Business Retention and Development Committee Minutes 2007 02 05

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City Council Business Retention & Development Committee Meeting Minutes February 5, 2007 Page 2 of 3 2007 BRAD BUDGET Muth told members that the Committee has approximately $48,000 for projects for 2007 assuming that the $35,000 role over from 2006 is approved by the City Council. This money does not include funds to pay EDge Consulting for its services which will be tracked separately. Muth noted that the funding for the Colorado Wireless web site upgrade ($1800) on the February 6 City Council Agenda is slated to come out of BRaD funds as well. Brown noted that perhaps the City Council should consider paying for Colorado Wireless out of a different account as the project is not specifically business related. Balser said the Finance Committee will discuss it. EVALUATION OF RETAIL ROUND TABLE - JANUARY 18 Members were in agreement that the round table was very informative and were supportive of having additional round table discussions. OFFICE ROUND TABLE UPDATE Members discussed the next round table and determined that the next one should be in April with an Office/Multi-Use Development and host a summer round table on business retention. METRO DENVER DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION - CODE OF ETHICS Hogan gave an overview of the code of ethics stating that municipalities are not allowed to "poach" businesses from other municipalities. That said, should a company contact us about moving to Louisville, we generally will ask the company if they have told their current municipality and if we feel it important, we will tell that other municipality ourselves. INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF SHOPPING CENTERS ANNUAL CONVENTION BRIEFING Brown noted that the City should have a presence at the convention to better understand the business landscape and our retention needs. Hogan noted that generally the visit is limited to the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Economic Development staff person. Balser noted that the cost for the trip needs to be discussed by the Finance Committee and may do so as early as today. DEVELOPMENT REVIEW FEE COMPARISON BUSINESS RETENTION - OVERALL BRIEFING OF PROGRAM Bruno Elari gave a description of the Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Program and discussed how it might work with the retention visits of the BRaD committee. Members determined that the two programs need to be separate but can help one and another understand the business community better. Members agreed that feedback from all interviews can be shared with the group as a whole. As to next steps: . Training for City Council members (at a March study session) to help them understand both their role and what information is important to gather in an interview.