PRESENT ON CONFERENCE CALL:

DAVE D’AMORE, CHAIRMAN
­­­JOE SEMIONE, VICE CHAIRMAN
TODD RULISON, TREASURER
JANE KELLEY, SECRETARY
TIM MUNN, MEMBER
MIKE FITZGERALD, MEMBER
JAMES MRAZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
KARA LAIS, FITZGERALD, MORRIS, BAKER, FIRTH PC
SCOTT HENZE, PLANNING DIRECTOR
TRAVIS MITCHELL, FULTON COUNTY CENTER FOR REGIONAL GROWTH
JOHN BLACKMON, LIAISON, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

Jim Mraz:  We have joining today’s meeting Travis Mitchell representing the Center for Regional Growth and Mr. Blackmon is here representing the Board of Supervisors.  Let’s have a roll call vote to get started.

Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

Jim Mraz:  Joe Gillis cannot join us today.  He’s on duty at the Fire Department.

MOTION                    :           Accept as presented.

MADE BY                  :           Mike Fitzgerald
SECONDED               :           Todd Rulison
ROLL CALL VOTE   :
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

NOTE: A transcript of the August 11, 2020 meeting has been prepared and posted on the IDA’s website in compliance with Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order suspending the Open Meetings Law.

Jim Mraz:  Alright.  Minutes from the August 11^th meeting.  You’ve received and reviewed those.  Are there any comments or changes that need to be made.  Hearing none.  Would someone make a motion to approve the minutes?

Mike Fitzgerald:  I’ll make a motion.

Todd Rulison:  I’ll second.

Jim Mraz:   Roll call vote to approve.

MOTION        :           Accept as presented.

MADE BY      :           Jane Kelley
SECONDED   :           Tim Munn
ROLL CALL VOTE   :
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

Jim Mraz: Budget Report is attached to your Agenda.  A fairly straight forward Budget Report.  Interest earnings of $80.40 on the revenue side and, on the expenditure side, salaries and expenses at Tryon, which included mowing under our contract and the appraisals that we had conducted on the three (3) buildings that was authorized at your last meeting.  And last was a payment for work on updating the IDA website.  As you see, the revenue and expense that has been associated with electricity for Vireo Health is gone, which is a result of that new….  Any questions on this month’s Budget Report?  Hearing none, would someone make a motion to approve the report?

Jane Kelley:  I’ll make the motion.

Jim Mraz:  Jane Kelley.  Is there a second to that?

Tim Munn:  Second.

Jim Mraz:  Tim Munn.  Do a roll call vote.

A. Nominating Committee

• No report.

B. Audit Committee:

• Monthly Bank Reconciliation Report: Dave D’Amore

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  Committee Reports.  The Monthly Bank Reconciliation Reports.  Dave D’Amore, did you have you had a chance to look at those?

Dave D’Amore:  Yeah.  They were fine.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  Very good.

C. Governance Committee:

• No report.

D. Finance Committee:

•  No report.

1. Fulton County Report: John Blackmon, Liaison
2. FCCRG Report: Travis Mitchell

Jim Mraz:  Moving onto Other Reports.  John Blackmon.  Liaison report from the Board of Supervisors?  Anything to report today?

John Blackmon:  Not a lot.  The next Board meeting is not until next Monday.  We had our budget review 2 weeks ago.  Virtually, no departments asked for any increases in money for next year, understandably.  FMCC has postponed every project this year until next year because they’re getting no State matching funds.  I do not have good figures yet for how far down the sales taxes are for the County.  We know they’re down, I just don’t know by how much.  And one interesting thing that has come up the last couple of weeks is that houses in Gloversville are selling like hotcakes.  Almost every house that has been put on the market, especially in the better neighborhoods, have been selling almost immediately for the last couple of months now.  So, that’s quite a change for Gloversville.

Jim Mraz:  Thanks, John.  And talking with a couple of local attorneys, both indicating that the real estate market, Countywide, is pretty active right now.

John Blackmon:  I don’t know if that’s people trying to move out of the urban areas to more remote areas or not.  But, again, and places on the Sacandaga, you can’t even get and they’re getting top dollar if not more.

Dave D’Amore:  What I’ve heard is that there is a fair number of people coming up from downstate and the City looking to get out of New York City to find more peaceful environments for their families, so they’re buying homes up here.  I don’t think we’re the only community seeing this.

John Blackmon:  Well, probably not, but I think, as you know, Gloversville has had a hard time selling houses for a quite a few years here now.  So, this is quite a turnaround for Gloversville.

Jim Mraz:  Let’s hope it continues.  Travis, the CRG Report, anything to offer?

Travis Mitchell:  Sure, I’ve got a few things.  Thanks for having me.  Out at the Tryon Technology Park, marketing out there, you may have seen, about 2 weeks ago now, an e-mail blast went out Tryon Technology Park advertising the shovel-ready sites there and it hits about 500 recipients.  As far as our building at 34 West Fulton Street, there’s been some demolition work in the back there, that building that’s been done and cleaned up now and continuing to work on the façade on the front of it.  Microenterprise Grant Programs – A couple of checks were presented within the last couple of weeks to   Frank’s Gun Shop and Austin’s Glass.  We usually do these monthly business tours for elected officials and others.  Those are being put on hold with the COVID issues.  Various Community Assistance Programs, continuing to work with Gloversville, of course, on the WRP (Waterfront Revitalization Program), the VRI Initiative.  Let’s see, out in Mayfield, we attended, a couple of representatives attended a soft opening for the Great Sacandaga Brewery.  I think they, maybe over this past weekend, had their hard opening.   Out in Dolgeville, working with Herkimer County IDA, on a potential joint project that’s on the Fulton County/Herkimer County line.  We had a meeting on that last week.  Working with Mohawk Valley capital partner approved by the Economic Development Administration for $2 million working capital that should be available in the next couple of weeks to be able to tap into.  MVEDD was awarded $2 million working capital that’s available to any project out in those counties.  They are working on pay back terms and details now.  As far as business marketing and business recruitment, continue to work with various leads and businesses around the County looking for spaces and trying to find matches for them.  Wrapping up, the Fulton County Business Magazine initiative that Ken and Ron have been working on, the plan is to have that distributed locally, Statewide and nationally, I guess, to various site selectors.  That should be ready in the next month or so I believe.  Continuing general marketing and developer relationships.  Let’s see, as far as 2020 business events, the Aim Workforce Program that’s in the second phase now, second round of meetings with different businesses.  That’s a program out at the Mohawk Valley Community College and looking for workforce.  They now have contracts with six (6) different businesses in Fulton County and trying to line up some work.  Last one I guess, a joint Johnstown and Gloversville Town Hall style meeting planned for September 23^rd at the Holiday Inn.  This comes out of a successful, similar event just for Gloversville looking for what businesses in the area, what they need, just trying to understand a little bit about their needs in that Town Hall style form.   And that wraps up our report.  Any questions?

