- For the record, this is the BUEA meeting for September 10, 2025. And we are starting at 12.02 PM. So
- we need to do a roll call. Phil, do you want to start? Phil Emerson, BUEA. Michael Hover, BUEA. Kate
- Rosenberger, BUEA. Heather Robinson, BUEA. Jane Coopersmith, BUEA. Dee Delarosa, BUEA ESD.
- Jessica McClellan, city controller. Virginia Gutierrez, BUEA. Alisa Spinelli, BUA. And Jayvon? Jayvon.
- Oh, sorry. Did I misspeak? No. You're good. I will introduce Jayvon Whitmill. He is my O'Neill fellow
- for the next two years. So he'll be sitting in on the BUEA meetings regularly. Welcome.
- All right. Good deal. Let's see. We do need approval of minutes from the August meeting. Did anyone
- have any questions, comments, corrections to the minutes? If none, do we have a motion to approve the
- minutes? I'll motion to approve.
- Do we have a second? Second. And we'll need to do a roll call for approval on the minutes. Phil, do
- you want to start us again? Yes. Michael Hover, yes. Kate Rosemarger, yes. Heather Robinson, yes. Jane
- Cougar Smith, yes. Virginia Gutierrez, yes. Felicia Spinelli, yes.
- Thank you. D, director's report. Sure. So it is a pretty short director's report, but I'll stretch it
- as long as I can, since we're waiting for Brad. So the first item is that I met with IB Tech and SBDC
- about a strategic plan for the BUEA.
- It was really great to be able to sit down with a group of people and have them ask me, ask questions,
- because you can sit in a room and try and think of a plan, but until you have an outside perspective,
- it really is hard to form one. So the plan that we drafted out is for the next 12 months. It's a lot
- of administrative things, so it is getting things organized on my end as far as marketing and
- bolstering the board's income stream, which kind of go hand-in-hand, because if people don't know about
- the incentives that we have, they aren't able to contribute to the pool of money that we have. So a
- lot of it is getting us more forward-facing. I'm pretty excited about it. There is some more
- board participation within that, so it'll be
- getting the members of the board more engaged with the community as much as we can following the open
- door policy and not having all the board members at one place and having to call public meetings. But
- I'm pretty excited about it. I'm pretty excited about the idea of moving forward with larger initiatives,
- like when we help CDFI friendly become CDFI friendly. So really getting us more involved, not just
- within the zone, but having larger initiatives that could potentially affect the entire city as well.
- So really exciting to move forward with that. I'm hoping to have that draft of that plan in front of
- you within the next few months. So we can start some of the marketing stuff is an initiative that I've
- been working on for a while, which fits into the plan, which will start January 1, regardless of whether the board
- approves of this strategic plan because the board has approved marketing in the past. So I don't know
- if anybody has any questions about that. I actually was just wondering, and I think it's a great idea
- to have more of a strategic plan for the board. I think that we've seen growth in the organization.
- And when I say growth, the interest in grants, we've had greater applications.
- which is wonderful, businesses are becoming, businesses and nonprofits and individuals are becoming
- more aware of the VUEA and what's available to them. And I know we've also had some kind of tough questions
- in front of us too about boundaries of the zone and different things like that. So I wonder through
- this strategic plan if, and again, I know time is difficult for everyone, if we should have maybe a special
- strategic planning meeting, like call a meeting when we could try to meet everyone's calendars for maybe
- a 90-minute meeting or something to really talk about the strategic direction of the BUBA and how that
- kind of aligns with our mission, definitely aligns with our mission, but can also fit within what the
- overall city's goals are as well. I think there's some,
- There's some symbiotic relationship pieces there. I think what we're trying to accomplish as an organization,
- of course, goes into the bigger picture of what the city is. So I think just having a conversation,
- potentially a special meeting, to talk about a strategic plan. And do we need to look at updating the
- bylaws? And how would that work? And if we made updates, what would those updates be? And so to have
- a special meeting specifically
- where we carve out the time to only focus on that. I'm just throwing that out there. I know Dee is still
- in the process of just getting kind of a draft for us. But I just wanted to maybe throw that out there
- and see how others feel about the possibility of that. Yeah. I agree. I agree. I agree. And I think
- that would lead to us more supporting Dee because she has to work on this more than one time a month.
