The Economic Development Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 @ 7:00p.m in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Eileen Dubin called the meeting to order.  Members present were Sally DeFauw, Julia Fauci, Jeff Metzger, Sr., Riley Oncken, and Mark Todd.  Ms. Vary was absent.  Others present were Paul Borek, Donna Moulton, Ken Andersen and Aaron Ruder.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Mr. Metzger, Sr., seconded by Mr. Oncken, and it was carried to approve the minutes from August, 2009.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA  

          Moved by Mr. Todd, seconded by Mr. Oncken, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

          There were no public comments for the evening.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS

Chairman Dubin said that she will be meeting with Mr. Bob Gleeson and Mr. Paul Borek regarding the “Assessing Options to Support High-Wage Job Growth in DeKalb County” study and then they will meet with our committee in October.  There should be about 14 people present with our committee and Mr. Borek’s task force committee.

She has not heard anything more on the fiber optic project.

DISCUSSION ITEM: CREATING POLICY THAT WOULD ALLOW FOR BUSINESS COSTS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES – MR. KEN ANDERSEN
          Mr. Ken Andersen, Chairman of the DeKalb County Planning & Zoning Committee, approached the committee about creating a policy for small businesses that are already established in DeKalb County and the costs associated with starting up a new company.  This is regarding also companies that are already operating without the proper permits.  Several applicants have commented about how much it costs to start up their businesses.  One example is a person who started a basket weaving company in DeKalb County and that it cost her $1,000 to get “back in synch” legally with the county in filing the proper permits and paperwork.  This is just one example, said Mr. Andersen.  He said that it accounts for the monies spent for operating costs, permit fees, attorney fees, hearing officer costs, etc.  The idea came from Mr. Mike Haines on the Planning and Zoning Committee who talked about how we can help these people.  Mr. Haines had said that the County has given huge incentives to large companies to come here.  How can we help these people and smaller businesses that are already here?  Mr. Andersen said that he feels that we don’t use our local businesses the way that we should.

          Mr. Oncken asked, are we talking about creating a small business grant that we could then give to people who wanted some assistance in the program and work with Paul Miller?

          Maybe Mr. Rich Schmack who works with a ton of these people could work with Mr. Paul Miller and create a “How To Guide,” suggested Mr. Oncken.
He further stated that possibly this will make the process easier to understand for these businesses. 

          Ms. Moulton said that she had a revolving loan program that has about $44,000.00 to help out small businesses, but there are criteria that need to be met in order to receive these funds.  Ms. Moulton said that the company has to create a job for a low-income person, as one example of criteria to be met.

          Mr. Oncken said that he prefers the “How To Guide” over giving money out to people. 

          Mr. Andersen said that maybe we could also have the County Clerk hand out the “How To Guide” when a new company does an “assumed name search”.  We could announce it on the radio, publish it in the newspapers and put it on our website, he said.

          Mr. Metzger, Sr., suggested checking with Mr. Paul Borek and seeing if the Economic Development Corporation has done something along these lines already and not duplicating things.

          The committee discussed whether or not the SCORE Group that meets in Resource Bank could help out these businesses and people interested in starting a new small business.

          Mr. Andersen said that however this committee decides to pursue this and come up with a “How To Guide,” he hopes that this committee continues to do work on it and update the guide.  Mr. Andersen will help the person or group that this committee decides to work on this issue.

          Mr. Todd also suggested that we should speak to the chambers too.

          Mr. Oncken said that we could have a local lawyer help work on this “guide” and that he would speak to Mr. Paul Miller and Mr. Rich Schmack about this issue and report back to the committee.

          Mr. Andersen then approached the committee about a Local Bidding Preference issue. He passed out a proposed local bidding preference guide sheet and proposed local preference information sheet.  He stated that he would like the County of DeKalb to give our local businesses a chance to bid on our various projects.

          He is looking for this committee to create a resolution or ordinance to allow local bidding preference for everything in the County, he said.

          The committee said that they feel that our County already does this.  It was agreed that Mr. Andersen should check with the State’s Attorney on these handouts and bring the issue back to this committee.

GO GREEN UPDATE
          Ms. Fauci said that she is drawing up a brochure for the next Go Green Event – “Greenomics.”  She would like to see pods of tables with 1 or 2 people sitting at them to answer questions for the public attending the workshop.  She would like to see a banker at one table, an educator at another table, a small business planner at another table, etc.   They would like the seminar to be held on November 14th weekend in the Gathertorium and serve coffee and rolls or cookies only.  They will highlight green businesses, starting a new green business, and jobs along with other businesses.  She continued by stating that we could get people who are interested in working for these types of companies attend the seminar and have companies in the same room with them that are looking to hire people. 

          She will be setting up a meeting with any committee member that wants to attend along with Ms. Mary Supple, County Coordinator, Mr. Aaron Ruder, Administrative Intern and Mr. Borek, Executive Director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation soon to discuss the seminar and speakers, etc.

          Chairman Dubin said that she would like to see people with innovative ideas attend this seminar.  There may be people out there that have great innovative ideas, but can’t find jobs.  How can we help these people, she would like to see this. 

ADJOURNMENT

          Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Mr. Metzger, Sr., and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                Respectively submitted,

                                                _______________________________
                                                Eileen Dubin, Chairman

ED:mcs

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