Jim Mraz:  Oh, good.  Thanks, Travis.

Travis Mitchell:  You’re welcome.

1. Background:

• At its November 12, 2019 meeting, IDA Board hired Emery Designs to update IDA’s website.
• Executive Director has been participating in weekly Conference Calls with Emery Designs to discuss various issues.
• At its January 14, 2020 meeting, the IDA Board agreed to consolidate the information on the Tryon Technology Park website (tryontechnologypark.com) into the IDA’s website (fcida.org) but retain the domain name Tryon Technology Park.

2. Status Report:

• In response to the COVID Pandemic, Emery Designs is working on adding narrative/graphics to the Home page emphasizing that Fulton County is a safe, healthy, low-risk place to live/do business.
• Emery Designs is recommending that the IDA join LinkedIn and advertise on it.
• Emery Designs is obtaining cost estimates for advertisements.
• Developing flow chart of Fulton County’s Economic Development Program and summary of everyone’s roles to put on website.

Jim Mraz:  Moving onto Old Business.  Continuing to updating the IDA’s website.  One of the things we talked with Betsy Emery about, in response to this COVID pandemic, adding some narrative/graphics to our Home page emphasizing that Fulton County is a safe, healthy, low-risk place to live and do business.  Kind of what Dave, what you just mentioned, there seems to be folks looking for places to move out of in big cities and maybe trying to latch onto that movement, but having that point of emphasis placed on our Home page, so when someone comes to that, they are going to see some buzz words: “healthy” “safe” something of that nature that may grab their attention.  Is that something you folks would be okay with or is that not what the IDA’s website should be dealing with or should that be someplace else?  I just wanted to toss that out there to see what your thoughts were.

Jane Kelley:  I think any time you can say that and, it is true, our numbers are down, here in terms of COVID, it is a safe and healthy place to be.  So, I would think those buzz words would be good.  We’re trying to attract business, right, so those would be helpful I think.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.

Dave D’Amore:  My only concern, Jim, was the possibility of being a little specific about COVID concerns.

Jim Mraz:  I wouldn’t mention the word COVID.

Dave D’Amore:  No, I understand, but “safe”, “healthy” and “low-risk” place.  “Safe” and “healthy”
seemed reasonable to me.  “Low-risk” seemed a little…

Jane Kelley:  Risky?

(laughter)

Dave D’Amore:  Yeah, it just didn’t seem to be…  What exactly does that mean?  So, I think “safe”, “healthy”.

Jim Mraz:  Any other buzz words, folks?

John Blackmon:  Housing market is up.

Jane Kelley:  Probably say “beautiful location”.  We probably say “Foothills of the Adirondacks”.  Right?  We always try to brag about that.  That we are a geographically beautiful place.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.

Dave D’Amore:  I do think if it’s in with the theme of what the County is trying to market for some time.  And that is doing that 180 from your busy hectic life and finding a quieter place to reside and work and recreate.

Jim Mraz:  “Quieter”.  I like that.  Very good. Well, then we’ll continue to work on that.  Also, what Betsy is recommending and she’s going to be presenting a proposal to the Board later this year and that is for the IDA to join LinkedIn and to actually start doing some advertising on LinkedIn, and we will talk about that a little bit further when we talk about out budget for next year.  And the other thing, David had made a comment when he was looking at our website about the need to have some type of a flowchart that shows and describes Fulton County’s Economic Development Program.  I thought that was a great observation.  We all understand what our program consists of, but somebody from a business from outside the area who’s not familiar with us, when they start hearing CRG, IDA, EDC and all this, they don’t understand that.  So, we’re working on some narrative right now to address that so that when someone comes onto our website and see all these different names, there will be an explanation there so that folks can understand who the various players are in our Economic Development Program.

Dave D’Amore:  And, Jim, I’ve been looking at that and I think it’s a good start.  I’m still struggling a little bit to graphically depict.  Looking for that sweet spot that I think accurately depicts the relationship between the organizations involved.  I haven’t had a moment to really sketch anything out that would be responsive to your request for feedback.  I think the descriptions you’ve got there look fine.  I’d like to have the graphic piece of that tightened up a little bit.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  What I’d like to do, Dave, is…  Folks, we’ve prepared a 1^st draft of this flowchart and narrative.  I’ll send it around to everybody to take a look at.  I’ll send that out later today and ask you to take a look.  Again, the upper part is this flowchart, which is crude at best right now.  So, I think that’s what Dave is talking about is trying to come up with something that will better display graphically how this program works and how it fits all together.       So, I would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions that you may have.  And once we get something tightened up, then we’ll send it out to the CRG, the Chamber and the Board of Supervisors for them to take a look at also.  I want to make sure it’s in a format that we’re comfortable with to start.

1. Background:

• At its April 14, 2020 meeting, the IDA Board authorized the Chairman to execute a Listing Agreement with Cushman Wakefield to market Tryon.
• Listing Agreement has been executed.

2. Status Report:

• Cushman Wakefield has listed Tryon’s shovel-ready land and the two (2) buildings onto their website as follows:
  – The land is listed at $27,500 per acre.
  – The 15,000+/- sf Building 60/the former Maintenance Shop is listed at $150,000.
  – The 15,000+/- sf portion of Building 3 referred to as the Midas Building is listed at $350,000.

• Cushman Wakefield has advised that there is a party interested in several existing buildings.

Jim Mraz:  Next, is our Cushman Wakefield update and we will discuss that in Executive Session.

1. Background:

• IDA Board retained Coldwell Banker Arlene M. Sitterly to market the 27+/- acre parcel of land on the south side of CR107.
• The IDA Board received four (4) formal offers to purchase the property. One of the offers was subsequently withdrawn.

2. May 12, 2020 IDA Board Meeting:

• At its May 12, 2020 meeting, the IDA Board unanimously agreed to accept the offer from Squires/McCashion.

3. June 9, 2020 IDA Board Meeting:

• On May 22, 2020, Dave Huckans/Dr. Shri Verma submitted a revised offer to the IDA. Revised offer increased purchase price from $30,000 to $90,000 with no contingencies.
• On June 8, 2020, Clayt Sitterly emailed the IDA advising that his clients, Squires/McCashion, had decided to not pursue its project and was therefore withdrawing its offer to purchase the 27+/- acres on the south side of CR107.
• At its June 9, 2020 meeting, the IDA Board agreed to meet with Mr. Huckans and Dr. Verma to discuss their revised proposal.

