Union County Economic Development Corporation

P O Box 1208 1119 Washington Avenue La Grande , OR 97850
Phone: 541-963-0926
Fax: 963-0689
e-mail: ucedc@eoni.com
website: www.ucedc.org

Minutes

October 19, 2006

Monthly Meeting: 6:00 p.m. at UCEDC Office 1119 Washington Avenue , La Grande

Meeting Facilitator: Tim Seydel, President
Board Reporter: Violet Trapp, Administrative Assistant
Executive Director: Craig Thompson
Members Present: Dale Case, Janet Hume-Schwarz, Tim Seydel, Mark Davidson, Sheri McDonald, Bill Whittemore , Steve Rzonca, John Howard and Lori Hines
Absentees: Howard Perry, Dennis Spray, and Russell Lester

Visitors: City of La Grande Council; Todd Richmond, John Bozarth, Steve Clements, City of La Grande Manager; Ron Singel, The Observer; Bill Rautenstrauch

The meeting was called to order at 6:03 p.m. , by Tim Seydel, President.

Tim Seydel entertained a motion to approve the September Minutes .

Mark Davidson moved the board accepts the minutes as written. Dale Case seconded the motion. The motion carried

OLD BUSINESS:

UCEDC Funding Request to City of La Grande - Craig Thompson
UCEDC made its annual funding request for $35,000 at the La Grande City Council Meeting on Wednesday October 18, 2006 . After a period of discussion a motion was made and passed. Craig asked the city to send a copy of the motion to UCEDC and Craig read to the board the motion. (I move that the funding request presented by the Union County Economic Development Corporation be funded out of the General Fund Budget in the amount of $35,000 for the fiscal year of 06-07 contingent upon change in the UCEDC By-Laws within the next 30 days reflecting that the four UCEDC Board appointments currently made by members of the La Grande Industrial Development Corporation shall instead be made by the UCEDC Membership .) This motion was seconded and passed by a 4-2 vote.

In the September UCEDC Board Meeting Janet Hume-Schwarz made a motion to change the by-laws. Craig read the motion. Janet Hume-Schwarz moved to amend Article VII of the UCEDC By-Laws to change board appointments made by La Grande Industrial Development Corporation (LGIDC) to appointments made by the UCEDC Membership . Lori Hines seconded the motion. Before the vote John Howard moved to table the motion until UCEDC meets with the La Grande City Council. The motion was seconded by Mark Davidson and passed by the board.

Mark Davidson moved to take the motion from the table. Dale Case seconded the motion . Motion Carried

A time of discussion on the motion was called by President Tim Seydel. Mark Davidson asked Tim if he contacted the other two partners, Union County and LGIDC, according to the request of the UCEDC Executive Board . Tim said he contacted the County Commissioners and LGIDC to meet with the La Grande City Council and UCEDC. The commissioners and LGIDC expressed they were not interested in meeting. Craig also contacted Colleen McLeod and received the same response that the commissioners did not want to participate in a meeting with the four entities. The County said UCEDC is working better now than it has in the past or ever has and that there is no need to make this change.

Janet Hume-Schwarz brought up a concern about what kind of message UCEDC is conveying to its membership if the board does not agree to change the by-laws. John Howard suggested that a survey be sent to the members to find out if the members are interested in appointing board members. Steve Clements from the City of La Grande Council suggested that possibly the LGIDC appoint board members from the UCEDC paying Members. No action was taken on either suggestion.

The question was called for. The motion was read again by Craig. The vote was done by roll call. The motion failed with 2 yes and 7 no.

At this time the members of the city council and the press excused themselves from the meeting.

Business Park Signage - Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson, John Howard and Matt Barber are working together on the pricing and design of the current sign in the LGB&T Park to list the local Real Estate Agencies who are paid members of UCEDC. A 5% commission is offered for selling land in the park. Thanks to John Howard in working with the realtors all five of the agencies are paid members of UCEDC and will be listed on the sign. The agencies are Valley Realty, Remax Real Estate Team, Ranch-n-Home Realty, ERA Driggers & Associates, and Century 21-Eagle Cap Realty. The cost of the addition to the sign is $795.00. Matt will begin working on the board this next week. Craig mentioned that UCEDC received an individual membership from Cindy Arnoldus. The board will not have individual realtors listed. A list of realtor agencies and individual realtors will be available through the office of UCEDC for those who contact Craig.

A tour to view the sign with the realtors, UCEDC Board, the City of La Grande and Union County is scheduled for November 8, 2006 . John and Craig will meet with Norm Paullus October 20 th to check out the status of the infrastructure progress.

