Transcription
[Music] You are watching Access Leaport County Channel 97. Coming up next is the February 17th meeting of the Michigan City Urban Enterprise Association. You can find more information for this meeting by visiting www.acleaportcounty.org. [Music]
It's now 6:02. I'll call the Michigan City Urban Enterprise Board of Directors regular meeting for Monday, February 17th, 2025. The order: I start with roll call. Nick Poil, president, Dakota Ula, president, Jim Claron, here. Antonio Con, here. Bruce, here. Miss Willis, chair, is here as well. We'll go down to approval of minutes. Go down to the minutes of January 20th, January 27th, 2025. Motion to approve? I got a motion. Do I got a second? Sorry, I got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Any opposed? Uh, the February, uh, the February 4th Z session minutes, I didn't get a chance to complete, so I have for the next meeting. So we'll go down to director report. We'll go down to the January Finance report, uh, as depicted on here. All outstanding balances, uh, for Grants were paid out. They finally cashed them last M; they cleared, uh, the check for Ton and Blank was for Ellie Salon Grant and the payment for Circles of Friends was for the last daycare Grant we approved I don't know, EXA month, and then we were up to date with all our invoices to, uh, attorney Anthony Novak. We have a $100 invoice that just came in today for the work he did on the contract and the SOP. Besides that, CLH accountant, uh, they're all paid up to date. Uh, I haven't checked the PO box; it may, something they may have came after, but up to date, they were, they were finished with all their payments, um, and that was it.
Good question. Didn't we talk about with all that money in the checking account, didn't we talk about moving some of that into the money market so we can earn a little bit of interest? I'm sure the money market's making 4% right now, right? Or at least probably from my, from what I remember. I remember we had did moved the 110 to the money market a few months ago. There was nothing else that removed; that's why it's always stayed the same right there. But, uh, do we want to move somebody? Do we probably don't need 157,000 in a checking account, right? If you to Gro move a 100 Grand of it, I mean, sure. Yeah, always wor, it's the great; that's the thing, you can always move it back from. I me, takes a day, right? Right. At least for a couple months until we start giving out some of these grants possibly. I think that's a bad idea. So I got them. Do I have a motion to that effect? Okay, motion to move 100,000 from the checking at Horizon into the money market Horizon. Second? I got a motion and a second. Any more discussion on that? Uh, motion and a second. Any more discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? All right, cheer votes. I'm sorry. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion passes. 100,000 will be moved into the money market account from the checking account. Do I have a motion to accept the finance report? So move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? All. Motion passes. We'll move on now next to the agenda. I'll turn the floor over to Nick from the, um, executive assistant search committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, so we did have a executive assistant, um, committee. I believe it was myself, Tristan, and Bruce. Um, we did me U, we had one person come and interview. Um, we did receive three, uh, resumés. Uh, one person backed out; the other person was, uh, no response. Um, and so Miss Williams was the only one that we wound up interviewing. We did wait until the February 1st closing of the application deadline for the position. We did receive no other applications or resumés by that date. Uh, so it was the committee's recommendation to hire Miss Kamisha Williams as the next executive assistant to the UEA. Yeah, I'm like the board still need to vote, but that is the committee's recommendation here, and that we go down to the executive assistant contract proposal. Um, we had a turn Novak first. We made an offer of do not exceed 39,000. She came back with an offer of 42,000. Um, the committee was, the committee was all in favor of it as set forth in the contract. Her, uh, recommendation was for a do not exceed contract of 42,000 with a $3,500 monthly payment was the, uh, was the Proposal that she proposed, which is outlined, which is outlined in here. The contract will go into effect today and run to the end of the year, and it would be, it'd be the decision of the board at be at the calendar year of every January to vote or add amendments to add on to the contract. She would be an independent contractor employee, which means she'll be responsible for paying all taxes, um, all taxes associated with her pay from the Urban Enterprise. Um, think contract lays out everything. She would be assigned duties as needed by the the board to handle the day-to-day operations of the Urban Enterprise Association. I, I just want to add a pricity point, but it makes a big difference to the IRS. She'll be an independent contractor; we're not going to call an employ. If we even casually use the word employ, we have to start taking care of withholding. Small clarification. Thank you. So what do we call her? Independent contract. Okay. That G assist that I question. Miss independent contractor, would you like to, uh, I like it. And what was the pay? There be 42,000 per for yeah. I'm sorry, for 12-month period pro rated, um, for this month, and then mve forward it will be at the that monthly that we talked about. Um, she is expected to work 29 hours a week. We discuss that with her; she's fine with that. Uh, we will have, um, set hours at our new office location on Franklin Street, um, and then she understands that she will have to go out into the community, um, the remainder of hours to do the goodwi of the UA and report monthly on U. Um, I want BR did report monthly on essentially what she has done for the month and give us, give the board an update on how things progressing, how things have been working out, and obviously handle all the grants and stuff like that as they come in and all the logistics behind all that. Yeah. Yep. Do I have a motion? So move. I have, I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Welcome aboard. Welcome Bo. Um, we got a copy here, but both can sign. Get a U; we can do it after the Mee. Uh, go down to speaking with attorney Novak. We talked about, as as he was working on the contract, we talked about he, he need to have something in place for. We talked about the debit cards that are associated with the account. He said he thought it be a good practice to have something in place to establish procedures of what to do and how to show essentially how to record keeping of finances and purchases through the debit card. We him worked on talked about a standard operating procedure which he drew up and wrote out. I'm actually, uh, surprised that he would even allow a debit card. It's the debit card. I mean, I mean, you can put limits on it, but or that gives you access to your entire checking account, right? Where a credit card, yes, it's a limit of 2500, right? Or whatever, and it just won't let you over span. So I'm just surprised that well, the we talked about it because the debit card that was with the previous executive assistant, she had the limit was 225 a month, and it was just attached to the third account, and that would be kind of the same process, but he want, he said it be be good practice to have something established on how to handle, how to submit the receipts and to keep track of. Yeah. So it would be attached to the spend account. Yeah. So we can I'll itemize receipts, and we can regulate the amount of money that's in that account. So did, oh, is that the spend account that's on there? Yes. Yeah. Is there a, a, a second sheet to this because I know it, it is a label. Okay. Yeah, I must have. It's all right. Just want to make sure we had some. Yeah. Well, do we need to move some money? Next 175 bucks. 