Economic Development Authority Meeting   1/18/2022

Graham.

All right.

Notwithstanding a provision in the EDA bylaws to the contrary is permitted under Virginia code section 2.2-3708.2a3 Albemarle County's continuity of government ordinance and declaration of local state of emergency and the EDA resolution of April 12th or April 21st, 2020.

We're holding this meeting by real time electronic means with no authority member physically present at a single central location.

This is because the pandemic's catastrophic nature makes it impracticable or unsafe to assemble in a single location.

All authority members are participating electronically.

All authority members will identify themselves and state their general physical location during the roll call, which we will hold next.

This meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded to the county's website.

The public has real-time audio-visual access to this meeting over Zoom and real-time audio access over telephone, both as provided in the lawfully posted meeting notice.

The public is invited to offer live comment during the public comment period.

Comments are limited to three minutes and must be germane to the matters on today's agenda.

Director Ray.

Here in County of Albemarle.

Present in Albemarle County.

And Director McNaughton.

Present, Troy, Virginia.

And Director Mottola.

Present here in Crozet.

All right, Mr.

Great.

All right, so next is matters from the public.

Mr.

Okay.

And nobody has expressed an interest in speaking.

Nobody has their hand raised as far as I can tell.

All right, so next matter is approval of the minutes from the meeting on December 14th.

Okay.

All right, any further comments?

All right.

All right.

Is there a second?

I'll second that motion.

All right.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

The minutes are approved.

Dave.

So this is a financial report through the end of the calendar year 2021.

for the beginning, for the fiscal year 22, which began on July 1st.

Expenditures in this period have exceeded revenues by $330,612.50.

Bond fees and interest of approximately 32,000, that is 32,624.41 to go with 363,236

and 91 cents in incentives, professional service fees and contributions to other entities.

That last item being the largest component of that three hundred sixty three thousand plus three hundred thousand to Habitat for Humanity and twenty five thousand to CIC totaling three hundred twenty five thousand in expenditures to other entities.

Now that goes along with pass through funding of four hundred and four thousand

$21.39 and a smaller pass-through expenditure of $11,000 so that we end the calendar year 12-31-21 with net revenues of $62,408.89.

Added to our net cash at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1, which was $731.824.27.

It leaves us with a net cash position as of 12-31 of $852,413.56.

All right.

Any questions or comments on the financial report?

All right.

So annual meeting.

and the election of officers and adoption of the annual meeting schedule.

I'll hand this off to Richie.

I had sent out an email saying I was willing to continue to serve as chair.

George says he's willing to continue as the vice chair.

Yes.

And I sent an email to that effect.

I don't know that it landed in everyone's inbox, but I didn't see it.

Yeah.

So, yes, I am.

So I won't I won't read the full script because you all get the gist of it is so we do have the three officers.

We have chair, vice chair and secretary, treasurer.

In the past, we have nominated

Those offices as a slate and voted on them by acclamation and that's something we can do.

I'll second.

Sounds like discussions are closed.

And we'll just go ahead with a vote.

All those in favor of

Voting for the slate, say aye.

Any opposed?

All right, congratulations.

We have officers for the next year.

Thank you.

All right, so on to new business.

Director's report.

Oh, yeah, sorry.

Do we have, the schedule was sent out.

I don't know if we've got a slide with the schedule.

So actually, I will not be present.

I'm out of town on the 15th.

We can proceed with that date.

Okay.

All right.

So this is meeting number two, Don, to which you refer?

Yeah, yeah.

February 15th?

Yeah.

I'm fine with the consistency.

I mean, unless you really want to be there, Don, we'll miss you.

I know that's the case.

So why don't we just keep it on the 15th and have George preside.

And then if there's others that are absent, we can reschedule.

Great.

And I'll just give a heads up that I will not be available in July, just so that ends up being also another date where a lot of people are going

I'm not gonna be here in case you need a quorum.

Okay.

I'm going to be in the Wind River Range and I would love to have all of you with me.

Never been to the winds.

That's why it is there and we have room on the trip.

So I think in the past, it's been workable to adopt the schedule as Director McNaughton suggests.

Yeah, I'd be inclined to just keep the July meeting for now, just so it's on the calendar if we don't have any in case there's anything that needs to be actually done at that meeting.

But I think that's a that's a good one to cancel if nothing else is going on.

All right, so is there a second to the motion to adopt the calendar?

Steve seconds the motion.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, all in favor of adopting the 2022 meeting date say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Yeah, so before I get into what we will be doing, I just want to contextualize a couple of things.

