WEBVTT 00:00:00.578 --> 00:00:09.537 - So this is the Economic Development Commission meeting of St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, 2026. 00:00:09.537 --> 00:00:19.157 - And it's 4 PM. And we're in person at City Hall in the McCloskey Conference Room. And the meeting has 00:00:19.157 --> 00:00:27.550 - been appropriately posted and noticed. Correct, Jane? Yes? OK. Lisa, how are you? Hello. 00:00:28.930 --> 00:00:38.752 - We have four of our five members here. Come on. There we go. We should do something. That's right. So 00:00:38.752 --> 00:00:48.382 - why don't we go around and do a roll call on Kurt Zorn. I'm Liz Spital. I'm Isak Asari. Tim Hankey. 00:00:48.382 --> 00:00:58.686 - Jane Cooper Smith, staff. Roll call. Great. Great. And we have minutes from I think it's the October 24th. 00:00:59.714 --> 00:01:07.974 - I'm sorry, 21st meeting. Any comments, corrections, changes? I didn't see anything. If not, can we move? 00:01:07.974 --> 00:01:15.998 - I will move approval. Second, I'd like to discuss it real fast. Sure. Yeah, go ahead. Just a question 00:01:15.998 --> 00:01:24.415 - for Jane. Why don't we get a second first and then we'll discuss it. Second. There we go. I'm just curious 00:01:24.415 --> 00:01:29.214 - about the format. It seemed different. Of the minutes? Yeah. 00:01:29.346 --> 00:01:36.809 - Quite a bit of commissioners said this, or commissioners thought that. Oh, you know what? We have a 00:01:36.809 --> 00:01:44.570 - new intern taking, right, Dee? Do you think that's related to having a new person? No. That realization 00:01:44.570 --> 00:01:52.406 - was really dense, and because we don't do this often, I wanted to make sure that the minutes were pretty 00:01:52.406 --> 00:01:57.630 - detailed, because I thought there was some good information in there. 00:01:57.922 --> 00:02:06.113 - I mean, normally, I don't usually do that much depth, but it was something that I think that we can 00:02:06.113 --> 00:02:14.550 - refer to later, looking back on this. So I thought that it was useful. I can make sure to not do that. 00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:22.168 - I'm not being critical. It's just different and different than what I'm used to. That's all. 00:02:22.168 --> 00:02:27.902 - Very informative. So we've got a motion to second. Any more comments? 00:02:28.642 --> 00:02:35.960 - If not, can I ask one other question? Yeah, please. So D, do you think that it'll return to more summary? 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:43.139 - So with the minute, D and I have actually talked about this a bunch, but the minutes can be in the form 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:50.526 - of a memo summarizing, or they can be at this level of detail. So I guess, yeah, Isaac. I like about this. 00:02:50.786 --> 00:02:56.312 - I like the detail with that. Particularly because we haven't met in a long time. Refreshes. Yes. 00:02:56.312 --> 00:03:02.123 - And it's, I think, really helpful when we're talking about substantive things. I think there's a time 00:03:02.123 --> 00:03:08.105 - when you want to just be like, OK, they talked and they moved on. But we have substantive that we didn't 00:03:08.105 --> 00:03:13.916 - make a whole lot of decisions. It was helpful because we had substantive briefings and discussions on 00:03:13.916 --> 00:03:20.126 - a lot of things. I think it's really helpful to have that trail to be able to see. Kurt said something wise. 00:03:20.226 --> 00:03:31.666 - Oh. Everybody was astounded. That might be a little too much detail. That's right. That's exactly right. 00:03:31.666 --> 00:03:43.215 - All right. Well, I think Dee and Jane will take that into consideration as they do minutes going forward. 00:03:43.215 --> 00:03:49.534 - Any other comments? If not, all in favor, please say aye. 00:03:49.762 --> 00:04:01.249 - Hi. Anybody opposed? Passes, isn't it? Yeah. It's easy for me to say. Passes unanimously. And then we 00:04:01.249 --> 00:04:13.074 - have new business, which is election of officers. I would like to propose that that Kurt Zorn be elected 00:04:13.074 --> 00:04:18.142 - our president. Just in case I say something. 00:04:18.402 --> 00:04:26.136 - And why? I think you're doing a great job, and we would like you to maintain doing a great job. I think 00:04:26.136 --> 00:04:33.944 - there's people in the waiting room, also. Oh, gosh. But I think that, you know, unless somebody is like, 00:04:33.944 --> 00:04:41.752 - wow, I really want to do this. No, I'm all in favor. We appreciate your leadership. Oh, there's Vanessa. 00:04:41.752 --> 00:04:48.222 - There's Vanessa. Goodness. Well, let's wait for a second until Vanessa. Everyone's AI. 00:04:48.322 --> 00:04:56.858 - versions of themselves. They're here too. So Vanessa, I notice you have joined. Yes, I have. Hello, 00:04:56.858 --> 00:05:05.992 - everyone. Hi, I'm Vanessa. We already did approval of minutes. We're on new business election of officers, 00:05:05.992 --> 00:05:08.382 - and ESAC was just starting. 00:05:09.058 --> 00:05:18.469 - So we had just made you president. Congratulations. I know, but it's not a true statement. Yeah, I think, 00:05:18.469 --> 00:05:27.613 - Kurt, you've done such an awesome job at leading this commission, and I think work so closely with EDC 00:05:27.613 --> 00:05:33.118 - already, I think it just makes a lot of sense. I'll thank it. 00:05:39.074 --> 00:05:45.581 - in the second then. Do you want to do a whole slate or just one? Do one at a time. I mean, I'm fine 00:05:45.581 --> 00:05:52.414 - with it either way. Tim, you want to be vice president? I would like to continue the slate that we have. 00:05:52.414 --> 00:05:58.206 - We've just barely got any momentum. That's right. I'll look at that. What was the slate? 00:05:58.498 --> 00:06:08.856 - It's not the guy. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. 00:06:08.856 --> 00:06:19.650 - It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. 00:06:19.650 --> 00:06:26.846 - It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. It's my G. 00:06:27.298 --> 00:06:37.327 - Yeah, here we go. This detail might be nice to have recorded somewhere. Exactly. I think we do from 00:06:37.327 --> 00:06:47.657 - last year. Sorry, I'm just having trouble putting my hand up on this. Dee, can you look that up in the 00:06:47.657 --> 00:06:53.374 - February onboard minutes for EDC, the slate of officers? 00:06:54.338 --> 00:07:03.105 - I'm actually looking for it right now. It's just my computer running a little slow. So I will get that. 00:07:03.105 --> 00:07:11.703 - Well, we have a motion and a second. Right. Yeah, to keep the slate as it is, whatever that slate is. 00:07:11.703 --> 00:07:20.639 - Yeah, we second. Yeah, some motion and a second. Well, any discussion? The officers have done a wonderful 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:21.566 - job. Yeah. 00:07:22.242 --> 00:07:29.150 - I do think something we should consider, and I know, like all jokes aside, one of the things that we've 00:07:29.150 --> 00:07:35.859 - been trying to think about is how we better use the EDC as a proactive advisory body. And so I don't 00:07:35.859 --> 00:07:42.502 - think any of us care what we're called, but none of us here. But I do think that that should be the 00:07:42.502 --> 00:07:49.343 - sort of charge here is saying, let's move beyond having lovely meetings every so often. It seems silly 00:07:49.343 --> 00:07:51.934 - to change officers when we really have 00:07:53.058 --> 00:08:04.095 - Okay. That might be a nice moment to describe what Kurt and I had talked about for this year was a little 00:08:04.095 --> 00:08:14.716 - bit of a different rhythm, but maybe that's for a different subject or a different agenda. Oh no, not 00:08:14.716 --> 00:08:22.942 - the new chairs. We have a motion on the floor. Any discussion about the slate? 