Southern Idaho Rural Development

Transcription

1 Southern Idaho Rural Development Board of Directors/Stakeholders Special Meeting Minutes Thursday, April 5 nd, :00-6:30 pm Eagle s Nest Café 19 North Main Street Dietrich, ID (*Requires Action) CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL Jeff Brekke, Board President called the SIRD Board Meeting to order at 5:17PM and took roll call. Those in attendance included: 1) Rebecca Wood, 2) Julia Oxarango-Ingram, 3) Sherry Rust, 4) Jeff Brekke, 5) Helen Edwards, 6) Don Hall, 7) Dave Snelson, 8 & 9) Jim Schouten & Lori Schouten, (guest), 10) Larry Bybee, 11) Kim Glineski (IDOC) telephone conference call attendee REVIEW MINUTES OF LAST MEETINGS (Jan 25 th and Feb 15 th, Attached) Julia noted that the last meeting was a presentation so minutes were not taken. She stated however, that the presentation was recorded in case board members wanted to hear comments to Connie Stopher s presentation. Jeff asked for a motion to approve the January 25 th minutes with the revision by Dave Snelson that he was not present at the meeting, as well to approve the Feb 15 th minutes as presented. * Dave Snelson motions to approve minutes w/ changes, Jim Schouten 2 nd. Motion carries SIRD FINANCIALS --Account Balance Thru 3/12/18 (Attached) Jeff Brekke reviewed the financial report noting each of the communities where current dues have been collected, and payments to Julia and Sherry nothing out of the ordinary. We are now getting the general ledger report from Twin Falls County that shows all transactions as well as the account balance through today. Essentially that will bring us to the end of May with a $168 shortfall with the communities that have not paid. Dave Snelson asked that the $2250 set aside on behalf of Lincoln County Foundation, should be given back to them as soon as possible. Julia explained again why it was there and that we would have to find another fiscal agent for that account if so. Jeff asked for a motion to approve the financials as reported. * So moved by Don Hall, seconded by Jim Schouten. Motion carries.

2 Jeff Brekke requested that the agenda be amended to include reviewing Bylaws for the Board of Directors after discussing the presentation by Connie Stopher and potential merger as well as the application for the next year s IDOC grant. * Larry Bybee moved to approve agenda change, Jim Schouten seconded. Motion carried. NEW BUSINESS o Review of March 24 th Special Presentation by Connie Stopher SIEDO/SIRD merger proposal SIRD Approval or Counter proposals to collaborate or merge o IDOC ED PRO Grant Application due May 15, 2018 Julia stated at the opening of this discussion that decisions made with regard to the merger and applying for the IDOC grant would need to be contingent on what IDOC would accept so long as the rural program is dependent on receiving the EDPRO grant. She also stated that representatives in various communities have been concerned about continued membership in SEIDO as well as SIRD, so it s not just one way or the other. She believes that if the two organizations are going to successfully merge for the long term, it should truly be a collaboration not necessarily only considering SIRD dissolving under SIEDO as a rural committee. Both organizations have to be financially viable on their own helping each other not hindering the other organization s goals. Larry Bybee added that he felt it could be a win-win to merge, for all of our communities. Helen Edwards had concerns re: whether Gooding County would be on board either way, because the cost was too high for them under the current proposal. The board agreed there likely will need to be more adjustments to the joint SEIDO/SIRD fees and the additional services that could be provided to both SIEDO and SIRD members with a collaboration or merger. Dave Snelson has been with SIRD since the inception and has felt that this needed to happen from the start. Julia stated that the SIRD BOD has been open to it since she came on 5 years ago, but the SIEDO BOD was not ready to consider it before this year. Don Hall expressed concern again that SIRD would not have enough funds to make it past the end of May one month short of our fiscal year. Julia stated that when she came on board with SIRD, there was no carryover in the program and the program almost dissolved that year (2014). Since then, she s been cautiously managing and simplifying spending, applying for grants and building up reserves in case there were unforeseen issues as there have been this year. Even so, we re a about month short of funds as it stands now. She commented that last year we didn t get the full Idaho Power Marketing Grant, since they awarded us ½ of the $3000 we received each of the previous two years. If we hadn t also had the un-anticipated $3000 charge from WRRCD to manage our funds, we would still have been ok.

