HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-13 ACE MINUTES•
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ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD
January 13, 2011
I. CALL TO ORDER
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The regular meeting of the A lli ance for Comme rce in Englewood (ACE) was ca ll ed to order
at 11 :39 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room of the Englewood Civic Center, Chair
Lonborg presiding.
Present: Lonborg, Vasi las (entered 11 :42), Schalk, Champion, Calonder, Knoth
Absent: Sarconi
A lso present: Jim Woodward, Mayor
Colleen Mello, Englewood Chamber of Commerce
Rosemarie Cavral
Staff present: Alan White, Community Development Director
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Darren Hollingsworth, Economic Development Coordinator
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
October 14, 2010
Chair Lonborg stated that the Minutes of October 14, 2010 were to be cons id ered for
approval. It was determined there was a quorum. Chair Lonborg asked if there were any
c hanges or adjustments to the Minutes. There were none.
Mr. Champion moved :
Mr. Knoth seconded: THE MINUTES OF OCTOBER 14, 20 10 BE APPROVED AS
WRITIEN.
The motion carried unanimously.
II. ACE BUSINESS
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Mr. Hollingsworth said City Council has increased ACE membership from seven to nine
voting members. The current app li cation deadline to apply for Boards and Commissions is
January 14, 2011. Vacanc ies are filled twice a year through City Council; the next
app li cation period wi ll be in June. In addition to two voting positions, there is also an
alternate position ava il ab le. City Council will cond u ct interviews on January 24, 2011. The
m embers discussed business people who might be interested in serving on ACE.
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Mr. Hollingsworth said at a previous meeting there was a recommendation by ACE to l ook
at using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money for economic development.
He reviewed the National Objectives for use of the money. Because Englewood is a non-
entitlement community, the City does not receive CDBG funds directly from HUD, but
through Arapahoe County. The County sets the priorities for the use of CDBG funds. The
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County has set those priorities to mean a variety of things, but is focused mainly on
hou sing. The amount of funds received is based upon a per capita basis .
Governor Hickenlooper has signed three executive orders directing his staff to work with
the counties on looking at economic development plans and making sure each county has
one in place. Hopefully this represents an opportunity to work with the State Office of
Economic Development and the County to voice any input along these lines for economic
development.
The members asked about the retail assessment study that is going to be conducted in the
City. The Mayor provided a brief update. Mr. Knoth said the study will give the City a
c hance to know where we are missing out and chase those areas. The members stated they
did not know what a retail assessment study was . Mayor Woodward suggested a copy of
the staff r eport that was provided to City Council be given to ACE members to help them
have a better understanding of the scope of what the company is doing .
. Mayor Woodward provided an update on the Medical District Phase II.
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Chair Lonborg asked that the 2011 goals discussion be tabled until a future meeting.
Mr. Knoth asked to speak. He said we sit around here and complain about what the City is
not doing right, but doesn't think in his time on the Board that ACE has.. given the City any
set programs or anything that they could actually go out and do to make things better. He
said he felt the speaker from Denver was great and would like to keep going in that
direction instead of sitting at the meetings and keep saying this is wrong, this is wrong . ..let's
come up with something and try to follow it through.
Mr. Schalk suggested the $50,000 allocated for the retail assessment study be given to ACE
to manage. Chair Lonborg asked what he meant. He said let ACE members meet and work
with the consultants and try to understand the retail significance.
Mayor Woodward said if ACE wants the consultant to address ACE and talk to them about
their process, in his opinion, the group would gain from that meeting.
Mr. Sc halk said if you give a group that has been working together for eight years an
opportunity to really produce something you might see some results. He said ACE
members are businesses; that's who we are. ACE should appropriate those monies to come
up with the study and/or figure out what our goals are, how we can deliver and what the
return on investment is. He said it is true ACE does sit here and gripe about things, but
doesn 't think ACE has been given the right opportunity. Let us dig in.
Chair Lonborg said she does not want to manage a study. She said she does not have the
background in which to do that. What she would like to do is to have the consultant come
to an ACE m eeting after the study is complete and present it to us so we understand what it
says. Then , we could set some accountabilities for what we are going to do with that study .
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• Mr. Scha lk said what if during th e process ACE doesn't think the study is go ing to get th e
results we need. ACE n eeds an opportunity to be in vo lved in it.
Cha ir Lonborg sa id she may fee l better abo ut th at if she saw the proposa l so we know what
we are talkin g abo ut.
Cha ir Lonborg said t o Mr. Knoth th at when she looks at th e age nda sh e is not sure what
ACE is here to do .... either eva lu ating, m aking reco mmendat ions or adv isin g th e City's
econom i c development gro up/C ity Council, w hich is what she thou ght ACE's role was. She
sa id when sh e looks at the age nda, other than th e signs and banners, ACE has not been
asked. Maybe ACE needs to turn the age nda around so m e to say the first co upl e pieces of
the meeting is more of a report from th e City in terms of what is go in g on w ith economic .
deve l opme nt so th at ACE ca n provide some guidanc e, insi ght and input and th en we talk
abo ut resu lts. She asked Dir ecto r White for guidance.