225 comes out of check in every month and replenishes back into that account. That's how that's how it was previously set up, so it's always still remain the same. Is that enough? I'm just asking because I don't know, but I mean, I don't, I know she used the previous used it for, she's got to buy print paper ink. You know, we have an office now, right? So it's I'm just asking. It's 220 if I have enough. I don't, I mean, maybe it is. I don't know. Re you go. I'm sorry. I was just saying then we do, we got a lot of the materials from Staples already. Correct. Correct. So moving forward it would just here and there, so I don't think there'll be immediate need, but I think the last need for the office there needs to be, there's two chairs, but there needs to be like an actual office chair to sit in behind the desk and a maybe a few other Essentials, uh, few other censal for the office. I mean, well, there's paper, there does after print some Packers today. There needs, needs some more ink for the printer, but I mean, there's a few, there's a few other items that's needed. The desktop computer now because the previous laptop is, um, it was, uh, not the greatest, so there's a desktop computer in there that just needs to be set up and just a few, a few other, few other items that may need to make the office a little more officy and be good to go. I think we have, uh, situation like that where may end up, you know, costing more than what the limits set at as long as, uh, there's a motion brought to the floor to make an exception by the additional items and we vote on it, I think we'll be fine. But 225 a month, I mean, um, I was just going to mention printing, um, the, uh, printer ink itself is and if you, if you're doing a lot of printing that's going to cost you. I just bought printing for my printer. Yeah, I know you have like a, a agreement or some kind of arrangement with Staples and where you get a discount or something like that on that kind of stuff. They do have for a business account, but first purchase went in, uh, first we, first first went in to get the, like the desktop and items for the set up account, but it costs more if you're not, if you're not recurrently buying something every month, you're paying for the, you're paying for the account, which essentially only use every 3 months, you're paying $20 a month for something that you only sporadically going to use. It's kind of really didn't balance out, but I also knew that the print, the printer ink when I looked it up today when it said it was low, it's like $106 for the cartridge that was needed to replace the ink, so I do, I mean, but it look like it seemed like it last while was because it just not finally went out after a few months, but that was only that was one, one things I could see that was a cting need, but there's plenty of paper, um, folders. It's just need a need of another chair for the office, and that's really about it. I think my head Staples does have like a buyer group that you can join because they've been trying to get me to join it, um, to where you know, you take a bunch of small entities, they group you into one big one, and you get the both buying power of, you know, a bunch of small places, so or if you just kind of know, hey, about a month, I'm gonna need some stuff, and maybe you come to the board, I need a little bit more money to buy me, we can handle it. It's not a big, okay, big issue. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion we approve the UEA standard operating procedures. For second. Got a motion and second. Any more discussion or any discussion? I'm sorry. Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? All. Any opposed? Motion passes.
I'm sorry, uh, there wasn't a second, so we'll go down to the Michigan City Chamber of Commerce. We had an invoice from them a couple months ago. I just dumped upon. I know last year they came out and spoke to the board, so I reached out to the, uh, president of the chamber, ask to come out and speak on and speak and speak to what they do and if we want to continue with the, um, service, continue, continue with the program. So I turn the floor over to you, you where.
Thank you, uh, for, uh, having me. My name is Kirk Gill, president of the Michigan City Chamber. Sorry, I'm standing front of, uh, I've been, uh, the president now for just a little over nine months. Started back in May of 2024. Um, previous to that, I was at the Valparaiso chamber. I was there for 17 years. Um, so I, I know Chambers a little bit. I, you know, I've been around them a few times. Um, one of the things that attracted me to this, this chamber and this community was the, uh, everything that's happening, the momentum that's that's coming up and and going on right now in Michigan City. Uh, it's an exciting time, and so I'm excited to be part of this community for that, uh, and to help the chamber grow. The chamber has been there since 1918, so it's, it's a well-established organization that is, um, very strong financially. We're, we're, we're stable. We own our building outright. The chamber has no debt at all, um, which is a good thing for us. Uh, we do have three employees. It's myself, and then you probably all know Danny Hogan and, um, Katie Swis. She is our, our events and marketing manager. So the three of us, we, uh, we trudge through and, uh, do the work of the chamber. The work of the chamber is to support local business, to, um, attract local business, to work in, in, uh, conjunction with, uh, the EDC and the city Redevelopment groups like yourself, uh, to, to do whatever we can to, um, attract businesses and to build up the businesses that are already here. Uh, we currently have 423 members, uh, and members for the chamber are businesses, organizations. So we have 423 members of the chamber currently. 66 of those are nonprofit organizations or committees or like your, like your, um, organization here. So that's 16% of our, of our membership, our nonprofit. Um, in 2023, the chamber, uh, developed a three-year strategic plan. So we're in the third year of that strategic plan, so we're getting ready to start that process again, um, this summer for the next three years, and, uh, they when they developed this strategic plan, uh, there were four key, uh, items that they wanted to, to have in that, and the first one was Talent growth and employer, uh, connections. And so one of the things that the chamber's done and Nick has been part of this, our education committee was, uh, did these, uh, bus tours to, uh, they did a, a bus tour last year, and they're getting ready to do, do another one. So they got the school counselors together on a bus, and they took them to different industry manufacturers to show them what jobs are available, uh, and what jobs will be available for the students that are currently in school. Uh, this year they're doing health care, so they'll be getting on the same bus, going around to different Health Care, uh, organizations and seeing what jobs could be available for students that maybe aren't looking for college or, um, just looking to get into a trade. Um, they we also do a career fair, and we have our young professionals Group, which is the Lakefront Career Network, that's, um, another way that we, um, build Talent. Uh, so we get that group together; they, that group, um, organiz is organized together, and they choose a nonprofit member of the chamber each year. It's called their Spotlight organization, and they use all of their events that they put together; half of the proceeds go to that organization. So this year is, uh, Family Advocates. Last year was Save The Dun, no, yeah, Save the Dunes was last year, and they ended up giving about $8,000 to Save the Dunes. So it's a, it's kind of a great way for them to get connected, be to learn about the chamber, but also then feel like they're doing something and giving back to the community at the same time. We also have a small business and nonprofit us, uh, group, um, and we are working on, we're putting workshops together with the ISBDC, uh, and the young professionals are also doing workshops. They're doing, they're called How-To, and, uh, they started in the fall in November, and the first one was How to Canva because there's a lot of our businesses that just use Canva, and they, they may know how to use it, but they don't know how to in-depth use it. So that's