2024-11-20 Economic Development Commission Packet'nc. 1 Rye
AGENDA
Edmonds Economic Development Commission
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
6PM — 8PM
HYBRID MEETING
The Economic Development Commission members will be meeting in person and/or remotely for this meeting. The
public may join at the physical location or join through zoom.
PHYSICAL LOCATION
Brackett Meeting Room, Edmonds City Hall — 31 Floor
12151 Ave N, Edmonds, WA 98020
REMOTE MEETING/ZOOM INFORMATION:
https:Hzoom.us/j/98696685791?pwd=RytOZj VuK3ZCNON4Q lRrMHZgSWpyQT09
Meeting ID: 986 9668 5791
Passcode: 901513
6:00 PM Call to Order
1. Roll Call and Recognition of Approved Absences
2. Approval ofAgenda
3. Approval of October 26, 2024 Retreat Notes
4. Audience Comments (3 minutes per person)
5. Economic Development Workplan — Todd Tatum
6. Retreat Follow-up
a. Refine and Review our Top Priority Project
b. Steps for success
c. Changes to EDC practices?
7. Liaison Updates
a. City Council — Councilmember Eck
b. Port of Edmonds — Selena Killin
c. Chamber of Commerce — Ryan Crowther
d. Planning Board — Lee Hankins
8. Roundtable Discussion
9. Adjourn 8:00 PM
Next Regular meeting: December 18, 2024, 6 PM
CITY OF EDMONDS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION RETREAT
October 26, 2024
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
Matt Cox, Chair
Allan Townsend, Vice -Chair
Nicole Hughes
Darrol Haug
Natalie Seitz
Kevin Harris
Nick Perrault
Pete Spear
Kate Nolan —Student Representative
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT:
Carrie Mandak
LIAISONS PRESENT:
Selena Killin, Port Commissioner, ex-officio
LIAISONS ABSENT:
Chris Eck, Councilmember, ex-officio
Ryan Crowther, Chamber, ex-officio
Lee Hankins — Planning Board, ex-officio
G U ESTS:
Mike Rosen, Mayor
STAFF PRESENT:
Todd Tatum, Director CCED
Economic Development Commission meeting called to order by Matt Cox at 9:00 a.m.
Call to Order
1. Roll Call and Recognition of Approved Absences: Carrie is absent.
2. Approval of Agenda: Nicole amends the agenda to add 10 minutes to discuss the Comp Plan, Nick
2nds, all in favor, Allan seconds as amended, motion passes.
3. Approval of September 18, 2024, Meeting Summary: Natalie motions to amend the minutes to add
the following to Item 4: "WAC requires a hearing if 50 signatures are gathered", Matt seconds the
approval with the addition, all in favor, motion passes.
4. Audience Comments: None.
Comprehensive Plan Work Group Discussion
The Comp Plan workgroup wrote a letter supporting the Economic Development Element of the Comp
Plan that also called for an edit to proposed policy ED-3.6 to more directly address the importance of
quality of life in economic development. The meeting also discussed the importance of economic
development and quality of life in Edmonds. The group decided to submit their support via email and
during public comments at the Planning Board meeting, and all Commissioners present voted in support
of entering the letter of support into the Comp Plan public record except for Darrol, who abstained.
5. EDC Retreat:
a. Opening Remarks — Mayor Mike Rosen:
Mayor Rosen discussed the need for a shift in budgeting and decision -making,
emphasizing the importance of considering the future and the community's needs. He
highlighted the issues of housing affordability, public safety, overdevelopment, budget,
and infrastructure, and suggested that these should be prioritized. He also criticized the
current approach of "kicking the can down the road" and the lack of fiscal responsibility.
