DeKalb County Economic Development Committee met Jan. 10.
Here are the minutes as provided by DeKalb County:
Note: These minutes are not official until approved by the Economic Development Committee at a subsequent meeting. Please refer to the meeting minutes when these minutes are approved to obtain any changes to these minutes.
DeKalb County Government Sycamore, Illinois
Economic Development Committee Minutes January 10, 2017
The DeKalb County Economic Development Committee met on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 7:00 p.m., in the Administrative Building’s Conference Room East in Sycamore, Illinois. Chairman Bagby called the meeting to order. Those Members present were Mr. Brown, Mrs. Emmer, Mr. Osland and Chairman Bagby. Mr. Faivre and Mrs. Haji-Sheikh were absent. As quorum was established with four Members present and two absent.
Others present were Gary Hanson, Debbie Armstrong, Brad Burzynski, Mark Pietrowski, Rick and Lynn Olson, Derek Hiland, Paul Borek, Greg Millburg, Jim Luebke and Christine Johnson.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES It was moved by Mrs. Emmer, seconded by Mr. Osland, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from the November 10, 2016 meeting.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA It was moved by Mrs. Emmer, seconded by Mr. Osland, and it was carried unanimously to approve the meeting agenda as presented.
PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no comments from the public.
COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY INITIATIVE Mr. Hanson reviewed that the County Board in 2015 and 2016 sponsored a county-wide effort to begin assembling an economic strategic plan. That process was made possible with community partners that included the DeKalb County Community Foundation, the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, the NIU Center for Governmental Studies, and the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation. The result of that process produced a plan on August 31, 2016 called “DeKalb County Thriving!” that detailed a county-wide economic vision that was the result of input from business and community leaders throughout DeKalb County.
In the 2017 Budget adopted by the DeKalb County Board, an appropriation of up to $30,000 was authorized to move forward from the visioning step to develop a more detailed plan that would establish specific priorities and assign responsibilities to those priorities with the intent that the end product will also meet the requirements of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy” (CEDS) program. The next steps in following the initiative include: (a) continuing with the partnerships established in the visioning process to now serve as a steering committee for the process, (b) utilizing the Board of Directors of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation to serve as the Planning
Committee given their diverse county-wide geographic representation as well as representing both the public and private sector, and (c) contract with Northern Illinois University’s Center of Government Studies for $30,000 to guide and coordinate the process from beginning to the end by producing a final CEDS eligible document.
It was further explained that the proposed resolution before the Committee would approve: (a) the continuation of an alliance with our community partners from the previous visioning process and that said partners serve as an overall Steering Committee, (b) the agreement with Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies to guide and coordinate the process to complete a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, (c) accepts with thankfulness a $20,000 grant from the DeKalb County Community Foundation to be used towards the formulation of this Strategy, and (d) authorizes the Board of Directors of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation to serve as the Planning Committee that will gather input from public and private sectors throughout DeKalb County so that the completed Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy is reflective of the needs and wishes of all the various stake- holders as an economic development course is charted for the future.
Chairman Bagby commented that this logical extension of the process that was started two years ago and this type of project certainly requires a lot of dedicated hours to pull everything together and the Center for Government Studies have experience with these types of projects. Mr. Hanson added that having DCEDC involved also provides a wide range of representative from all over the county-wide area.
Paul Borek, Executive Director for the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, commented that DCEDC very much values the leadership, participation, encouragement and financial support from the County as well as partnering with the DCEDC and the business community on a project like this. He added that when he began in his position nine years ago, two significant items that DeKalb County was missing that other neighboring counties had was an Enterprise Zone and a CEDS in place.
It was moved by Mrs. Emmer, seconded by Mr. Brown and was carried unanimously to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending its approval.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION GRANT AWARD PRESENTATION Mr. Hanson shared that unfortunately due to a scheduling conflict, the Community Foundation was unable to attending the meeting to present a check but the grant is secured.
Chairman Bagby extended his thanks to the Community Foundation for their contribution.
Note: These minutes are not official until approved by the Economic Development Committee at a subsequent meeting. Please refer to the meeting minutes when these minutes are approved to obtain any changes to these minutes.
