DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Economic Development Committee

September 14, 2011

DRAFT

Economic Development
Committee Minutes

September 14, 2011

            The DeKalb County Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 @ 7:00p.m., in the Legislative Center’s Gathertorium.  Chairman Pat Vary called the meeting to order.  Members present were Julia Fauci, Jeff Metzger, Sr., Riley Oncken, and Mr.  Jeff Whelan.  Mr. Brown was absent.  Mr. Greg Milberg and Mr. Bore were also present.

            Mr. Brown arrived @ 7:16p.m.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

            Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from July 2011.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

CHAIR'S COMMENTS

Ms. Vary, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, said that it looked like Ms. Beth Campen, from the Arts and Entertainment sector seemed to be stepping up to be the front runner to try and get the Arts Council started.  She is with “Music in the Parlor” and taught at DeKalb High School as an art teacher.  Her son and daughter both are trained Opera Singers.  She is trying to develop a regional theater group here in DeKalb.  She will be calling a meeting for all of the people that are on the Arts and Entertainment distribution list.

DEKALB AREA CONVENTION AND VISITOR’S BUREAU REQUEST – MS. DEB ARMSTRONG

            Ms. Deb Armstrong, Director of the DeKalb Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, first thanked the committee for all of their support to help them get certified and now they are.  It is the first time that it has happened in DeKalb County.  They are now eligible for the LTCB grant.  The money comes from the dollars that our hotels send down to Springfield and DeKalb County is awarded back a portion of those dollars.  They were notified that they earned an additional $56,000 to bring back into the Community to promote DeKalb County.  They also found out they were short the dollar amount that they need to bring all of that money back to the community.  They need a dollar to dollar match to receive those monies.  They need $10,000 to get the entire $56,000, otherwise, if they don’t raise the $10,000 the County only receives $46,000.  It has to be unrestricted funds so that they can show that on the form that they send in for the grant.  They are requesting this amount from the County.

            One of the things that she wanted to point out that her office has helped to attract to DeKalb County is the new film starring Dennis Quaid that is being filmed here in DeKalb County.  It has already generated an estimated $750,000 in revenue in 8 weeks.  They will be filming here through October so she expects that dollar amount to double.

            Mr. Oncken said that he would write an appeal for the budget to ask for the entire $10,000 for the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.   The committee decided that they all would send the budget appeal from the Economic Development Committee.

NEW AGRIBUSINESS DISCUSSION         

            The committee reviewed handouts on Pizza Farms that are located in Wisconsin and Haycation farms, with one located in Boone County.  There are farms in southwestern Wisconsin that have created Pizza restaurants out of their barns.  Most of these farms range from 50 acres to just around 110 acres from the handout information they received.  Another initiative is the Haycation farms that are farms where families or individuals can vacation on a farm in special tents provided through the Feather Down Farms and the Farmstayus.com networks. There are currently 580 American farms and ranches in all 50 states that are doing this type of business.  These pizza farms are big successes in Wisconsin and some of them even offer music. These two items would help to attract tourists to our county.

            The committee briefly discussed this and asked Mr. Millburg if this information could be included with their membership newsletter.  They also discussed the possibility that the county could do a press release and share it with the Farm Bureau.  Mr. Millburg said that for farmers who are interested in these projects, the projects themselves would need to be less burdensome to get it going.  The committee also agreed that the Planning and Zoning department would need to get involved with these issues too, since zoning questions would arise.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION UPDATE – MR. PAUL BOREK

            Mr. Borek gave his monthly report to the committee.  He said that 3M is two-thirds moved into their new building and operating.  They should be moved out of the Corporate Drive building by November.  3M now has the 440,000 sq. ft. building on the market and the demand for this size building is pretty good.  The construction by H.A. Phillips of their building is progressing well.  The building is under roof and enclosed with walls.  Their industrial refrigeration business is doing well and they will gladly use the new overhead crane and space when completed.  They may even need to expand soon, ahead of schedule.  Mr. Borek said that he will be attending the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) Fall Conference being held in Chicago on the weekend of October 20 -22, 2011.  SIOR is the leading international industrial and commercial real estate association.  This conference is now scheduled to be held in Chicago for the next four years. 

            Mr. Borek also said that they have prepared description and summary information for, and linked the DCEDC website to the Metropolitan Economic Growth Alliance website.  It is valuable to participate in regional websites and marketing partnerships because clients from outside the region often initiate their search with the Chicago Metro Area, I-39 Corridor or the State of Illinois. They were able to create awareness and recognition among attending site selectors and brokers. 

            He is working with GE Appliance, Goodyear/Exel Logistics and Nestle to arrange employee training and technical assistance.  They appreciate the support and have been impressed with Kishwaukee College and IMEC (Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center).

            The committee thanked Mr. Borek for his informative report.

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Pat Vary, Chairman

pv:mcs

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