DRAFT RETREAT Summary
Economic Development Commission
October 26, 2024
Page 1
He pointed out the need for more police officers and better emergency preparedness. He
highlighted the City's revenue streams, including property tax and sales tax, and the
impact of the State's 1% limit on their budget. He also compared the city's budget to that
of Lynnwood and Edmonds, highlighting the difference in revenue streams. Mayor Rosen
concluded with a call to the EDC to "be bold" in its work to support economic
development to enhance City revenues.
b. Efficiency Exercise — Kevin Harris
i. EDC Values & Interests: Kevin Harris led an exercise to help focus the
Commission's goal -setting to come in the latter half of the retreat. The discussion
included the importance of focusing on strategic goals and not getting distracted
by shiny things. He emphasized the need for a sustainable revenue stream for the
city and the importance of diversifying services and sectors. Also discussed, the
need for a process to fix the current problem, rather than just implementing
policies. They encouraged the team to think about values and interests, and how
these can be translated into concrete steps. Each Commissioner present wrote
down several Values and Interests important to them and put them up on the
board, and discussion about each of them took place. All of the Values and
Interests were captured for future reference and discussion. The topics discussed
included the importance of transparency, equity, inclusion, accountability, and
action -oriented approaches.
ii. Identifying Project Criteria: Next, the team discussed the criteria for evaluating
projects. They considered factors such as a strong potential for success, alignment
with the comprehensive plan, measurability, data -driven decision -making, and
the ability to implement and oversee projects. They also discussed the
importance of understanding the impact of projects on different segments of the
community and the need for strategic thinking. They also touched on the need
for thoughtful leadership and the importance of balancing short-term and long-
term goals. Towards the end, they discussed the mayor's presentation on
increasing revenue without increasing taxes, but the specifics were not fully
clarified. As in the previous section, the project criteria proposed by the team
were captured for future reference and discussion.
c. BREAK
d. Level Set — Matt Cox: Matt led the team through a recap of the work the Commission has
done up to this point to set the direction for the team for the next year and beyond. He
summarized the outcomes from the first part of the Efficiency Exercise that Kevin Harris
had conducted last Spring, the questions asked and some of the discussion points from
the EDC's September meeting, and then gave a quick recap of the exercises on Values and
Interests and Project Criteria that the team had just conducted. He then outlined the key
elements for our next steps: identifying priority projects for the team to focus on,
determining specific steps needed to complete in order to successfully complete those
projects, and recognizing any changes that may need to be made to the way the
Commission does its work to be successful. This led directly into the following section.
e. Building a Roadmap —Allan Townsend: Based on limited time, the decision was made to
focus this section on just the first action, identifying priority projects. The group
brainstormed ideas for the city's economic development by putting their ideas on the
blue wall for further discussion and prioritization. Some of the ideas discussed were the
DRAFT RETREAT Summary
Economic Development Commission
October 26, 2024
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need for actionable recommendations, relationship gaps, and resource limitations,
considering factors such as the city's vision, economic development, and the
comprehensive plan. They also discussed the importance of aligning with the budget
constraints and the guiding areas of business attraction and retention. Participants
discussed the idea of a strategic action plan to guide EDC work. They also discussed the
need for a better mechanism to build and maintain relationships with various business
boards in the city. The idea of a virtual assistant was proposed to save costs and speed up
processes. The group also discussed the importance of building a real health district
identity to attract startups and related businesses. They considered revisiting how to
reserve small businesses and better understanding of changing residential demographics
and affordable housing. The conversation ended with discussions on funding industry
attraction strategies and placemaking. All proposed projects were placed on the wall, and
then each Commissioner placed different colored sticky notes on their choices for their
top 3 ranked by importance.
f. Next Steps — Matt Cox: It was agreed that Matt and Allan would collect all of the
information laid out at the retreat, would tally up the votes for the EDC's top 3 priority
projects, and all of that information would be disseminated out to the group as quickly as
possible. Follow up would consist of continuing this discussion in our next meeting, when
we will focus on making sure we have clarity and consensus on the what the top projects
are and build out the steps needed to complete the top priority. The importance of
defining the project and making a public commitment to review the options was
emphasized. The team also discussed the need for clear responsibilities and changes
within the commission.
6. Adjourn 12:00 PM
Next meeting: November 20, 2024, 6 PM location Hybrid — Brackett Room & Zoom
DRAFT RETREAT Summary
Economic Development Commission
October 26, 2024
Page 3