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HomeMy WebLinkAbout190403 - Minutes, Tri-County Council Council Membership Meeting April 3, 2019 Officer Name Representing MEETING ATTENDANCE June ‘18 Nov ‘18 Apr ‘19 Chairman Commissioner Jake Shade Allegany County E E P Commissioner Creade Brodie Allegany County A David Nedved Allegany County E P P Eugene Frazier Allegany County Municipalities P P P vacant Allegany County Municipalities Robert Smith Allegany County At-Large E P P Stephen Nelson Allegany County At-Large E P E Vice-Chair Commissioner Jim Hinebaugh Garrett County P P P Commissioner Larry Tichnell Garrett County P P E Michael Hough Garrett County P P P Jay Moyer Garrett County Municipalities P E A Spencer Schlosnagle Garrett County Municipalities P E P Jonathan Kessler Garrett County At-Large A E A Merlin Beitzel Garrett County At-Large P E P Secretary/Treasurer Commissioner Jeff Cline Washington County A P P Commissioner Wayne Keefer Washington County P Susan Small Washington County A Howard Long Washington County Municipalities P E P Donnie Stotelmyer Washington County Municipalities P E P Roger Fairbourn Washington County At-Large P P E Jack Miller Washington County At-Large P P E Senator George Edwards Maryland State Senate District 1 P P E Senator Andrew Serafini Maryland State Senate District 2 E P E Delegate Wendell Beitzel Maryland House of Delegates District 1A P P E Delegate Jason Buckel Maryland House of Delegates District 1B E E E Delegate Neil Parrott Maryland House of Delegates District 2B E E E Tri-County Council Staff: Leanne Mazer, Guy Winterberg, Darlene Steyer, Christie Wakefield, Amy Jacobs Guests: Julianna Albowicz, US Senator Van Hollen; Bill Atkinson, ARC/MDP; Al Delia, Frostburg State University; Jayci Duncan, Attorney at Law; Paul Edwards, Garrett County Commissioner; Dr. Jim Klauber, Hagerstown Community College; Kevin Null, Garrett County Administrator; Wendi Peters, Special Secretary of Smart Growth; Ralph Salvagno, Mayor, Town of Hancock; Tracy Salvagno, Tri- State Community Health; Cindy Sharon, Garrett County Economic Development; Jen Smith, guest; Robin Summerfield, US Senator Ben Cardin; Mark Widmyer, Western Maryland Rep for Governor Hogan, Linda Widmyer, guest; Tyler Patton, Maryland Broadband Cooperative; Dr. Cynthia Bambara, Allegany College of Maryland and Linda Spence, Washington County Economic Development. I. Call to Order – Chairman Shade called the meeting to order at 5:06pm at Ristorante Ottaviani in Cumberland, Maryland. II. Pledge of Allegiance – Chairman Shade led the Pledge of Allegiance. III. Welcome & Introduction of Guests – Chairman Shade welcomed everyone to the meeting and recognized Maryland Special Secretary of Smart Growth, Wendi Peters and the elected officials in attendance. A quorum of voting members was present. IV. Approval of Agenda – Chairman Shade presented the agenda. David Nedved moved to approve the agenda as presented, Spencer Schlosnagle seconded the motion and the motion carried. V. Minutes of November 19, 2018 – Chairman Shade presented the minutes of the November 19, 2018 meeting. Howard Long moved to approve, Bob Smith seconded the motion and the motion carried. VI. Financial Report – Darlene Steyer/Leanne Mazer A. 2018 Year-End Financial Statements – Darlene Steyer presented the consolidated statement of revenue and expenditures for calendar year 2018. She reported that the 2018 expense to budget was underspent by $42,318 with an excess revenue over expense of $198,574 which is made up of a combination of unrestricted funds and net VLT Funds. The ARC and EDA programs were 100% spent. Some programs that appear to be overspent such as Technical Assistance, are programs that are actually on a Fiscal Year budget and are being spent accordingly. Donnie Stotelmyer moved to approve the 2018 year-end financial statements, David Nedved seconded the motion and the motion carried. B: Financial Statements through February 28, 2019 – Darlene Steyer presented the current financial statements. Currently the budget is 15.08% spent which is on track for where the spending should be this time of year. If spending were even for each month across the year then the budget would be 16.67% spent however Mrs. Steyer explained that for many of the Fiscal Year programs, spending is not consistent monthly and generally anticipated to be higher near the end of the grant period. Year to date we currently have excess revenue over expense of $14,980. Donnie Stotelmyer moved to approve the financial statements, Bob Smith seconded the motion and the motion carried. VII. Liaison/Committee and Staff Reports A. Director’s Report – Leanne Mazer offered the following reports: Legislative Report  President Trump’s FY 2020 Budget Request was released on March 11, 2019 and largely includes across the board cuts to non- defense discretionary spending. The amount of funds in the budget for ARC is the largest request ever from a president and continues to fund the POWER program. The budget also proposes the elimination of the US Department of Commerce EDA program as well as the CDBG program under HUD. It is noteworthy that both of these programs were eliminated in the President’s FY18 and FY19 budgets but were restored by Congress.  