3/16/2021 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 3-16-2021 and cheap retail space makes us a very favorable environment for new business startups. Communities that invite small business and offer assistance will benefit. Yes, thank you. Councilman Brossard voted yes with comment. I couldn't agree more with the rationale that Mr. Schumann stated behind his amendments. My vote is yes, thank you. Councilwoman Hemann voted no with comment. I did spend extra money to physically shop at our Disney store then to take those things, wrap them up and go over to our local UPS store and send them to my grandchildren in North Carolina. A lot of people thought that was a little crazy, because you could just go on Disney.com and get free shipping. We are losing our Disney store. Unfortunately, I heard from a business owner today that the biggest stumbling block she had in opening her business was our Building Department. So I don't think a consultant should be getting money when our Building Department needs to be a better customer service place. And so, I do think that while we will need some outreach, I do not think that this is it. I don't think it has worked well for us in the past, the things that have been attempted. So no. Thank you. Councilman Glassburn voted no with comment. Like Councilwoman Hemann, I've tried to pay very close attention to what's going on with the businesses in our community. I believe that we're still in the phase that businesses need direct assistance and that we should be putting our full resources towards relief and not to consulting fees. Right now, we are moving forward a budget that we've spent a lot of time on. We've, I think in a relatively respectful manner, worked this out. So I believe at this time we should focus our funds again to relief and revisit long term proposals once we are past this stage. Thank you. Councilman Schumann moved to amend Ordinance 2021-15 to transfer $15,000 from the General Fund for outside services in the Economic Development Fund for professional consulting services. These funds are used to cover professional services provided by the City's Economic Development Manager. The Economic Development Manager is a necessary position in our organizational chart, especially as the city deals with the impacts of the pandemic, changing retail market, etc. No other funding is included in the 2021 budget for this position, so eliminating these outside services effectively eliminates the position entirely. The motion was seconded by Councilman Brossard and failed 4-3. Councilman Limpert said I think when we are talking about economic funds at this time and juncture, there's a discussion about who and how those services are provided. I think that's certainly warranted, but I would disagree that we shouldn't fund this important service. Roll Call: Yes: Schumann, Brossard, Limpert No: Glassburn, Kelly, Hemann, Williamson Motion failed 4-3. Councilman Schumann voted yes with comment. I'm not talking about our current manager here. That contract will run out on May 7 and sometime before then we will have a new contract before us and we can discuss that contract then. Right now, I'm 0