one of the things that we're looking at. We're doing another one coming up that's How to Social Media for your business, uh, and local business, uh, leaders are involved with those. We also are doing a, uh, Leaders and Readers book club now, which is kind of a, a new thing for us. I don't know many chambers that are doing anything like this where we choose a, a book about business or leadership, and everybody reads, and they get together once, you know, once every quarter. We have a different book, and so that's one of the things that, uh, we are starting now. We also have Quality of Life Enhancement, uh, and that, um, is one of the spots that over the last year really kind of has, um, not been too active with the transition of, of, uh, Katie Eaton leaving and myself coming in, getting to know, I don't, I didn't know anybody when I came to this. I knew you, you, but you're, you're not all around all the, the time, um, but, uh, um, just getting things, so that's getting going to start again. We have a, we're going to revitalize our CEO Roundtable, and, uh, we are starting a new, uh, lifestyle magazine that is going to, uh, send to every business and every resident in Michigan City in the 46360 zip code. Um, we're going to do two of those this year, and those are going to start telling the story of the businesses of Michigan City, so telling people what's happening, um, so much an advertising booklet, but more about the people that started the businesses, the people that are running the businesses, why are they doing it, what are their passions, how do they get there, um, and that's one of the things our podcast is going to do also is going to be like, I don't have a huge title right now, but it's kind of like a how did you get here, how did you get your job type thing, so we're going to be interviewing several people, how did they, what was their, what where did they start, and why are they here? So what, what happened to connect you to where you're at now? Now, uh, there's a lot of good stories out there, and then organizational strength, um, is our fourth, um, our fourth pillar that we're on, and that is also some of a lot of the other things that I spoke on, uh, they, they will be part of that organizational strength. We now have a full staff, and we've almost had a full staff for a year, so that's a, that's a good thing. Um, I mentioned our education fund that is unique to our chamber as well. In 2003, there was an education fund, Foundation fund set up, uh, at the Unity Foundation, and that is to enhance the quality of Education through programs not funded through tax dollars. Uh, we, uh, use the proceeds out of that fund each year to fund, um, requests from the Michigan City area schools. Usually about $14,000 is what we can spend. That fund currently is sitting at about $140,000, so it's another strong account that the chamber has that is, um, owed, so it'll be there in perpetuity. Um, we are, uh, as you may have noticed, we have a new brand for the chamber. We're working to get out in the, in the community and get our, our name known. We do have 423 businesses that are members, but we could have 800 members, uh, that are with the chamber. I, I would believe, um, so we are working at that, getting, building some excitement around some of the things that we're doing, so that's kind of where we're at right now and what we're doing. I'm willing to answer any questions that you have. Thank you. I appreciate you inviting me to be here today. Any questions from the board? I can just actually have your contact. I have a card for you. Awesome. I have a car for everybody. Thank. I will let everybody know, uh, the committee that Kurt referenced, um, that I sit on. Thank you. Has, uh, some professionals from Michigan City, uh, we have representatives from manufacturing, um, from labor and from, uh, perview, um, in the Michigan City area schools. There's a couple different banks. CLH has a member on there, First TR Credit Union, and we, we were out ahead of this, um, new career pathway requirement, um, for high school graduation before any of these other communities, it seems like, um, and and what Kurt was talking about last year, what we did was we, we wanted to give the, um, all the school counselors in Michigan City, um, a better understanding of what careers are out there, uh, for the students that choose to not go to college, um, and now we have a Regional Chamber in Northwest Indiana that's going to emulate that this year, so I think that speaks volumes about, you know, what the Michigan City Chamber has been doing, um, on the Forefront of some of this stuff. So Kudos. Exciting. It's exciting. Program that we did to talk to you about the bus program, bus tour program. So is this something that is during school time? Is it year-round? How often is it? Do you have to sign up for it? So so far, we've just done one, so we're doing it once a year. So our next one is in March or April. I can't remember, uh, April, at least April, maybe true. Um, it's just, it's the, the counselors from the different schools that we, that we take. Oh, okay. So is that the actual students? Correct. It's the counselor; it's the counselor, so then they can take the information back to the students. Okay. For for the $360, is that the classic level or is that a la carte? That's the classic level; that's that's our, our base rate. So what's the level above the classic level? So there's, uh, there's another level; there's several other levels. The next one would be our Bronze level, and that's $900. It's on the, yeah, I see you not. I'm sorry. I apologize. That gives you some extra, um, promotional items, and then, um, um, enhanced listings on our website, things like that. Got any more questions here? None. Do we have a motion to? Do I have a motion on the $360 invoice for the Chamber of Commerce membership? So second. Got a motion and a second. Any more discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. Thank you. Get it, get it paid by tomorrow. Thank you. A good night. Uh, we'll go down to the residential Grant. I'll turn it over to the grant committee, Bruce and Nick. Bruce, Nick, and Dakota, you guys have some amendments and updates for it. [Music]
Okay, so we did have a grant committee meet, myself, Dakota, and Bruce. Later on down the agenda, you also see the budget, so we kind of, kind of came up with a round number for the budget, uh, for 2025, and then we kind of work backwards from that to decide, um, how much we were going to, uh, cap the total spent for each Grant, uh, being that we're looking at having four different, uh, Grant options starting this year. We decided on, uh, 40,000 for the total that we would give away for business grants, um, so we don't really have, uh, obviously, uh, you know, those Grant amounts can fluctuate depending on what kind of work is done, how much work is done, and so on and so forth. So basically, it could be, you know, we don't have a set number of grants that we would give away for that, so we have a cap at 40,000. Um, kind of the same thing with the residential grants, uh, we settled on a number of 52,500 for the residential grants, uh, for the neighborhood Improvement Grant, being that this is something kind of new, uh, we thought we would start out about $2,500 and set a $500 limit per Grant on that. So, um, basically, it would be, uh, about five grants just to kind of see where that goes this year and see how well that works, um, and then the Workforce Development Grant, being that that's a new one as well, um, we went with 5,000, and we figured that'd be about $1,000 each for a total of five grants for the Workforce Development, and each, each of the grants, uh, obviously has their guidelines that will have to be followed for that, um, but that's those are the numbers we came up with for a total of 100,000, um, which would ultimately be our budget for the grant cycle this year. I'm sorry, can you give me the, can you give me the four, the, the totals? The totals for each again? I'm sorry. Business was 40,000, residential was 52,500, the, uh, neighborhood Improv Improvement was 2,500 at $500 each, and the Workforce Development was 5,000 at a th each. Workforce Development is that to help