ENTERPRISE ZONE BOUNDARY MODIFICATION Mr. Hanson reviewed that the Enterprise Zone was an initiative started by the County that was approved by the State starting in 2016. The Enterprise Zone program allows for financial incentives to be given to businesses locating within the boundaries of the Enterprise Zone if certain parameters are met, such as dollars invested and new employment added. This program is administered for the County by the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation. There are seven local government units that have agreements made within the Enterprise Zone. Those units of government include: the County of DeKalb, the Town of Cortland, the City of DeKalb, the City of Genoa, the City of Sandwich, the City of Sycamore and the Village of Waterman.
Mr. Hanson continued explain that the City of Sandwich is asking the various partners in the Enterprise Zone to consider extending the Enterprise Zone into Kendall County to assist a car dealership which represents a significant revenue source for the Cit. He added that there are various pros and cons to this request. It is not being asked at this time for a decision one way or the other but to hold a discussion about the pros and cons and to get some feeling as to what the Committee may be inclined to do if an amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Enterprise Zone was presented.
DeKalb County was approved for 15.00000 square miles for the Enterprise Zone. With the Intergovernmental Agreements, 13.14419 has been used. There is 1.85581 square miles still available within the Zone and the possible City of Sandwich proposed amendment could be for 0.00539 square miles.
City of Sandwich Mayor, Rick Olson joined the Committee to provide a little more information regarding the possible request. He explained that the City of Sandwich is unique because it lies within two Counties (DeKalb and Kendall) and the Enterprise Zone boarders some of the properties that the City is currently attempting to promote for future growth. Mayor Olson noted that he has had conversations with the Chairman and Mr. Borek about different options there may be and he felt that a project-specific amendment to the Enterprise Zone may be the best route to promote. Gjovik Ford approached the City of Sandwich some time ago because they are going to be required to reface the dealership at a cost of somewhere in the vicinity of $6 million. Gjovik Ford is the City of Sandwich’s highest sales tax contributor and they approached the City looking for any kind of assistance they could possibly obtain for this future project. Mayor Olson noted that he thought this project may be worth investigating the possibility of amending the Enterprise Zone to include the Gjovik property. He reiterated that the City lies within two Counties and the Gjovik property is just a softball throw from the County Line but it does in fact lie within Kendall County.
Mr. Hanson noted that this decision would not entirely be up to the Committee or the County Board. The six other units of government would need to approve this along with the Kendall County Board and ultimately the State.
The Committee reviewed a map that depicted the Gjovik property and where it is located to the current Enterprise Zone area within the City of Sandwich. Members additionally went around the table and provided their feedback on the possible amendment and came to a consensus that they would be in support of an amendment because this property generates so much revenue for the City of Sandwich.
DEKALB COUNTY CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU RE-CERTIFICATION
It was noted that this item and resolution was an annual housekeeping item in order to re-select the DeKalb County Convention & Visitors Bureau as DeKalb County’s agency of record for tourism promotions for the Illinois Office of Tourism for fiscal year 2017. Ms. Debbie Armstrong, Executive Director or DCCVB was present to thank the County for their continued support and $15,000 investment.
It was moved by Mrs. Emmer, seconded by Mr. Osland and it was approved unanimously to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPDATES Interim Economic Development Coordinator Brad Burzynski updated the Committee on the Business Incubator Program. He shared that he has been out at the Business Incubator primarily since the first of December and since that time he has been getting to know all the tenants and learning the day to day operations. On December 1st there was a free Entrepreneur QuickStart Workshop held and a lot of good information was given out and about ten people attended. The next Workshop will be help on Tuesday, January 17th and it will be on Marketing for Small Businesses.
Mr. Burzynski noted that he thinks the Business Incubator is a great idea and something that is needed here in DeKalb County and there are many opportunities to partner with surrounding colleges and other businesses. He is additionally having discussions with DeKalb County Convention & Visitors Bureau and DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation and other local organizations and asking how can the Business Incubator benefit “you” and how can “you” benefit the Business Incubator. Mr. Burzynski reiterated that those are some of the things he has been working on for the past month and a half.
ADJOURNMENT It was moved by Mr. Brown, seconded by Mr. Osland and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Chairman Tim Bagby
Tasha Sims, Recording Secretary
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