3 Helen Edwards stated again that the big hit on increased combined SEIDO/SIRD fees was a huge issue for Gooding County and didn t feel they were on board for this. Don Hall stated that maybe the other communities will step up more to take some weight off Gooding County. Don felt that there was flexibility with SEIDO on these fees. These were preliminary numbers and we ll have to talk about what really works for the communities. Jeff Brekke stated that his perception was hopeful that most communities would be able to realize increased value after a merger, and that perception of communities will be positively enhanced even if fees increased a tiny bit. He feels we ll ultimately get an increase in membership next year. Kim Glineski (IDOC) was in attendance at the meeting via telephone call. She stated that IDOC cannot fund SEIDO. The organization does not fit the guidelines for the grant. She stated further that it was her understanding that SIRD would need to continue to have to have its own BOD, separate financials managed by that BOD, and contracts with a county or city entity to sponsor the grant and receive the funds. **Jeff Brekke asked for a motion that SIRD would proceed to move towards a collaboration/merger with SEIDO. Dave motioned to approve the merger, Larry 2 nd, Motion carries) After more discussion, he asked for a verbal vote from each board member all voted except Julia Oxarango-Ingram, Kim Glineski, Lori Schouten and Sherry Rust. Votes were all AYE from Board members present to move forward with the collaboration/merger. 1. BOD members will need to talk to each of the potential county/city members to get Letters of Commitment/Intent for SIRD Membership. 2. BOD members can start with SIEDO s existing proposed budget and get feedback from individual communities if changes need to be proposed. 3. Deadline for Grant & Letters to be submitted is May 15 th. **Jeff asked for a Motion to allow Twin Falls County to write the grant this year. Dave made the motion and Jim Schouten seconded. Motion carried. **This motion was amended to also allow Twin Falls County the job of appointing an interim board which would be approving our existing board as they proceed with the IDOC grant process. The new BOD elections are scheduled to take place in June, just before the new fiscal year would begin. Motion to modify the motion to give Twin Falls County permission to write the grant AND appoint an interim board of directors. **Dave Snelson made the motion, and Jim Schouten seconded. Motion carried.

4 Don and Dave stated that it is important to appoint the board now and in June when we get ready for the grant, there can be adjustments to the board. Elections annual **Dave Snelson moved to table approval of the bylaws until we have clarification from IDOC re: whether SIRD needs its own bylaws even if there is a collaboration/merger with SIEDO. Larry Bybee seconded this motion. Motion Carried. SIRD PROJECT & COMMUNITY UPDATES o Project Tyri RFI (Dairy Food Mfg. 300 Employees), submitted for Buhl April 6 th. o Project Buckeye RFI (Call Center 200 Employees), exploring multiple communities o Northside Talent Pipeline, ongoing o Project Incognito There is one other Idaho community still in the running besides Buhl for this RFI. Dave Snelson questioned Julia as to why the board was not allowed to hear details on RFI s, since he receives info about them via already. Kim and Julia explained that IDOC had to sign more than one agreement to protect info regarding RFI s and that for the most part, we cannot tell our board details due to confidentiality rules. The communities that are being given the opportunity to apply do know more about the projects, or rather as much of the information as is given about it. Julia reiterated that if Dave was on the list to receive RFI info, he needs to be prepared to keep it confidential. She was not sure why Dave was receiving that info, as it normally goes to economic development professionals from IDOC or SIEDO. Don Hall came back to the decisions that must be made re: how/if we are to continue funding. Currently we don t have enough funding to continue unless we approach other businesses or members for funding to carry us through. There might be some opportunity for Twin Falls County to float some funding if necessary. If SIRD isn t granted the EDPRO Grant this year, then SIRD won t be able to continue to exist.

5 Julia asked if the BOD members are willing to go out to see if we have enough letters of commitment to submit the grant. SEIDO cannot do this for SIRD, nor does SIEDO have additional money in their budget for SIRD. Essentially, SIRD must be able to cash flow independently whether there is a merger or not. Julia felt it was important that the BOD members do it this year rather than her. Don Hall will cover Twin Falls County, City of Buhl, & others in Twin Falls County if needed. Jim Schouten will approach the Buhl Economic Council (BEC) and Dave Snelson would contact Filer Mayor, Bob Templeman. Helen Edwards will approach City of Hagerman and Gooding County Jeff Brekke will approach City of Gooding, City of Wendell and City of Fairfield/Camas Co. BOD Community Update (if there is time) There was no time for updates as it was close to 6:30PM adjourn time. APRIL 19TH, MURTAUGH 4:00 pm & HANSEN T&T 5PM ** Meeting has subsequently been changed to April 19 th at 5PM at Twin Falls County West Conference Room 2 nd Floor MOVE TO ADJOURN Don Hall Motioned 2 nd, Larry Bybee Motion Carried. Meeting 6:30pm