existing businesses in the UEA to train their current employees or to hire more or how, what is that? So if I'm not mistaken, who GNA apply for that? Dan Bage kind of addressed that at the last meeting. I think that falls under, uh, the business grants. So if they, yeah, they can get a grant already, uh, through the business grant to, uh, further train their employees. So what this would be in, in our vision for this is, um, to take individuals specifically that live in the Urban Enterprise Zone and, uh, help them with training, uh, certifications, uh, possibly transportation to, from to get the certification, uh, tools, whatever is going to help them, um, develop a skill. On the residential one, is the, uh, individual Grant the same? 52,500 would be the total that we would disperse, um, but the residential grants obviously is determined by household income. Okay. Um, so that, that could vary as well, um, but that is something that we kind of talked about as a committee as well. Um, it would be up to the discretion of the board, but we did talk about maybe increasing the residential, um, Grant amount to 7,500 as well, just because the, the costs of material and everything obviously is gone up, um, so $5,000 doesn't go very far nowadays, right? Um, so that's something else we discuss. Anybody have any questions on that? No. I'll say I definitely like the 7,500 idea for the residential. Um, only other question I had, you said, um, about Transportation, so would that be like purchasing them a bus ticket or how, how would the transportation go about? Pass. We talked about as an option, cuz I know they, the city, I know they're $10 a month for like a whole month ride, so that, that's I'm just po, I didn't know if you had like an idea or purchase of Uber to, to and fr from or how was that? Would be an option as well. Um, so we discuss both of those as options, uh, say, uh, somebody wants to go to Ivy Tech, um, and we have full intentions of reaching out to Ivy Tech, uh, to let them know what our plans are to, to see if they could partner with us in any way, um, say they want to go to Ivy Tech and, uh, if they could catch the bus to get there, if they need to take an Uber to get there, um, if the certification, you know, cost $500 to get, they have an additional 500 that they can use towards those, um, costs of getting to and from the class that they're taking or whatever other associate costs they might have with that for books or whatever. So that was kind of our vision of that. And don't the question I have for was it is that Grant essentially, would it just be for homeowners in his own or renters as well that live in the Urban Enterprise? That was something I, I was pondering on because I wouldn't be opposed, I wouldn't be opposed if it was open to renters as well, just open it up for it. Yeah, there's still a resident exact, so I didn't, I didn't know. I'm fine with that. I agree with that too. I, I think the ultimate goal is to give somebody a skill, um, that is going to better their quality of life, uh, so I don't think we hold it against them whether they own or rent in the Z. Yeah, they show initiative; we want to reward it, right? I think there's a good opportunity to collaborate with WorkOne office too, which is L right around the corner in the hallway right there because they have a lot of folks that doing exactly this, but maybe the transportation is a hiccup. WorkOne's going to pay for it, so if maybe they know what we're doing and we know what they're doing, hey, when you leave here, walk across the hall to those folks or call you right and get that all set up, but there's a great opportunity there to make sure all these folks know all the different opportunities available to them, and if we can increase our Revenue, maybe we can increase the, but we discuss that as well. Yep. Yeah. So this being the first year of, um, these two grants specifically, um, we kind of just set a limit to see how well they work, and if they end up being successful, uh, we may have other, um, funding options in the future, um, so there's a good chance that we could actually increase this amount moving forward. Good to me. Yeah. Well done. Nice work. Yeah, she has a question. My question was about the, um, residential Grant. I remember you guys talking about setting up something where the contractors could be paid directly, so that the home own owners aren't having to come up with $5,000. I think that would be a huge game changer because I don't think that's very affordable for a lot of the residents, right? We, we did talk about that. In my sense, I'm going to add to what I said be before. I was thinking maybe we set up some kind of an escrow account, and it occurs to me that we probably want to ask our, our attorney to coordinate with us on, on how to do that, but it, I, I, it, it's a, it's a valid concern beyond what you said, and also that we just don't want to be fronting money, knowing from my experience a certain percentage of those Tradesmen won't do the work, but I knew, I know from like the past Grant cycle, the after, um, the invoice was sent that contractors were paid directly. It was just nothing set in parameters; it was kind of just willy-nilly how it was done. I like, I know for instance are like Ton and Blank was paid directly for the work they performed for Ellie Sal or like ARL Roofing, but I guess like the issue that, that, that I, that I kind of remember from it was we present the grant as a reimbursement Grant, and I, it just never made sense to me how we talking about poverty levels, but we offer a reimbursement grant for more than $5,000. I was always, to me that was always kind of like, kind of shooting ourselves in a foot on actually trying to help some. If it's set up like a construction escrow and feel free to chime in, then it, it, we could be making pay directly to the Tradesman, but it would be upon certain conditions to give us some, let's call Quality Control. Why can't we do just okay, you get paid a certain percentage up front, you only get a third or something like that to, uh, start the work, and you don't get the rest until the work is complete? Yeah. Well, there, there are two problems with that from my unscientific empirical, um, I, he, where you going with that because yeah, the other part is is that I, I, and I want Mr. Novak to weigh in on this. What we also experience is, for sake of discussion, let's say there's 2,500 left on the job, they just don't show up because they got another job for 10,000, and their mind is 10,000 is more than 2,500, so they never show up that whatever put in the last two windows or something. So that's why I, to me, what I'll call construction escrow count is the best way to protect ourselves, and I'm open to your comments to people in the trade industry. I would say if it gets that we probably should maybe even have a running list where if you're a contractor and you do that, you're no longer ever going to be approved to do anything for one, you know, because there are a lot of Fly-by-Night places out there. We had it. Last thing I'll say on this, these, these were not fly-by-night that did it to us; it was pretty surprising. Some of them, these are, these are well-known storefront, like, what is the matter with you? So
Thought: Um, on that first page where it says "other repairs" for under the purpose, um, I, I don't, I don't like the idea of that saying "other" or "other repairs." Um, I think we should give some pretty good list and just leave it at that list, because that makes it more discriminatory and whatnot. But that's my thought on that. Um, so you're saying, um, not the catch, you're saying "other repairs as approved by the grant committee," yeah? And you said you, you thought that would be discriminatory? I, I thought the "other repairs" line was, in what way? Ander home? I, I, I, I think this is, I wonder if we said, see it says "electrical upgrades," and my sense is that, okay, somebody might want to do something that's, that's a plumbing upgrade, and so that, that's why I thought "other repairs" could help like cover that. I mean, it still has to be approved. So yes, I think if we made a list, it'll be too easy to leave something, something out.
