Town of Massena Business Development Corporation

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION FOR A GREATER MASSENA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES April 21, 2016 Board Members: Larry Ralston, President Chris Herrick Ron Bacon Dave LaClair Jeff Dobbins Dan Pease Excused: Paul Rufa Staff: Tom Sullivan, Executive Director Linda Williams, Secretary Public: Steve O’Shaughnessy, Town of Massena Call to Order BDC President, Larry Ralston, called the meeting to order at 4:30 pm. Minutes of the February 2016 Regular Meeting A motion was made by Dave LaClair to approve the minutes of the February 2016 Regular Meeting; that motion was seconded by Ron Bacon and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’ (Dan abstained as he wasn’t at the meeting). Financial Report s for Decembe r 2015, January , February and March 2016 A motion was made by Dave LaClair to approve the December 2015 Financial Reports, that motion was seconded by Dan Pease and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’. A motion was made by Dave LaClair to approve the January 2016 Financial Reports, that motion was seconded by Dan Pease and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’. A motion was made by Dave LaClair to approve the February 2016 Financial Reports, that motion was seconded by Dan Pease and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’. A motion was made by Dave LaClair to approve the March 2016 Financial Reports, that motion was seconded by Dan Pease and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’. Comparative Budget s for December 2015 , January, February and March 2016 There was discussion regarding the December Comparative Budget; Dan Pease made a motion to approve the recommendations made by Larry Ralston to move funds from items with balances to others that have negative balances, the motion was seconded by Chris Herrick and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’. Linda will make those changes and forward the revised Comparative Budget for December 2015 to the Board members. The January, February and March 2016 reports were reviewed and accepted without changes. Infrastructure Committee  Tom: The Committee met on March 17 and April 21, discussed downtown revitalization funds and made a decision to make awards to BC Cleaners on Willow Street and the Bridal Shop on Main Street. We have been reimbursed for the Winter Chill loan. Marketing Committee Tom: We didn’t meet, but have a meeting scheduled in May Operations Committee Tom: The committee met on the 14th of March and discussed the rail spur. Alcoa Update Tom: I have nothing new to report on Alcoa, the split is going forward as planned. Dave: There is a lot of activity, and all services have to be separated between the two corporations, so there a lot of construction going on, layout changes in the buildings. Industrial Park/Rail Spur Tom: Paul and I met with Pat Curran, he would rather give us a permanent easement on his property that have us cut up our lot; we would retain a bit less than an acre of our lot if we sell to St. Lawrence Soyway. Dennis has submitted an RVRDA grant application for funding to pave that area. We have a signed agreement with NYPA for use of the rail spur, they expect to begin utilizing it in August. They will be bringing in poles. We had another request regarding use of the rail spur, but we don’t have the equipment needed. After discussion with Pat we are hoping to be able to acquire what is needed. Dan: I’m not sure we want to spend a lot of time getting someone to use the spur when it is going to help another area. I would rather we spent time getting someone who was interested in working in Massena, and/or our Industrial Park. Larry: But we also have to keep in mind that we have costs that we need to cover relative to the spur. We have a Patterson-Stevens retainage of $39,536 still to pay. Mayor’s Leadership Council Tom: Nothing to report Moving Massena Forward Community Coalition Tom: Nothing to report North Country Alliance Tom: No quorum for a meeting for the past two months North Country Regional Economic Development Council Tom: Nothing new to report this month North Country Re-Development Task Force Tom: Nothing new to report this month April 21, 2016 Minutes - BDC Board Meeting Pg 2 of 4 RACER/General Motors Site Tom: Patricia Spitzley, RACER, was here three weeks ago to meet with the Mayor and the Supervisor. We have begun to try to put more pressure on RACER to market the Massena site. The general consensus is that Massena is not high on their list of sites to market. There was also discussion about CSX making the area a select site, and that would be advantageous for marketing. Venue Strategies had scheduled a conference call with them, but that did not seem to go well. We also had a conference call with Ann Kelley of the EPA, and she was considerably more encouraging regarding the Venue Strategies project. We will continue to push that forward. River Valley Re-Development Agency Tom: Start-Up New York Tom: Nothing to report Staff Report Tom: We had visitors from the Seaway Administration, basically to create interest and find funding to update the visitors center. Larry and I met with the Mayor on March 25 and discussed the various things the BDC has been involved with over the past few years. There were a couple of meetings at the IDA office to discuss possible funding for Curran Renewables. On April 6 I attended a Complete Streets Workshop, that essentially was about how to accommodate people to get in and out of downtown areas. It tied in with our Downtown Guidelines. We met with Joe Ianni, Swift Eyewear, and also a conference call with him, to review their plans and to work on funding opportunities. Ron and I were at SUNY Potsdam for the Economic Fusion Day, trying to get students engaged in local businesses. Jason Hendricks was in the look at our website, and he feels he can help us bring our section of the site up. It was decided to ask him to meet with the Marketing Committee and discuss it before a decision is made. New and Other Business Larry: On April 26 at 5:00pm the Village has their last Budget discussion; Tom and I will attend and anyone else who would like to be there. We made a tentative request for $15,000 for the year, but are not expecting anything. Tom: The Mayor would like to establish a fund for revitalization, part of which would be grant and part loan. Liaison Reports No reports this month April 21, 2016 Minutes - BDC Board Meeting Pg 3 of 4 Questions from the Press No representative at this meeting Adjournment A motion was made by Dan Pease to adjourn at 5:35 pm, that motion was seconded by Dave LaClair and passed with all members present voting ‘Aye’. The next meeting of the Board of Directors of the Massena Business Development Corporation will be May 19, 2016 at 4:30 pm, in Room 30 of the Town Hall. Respectfully submitted, Linda Williams, Secretary April 21, 2016 Minutes - BDC Board Meeting Pg 4 of 4