First, what we're going to talk about today is only a small fraction of the work that the Economic Development Office does, but we did think it was important to provide at least a cursory preview of what's coming up in your

line of work and your volunteerism and all that you do so that you can understand how we expect EDO and the EDA to work together in at least the near future, if not the next six to eight months from now.

First of all, I wanted to mention that we would expect there would continue to be COVID prophylactics, particularly when you think about some of the things we have done historically.

It includes things like the LIFT grant, microloan programs, safe spaces and places.

And since COVID doesn't appear to be going to be eradicated anytime in the near future, we expect the next six to eight months, we're going to continue to have to be flexible.

and respond to the pandemics and maybe even help businesses survive as we go through different variants.

We still would expect this board to opine to the Board of Supervisors.

For those of you that may be a little newer, oftentimes the Board of Supervisors would like to know your professional opinions as it relates to economic development projects that may or may not involve the Economic Development Authority.

So oftentimes we run particular

Projects and or customized solutions through this board so that you can then apply to the supervisors.

We would expect that to continue in the coming months.

You are very aware of the unique opportunities, whether it's working with an individual business or an existing business for customized solutions, whether it's helping them grow their workforce to vision, helping them grow their business through Commonwealth Opportunity Funds, or just customized solutions as it relates to performance agreements.

We expected some of those will be coming in the preceding months as well.

What will be new for this particular board that maybe was not historically as much involved with will be site readiness work.

As you may recall, at the last joint meeting, we have received concurrence to proceed with a building reuse grant.

Our team expects to bring that back to the board here in the coming months in the next month or so for adoption.

And then, of course, those along with that will come some expenditures and appropriations that this board would be intimately involved with.

So that'll be new work for the Economic Development Authority.

Also by July 1, we plan to and will bring back a process for which partner organizations may apply for particular grants from this authority.

As you may recall, last year we had an increase in those and they were coming one at a time.

This particular authority suggested that we have a one time open window so it can be a competitive and fair process and not who comes first because all good ideas, all ideas seem better in isolation when they're competitive.

It allows for strategic decision making.

We plan to bring back to you a process for administering grants to our partner agencies.

As you know, we just started implementing more bonds to create additional revenue.

So we need to adopt some re-adoption of some rules and procedures.

We'll have those coming to you in the coming months.

And then at the last joint meeting, the board affirmed that the EDA could own land.

There are many ways that the Economic Development Authority can promote economic

development through land ownership.

So we may be coming back to this particular board to talk about ways in land ownership or site control, which may help advance the county's mission to accomplish sustainable economy.

So this is what we see as a staff coming to you in the next three to six to eight months or so.

I say it in those sort of various time frames, because, as you know, COVID and and also our general workload

Our staff often has to respond to requests for information and or opportunities that presents itself unknowingly.

We don't get to pick those that come from around the world through the state, through the Central Virginia Partnership.

So we kind of give you a generic time frame when we would expect you to be working on these particular ideas.

And we say most likely the next three to eight months.

So that's what we see in the immediate future.

And Don had suggested that we just bring this up as a topic so that everybody was in agreement with what how we may be working together and what we may be working on.

Roger, can I ask a question now about inventory?

Talking about potential land ownership, and while I realize it's a little bit different, we had all talked a while back about an inventory of land.

OK. Yeah.

Yes, ma'am.

It's not it's not been happening in the public purview per se.

But in fact, we met earlier today to go through the first results of the algorithm.

Kimley Horn used or using an algorithm to try to to look at all the parcels and see which those are available for redevelopment.

The first swipe did not turn out so well.

The second

Swipe it trying to determine which of the redevelopable properties is much better.

That still needs some additional work.

So we're going back.

We being community development in our department to meet with Kimley-Horn to refine that.

We want to make sure any information we present to the authority and the board has been scrubbed.

So we're still in the process of doing that.

Great.

That's good.

Thank you.

And I will just mention that there appears to be two different lenses in which we look at these particular properties.

One is through the lens of long-term planning, which is a 20 year horizon or so, but economic development needs property available today or in the foreseeable 18 months.

And it's a different lens.

Good.

That's good to hear.

And Roger, the land ownership program that we might envision would go beyond site readiness, correct?

Yeah, 100% accurate, Director Shreve.

It would be more than just land ownership.

No, sir.

Oh well, yeah, J.T.

added this, I'm sorry, just as a reminder that the conflict of interest forms are due February 1st.

We did get wind that there were some difficulty accessing that.

So if you would like us to send that information to a specific email address or forward it to you in some other fashion, simply if you would just shoot J.T.

Okay, good.

Roger, can I- You think you just blast a group email, J.T.?

I was going to say I just wanted to thank J.T.

because I got that and I'm on a state board so I can, if electronic link, it's really easy to fill out and you sign it electronically and you send it back.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

You can email.

