Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes I. II. III. eturns stay in the fund to invest in next stage companies -public and private contributions from each community involved and those interested in donating to economic development -fund invest $25,000 to $400,000 in any one deal -seed level investing -businesses will have to be supportive of, or in, Aerospace industry and also located in one of the communities -Aero Catalyst Fund is asking City of Oshkosh for $250,000 over 5 years ($50,000 per year) -opportunity to get the money back, but not sure how soon that will be -investment committee is chosen by board of directors and need to have aviation experience and some sense of the community -need recommendation now, but money not needed until 2019, so that they can take that commitment to others and build this fund Member comment & question: City has already utilized revolving loan fund, which limits their ability to contribute to the Capital Catalyst Fund. What is the benefit of funding another fund? Should this Aero Catalyst seek partnership with the organizations that the city is already working actively with (Greater Oshkosh EDC)? The cluster was meant to be a regional fund and the DOD has funded this project as a regional project and their concern is a lot of angst because it is too Oshkosh centric. The idea is to build it with people who have experience and GO . -oElizabeth believes other This is why they are coming to Oshkosh first. -Oshkosh can add stipulations. For example: obtain some private money first. AeroCatalyst get private money, yet, until they get some public money commitment. -money stays in their own community. Goal is 250,000 public & 750,000 private to equal 1 million in each community. Member question: What message does that say to other communities if Oshkosh makes their 50,000 contribution conditional? Elizabeth says that will provide some pressure and that is good. Member comments: -There is a lot of momentum that we can get involved in. We might miss the boat on this and we will be looking back saying we missed the boat on this. -If there is excitement in this, the private money should be there. Albert Hartman Committee/Staff concerns: -uncomfortable levying $50,000 because we would open a Pandora for gifts. For this to truly -we need concrete details of what the return looks like before we go to the next step. -n -not an investment because it may take over 15 years to see a return -would be more comfortable if private money was already there Committee consensus is to lay this over to next meeting and Director Larson & Chair Pech will talk to City Manager. Albert Hartman & Elizabeth Hartman are going to pitch to other communities. They are currently waiting to hear back from the other communities to set up meetings (if they are interested). At next meeting, they will have indications from the County and other communities and terms of the investment will be laid out. IV. any people are looking for help with funding, but 8-9 times out of 10, GO EDC does not have the correct funding for them, but it opens conversations and they can keep having conversations and have that relationship and GO EDC may be able to assist in the future. GO EDC received the first check from WEDC in Aug 2016, GO EDC gave their first grant in April 2017 followed by the first loan. $250,000 to entrepreneurs in about 10 months. The stipulation from the WEDC was that 1/3 of the WEDC portion of the award (about $42,000) be distributed in the form of grants. WEDC allows you to apply every fiscal year, so Audra is in the process of applying for round 2. This time around, GO EDC wants to avoid tapping the RLF. Ideally a smaller portion come from the RLF and pool that together from neighboring communities and also do it in their funding as well. $250,000 over 18 months was a good amount of money. $500,000 would also be good. She would like to divvy it up between 3 or 4 parties. Audra would submit a request of $125,000 to state and at the same time run it through local channels and hopefully meet up at the end like last year. Member comment & question: This is something that we can see a return on. This is successful. Can you go to them (WEDC) and ask them for $150,000 or even $200,000? Would you be comfortable doing that? Member comment & question: Suggests to Audra to leverage as much money. He also asks what the negative consequences would be to ask WEDC for $150,000 instead of $125,000. Would it affect the relationship and the next time you ask? Audra has no issue and would be comfortable doing that. Audra needs to check in with a couple other parties to see if they want to be part of the match, so less can be pulled from the RLF. what they are supposed to do in the 18 month timeframe. Once they award it, GO EDC has 18 months to commit the money. Audra says WEDC is used as intended. Audra asks if this committee is willing to match if WEDC commits $200,000. Chair Pech says it will be discussed and he will have an answer Monday afternoon. Director Larson says that approve another grant. Consensus of the committee is to have Audra ask for a little bit more from WEDC. th Chair Pech says to get it on the March 7 LRFC Agenda. V. Discuss and/or act - Recommendation to Common Council 1. Wheel Tax/Vehicle Registration Fee Director Larson recommends to the committee that make no action. Down at the State level they are still working on requiring in a referendum whether it will require a referendum. It is not a fund that is going to grow, with inflationary costs. We need to explore other avenues of new revenue creation. For revenue, Director Larson wheel tax is appropriate action at this time for the City. Chair Pech recommends 2. Report on Survey of Boards and Commissions Recommendation to make LRFC an ad hoc committee Chair Pech says the Council feedback is that LRFC should be a standing committee. LRFC will not be ad hoc. VI. VII. VIII.