- So spending the time to make a meeting to fit our schedule, of course, but to support her doing her
- process would be very helpful. Yeah. I appreciate that. Yeah. And how can the board be more engaged
- in those efforts as well to raise awareness and different things like that? So I think it could be a
- good opportunity to just kind of look at a
- a more specific strategic plan and have some change-ups to the bylaws or whatnot if we think that makes
- sense for the organization at this point. Next, all of the documents have been submitted to Catalan
- Novo Nordisk. We had a slight reversal of a couple numbers on one of the credit memos.
- I put down $1.71 instead of $1.17. So that held up the process. So I apologize for that clerical error.
- But now we're just waiting for the payout. So that is on track. I do have plans to have a draft budget
- prepared for the October meeting with some of the changes that we will be speaking about.
- today as far as the RF loan conversion, which I believe that via this process will probably not hit
- our books until 2026. So I will be drafting that into the budget as we've discussed it prior to. And
- then just some
- minor adjustments as far as how we've been spending grant money. I think we got rid of a lot of building
- improvements money this year so maybe readjusting some of those to keep the overall amount the same
- but just kind of putting it in different areas.
- And Holly and I are going to be working on a detailed arts budget. I feel like annually, we've kind
- of been like, oh, well, there's zone art grants. And then there's city art grants. But what are they
- really? So really defining those lines. So it's much easier for the board to have some transparency
- for the board to see where that money is actually going and who we're giving it to and where we're putting
- it within the zone.
- And then I wrote down in my director's report that there was no change to the budget and grant disbursements.
- That's not true. Let me pull that up so you guys can see the change that I have in that. And I guess
- I need to share my screen. Duh.
- Although it's not been dispersed, I have accounted for in our business building improvement line the
- $10,000 to the warehouse that we awarded last week. So as you can see, we have expended and overexpended
- that line in our grants budget. I will be considering moving maybe a little bit from the accessibility
- modification and the safety and security
- or I'm sorry, not safety and security, the business and community support into building improvement,
- as those were two lines that we just haven't fully expended. So when you say move money, are you suggesting?
- For 2026. Oh, thank you. For 2026, not for this year. OK, thank you. No.
- If we overexpend in a line, I'd like to know for 2026, so I can adjust the numbers for 2026. So we should
- just spend out what we can, however, and then we make the adjustments for next year. Agreed. I think
- that that's helpful to see the overs and unders in the budget that we originally set, which will be
- a tool to help you set the 2026 budget.
- Um, and, uh, that is it for me, unless, um, the board has any questions or would like any updates on
- anything else that might be going on. That's great. Thanks. Next month, we're going to get that updated
- financial report. Yes. Um, we were just waiting on one document, um, and the, uh, that Cheryl needed
- to run the full report. Um, but it'll be a quarterly report, so it'll be.
- everything for Q3. So we'll be set on that. I do have a quick question for Alex. So we're moving into
- the portion about the RF loans. Do I need Felisa and Virginia to step away from the table? Do they have
- to leave? Or can we wait till the vote?
- Um, because they hold loans, because they hold RRF loans. Um, I think it's fine for them to stay. Okay.
- For the conversation, just not for the vote. Okay. All right. Sorry, just to clarify, and they participate
- in the conversation or listen to it? Okay. Yeah. So, yeah. So, um, Felisa and Virginia, you can stay.
- You just can't participate in the conversation.
- I am done, and I'm going to hand it over to control down the phone. Hi, everybody. Dee and I worked
- together and reviewed what Dee worked out for a loan forgiveness program for the RRF loans. And we reviewed
- those together, and we talked to kind of about the pros and cons of forgiving those loans.
- And from the city's perspective, we think that it's OK for this nonprofit to forgive your loans and
- that the loan program, it had some challenges anyway to begin with as far as just administering it.
- It's hard to administer a loan program. And that we think that we, the city, and me, the controller,
- this process looks very fair and equitable to businesses. They're going to demonstrate. They're going
- to ask for forgiveness. They're going to apply for that forgiveness
- And they're going to supply some information that the board can review. I assume there is a review process.
- And then everybody will have the chance to sign off on whether or not those loans are forgiven. And
- we think it's a really good process. I'm really just here to lend my support to this application process
- and answer any questions that you have. I don't really have much of a presentation prepared. But I think
- that if you have any questions, that will really guide some good conversation about it.
- You mentioned not-for-profits. It's being available to everyone, not just not-for-profits, right? Oh,
- yes. Us as a not-for-profit. That's what I meant. OK. Just want to make sure it's everybody included.