Yeah, exactly. So as long as it has to be approved, then I think that covers everything. So do I. Then I believe Table 1.1 still needs updated, or is that, from what I can tell, it's still the same one from before? That was a conversation at the last meeting, I believe. I didn't, Nick, I didn't check to see if those were current figures. Did you?
No, I didn't. So we, you want to take a look and make sure it's current figures for the Table 1.1? Who publishes that? Where do you get those?
I, I don't know. Is that a state? I think. And so then I guess it goes back to that 7500. With the 7500 be the, at poverty level, and then 5,000 at the 125? What I can see right now, the property level and 125 are the same. M. And you say make a maximum for the residential grant of 7500? Correct. So level, and the other three levels we just… all right. So for the residential grant, I guess we can, uh, anybody else have any amendments they want to add to it here? And now I guess we can take it, uh, we can do them all in one, or we're taking one by one, however you guys want to do it. What, what you're talking about for the residential grant?
Oh, the grant. So this is not going to be changed, or somebody's going to work on it, look it up? Yeah. Um, we approve it, contingent upon the, the, the changes, the changes. So I, I guess, um, they have a motion to a DIY portion of the grant, 50% material cost with the stipulated requirements that was stated. I don't, maybe all of them, is that just, it'll be a reimbursement, and they will have to show before and after pictures, uh, because like something like painting, my guess is they don't need a permit to do that, so there would be no final inspection by the city, so they would just have to bring some documentation to us to show that the work was completed.
Sounds good to me. I have a motion. Do I have a second to that?
Second.
Got a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? That passes. We'll go down to, you said you wanted, uh, to replace "other repairs as approved by the grant committee." This sounds like the board's in another position, so I'm fine with it staying that way, how it is.
All right, uh, do I have a motion to update the Table 1.1 to make sure it's the most current version?
So move.
Second.
Got a motion and a second. Any more discussion? Hearing none, that passes as well. Uh, go down to amend, change the residential grant program for 2025 to 7500 maximum. Do I have a motion?
So moved.
Uh, do I have a second?
Second.
I have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? That passes as well. I believe that was it for the residential grant, so I'll ask, do I have a motion to approve the 2025 residential grant with the pending amendments?
Some, second.
Second. And, and just before we vote, you and I can take three minutes, I got, I, I called up on AI what the new guidelines are, so we can, we can fill… I just typed in in JV… okay, uh, uh, what was I, G to say? Oh, I, motion and a second, uh, any, any more discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? I motion passes for the 2025 residential grant. We'll go to the business grant. Was there any amendments anybody want to add to it? Actually, I got a backtrack, I want to, uh, did we, we were keeping the grant application due two weeks prior to the meeting, or was it four weeks prior, or was he doing two weeks? Thought probably the amendment was to change it to two, I just didn't remember if I had said that or not, but my understanding of it… all right, get some good thing, my bad. We go to business gr… I apologize. I guess one thing we made, we amend the, uh, approval to two weeks, or the submission to two weeks, right? Do I have a motion? Do I have a second?
Second.
Motion in a second. Any more discussion? All in favor? All that passes. This one was, um, I had to, not for this one, um, it doesn't really, for the, the attaching at the bottom of page two, um, the I9 will show that they have employees, um, but what, what if they're like self, self-employed, a self-employed business or something like that? Um, my understanding, they wouldn't have a I9 for that. I guess they have one that shows blank, right? So probably don't have many brick and mortar businesses that don't have at least employ besides the owner, maybe, right? I, I would expect it's more like people in consulting or the service industry that don't have employees, they don't have a store front, right? Maybe they… only other thing I thought would like to see noted was, um, in their project description, um, in addition to how it will enhance the zone or whatever, I think it would be nice to know how many employees, uh, they have and how many live within the zone, know how many people are benefiting from the dollars that we're, we're spending. So you, your motion is to add a line for number of employees and how many live inside the UA Zone?
I have a motion to, have a second.
Second.
Motion in a second. Any more discussion? Uh, the motion is on add a number for, I, I'm sorry, add a line for a number of employees that live in the, that, no, the two separate, so how many employees and how many of them live within the zone?
I got you, my bad. Uh, any more discussion on that? Hear n our C vote. All in favor? I vote I as well. Any more amendments to the 2025 business grant? Motion to approve?
Got a motion. Do I have a second?
Second.
Got a motion and a second. All in favor? Motion passes. Uh, for the Neighborhood Improvement Grant, there didn't have anything worked out, typed out exactly, so I, I mean, uh, we can just go off the framework of what you have for it, and then we can type it out, submit it out, we can approve it here today. So for the Neighborhood Improvement Grant, it was 2500 with 500 each, and what is the, I guess my question is, um, the requirements, essentially, what is, I guess I should say the purpose for it? We talked about that, maybe it makes sense to require that they be a 501c3 to have more accountability for it, that it could be sort of clumsy or loosey-goosey if we just gave it to Nick, me, and two of his cousins. So for the purpose of that would be, um, to say set up a, a table or a tent at an event in Michigan City.
