Informational Meeting

MINUTES Informational Meeting Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at 4:00 PM Carnegie Town Hall, 235 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104 1. Call To Order Council Members Present: David Barranco, Sarah Cole, Alex Jensen, Rich Merkouris, Greg Neitzert, Marshall Selberg, Curt Soehl, Pat Starr Council Members Absent: None Council Chair Curt Soehl called the meeting to order at 4 p.m. He asked the Council to move Items 2 and 3 after Item 4 in the interest of time; there were no objections. 2. Committee/Commission Reports A. Audit Committee: Thursday, August 25, 2022 (Council Members: Jensen (Chair), Barranco, Merkouris, Neitzert) The report will be presented at the meeting of Tuesday, September 13, 2022. B. Metro Management Council: Wednesday, August 31, 2022 (Council Members Cole and Soehl) The report will be presented at the meeting of Tuesday, September 13, 2022. 3. Councilor Remarks There were none. 4. Presentations A. Experience Sioux Falls BID Interim Budget (Oct - Dec 2022) and 2023 Budget Presentation by Teri Schmidt, CEO for Experience Sioux Falls Presentation: Approximately 15 minutes followed by discussion Schmidt explained the purpose of the presentation is to provide budgets for both the remainder of this fiscal year and the next fiscal year. The reason for this is the recent change in status of ESF an entity independent of the Chamber of Commerce. She discussed the purpose of the Business Improvement District and how it is funded through people staying overnight in a hotel room within the City. Visits to the City have had a steady, positive impact on Sioux Falls in the past, although the pandemic caused a reduction in the number of visitors and, hence, the  economic impact. As such, revenues from the room tax and BID tax saw similar trends. Those numbers began rebounding in 2021 and based on a nationwide report used to benchmark occupancy, Sioux Falls is ranked as number one when compared to similar-sized cities. The October 2022 through December 2022 BID budget reflects revenues of $450K that will be used to fund $180K in advertising sales development, $25K in bidding sales development, and $20K in travel sales development. The remainder of funds will be used for organizational administrative costs. The 2023 proposed budget includes BID income of $2.03M with $847K going towards advertising, $129K toward bidding, and $142K in travel. The remainder will be used to fund administrative expenses. For both the remaining 2022 budget and 2023 budget, Schmidt emphasized the necessity and importance of the organization's digital strategy, which show increases over previous years budgets. Discussion followed about: past year budgets; convention center space; hotel room availability at the convention center site; the future of water recreation and its impact on the community; barriers to attracting visitors; and the value of ESF to the City. B. Southeast Technical College Update by Robert Griggs, President, Southeast Technical College; and,Stephen Williamson, Southeast Technical College Foundation Director Presentation: Approximately 15 minutes followed by discussion Griggs opened the presentation by discussing the college's mission and its accomplishments as they relate to strengthening the workforce in the community. The college recently redeveloped a strategic plan through 2025 that establishes six priorities: ensuring academic excellence; increasing access; improving employee/campus culture; growing partnerships; enhancing marketing and awareness; and, advancing student support. Dr. Ben Valdez, Vice President for Academic Affairs, then discussed the academic program and other key priorities. He spoke about accreditation, degree transfer options, ongoing and developing partnerships, and, new academic programs. Stephen Williamson, Southeast Technical College Foundation Director, spoke about how City funding is used at the College. Recently, funding has been used to support workforce initiatives; promote innovation and collaboration; improve access to higher education for all students, especially those that are first generation; and, for leveraging private, state, and federal funding. City funding has also been used to directly improve educational opportunities for students enrolled at the college; some examples include: funding for automatic semi tractors for CDL training, a mobile lab for construction management, books for the early childhood program, renovating the welding laboratory, and the police cadet program. Discussion followed about: the police cadet program; programs offered by the college; recruiting for the various programs targeted to current high school students; financial aide programs; debt accrued by graduates; and, the scholarship gap for first generation students. C. East Ridge District – An Accessible Housing TIF District Request by Dustin Powers, Business Development Coordinator; and, Kelly Nielson, Nielson Development, LLC Presentation: Approximately 10 minutes followed by discussion  Powers explained that Tax Increment Financing (TIF) proceeds may be used for infrastructure development activities within the entire district. Overarching principles of the program are that it must be targeted towards working families ready for home ownership, but financially constrained; it must work within the market; and, it must promote integrated neighborhoods. The developer expects to deliver all homes in the TIF District no later than five years out; there are also buyer covenants which provide preference to first-time homebuyers, require the home to be a primary residence, precludes renting the home to another party, and, if sold within the first five years, price is limited to the original purchase price plus the Housing Price Index (HPI). The currently-proposed District (#26), represents a $20M+ development investment with the $2,140,000 TIF requested for site work, roads and infrastructure, utilities, and professional services and fees. The estimated annual property taxes at completion are $300K. Powers then provided a layout of the site and provided project details, to include home layouts and renderings. Kelly Nielson concluded the presentation by discussing the origination of the project and considerations taken into account for its development. He explained that he has spent nearly a decade involved in affordable housing discussions and during the pandemic he and his staff took the time to begin identifying the most cost effective ways to design more affordable homes. His company purchased a 95 acre parcel of land to develop the plan shown throughout this presentation. Discussion followed about: rezoning to cluster developments; density within the development, particularly setbacks; the cost of basements versus slab-on-grade; placement of garages; the ability to meet the cost estimations; projections for annual property taxes if the TIF was not used; who would qualify for the homes; possible alternatives to using a TIF; how the proposed development impacts other services such as education, parks, etc.; the risk associated with such a project; ensuring savings from the TIF are passed to the consumer; and, buyer covenants. 5. Public Comment Sierra Broussard spoke about housing and neighborhood development. 6. Adjournment Council Chair Curt Soehl adjourned the meeting at 5:33 p.m. Thomas M. Greco, City Clerk