2021-01-20 Economic Development Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING
January 20, 2021
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
Nicole Hughes, Chair
Darrol Haug
Jay Hoag
Kevin Harris, Vice Chair
Scott Merrick
Jamie Reece
Kevin Smith
Charlie Lieu
Carrie Hulbert
Evan Sittauer, Student -Rep
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT:
None.
LIAISONS PRESENT:
Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber, ex officio
Vivian Olson, Councilmember, ex officio
Bruce Faires, Port Commissioner, ex-officio
Roger Pence, Planning Board, ex-officio
COMMISSIONERS/LIAISONS ABSENT:
GUESTS:
None
STAFF PRESENT:
Patrick Doherty, Director
Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator
Economic Development Commission meeting conducted via ZOOM and called to order by Nicole Hughes
at 6:02 p.m.
Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement
1. Roll Call and recognition of absences:
Round-robin roll call, all present.
2. Approval of Agenda:
Kevin Smith moved to approve; Jamie, seconded, motion passed.
3. Approval of December 16, 2020 Meeting Summary.
Darrol moved to approve, Scott seconded, motion passed.
4. Audience Comments: None.
5. City Update: Patrick shared the City's Preliminary Quarterly Budgetary Financial Report for December
2020 and a discussion followed. Mayor's State of the City address is scheduled for tomorrow. Council
approved an FTE Social Worker. Our new Visit Edmonds website is two weeks out from going live. Along
with a ferry lane video, created by Tyler Hulbert. Patrick will bring the financial quarterly reports to review
with Commission each quarter.
6. Old Business
a. Review Work Area Priorities: Nicole enlisted feedback from the Commission to poll where they
would like to participate. Work groups have been created as follows: Data Collection and Analysis
(Charlie, Jamie, Kevin S., Darrol); Neighborhood Districts and Business Zones (Kevin Smith, Carrie,
Jay); Edmonds Business Booster Portal (Kevin H., Scott, Jamie); Waterfront Center Opportunities
(Nicole, Carrie, Scott, Evan); Parking and Shuttle Service (Darrol, Evan, Kevin S., Jay);
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January 20, 2021
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Communication and Info Flow (Jamie, Nicole). Nicole led a brainstorm discussion to formulate a
plan to move forward for success. Groups will meet independently and report back at next
meeting. Patrick will attend each committee meeting as his schedule allows. Charlie suggests, as
the Data Lead, to meet with the Work Group Leads to determine what their needs are. Three was
a suggestion that Communications Lead does the same. Kevin H. mentions that the structure of
the committees should be fluid due to the nature of the project type committees and interest
may shift. The idea is that the Communications Work Group will help develop structure on how
to present work group outcomes to Council. Patrick mentioned a communication issue has been
that the problem or issue statement has not always been sufficiently presented as the foundation
for presenting a new idea to Council. The commission discussed strategies to help workgroups get
started.
7. New Business: Group Learning Material: Kevin H. led the discussion. Nicole and Kevin have met on how
to share learning materials. Kevin will lead a voluntary opportunity each month to share material with the
Commission on a variety of topics, including communications, emotional intelligence, strategic planning
and other topics of interest. Kevin H. shared a video related to communications. Consensus likes this idea.
Patrick suggested, based off of Darrol's previous suggestion, inviting speakers as an additional way to
promote education.
8. Active Work Group Updates:
a. Recovery: Kevin Smith led the discussion. Kevin shared a PowerPoint Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133). Payroll protection program extension. There will be a second
draw available. Employee Retention Tax Credit; this HR133 allows for businesses to retroactively
apply for ERTC and take out a PPP loan; they're no longer mutually exclusive. With this businesses
cannot only become whole but they can come out ahead if they take advantage of all of the relief
packages available to them. The committee met today and they working through how the City
could send out a postcard to all of the City businesses to get this information out. Patrick shared
that the postcard will have information in five languages to reach as many business owners as
possible.
b. Business Attraction: Kevin H. has two projects to share that they have been working on. The
first is a continuation on the waterfront hotel. You all should have received the talking points to
discuss with your appointer. Charlie has created an Economic Opportunities for Waterfront Hotel
handout. Staff will provide the Commission with the handout. The second project is the Edmonds
Business Booster website. Patrick and Greg worked to pull the bare -bones website together at
the end of the year. Now the committee is interviewing different content providers to assess their
participation and vision with the website. Kevin will pull all the responses together and synthesize
the results to share with the Commission and content providers. The results will be the basis of
convening the content providers for a more substantive brainstorming session. Feedback thus far
has been positive. Vivian suggests sharing the Business Portal at Public Comment during a Council
Meeting. Patrick shared that the grant that we received to support the development and rolling
out this website allowed for pre -paid advertisement that is scheduled to start next week and will
continue for the next four months. Scott shared that the content is not complete and the rolling
out should be a soft -opening. The goal is for the content to grow.
9. Extended Agenda and Idea Pipeline: Nicole introduced the topic. She's created a list of items that didn't
make it into the work groups. These items will stay on the Pipeline List: Children's Museum; City Facilities
Locations; Corporate Mobile Workplace; Housing in downtown/Harbor Square; Business District: Firdale.
If commission members have an idea, they are asked to send the idea to Nicole, Kevin H, Patrick and
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Megan to be added to the Pipleline list for future consideration by the commission. All agendas going
forward will include an idea pipeline discussion item for the commission to review newly suggested ideas.
10. Liaison Updates (3 minutes per liaison) (15 minutes)
Vivian Olson (Council) mentioned the Tree Code update will be presented to Council. Thanked
group for their work.
Bruce Faires (Port) apologized for missing recent meetings. Port budget has been approved. The
Port is moving forward with major renovations of the north boardwalk. Project will be funded by
grants, Port funds and BONDS.
Greg Urban (Chamber) is busy sharing PPE info and grant info. Pushing Edmonds Cash. Has been
appointed the Chair of the Fire Commission this year.
Roger Pence (Planning Board) passed the Tree Code and passed it on to Council.
11. Roundtable Discussion: Darrol nothing. Carrie shared an Ed! Update; Love Local, Love Edmonds
campaign for Valentine's Day. Evan, nothing. Charlie, nothing. Scott, great interviews with
Business Portal. Kevin Smith appreciates the effort going into the work groups. Jay nothing. Jamie
nothing. Kevin H. nothing. Patrick new governor recovery phases are showing we're getting close
to moving forward; cautiously optimistic.
12. Adjourn at 8:08 p.m.
Next regular meeting: February 17, 2021, 6 PM location TBA
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January 20, 2021
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