00:08:23.042 --> 00:08:31.326 - And then we can move to yours, Jane, after that. Yeah. OK. So all in favor? Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? 00:08:31.326 --> 00:08:39.529 - OK. Vanessa, we've got a thumbnail. So just so you know what you guys signed up for, it's Kurt, Esauk 00:08:39.529 --> 00:08:47.651 - as vice president and Vanessa as secretary. Great. Great. Esauk didn't have enough to do, so we just 00:08:47.651 --> 00:08:49.662 - figured it would be him. 00:08:50.018 --> 00:08:58.110 - Yeah, give me actually something to do or this would be great. All right. So old business, Jane, you 00:08:58.110 --> 00:09:06.363 - want to talk a little bit about what? Well, this agenda. This is new business. Yeah, I put this agenda 00:09:06.363 --> 00:09:14.776 - together, not realizing it doesn't have. We should have done old business first and new business second, 00:09:14.776 --> 00:09:18.782 - I think. Good job, Chris. We can put that around. 00:09:20.258 --> 00:09:26.900 - Well, I wanted to give you guys a little, it's almost like a staff report, if I could just update you 00:09:26.900 --> 00:09:33.412 - on a few different goings on. And then one of those items is that, Kurt and I, I don't know how you 00:09:33.412 --> 00:09:40.184 - still feel favorably toward this, but we talked a little bit about the meeting cadence in the last year 00:09:40.184 --> 00:09:46.827 - and how the EDC doesn't have business all the time and it's kind of random. When we do have business, 00:09:46.827 --> 00:09:49.822 - it's just not predictable. We wondered about, 00:09:50.050 --> 00:09:57.846 - meeting, retaining our monthly meeting times in case we have business come up, but having substantive 00:09:57.846 --> 00:10:05.565 - meetings quarterly where we are focused on digging into a little bit more substantive issues. We can 00:10:05.565 --> 00:10:13.207 - do it that way or we can just keep going month by month, meeting by meeting as we have been, but we 00:10:13.207 --> 00:10:15.806 - just sort of wondered about that. 00:10:16.258 --> 00:10:23.184 - So what is the chart? Is there anything officially written about when the commission is supposed to 00:10:23.184 --> 00:10:30.387 - meet? I don't believe so. No? I mean, I've been on the commission for a number of years, and there have 00:10:30.387 --> 00:10:37.452 - been years we've met only once. Because we're not a regulatory body, right? So we don't have to meet. 00:10:37.452 --> 00:10:44.378 - No, but there may be something that is posted somewhere to talk about how often you meet. I'll have 00:10:44.378 --> 00:10:45.694 - legal do a review. 00:10:45.986 --> 00:10:53.726 - Yeah. To see. I think as long as there's nothing in conflict with what we're supposed to be doing, I 00:10:53.726 --> 00:11:01.542 - think it's fine. But I would recommend that you all keep the monthly appointments on your calendar in 00:11:01.542 --> 00:11:09.359 - case we have something urgent. Because you want to be nimble if something comes up. Yeah. You have to 00:11:09.359 --> 00:11:14.110 - wait until the quarterly meeting. Yeah, exactly. I agree. OK. 00:11:14.338 --> 00:11:20.709 - That's that. So just there are a few items. It really wouldn't change an awful lot, because right now, 00:11:20.709 --> 00:11:27.452 - Jane or Dee say, they usually text me and say, we have something for the meeting, or we don't have something 00:11:27.452 --> 00:11:33.947 - for the meeting. It's all right to cancel. And I say, yes. So we'll still do the same thing. We'll still 00:11:33.947 --> 00:11:40.257 - send a notice out saying, we're not going to be meeting. Yeah. Right? Yeah. But we will meet on those 00:11:40.257 --> 00:11:44.030 - quarterly. And we establish what those quarterly months are. 00:11:44.578 --> 00:11:51.048 - certainly can do that. Yeah. I mean, my goal was to have us meet January, the first month of each quarter. 00:11:51.048 --> 00:11:57.155 - But then I can't remember what happened in January and February, but I think we had a storm and then 00:11:57.155 --> 00:12:03.383 - I had to get out of town kind of urgently. And then you were available in February. I think that's the 00:12:03.383 --> 00:12:09.490 - case. So now we're meeting in March. So we could do the third month, but we'll always really want to 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:13.662 - do the organizing. Well, we could still do January and we could just 00:12:13.858 --> 00:12:21.601 - April because we're having this March meeting. Yeah, and then we'll have. Of course it's a lot of good 00:12:21.601 --> 00:12:29.119 - month. We'll have tax abatement reporting. In June. In June. Right. So maybe the plan is folly. I'm 00:12:29.119 --> 00:12:36.712 - lost when we're meeting. Can somebody. No, we're just, we're thinking, we're talking out loud. Okay, 00:12:36.712 --> 00:12:43.102 - okay. Kind of thinking out loud. Yeah, really quick. So for second quarter, the best 00:12:44.162 --> 00:12:54.123 - would be the end of May because tax abatement presentation to the council is June 10th. So we would 00:12:54.123 --> 00:13:04.283 - need to meet in May because it needs to be reviewed by the EDC before it goes to council. And the EDC 00:13:04.283 --> 00:13:08.766 - meets on May 19th. So keep that May meeting. 00:13:10.594 --> 00:13:18.870 - Does that mean that quarterly doesn't really work for us? I think so. Because you really want to meet 00:13:18.870 --> 00:13:27.146 - in January to organize. Yeah. Maybe we'll just have once or twice a year with staffs help almost like 00:13:27.146 --> 00:13:35.422 - a retreat meeting where we're talking bigger. Big issues. Yeah. Yeah. OK. All right. And we'll try to 00:13:35.422 --> 00:13:37.694 - figure out what works best. 00:13:37.826 --> 00:13:44.414 - July meeting is probably not a good time to have that because people have Tennessee. Right. Well, I 00:13:44.414 --> 00:13:51.200 - still appreciate this conversation and just, I don't know. So are we keeping April 21st as a possible? 