4. July 14, 2020 Meeting:

• On June 12, 2020, IDA representatives met with Dave Huckans, Dr. Verma and Baljit Verma to discuss their revised offer.
• Their plan for the property includes the following:

– Create a business to manufacture and distribute probiotics.
– Promote organic farming and use the site as a hub for selling organic farm-to-table products.
– Relocate an existing business to the site.

• On June 15, 2020, a request was made to Dave Huckans and Dr. Verma to prepare and submit to the IDA a more detailed business plan.
• On June 15, 2020, several questions were asked of the IDA about the property. Responses were provided on June 16, 2020.
• National Grid came to the site on June 23, 2020 to mark the location of their gas mains.
• On June 24, 2020, Dave Huckans called to ask that the utility rooms to the existing buildings be opened so he and Gloversville Water Department could see where water lines entered each building. Those utility rooms were opened the same day.
• On July 7, 2020, Dave Huckans submitted a revised business plan summarizing how they intend to develop the site. Revised plan was submitted and reviewed at July 14, 2020 meeting.
• At July 14, 2020 meeting, IDA Board authorized its Chairman to execute a Purchase Contract for the sale of these 27+/- acres to Huckans/Verma.

5. August 11, 2020 Meeting:

• Purchase Contract has yet to be signed by Verma/Huckans.
• Responded to series of questions submitted by Dave Huckans.
• Conducted conference call on August 3, 2020 with Dave Huckans and Paul Kolodziej, his attorney.
• Huckans is seeking additional information on three (3) items:

1. Estimated IDA legal fees that Mr. Huckans will be responsible for paying.
2. Verification that the Town of Perth or Fulton County will take over ownership of access driveway.
3. Verification that this parcel will be included in proposed Fulton County Sewer District No. 4.

• Mr. Huckans advised that these issues need to be addressed in order for them to execute the Purchase Contract.
• IDA Board agreed to ask Verma/Huckans to submit a signed Purchase Contract to the IDA by August 18, 2020.

6. Update:

• Executed Purchase Contract was received on August 18, 2020.
• Chairman D’Amore executed the Purchase Contract and it was returned on August 21, 2020.
• Deposit check has been received and is being held by Coldwell Banker.
• Purchase Contract included three (3) conditions:

1. Estimated IDA legal fees that Mr. Huckans will be responsible for paying.
2. Verification that this parcel will be included in proposed Fulton County Sewer District No. 4.
3. Verification that the Town of Perth or Fulton County will take over ownership of access driveway.

• Item #1 has been addressed. Kara Lais sent an estimate to Paul Kolodziej, the Purchaser’s attorney.
• Item #2 has been addressed. On August 18, 2020, Jim Mraz e-mailed Dave Huckans a map showing that the parcel was included in proposed Fulton County Sewer District No. 4.
• Item #3 still needs to be addressed by the Buyers prior to closing.
• Purchase Contract stipulates that the closing shall be on or before September 30, 2020.
• Purchase Contract says the attorneys for Seller and Buyer had to agree to all matters by September 1, 2020. On September 1, 2020, Kara Lais sent e-mail to Paul Kolodziej, the Buyer’s Attorney, identifying several modifications to Purchase Contract.
• Purchase Contract says the Seller shall cooperate in providing any survey to the Purchaser and that the Purchaser shall pay for the cost of updating any such survey or the cost of a new survey. On September 2, 2020, Jim Mraz sent Dave Huckans a copy of the Boundary Survey Map Ferguson & Foss prepared when the IDA took title to property from New York State showing the parcel on the south side of CR107 as well as a written description.
• Dave Huckans met with David Dopp, Town of Perth Highway Superintendent, to discuss having Town take over road.
• David Dopp said owner of road must request Town take over.
• As current owner, IDA must submit request to Town of Perth.

Jim Mraz:  For the lands on the south side of CR107.  Just to bring you up to speed.  At your last meeting, you agreed to ask the purchasers to submit a signed Purchase Contract to the IDA by August 18^th.  That executed contract was received by that date.  The Chairman executed that contract and it was returned on August 21.  And the deposit check referenced in the Purchase Contract has been received and is being held by Coldwell Banker.  The contract included three (3) conditions:

1. The estimated IDA legal fees that the purchaser would be responsible for paying should be identified.
2. They wanted verification that this parcel will be included in proposed Fulton County Sewer District No. 4.
3. And they wanted verification that either the Town of Perth or Fulton County would take over ownership of the access road that traverses through that parcel.

Upon receiving those three (3) conditions, the first one has been addressed.  Kara sent her estimate to Paul Kolodziej, the purchaser’s attorney, so that issue has been addressed.  Item #2 has also been addressed.  Several weeks ago, I e-mailed Dave Huckans a map done by the Environmental Design Partnership Group that the County hired to prepare the Map, Plan and Report for proposed Fulton County Sewer District No. 4 showing that that parcel will be included within that Sewer District.  Mr. Huckans responded by saying that that was acceptable and that addressed Item #2.  Item #3 still needs to be addressed by the buyers prior to closing, and the Purchase Contract stipulates that the closing shall be on or before September 30^th of this month.  The Contract also says that the attorneys for the Seller and Buyer had to agree to all matters by September 1.  Kara sent Paul Kolodziej, that day, a series of proposed modifications to the Purchase Contract.  So, Kara upheld our side of that stipulation in the Contract.  Kara, did you hear anything back from Paul on those?

Kara Lais:  I have not.  I’ll follow-up with him today though.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  The Contract also said that the Seller shall cooperate in providing any surveys to the Purchaser, and the Purchaser shall pay for the cost of updating any of those surveys.  Last week, I sent Dave Huckans a copy of the boundary survey that Ferguson and Foss prepared when the IDA took title to the property from the State that showed the parcel on the south side of CR107, as well as a written description.  So, again, we fulfilled our obligation per that Purchase Contract.  Late last week, Dave Huckans met with David Dopp, the Town of Perth’s Highway Superintendent, to discuss the Town taking over ownership of that road.  Mr. Huckans was advised that two (2) things would have to happen for the Town to consider taking it over.  One was that the road would have to be upgraded to the Town’s specifications, and Mr. Dopp advised Mr. Huckans of what that would entail.  And that, secondly, the current owner of the land upon which the road sits on, which is the IDA, would have to formally ask the Town to take the road over.  It can’t come from the proposed purchaser of the land.  The request has to come from the current owner which would be us.  So, what I’m going to ask you for is for a motion to approve sending a request to the Town of Perth that they take over ownership of this road as part of this proposed sale of this 27 acres to Tryon Organics Enterprises, which is the corporate name of who would be purchasing this property.  So, questions, discussion.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Jim, I guess my question is we put in the request, is Huckans Group still going to be responsible for the upgrades?

