PDA minutes 9.27.07

PENINSULA DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
SERVING
JEFFERSON & CLALLAM COUNTIES


Board of Directors Meeting

September 27, 2007
Jamestown Community Center
1:30 p.m.

ATTENDEES
Board Members: Katherine Baril, Herb Beck, Bill Hannan, Marlin Holden, Tony Ingersoll, Laurie Medlicott, Will Purser, Linda Rotmark, David Sullivan

CALL TO ORDER:

MINUTES:

TREASURER REPORT:
Bill Hannan, treasurer is NOT running for re-election. Proposed and Approved auditing the books at the end of 2007 to ensure clean record for new officers.

PLANNING GRANT UPDATE
Success: got the approval from EDA---

NEW BUSINESS:

Port Recruitment Activities:
Herb talked about a port contract with Ian for $500 an aviation job
Ian reported Port has property/ land and must be aviation related- look for some aviated related industry- EDC will have a flat fee plus a finders fee of $500 an employee. . .Ian like to throw up an idea (not talked about with Board) I don’t see EDCs doing enough- we need to bring some real industry- PDA is best organization to do industrial level work because the EDCs are not of the scale as business recruitment (Thurston County funded with advertising by local business – serious effort to sell the area) . . .all the things that we are doing but not enough- EDC brought two projects- serious marketing program—

New PDA staff report:
Discussion of how and whether to hire a new coordinator of PDA funded by EDA funds.
Subcommittee Report: job description for new PDA Position
Katherine reported on the subcommittee results
Linda Rotmark- Dave Timmons was right we need a project manager
Marlan- if don’t give a tax incentive don’t get the new business

Ian- yes we don’t have the job skilled training and so you’d have to sweeten the pot- go to Olympia and lobby B&O tax to do this—
Marlan- it’s a workforce its training- its affordable housing. . .
Ian- tourism and health care lowest wages in the county- initially they will be imported people-
Rotmark- expect to spend $50,000?
Ian, no put together local advertisers. . . there are opportunities to get money
Rotmark- yes EDC does recruitment plan- but EDA is about further regionalizing the projects- benefit all of us—infrastructure—EDA not availing ourselves of USDA rural development- and EDC funds- this is what the planning grant does—it’s a planning grant not a recruitment grant—the planning grant helps us tell us as a region—
Bill Harnan- lead to $150,000 Barging money. . . want to see a couple of projects a quarter—
Herb- at port to port Quilcene we have a marina—others want to come in Broders and Gunstone but the problem ins the infrastructure – so the port does public water and over $100,000 to do the septic. . .
Bill Harnan- to achieve what’s necessary to get a major business here for Herb’s jobs- takes more than just the port doing it- more than EDC- when the port was working with Westport e.g. into the running against Anacortes and Westport for 100 jobs at $60,000 with benefits- the port had property. . . . it took tax incentives. . it took the college to create the training.. . now we’d have to tackle affordable housing- Westport wants to double and tripe- wall there for affordable housing and workforce- it takes a lot more collaboration than we had before that---

From PDA talk about affordable housing and workforce it’s a two county area and tackle the issue on a regional basis.
1) help overcome the obstacles
2) coordinate the mass collaborative effort to recruit

Ian – look at Arlington and you have 300 employees hired in a spectrum of industry.
Rotmark: identify scope of work- transportation, housing, fibre, workforce training and those are the regional priorities --- build capacity to compete for funds- these are our four big priorities that support economic development and start asking for people—give us a project- then link that with federal/ state funding. . . .
Bill: not think competitively but collaboratively
Rotmark- deal with the infrastructure that helps businesses do what they do. ..
Ian- where does the money come from?
Bill Hanan- we need to demonstrate collaboration
Doherty- everyone is going the same way together
Sullivan- build grants/ build team/ start part time and then build the organization. . . .
Doherty- this grant pays part time. . .

Outstanding Invoices/ Bills:
Invoice coming from Ian—Linda has problems with that First item on agenda when we see invoice

EDC role on the PDA_ next meeting

RCD NCW EDD Jay Kenhne. . .

EDA Proposal – Status report:
Ian: where are two EDC project. .1) the network for the visitors center and 2) workforce development.
Hanna: clarifies that when projects are bought forward the PDA blesses them but don’t fund them –don’t coordinate them- PDA just say it fits the perameters and the proponent has PDA support to move forward. .. it’s the proponent’s responsibility to move forward.