A regular meeting of the Victor Local Development Corporation (LDC) was held on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at the Town Hall, 85 East Main Street.
MEMBERS PRESENT: President Bryan Powers Vice President Glenn Cooke
DirectorMike Guinan
Director Dan Crowley
Executive Director Kathy Rayburn
Minutes Clerk Sue George
MEMBERS ABSENT: Treasurer Rebecca Melton andDirector Brad Pearson
OTHERS PRESENT: Tim Maher, Merchant Group President
Meeting was called to order by President Bryan Powers at 7:04pm.
Salute to the flag.
Resolution #24-15LDC
Acceptance of Minutes
On a motion made by Glenn Cooke, seconded by Mike Guinan, the following resolution was ADOPTED 4AYES 0 NAYS
Resolved, that the Local Development Corp (LDC) accepts the minutes from the meeting datedJuly 21, 2015
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Financial Report
Payment of Bills
The Board reviewed the invoices to be paid from the LDC/Merchant Balance sheets. The unpaid invoices totaled $3177.50.
Resolution #25-15LDC
Payment of Bills - LDC
On a motion made by Mike Guinan, seconded by Glenn Cooke, the following resolution was ADOPTED 4 AYES 0 NAYS
Resolved, that the Local Development Corporation has reviewed and approved invoices for payment that appear on the LDC balance sheettotaled $2302.52
Resolution #26-15LDC
Payment of Bills – Victor Merchants Association
On a motion made by Glenn Cooke, seconded by Mike Guinan, the following resolution was ADOPTED 4 AYES 0 NAYS
Resolved, that the Local Development Corporation approves the reimbursementsfor a total amount of $874.98to be paid out of the Victor Merchants Association account.
Note: Resolution #25-15LDC and #26-15LDC were included in the Balance Sheet totaling $3177.50
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Privilege of the Floor
Tim Maher, President of Victor Merchants Group (VMG)
At the July meeting, Tim had requested that the current vacant seat on the LDC Board be filled by a VMG member. The board members felt the vacant seat would best be utilized by someone with a financial background and are in the process of reviewing an applicant.
Bryan Powers let Tim know that although the Board will not have a Merchant member on it, they think it is a very good idea to have the VMG to utilize the Privilege of the floor to report out at each meeting. Tim does feel he should have a merchant member on the board as a representative for the Merchants. Kathy suggested that they get the committee structure off the ground and revisit this scenario in six months.
Tim let the board know of upcoming events the Merchants have scheduled such as, Sept 11th Wine walk, Sidewalk/Craft Sale on Sept 12th to coincide with Hang Around Victor Day and also on Sept. 15th they will be holding the first of their webinar trainings on Social Media.
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Executive Director Report
August 2015
Economic Development/LDC Update
Town CFA Grant Application – The grant application was completed and submitted by the deadline of 7/31/15. Funds would be used to study/develop a plan for upgrades and improved management of the Rt. 96 infrastructure. Improvements would be implemented over time to accommodate current and future development, maximize private investment and stimulate the creation of new jobs. Kathy gathered 20 letters of support for the project and received commitments on funding from Ontario County, Victor LDC and the Town of Victor to meet the matching requirement. In kind services of staff time were also committed as part of the matching requirement from the Town of Victor and Ontario County.
NY Main Street Grant – Kathy is coordinating with grant administrator Ed Flynn (Labella) to submit the final paperwork to NYS. She will be coordinating two final inspections, taking pictures of the streetscape items purchased and assisting with any other documentation needed.
Village Leaders Meetings – Mayor Jason Ashton organized a meeting with the leadership from Village Planning, Zoning, URA, Chamber, ED/LDC & Merchants to discuss Village topics. The Group is currently working on developing a survey to capture input from residents, business owners and property owners in order to develop strategies to strengthen the Main Street presence and increase foot traffic; identifying any issues regarding the process for a new business opening in the Village.
We have identified two sources for survey development, Labella and Rochester Ad Council. The cost of development, implementation and analysis is based on factors such as length and number of surveys. Tim Maher, Victor Merchants Group President, contacted Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb regarding funding assistance and was asked to submit a formal request which was delivered on 8/13/15.
The group will reconvene to continue discussion regarding the survey and develop a timeline for implementation. The goal is to roll out the survey this fall so that results will be available for 2016 planning.
