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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-05-18 ACE MINUTES• • ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD May 18, 2006 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Alliance for Commerce in Englewood (ACE) was called to order at 11 :40 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room of the Englewood Civic Center, Chair McDermott presiding. Present: Absent: Schalk, Vasilas, McDermott, Panetta, Verbeck Longborg (excused) Guinther (excused) Also present: Jim Woodward, City Council Representative Katie Mendel, Chamber Representative Olga Wolosyn, Mayor Deborah Kelly, WestStar Bank Staff present: Darren Hollingsworth, Economic Development Coordinator Mark Graham, Senior Planner Nancy Fenton, Executive Assistant APPROVAL OF MINUTES April 13, 2006 Chair McDermott stated that the Minutes of April 13, 2006 were to be considered for approval. McD e rmott moved: Vasilas seconded: The Minutes of April 13, 2006 be approved as written. The motion carried unanimously. ACE SUMMER SCHEDULE Mr. Hollingsworth asked the members if there was a need or desire for a summer schedule. He suggested skipping the June and August meetings and holding the regularly scheduled July meeting. Chair McDermott asked for discussion. Mr. Panetta said he felt it made sense and said if there is a need a special meeting can always be called. Chair McDermott agreed. • It was agreed the June and August meetings will be cancelled. The July meeting will be held as scheduled on July 13 11i. 1 • • • Chair McDermott asked to add one item to the Agenda. She stated that Mr. Verbeck and Ms. Guinther's terms expire in June 2006. If any members of the committee know of anyone who would be interested in serving she encouraged them to apply. Chair McDermott stated she has the applications for membership. Applications need to be turned into the City Manager's office by June 2nc1• Mr. Hollingsworth said he would contact Mr. Verbeck and Ms. Guinther to remind them their term is about to expire and will provide them with an application to reapply. He also reminded the members the non-voting alternate position is also vacant. Mr. Vasilas stated he would contact Wes Champion regarding the alternate position. Mayor Wolosyn stated Council takes direction from ACE as to who would be a good fit for the Alternate and /or new member positions. Mr. Panetta asked for clarification regarding the term limits. Mr. Hollingsworth stated there are no term limits. II. ACE BUSINESS "ART ABOUT" ENGLEWOOD Ms. Fenton stated there is an exciting event coming up in August that the City, the Cultural Arts Commission and the Museum of Outdoor Art are in the process of planning. Ms . Fenton asked for ACE's support and help in getting the word out to the business community. The event, Artabout Englewood, is scheduled for Saturday, August 5111 • It is a full day event starting at 10:00 a.m. with a Coffee with the Artists event outside the CityCenter building. It will include artists who have artwork along the shuttle route. At 11 :00 the shuttle will be available to take people on a tour to view the art. Posters will be available for businesses to place in their stores along the route. She said if businesses would like to have special sales or coupon specials that day it would be great. She stated the businesses can provide the City with the coupons and the City will distribute them that morning. Once the shuttle tours are done at 1 :00 there will be studio tours of local Englewood artists. The studio tours will culminate with a closing party at a local foundry, Joseph Artworks. The Museum Of Outdoor Art will be featuring a dance to music performance in the evening at the amphitheater. It will be a full day of art in Englewood. She stated she would attend the July meeting to provide the posters for distribution. Ms. Fenton asked Ms. Mendel about working with her to have the Dining with Englewood guide available on that day. Ms. Mendel said she would be glad to help. Chair McDermott thanked Ms. Fenton for her presentation. BID UPDATE Mr. Vasilas stated the BID Committee is waiting for the exact count from the City Clerk, but according to the PUMA count the BID Committee turned in a total count of 56.5% for land and 53.5% for total value. It will be several more days before the City Clerk will have an accurate count. After that, the BID Committee will present the petition to City Council. Mr. 2 • • • Vasilas stated Wagner's and SullivanHayes, the new owners of the building at Hampden and Broadway, had both signed the petition. Chair McDermott said she felt the list was stronger due to the addition of those two owners. Mr. Hollingsworth said City Council would be updated on the BID at the Monday, May 22"d session. The BID Committee turned in about 90 petitions. The City Clerk is in the process of checking each one. The BID process includes three steps: (1) the petition process, (2) City Council considers forming the BID and (3) finally, businesses vote to impose tax in November 2006. The BID is currently on step one so there is still a lot more work to do before BID funds are available. There is also a cure period of five business days after the City turns the petitions back to the merchants, which should occur next week. A cure period is an opportunity for the merchants to correct any questions on the petitions. During that time if there are any new merchant's/owners who would like to sign on they can do so at that time. Upon checking the petitions twice Mr. Vasilas found an error where several businesses were counted twice. Chair McDermott thanked Mr. Vasilas for checking the petitions carefully before turning them over to the City Clerk's office. BUSINESS CLUSTER STUDY Mr. Graham stated business cluster analysis is something that most of the big Chamber's in the Metro area do . Englewood is not able to recruit the same type of businesses that other cities do because most of the businesses they work with are very land intensive. All members were provided a list of the 2,000 business in Englewood, sorted by North American Industrial Classification Codes. There are about a dozen where there are significant concentrations. Lists were provided for automotive support, life sciences, business support services, manufacturing and construction. Mr. Graham said he was looking at scheduling meetings with representatives of the businesses in mid-June. Mr. Graham asked the members if they would look over the lists and recommend key people that could help the City with focus groups at the meetings scheduled for the week of June 13 111 • Up to 20 people will be invited per industry group, one group per day. Mr. Graham asked the Mayor if she would be willing to send out the letters requesting the businesses attend. Mayor Wolosyn stated she would send the letters. Chair McDermott stated she did not receive the discussion points. The discussion points were inadvertently left out of the packet. Mr. Graham said they would be emailed to each member later that day. She asked the members if they would like to spend a few minutes going over the categories. They stated they would. The members reviewed the lists and provided Mark with several contact names. Ms. Mendel said she would provide names for those that are Chamber members . Mr. Graham thanked the group for their input. Chair McDermott stated ACE's job is to review the lists again and see if any other names come to mind and if so, email the contact's name to Mark. 3 • • • Mr. Panetta left the meeting at 12:30. 111. COMMENTS & EVENTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Ms . Mendel noted the Chamber's largest event is coming up, a golf tournament on July 1 t". The City is one of the major sponsors. The May Coffee with the Chamber gathering will be on the 23rd at Mile High Coffee. The Chamber is in the process of looking for additional board members. She asked if an ACE member knows of anyone that would be interested to please let her know. The Taste of Englewood event that is normally held in May will be held most likely on September gth this year, which is the same day as the Car Show. The location has not been determined as of yet. Mr . Vasilas congratulated Ms. Mendel on her promotion. She stated she had already hired someone to take over her current position . ACE MEMBERS Mr . Vasilas reminded Mr. Schalk he needed to sign and have notarized a petition for the new property he recently purchased . Ms. McDermott asked about the two new awards in the room . Mr . Hollingsworth stated they were from DRCOG for the Art Bus and the Commercial Catalyst Program. Also, the National Association of Housing Rehabilitation and Officials recognized the Commercial Catalyst Program. Mr. Vasilas asked for an update on the Acoma project. Mr. Graham provided an update. Chair McDermott asked if there any other comments. There were no further comments . STAFF COMMENTS There were no further comments . Barbara Krecklow, Recording Secretary 4 • UPCOMING ITEMS • Business Cluster Stud y Update • BID Update • 2006 Action Items • • 5