You can scan it and email it, I guess.

But it doesn't fill in the way the

Yeah, I hadn't seen the...

I hadn't gotten that.

Well, I missed it.

I didn't see it either.

What we'll do is we'll find, we'll send it to your personal email address as well at the conclusion here, or at least the one we have out file.

And if you want us to send it to any other email address, please contact J.T.

Okay.

My suspicion is they mailed it and I don't know

So I sent out a link in order to access the form at the council.

So that link was in there.

So you should be able to find it online.

If you don't find it online, please let us know as soon as possible.

My understanding is, you know, whether it is signed in PDF by email to the clerk or hand delivered to the clerk, the February 1st deadline is a hard deadline.

So if it can't, if it's not going to make it, then the directors or with assistance from us, a request to the state council would have to be made.

And that's the only authority that allows you an extension.

The clerk can't give you an extension.

I can't give you an extension.

And I say that because one, I think it's

Somewhat embarrassing not to get them in on time, but two, I think it also comes with a $250 price tag.

So anyway, that's where we're at.

Richie, if I could just add for the authority to consider going to that website today, this afternoon, to look for the specific form, a fillable PDF online,

There are several different versions that are made available to different types of officers from around the state and I could see it being really easy to grab the wrong one off the website and fill it out.

Do you mind just maybe just doing it once and just sending a blast to everybody, J.T.?

Having done that in the past, I can speak to the hassle of having filled out the wrong form.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you for that reminder.

Yes.

All right.

Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center update.

Yes, sir.

As you probably noticed, Lewis and Clark's been in the media lately, so we thought we would just give you an update on the status of that particular loan and what's happening there.

Certainly, we have some new directors who may not be aware.

Just a brief history, Lewis and Clark

did receive a loan from the county and it came from the Board of Supervisors.

We're really mostly talking about the Board of Supervisors funding themselves.

And there are certain parameters for which repayment are due.

And Councilor DeLoria, I don't have that directly in front of me.

So the loan originated in 2013.

There have been two amendments to the loan, and the second one extends it.

And so the primary purpose is to make you aware that this authority needs to take action between now and June of 2023 or lose legal standing.

Mr.

Chair, could I ask Dr. Johnson just a quick question?

I know we've been in such unusual times, obviously, with the pandemic.

Tourist sites are just tanking.

There was a lot of federal money came in who kind of tried to shore them up.

Have we ever had a situation where we've just forgiven a loan altogether?

Because I find it really hard to imagine that by 23, the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center is going to be able to swim their way out of this particular debt

or are there opportunities for them to set it up for another 10-year period?

So I can sort of speak up, give you a little more background since I've been on the EDA.

So we've had several discussions trying to, well, to answer your first question about forgiving it, I mean, the board

of supervisors provided the money to us to turn around and make the loan.

So ultimately, I think it's the Board of Supervisors decision about whether they want to forgive it.

I mean, I think we obviously may have the legal authority if we

chose to do that.

But I think it's really the board appropriated the money for that purpose.

And I think my view is our obligation is to continue to collect or do take reasonable effort to do it unless we're given direction by the board of supervisors as they want it forgiven.

If that they want to give us that direction, then that's fine.

We have had discussions in the past with, we've had folks from Lewis and Clark Center come in, talk about what they're doing, talk about what they're planning.

If I recall correctly, the last steps was there was going to be a meeting with Rod Gentry and at least one other person.

We had sort of deputized a small group to meet with them and try to come up with a plan for them to begin to make some

payments on the note, and it was right not long after that time that Rod stepped down, the pandemic hit, and that's sort of where we are now.

I think it's, my perspective would be either we should get them to come in or we should.

sort of reconstitute a smaller group to meet with them, talk about it, see what they're able to do, and get some feedback that we can then provide to the board and let the board decide what they want to do.

I don't know whether others who've been around want to share their thoughts or if anybody else has any thoughts on it, but I do think

I don't have specific thoughts, Don, but I agree with you.

Yeah, Don, I think that's sound advice.

If you recall, I was around when they came to us during those months.

And what is not entirely clear to me, although I think you've kind of filled us in there, at least in a summary manner, is where they stood when the pandemic hit and when Rod left and

I don't know if he ever got a chance to meet with them, if that small group ever did at that juncture.

Perhaps connected to Kat's recommendation or suggestion is that once we do meet with them again, maybe all of that unraveling at that point would suggest a suspension, not elimination, due to the pandemic and due to the

inability to carry out those meetings, if we decide anything in that respect right now.

I think it's still, I mean, I suspect that it's still at the full, I know no principal has been paid, so it's really just a question of what the accrued

And when they made payments, it was an interest only payment, correct?