Ms. Mazer thanked Senator Edwards and Delegate Buckel for introducing bills to restore the 1.5% of proceeds from the Video Lottery Terminals across the State of Maryland to the Video Lottery Terminal Account for the Small, Minority, and Women-Owned Business Program. In fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020 those dollars were re-directed to the Education Trust Fund. On February 13, 2019 the Senate Budge and Taxation Committee held a hearing on SB 277. TCC submitted written testimony along with that from 9 of our client businesses that have used the program. On February 27, 2019 the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on HB 688. TCC again submitted written testimony along with that from 10 of our client businesses. Additionally, Jon Felton from Clatter Coffee also attended the hearing and provided testimony along with 8 other business owners from across the state that have benefitted from the VLT program. Ms. Mazer noted that referrals from existing loan clients have helped to bring new businesses to the program. It was also mentioned that marketing of this program has been limited as there are no new funding allocations coming into the program with the exception of loan repayments. Operating Report  All calendar year final reports for 2018 were completed in a timely and accurate manner with due dates of January 31, 2019.  The 2019 ARC planning grant was executed on February 19, 2019 for $155,500 utilizing $7,500 in recovered funds. The current balance in the recovered funds account is just over $40,000.  The 2019 EDA planning grant was executed on March 25, 2019 for $70,000. This is the first year of a 3 year grant period beginning January 1, 2019 and extending through December 31, 2021.  The Department of Commerce FY19 grant in place for $200,000, reporting and funding requests are current.  The MTA FY19 grant is in place for $26,000, reporting and funding requests are current.  The RMC-RMPIF – The FY 2019 grant is in place with a grant period of August 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 for $411,133. The Council budgeted $153,000 from that grant for Revolving Loan Fund capital. Additionally, the Council is using this grant to aid in the formation of a Certified Development Company which will enable the Council to provide SBA 504 loans locally. B. Revolving Loan Fund and Video Lottery Terminal Fund – Christie Wakefield reported on RLF and VLT loan fund activity for calendar year 2019. To date, the fund had 19 loan inquires resulting in 1 application. Currently there are 9 clients in various stages of working with the Council, many of which will make application in the future totaling over $1.6 million. C. Maryland Transit Administration – Leanne Mazer gave a brief overview of the Council’s role as the Regional Coordinating Body for MTA. This includes promoting programs and scoring projects from the applicants. During FY 19 and FY 20 the Council endorsed 11 applications for over $2 million in Federal Assistance. Awards for these grants will be announced in late April or early May 2019. D. ARC Project Package Update – Amy Jacobs gave a brief overview of the current process for the FY 20 Project Package. Request for projects were sent by the Counties in February with project requests due in early April. The Council expects to receive a list of ranked projects from each County by mid- May. A completed project package will be presented to the Board for consideration at the June 19, 2019 Council meeting. Approved projects will be invited to make a full application to ARC in late August. Applications should be submitted by mid-November at the latest. E. ARC Program Manager Update – Bill Atkinson reported the President’s FY 2020 budget requests $165 million for ARC which is level funding and also represents the largest request for ARC’s non-highway budget in history. The budget supports $73 million for the base programs, $50 