2020-07-15 Economic Development Commission Packet'11c. 189'j
AGENDA
Edmonds Economic Development Commission
Meeting held via Zoom see access info below
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
6-8PM
6:00 P.M. — Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh
(Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken
care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection
with the land and water." - City Council Land Acknowledgment
Call to Order
1. Approval of Agenda
2. Roll Call and recognition of approved absences
3. Approval of June 17, 2020 Meeting Summary
5 min. 4. Audience Comments (3 minutes per person)
10 min. 5. Leadership discussion/selection of Chair and Vice -Chair
6. Old Business:
20 min Report from ad hoc Economic Recovery Committee
7. New Business:
20 min. Updates on City Plans to assist re -opening;
EDC role and work in response to COVID-19 economic crisis
8. Work -group Discussion:
15 min. • Website
• Webinar Panel/Web Support Online
• Experiential ideas and business support
20 min. Continue discussion of new work groups for the upcoming time period.
Determine what groups we want to institute. Solicit members.
20 9. Liaison Updates (3 minutes per person)
10 10. Roundtable Discussion (Council, Commissioners, City, Liaisons, 3 minutes per
person)
11. Adjourn
Next regular meeting: August 19, 2020 6 PM,
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DRAFT
CITY OF EDMONDS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING
June 17, 2020
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Nicole Hughes
Darrol Haug
Margaret Safford
Jay Hoag
Kevin Harris, Vice Chair
Mary Monroe, Chair
Scott Merrick
Kevin Smith
Liaisons Present:
Vivian Olson, Councilmember, ex officio (6:13
PM)
COMMISSIONERS/LIAISONS ABSENT:
Jamie Reece
Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber, ex officio
Nathan Monroe, Planning Board, ex-officio
Bruce Faires, Port Commissioner, ex-officio
Guests:
STAFF PRESENT:
Patrick Doherty, Director
Cindi Cruz, Program Coordinator
Economic Development Commission meeting conducted via ZOOM and called to order by Mary Monroe
at 6:03 p.m.
1. Approval of Agenda: Scott moved to approve agenda, Margaret seconded, motion passed.
2. Roll Call and recognition of absences: Kevin Smith was introduced as a new member appointed by
Councilmember Luke Distelhorst. He provided a brief background.
3. Approval of 2/19/20 EDC Minutes: Darrol moved to approve minutes as amended, Jay seconded,
motion passed.
4. Audience Comments: None
5. Old Business:
Report from ad hoc Economic Recovery Committee:
Made up of members of the Business Development Group, Mary, Kevin H, Darrol, Scott and Vivian
Olson. Group was asked to consider recovery and developed a citizen survey. The survey was
posted on Facebook utilizing SurveyMonkey. Darrol discussed the results. The goal was to
determine what it would take for people to come back to shop and dine in downtown Edmonds.
Age and gender were considerations. The categories were men and women: 50 & over and 50 &
under. Results were not too surprising. Personal services were more popular than going to
restaurants. The results of the survey are posted on the Business Reopening page on the website.
A retreat will still be on a future agenda but will not be held until the Commission can meet in
person. The CARES money was discussed and how it will be distributed to businesses. Patrick gave
a recap of the presentation at City Council on 6/16. City received almost 20,000 masks in the last
week and will determine how to distribute. Postcards were sent out to all the businesses in town
with listing of resources on website and highlights of contents to provide aid in reopening. Main
street closure is happening this weekend to encourage outdoor dining and shopping along with
social distancing for the downtown business owners. The creation of a Recovery Task Force was
requirement of Emergency management plan and brought together in March. They have been
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Economic Development Commission
June 17, 2020
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meeting weekly.. The value of surveys was discussed in greater detail. Darrol asked if we could
potentially ask a simple question on a weekly or monthly business similar to what the Beacon
does.
6. New Business:
Updates on City Plans to assist re -opening; EDC role and work in response to COVID-19 economic
crises:
Patrick discussed CARES act distribution proposal which will be before City Council again on 6/22
and should be passed. $1M to give to community: $700,000 to businesses in grants of up to
$10,000 per business, and $350,000 to be added to existing $100,000 housing and supplemental
relief program which provides $1,000 to $1,500 to households. There was considerable questions
and discussion about the CARES money and subsequent distribution. Will there be any tracking of
the money that has given to businesses? These will be forgivable loans if the business stays open
for four months after receiving the money. The hope is to get them to the holiday season. Criteria
for granting the money: Storefront -type businesses of zero to 30 employees; Open at least one
year as of April 1, 2020; have suffered year -over -year business/revenue loss of at least 30% in
April or May 2020. Selection criteria will include businesses owned by POC, women, etc.;
consideration of number of employees; consideration of geographic distribution; consideration
of other grants received; consideration of creative -sector businesses in the Creative District.
Vivian stated that it is discouraging to see the amount of businesses that get left out due to the
criteria. How to help those businesses too? Looking to EDC for new ideas to help these businesses.