Director White said yo u t ell m e what yo u wa nt. ACE's mission statement is at the bottom of
the agenda. Chair Lonborg read th e mission statement. She said the reaso n ACE has been
c riti ca l, and sh e agrees ACE has, ACE is flound e ring to make suggestions on what ought to
be c han gin g as opposed to Staff com ing to ACE to say we a re co nsid e rin g thi s and we
wou ld li ke t o know how yo u grad e u s o n that, et c. as opposed to ACE try in g to bring things
to the table to say we ll this doesn't feel like it is work in g very we ll . She said she was
wonde rin g if ACE doesn't n eed more from staff at th e City say in g h e re's what we ar e
work in g o n, does it m ake se ns e, does it work, what can we do differently, etc.
• Mr. Knoth said maybe ACE ca n take a look at business programs that th e City has and give
our grade on it t o C ity Council. If ACE thinks th e programs a re working we do n't n eed to
go any fa rth e r, but if not, m aybe we should spend our tim e on findin g something n ew.
Maybe th at i s a start.
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Cha ir Lo nb o r g sa id sh e wo ul d like t o go back to something Mr. Knoth said which was to
compare w hat our offe rin g looks lik e co mpar ed to other c iti es to know where we stand. It
was de t erm in ed that comparing Englewood to D e nv er does n ot wo rk; th e co mparab les
need to be c iti es with th e same approxim at e population.
Mayor Woodward sa id h e felt Mr. Knoth was abso lutely ri ght. You n eed c ities that are
simil ar to Englewood as a first tier suburb. He said Littleton ha s a program on business
retention, w hi c h is very important. H e offe red to help co m e up with similar c iti es t o
compare Eng lewood to .
Cha ir Lo nborg asked if an eco n o mi c development repo rt co ul d be added to the age nd a.
Mayor Woodwa rd said he felt it mi ght be benefic ial for so m eo n e lik e a Tom Clark to come
in and give a presentation on what econom ic development is ... what does that mean, what
are they key e lements of it, how does it fit in , et c.
Mr. Ho llin gsworth sa id Tom C lark is head of th e Metro Denver Economic D eve lopm ent
Comm ission and a very we ll respected individu al. H e also said John Cody wo uld be
another good indi vid u al to bring in.
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Chair Lonbor g said th at would be grea t and it might give ACE a bette r sense of what we
ca n do to h elp as opposed to sitting here grasping at straws and in doing so b eing critical
(a) because we don't kno w what we ca n be doing, (b) mayb e we don't understand it and
(c) m aybe thin gs n ee d to be done differently. She asked if Mr. Hollingsworth could arrange
for someone to co m e speak to the memb ers abo ut economic development. Mr.
Hollin gswo rth stated h e would b e happ y to .
To begin with, it was d etermined staff would provid e the ACE members with a list of th e
City's business programs for review. The members also asked that last year's goals be
email ed to them for review.
Chair Lonborg said she doesn't know if it is ACE's business, but she would lik e the City to
get graded on some o f the important initiativ es from the community and th e constituents
so that we eith er get a roadmap to opportunity or we have a marketing tool.
Mayor Woodward said he felt that is something that co uld be done through th e Building
and Community Development D epa rtments .
Ill. PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public present.
IV. COMMENTS & EVENTS
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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Ms. Mello said a holiday parade was held in Decemb e r with 11 schools participating. There
was a lot of positive feedback from the City and the sc hools. Seve ral merchants stated th ey
b e nefited from increased business that day. The Chamber is discussing extending the
parade route this year.
Th e ne xt Business After Hours will be h eld n ex t Tuesday from 5 to 7 at the Quacker Gift
Shop.
BID COMMENTS
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Mr. Vasilas said in November th e re was a petition to do away with the BID . Th e BID will
co ntinu e and in th e future th e Board will strive to communicate bette r with the m emb ers.
The summ e r eve nt is m ov ing ahead; th e first m ee tin g with th e event coo rdinator wa s held
yes t erd ay . The eve nt will be h eld on Jun e 25th.
The BID has hir ed a comm uni ca tions co mp any to make improvements to th e website, h elp
brand the BID, give it an imag e and define who th ey are.
A n ew business directory is in the works and a qu a rterly newsl etter will now go out to th e
business owners.
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ACE MEMBERS
• ACE members had nothing furthe r to report.
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STAFF COMMENTS
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Mr. Hollingsworth noted el ection of office rs wi ll be held at th e next meeting.
No f urth er business was brought forth for co nsid e ration . The meeting was ad j o urn ed at
1 :00 p .m.
The next meeting is sched ul ed for February 10, 2011 .
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