Jim Mraz: Yes.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Because I don’t think the Town is going to expect it until it is done.

Jim Mraz:  That is absolutely correct and Dave understands that, and the letter that we would send would stipulate that.  Okay?  Any other questions?

Tim Munn:  What’s the overall condition of that road, Jim?  Is it in need of repaving?

Jim Mraz:  Yes.  And I didn’t get the details, Tim, from Mr. Huckans, other than to say that he and the Town Highway Superintendent discussed what would need to be done.  They worked out an estimated cost based upon that work, and it’s really up to Mr. Huckans and his partners to decide whether they want to make that investment in that road, which they still need to do but, in the meantime, the town has said in order for us to consider that, the request has to come from the current owner which is the IDA.  So, the request would be specific to this proposed purchase.  Alright, it would be tied to them purchasing the property.  If they walked away, for example, the request would go away.  Okay?  Any other questions?

Mike Fitzgerald:  I guess it’s just my feeling that…  Should that request really come from us or should it come from Huckans and his group after they purchase the property?  Because the Town of Perth is not going vote to accept that road until the work’s done.  To me it’s kind of like a mute point that we’re making the request when we know the road currently is not in a position to be accepted.

Jim Mraz:  It’s pretty typical, Mike, when they do a subdivision.  The person proposing the subdivision wants and needs that assurance that, if they build this road to the Town’s spec, that the Town will take it over.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Okay.

Jim Mraz:  So, this is kind of the same thing.  It’s a condition to this purchase.  So, Mr. Huckans is saying he will purchase this property if he has to update this road, but when it’s done, the Town will take it over.  We’re being asked to do this because this is what the Town says they want to have.  Okay?

Mike Fitzgerald:  Okay.

Jim Mraz:  Would someone be willing to make a motion to authorize the Chairman to send a letter to the Town of Perth asking that the Town take over ownership of this road on the south side of CR107?

Joe Semione:  I’ll make that motion.

Jim Mraz:  Would someone second that motion?

Todd Rulison:  I will second it.

Jim Mraz:  Todd Rulison.  Okay.  Let’s do a roll call vote please.

IDA ACTION:

MOTION:            To authorize the Chairman to send a letter to the Town of Perth asking that the Town take over ownership of the road on the parcel of land on the south side of CR107 across from the entrance to the Tryon Technology Park that the IDA has received an offer on to purchase.

MADE BY:         Joseph Semione
SECONDED:       Todd Rulison
ROLL CALL VOTE:
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

Jim Mraz:   Very good.  Dave, I’ll have that letter ready sometime today or tomorrow.

Dave D’Amore:  That’s fine.  You get it to me before like mid afternoon today, I’d be able to respond.  Otherwise, I will be out late this afternoon into the evening and most of tomorrow morning into the afternoon.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  Then I’ll make a point to get it to you by noontime today.

Dave D’Amore:  Okay.

1. Status Report:

• Nexus Renewables still working with Town Planning Board to obtain local approvals.
• Jim Mraz e-mailed proposed Site Plan, Decommissioning Plan and Decommissioning Cost Estimate to IDA Board members on September 4, 2020 to review.
• Review Decommissioning Plan.

Jim Mraz:  Okay, the next, under Old Business, is the proposed Nexus Renewables Solar Project.  Nexus is still working with the Town Johnstown Planning Board to obtain their approvals.  I did request and receive from them and forwarded to everyone, last week, the proposed Decommissioning Plan, Decommissioning Cost Estimate and Site Plan for you folks to take a look at.  I’ve gone through and have a number of comments on this document.  The Town Planning Board will be meeting tonight and will commence its review of this Decommissioning Plan.  I don’t know if anyone had an opportunity to take a look at this but, if you did, and you have any comments on it, I would appreciate hearing those now.

Dave D’Amore:    Jim, I had a chance to skim it.  I didn’t see anything in there in the brief time I had to review it that was an obvious error or omission of any kind.  I am curious, are there standards by which the Town is looking for that Decommissioning Plan to meet?  Or is it just the proposer makes the proposal and the Town evaluates it at face value?

Jim Mraz:  That’s pretty much how it goes, Dave.  The Town has approved several of these, so they have experience, they understand what these need to consist of.  It will be also reviewed by the Town Attorney, Leah Everhart, who again has done this several times, so she’s got a pretty good feel for what these plans need to include or not.  There were a couple of things from my standpoint.  You know, when you, the cost estimate.  There are two (2) parts of this Plan.  One is all of the language that, here is what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, when we’re going to do it, this that and whatever.  The second part which is really the most important part, the engineers have to go through and estimate what the cost will be today to remove everything that’s going to be installed, and they come up with that number and then they inflate that a certain percentage each year out to the length of the term of the lease.  Alright?  And so, that in year 25, whatever the length of the lease term, they project out what would be the cost at that time, in that year, to do the decommissioning.  And so that’s the dollar value that has to be in place and available 25 years from now to do this decommissioning.  Okay?  And the engineers have provided that and it looks reasonable.  I don’t have a real basis for contesting it but in the written Plan, for example, it says the maturity date of the Lease of 25 years.  Well, that is the base term of our Lease with Nexus, but it also has three (3) 5-year renewable options.  So, this cost estimate really needs to be extended out to 40 years because that’s how long this Lease could go.  Okay?  So, that was one of things I’m going to comment on.  The second, it says this Decommissioning Plan may be subject to revision based on new standards and emergency best management practices at the time of decommissioning.  Understood.  But you have to add in there subject to the approval of the Town of Johnstown and the IDA.  Just because there’s a new best management practice, if the Town or the IDA doesn’t think it’s the right thing to do, it shouldn’t be done.  So, again, those are some of the comments that I have.  So, there’s a few other miscellaneous things I’d like to share with the Planning Board if that’s okay with everybody.  And, I guess, Kara, I have a question for you.  Should the IDA Board, because this decommissioning is going to be on our property, should we be approving this Plan also?

Kara Lais:  I think so.  I think that’s probably a good idea.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  I do, too.

Kara Lais:  Yeah.

Jim Mraz:  So, what I think we need to do is to work together with the Town Planning Board.  I think both of us should be approving the same document.  So, I’ll share these comments with them.  The Town Planning Board will probably have some comments themselves tonight, and then we’ll ask Nexus to make these revisions and get back to us and we can look to approve this at our next meeting.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Jim, I had just a couple of observations when I read through it.  The beneficiary of the bond they’re posting is going to be the IDA, correct?

Jim Mraz:  That’s a good question.  It has to be.. The Town has to… Per the Town’s zoning requirements, they have to be the beneficiary.  Okay?

Mike Fitzgerald:  Okay.

