12 July 2018 Dearborn County Redevelopment Meeting Notes

12 July 2018 Dearborn County Redevelopment Meeting Notes

Present: Jim Deaton, Chairman, Dave Deddens, Jim Helms, John Rahe, Alan Goodman

Jamie Graf (non- voting school board member)- arrived at 8:37 AM

Also present:Sue Hayden, county administrator and minute taker, Andrea Ewan, attorney, Connie Fromhold, Auditor and DCRC treasurer.

Title VI statement read as legally required by Jim Deaton.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES- July 7th minutes approved. John Rahe commented on the new Indiana Law about more meetings they will be required to attend. That will be covered later in this meeting. 

CLAIMS AND FINANCIALS:

TIF Fund Claims (One Dearborn Payment)- Payment taken equally from the 3 TIF funds and made in two payments. Approved. 

Whitewater Mill TIF Fund claim- Connie Fromhold brought the bond claim paperwork. Assessing years and pay years are different. She wants to pay the whole amount of $62,904.50 since the money is not getting interest. Approved to pay this to FCN Bank.

Stone Property Loan Payment- for purchase of the 14 acres- this has already been paid and is due June 1 and Dec 1 each year until paid off. $37,411.30 was paid previously and this is just verifying these payments. They also made a motion to make these payments on time for the rest of the year. Approved.

General Fund Claim- Andrea Ewan annual bill for July 2017-18. Approved. 

Financials- passed out to the board previously. No comments. 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Cushman Wakefield Proposal to Market the Stone Site- Deaton said they were recommended. Terri Randall said that projects for the Stone property had been looked at and they fell through. One Dearborn wanted to aggressively market the land and they want to get into a different audience. Indiana and REDI Cincinnati are in big pool. There is a broker network in the area. They often develop for large corporations. One of the largest in the area is Cushman Wakefield. Some brokers have issues because they are not licensed in Indiana. Jim Deaton joined her with the initial meeting with Cushman Wakefield. They came back with a proposal to market it but they get a commission. 6% for anything under 20 acres and 5% for anything over 20 acres. If it comes thru other brokers they will split percentages with them. They recommend they rename the property to something more attention attracting. Want to market it as a business park. Niche for us is probably several smaller companies. They will market it regionally and nationally. They suggest we revise the concept plans. Site layout is not as efficient. They would like to use Bayer Becker for resurvey as they have worked with them before. 

Rahe asked - if there is a shortage of large sites why would we not keep offering that. Randall said they could still use larger parts depending on what comes in. Even if you give the land you will have to pay a commission on this. Randall wants to have this under contract for 1 year.  They would use about $40,000 per acre for the value versus the $55,000 per acre we paid for it- per Deaton. Helms asked when commission is due- answer 90 days. It’s not a sale of land until it has changed ownership. 

Deddens asked about Hirlinger 5 acres request. Randall- no answer yet. 

Goodman said that we may be able meet smaller company needs easier than larger. They can use the $10,000 for marketing this property. 

Suggested names can use Whitewater or Stone or Dearborn County in the name - but add enterprise park, or industrial park etc. 

You can decide to use a virtual spec building on this site. they can tell you what size can work per Randall. They can co market with One Dearborn also. They talked about some drone aerial videos. The board can make a decision to move along with Cushman Wakefield. Or they can have them meet with Cushman Wakefield’s 3 person team. One from Indy an 2 from Cincinnati.

Deddens wants Andrea to review it. They should meet with Cushman Wakefield BEFORE signing a contract. This should be tied to the one year with One Dearborn and push that land. 

Randall brought up that all the things needed would be over $10,000 that we have from Duke site readiness money. She had also taken to K&K Consulting. They had recommended Cushman Wakefield. 

They will set dates for a meeting with Cushman Wakefield. July 26 at 8:30 AM or August 9 at 8:30 AM for options. Randall wants a birthday cake for her if it’s the 9th. 

Update on Meeting with School Superintendents- Randall said that Sunman Dearborn had asked about sharing the TIF money. They thought they’d have to be fair with South Dearborn too as they also have a TIF district. So they met with both superintendents. Deaton said the schools were interested in future TIF income sharing. There might be a way to do that in the law. One part of the law authorizes them to distribute up to 15% of their TIF income with the schools. No decisions made at that meeting but he thought they could use this to fund programs to prepare students for the workforce we need. 

Randall had given them an overview of the TIF options available in their area and that it wouldn’t produce huge sums of money.They would also need Umbaugh or Barnes and Thornburg to see what they could even do.  

Jamie Graf - the schools are frustrated- they want the TIF money. There are schools that went thru litigation to get their money. Randalll said those are in large TIF areas where the money made it reasonable to pay the legal fees. Graf- they want to get the deal in place so that as future growth happens the school gets it’s share. 

[NOTE: What is missing from this is the idea that the basic TIF concept itself is not school friendly.]

Deaton asked if the attorney for SD School district could prepare something that would comply with the law, that they could all look at. They should also note that the revenue is small for now. 

Deaton- Schools are an important part of quality of place. We want to be good citizens. Employment is important for the schools. 

Aurora Business Park Sign- meeting with Batesville Products next week so this may add more options to this. Table this till the next meeting. Randall wants to find out the opinions of the tenants of the Aurora Business Park. Decided to wait to make the choice. Rick Craig is no longer interested in his company name (Budweiser) on the sign per Kevin from the sign company.  

NEW BUSINESS:

One Dearborn Contract Renewal- not ready for this until next meeting. Tabled.

ONE DEARBORN REPORT:

Pricing and Recommendations for Duke Energy $10,000- Tabled until Cushman Wakefield meeting.

Matt Zimmerman- Updated Website Review- Randall said he was part of Indiana Bond Bank and also with OCRA with grant administration. She’s glad One Dearborn hired him and shows commitment. He was married 3 months ago and wanted to relocate to Cincinnati. Almost everyone on One Dearborn is trying to get an inventory of all business properties. Randall feels like they turned a corner and are making an investment in a steering team from all communities  going thru an economic development planning process. Trying to provide new data to everyone. 

Zimmerman- getting close to finishing the website. About 25% to go. Hoping to go live by end of July. Most important audience is site selectors. Board welcomed him.   

ATTORNEY’S REPORT- Ewan- prepared the billboard lease. There is one inconsistency in one that has maintenance issues. Deddens indicated that they will all renew for one year only. Board decided to make all lessees be responsible for their signs. These will be effective July 1 and she will send them out. Payment due in 30 days. 

OTHER BUSINESS- Rate said Lischge is moving from the Round Barn. Some people are suggesting using it for a County Music venue. Should we use contacts? Deddens said we should stay out of it. It’s not in TIF district.  

ADJOURNMENT - 10:00 AM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township