Urban Enterprise Association

Minutes Michigan City Urban Enterprise Association, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Monday, April 16, 2018 Conference Room Global Land Surveying, LLC 601 Franklin Street, Suite 100 Michigan City, IN 46360 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Hesham Khalil, Keith Devereaux, Chris Grohs, Esther Guncheon, Bryant Dabney, Clarence Hulse, and David Augustus. Missing: Lester Norvell, Skyler York. OTHERS PRESENT: Diane Wilczewski, Zone Consultant, representative from ALCO videotaping the meeting. CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Board of Directors of the Michigan City Urban Enterprise Association, Inc. took place on Monday, April 16, 2018 in the conference room at 601 Franklin Street, Suite 100, Michigan City, Indiana. It was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Hesham Khalil, President. A quorum was present for the meeting. Hesham Khalil introduced the new board member, David Augustus who is a resident of the zone. Welcome, David! APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to accept the minutes from March 19, 2018 board meetings was made by Chris Grohs. The motion was seconded by Bryant Dabney. The motion carried and the minutes accepted. 1 DIRECTOR’S REPORT Diane Wilczewski, Zone Consultant, reported on the zone activity for the month. She made the changes to the business grant application, and sent out a press release as well as put the .pdf copy of the grant on the emichigancity website and Facebook and boosted the post. She read through the new law for the Urban Enterprise Zones to understand and interpret. There have been phone calls, emails and meetings on new grant applications and the upcoming filing of the EZB-R forms. She performed the monthly accounting functions including sending out notices for delinquent accounts. Our receivables collection % is 96.79%. FINANCIALS Diane Wilczewski announced the following account balances at 4/16/18: Horizon Bank Money Market Account $10,073.00 Horizon Bank Checking Account $ 155,258.50 Receivables $ 3,039.00 Keith Devereaux motioned to accept the Director’s report and claims docket and financial report. Bryant Dabney 2nd second the motion, the reports were accepted, motion approved. NEW BUSINESS Chris Grohs presented a new business grant application from Michigan City Yacht Club Holdings to put on a new roof over the entire building. Michigan City Yacht Club Holdings houses the restaurant Fish Camp and has been the west anchor for Washington Park. It was built in the 1930s and the organization feels strongly about keeping this staple in good shape for the boaters and the community. Keith Devereaux motioned to approve the grant application for the Michigan City Yacht Club Holdings for $ 7,500, 2nd by Clarence Hulse. Motion approved. There was a discussion about writing a new grant specifically for new businesses. Clarence Hulse raised the issue that the new businesses are the one who need help. Chris Grohs, chair of the grant committee will hold a meeting to discuss and develop this idea. 2 OLD BUSINESS Diane reported on the new Urban Enterprise Zone law and explained how things should work. Bryant Dabney, the Zone City Council Representative will introduce a resolution to the City Council. Diane will forward the details of the new law to Jim Meyer, the City Council Attorney, Amber Lapaich, the City Attorney and Barry McDonnell, the Urban Enterprise Zone attorney to review and draw up the resolution. Additionally, we need to address the additional 1% fee paid by the zone business to the IEDC which the MCUEA zone will now be required to administrate starting in 2018 pay 2019. There was a discussion about having a public workshop about this new zone change and the additional 1% fee. It was determined to let the attorneys advise us as to how to proceed on this issue. Additionally, Diane will look into if the zone boundaries can be changed and expanded. There is some confusion on this in reading the law. . PUBLIC COMMENT Esther Guncheon spoke about the Mainstreet Association looking to fund planters again for the 2018 year and also blade sign grants. A discussion was had about how many times a neighborhood association could apply for a neighborhood beautification grant. It was determined that the grant is available until 2018 and the association could apply for one in 2017 and again in 2018. Esther Guncheon, who is a board member and a business owner in the zone and has been for several years. She will be applying for the business grant and wanted to know if she can do that because she is a board member, or would it be ok if she recused herself from the vote on the grant application. Hesham asked the board for consensus, all agreed. ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Chris Grohs. The motion was 2nd by Keith Devereaux. The motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 p.m. The next meeting of the Michigan City Urban Enterprise Association, Inc. is set for Monday, May 21, 2018 at 6 p.m. in the conference room at Global Land Surveying, LLC, 601 Franklin Street, Suite 100, Michigan City, Indiana. 3 4