Yeah, there's a payment history.

Chairman Long, I'm hearing a consensus for staff to invite the

Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center leadership back to a particular meeting in either next month or the month after.

I would suggest that maybe we do it, since I'm not going to be here, we do it for the March meeting.

And then it might make sense to try to have a discussion with them

before that meeting and talk about, at least meet with them.

And I'm happy to participate in that to say, here's what we need to know so they know what we're looking for when we come to the meeting.

And if anybody has any input they wanna share with me, I'm happy to sort of put together, but I think it will be helpful for us to say, look, here are the things that we need to know from you when you come in and talk to us.

I think we need to limit it right there.

Otherwise it becomes a public meeting here.

All right.

Any other comments on that?

OK, thank you.

So next is Rivanna Medical

Thanks, Mr.

Chair.

I'll be very briefly discussing this.

Included in today's meeting packet was a draft performance agreement for a local match to the state's grant to Rivanna Medical.

Just hours before our last EDA meeting on December 14,

Rivanna and the state held an announcement at their facility off of Hunter's Way off 250 East to announce that they were investing $260,000 into their facility over the next three years and creating 18 career ladder jobs.

Staff has used our adopted policy to propose matching the state's grant at $900 per job

and so that total grant would be $16,200 over the next three years and just as a reminder to directors on the authority, as the company expands and they bring new employees on, after they've been with the company for 90 days, they're able to submit paperwork to the state that reflects those new hires and then the state

provides funding to offset the training and recruitment costs associated with those new hires and they inform us at the local level and we match the number of jobs that are relevant for that particular period.

So pictured here is county executive Jeff Richardson sharing some remarks just after board chairman Ned Galloway and Roger

and the company CEO provided remarks.

On the far left is the former Secretary of Commerce and Trade under former Governor Northam, Brian Ball, who attended the event.

And it was outdoors and I think a lot of the employees from the company attended and really enjoyed the remarks and the camaraderie.

Yeah, it's off of Hunter's Way on 250 East.

All right, any other questions or comments?

All right, is there a

Yeah.

Oh, I got it now.

Thanks, George.

Second.

Steve seconded.

Is there any discussion on the motion?

Hearing none, all in favor of the, do we need to, well, I guess let's do a roll call vote.

All right, vote on the resolution.

Director Ray.

Aye.

Next on the agenda is unfinished business, so

At the last meeting, we voted on the bonds for Westminster Canterbury.

I found out last week that my wife, Valerie Long, had done some work for Westminster Canterbury in November and December.

She discovered that when she was looking at the board agendas for the Board of Supervisors and saw that we had approved it.

So I think

Technically, I don't have a conflict because the amount of work that she did for them doesn't hit the threshold, but in the interest of transparency and I've decided to infuse myself from anything further and make clear that at the time I had no idea she was doing work for them.

So when the documents came in to be signed, our vice chair

Ably stepped forward and signed all of the bond documents for Westminster Canterbury.

So I believe we've got everything done on that.

But I just wanted to put on the record what happened there.

And the Long family will now be reviewing the the EDA's proposed agenda to make sure that we we collectively don't have conflicts.

So

Anything else?

And Rich, this is the signature that you were tracking down when I was out of town.

And I think you ended up getting Roger to sign in my place.

Is that right?

No, those documents were they were the resolutions that had come out of the meeting.

The documents that Director Long is speaking to at this point are some official bond documents that McGuire-Woods is seeking signatures on.

All right, any other comments, questions?

One thing I was gonna add earlier when we were, when Roger was sort of giving the update on sort of plans for the year, one of the things that I did pre-pandemic, I guess maybe 2019, is Diantha and I both attended

Virginia Economic Development Authority Conference and I think it's a good meeting and I was going to recommend that people attend that and so I got online while Roger was talking to give everybody the date and discovered that it happened in December of 2021 so I think we've

We kind of missed the window there, but I will encourage people next year, I don't know whether they're gonna move it back to the May time period again, but maybe we can, if the folks in the Economic Development Office hear about that and they can sort of share it, because I think it's a good meeting, especially for those who haven't been to it, because there's a lot of background on what other people are doing and ideas and things like that.

Just to add, Don, that I think you're right.

I found it very interesting.

And I'd be willing and would like to maybe go back to the next one.

I mean, the nice thing about the virtual meetings is it's fairly easy to hit sessions if people want to go.

All right.

Anything else?

Roger, J.T., Ashley,

Doug, Jeff, all right.

Hearing none, the next meeting will be February 15th at 4 p.m.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks.

Thank you all.

Take care, everybody.