LA CROSSE COUNTY NOTICE OF MEETING

COMMITTEE/BOARD: LA CROSSE COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND, INC.

DATE OF MEETING: THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019

MEETING PLACE: COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER – ROOM 1107 212 6TH ST N, LA CROSSE, WI

TIME OF MEETING: 7:30 A.M.

PURPOSE OF MEETING:

1. Call to Order/Roll Call 2. Public Comment 3. Approve Minutes of June 6, 2019 4. Membership/Contribution Invoices 5. City Vision 2040 Plan 6. Econowatch 7. Consideration of Funding for Geofencing Project 8. CDBG-CLOSE Update 9. UniverCity Year Program Application

10. Agency Updates 11. Next Meeting – September 5, 2019 12. Future Agenda Items 13. Adjourn

NEWS MEDIA La Crosse Tribune Other news media OTHERS Brian Fukuda Charlie Handy Greg Flogstad Karl Green Andrea Schnick Tim Kabat Joe Chilsen Jim Brickl Jorge Beltran Sam Bachmeier Mike Herro Teresa Schnitzler

COUNTY DEPARTMENTS County Board Chair County Administrator County Clerk Paul Gleason Scott Heinig Ryan Olson Carl Colsch Jim Speropulos Chris Hardie Vicki Markussen Anne Hlavacka Jason Gilman Vicki Burke Peg Isola Robin Moses Charley Weeth

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Tara Johnson, President Monica Kruse, Vice President Sharon Davidson, Secretary/Treasurer Gibran Augustine Patti Balacek Megan DeVore Mike Giese Sharon Hampson Dave Holtze Debra McKenney Laurie Miller Joe Moua Steve O’Malley Doug Weidenbach John Wettstein

MEMBERS: NEED A QUORUM TO CONDUCT BUSINESS If unable to attend, call County Board Chair Office at 785-9563. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: If you need accommodation to attend this meeting, please contact County Board Chair

Office at 785-9563 as soon as possible. DATE NOTICE POSTED: July 29, 2019

This meeting may be recorded and any such recording is subject to Disclosure under the Wisconsin Open Records Law

La Crosse County Economic Development Fund, Inc

August 1, 2019 Meeting - Staff Report

#4 – Membership/Contribution Invoice

We have received the invoice for our 2nd Quarter contribution to LADCO. Attached are the invoice, along with a

letter detailing some initiatives and projects that they are working on.

#5 – City Vision 2040 Plan

The City of La Crosse is preparing to start the City Vision 2040 Downtown Master Plan process, and have invited

La Crosse County to participate with both staff involvement and a financial contribution. Andrea Schnick (City

Planning) and Robin Moses (Downtown Mainstreet, Inc) will attend this meeting to share some data on why this

plan is important to the entire County.

#6 – Econowatch

Staff is working to complete the fall edition of Econowatch and will distribute that at the meeting for review and

discussion. A huge thank you to Greg Flogstad, Laurie Miller, Sam Bachmeier, Karl Green and Vicky Kast for

their work on this project.

#7 – Consideration of Funding for Geofencing Project

As you know, we have a line-item in the economic development budget for “tourism projects” ($10,000). We

typically work together with Explore La Crosse to identify projects that are in need of some funding to move

forward. This project actually originated with Downtown Mainstreet, but will provide great data for tourism

promotion, so Explore La Crosse will partner on the project.

WEDC has offered an opportunity to some of their Mainstreet communities, as a pilot program, to access

geofencing data for their districts, to help them better understand the demographics of their visitors. Attached is a

flyer on the program. The package has a value of close to $12,000, and through this partnership with WEDC we

are able to get it for $3,000. DMI, Explore La Crosse, and County staff are all excited to get this type of data, as we

believe it will be a powerful tool to help inform policy decisions and promotional efforts. So, we are proposing to

use up to $3,000 from this line-item to participate in this pilot program with WEDC.

#8 – CDBG-Close Update

We continue to work toward closing our CDBG revolving loan fund, in accordance with DOA’s CDBG-Close

process. Due to the requirements of meeting a HUD national objective, we are working with the Village of Bangor

in hopes that we will be able to use these funds on the reconstruction of Highway B through downtown Bangor. As

part of this work with Bangor, we are negotiating a jurisdictional transfer that would transfer that section of road to

the Village for any future maintenance responsibility. We will discuss the timeline for this project in more detail at

the meeting.

#9 – UniverCity Year Program Application

UW-Madison has a program called UniverCity Year, in which the University partners with communities across the

State to incorporate community “issue areas” into actual University coursework. We see this as a potential

opportunity to engage a wide variety of students in our work with regard to the “child care crisis” in our

community. So, we are working to put together an application for this program. More details will be shared at the

meeting, but there is a financial requirement for participation, so we are proposing to use a portion of the funding

that we have in the economic development budget for “workforce projects.”

