Business Retention and Development Committee Agenda and Packet 2016 12 05

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Business Retention & Development Committee Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 Page 3 of 6 Council member Lipton agrees with Council member Maloney. Is this the right mechanism to get it done? This group was formed during the last economic crisis. Things have changed. We don't have the emergency — this committee does not have the proper structure to look at issues challenging us in the next 10 years. This group is very downtown and CTC focused. Centennial Valley needs attention. Agendas here can be very self-serving and don't represent views of community. Broad community has other views. The things Council has accomplished, investment in downtown, investment in the McCaslin Interchange, connectivity, urban renewal authority, roads, water lines, residences, golf course, underpass seems to get lost. Developers have not come to this meeting. No one from business community has come. Council needs to look at what we need to do for the whole community. We are getting views that have outlived their usefulness. He advocated disbanding and regrouping. Commissioner Pritchard said the DBA and Chamber need to step up. McCaslin needs to advocate for themselves. Business associations for downtown need to step up. BRaD has outlived its usefulness. Businesses can go to the Economic Development Director for advocacy. Disband and let groups step up. DeJong can do retention visits. Mike Kranzdorf said an independent third party is a better way to present to Council. These meetings have no influence on Council. He comes because he learns but not because he influences Council. If you want to hear from business community, fund it and see if it takes off. Randy Caranci said developers have no influence. He fears Louisville will be a bedroom community. We are losing small retail. Restaurants cannot be our only source of revenue. It is cheaper and easier to do business in Lafayette. Commissioner Menaker said we were set up to solve business issues and we failed. Business assistance packages for Waterloo and Empire and patios came out of this group and had a real effect. Communities around us are moving forward and we are not. Council member Maloney said he concerned that saying we are getting rid of BRaD sends a bad message. We need to say what we are going to do to meet goals. The goals are good. We should come up with a proposal before we disband. We want to send a message to the business community that we are interested in business and it is important. Commissioner Angell likes the idea of the group being an advocate for business. What kind of structure would this be? DeJong said it would be along the lines of setting up 3rd party business organization. i.e."Louisville Economic Development Corporation". City Manager Fleming agrees with Council member Maloney that abolishing BraD with no other organization in place sends a bad message. BRaD was created as a venue where businesses can make themselves heard. It was an attempt to reach out and