million for a competitive POWER program, $32 million for assistance targeted to distressed communities, and $10 million focusing on workforce reentry for individuals suffering from substance abuse. Bill also reported that for FY 2019, sixteen projects have been invited to apply for funding. Of those projects 11 have been approved by ARC, 1 project has been submitted and is awaiting approval, 2 have been withdrawn by the applicant, 1 has not yet submitted an application and 1 was denied. Bill noted that ARC federal Co-Chair has set the priorities for funding as those projects that create jobs and focus on workforce development including that of transitioning substance abusers back to the workforce. Additional priorities include health care and high school programs that can demonstrate immediate impacts. Special Secretary of Smart Growth Wendi Peters gave a brief presentation on the new Appalachian Leadership Institute. This is an extensive nine month program for economic development training for community leaders that live and work in Appalachia. F. Maryland Department of Commerce – There was no report given by the Department of Commerce. G. Small Business Development Center – There was no report given by the Small Business Development Center. VIII. Unfinished Business – There was no unfinished business. IX. New Business – Chairman Shade introduced new attendees: Commissioner Wayne Keefer, Linda Spence and Tracey Salvagno. A. 2018 Year in Review The Council provided marketing data for websites, social media, newsletters and email subscribers. For 2018 there were over 8,000 web page views. An overview of the Revolving Loan Fund was given noting that only one loan was made from this fund in 2018 totaling $94,000. Several other loans were approved but died prior to settlement. Currently the fund has 16 clients with loans totaling $3.6 million. Since inception this fund has resulted in 2,290 jobs being created and 2,168 jobs being retained. An overview of the State Lottery Terminal Fund (SLoT) was given showing that over 60 inquiries were made which resulted in 6 applications. All six loans were approved and disbursed for a total of $1.52 million. Currently this fund has 20 loans totaling $3.86 million. Since inception this fund has resulted in 103 jobs created and 134 jobs retained. The Council also offers a technical assistance program for existing or new loan clients. This program was designed to ensure the success of businesses, particularly those just starting. The Council received 19 inquiries with a total of 8 engagements. Seven of those engagements are currently in progress for a total of over $31,000. Web design and branding are the most common use for this program. A presentation was also given on the FY 19 Project Package. ARC funded 11 Area Development projects and 4 access road projects totaling over $4.5 million. Projects from each county were highlighted. The annual update to the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) was presented. The Strategic Goals and Objectives remained the same as defined in 2018. Additional opportunities were included such as Autonomous Technology. The declining coal industry was included as an additional threat to the economy. Projects were also updated to include those submitted for consideration in 2019. A brief overview of the I-68 Regional Economic Partnership study was also given. The study consisted of providing a regional asset map, labor shed analysis and targeted industry study. The consultant also provided recommendations both regionally and county specific. The results were given for the FY 2018 MTA special solicitation. The Council endorsed 7 applications which received almost $700,000 in funding for vehicles, operations, maintenance, and mobility management. Tyler Patton from the Maryland Broadband Cooperative gave an update on the 2018 Western Maryland Fiber Project. The project will connect 8 business parks, bring services to at least 3 previously unconnected laterals and offer services on a Cumberland fiber footprint. Additionally, the project will offer redundancy in Garrett County and parts of Western Allegany County which is something that is almost as important to business owners as having fiber to begin with. The majority of the work is complete. Fiber splicing will be the last portion of the project and should be completed by the end of May. B. Announcements from the floor – Julianna Albowicz announced that she will be retiring on May 7, 2019. X. Adjourn – Commissioner Hinebaugh moved that the meeting be adjourned. The meeting was adjourned at 7:12 pm.