Urban Renewal Agency Board

January 10th, 2023, 12 PM Anaconda Deer Lodge County URA TIF Board Community Service Center 1st Floor Conf. Room Attendance: Board Members: Rose Nyman, Dawn Dee, Carl Hamming, Jim Davison, Other Member: Mary Lynn McKenna, Erick Brittain Staff: Adam Vauthier & Teah Fuller Absent: Kristy McKay I. Call to Order and Roll Call A. Jim Davison calls the meeting to order at 12:00pm II. Approval of Minutes from November 22nd, 2022 Meeting A. Carl Hamming moves to accept the minutes, Dawn seconds and it passes. III. New Business A. Review of URA TIF Objectives – Adam Vauthier / Jim Davison i. Jim Davison explains what the TIF objectives originally were to the board. Adam reminds the board what the overall outcome of the plan was. Adam gives the board a refresh of the guidelines of the URA plan. Adam explains that he wanted to refresh the board, so that the board can maintain the integrity of the plan. Rose Nyman asks if we can add to these guidelines and how do we hold owners to keeping their word. The board discusses adding wording to the grant agreement to manage holding the grantee to their original application. Jim Davison states that state law states that we have to have public hearings to get these guidelines approved. B. Historic Resources Board Presentation – Mary Lynn Mckenna i. Mary Lynn Mckenna explains that the historic resources board is looking for some funding for their organization. Rose Nyman asks if there was a percentage that they would like from URA. Mary Lynn Mckenna explains that number would be 1%. Jim Davison asks if there are specific projects that they would be interested in for these funds. Mary Lynn McKenna explains that there is a lot of projects that they have been approached about, but they do not have any specific projects at this time. Jim Davison explains that it would be nice to have pictures or sketches to have of original buildings in Anaconda to have for new owners. Dawn Dee asks if this would fall under Community projects or what the 1% would be. Mary Lynn Explains this would be 1% of the whole URA Budget. Adam Vauthier states that these funds would make sense for the implantation of the projects. This money could not go towards administration time or technical assistance. He explains a few explains to the board and audience. Rose Nyman states that The Forge and The Anaconda Leader have been a great partner for the Historic Resources Board. Adam states this number would be $2,900. He asks if this would move the needle for their organization. Carl Hamming states that he would like to see specific projects and totals for their project. He feels they should apply as a community project. Carl Hamming explains that he has tried to talk with the County about getting some funds for this organization from ADLC. Rose Nyman asks if the board is voting on this today or in the future. After board discussion, it is decided that the board needs more information from the Historic Resources Board on potential projects. C. Presentation on Fire Suppression Requirements i. Erick Brittain presents a presentation to the board and attendees. This presentation is on fire suppression and how it pertains to multi-use buildings. Erick Brittain explains how building codes and fire codes work hand in hand. Eric explains that any building that has more than 300 occupancies will need fire suppression throughout their building. These businesses will have five 1  years to get up to this code. Erick Brittain explains what apartments over buildings require suppression. Erick Brittain explains that the staffing is also a factor in the type of reaction the fire department can have when responding to a fire. Adam Vauthier explains why the URA is involved in this problem within the community. Rose Nyman explains the financial hardship this will put on to businesses. Adam Vauthier asks if fire suppression that is older will fall under this current suppression protocol. Rose Nyman asks if this the Elks will have to get fire suppression if they aren’t using the kitchen. Eric explains that it has to do with occupancy and yes unless they close off parts of buildings which leads to further lack of upkeep and blight. The board discusses the need for this as a category to maintain the buildings. D. Grant Award Amounts i. Adam Vauthier explains that Sean Smith was going to be here but is very busy. Discussion takes place regarding how little these funds are compared to current total costs in any of the categories. Rose Nyman states that she agrees that it needs to be increased. She asks what the increase would be. Adam explains that current funding isn’t even coming close to half of total projects. Carl asks what the original rational was to have façade to be higher than the other categories. Adam Vauthier explains the original reasoning behind having facades higher was due to priority of the board to see the facades improved. Rose Nyman states that if the amounts are increased there will be fewer projects completed. Rose Nyman states that maybe the board should look at funding one fire suppression projects a year. Adam Vauthier recommends that every category go up to $15,000. Carl Hamming states he thinks it could be higher. Dawn Dee thinks it could be higher too. The board has much discussion. ii. Dawn Dee makes a motion to increase current grant funding on all four current categories to $20,000 and a separate category for fire suppression for up to $100,000 per year with a cap at $50,000 per project, Carl Hamming seconds the motion, and with little discussion the motion passes. IV. Miscellaneous/Announcements A. Rose Nyman stated that James Rosein noted TIF funding in one of his articles. She also states that Vanessa Romero never once stated thanks to TIF funding in her article. Dawn Dee asks if we could state something in the application to have people be more aware of acknowledging the URA. The board agrees to get signs for grantees during the project. B. Adam Vauthier states that he forgot to put the Anaconda Leader claim on the agenda. He explains this to the board and states he will put it on the next agenda. C. Adam Vauthier asks the board when they would like to open the next grant round. After discussion it is discussed it will open January 15th and closed February 15th. The meeting will be March 14th. V. Public Comment – This is the time for members of the public to comment on items NOT appearing on this Agenda that are within the Board’s jurisdiction. VI. Adjournment Dawn motions to adjourn the meeting at 1:24 pm and Carl Hamming seconds the motion and it passes. 2