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:57.986 - Keep it on your calendar just in case. We're keeping all the dates as possible. We're definitely going 00:13:57.986 --> 00:14:04.969 - to meet in May. And maybe that's what we do. When we get to that next meeting that we know we're meeting, 00:14:04.969 --> 00:14:06.814 - we decide if there's a next 00:14:06.978 --> 00:14:14.689 - date to have a definite meeting regardless of what's on the agenda. But you'll let us know if something 00:14:14.689 --> 00:14:22.325 - comes up on the 21st, we need to meet for April. We'll let you know when it comes. Just keep it on the 00:14:22.325 --> 00:14:29.887 - calendar. But you'll let us know both ways. Yes. Okay, great. Yes. Thank you. So just running through 00:14:29.887 --> 00:14:34.558 - my list of staff things. One item I just wanted to maybe raise 00:14:34.786 --> 00:14:42.712 - is that I've been attending quarterly meetings with MCCSC, their business roundtable meetings. ESOC's 00:14:42.712 --> 00:14:50.871 - been there too. They're super informative. And I think there's a big opportunity to try to support MCCSC 00:14:50.871 --> 00:14:58.874 - in the coming months and indefinitely. One of the ways that their activities are shifting a little bit 00:14:58.874 --> 00:15:03.070 - is with the new degree requirements and the workplace 00:15:03.362 --> 00:15:11.110 - degree requirements for students. So a lot of students will be entering into internships and coming 00:15:11.110 --> 00:15:19.245 - into workplaces across the community. So I'm not exactly sure how the EDC can lift that up, but I wanted 00:15:19.245 --> 00:15:27.302 - to share that information. Is this news? It is news. Yeah. Sorry, I don't have my... So where are those 00:15:27.302 --> 00:15:31.486 - degrees? So now within Indiana, there are essentially 00:15:31.586 --> 00:15:39.774 - Essentially two, there's really three tracks that all students have to go through to get their diplomas. 00:15:40.290 --> 00:15:45.935 - One of them is sort of built more towards the idea of them going into things like apprenticeships. And 00:15:45.935 --> 00:15:51.470 - then the other is sort of the university track, if you will, and there's like an honors track within 00:15:51.470 --> 00:15:57.389 - both of those. But the... And there's the military track. And the military track, yeah. Is that in addition 00:15:57.389 --> 00:16:02.924 - to the other three you just mentioned? Yeah, so I think, yeah, so the big changes that regardless... 00:16:02.924 --> 00:16:07.966 - Where does the military fall into? Sorry, there's workforce, college, military. Yeah. Okay. 00:16:08.322 --> 00:16:15.192 - Thank you. The main framework that's changing is that they all have a, and differing, but they all have 00:16:15.192 --> 00:16:21.468 - an element of workforce within the diploma. So even people who are going to sort of, you know, 00:16:21.468 --> 00:16:28.339 - the traditional route, if you will, are still required to get some type of a job placement during their 00:16:28.339 --> 00:16:35.011 - time in school. And it's differing hours, depending on what that is. But, you know, I think it works 00:16:35.011 --> 00:16:35.870 - out to like, 00:16:36.002 --> 00:16:42.344 - I mean, they need to work like 10 hours a week or something like that. Like, it's not an insignificant 00:16:42.344 --> 00:16:48.747 - amount of time. But any job during has to be any job with you. When does it become effective? I've read 00:16:48.747 --> 00:16:55.274 - about it before. I think it is effective. Like, yeah, I think the current students have that requirement. 00:16:55.274 --> 00:17:01.431 - My son is a freshman, and they're the first class that will graduate under the new requirements. So 00:17:01.431 --> 00:17:04.510 - I think just, I don't know if that's just an FYI. 00:17:04.706 --> 00:17:13.110 - And we can follow up more on opportunities to support and I think there's, you know, and Dr. Winston 00:17:13.110 --> 00:17:22.014 - is at the last meeting is sort of said that she's putting together this subcommittee with a broad idea of. 00:17:22.754 --> 00:17:27.845 - you know, trying to reframe what that question is to begin with. I think, you know, Jane and I have 00:17:27.845 --> 00:17:32.988 - been on this committee with a lot of other people in the community for now the last, it feels like a 00:17:32.988 --> 00:17:38.333 - year and a half. It started off with a question that was something like, well, how do we place all these 00:17:38.333 --> 00:17:43.476 - students? Okay. I mean, it's an interesting question, but so everybody comes around and goes, I have 00:17:43.476 --> 00:17:46.174 - two placements and I have three. Okay, that's great. 00:17:46.370 --> 00:17:53.200 - But if you change the tact and say, how do we make this a driver of economic development and innovation, 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:59.835 - et cetera, that we actually can match pain points and gain points within the community, that's a more 00:17:59.835 --> 00:18:06.339 - interesting question. I think that that's really now where she's trying to think is about, could we 00:18:06.339 --> 00:18:13.104 - use this opportunity to meet some type of needs in the community in some sustained way? So. And to that 00:18:13.104 --> 00:18:13.950 - end, this is 00:18:14.114 --> 00:18:20.505 - Sorry, I write my notes throughout the month for what I want to share with you guys and I didn't have 00:18:20.505 --> 00:18:26.834 - these details in. So MCCSE is putting together an advisory council that will have about 40 community 00:18:26.834 --> 00:18:33.100 - members. They want different types of backgrounds, different types of expertise, different types of 00:18:33.100 --> 00:18:39.742 - lived experience. The council's called Strong Schools, Strong Community. There's an application available 00:18:40.418 --> 00:18:48.016 - online for this and so I think I'll just say you could google strong schools strong community advisory 00:18:48.016 --> 00:18:55.540 - council or email me at jane.coopersmith at bloomington.in.gov. Is there enough jobs to fill all these 00:18:55.540 --> 00:19:03.654 - people having jobs? Well it'll be addressed in a number of ways and you know regional opportunity initiatives 00:19:03.654 --> 00:19:10.366 - with their ready schools program is doing a lot of work with apprenticeship activities and 00:19:11.170 --> 00:19:19.187 - there will be ways that some internships not in person will count toward the work requirement. So I 00:19:19.187 --> 00:19:28.006 - think they're being very creative and also practical about how they can meet the requirements. Transportation 00:19:28.006 --> 00:19:36.745 - is a huge barrier for a lot of students. So yeah. Emergent strategy, as they say. And what are the penalties 00:19:36.745 --> 00:19:39.230 - if you can't make this happen? 00:19:40.642 --> 00:19:49.010 - I don't know. Yeah. Is this only for one year? These are the degree requirements now. But your work 00:19:49.010 --> 00:19:57.043 - requirement? Freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior? It looks different each year. He doesn't, 00:19:57.043 --> 00:20:05.914 - for example, have a work requirement this year. So I think it's maybe more upperclassmen, weighted toward 00:20:05.914 --> 00:20:10.014 - upperclassmen. But I think if a student's on the 00:20:10.786 --> 00:20:18.171 - If a student is on the workforce track, they might have some kind of workplace requirement early on. 00:20:18.171 --> 00:20:25.922 - And that could be maybe getting a certification of some kind, or I don't know. We had a bunch of students 00:20:25.922 --> 00:20:33.526 - a week ago from Hoosier Hills Career Center visit the city and visit different city facilities to learn 00:20:33.526 --> 00:20:38.206 - about working here. I'm not sure if that was part of it or not. 00:20:40.034 --> 00:20:47.069 - I feel like I'm way off in the weeds, but. 75 approved work hours is the baseline. Cool. What kind of 00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:53.966 - time period? Over the time that they're in high school. Four years. The whole high school? Correct. 