- OK. Because that's been a point of everything we've been talking about recently, is treating businesses
- like businesses, not one or the other. So OK, good to know. And you used the word forgiveness here.
- I think, ultimately, what this
- will be, as I read through this, is a conversion. So it's not necessarily. I mean, it is, I guess, forgiving
- the loan in the sense that those that apply and that are approved will no longer have that
- debt responsibility. But from the perspective of our organization, we're converting.
- these two grants. So just for the record, I want to clarify that this is actually a conversion from
- a loan to a grant. I think that's a very good point to make. I appreciate that. And so that, therefore,
- would hit our income statement differently, as opposed to bad debt versus
- Grants and so this would be a new line item to our income statement showing that these are actually
- now grants So how they're bad bad or just a bad debt would hang around but this is getting converted
- from an asset to Grant that we're paying out and then it'll disappear after it. Mm-hmm, right So it's
- just like we're taking it from the balance sheet and we're gonna put it on our income statement and
- we're gonna call it grants as opposed to
- an allowance for write-offs or whatever you might want to refer to it otherwise. And then once that
- hits the income statement, it will not any longer be on our balance sheet. For those that qualify, I
- should say, right? I'm correct in that. What were the original repayment terms on these?
- So the loan originally, the money was granted in 2020. And then there was an extension given in 2021,
- I believe. I can speak to that. Yeah, please do. So they were issued in 2020, like summer of 2020. There
- was initially supposed to be a six-month grace period where there were no loan repayments. And then
- that grace period was extended to 12 months.
- And I think it was ultimately extended to two years. And so repayment started in summer 2022. And then
- the loans themselves, I think, were extended to be four years from that 2022 start date to 2026. So
- presumably some of these loans are nearly repaid. Who said?
- There are a good portion of loans that are nearly repaid. Within the BUBA, yes, we do have a few loans
- that are close to being paid off. We do have an additional portion that are not being paid back at all
- because of dissolution of businesses. I'm sorry? Or they're delinquent. Or they're delinquent payments.
- And then some businesses early on
- The program was originally created to be bridge funds while people awaited their federal COVID support.
- But they held on to it longer. So a few businesses did immediately repay when they got their PPP forgiveness.
- So there are some loans that are paid off that way. In the chart, it says fully repaid borrowers or
- near completion are ineligibles.
- What is the near completion amount? Or how are you, I guess, determining that part? It's in the eligibility
- matrix. Yeah, the third or the last row. Numbers on that I haven't determined necessarily because I
- haven't looked at other programs that would mirror something like this.
- I would think that anything under at or under 10% would be probably wouldn't qualify because I mean
- that that's almost paying off the loan. I can make a recommendation for the program here. I think if
- you just limit it to loan fully repaid is not eligible for forgiveness because
- If someone is 90% repaid and they're financially healthy, they will not be able to demonstrate need
- anyway. So I think it just doesn't need to be mentioned in that part of the matrix. Do you think it
- makes it less? Yeah, I agree on that. Because some of the businesses are paying on schedule, can fully
- pay, wouldn't qualify, and they'll just finish out the term of the loan, and that'll be that.
- So. But is there some demonstration of hardship required here? I mean, if I just simply just didn't
- pay my loan back, am I going to be eligible, even though someone who did pay?
- So that was something that we had a lot of discussions about. And I think that might have been before
- you jumped on the board. So no, you're fine. I'm happy to explain. So in response to that, I've created
- the draft of the application for your approval has pretty
- basic information at the beginning, just who you are, what's your business, all of that, the details
- of your loan, and then application rationale is kind of the meat of the whole thing, where it's a statement
- of need, it is supporting documentation of financial documents. Jessica, you may not have that. Is it
- in the packet? Yeah. Thanks. OK.
- Financial documents, so profit and loss statements, tax returns, bank account balance sheet, anything
- that any official financial document that would indicate that there is some type of hardship. And then,
- or if not that, proof of dissolution because
- That is an excellent way to show that you cannot pay this loan back for this business. Additionally,
- if you are out of business, there needs to be some type of dissolution with the state so that these
- don't end up being liens or anything worse on a former business owner. Additionally, with confidentiality,
- we can make sure that the personal information is redacted.
- There are only going to be a few people looking at these loans. I've reached out to John Zote from CDFI
- Friendly and Steve Bishop from First Financial Bank to be the reviewers of these applications, just
- to take it out of my hands, the board's hands, just two objective reviewers of the applications.
