Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes
Regular Session
March 24, 2015
6:15 PM – City Hall Council Room
Members in attendance: Ed Holicky Wayne Moore
Phil Wright Leo Slenker
Rusty Beck Jeff Becker
Steven Garrett – staff
Lia Jennings – Chamber of Commerce
Peter Browning – Citizen
Dr. Lora Cohn and members of her graduate studies class
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Holicky.
Leo Slenker made a motion to change the February 24th minutes to show the expected date of Chairman Holikys expected absence from April 22nd to April 28th. Wayne Moore seconded the motion. The Vote: All Ayes, the motion passed.
Wayne Moore made a motion to approve the amended February 24, 2015 minutes, seconded by Phil Wright. The Vote: All Ayes, the motion passed.
Chairman Holicky reported that he attended the monthly Chamber of Commerce lunch and met with the Mid-Continent Library Business Specialist concerning First Friday Coffees.
Lia Jennings presented the Chamber report (copy attached).
Old Business
The graduate class from Park University made a presentation of the strategic plan to the committee. (A copy of the plan is attached.)
New Business
Jeff Becker made a motion to formulate a plan for recommendation to the Board of Aldermen to attend the ICSC in Las Vegas if budget and strategy aligns with EDC efforts. Leo Slenker seconded the motion. The Vote: All Ayes, the motion passed.
There was a brief discussion on a Downtown sign.
Jeff Becker made a motion to cancel the special meeting for April 29th. Wayne Moore seconded the motion. The Vote: All Ayes, the motion passed.
Wayne Moore made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Leo Slenker.
The Vote: All Ayes, the meeting was adjourned.
SMITHVILLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
MONTHLY UPDATE
March 2015
BUSINESS FOLLOWUP:
Contact: Sandy Miller
Location: Looking for space in the downtown Smithville Area
Comment: Sandy is looking to lease a mixed use building in the downtown are where she can run her business downstairs and live upstairs. She is a shoemaker. She will make handmade shoes inside the shop. I sent her a listing of all spaces available in the downtown area with contact numbers, square footage and rental prices.
Contact: Paul Fessler
Location: 2 Pad Sites next to QuikTrip
Comment: Paul stopped by to get a demographics sheet on the city of Smithville, along with traffic counts for the Hwy 169 & 92 intersection. He is representing the owner of the sites next to QuikTrip. The owner would like to keep ownership of the sites, and lease the locations, with the option of constructing and building to suit a potential leasee. He is going to get a proposal together for any interested party. This could be something we can include in the packets we send out to leads we get from the ICSC Conference in Las Vegas.
A+ Grooming
Contact: Melissa and Tabatha
Location: 207 US Hwy 169
# of employees: 2
Comment: Melissa is the owner of the new Pet Salon. Tabatha is the full time employee. They are from the area, but are new owners of the Pet Salon. They are excited to open up in Smithville.
Warrior Shop
Contact: Jerry Myer
Location: 113 East. Main St., Smithville
# of Employees: 0
Comment: Jerry Myer is in the process of selling the Warrior Shop due to the passing of his wife Vickie. He would like to get $40,000 for the business, which would be for the name and all merchandise in the store. His contact information is home 532-4030, or cell 582-5468.
BUSINESS MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES/OTHER:
· Smithville’s First Friday Coffee – We have transitioned our 1 Million Cups Event into Smithville’s First Friday Coffee. This will be an educational/networking event which will be at the Smithville Mid Continent Public Library starting at 8:45am, for coffee and networking followed by our program at 9am. April’s program will be highlighting Smithville’s very first entrepreneur, Humphrey “Yankee” Smith. We will show a Ted Talk presentation by Cameron Herold, “Let’s Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs”. May’s program will be Jenny Nepper with KC Source Link where she will present resources they have for small business owners, specifically through their KC Source Link Hot Line and their new traveling office. June’s program will be John Roushkolb, the
Social Media Manager with Park University - Parkville Campus, who will come to assist our local businesses on how to market their businesses through social media.
· NRCC – Northland Business Expo/Trade Show Display – Ed Holicky and I will be attending the NRCC - Northland Regional Business Expo on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at the KCI Expo Center, 11730 NW Ambassador Drive, Kansas City. We will be using our new trade show display for the event.
· Joe Barnhill, MoHoApp.com has recently joined the Smithville Chamber. He owns a company which builds websites and mobile apps. He lives in Smithville and runs his business outside of his home. He would like to use Smithville as a beta test site to build a tourism mobile app for the community to use. With this mobile app we would have a QR Code we can have printed on maps around town with tourism based businesses listed on the website. He would like to present this to the EDC Committee at the April meeting.
· BridgestoneTire.com/Fuel the Cause - Phil Wright brought information to me in regards to $25,000 worth of funding Bridgestone Tire is giving out to help communities’ foster performance and innovation. The topic I submitted on behalf of the Chamber and city was for the South Gale School House. The Historical Society can no longer afford to pay for utilities and insurance for the old school house. The Chamber would like to take over the old school house and use it for community events. I submitted a 500 word essay along with pictures, with the idea of cleaning up the school house, having an inspection done for safety, adding landscaping, along with needing funding for some building maintenance to be able to safely open the school house for community use.