Jim Mraz:  We will add ourselves as one, too.  I think that’s one of my comments.

Mike Fitzgerald:  I was thinking that because, if we’re the owner of the property, and the Town may come back to us and say there’ a bond available, but IDA, it’s your property, figure out how to decommission if anything happened to Nexus Renewables.

Jim Mraz:  Correct.  That’s exactly one of my comments.  They have to say that the Town is a beneficiary because the Town’s Zoning requirements state that that’s such.  From our standpoint, because it’s going to be on our land, I think we should also be the beneficiary, too.

Mike Fitzgerald:  And then I saw that the access road will probably remain, which I’m not opposed to.

Jim Mraz:  That’s funny because in the language it says it will be retained, but in the cost estimate, they included the cost of taking it out in the cost estimate.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Okay.  And the other thing I thought mentioned a pole.  Would those be overhead transmission lines?

Jim Mraz:  Yeah, on their property.  Anywhere in the Tryon Technology Park property, everything has to be underground.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Yeah, that’s what my understanding was.

Jim Mraz:  But on their property, on the property they are going to be leasing, there can be overhead poles.

Mike Fitzgerald:  Okay.

Jim Mraz:  Okay?  Any other comments?  Very good.  We will come back next month with hopefully that as an action item to approve.

1. Background:

• In 2008, the IDA issued $5,450,000 in Civic Facilities Bonds to the Fulton County YMCA to construct their new facility on Harrison Street.
• The Bonds were purchased by NBT Bank.
• The Bonds are scheduled to mature on July 1, 2030.

2. COVID-19 Pandemic:

a. Initial Bond Payment Deferral:

• As a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the YMCA has been closed.
• On May 4, 2020, Chris Defibaugh, CEO of the YMCA, contacted Jim Mraz to advise that the YMCA applied to NBT Bank for a 3-month deferral of its principal and interest payment due NBT.
• The deferral would be for a 3-month period of April 1 – June 30.
• The deferral would result in the maturity date of the bonds being changed from July 1, 2030 to October 1, 2030.
• The IDA Board, at its May meeting, authorized having a letter sent to NBT Bank stating it supported this 3-month deferral.

b. 2^nd Bond Payment Deferral:

• On August 14, 2020, Chris Defibaugh contacted Jim Mraz advising that the YMCA had applied to NBT Bank for a 2^nd bond deferral payment.
• The deferral would be for a 3-month period of July 1 – September 30.
• The deferral would result in the maturity date of the bonds being changed from October 1, 2030 to January 1, 2031.
• NBT Bank would like another letter from the IDA advising if it supports this 2^nd

Jim Mraz:  Moving on to New Business, Fulton County YMCA Project.  As you recall, a couple of months ago, we received a request to endorse the YMCA’s request to NBT Bank for a 3-month deferral of its principal and interest payment on the bonds that they have.  The IDA Board approved that and a letter was sent to NBT Bank stating such.  Several weeks ago, I got a call from Chris, again, from the Y, saying that they are applying to the Bank for a second bond deferral payment.  This one, again, would be for a 3-month period and this would extend the maturity date of the bonds from October 1 to January 1, 2031.  I spoke with Mike Pepe from the Bank, and he, again, asked if the IDA Board would send him a letter advising that it supports this request for a 2^nd deferral.  So, any questions on this request?  There are none.  Would someone make a motion to authorize the Executive Director to send NBT Bank a letter stating that the Board consents to this request for a second deferral.

Todd Rulison:  I’ll make that motion, Jim.

Jane Kelley:  I’ll second it.

Jim Mraz:  Let’s do a roll call vote.

IDA ACTION:

MOTION:                   To authorize the Executive Director to send a letter to NBT Bank advising that the IDA Board supports this second deferral.

MADE BY:                 Todd Rulison
SECONDED:              Jane Kelley
ROLL CALL VOTE:
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

Jim Mraz:  Okay.

1. Survey Findings:

a. Suburbs, Mid-Size Cities and Rural Areas Will be the Next Winners for Corporate Location Projects

•  The pandemic has brought suburban areas and mid-size cities into the forefront of consideration for future site selection projects.
• Rural areas are now well ahead of large urban areas.
• Consultants indicated that New York would be hit especially hard among the nation’s largest cities.
• Of the consultants who agreed that large urban centers are “not at all” or “unlikely” to be considered for future projects, 100% said that New York City would be among the least likely locations to be considered for future projects in the next 12 months.

b. Consultants Report 61% of Site Selection Projects are Moving Forward

• Office projects will remain on hold until there is a clearer understanding on what the “office of the future” will look like and footprint requirements.
• Manufacturing will continue to be driven by the need to de-risk the global supply chain.
• There will be an accelerated rate of reshoring as well as more, smaller regional facilities to mitigate risk.

c. Food and Beverage Processing Emerges as Hot Industry, Biotech and Manufacturing Activity Continue to Hold Strong

• In June, the food and beverage processing industry saw the largest increase in project activity when compared to the April survey.
• The top five most active industries – with comparisons to Guild member selections in April – are listed below:

1. Biotech and Life Sciences – 67% (down from 68%)
2. Advanced Manufacturing – 51% (up from 29%)
3. Food and Beverage Processing – 47% (up from 16%)
4. Transportation and Logistics – 44% (down from 48%)
5. Software and IT – 31% (up from 19%)

d. Economic Developers Should Begin Shifting Focus Back to Business Attraction

• Guild members believe an economic development organization’s (EDO) priority focus in the COVID-19 environment should be on:

1. Business retention
2. Workforce development/talent attraction
3. Business attraction

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  Next item on the Agenda.  Just some information that came across my desk.  The Site Selectors Guild, that’s the group of national and international corporate Site Selectors that had a survey done recently and just thought some of the results of their survey from what their seeing and observing and trends would be of interest.  The first one, Suburbs, Mid-Size Cities and Rural Areas Will be the Next Winners for Corporate Location Projects.  The Pandemic has brought suburban areas and mid-size cities into the forefront of consideration for future Site Selection projects.  Rural areas are now well ahead of large urban areas.  Consultants indicate that New York City would be hit especially hard among the nation’s largest cities.  And of the consultants who agreed that large urban centers are not at all or unlikely to be considered for future projects, 100% said that New York City would be amongst the least likely location to be considered for future projects in the next 12 months.   Again, just as a short-term projection, but what I’m interpreting this is, there’s a window, for a period of time, where Corporate Site Selectors are going to be giving consideration to rural areas for location decisions.  Second, office projects will remain on hold until there is a clearer understanding on what the “office of the future” will look like and the footprint requirements.  And I think we all agree that the whole outlook of offices and where people are going to be working is going to change dramatically.  How that’s going to shake out in time will be determined.  Manufacturing will continue to be driven by the need to de-risk the global supply chain.  And there will be an accelerated rate of reshoring as well as more, smaller regional facilities to mitigate risk.  And then on, the last part was, the five (5) industry sectors that these Corporate Site Selectors identified are going to be the most active in the months ahead.