I got you. Um, so if they wanted to, um, set something up, uh, we would prefer like a 501c3 so that, um, it, it's an established not-for-profit that we're not just giving it to an individual, uh, for whatever purposes, just so that we have a paper trail for where the money's going. So is it, is it like a sponsorship grant essentially, like for, for vents? I'm sorry, events of that nature?
Yes. Um, it could be for a church group that wants to set something up, um, I got you. Could be a neighborhood association, um, and, and so along those lines, uh, we thought, um, if the neighborhood associations aren't established as a 501c3 or whatnot, maybe we can help them out with that, but we got to have some kind of guidelines, right? Yeah, it feels like Dan Bic and, and our attorney would both agree with what you said. Yeah, I wish you said that a few months ago. It could also be, um, we've discussed this in the past, uh, maybe, uh, we have an elderly widow that lives in the zone that can't mow his or her own lawn, um, so maybe we can get an established lawn care company to maintain that property. Do we have one, a la care company? I mean, but it's various around, I mean, we could probably work, but once again, you know, like an I9 or something along those lines would help with that.
Okay, so make sure I got it all. For the Neighborhood Improvement Grant, uh, the purpose is essentially sponsorship and, uh, neighborhood beautification, about time both into one.
Yep. It could be for the neighborhood guards that we have, they have vog parties or, or events, y clean up the beautification, and then, uh, beautification projects or public art programs. So not essentially, not directly related to a resident, a residence or a business in the zone, but the event being in the zone.
Yes. Okay, I was about to ask you that. So if we, um, I guess it's might tan them off, but so let's say we partner with, let's say like a neighborhood association from the East End of the Zone, and then the neighborhood association from the West End of the Zone, and we did like a dumpster drive that day, where everybody able to come to live in the zone and get rid of the, the, the trash that they throw, they throw all out, so that this kind of working that perimeter as well, like that.
I would imagine so. That's dhood and beautification. Exactly. Okay, so would probably just want to see, um, some kind of board and/or 501c3 be the one asking for it, um, like said a border or that, um, personally. So I got a question, how often can this 501c3 submit this grant? Only once? Let there's 50c3, 501c3 that does multiple events all year round.
I think that's the discretion of the board to decide, um, plan only doing five, we're only doing five to start, um, so maybe one this first year, just see how it takes off, M, and then after that, I mean, if it's a success and we, we see a difference in the neighborhoods, um, I don't have any problem allowing it more than once a year if it's effective on the application, um, I'd like to see a narrative on what, what they're planning on doing, um, and then a, a budget that's kind of itemized, and then, uh, have a report from them at, at the end, telling us, say, this is how many people showed up, this is how the money helped us.
Yeah, well, we'll make a simple budget. I don't, I, I don't want anyone intimidated, but I, I think it's a point well taken. So I guess my question for these type of grants, I don't, I couldn't remember if we could directly give to 501c3s, so essentially with the sponsorship, could they, could part of the budget, itemized list that come with what they want us to spend the $500 for, and we pay that directly as opposed to just give the money to, to the organization?
I, I could see that. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, so add that, is, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no, you go. I'm apolog… to say, if that's the case, then is it absolutely necessary that the association has to have a nonprofit status? So for instance, and I'm just speaking for my, from my Association, we are in the process, we're waiting for our 501c to come through, but we do not officially have it yet. So if we were interested in getting a small grant for, say, uh, I don't know, um, for garbage pickup or whatever it happened to be in our neighborhood, could we then maybe come to the board and say, hey, we want a small grant for, for this and have you guys pay for it? Is there anything that establish the association?
Well, yeah, we have bylaws, we have written bylaws, of course.
Yes. Okay. So our only thinking for that was IRS purchases so that we're just not handing money, bu entity. Yes, we have a bank account, we just are not, not non-for-profit yet.
Okay, I think in that circumstance, I think personally I would say yes, uh, it's established, this is something that we wanted to talk to the attorney about and possibly Dan votage just to see, just so that our bases are covered on our end as the association, um, because you know the worry that we had as a committee was we weren't just going to start giving money out to individuals. I get that, um, because then that might not look very clean on our part, so that's kind of why we put that out there, um, as like something like a 501c3, not saying that it has to be a 501c3, but something along the lines that shows it's established, um, organization, um, so I think we'll get clarification from the attorney. Yeah, the only thing to add to what you said is that possibly Dan would say to us, um, great, you, you've got these four or five payments, where are the, where are the EIN, the federal EIN, and we don't want to be looking at each other like a, I don't know. Okay, well, then I, I, that's, that's kind of all I'm going… is the, I think for this grant, just, just my opinion for this grant, I think all payments for this grant should be paid to the business that performing a service as opposed to just exchanging money with, with any, the, any, the, with any of the entities that apply, whether it be a widow that's coming to get her grass cut or a neighborhood association that want to do that. I think just for this Neighborhood Improvement gr, I think everything should be, everything should be paid directly to the vendor as opposed to exchanging money with them at all, that way there, always going to be a paper Tri… I mean, cuz I think anything over $600, they got, they gotta, uh, uh, they gotta, um…
Right. Yeah, thank you. I'm sorry. So I think, I mean, that way we got a paper trail of allocating where we go, don't have a receipt for the purchase and everything as opposed to just writing a check, giving it to them, everything's paid directly to the vendor, that's just my suggestion for this.
Yeah, that may be cleaner too.
Sure. M, I mean, it kind of clean up all of, all of any worries, then it opens us up for neighborhood associations and residents that apply for this grant without having to be a 501c3 because we're paying directly to this, and you're still explaining the purpose on how it's benefitting the own. I think it kind of collides and works everything in together.
