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

January 18, 2007

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: Janet Hume-Schwarz , Tim Seydel , Sheri McDonald, Bill Whittemore , John Howard , Dale Case , Dennis Spray and Howard Perry , Lori Hines , Lee Lindsey, and Mike Poe
Absentees: Russell Lester

Visitors: Ron Singel, City Manager of La Grande
Donna Jo Talbot, SBDC
Scotty Baker and Dan Baker, Eagle Carriage and Machine
Jinean Florom, Property Management Services of Oregon, Inc.

Guest Speaker: Greg Smith, Small Business Development Center

The meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. by Tim Seydel , President.

Tim welcomed the guests and asked the board members and the guests to introduce themselves.

Tim welcomed the guest speaker, Greg Smith, and gave the floor to Greg.

The Small Business Development Center works in partnership with UCEDC and NEOEDD to help persons interested in starting a new business, retention and expansion of existing businesses, educate entrepreneurs in how to handle all aspects of operating a small business.

Greg has been with the SBDC 4.5 years. Last year SBDC had a clientele of 200. The SBDC in Union County is one of nineteen and per capita ranks number 1 in the state of Oregon , in terms of clients met and in terms of capital access. Donna Jo is the councilor that each entrepreneur meets to discuss the plans and needs of the client. When the needs are determined the entrepreneur is referred to a professional that can help.

Greg's background is commercial finance and he has served in this field for 15 years. Greg has dealt with small projects from $500 to major projects like the Port of Morrow of several million dollars.

Greg announced the first annual Entrepreneur Day is scheduled at EOU on March 9, 2007 . There are three parts to the event.

• Business Plan Competition.
• There are 12 classes of various subjects
• A luncheon with key persons in attendance

Tim Seydel gave the chair to Howard Perry , Vice President

Howard Perry , entertained a motion to approve the December Minutes .

Dale Case moved that the board accepts the minutes as written. Bill Whittemore seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Howard gave the visitors an opportunity to offer any input. Scotty Baker said that he saw listed on the agenda the drainage issue in Baum Industrial Park and came to see what is planned for the drainage because his property is affected.

OLD BUSINESS:

UCEDC Funding Request to City of La Grande - Craig Thompson
UCEDC met with the City of La Grande Council January 17 th . The funding request of $35,000 was approved by a 4-3 vote in favor in conjunction with a study group between the City of La Grande Council and UCEDC with an invitation to the LGIDC Board and Union County to participate. The UCEDC Board approved the study group in the December meeting.

Tim Seydel returned to the chair

Survey of Membership - Craig Thompson
In the December board meeting, Craig was asked to extend the deadline of the survey until December 29. Three additional surveys were returned to the office making a total of 11 survey responses out of 41copies sent, about a 27% response which is about average. Board members were not included on this survey. This survey will be used in the study group with the city.

Business Park Marketing – Web Site – County Funding Request - Craig Thompson/ John Howard

Craig has submitted a grant application to the Union County Discretionary Fund for the amount of $3,000. UCEDC will put in an equal amount of $3,000 to cover the cost of redesigning the web site.

Janet Hume-Schwarz moved that UCEDC move forward redesigning the web site up to $6,000. Dennis Spray seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

Election of Officers – Tim Seydel
The board agreed to table the election of officers until the February 15 board meeting.

A nominations committee was appointed by Tim. The committee is Dale Case , Chair, Bill Whittemore and Dennis Spray

Baum Industrial Park land-farm deferral status - Craig Thompson
Craig talked with Trico Farms and was given the dollar amount for the gross income that Trico received on the 10+ acres in Baum Park for 2005 and 2006. The assessor's office requested this information in order to determine whether the land can be put onto a farm deferral status.

Scotty Baker asked about the 60 acres that was bought by Sustainable Energy. It is a problem with the weeds each year. Dale Case said that Commissioner Steve McClure is working to resolve this issue by finding someone to farm the land. The land was purchased from Sustainable Energy by Bob Hendra who lives in Singapore and it is very difficult to make contact.

By-laws - Tim Seydel

Dale Case moved to table the approval of the by-laws revision. Bill Whittemore seconded the motion. Motion passed. 

UCEDC Office Space: - Craig Thompson
At the Executive Board it was decided that UCEDC begin searching for available space to rent. UCEDC is presently paying $1,140per month. $240 is for the remodeling of the space which will cease when the contract expires July 31, 2007 . The Union County Library District sub-rents at $200. This makes the actual rent $700. The E-Board asked Craig to start negotiations with Ray Hyde on a new contract. Craig talked with Ray by phone and Ray will be getting back to Craig. Some consideration has been given to possibly moving to the state building on Adams Avenue but John Howard said that spaces are no longer available.

REPORTS :

Finance Committee: - Janet Hume-Schwarz

The Profit and Loss Budget Performance report shows a net ordinary loss of ($4,317.61) for the month of December 2006 and a net loss of ($5,719.57) for the Year-to-Date. This appears to be primarily because of reduced partner income. We budgeted $58,100 of income YTD but only received $38,984.

Even though, revenues are under budget, the expenses are under budget and have helped to soften the blow. YTD budgeted expenses were $58,040 but Craig continues to run the office with $44,704, almost $13,000 less than budget.

In the Other Income and Expense we are still showing the $137,500 Loss on the Oveson Receivable. This will carry forward for the rest of the year and we will continue to ignore this transaction.