00:20:53.966 --> 00:21:01.070 - 75. 75 hours? Yeah. Oh, jeez. It's not that all that much. Yeah, right. But then the employment honors 00:21:01.070 --> 00:21:07.968 - seal requires 150 hours, while others require 650. Which the 650 is, I assume, what do you call it, 00:21:07.968 --> 00:21:09.278 - the workforce one. 00:21:09.410 --> 00:21:17.472 - Where did the 10 hours a week come in? I was guessing. Oh, okay. So that's how I remembered it. Okay. 00:21:17.472 --> 00:21:25.534 - So that doesn't quite add up if you have 75 the whole time, right? Yeah, exactly. Okay. Anything else 00:21:25.534 --> 00:21:33.754 - on that item? Do you want to be kept apprised of that or if there are others? I mean, I think it's just 00:21:33.754 --> 00:21:38.654 - nice to bring MCCSE items to the group, I guess, when they're 00:21:39.202 --> 00:21:45.698 - information to share. So how are these things legitimized? How do you prove that you're doing this? 00:21:45.698 --> 00:21:52.325 - Who do you report this to, I guess, is the question. That they're doing this, right? The student. The 00:21:52.325 --> 00:21:58.951 - workplace experiences are all managed by the school. OK. Yeah. So they track that something is turned 00:21:58.951 --> 00:22:05.512 - into the school, and they track it, and all that. Exactly. Thank you. Yeah. One other thing I wanted 00:22:05.512 --> 00:22:09.150 - to mention. I mean, I'll just make a comment. Go ahead. 00:22:10.018 --> 00:22:18.334 - It's a nice idea, conceptionally. It's going to be a bear, especially to have every student do it. Yeah, 00:22:18.334 --> 00:22:26.254 - it's a state requirement. No, no, I understand that. But I'm just going to say it. It's an unfunded 00:22:26.254 --> 00:22:34.491 - mandate, because it's going to cause a lot of administrative work for MCCSE to track these. I know this 00:22:34.491 --> 00:22:39.006 - from my experience with students who are undergraduates. 00:22:39.266 --> 00:22:46.565 - who have to get internships towards their undergraduate degree. It's huge. And we're talking about lots 00:22:46.565 --> 00:22:53.583 - of students. Again, conception is a great idea. But as is the case with a number of things that the 00:22:53.583 --> 00:23:01.022 - state mandates, it's probably not thought through as carefully as it needs to be. So I hope MCCSE can be. 00:23:01.538 --> 00:23:07.152 - and this sounds like they are being created. But that's, I think, where the broader community comes 00:23:07.152 --> 00:23:12.766 - in, where it's like, you know, I mean, we could just approach this from the lens of, you know, most 00:23:12.766 --> 00:23:18.716 - of them will end up shadowing somebody, and that counts as their time. I think that we should be creative 00:23:18.716 --> 00:23:24.555 - in creating opportunities to receive them that are meaningful, you know? That's the other point, making 00:23:24.555 --> 00:23:25.790 - sure it's meaningful. 00:23:25.986 --> 00:23:31.510 - To the community right obviously there's the it will be meaningful to the to the students just just 00:23:31.510 --> 00:23:37.366 - by virtue of the exposure look at the experience they'll get but how do we make sure that it's meaningful 00:23:37.366 --> 00:23:42.890 - to the to the community you know I mean you know we we I think as a city could think about a lot of 00:23:42.890 --> 00:23:44.382 - ways that you know I mean. 00:23:44.770 --> 00:23:51.759 - Maybe that's how Kirkwood is really exciting. I don't know. But you can think about a lot of different 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:58.883 - things that maybe they staff council's office. We need like thousands of people to staff council office, 00:23:58.883 --> 00:24:05.601 - for example. So thinking about ways that you actually can create lots of productivity, innovation, 00:24:05.601 --> 00:24:12.318 - et cetera. While also, I think it also for us in the long term of our view, how do we then connect 00:24:12.578 --> 00:24:21.165 - young people who have grown up here to industry here so that they think about staying here or coming 00:24:21.165 --> 00:24:29.836 - back here when it's relevant. Yeah, it's funny because I agree with both Kurt and Isak because, yeah, 00:24:29.836 --> 00:24:39.358 - this is a total beast for sure. And to try and implement it so quickly is just a bad decision. However, this is 00:24:39.938 --> 00:24:47.818 - This is what we think of it. And I do think that this is a good element for recidivism. I think that 00:24:47.818 --> 00:24:55.464 - this will really, if we can get small business owners, not to just think of the bigger companies, 00:24:55.464 --> 00:25:03.422 - but small, mainstream businesses, people going from a micro enterprise or a main street, those people 00:25:03.422 --> 00:25:09.118 - getting connected and making those apprenticeships and things like that, 00:25:09.250 --> 00:25:15.850 - that's a really strong, like, emotional connection. And I think that's one of the things we're kind 00:25:15.850 --> 00:25:22.780 - of missing with keeping young people here, a strong emotional connection, and having that communication, 00:25:22.780 --> 00:25:29.842 - intergenerational communication as well. So, you know, this is, this, you know, we've got to make lemonade 00:25:29.842 --> 00:25:36.772 - out of the lemons that we got right now and utilize this to get kids connected to the city park. Because 00:25:36.772 --> 00:25:38.686 - the wood meringue is a great 00:25:39.074 --> 00:25:46.895 - thing to have. It would be great if these kids are going to go off for like a year and come back and 00:25:46.895 --> 00:25:54.639 - bring back all their experience. So yeah, but I 100% to your point, but this is a great opportunity 00:25:54.639 --> 00:26:02.616 - for us. Next item I wanted to just give you guys a heads up on is that the Opportunity Zones last year 00:26:02.616 --> 00:26:07.262 - were made permanent. The Opportunity Zone program, which is 00:26:08.162 --> 00:26:16.776 - Certain census tracts are eligible to be named opportunity zones. Investments within qualified opportunity 00:26:16.776 --> 00:26:24.908 - funds in those opportunity zones are able to be shielded from capital gains taxes. So it's an effort 00:26:24.908 --> 00:26:33.361 - from the Trump administration to continue this program that really tries to leverage private partnership 00:26:33.361 --> 00:26:37.950 - in community goods. So they're low income census tracts. 00:26:38.466 --> 00:26:45.265 - The previous round of OZs was created in 2016 and it was a 10 year program and then it rolled off. So 00:26:45.265 --> 00:26:52.130 - there was a lot of activity early on and not a lot in the second half of it because the administrative 00:26:52.130 --> 00:26:59.329 - burden was so high. But now these programs are made permanent. The next step for Bloomington is to identify 00:26:59.329 --> 00:27:00.862 - what the new operating 00:27:00.962 --> 00:27:08.139 - opportunity zones will be and seek approval on those from the governor's office. So we're just in the 00:27:08.139 --> 00:27:15.667 - process of doing that and are working with a state lobbying organization and with our partners at regional 00:27:15.667 --> 00:27:23.266 - opportunity initiatives because we want to be thinking about the region as a whole and not just Bloomington 00:27:23.266 --> 00:27:30.654 - as an island. So I'm optimistic that we have some good eligible census tracts. There are some ineligible 00:27:30.850 --> 00:27:37.807 - tracks that were eligible and are no longer eligible, which is unfortunate. But one of the tracks, so 00:27:37.807 --> 00:27:44.627 - all of Hopewell, if we can get that approved, we'll be in the new one, or we'll lobby for that. And 00:27:44.627 --> 00:27:51.925 - so that's one incentive that the Trump administration made permanent. They also made permanent new markets 00:27:51.925 --> 00:27:58.950 - tax credits. We haven't had a lot of activity in that area in Bloomington, but I also think that could 00:27:58.950 --> 00:28:00.382 - show up in Hopewell. 