#10 – Agency Updates

Any partner organizations in attendance will provide brief updates on upcoming events and projects.

LA CROSSE COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND, INC. June 6, 2019 Administrative Center – Room 1107 MEMBERS PRESENT: Monica Kruse, Sharon Davidson, Gibran Augustine (via phone;

exc. 8:25 a.m.), Patti Balacek, Megan DeVore, Mike Giese, Sharon Hampson, Debra McKenney, Laurie Miller, Joe Moua, Steve O’Malley, Doug Weidenbach

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Tara Johnson, Dave Holtze, John Wettstein OTHERS PRESENT: Brian Fukuda, Karl Green, Jorge Beltran, Sam Bachmeier, Vicki

Markussen, Jim Brickl, Terri Pavlic CALL TO ORDER Vice President Kruse called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. PUBLIC HEARING: In conjunction with West Salem Tax Incremental Financing District 1 for the Lakeview Business Park, La Crosse County and the Village of West Salem signed a Revenue Sharing Agreement, which essentially allowed the County to manage the development of the Business Park using the pledged TIF incremental revenues from the Village. We are in the process of turning more of that management over to the Village so we need to amend this agreement. A Revenue Sharing Agreement Amendment requires a public hearing to allow the public to voice their opinion on this agreement. The public hearing was called to order at 7:31 a.m. Jim Brickl, owner of Select Trusses and Lumber in West Salem, voiced his opinion that overall this project has been a very positive undertaking, however, he has major concerns on the flooding in the Lakeview Business Park, and feels that mistakes were made in storm water design. The Public Hearing concluded at 7:42 a.m. PUBLIC COMMENT – there was no public comment. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE MAY 2, 2019 LA CROSSE COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND, INC. MEETING MOTION by Weidenbach/Balacek to approve the minutes of the May 2, 2019 La Crosse County Economic Development Fund, Inc. meeting. Motion carried unanimously; Johnson, Holtze and Wettstein excused. REVIEW OF FINANCIAL INCENTIVE GOALS The EDF started discussions regarding Financial Incentive Goals in April, and would like to continue these discussions to make sure we are still meeting a community need and filling a market gap, or if there are changes that should be made to better serve the community. Included in packets was a review of our financial incentive programs and brochures for our Innovation and Diversification Grant Program and Micro Loan Fund, as well as a summary of the comments from the April discussion. The big issues that were discussed seem to be 1) ways to encourage higher wages and 2) whether we should offer loans, grants, or nothing at all. Brian Fukuda distributed a copy of the businesses that we have helped with loans or grants and the location of that business (what municipality they are located in). Discussion ensued.

MEMBERSHIP/CONTRIBUTION INVOICES At the April meeting, the EDF approved the payment of the membership invoices from 7 Rivers Alliance, DMI and the first quarter contribution to LADCO, as well as a Chamber of Commerce Membership at the Champion level of $1500. The second quarter contribution to LADCO is now due and there is an issue with the county switching to the champion level chamber of commerce membership. Jorge Beltran, LADCO Executive Director, has requested that we push the LADCO payment discussion to a future month since we are in the process of a larger discussion with them regarding the relationship between LADCO and La Crosse County. At the April meeting, there was a motion approved to pay $1500 to the Chamber, and not the $3275 invoice. Vicki Markussen, Executive Director with the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce, was present to explain the changes in their membership structure and how the County benefits from being a member of the Chamber. MOTION by Balacek/Moua to increase the chamber dues payment to $3,275 for this year. The committee requested more information on the programs available from the Chamber, i.e. Young Professionals; First Friends, Directory Headings, etc. and to continue the dialog; Motion fails on a 3/9 vote: Ayes were Balacek, Moua, McKenney; Nays were Giese, O’Malley, Weidenbach, Hampson, DeVore, Kruse, Miller, Davidson, Augustine. AGENCY UPDATES: Brian noted that the UWL Small Business celebration was going on today. Unfortunately, it conflicted with today’s EDF meeting. Brian also informed the committee that Artspire is going on this weekend at the Pumphouse. NEXT MEETING: July 11, 2019 at 7:30 a.m. (2nd Thursday due to Independence Day) FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS –

• CDBG CLOSE discussions; • Programs the chamber offers

ADJOURN There being no further business, MOTION by Weidenbach/McKenney to adjourn the meeting at 8:43 a.m. Motion carried unanimously; Johnson, Augustine, Holtze, Wettstein excused. The above minutes may be approved, amended or corrected at the next Committee meeting. Terri Pavlic, Recorder

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