MINUTES FOR THE

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

TAC AD HOC COMMITTEE

January 20, 2010

Siskiyou Room

51 Winburn Way

CALL TO ORDER

Staff Member, Adam Hanks called the meeting to order at 3:07 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Committee members present:  John Rinaldi, Jr., Bill Molnar, Sandra Slattery, Jim Teece, Mallory Pierce, and Larry Holtzgang.

Staff members present: Adam Hanks, Diana Shiplet.

REVIEW OF CONSULTANT PRESENTATION

The group reviewed the presentation by Eric Hovee at the January 13th joint meeting.  The group discussed what data they thought was missing from Hovee's analysis and gave source suggestions as to where that data can be obtained.  Hanks reminded the group that we have same economic development studies from other communities on our website for review.  He promised to send an e-mail to the group with all the links.

REVIEW OF TRENDS, SWOT & VISION

Hanks asked the group to review and give a basic thumbs up or changes to the S.W.O.T.  The group agreed that the S.W.O.T. is good, and that it is best to leave everything as assumptions or "first impressions" and we will gather the data later to either prove or disprove those assumption hypothesis later.  The group decided to group the S.W.O.T. items into categories similar to the Council Visions.  Group agreed to let Hanks take a first stab at the categories.

The group discussed the names of the categories for the S.W.O.T and agreed to have the following:

·    Transportation

·    Education

·    Diversity/ Inclusion

·    Quality of Life

·    Tax Base/Financial Resources

·    Cost to do Business

·    City/Business Community Relationship

The group discussed whether they needed to create a list of assumptions in order to get everyone on the same starting page for finalizing the S.W.O.T.  They decided the S.W.O.T. contained the basic assumptions and more would be found out as we work through the public input process.

COUNCIL VALUES AND VISION REVIEW

Hanks asked that the group take a look at the current draft of the Council Visions and Values and see if there is any information the group feels needs to be passed on to the Council before they finalize their work on this in March or April.  The group wished to convey their concern that all the value statements separate the business community from the community as a whole, but the truth is that the business community is the community.

Jim Fong arrived 4:15 p.m.

DEFINITION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Hanks handed out some samples of economic development definitions and asked that, for homework, the group send (via e-mail) suggestions regarding possible definitions for Ashland.  The group will review submittals and draft a definition at the next meeting.

NEXT STEPS

Hanks gave an overview of the upcoming meetings of both groups and the changes in the meeting times for the Policy Group as well as an update to the timeline.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Diana Shiplet, Executive Secretary