00:28:01.026 --> 00:28:08.465 - So mentioning those two things and then transitioning maybe to Seminary Square for a moment and the 00:28:08.465 --> 00:28:15.978 - properties surrounding it. There was a headline maybe a month ago at this point that property owners 00:28:15.978 --> 00:28:23.566 - surrounding Seminary Square lobbied the assessor and the assessor reduced the assessed value of those 00:28:23.566 --> 00:28:30.782 - properties by a certain percentage. And I don't know, I don't have that math off the back of the 00:28:34.242 --> 00:28:41.591 - But I've been thinking a lot about seminary in that area. It comes up a lot as we're working on Hopewell 00:28:41.591 --> 00:28:48.731 - development and we're looking toward the Convention Center development. And so I'd like to be able to 00:28:48.731 --> 00:28:55.730 - at least assemble the suite of existing incentives around that area to be able to communicate about 00:28:55.730 --> 00:29:02.590 - them in anticipation of some turnover starting to happen in that area or fostering that turnover. 00:29:03.874 --> 00:29:10.856 - So Opportunity Zones would be one. We have the Enterprise Zone. That property falls in the Enterprise 00:29:10.856 --> 00:29:17.222 - Zone. But I wanted to bring it up here just to kind of see if the commissioners are tracking 00:29:17.222 --> 00:29:24.135 - that conversation. Last year, you were really helpful when I said, hey, I'm working on these things. 00:29:24.135 --> 00:29:30.912 - And you all kind of responded, well, that's nice, but focus on the stuff over here. So I think it, 00:29:30.912 --> 00:29:31.870 - I mean, it's. 00:29:32.994 --> 00:29:42.312 - bordering on blight, and seem to be in our wheelhouse and try to put together some incentives to improve 00:29:42.312 --> 00:29:51.276 - it. And it's well known by the community. Yeah. Very physical. Very physical. A lot of traffic. Just 00:29:51.276 --> 00:30:00.328 - driving for miles today. Yeah. And it affects all of downtown. I've heard people say that, especially 00:30:00.328 --> 00:30:02.014 - in the summertime, 00:30:03.746 --> 00:30:12.729 - you are students, the proportion of what you see when you drive into downtown is less favorable. And 00:30:12.729 --> 00:30:22.068 - you just don't feel like staying. I mean, some people just, it's somewhat depressing, of course, because 00:30:22.068 --> 00:30:31.051 - there are people that are in bad shape, down on their luck. Yeah. Yeah. And I think just having this 00:30:31.051 --> 00:30:33.630 - conversation, it's not even, 00:30:35.074 --> 00:30:43.174 - anti, the humans who are experiencing the challenges that they're experiencing and hanging out in that 00:30:43.174 --> 00:30:51.196 - area. It's really looking at the business loss around the area, which is contributing to a vacuum. We 00:30:51.196 --> 00:30:59.138 - just need more activity. Well, I just got appointed to the property tax assessment board of appeals. 00:30:59.138 --> 00:31:04.958 - I had to make sure I got it correct. And Judy Sharp, the assessor, talked 00:31:05.634 --> 00:31:13.004 - some about this, and it's the land value that's been reduced. And again, I don't remember the percentage, 00:31:13.004 --> 00:31:20.304 - but it was a substantial amount, substantial amount, because land prices are pretty high in Bloomington. 00:31:20.304 --> 00:31:27.535 - So of course, the assessed value becomes pretty high, which then becomes a disincentive for investment. 00:31:27.535 --> 00:31:32.958 - So I think it's a good way to get started, but the incentives along with that 00:31:33.090 --> 00:31:42.284 - is what's going to be needed. You need more than just the reduction of the assessed value. On the subject 00:31:42.284 --> 00:31:51.652 - of reduced AV, do you all feel like this is something that should be considered for maybe a short abatement 00:31:51.652 --> 00:32:00.326 - program or a percentage abatement program? Yeah, it's really targeted. I think the assessor told me 00:32:00.326 --> 00:32:02.494 - we're at 52% tax exempt. 00:32:02.626 --> 00:32:11.142 - 52% of our properties are tax exempt in Bloomington, which makes abatements just really a difficult 00:32:11.142 --> 00:32:19.829 - incentive for us to consider. However, if the property values are being reduced all by themselves and 00:32:19.829 --> 00:32:28.772 - they're not being redeveloped, then I wonder if it is something. And tax abatements reduce future taxes. 00:32:28.772 --> 00:32:31.582 - They don't reduce today's taxes. 00:32:31.810 --> 00:32:39.793 - So if you're incentivizing something new, you're still getting more taxes than you would have otherwise. 00:32:39.793 --> 00:32:47.625 - So I think it's a good tool to use here. Who would be doing the tax evasion? I mean, who would approve 00:32:47.625 --> 00:32:55.304 - those? What body? It would be the city council. The EDC typically makes a recommendation to the city 00:32:55.304 --> 00:33:00.702 - council. And then the city council has the ability to approve or deny. 00:33:01.218 --> 00:33:09.566 - tax abatement. Sorry it's all because it's a city of Bloomington property it's all within the and then 00:33:09.566 --> 00:33:17.670 - we notify the assessor. So we're talking about the city of Bloomington property. Property that's in 00:33:17.670 --> 00:33:25.774 - the city of Bloomington. Okay so it's not city of Bloomington property? No. Private property within 00:33:25.774 --> 00:33:30.718 - city limits. So where do those people pay their tax bill at? 00:33:32.674 --> 00:33:39.840 - Well, they all pay to the county, and then the money is dispersed to the jurisdictions. Yeah. So some 00:33:39.840 --> 00:33:47.146 - of that goes to school. I'm familiar with that. Right, right. No, of course. So if we have an abatement 00:33:47.146 --> 00:33:54.873 - in a piece of property in Bloomington, the city proper, that basically is borne by the rest of the taxpayers. 00:33:54.873 --> 00:34:01.758 - Everybody else pays that. That's right. That's right. I get that. And all the different, I think, 00:34:01.890 --> 00:34:10.519 - All the different taxing elements will also be affected because we're not just debating city taxes, 00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:19.406 - but there's a state legislation that defines the entire process and what we can debate for. But if the 00:34:19.406 --> 00:34:26.654 - city council approves it and goes through the process and meets those requirements, 00:34:26.882 --> 00:34:34.825 - then the library gets less money, the schools get less money, and the county gets less money, 00:34:34.825 --> 00:34:43.359 - and so on. But it's pretty narrow in how it can be used because it has such a big impact. So give me 00:34:43.359 --> 00:34:52.315 - an example of a current property in the city that is abated. We have abatements at a number of affordable 00:34:52.315 --> 00:34:54.174 - housing developments. 