1. Biotech and Life Sciences
2. Advanced Manufacturing
3. Food and Beverage Processing
4. Transportation and Logistics
5. Software and IT

As I mentioned, I think that’s important because Food and Beverage Processing is one of the targeted industries that DCG Corplan, when they did our Targeted Industry Analysis.  It’s an Industry Cluster that would do well here in Fulton County particularly at the Tryon Technology Park.  So, that technology sector is going to be growing and rural areas are going to be attractive to these Industry Clusters.  Again, maybe an opportunity here for us.  And, lastly, the Corporate Site Selectors saying that economic developers should begin shifting focus back to business attraction.  Over the last four (4) months or so, their focus has said you have to work on business retention.  You have to do the things you have to do to keep businesses afloat and keep the ones that you have in business.  Now, starting to get back into business attraction.  So, for what that’s worth, these are what the best of the best, the biggest of the biggest Corporate Site Selectors are saying.  I just wanted to share that information with you folks.  Any comments on what we just talked about?  Okay.

Dave D’Amore:  Jim, real quick.  The percentages that you’re indicating in terms of activity, what are those percentages of?

Jim Mraz:  I don’t know, Dave.  No, seriously, I read through that and I couldn’t understand it.  I don’t know.  I have an idea, but I’m not really sure.  I apologize for that.  I looked at it again this morning.

Dave D’Amore:  Okay.  It might be helpful if we can kind of track down what those percentages mean.  If we are going to stake a policy or procedure to numbers provided, I kind of like to know what those numbers are, what they mean, and if they are significant or if somebody is just pulling them out of their butt to make it look..

Jim Mraz:  No, I agree.   And that is copied verbatim from the news release that they have on their website.  So, I have no other information to go by.

Dave D’Amore:  Okay.

Jim Mraz:  Let me see what I can come up with.

Dave D’Amore:  Okay.

1. Background:

• IDA must adopt and file with PARIS a 2021 Budget by October 31, 2020.

2. Proposed 2021 Budget:

• See attached.

3. Potential 2021 IDA Initiatives:

1. Advertising on LinkedIn.
2. Purchasing data from Statebook.
3. Preparing buildings at Tryon for demolition.
4. Site cleanup at Tryon.
5. Marketing material for Tryon Development Area.
6. Identifying sites for development.
7. Food Site Certification.

Jim Mraz:  Alright.  Last item on today’s open Agenda is introduce our proposed 2021 Budget.  The IDA must adopt and file with PARIS a 2021 Budget by the end of October.  So, I’m going to present the first draft today, not asking to approve it today, just want to introduce it to you and talk about some potential ideas for next year.  The proposed budget, it was attached to your Agenda, and I’ll go through it in summary form right now.  This year’s total budget was $277,810.  But, as you recall, the largest component of that was the revenue and expenditure associated with electricity for Vireo Health.  So, the proposed budget is going from $277,810 this year to $97,660.  So, a significant drop from this year.  On the proposed expenditure side, there’s a couple of things that I would like to review.  One, we had in there these Desktop Environmental Assessments as we were looking at potentially evaluating some sites.  We had in this year’s budget an allocation of $10,000 to do those types of things.  I’m proposing to keep that in to do that again next year in the event that we get back together and start and come up and look at a few of those sites.  So, I’m keeping that in for next year.  And another expenditure, on our IDA website, and that number is going from $10,000 to $12,000 for next year.  And, for that $12,000, there’s going to be three (3) components right now I’m proposing for that.  One would be a $5,000 contract with Betsy Emery to continue to do the monthly updates and updating of our website that she has been doing.  Second, would be to budget $5,000 to do advertising on LinkedIn that we’ve talked about earlier where Besty’s recommending that we do some advertising.  I’m putting $5,000 in there to do that.  And, lastly, we’ve also talked about purchasing data to put on the IDA’s, the CRG’s and the County’s website.   I’m proposing to put in there a $2,000 allocation that we would use to partner with the CRG and Fulton County to purchase data from Statebook that we would put onto our website.  So, we’re looking to have the County, the IDA and the CRG each kicking in dollars.  I’m budgeting about $2,000 for that.  On the Tryon Technology Park Budget, putting in dollars again for mowing that we do out there and paying for our insurance.  Again, don’t know what that number is going to be, and obviously that could change depending upon if we sell anything out there.  That could change there also.  But the whole overall budget for Tryon, which this year is about $208,000, would drop to about $25,000 for next year.  So, that would be a significant drop.  With that, again, anybody have any questions or comments on the draft budget for next year?  With that, on the Agenda, I’m going to toss out for consideration some other potential projects or initiatives that I’d like the Board to consider.  Starting with Items #1 and #2, advertising on LinkedIn and purchasing data from Statebook, I have actually already included dollars in that budget for those two (2) items, but the other ones I haven’t yet.  And I wanted your input and feedback on whether these are projects or initiatives that you would like to try to undertake next year and, if so, we need to identify a dollar amount to put into the budget for them.  And then, as we get through these, if you folks if anyone has another idea or thought or suggestion of a project or initiative or an expense, let’s identify those and make a decision of whether you want to include those in.  And, based upon all your feedback, I’ll go back, revise this budget accordingly and then come back at your October meeting and we would look to adopt it at that time.  So, the first one was preparing buildings at Tryon for demolition.  And what that would involve would be going in and cleaning out some of these buildings of asbestos so that we could then demolish them without having to go through that process of getting State approval and going through monitoring/testing and it would be easier to demolish those buildings.  Second would be site cleanup at Tryon.  There’s still a lot of other debris and stuff around would be to go out and spend some money to have the site just cleaned up a little bit better than what it is now.  Another idea was we have the Tryon Development Area.  Should we look to do a marketing campaign to try to sell that property?  Maybe hire a Cushman Wakefield, a Coldwell Banker to market that, but what are we going to market it for?  A housing site?  An industrial site?  Whatever the case may be, but may be, whichever we are going to do, pull together information about that site and put it into a marketing campaign to try and get something going up on that particular property.

Todd Rulison:  Jim, you’re talking about the property up on top of the hill?

Jim Mraz: That is correct.

Todd Rulison:  Okay.