- I will be removing and redacting all of the information from the loans except for the pertinent information
- for hardship. So we just have the most fair and objective view. So timeline on this. I think the information
- here, I think as it was put together originally, was suggesting it would happen this year.
- I think you're looking at this happening early next year. I mean, by the time it moves through the process.
- So I think from that perspective, then it makes sense for it to be part of the 2026 budget. We wouldn't
- be an amendment to our budget for this year. Something for next year, D, that you would put in a line
- item for it, whatever that's
- So I'd agree with what they've listed here for it. I know it'll be something of an estimate, but to
- at least put some kind of estimate in there or... Absolutely. So we'll have some sense of what that
- impact will be for next year.
- And with that, I think that's my entire program. So if there are any additional questions or concerns.
- So do we need to vote on this? Do we move this forward or where are we on this? Yes, I think that we
- need an official vote to move forward with the application process to be able to get the borrowers to so I can
- issue this, move this forward. This is going to be an online application through CIVA form. It will
- only be available to those within the guidelines of, you know, only UEA loan holders, kind of the same
- way people apply for our other grants. But it's
- much easier to be able to manage these via online and probably much easier for people to be willing
- to apply. One of my concerns is that people might not be willing to apply if they have to show up in
- person with things or business owners don't want to show that they are struggling and understandably so.
- So I think that an online application is best. So with a vote, I can move forward to pushing this to
- ITS and getting them to put it on civil form. We can get these applications out there and start the
- process. Can I ask another process question? So the reviewers, excuse me, there are two outside reviewers.
- And they will review conversion applications. And then they'll make a recommendation to the board.
- then the board will up or down vote. I guess I'm just wondering if there should be one board member.
- OK, you don't want to have a committee of two, because there can be a deadlock. So you want three. And
- there's not board visibility. And so I just wonder if, and I don't
- I think I'm too close to this project. I don't think I'm a good person. But I just wondered if somebody
- might want to be on that review committee. I don't mind doing that. And that can represent the board.
- That puts a non-banker with two bankers, which I think is a good balance. Yeah, it's good to have another
- voice. Yeah. I don't think John Sorry would call himself a banker. Sorry, John is reviewing too.
- So it's John, Steve. OK.
- Yeah, so John has a CDFI-friendly executive director, banker, and then I think a board member. I think
- that'd be great to have. Sorry to ask this question, but then is it three white men on the board? Is
- that who's reviewing at that point? I guess it definitely was a person. Sorry, yeah. I think about that,
- I guess. That's fair. Because I looked around, and I'm like, I feel like we're the only women who aren't
- abstaining from it.
- I mean, I'm a finance person. I could be a part of that if we need to. But I don't want to not invite
- somebody who wants to be part of that. By all means. So I could review as well if you want me to. I
- would do it. I would appreciate that. I'm a numbers person. So from that perspective, at least, it won't
- be unfamiliar to look at financial
- documents and so on. Thank you very much. Sorry, is that OK? Thank you. No, no, everybody.
- I almost gave it. That's what we need. OK, so we need a vote to approve the overall program with the
- application and adding Heather as the board member for, as a reviewer. I'll move that.
- will need a roll call on that. Bill Anderson, yes. Michael Hover, yes. Kate Rosenberger, yes. Heather
- Robinson, yes. Jane Cougarsmith, yes. Brad Whistler, yes. We'll get our abstentions. Do they need to
- recuse themselves out of the way? No? You just said what? I'm sorry. Abstain. Oh, OK. OK. Virginia,
- get theory abstain.
- Oh, Felicia, can you abstain for us? Abstain, please. All right. Thank you all so very much. It looks
- like there's somebody in the waiting room. I don't know. Eric? There's someone there. Yeah. God, I'm
- sorry about that, Eric.
- All right. Good work. Yeah, I'm really glad to see this come to fruition. Thank you. We've been talking
- about it for like two and a half years. Yeah. I really appreciate your patience and controlling McClellan's
- support and Jane's support on all of this. And all of you, thank you so much. And I'm glad that we can
- do this for some folks, for sure. Good plan. With that, on to unfinished business.
- This is real early. I didn't think that was going to happen so fast. I thought it was going to be a
- quick one, yeah. No one wants having time back in their schedules. Yeah. Is there anything for the go
- to the order? I thought there was something last month that we didn't vote on. We're waiting on the
- financials for the church. Yes. We saw it work. Thank you. OK. OK, thank you. That's it. Go to the order.
- All right. Thank you all so much.