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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE June 4, 2014 ROOM 404 The regular meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, June 4 2014, in Room 404, at Oshkosh City Hall, 215 Church Avenue. The meeting was called to order by Chair Tom Pech Jr., at 5:15 p.m. Members Present: Tom Pech Jr., Harold Buchholz, Bryan Schulz, Jeff Thoms, Matt Lauritch, and Doug Pearson Members Absent: Deb Allison-Aasby, Jeff Herzig, and Jason Hirschberg Staff Present: Trena Larson-Finance Director, Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant, Allen Davis-Director of Community Development, and Brenda Hicks- Sorensen-Interim Economic Development Manager Guests: Gary Gray, a Citizen of the City of Oshkosh I.APPROVAL OF MAY 7, 2013 MINUTES No changes/updates. Motion to approve minutes was made by Buchholz, Second by Thoms. Motion passed unanimously. II.CITIZEN INPUT Gary Gray of 1815 Linwood Ave., (~5:17-5:23), spoke on the WRS Pension Liability and his agreement with the City to borrow a STFL to payoff this off. Mr. Gray shared his suggestions for long term debt planning; follow best practices and GASB. Mr. Gray discussed the allowable debt by the State, which allows 5% of equalized value. If you took at look at the top ten cities, their percentage is more like 55-60%. III.ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPDATE – (~5:25 – 6:15) Director Davis and Interim Economic Development Manager, Hicks-Sorenson gave updates. Funding for Chamco has been greatly reduced. The following projects are being worked on cooperatively, the Aviation Business Park and Business Accelerator. Mr. Davis stated the development and formation of GO-EDC has accelerated. Within the last couple of months the group has focused on a strategic plan. Currently there are many stakeholders involved in GO-EDC. Member Buchholz asked which entity is really running Economic Development. Director Davis stated The City. Hicks-Sorensen’s primary focus is working on GO-EDC, Revolving Loan Fund and Business Expansion. Chair Pech clarified GO-EDC is a public and private partnership consisting of many partners; The City, Chamco, Business Leaders, OASD, FVTC, WPSC to name a few. Member Thoms questioned how this is any different from what we’ve done in the past. Is the goal to target specific businesses with proposals and plans? Are we using the same tools and not just sitting and waiting? Director Davis explained the advantage is we have Hicks-Sorensen and all of her experience. Member Pech explained it has been made eminently clear to Council the departments goal is to “identify” and “target”. The second stage for the department is to identify target industry, and recruit businesses that could supply these companies. Member Thoms stated there is no reason we can’t identify and target supply chains that feed businesses like Mercury Marine, Oshkosh Corp, Alliance etc. Hicks-Sorensen stated, the Target Market Analysis is pretty broad, usually 250 miles within the Oshkosh area. Member Pearson shared he feels it was very decisive of the City to step into GO-EDC and made an excellent choice to hire interim Hicks-Sorensen as she has experience in the City, County, and local environments. Pearson feels there was too much talk for the past two years regarding who is going to sit in which chair and do which role. Member Schulz would like the targeting to include professional services, high cash businesses. Director Davis stated a goal is to retain the highly trained professionals and to retain more of our graduates. Hicks-Sorensen stated they are really taking a look at service providers, professional services and focusing on these areas. Goal is successful retention/continuum. Member Buchholz shared that he has some supply chain experience and wondered where the role of “Event City” in all of this is. Member Pech explained that is really a role of Convention and Visitor Bureau. Director Davis concurred it is not really a role of the City. Member Thoms stated we cannot really ignore or discount tourism as a part of Economic Development in the City. Infrastructure is needed to support the “events”, e.g. support County USA. If adequate infrastructure is in place, then more venues will partake; this recreation is a part of what attracts businesses. Development is not just businesses; it could be a residential community, as they add property value. Member Pech stated Community Development is doing a lot of the residential attraction with Rental Rehab and the Neighborhood Revitalization. Member Lauritch brought up whether there is concern with all of the consolidation, too many cooks in the kitchen, do we need to simplify, have some sort of “hook”. Director Davis stated there is not a marketing plan yet. Now the plan is “targeting”. Thoms stated, look at who is here, what makes them tick, what are they looking for? Need the “hook”. Member Pech brought up the Dealer Fire business coming to Main Street and the revitalization of the top two floors being remodeled for just their employees that are coming to Oshkosh. Director Davis stated they are developing performance metrics, business expansion and retention plan, the goal is to have 150 businesses in the plan. Pearson stated a good example is Perfecseal expanding within the City of Oshkosh. Member Buchholz questioned where the Regional Revolving Loan Fund is at. Director Davis stated the City is staying away from it until the State gets everything figured out. Suggestions were for the City to get their own Revolving Loan Fund. DOA / CDBG to name a few all fell in the eyes of the Federal Government. One hundred and twelve million in funds were involved at the State level. Director Davis stated they never threw the City’s money in. Those would have been the funds from some of the TIF closings. Director Davis still would like that $800,000 to go towards our own fund. There are two more TIF’s closing and would hope to get our funds over one million. Member Schulz stated his interest in an Advisory Committee if one is established. Member Pech told Director Davis and Hicks-Sorensen it would be beneficial to get in touch with the County as they have their own fund. Member Pearson agreed. Director Davis would like to present to committee at their next meeting more detail on the Oshkosh Revolving Loan Fund and the Strategic Plan. IV.WRS PENSION LIABILITY – (6:15 – 6:40) Director Larson gave an overview of the history of this liability. Payments being made by the City liability currently cover a portion of the interest payments but do not reduce the principal. If liability is borrowed through a State Trust Fund Loan, General Obligation Debt, $10,513,576, it would be fully paid off in twenty years. Member Thoms concern is all we are really doing is shifting the problem. Larson explained this is a “plan” to address this liability and Moody’s wants to see a plan. Moody’s looks at it as favorable to be addressing this liability. Member Schulz does not truly see the advantage. Member Thoms is concerned with the task of getting GO Debt to 70% and how this will affect that goal given to the Manager. Director Larson wants to give this to Council the second meeting in June, looking for committee direction. Committee consensus was to proceed with the loan. Pearson moved and Schulz seconded, all were in favor to proceed. V.ADJOURMENT . Motion by Pearson, Second by Schulz to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously Meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.