbonized communities followed.

10:15 A.M.: Meeting Adjourned