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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Agency - Minutes - 01/17/2023MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF OTTER TAIL COUNTY Government Services Center, County Board Room 515 W Fir Ave, Fergus Falls MN 56537 January 17, 2023 1:00 p.m.        Call to Order The Otter Tail County Community Development Agency convened at 1:02 p.m., Tuesday, January 17, 2023. Attendance was as follows: Present in person Present via Technology Absent Board Members: Jeff Ackerson x Dena Johnson x Val Martin x Kurt Mortenson x Dave Ripley x Betsy Roder x Lee Rogness x Dave Schornack x Greg Swanberg x Staff: Amy Baldwin, CDA Director x Carter Grupp, Lead for MN Broadband Fellow x Sarah Schake, CDA Project Manager x Erik Osberg, Rural Rebound Initiative Coordinator x Paula Grunewald, HRA Administrative Assistant x Others: Betty Murphy x Approval of Agenda Motion by Kurt Mortenson, second by Lee Rogness and unanimously carried to approved as presented. Approval of Minutes Motion by Jeff Ackerson, second by Dave Ripley and unanimously carried to approve the December 7, 2022, meeting minutes with changes: change the name Ackerman to Ackerson. Bills and Financials Motion by Dave Ripley, seconded by Jeff Ackerson and unanimously carried to approve the Financial Statements as presented. Director’s Report Housing Growth Initiative/The Big Build:  Perham has a digital billboard promoting the Tax Rebate Program and Down Payment Assistance Program which is live for the month of January.  The 2023 OTLCA magazine ad promote the Big Build and CDA infrastructure strategies.   2    Workforce Supporting Strategy/OTC Works:  A newsletter was distributed to workforce partners via email.  The discounted M State Leadership Training series received strong interest and was close to full at the beginning of the new year. Childcare:  We are waiting for signatures on DEED Child Care grant; funds cannot be expended until the grant agreement is signed  Fergus Falls is hosting a Child Care Town Hall event on January 30 as part of their participation in the First Children’s Finance Rural Child Care Innovation Program. Business Development:  Partnership with the West Central SBDC on the DEED Small Business Partnership Grant on the County’s Business Resilience Coaching Program is closed out. Grant period ended 6 months early due to the SBDC’s transition from being hosted by Concordia College to M State. Therefore, grant funds were not fully expended and unused matching funds will be reallocated within other business development/workforce efforts. Broadband and Digital Access and Equity:  Border to Border Grant Awards: 2 of 3 of broadband projects within Otter Tail County seeking funding were awarded a combined amount of $4.5 million in grant funding from DEED. The next application round opened December 19th and will be closing on March 2nd. Staff is in conversations with Arvig and Park Region regarding potential 2023 border to border projects.  Staff looking at a “Last Mile Line Extension” proposal for one of the County’s transfer stations that does not have access to broadband.  Carter Grupp will be moderating a panel at the Internet for All: Connecting One Minnesota Workshop on January 25th.  He also talked about a side project he was doing for Northland Hackathon, a youth focused coding event being held in April. On the Map Report Erik Osberg presented  “Part of a Bigger Picture”. People live here for the same reasons they visit here.  The Otter Tail Lakes Country Association revenue structure was shared.  The 2022 On the Map Strategy for marketing was reviewed. He said that 8,522,780 impressions and 33,889 engagements were reported for ottertaillakescountry.com.  Rural by Choice had 5 episodes in Season 2 with 323,300 views on Facebook S2 and 199,400 views on Facebook S1.  New in 2023 is “Welcoming Communities”. These are videos of 9 communities in Otter Tail. Parkers Prairie was the first and has been well viewed.  New in 2023 “Proud Sponsor of Gopher Athletics” Regular Business Items Amy Baldwin asked for acceptance of the 2021 CDA Audit report. Motion made by Dena Johnson, seconded by Greg Swanberg and unanimously carried to approve the 2021 CDA Audit report. No further discussion.   3    Closed Session at 1:35pm Chair Dave Schornack declared the Board of Commissioners meeting closed to the public for discussion regarding purchase of property located at 106 and 108 N. Lincoln Ave., Battle Lake, MN 56515, Parcel Nos. 63-000-99-0086-000 and 63-000-99-0086-001. The closed session is authorized under M.S. §13D.05, Subd. 3. Present in the room were Commissioners: Jeff Ackerson, Dena Johnson, Kurt Mortenson, Dave Ripley, Lee Rogness, and Greg Swanberg; CDA Director Amy Baldwin, CDA Program Manager Sarah Schake, Lead for MN Broadband Fellow Carter Grupp, and HRA Administrative Assistant/CDA Recorder Paula Grunewald. Attended via technology Betsy Roder. The closed session ended at 1:48 p.m. Discussion and Communications Discussion of 2023 CDA Committee Structure: Amy Baldwin reviewed the 2022 CDA Committees: Housing and Development, Childcare and Workforce. Goal development for each committee will be established for the coming year. Further discussion on committee members will take place at the February board meeting as part of the annual meeting. Other Communications Chair Schornack introduced discussion regarding the organizational alignment of the CDA and HRA agencies. Discussion was held by the commissioners. Amy Baldwin suggested holding a joint session with the HRA Board from 12:45 to 1:15 at the next board meeting in February. Upcoming meeting: Tuesday, February 21, 2023 @ 1:15 p.m., County Board Room, Government Services Center with HRA Board meeting @ noon and HRA/CDA Joint meeting 12:45 to 1:15pm Adjournment Motion by Dena Johnson to adjourn meeting at 2:26 pm.