Yeah, I like it. Is there anything else anybody want to ask for the neighborhood improve…? It sounds like a very rough work in progress, um, do you feel that we have time that we can wait for that grant to roll it out? But it's up to the boys, not… it's up to me. I, I think this is consistent… why don't we, why don't we plan to have a, a written proposal for the next meeting? We can always edit word processing and, and I… no, no one's cutting my lawn over the next 30 days. My only question for that is our, our other two grants will go in effect March 1st, so the start date for this one be, will we extend it longer, or how would that work out? Because I kind of had the idea if we, we iron out what, what the purpose and what it is, then we get it, the executive system, whoever, based off the information we use today, we get it presented before March 1st, before March, we get, we get it, R up, Drew up for, we approve it contingent on the amendments and what we F, what confines what the attorney, what Dan B may say, works in there, and then we post that final copy, but that way, I think, I think this is a great idea. I think it may sound a little rough, but I think we got enough time until… well, it's only 28 days this month, so we got like 13 days left to try to get it ironed out and get it figured out. I mean, that executive assistant now, I think should be able to navigate and work through some of this, but it's up to the board essentially. So approve it with, with sort of like document to follow, approval in theory, par me, approval in theory.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, everything you said makes sense. I, I know I, I'm not going to be able to contribute heavy on that, just things is going on with me between the end of February, so I could have a meeting with you, but I won't be able to do much on it, sorry. Would we have to reconvene as a board to vote on, uh, to vote on the final… I mean, that probably… yeah, I don't, I don't know exactly. So the, um, State Statute does that say that we have to be have all the grants available from March 1st to October 31st, or is that our standard?
I believe that's our, we probably can adjust, we probably can adjust the standard on that, so we, but I don't, I don't know 100% if this grant available from April 1st to October 31st. I mean, is that going to be a problem?
I, I don't see a problem with… I mean, I don't either. So I think U, I'm going to make a motion we, we, we postpone it and target having it in place by, by beginning of April. That's my thought.
Second.
Got a motion and a second to table the Neighborhood Improvement Grant until April, target date of April 1st. So, uh, table to the next meeting, I'm sorry, March meeting, I apologize, uh, any more discussion? That's a Fool's Day, uh, I apolog… all in favor? I'm sorry, any opposed? Motion passes. We'll go down to the Workforce Development gr… so I think right out of the gates and with this one, um, we'll discuss what we think should be in it, and then, um, we'll try to have a, a draft by the March meeting and have this one implemented by April 1st as well. We kind of talked about it a little bit, um, it could cover any expenses associated with, um, obtaining a certification, um, possibly even, uh, I don't know, and classes. So is this grant the same as what Dan was talking about last meeting when he mentioned how, uh, the business pays a certain payment and this might be 10 or 15% leftover he can use that to P employee through Workforce Development?
Yeah, so the, the businesses can already do it, so this will be more focused on the, um, residents zone, uh, taking advantage of this, uh, grant. So let's say if an applicant, or like he was using this example with the chamber working on the, um, education committee, let's say if we can use this GR in essentially for a resident that lives in zone wants to go to barber school, you, they can get up to that, I don't know exactly how much barber school cost, but, right, some, some, some aim and gear toward that.
Yep, that's, I mean, that sounds great to me, a license, a certification, um, anything that's going to help them improve, uh, their quality of life through work, work, um, training, you know, I think that's going to be at the discretion of the board, but if they can show us how they're going to use it, um, to gain, uh, more willful employment, that's, that's the vision. And we talked about this, we could try to have a conversation with Ivy Tech, they may very well have programs that might interact with this and that might, um, shape how we set our grant. We also want to use this for transportation, correct?
Correct. Anything associated with the training or classes that they're taking, sometimes it could be childcare.
Yeah, have babysit phone, just so we should… so I, I kind of had an idea, we kind of leave this one up, I mean, especially, I mean, honestly, with both of them, they both new, leave kind of up to the discretion of, leave a little more discretion for it. I mean, something new rolling out, able to get a better understanding, familiar… yeah, get better familiar with it and then be able to set the parameters better, especially just the general concept of them, I think are great. It's a fresh idea to have besides just the two standard that come, so I think kind of leaving some, leaving some latitude for with the grant committee, committee is whole, to be able to, be able to like it or not like it. I mean, just, just set on a few basic parameters, I would, I, I would to walk over to that work one office and, and talk to those folks and tell them what we're trying to do, and they're probably going to be able to just like, here's how you need to do it. I mean, they liter do it every day.
Yeah, and then may say, fine, you, you'll just, you'll be an add-on to these programs already have in place.
100%. So do I have a motion for the Workforce Development Grant? I'm sorry, was there any more, was there any more discussion on this? So I'll make a motion that we, we postpone a final decision on this and that, um, I'm, anybody, I'll work with Nick and, and maybe I heard Jim volunteer, uh, to have some conversations ideally with Ivy Tech and across the hall and see how that might shape what we put together and we take it up again in March.
Second.
I have a motion and a second. Any, any more discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Uh, we go down to the 2025 budget, uh, the, as Nick stated earlier, the budget for the grants was proposed at 40,000 for residential, $52,500 for res… I'm sorry for… yeah, or did I write it back? 40,000 for business, 40,000 for business, 52,500 for residential, Neighborhood Improvement at 25,000, 100… I'm sorry, 2500, and Workforce Development at 5,000, for a some total of $125,000 in grants for the 2025 grant cycle. Make that motion.
Got a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor? All, motion passes. Uh, oh, last item I had on there, after, after our last meeting, whatever last meeting we talked about the purchase of a phone and internet for the office, so I called Verizon, who we currently use for the one talk app that we use, and they gave me two quotes, one is a quote for the iPhone 14 with, iPhone 14, and then the other ones for a G… he gave me two, 10, the cheapest model for both brands, and the quotes were for if we pay for the phone outright and then just paid for wifi, but I was kind of under the impression that we could actually save some money on the monthly payment if we just purchased the phone then use the hotspot from the phone to power, uh, the electronic devices inside the office. I mean, there's still a laptop that the Z assist be able to use and then the actual desktop in office as well. Does the desktop connect be hotspot?
Believe it will.
Did, and yeah, that's a good, I think that's a good method. Is that an unlimited data plan you're going to need? Need definit…
I, yes, is it… yeah, unlimited data plan, you don't need unlimited data for you're us… I believe the Galaxy is $72 or… yeah, Galaxy $72, no, that's $72, then the iPhone was $88. 3 year. I see sales tax on both for the phone.
