Minutes: Evansville Economic Development: March 2006

CITY OF EVANSVILLE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Minutes of meeting


Tuesday March 21, 2006 5:30pm


1. Roll call.
a. Ald Aikman, Mr. Arnold, Mr. Decker, Mr. Otterstein, Ald. Anderson, Mr. Berg, Mr. Edmonds, Mr. Bass.


2. Approval of agenda.
a. Mr. Decker asked that item 5 be removed, Mr. Decker was thanked.

3. Approval of minutes of February 28, 2006 meeting.
a. Motion passed

4. Citizen appearances, other than on items listed below.
a. Wendy Soucie of Sortis

5. Expression of Gratitude to Mr Decker for Chairing the February meeting.
a. See above item 2

6. Discussion of Presentation by Wendy Soucie of Sortis and decision on course of action to recommend to Council if any.
a. The discussion was lengthy and centered around Mr. Ottersteins recommendation that between RA Smith and UW-Extension, the UW was the better fit. Mr. Otterstein found the UW proposal had a greater focus on implementation. Mr. O informed the committee that the price ranged from $11,700 -$19,000 and conceivably could extend out for the life of the TIF, or 20 years because of the ability to add on additional data.

Because the cost of $19,000 exceeds the yearly budget of ED, which is only $5,000, it was suggested by Mr. Decker that perhaps ED could solicit enough contribution from other interested committees such as RDA, that
Going before Council for the funds would not be necessary.

b. A motion was made by Mr. Berg, and seconded by Ald Anderson as follows:
i. Motion to accept UW-Extension as vendor with a cap of $!9,000 with details to be worked out at the next meeting with the understanding Economic Development will contribute a percentage to be determined. – Motion passed

7. Recommendations for future agenda items.
a. It was agreed the next meeting in April would focus on developing the presentation to other committees and choosing two Economic Development committee members to make the presentations together.
b. D&D Proposal for Annexation on the May agenda.

8. Adjournment.



Karen Aikman, Chair