We have $46,606.62 in the bank checking and money market accounts. The operations account is in the black with a $3,907 and, $42,699 is the designated cash for the property committee so we are not borrowing funds from them for operations at this time. The current Credit Line balance is still $-0-.

Janet read the following;

Since we have discussed the nominations for next year, I would like to report that after being Treasurer for 3 years, I am willing to give the job up to one of our newer board members who have equal experience with finance. I would also like to say that I am interest in taking an easier job on the E-Board next year, like secretary.

Property Committee: - Mark Davidson
No report

Communications/Marketing Committee: – Tim Seydel
No report

Membership Committee – Janet Hume-Schwarz
No report

Executive Director: – Craig Thompson

• The Business Retention and Expansion Survey through NEOEDD that UCEDC participated in last year and contributed $1,000 has been completed and the results are compiled. A presentation of the results is scheduled on January 30, 2007 . The first presentation at 3:00 p.m. , second presentation at 7:00 p.m. at the County Commissioner Building Conference Room. Craig plans to attend the 3:00 o'clock meeting and will have a hard copy of the results to present to the UCEDC Board at the February meeting.
• Inquires of the La Grande Business & Technology Park and the 11 acres in the Baum Industrial Park are picking up. In the last two weeks 2 inquiries came in about the LGB&T Park and 1 inquiry about the BI Park.
• In a previous board meeting it was discussed about updating the LGB&T Park Brochure. The first brochure's center page of the plat is no longer current and does not correspond with the lot and sub-division plan. An updated version of the lot plan was obtained from Anderson-Perry. Craig showed the board the sample of the updated brochure that Palmer Printers printed. One hundred copies will be printed now and later in the spring a new aerial photo will be taken of the park with the infrastructure in place and at that time the brochure will be updated again and a new printing will be done.
• Craig read the information from a flyer received from NEOEDD announcing the Union County Pubtalk. This will take place at the Union Hotel in Union on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. The cost is $17 at the door which includes hor devours and one drink. This is to give the local entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet and discuss ideas and etc. The plans are to meet monthly, one in Union County and one in Wallowa County .

Administrative Assistant Report – Violet Trapp

• November Minutes were sent to the membership and partnerships.
• Financial Reports (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statement and the Budget vs Actual), through December were given to Janet for the Financial Report.
• The membership list is updated through the month of December.
• All the board member binders are updated for the January Board Meeting. The board member lists will be updated upon getting the information needed from the two new appointed board members at the January board meeting. The updated lists will be in the binders for the February board meeting.
• Invoices and letters for December membership renewals were sent.
• Thank you letters and membership certificates were prepared and are ready for delivery to the renewed members.
• The renewed members of UCEDC for December are:

David Baum , Eastern Oregon University, Oregon Trail Electric Co.,

US Bank and Seydel-Lewis-Poe-Moeller and Gunderson, LLC.

• The publishing of the UCEDC Raconteur (Newsletter) will begin the week of 1/22 and mailed to all membership on January 31 or February 1.

Janet Hume-Schwarz mentioned to the board that if anyone knows of a business that might be interested in becoming a member to let the membership committee know so a visit can be set up and then followed with a membership packet giving the business the opportunity to choose the membership fee that best fits the business.

Howard Perry suggested that an announcement be put in the Raconteur that the committees are going to be reorganized and invite the members to serve on a committee.

NEW BUSINESS:

Gekeler Lane Improvements – Fill Dirt: - Howard Perry
This coming summer the City of La Grande will begin reconstruction of Gekeler Lane from Highway 30 to 16 th Street . Union County Public Works Department will do the roadway excavation. There will be a lot of dirt to haul off the premise. The city has discussed using some of the fill dirt for the lots the city owns in the La Grande Business Park. Howard suggested that if there is dirt available that UCEDC ask for fill dirt to build up lot #7 which is the most critical for flooding.

Baum Industrial Park Land – Drainage Issues: - Howard Perry
There are 11acres in the Baum Industrial Park that UCEDC has not sold. One issue of the parcel is periodical flooding. When Sustainable Energy was first interested in purchasing the 60 acres the planning commission required the company to develop a surface water management plan. If some of the key lots have raised grades it will complicate the flow of the flood waters and adversely affect the existing businesses in the park. Howard showed the board two options designed to control the flood waters. Option 1: To construct on the south boundary of the park and the east boundary of the park and Terry Trailer's property a 1 – 1.5 foot deep by 100 feet wide channel that would enable the flooding water to flow into before going over Pierce Road . This will not change the present flow that goes over Pierce Road . Option 2: To reconstruct Pierce Road to build a third low area closer to the bridge and river to drain off the flood water. This would be a very expensive project.

Commissioner Steve McClure, John Howard , and Howard Perry met with Terry Fisher of Terry Trailers to explain the situation and to see if the company is willing to participate in the alternative of constructing the channel. To off set the cost of this project it is being considered to sell the top soil of the excavation or to work out a contract with an Excavation Contractor to do the excavating in exchange for the top soil.

At the time of the board meeting UCEDC has not received a response from Terry Trailers.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER

Meeting Adjourned 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Violet Trapp
Administrative Assistant 

Note:

Next Board Meeting: Thursday February 15 , 2007 at 6:00 p.m.
UCEDC Office at 1119 Washington Avenue

Executive Meeting: Tuesday, February 6 , 200 7 at 7:30 a.m.
UCEDC Office at 1119 Washington Avenue