Jim Mraz:  Identifying sites for development.  Again, we talked about that earlier this year, before COVID hit.  Scott and I have a list of sites that we wanted to share with you but with the Zoom format  just doesn’t allow for that to happen easily, but is that something that you want to get back into?  And if there is a particular site or sites you come up with, how do we want to try and market those?  And do we want to put dollars into our budget to do something like that.  The next one is the Food Site Certification.  I sent you some information and it’s attached to your Agenda.  This came across my desk a couple of weeks ago.                  Jay Garner, who was one (1) of the three (3) Corporate Site Selectors from the Site Selectors Guild, who came to Fulton County a couple of years ago to assess our and give us recommendations about economic development.  He has partnered with an engineering firm that are now offering to do these Food Site Certifications.   They’ve developed a process whereby they come in and do a detailed evaluation of a site and, if it meets all of their criteria, will give it a certification that it is a site-suitable for a Food and Beverage Industry.  And Jay Garner, when I saw this, he and I have gone back and forth, a number of e-mails and conversations about what he does.  It is a very detailed assessment that is done.  He looks at a number of criteria and the fact that he’s been here before, remembers Tryon and remembers the property there and thinks that it has potential to receive this type of certification.  It kind of hit me, when you read about what the Site Selectors Guild is saying, that rural areas are going to become attractive, then you read that the Food and Beverage Processing Industry Sector is one of the five (5) fastest growing sectors that we have, then you tack on the fact that our Targeted Industry Analysis said Food and Beverage Industry Cluster would be a good fit for Tryon, I thought it would be worth taking a look at what it would take to have this type of a site certification done.  If you had a chance to look at the information, it’s not cheap.  The upfront fees are about $30,000 plus the expenses for two (2) people to come up to travel up here and spend several days here.  But the thought was, if it’s something we are interested in, maybe go to National Grid, ask them to pay for half, and then we find a way to split the local share a couple of different ways.  So, again, that’s another potential project or initiative for next year.  So, those are some of the ideas that we’ve had.  I wanted to toss those out there and see if any of those are something that you would want to try to undertake in 2021.  Or if you have another idea, please let us know what that is.

Joe Semione:  I have some comments.  You and I met because I want to be the Chairman for the next two (2) years starting in January.  And, I still want to see Tryon move forward.  We talked about clearing more buildings as money is available.  If we do have sales coming up, possibly, to take some of that money and use towards, as you had mentioned, there’s a lot of buildings still left there and I think you recommended that, and you said you had a cost analysis of what asbestos removal might be in some of the smaller buildings and, if we could at least take care of that asbestos removal, even if we did the bigger building, too, the County may be able to come in and do it saying, “Hey, they’re already taken care of” and now you just tear them down and get rid of them.  I don’t know what the status of the Demolition Team right now, how backlogged they are, but obviously, as you had said, it would be an incentive to have that asbestos and I think you said some a couple of buildings or some of the smaller ones, it might be only a couple of thousand dollars.  And, I think, Dave D’Amore, you had mentioned, had said possibly same thing, abatement in the bigger building where the Auditorium is and stuff, but I just thought if we can just clear more buildings, have more sites ready, instead of seeing old dormitory buildings, especially on the backside there, that’s maybe something we should consider as long as we have the money.  We’re not going to take it out of our budget right now, but I’m just saying, if we have sales, we can do that.  And another question I have is, if we do put it in the budget and we don’t do any of the stuff, say the sales don’t come up, we don’t, it’s no harm no foul.  Right?  I mean we just don’t spend it.  PARIS isn’t going to come back to us and say, “Hey, you said you were going to do this, how come your budget looks so wacked out?  It’s a zero now instead of say $50,000 or $100,000.”

Jim Mraz:  There’s no obligation to spend money in your budget.

Joe Semione:  It’s our wish list.

Jim Mraz:  Correct.

Joe Semione:  So, I think some money spent towards that would be preparing us for the future.  And like I said if the Demolition Team can come that would be great. Or even if we have to hire asbestos out of there, it’s obviously going to save us money down the road, too.

Jim Mraz:    Well, it would also help from the standpoint of, if we had a company that comes in that wanted to buy a lot that had two (2) buildings on it, their willingness to do the demolition themselves would be enhanced if those buildings were free and clear of asbestos as opposed if they were full of asbestos.

Joe Semione:  True.

Jim Mraz:  So, just cleaning those buildings up could help incentivize a potential buyer to do the demolition themselves.  And not having us have to do the demolition.  So, cleaning them up would certainly be a win-win situation.

Joe Semione:  And as for the $30,000 cost for the last proposal to be certified, I think if a Site Selector is coming to you saying he can possibly get us there and, as you said, if you can get half of it covered by National Grid and say $5,000 share from us, the County and the CRG, if they’ll go for it.  If we have other partners, but we’ve been trying to partner with these other two (2) entities on a lot of our projects.  It’s only going to be a plus because, if we do lot sales, they also get money back from the sale of it, too.  So it’s a win-win for both.  If we can propose something to show that we have the certification.  So, to put in maybe $5,000 or $7,500 in our budget I don’t think is out of the question as long as we can get some kind of agreement with the others that they would help out with the certification.  So, it just doesn’t fall back on us.  Saying, oh, they said “No” but we’re going to now have to pay $15,000.

Jim Mraz:  Yeah.  I don’t think it is something that we should undertake on our own.

Joe Semione:  No.  So, if we have the two (2) partners, if we work hand and hand with, I think we should do it that way.

Jim Mraz:  Thanks, Joe.  Anyone else?  So, suggestion is to put some dollars in preparing buildings for demolition and to throw some dollars in for Food Site Certification on the presumption that we can get National Grid and a couple of other partners to help share in this cost.  Anything else?

Joe Semione:  I think the dollar amount…

Todd Rulison:  Jim, the only question…

Joe Semione:  Go ahead, Todd.

Jim Mraz:  Go ahead, Todd.

Todd Rulison:  No, the only question or thought that I have is this Certification?  Is this something that is recognizable throughout the industry?  Is it something that really has a lot of value or did this just come from Mr. Garner?

Jim Mraz:  It has come from Mr. Garner but, as a member of the Site Selectors Guild, and he happens to also this year be its Chairman.  His stature in the industry gives the Certification validity because of who’s doing it.  But it’s not necessarily recognized as a nationally recognized certification at the present time, no.

Todd Rulison:  Well, I agree with Joe.  If we can get the cost split in some fashion with National Grid and maybe a couple of other partners, I would be in favor of that as well.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.

Todd Rulison:  I also think that with how long it has taken us to get Tryon and how long it has taken us to get it to where it is today, that looking out into the future is not a bad idea in regards to identifying future sites for development.  You know, I’ve been on the Board for quite a few years now, and it just takes a long time to make anything happen.  So, looking out into the future for an additional site and how to access or acquire that site might be important as well.

Jim Mraz:  It takes time. You’re absolutely right.