Grants up to $10,000 and unfortunately providing something to all businesses would only provide
roughly around $300 per businesses and that is not really meaningful. Want to try to give greater
consideration to businesses that have not received other grant opportunities from state or
county. There are approximately 225 storefront businesses. The reason for focusing on storefront
businesses is there is lower wages, employee based, most likely to close, storefront businesses
when they fail are on the street and can lead to blight as they are boarded up. Hopefully the
businesses that have the most need will apply and be awarded. Kevin Smith stated some
interesting facts about the PPE money that will expire 6/30/20. This is an area EDC could help out
with in providing information to businesses. Could we make the Reopening Businesses page more
obvious to businesses. Patrick discussed other things that have been done by the BID to support
their downtown businesses. Question was asked about liability if someone contracts COVID at
your business. Response: as long as you are following the state issued guidelines that you have
managed your risk legally and should not be considered liable. The City cannot certify businesses
as we are not the experts, but will be offering site visits to help them understand guidelines issued
by the state. Mary asked if we should form Subcommittees to look at website to make it more
user friendly and one to reach out to businesses to help them in a non -monetary way. This could
be important to recovery efforts. Don't need to overlap or duplicate work that is already being
done. Margaret feels recovery efforts are more important. What do we know about the state of
business right now? Is there a measurement? Patrick responded that it is mainly anecdotal at this
point. Kevin expressed that August and September could be critical months to businesses as the
offer of federal money will run at that time.
7. Work -group updates— Refresh discussion of new work groups for the upcoming time period. Determine
what groups we want to institute:
Could we identify some short-term and/or ad hoc work groups to work on these business
problems. Concerns about businesses that may be left out of the opportunities for grants etc.
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Economic Development Commission
June 17, 2020
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How much can we really do to help the businesses that will not receive money? Open house nights
to meet gathering restrictions and have businesses sign up to help brainstorming for business
owners. Could we allow businesses to create little banner ads and play on website? Have to
encourage the future development of robust businesses for economic development of Edmonds.
Webinars that gather group of experts to provide info to local businesses. Go back to virtual portal
project that we were working on prior to pandemic and pull together panel for webinar.
Subcommittee idea — Patrick updated on retooling of tourism advertising and creation of website
listing businesses and how they offered shopping and food pickup options during pandemic. New
website will change to Rediscover Edmonds. Articles to encourage people to read about Edmonds
and ideas for new articles that would in essence be ads for businesses. Darrol mentioned the
business district concept to focus on all the business districts in Edmonds. Nicole mentioned the
online features that many businesses had started and could be highlighted and encouraged.
LoveEdmonds is going back to a downtown focus. Ferry Lane audio needs to be refreshed. Place
sandwich board signage that would be informational to shoppers of alternate districts for interest
in shopping. Partnership with Diversity Commission looking through lense of diverse and inclusive
economic development. Could be an overarching theme of the whole effort.
Mary's summary of proposed work groups: 1. Things related to website (simplifying and making
user friendly); 2. Having webinar panel of business experts combining with web support in the
panel — connect with experts. 3. Rediscover Edmonds tying in with various business districts and
businesses.
Website Committee
Webinar Panel/Web Support Online
Experiential ideas and business support
Patrick suggested putting out an email with these suggestions and asking commissioners to sign up for
the group they want to work on. Then other work -groups will continue the future.
Vivian asked about Workforce HQ. Kevin S stated they are open but limiting amount of people in space.
He will be meeting with them regarding their space. Scott spoke to that issue and it was being discussed
prior to the pandemic in the Business Development Work group.
Kevin H might want to revisit some of the partnership ideas that we have reviewed in the past.
8. Liaison Updates: N/A
9. Roundtable Discussion (Council, Commissioners, City Liaisons, 3 minutes per person): none
Darrol mentioned Nicole's picture in newspaper ad regarding charitable run she worked on. Nicole
looking forward to COVID being over or vaccine. Kevin Smith looks forward to working with
commission and a post COVID world and how to help business owners recover. Kevin H welcome
Kevin S to group. Jay welcome Kevin S and appreciated his expertise and adding to meeting. Keep
up hope. Scott welcome Kevin S great addition and looks forward to making progress. Vivian
suggested a marathon would be great addition to Edmonds. Patrick shared Amazon Catalyst is
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Economic Development Commission
June 17, 2020
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their version of "Shark Tank," seeking local entrepreneurs and offering $10,000 grants. He will
send press release out to Commissioners. Patrick is on task force that will work on helping the
Chamber of Commerce. About two more months they will be out of money and there is a concern
that this will have huge impact on events in Edmonds. Mary reminded the Commission that at the
next meeting they will need to elect chair and vice -chair.
Adjourn at 8:02 p.m.
Next regular meeting: July 15, 2020, 6 PM location TBA
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Economic Development Commission
June 17, 2020
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