00:34:54.274 --> 00:35:01.798 - And then we have a number of employment-related abatements at the Novo Nordisk site, because they've 00:35:01.798 --> 00:35:09.247 - put up such large job numbers. But we really don't have a ton of them. And then last year, we did a 00:35:09.247 --> 00:35:16.697 - pilot agreement, which is a version of an abatement, where it makes the amount payable predictable. 00:35:16.697 --> 00:35:23.550 - And I think this just makes sense that these questions are coming from you, because this is 00:35:23.682 --> 00:35:32.099 - why you are here, you're representing the county council because this has impact on your jurisdiction. 00:35:32.099 --> 00:35:40.271 - I would suggest that maybe we ought to have a conversation with the county assessor to see how city 00:35:40.271 --> 00:35:48.606 - tax abatements might be used to achieve the same thing she's trying to do with reducing this. I think 00:35:48.606 --> 00:35:53.182 - it'd be worthwhile to review what can be abated because 00:35:53.506 --> 00:36:00.527 - You know, it's pretty narrow. I mean, it's housing and jobs. And I don't know. I mean, it's kind of 00:36:00.527 --> 00:36:07.900 - hard to target jobs, especially. I mean, you have to talk to an employer and go in there and hire people 00:36:07.900 --> 00:36:15.202 - or somebody that's already there, increase their hiring. Yeah, there's certain metrics that are usually 00:36:15.202 --> 00:36:21.662 - outlayed, right? Yeah. And housing. Is that limited by state code? I think so. We have our. 00:36:22.402 --> 00:36:29.001 - The state code sets of the broad parameters, and then we have our local criteria. Local ordinance. And 00:36:29.001 --> 00:36:35.472 - our local criteria talk about affordable housing, job creation, and then I think there's a community 00:36:35.472 --> 00:36:41.942 - character bucket. Is that code, or is that policy of EDC? That's an EDC policy. Right. So I say that 00:36:41.942 --> 00:36:48.349 - because I do think that that's worth exploring. Yeah, I do wonder. I thought it was an ordinance. I 00:36:48.349 --> 00:36:49.374 - don't think so. 00:36:49.538 --> 00:36:57.438 - Let me check. You don't check. I'll check so you don't. You're doing too many things at once. Yeah, 00:36:57.438 --> 00:37:05.339 - I don't think it's a ordinance. Evaluating criteria are what I'm thinking of. Yeah. OK. But for us, 00:37:05.339 --> 00:37:13.318 - I would love to hear what incentives could be applied to an area that we consider blighted. And then 00:37:13.318 --> 00:37:19.006 - we could then, I think, because I'm not sure that a basement's going to 00:37:19.170 --> 00:37:26.073 - Abatement could be one. But Tim, good point. See where we have right now. And if we have the flexibility, 00:37:26.073 --> 00:37:32.716 - we may change it a little bit. Because I think a stall furniture, the example, they moved to the west 00:37:32.716 --> 00:37:39.293 - side because of the... It's a really good example. Is there something we can do to retain a business 00:37:39.293 --> 00:37:45.935 - there through a property tax abatement? Will the state law allow us? And then we might have to change 00:37:45.935 --> 00:37:46.782 - our criteria 00:37:47.618 --> 00:37:54.706 - to broaden it a little bit, to do some retention as opposed to just creation. So if we look at the tools 00:37:54.706 --> 00:38:01.660 - that we think we have available, let's see if they work or if they could be. Whether we do some things 00:38:01.660 --> 00:38:08.478 - that. Because I really don't know, other than some familiar with familiarity with the big man. Yeah. 00:38:08.478 --> 00:38:14.014 - Also, what would be, like what's, I think it's a really good opportunity to think 00:38:14.242 --> 00:38:20.225 - like the ways that people often think about like a redevelopment zone, right? Like what's the, what's 00:38:20.225 --> 00:38:26.267 - like a right anchor for that place so that we also are targeted about the strategy that it's not just, 00:38:26.267 --> 00:38:32.367 - we just want some business here, but it's what do we want? And I think that's what's really nice, nice, 00:38:32.367 --> 00:38:38.878 - wrong word. I think that's the opportunity because we're basically blank slate. I mean, there's a post office. 00:38:39.106 --> 00:38:48.686 - No, like what else is there anymore? I mean, the Thai restaurant, I guess. World food market. And there's 00:38:48.686 --> 00:38:57.724 - rallies still there. And then we're about to have Hopewell. I mean, so there's also a thought about 00:38:57.724 --> 00:39:06.942 - when you have Hopewell developing, does that negate the need for sort of focused tax abatement there? 00:39:07.074 --> 00:39:16.074 - Do people gravitate toward the development already? My perception is it's related to time. And the abatement 00:39:16.074 --> 00:39:23.670 - is like an accelerant for that area. Otherwise, you're waiting for it, which might be fine. 00:39:23.670 --> 00:39:30.110 - I don't know. And I think on the retention piece, I just want to mention that 00:39:32.962 --> 00:39:39.264 - I don't have official news, but I just think it's really important that we retain Kroger in that location. 00:39:39.264 --> 00:39:45.213 - Kroger, having a full grocery store there is what supports the neighborhood of Hopewell, it supports 00:39:45.213 --> 00:39:51.221 - the existing neighbors. It helps a big, big neighborhood. Yeah, so I don't know, just observing that. 00:39:51.221 --> 00:39:57.347 - Am I misinformed, but that there's some type of, like that Kroger is like the Kroger that has the most? 00:39:57.347 --> 00:40:01.470 - It has the most something, I forget what it was. Yeah, like the most, 00:40:02.402 --> 00:40:11.250 - In their national croaker, I think that the statistic I remember being told was something like, it has 00:40:11.250 --> 00:40:20.012 - the most lost goods or something to that extent. Is that true? I haven't heard that, but I just can't 00:40:20.012 --> 00:40:28.602 - comment. I don't know. But I know that they put a lot of effort behind loss prevention and security 00:40:28.602 --> 00:40:32.382 - guards hired. That's interesting. Yeah. OK. 00:40:33.026 --> 00:40:40.934 - I think a really good point that you bring up, to look ahead and to make sure that they stay, because 00:40:40.934 --> 00:40:48.765 - that would be a major, that would hit Hopa, would hit Prospect Hill, it would hit the New West Side. 00:40:48.765 --> 00:40:56.829 - Yes, and the way that corporation is managing site control is not, it doesn't mean that another grocery 00:40:56.829 --> 00:41:00.318 - could just come into that location. Exactly. 00:41:00.930 --> 00:41:13.018 - Okay, that's helpful. If you don't mind, I'll switch gears to another incentive that was just approved. 00:41:13.018 --> 00:41:24.990 - SB 89 was approved. Sorry, I don't have the title for it. Let me look it up. Oh, that's a bad website. 00:41:31.234 --> 00:41:39.062 - Well, it's to expand alcohol permits. So I just, we had some discussion last fall. Um, I'm sorry, I 00:41:39.062 --> 00:41:46.890 - don't have the, I'm not getting a good hit on the bill text right now, but, um, this, the state has 00:41:46.890 --> 00:41:55.188 - issued a number of additional three-way permits for different, um, communities across Indiana and they've 00:41:55.188 --> 00:41:59.102 - allocated two additional permits for Bloomington. 