Literature Reprints – We completed the reprint of the Certificate of Occupancy brochure – now titled “A guide to opening your business and preparing the space”. Sue is in the process of contacting Victor Business owners regarding listing in the reprint of the business brochure and finalizing the copy & photo changes for the Welcome to Victor Folder reprint.
Junior Achievement – As reported last month Kathy contacted Junior Achievement (JA) on an entrepreneurial program concept that would coordinate with Victor Schools on a student run business in Victor. We were targeting Grandpa Bob’s Candy store for this effort. While JA was on board and very excited about the opportunity, the owner of the store will not be able to remain open while the plan is implemented. The store will be closing before the end of this year. JA would like to continue discussions of other such opportunities in Victor and Kathy plans to coordinate with them on that level with the Victor Chamber of Commerce.
Main Street Four Point Approach – The National Main Street Model promotes the four point approach consisting of four committees that engage all community stakeholders (business owners, property owners, residents and local government). The committees are; Promotion, Design, Economic restructuring and Organization. At the July LDC meeting we discussed the VMG becoming a committee and steering main street promotions. Kathy followed up with Tim Maher after the last LDC board meeting to provide him with the board’s feedback – the LDC board agrees with the committee structure but does not feel that the VMG should have a board position on the LDC. Tim Maher is planning on attending the September meeting to follow-up on the request.
Presentation – Kathy has been asked to put together a joint presentation with Kal Wysokowski, Fairport Economic Development, for the Fall Local Government Workshop coordinated by Genesee Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council. Kal and Kathy will be meeting this week to develop an outline of the presentation.
Business Outreach:
Wades – locating a main store in Macedon and working with him on a smaller, boutique specialty store for Victor. He is currently negotiating a lease with a Victor location.
Sequels – Consignment furniture – now open at 5 Railroad Street.
Property Development
- A current business owner is investigating the potential purchase of a development site on Main Street. Kathy is working with him on outreach to appropriate Town staff, businesses looking to lease if it is built, incentives etc.
- Town staff has been contacted about developing a site on West Main Street near Dunkin Donuts. This site includes 4 homes and a strip of land that runs parallel to Main Street exiting at School Street.
Kathy talked about the LDC budget which she will present to the Victor Town Board on August 31st. She had a preliminary budget review meeting with Gloria Dunton, Town Fiscal Manager, Supervisor Jack Marren and Barb Cole, Fiscal Assistant.
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Committee Action Review- Finance/Business Loans Report
Glennthinks this new loan should be kept separate from our existing program using a separate application. There are some differences in the funds we will be administering which are basically county funds. It’s a little more liberal than the existing program. The intent here is to make sure we get the money out the door, we put it in some useful projects and we demonstrate to the county and hopefully the state in the future that we can administer this type of program and put it to good use. To be able to achieve some very tangible benefits. Glenn offered to start the application before the next meeting for the board to take a look at. At the committee meeting they looked at several application examples and like the application that PathStone uses which is similar to the current loan application that the LDC uses. We basically have the structure there for a Loan program we just need to turn it into a policy document, which Glenn can also do. For this loan we need to make sure we have a procedure/process in place.
Bryan also mentioned making sure the LDC Attorney Reid Holter, is aware and involved in this loan process. Kathy has already reached out to Reid and advised him on the information we have so far. She needs to reach out to the County and receive the terms and he can review. Bryan would like to make sure we somehow advertise this loan program to make business owners know we have a loan available.
President’s Report
Bryan Powers stated he would like to go into Executive Session regarding a personnel matter in regards to the LDC Board members.
Executive Session
On a motion made by Glenn Cooke, seconded by Mike Guinan, the following resolution was ADOPTED 4 AYES 0 NAYS
Resolvedto enter into Executive Session at 8:02pm
Tim Maher exited at 8:02pm
On a motion made by Glenn Cooke, seconded by Mike Guinan, the following resolution was ADOPTED 4 AYES 0 NAYS
Resolvedto exit out of Executive Session at 8:23pm
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Open Discussion
Bryan Powers appointed a nominating committee, consisting of Glenn Cooke, Mike Guinan and himself for the purposes of reviewing existing board positions as well as reviewing an applicant for the vacant board seat.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned on motion at 8:25pm
Sue George, Minutes Clerk
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