Downtown Retail Committee Update - Craig Thompson
The Downtown Development Sub-Committee is preparing a draft of the action plan for the downtown development to form the mission and goals. The committee is now working on the strategies and activities based on the goals and mission. The next meeting will be taking a look at the existing downtown development plan and do a cross reference of what is already in existence. These recommendations will be submitted to the steering committee to be approved. Eventually these plans will go to the stakeholders and the City of La Grande . Craig asked City Manager, Ron Singel, if he had more to say. Ron said that Mark Touhey is going to develop the Tree Scape Plan which will include trees, lighting, clocks, and bring that to the committee.

REPORTS :

Finance Committee: - Janet Hume-Schwarz
UCEDC is down about $10,000 in revenue for the Year-to-Date with actual income of $19,400 versus $29,000 budgeted. Expenses are $3,000 less than budget with actual expenses of $26,200 versus $29,000 budgeted. The books show a loss of $4,800 for the month of September and $6,800 YTD.

The cash position is $8,800 in Property Committee Funds and $11,400 in the Operations Fund. The Line of Credit balance is $38,800 as of September 30, 2006 .

Property Committee: - Mark Davidson
Moved to Executive Session

Communications/Marketing Committee: – Tim Seydel
No report

Membership Committee – Janet Hume-Schwarz
No report

Executive Director: – Craig Thompson
Craig and John Howard met with Ron Singel on October 18 th to bring him up-to-date on the LGB&T Park , the 5% commission and the pricing policy. Craig said in yesterday's meeting with Ron it was discussed that UCEDC is offering a 5% commission to the realtors and at this time the city of La Grande has not decided whether to go in on the 5% commission. With the inclusion of the realtors UCEDC and the city need to be on the same page with the commission and the pricing policy.

John doesn't know how soon a meeting with the city could be arranged. Ron said Sandy Lund would have to be contacted to set a date and time. Mark mentioned a meeting with the UCEDC Property Committee needs to be held next week to review the pricing policy. In view of the funding situation with the city the policy needs to be analyzed prior to a meeting with the city.

Craig reported that the announcement of UCEDC's Board Meeting for tonight appeared in the Briefly section of The Observer on Monday October 16. The staff will be happy to send this announcement to The Observer each month if the board wants to continue. Dale Case said with the discussions that UCEDC is not open and transparent that it is good to continue the monthly announcement. Dale suggested that the staff add visitors are welcome. The board agreed to continue the notice. Craig said the announcement will appear the Monday prior to the board meeting.

Administrative Assistant Report – Violet Trapp

• August Minutes were sent to the membership and partnerships.
• Financial Reports (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statement and the Budget vs Actual), through September were given to Janet for the Financial Report.
• The membership list is updated through the month of September.
• All the board member binders are updated for the October Board Meeting.
• Invoices and letters for October membership renewals were sent.
• Thank you letters and membership certificates were prepared and are ready for delivery to the renewed and new members.
• The new and renewed members of UCEDC from July 1 through September 30 are:

New - Community Bank and John Howard

Rejoined – Becker Construction

Renewed - Lynn Harris, Training & Employment Consortium, Anderson-Perry & Associates, Don & Larry's, Eagle Carriage & Machine, Eastern Oregon Net, Inc, Horizon Wind Energy , Mc Glasson's Stationery, Valley Realty, William Whittemore, Avista Corporation, Bowman Trucking, Eastern Oregon Title, Fashion Floors/Carpet One, Grande Ronde Hospital , William Hermann, Robert Brooks Painting Contractor, The Observer

Partnership – Union County

NEW BUSINESS:

Community Bank Request: - Craig Thompson
Sent to Executive Session

Farm Lease/Wayne Waite: - Craig Thompson
The lease with Wayne Waite on the 14 acres known as the Alan Waite property in the business park came up for renewal. Wayne came to the office to sign the lease contract and pay $500 for the year, October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007 .

The Board went into Executive Session

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

The Board came out of Executive Session

Mark Davidson moved that UCEDC decline Community Bank's request to subordinate UCEDC's position on land in Baum Industrial Park. Bill Whittemore seconded the motion. The motion passed. Lori Hines abstained.

Craig will contact Community Bank tomorrow, October 20 to let the bank know about the board's decision.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER

Mark Davidson brought up that eventually UCEDC will have to address the situation with the City of La Grande and the appointments if the city does not fund UCEDC. Tim said the board appointments need to be put on the agenda for the November Board Meeting. Dale Case suggested a committee should be appointed to deal with the city conflict. Mark mentioned that the committee should also include the by-laws. There are some articles that are not in the current amended by-laws that should be reinstated.

The committee appointees are: Bill Whittemore
Janet Hume-Schwarz
Mark Davidson
Dale Case
Tim Seydel

Meeting Adjourned 7:14 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Violet Trapp
Administrative Assistant

Note:

Next Board Meeting: Thursday November 16 , at 6:00 p.m.
UCEDC Office at 1119 Washington Avenue

Executive Meeting: Tuesday, November 7 , 2006 at 7:30 a.m.
UCEDC Office at 1119 Washington Avenue