00:41:59.906 --> 00:42:08.650 - And so I think that's validating in a way. I think it means the state understands the utility of these 00:42:08.650 --> 00:42:17.310 - permits as a tool, as an economic development tool. There's specific economic development language in 00:42:17.310 --> 00:42:26.564 - the legislation. And so there are a few next steps before they can be activated. There has to be qualifying. 00:42:26.564 --> 00:42:29.790 - Qualifications have to be identified. 00:42:30.210 --> 00:42:36.581 - Um, and ESOC, I'm not sure if this is on a staff level or if council has to do it, but we have to determine 00:42:36.581 --> 00:42:42.774 - who qualifies for these permits. Um, and then there's a second step, which is entering into a commitment 00:42:42.774 --> 00:42:48.732 - agreement with the recipient of those permits. So I think there are a number of layers where, um, it 00:42:48.732 --> 00:42:54.748 - will ultimately be a staff recommendation of some sort. We'll get to determine what our, what are our 00:42:54.748 --> 00:42:59.998 - priorities for these permits. These are useful tools. They will, they're different than, 00:43:00.290 --> 00:43:06.619 - the ones that were discussed last fall in that these are full three-way permits. They cost $40,000 each. 00:43:06.619 --> 00:43:13.128 - I don't know that they are retained as long-term assets. That's unclear to me at this time. So the current- 00:43:13.128 --> 00:43:19.155 - They revert back to the city. They revert back to the state, I think. Is that right? Like after the 00:43:19.155 --> 00:43:25.303 - person who's given it, but then the city still retains the ability to give it to somebody else? Yeah, 00:43:25.303 --> 00:43:27.774 - exactly. And what I don't understand is, 00:43:30.722 --> 00:43:36.917 - If they say a business is granted in one of the three ways, they enter into the commitment agreement, 00:43:36.917 --> 00:43:43.051 - but they don't meet those commitments, then the city can say, hey, ATC, we need you to enforce this. 00:43:43.051 --> 00:43:49.245 - We no longer support this business having it. It reverts to the state. But I don't know if that means 00:43:49.245 --> 00:43:51.614 - that their $40,000 investment is gone. 00:43:51.842 --> 00:43:58.096 - So there's a lot more to learn about, but I just wanted to flag it. I think it's a good thing. The EDC 00:43:58.096 --> 00:44:04.350 - won't have a formal role, but I just wanted to mention it since this came up for us last year. If it's 00:44:04.350 --> 00:44:10.726 - OK that I say, I mean, if it hadn't been for the fact that I was serving as council staff at the moment, 00:44:10.726 --> 00:44:16.798 - my intention, and I think building off the conversation that we had that was just in our memo here, 00:44:17.634 --> 00:44:23.721 - My intention was, I do think it would make a lot of sense, and this is following after Valparaiso, they 00:44:23.721 --> 00:44:29.808 - had a council action that sort of just said, this is how we decide any type of permits that we're going 00:44:29.808 --> 00:44:35.719 - to be deciding. And I think it would be great for us to have one piece of legislation that basically 00:44:35.719 --> 00:44:41.806 - says, you have the SB 89 ones, you have the ones that would be riverfront district if we ever have one, 00:44:41.806 --> 00:44:47.600 - we have the ones that would be for the historic downtown. So we just set out all of that criteria. 00:44:47.600 --> 00:44:53.422 - And whether we give those or not, different story. But I just think if you set the criteria, it will 00:44:53.422 --> 00:44:59.359 - get some motion there a lot clearer. So I would love, in short, I have every intention of writing that 00:44:59.359 --> 00:45:05.180 - legislation. I think it would be really wonderful to have a discussion here to think about what that 00:45:05.180 --> 00:45:11.521 - really should look like. Like, what are the priorities? Yeah. What are our priorities? Do we want local-owned 00:45:11.521 --> 00:45:17.054 - businesses? How are we going to determine all of those type of things, I think, would be. Yeah. 00:45:17.698 --> 00:45:26.018 - So is that something that you would want to have us put on an agenda? I would love that. I would love 00:45:26.018 --> 00:45:34.338 - that. For all of the things like that? I think that's the best approach, but I might be wrong. I will 00:45:34.338 --> 00:45:42.658 - say it makes me a little nervous just because I think the response to the discussions earlier on this 00:45:42.658 --> 00:45:45.758 - year, or in 2025, the public was very 00:45:47.458 --> 00:45:53.700 - leery of even having the conversations. And so I think there's just a lot of education that needs to 00:45:53.700 --> 00:45:59.880 - happen. So on one hand, I could see it as a good opportunity to air out that topic and provide some 00:45:59.880 --> 00:46:06.308 - visibility into it. On the other hand, I think, well, if it's just for SB 89, maybe you just start with 00:46:06.308 --> 00:46:11.870 - that. I think what's nice is that because SB 89 is going to happen, it's happened, right? 00:46:11.970 --> 00:46:17.399 - it gives the opportunity to say, this is the impetus for which you do this. And so you have to build 00:46:17.399 --> 00:46:22.881 - the governance capacity to do it. And so it's like, but I just think it sets it in the right tone. So 00:46:22.881 --> 00:46:28.471 - the conversation isn't like, we're just trying to get all these alcohol permits out into the community. 00:46:28.471 --> 00:46:34.168 - It's about we're thinking responsibly about one of the tools for economic development. And we're thinking 00:46:34.168 --> 00:46:39.811 - before we even have to do it, we're already making some rules so that everybody can contribute to making 00:46:39.811 --> 00:46:40.510 - those rules. 00:46:40.706 --> 00:46:47.187 - So that was all I had on SB 89, unless there's more on that one. I had one other item I just wanted 00:46:47.187 --> 00:46:54.122 - to update you on. Is that OK to keep going? Sure. I wanted to let you know that David Hiddle, our planning 00:46:54.122 --> 00:47:00.862 - director, is working on. I mean, there are a number of, I think, UDO updates in process, and of course, 00:47:01.218 --> 00:47:07.960 - We're all concerned first and foremost about housing. But I did want to let you know that he's also 00:47:07.960 --> 00:47:14.701 - working on what he's calling the small business omnibus updates to the UDO. And we think those will 00:47:14.701 --> 00:47:21.578 - go forward maybe in the fall, early fall. He's doing business outreach now and talking to, I'm trying 00:47:21.578 --> 00:47:28.926 - to connect him with businesses that have failed to start in Bloomington because of onerous UDO requirements. 00:47:29.026 --> 00:47:37.157 - So sharing this with you in response to comments that you've made where we were talking about, you know, 00:47:37.157 --> 00:47:45.056 - something or other and you were like, well, you know, if you want to move the needle for Bloomington, 00:47:45.056 --> 00:47:52.955 - you really got to focus on that. So D and I are supporting that effort, but it's definitely being led 00:47:52.955 --> 00:47:57.214 - and managed by planning. Is the city utility involved? 