Oh, for the phone, I'm sorry to hear you… I said, I, I prefer the Galaxy. iPhone is right with there… me too. You like iph… no, never had one.
Nei, I never had one either. Yeah, it's interesting. Should I make a motion that we buy the Galaxy then, in light of what's just been said? It just makes… there's no… you say you saw sales tax, we shouldn't be paying sales tax, right? That's… well, it's on this front page, ver… it say $84 then spice pay thex Z, so I don't know. So you're saying we're not going with the, the business internet plan? Yeah, phone would be used as the hotspot, correct? We're going to go to the unlimited phone plan and use the hotspots, hotspot for the, uh, for the internet for off sir. So do… I'm sorry, did you make a motion?
Yes. I'm sorry, I make a motion to purchase the Verizon, the Verizon Galaxy, I misspoke, the Galaxy with the unlimited data plan.
Yeah, with the unlimited data plan.
Second.
I have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Um, go down to Old business, there's no old business, go down to public comment, call for public comment. Public comment is closed. Go down to director's comment. Does anybody have anything they'd like to say? I, we can take this up more, but I do want to talk to the city, remember? I think I said the text about just to be public about it that, um, preparing the, the minutes, it like, I'm, I'm trying to make that more sensible, so I, there are, there are AI programs that prepare that within two or three seconds, give you a full transcript. I still have to edit it down, but it's more efficient, and I talked to Tristan, I, I want to go to the city and just see if the city will purchase one of these apps and just have use it for all the commissions, because it's, it's, I could, I could just pay for it out of pocket, I don't want to, or make us have to pay for it, but it's silly, you got like eight commissions, and so it's like… so that's what I would…
Sound good to me. You can say something, um, I'd like to start a, like an Outreach committee, um, work with, uh, talk, or at least talk about doing something with a website, um, something to do with promoting us, maybe doing a couple sponsorships for different entities, like chamber, I know they have different events that they look for sponsors, city has events that they look for sponsors, um, like I said, probably just like an Outreach committee, um, to talk about some of those things. Do I have any volunteers for the Outreach committee with Dakota? Any volunteers? Z, our executive director, raise your hand. Um, great. Would you want to website? I mean, I throw, throw together a website, would you rather me try to look at like getting a quote for creating one, or just for domain hostage? Only thing with the webs… I was kind of still lost on because I thought with the new ordinance they passed that we were subject to it like all the other boards and commissions, so I was, I don't know if we could have a website, I mean, some can… I don't, I don't exactly know how it works. I thought everything had to go through the city, so I was, I'm kind of lost on that, just me. I don't, I don't know if anybody else knows anything different. Let's ask Mr. Novak on that because we, we've discussed this as a group several times, and you know that's why got inv… ventage of lawyers, right? Asking tough questions. So you want, should I hold off? I mean, you shouldn't… I think you should still pursue, you still pursue it, but we just get some clarification on the turn if we actually allowed to do that. I think it'd be the best course for that. I'll have some ideas at the next meeting. So I was kind of thinking about maybe having a committee to meet with the mayor regularly, um, but maybe that's something that the Outreach committee can do as well, um, just have that open line of communication between us and the mayor's office, obviously, um, we are making a difference in the city that she runs, um, so if you can't do the website, at least a Facebook page, people can know. So I don't think a lot of people know, even if they're in, in side Enterprise.
Z, one thing that I remember, there was some discussion at one point, is there any opportunity to expand the zone? Are we getting the most use that we can out of the zone? I know we speaking with, uh, Mr. Bic, he said that the pro, the way the process works for expanding zone, if we wanted to, it has be approved via the city council, so it'll be… I mean, I think me, Nick and, uh, Bruce kind had talked about this before, it would have to be… I mean, we could work with, he said Dan was, was applicable to work with it as well, to work to expand the zone and then present it to the city council asks to have the zone made bigger, which I think it'd be a great with all, especially with all the new development and everything going here, I think it'd be great to add, incorporate more of what's going on. I think that'd be something to be real good to look into. So I don't know when, when's the best time for that to take place? I imagine not at the beginning of a grant cycle, um, but I don't know. Why don't we, one of us volunteer to ask Danam when he's available to, to have a chat? Anybody? I mean, I'll reach out.
Sound good to me. And you said you want to see about a committee for working d, uh, working more closely with the mayor's office, correct?
Yeah. Any volunteers for that? I'm sorry for cutting you off.
No, you're good. I, yeah, volunte… so I got, um, Nick, Bruce and our executive assistant with, um, um, this, the Outreach committee with the, um, it kind of goes hand in hand though.
Yeah, that's, I'm like, yeah, kind of… should I jump on that one too and just see where it goes? Same, just… I'm okay with that.
Sound good to me. Anything else? Only thing I want to add is, uh, I want to thank, thank you for accepting the position.
Yes, thanks. I want to thank everybody that helped out throughout the process of locating and finding an executive assistant. I wish you all the best endeavors. I'm, I'm sure I'm everybody be more than able to help you any way we can. Uh, only thing I would suggest to the board is that we give her little, little latitude on purchasing the remaining things that she may need for the office as she gets the ball roll and gets going, and um, that's really… oh, I'm sorry, there is one other thing, we just got the yearly invoice for the PO Box, uh, I didn't know if we want to continue with the PO Box or move it over and just use the, um, mailbox in the office. And the last thing that, uh, I forgot is what Dan was talking about as well, um, how we were having all our payments sent via to the PO Box, so, uh, just want to kind of know if we want, um, work with him and go into an online system, if we want to continue with that route that we were doing as well, because he thought it'd be more sufficient if we had an online payment option as opposed to checks going, being sent via, via mail to the P box.
How much is the annual subscription?
About 100, 150.
Yeah, so I think we need to keep it for now until the physical address gets more established, uh, because that's what people are familiar with, um, but absolutely, I think we need to go electronic payments moving forward. It is 2025, so I have a motion to pay the, uh, PO Box, uh, uh, invoice for the year.
Second.
Motion in a second. Any more discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?
All right. As well, that passes. If there's anything else, do I have a motion to adjourn?
So move.
Second.
Motion in a second. All in favor?
All right, motion [Music] oh [Music]