Todd Rulison:  It sure does.

Jim Mraz:       So, is that an initiative that the Board would like to put on its plate for next year?

Joe Semione:  I would like to look at the list of possible sites and look at that also.  I mean..

Jim Mraz:  Okay.

Joe Semione:  Going back to my initial proposal about the demolition or removal of asbestos and, maybe not so much demolition because demolition could be done at no cost, possibly by the County or by a possible buyer, but I would just throw out a number, maybe say $100,000, to see what that could do for us.  I mean, it could do a lot, it could be a little bit.  Depends on what areas you want to target.  So, I think if you are just looking for a dollar amount.  We have sales possibly.  Have a lot more of that coming.  We got $90,000 possibly coming from the sale of the south side.  So, I would start with $100,000 and then maybe put $50,000 or so, or $75,000, for possible site acquisitions.

Jim Mraz:       Okay.  With respect to the Tryon Development Area.  Is there any interest of trying to market that particular site a little bit better and pull together some information, all that we have, into a little bit of a marketing campaign for next year to try to see if we can generate some interest of a potential buyer for that property?

Joe Semione:  Isn’t Cushman Wakefield, as they represent us, wouldn’t they have some kind of a brochure or some kind of a strategy as to how they are marketing already?  To have something more to hand them…  I think that…

Jim Mraz:  They don’t have anything right now.  We’ve done that Desktop Environmental Assessment and Environmental Design Partnership did that evaluation.  We just haven’t taken that information and pulled it together into a singular document to be able to give out to potential parties of interest.  That would be the initiative is to pull together all of the information that we have and put it into a format that we could use and send out to potential builders and developers.  “Here’s what we have.”  Again, we also need to discuss whether do we want to keep that property reserved for housing or would you be willing to also market that as a shovel-ready site?  That could be another one of the sites that we put out there for manufacturing, other types of businesses, not necessarily for housing.

Joe Semione:  I think the way its laid out, maybe housing would be the best possibility, and I have actually been talking with a developer now that just did this on McKay Road and he’s possibly looking for expansion.  So, I’ll talk with you guys more about that later.

Jim Mraz:  Okay.  Any other ideas or thoughts about 2021 initiatives?

Tim Munn:  I just was going to talk real quick right now, Jim.  I agree with Todd’s comments.  An awful lot of money to spend on that initiative for the Certification, but if we can get some cost sharing there I think.  You know, all it takes is one.  If we can develop a little bit of momentum.   If we can attract just one partner to come into that, it’s kind of the flywheel concept.  And I think you would have a much better opportunity to attract other like-minded businesses to that area, but we got to get that first one first and maybe this is something with the partnership of our other partners in the County that we can pursue.

Jim Mraz:  Well, what I’ll do… My intent here was to share this Food Site Certification concept with you folks first.  If you didn’t have an interest in it, then I wasn’t going to take it any further.  But it sounds like there is an interest in this on the stipulation that we can bring in other partners to help pay for this whole thing.  So, with that, I will now reach out to Ron Peters and share this with him, have him take a look at it and see is it something that the CRG would be also interested in.  And so that will be the next step in this process.  Travis, any thoughts?

Travis Mitchell:  Yeah.  I was going to say, it sounds like an interesting idea.  Certainly worth discussing with our Board and seeing if we can partner with you on it.

Jim Mraz:   Okay.  Good.  I will send all this information over to Ron and ask him to run it by his Board to see what level of interest there may be in taking a further look at this.  Obviously no commitments, but just continue to explore and see how we might be able to pull something like this off.  Alright?

Mike Fitzgerald:   Yeah, Jim, I think you already see the base in the two (2) Counties.  You’ve got CG Roxane, you’ve got FAGE, you’ve got Euphrates, you’ve got Beechnut, all its manufacturers, but in addition to that, you’ve got distribution facilities located nearby with Walmart, with Target and Family Dollar just built.  So, I think it would be attractive to those manufacturers to be close to the distribution points also.

Jim Mraz:  Good point.  Okay.  That’s all I had for open session.  Would like to ask for a motion to go into Executive to discuss the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property.

Joe Semione:  I’ll make that motion.

Dave D’Amore:  I’ll second.

Jim Mraz:  Joe Semione, Dave D’Amore.  Do a roll call vote.

1. Upon a majority vote of its total membership, taken in an open meeting pursuant to a motion identifying the general area or areas of the subject or subjects to be considered, a public body may conduct an executive session for the below enumerated purposes only, provided, however, that no action by formal vote shall be taken to appropriate public moneys:

i. matters which will imperil the public safety if disclosed;
ii. any matter which may disclose the identity of a law enforcement agent or informer;
iii. information relating to current or future investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense which would imperil effective law enforcement if disclosed;
iv. discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation;
v. collective negotiations pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law;
vi. the medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation;
vii. the preparation, grading or administration of examinations;
viii. the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property or the proposed acquisition of securities, or sale or exchange of securities held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof.

MOTION:                   To go into Executive Session to discuss the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property or the proposed acquisition of securities, or sale or exchange of securities held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof.

MADE BY      :           Joseph Semione
SECOND        :           Dave D’Amore
ROLL CALL VOTE   :
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

TIME              :           9:13 a.m.

Jim Mraz:  We are going into Executive Session at 9:13 a.m.  We will meet again on Tuesday, October 13^th.

MOTION        :           To go out of Executive Session.

MADE BY      :           Dave D’Amore
SECOND        :           Tim Munn
ROLL CALL VOTE   :
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

TIME              :           9:31 a.m.

Jim Mraz:  We are back in open session at 9:31 a.m.  Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 13th, at 8:00 a.m.  Is there any other business that we need to conduct today?  Hearing none, would someone make a motion to close the meeting?

Joe Semione:  I’ll make that motion.

Jim Mraz:  Always do.  Second it?

Mike Fitzgerald:  I’ll second.

Jim Mraz:  Mike Fitzgerald.  Roll call vote please.

Tuesday
October 13, 2020
8:00 a.m.

MOTION        :           To close the meeting

MADE BY      :           Joseph Semione
SECONDED   :           Mike Fitzgerald
ROLL CALL VOTE   :
Aye         Nay         Abstain           Absent

Dave D’Amore                        X           ___         ___               ___
Joe Semione                   X           ___         ___               ___
Todd Rulison                        X           ___         ___               ___
Jane Kelley                   X           ___         ___               ___
Mike Fitzgerald               X           ___         ___               ___
Joseph Gillis                 ___         ___         ___               X  .
Tim Munn                      X           ___         ___               ___

TIME              :           9:32 a.m.

Jim Mraz:  Meeting is adjourned at 9:32 a.m.  Thank you folks.  Have a great week.