00:47:57.570 --> 00:48:09.958 - I don't think so, but I can, I'll take that note. I think they're a significant part of the problem. 00:48:09.958 --> 00:48:22.590 - The utility. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I've just made a note to share that. Do you do some of the state of the 00:48:22.590 --> 00:48:24.798 - permitting audit? 00:48:25.506 --> 00:48:32.992 - Is that done, and will action be taken there? Because I think that that's the speed to getting things 00:48:32.992 --> 00:48:40.552 - approved often. Yeah. I apologize. My recall is really bad. There was an update yesterday, and I think 00:48:40.552 --> 00:48:48.185 - I was answering email, so I don't have the full update. But I know it's moving along, and I know I just 00:48:48.185 --> 00:48:52.222 - heard that the county is moving to the same permitting 00:48:53.026 --> 00:49:00.222 - and licensing system that the city uses. So we think that will just provide an efficiency and 00:49:00.222 --> 00:49:08.260 - more transparency. So positive development. But I can report back on the status of the audit. And that's 00:49:08.260 --> 00:49:15.916 - it. Those were the items I just wanted to share. No actions. Based on the hands we talked about, it 00:49:15.916 --> 00:49:20.126 - sounds like we have some things to do this year. Yeah. 00:49:22.146 --> 00:49:29.644 - Maybe we will be meeting every Monday. I do think this group could participate in David Hittle's project. 00:49:29.644 --> 00:49:36.717 - I mean, that's economic development. Yes. And so I don't know how you want us to participate. Well, 00:49:36.717 --> 00:49:44.356 - if you assemble, then it's got to be in the form of a public meeting. But we could invite him to a meeting. 00:49:44.356 --> 00:49:51.358 - Or you could. I would like that. I could invite him to our next meeting. I could also connect you. 00:49:51.714 --> 00:50:01.724 - with him so you could schedule one-on-one time? I think it's a good idea. I'd do it. It's interesting. 00:50:01.724 --> 00:50:11.540 - Maybe you can do that before the next meeting and have him come and lead the conversation. There's a 00:50:11.540 --> 00:50:17.566 - tie between this subject and your first subject about the tax 00:50:17.794 --> 00:50:25.823 - reduction and the blight. You remember in that article that you talked about? One of the property owners 00:50:25.823 --> 00:50:33.775 - down there said that all they're doing is getting grief about the size of their landscape rocks. That's 00:50:33.775 --> 00:50:41.727 - David Hiddles' department. Yes. I mean, he's tracking that. That was embarrassing. Right. Well, there's 00:50:41.727 --> 00:50:44.862 - always two or more sites to every story. 00:50:45.474 --> 00:50:58.257 - So maybe you could talk to David before the meeting. Yeah, I'll send an email. Maybe Jane, you and I 00:50:58.257 --> 00:51:08.382 - could talk with the assistant. I'd like that. Looking great. We'll let you off. 00:51:08.962 --> 00:51:16.081 - Well, I'll work on this legislation because I really think if I could get it before the next time, it 00:51:16.081 --> 00:51:23.130 - would be good to have that on the agenda to just get comments on it. So are you or somebody going to 00:51:23.130 --> 00:51:30.598 - work with Judy? Yeah, he's taking that. Jay and I are going to talk with Judy and see if there's something 00:51:30.598 --> 00:51:37.438 - the city and the county can do together. That's great. I don't know. Was that general discussion? 00:51:38.818 --> 00:51:49.929 - So I think, yeah, I think that was general discussion. I'm not really sure. Maybe I'll add a staff report 00:51:49.929 --> 00:52:00.830 - item to our next agenda. So I can kind of just. No, but deep into the process have concluded round one. 00:52:01.026 --> 00:52:07.910 - interviews for the special projects manager position. We had 103 applicants for that. Closed on Sunday 00:52:07.910 --> 00:52:14.927 - night, the assistant director for the arts position and had, I think, 53 applicants for that. But that's 00:52:14.927 --> 00:52:22.078 - a narrower, you know, it's a pretty specific skill set. Special project was a part-time job or a full-time 00:52:22.078 --> 00:52:26.622 - job? Full-time. Maybe we should think about how we could, you know, 00:52:27.138 --> 00:52:33.733 - We need an administration person and council, so maybe we can call through that and see if people are 00:52:33.733 --> 00:52:40.521 - interested. Oh, see who looks good from that. Well, there are a lot of applicants that have more general 00:52:40.521 --> 00:52:46.987 - administrative experience than this job has a lot of doing and art implementation. Yeah, I actually 00:52:46.987 --> 00:52:53.582 - think that's a good idea is to put a regular staff report. Being the finance authority I serve on, at 00:52:53.582 --> 00:52:55.198 - the end of each meeting, 00:52:55.522 --> 00:53:05.901 - the finance director of the state gives a report. Sometimes it's just two or three words, sometimes 00:53:05.901 --> 00:53:16.591 - it's more detailed to sort of give you an idea of what's brewing. And the other thing is let's put old 00:53:16.591 --> 00:53:24.894 - business before new business. Vanessa, you have anything you want to add? Okay. 00:53:25.218 --> 00:53:31.538 - It takes a minute to unmute. Sorry. No, I don't have anything to add. Thank you. Thank you. We have 00:53:31.538 --> 00:53:38.174 - a couple people in the house. Do you have anything you want to bring in front of before we talk? I think 00:53:38.174 --> 00:53:44.746 - to the point of everybody, what I just heard in my short time listening here, that this is where things 00:53:44.746 --> 00:53:50.750 - start in regards to trying to rebuild some of our economic infrastructure that needs to occur. 00:53:51.490 --> 00:53:56.699 - our tax base and our wages up. Everybody needs to work collaboratively to do it within the city, the 00:53:56.699 --> 00:54:01.908 - economic development commissions, RDC, council in order to build things up. Because when we hear the 00:54:01.908 --> 00:54:07.168 - things that have happened in the south moment, it drops our property taxes. It also drops what's able 00:54:07.168 --> 00:54:12.480 - to be done for the community. It drops our assessments. Yes. I'm not sure it drops our property taxes. 00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:17.534 - No, it just drops the assessment. The budget line is still dispersed amongst all the individuals. 00:54:17.634 --> 00:54:24.219 - What I'm trying to do. I'm sorry, this is a professor meeting. I teach this, so I want to make sure. 00:54:24.219 --> 00:54:31.065 - I appreciate that. Sorry, Randy. It's good. What my communication I'm trying to admit is everybody needs 00:54:31.065 --> 00:54:38.041 - to be building the boat. Right, because it affects everybody. It affects all of us and how our reputation, 00:54:38.041 --> 00:54:41.822 - how our view of our community statewide, internationally. 00:54:44.450 --> 00:54:52.049 - I appreciate all you guys work and the discussions in the economic development is always important. 00:54:52.049 --> 00:54:59.267 - As a professor of law, it's always important. The other gentleman, did you have anyone in? No, 00:54:59.267 --> 00:55:06.334 - not this one. Okay. Well, anything else for the good of the calls? If not, we are adjourned.