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Committee Minutes

MINUTES

Growth Fund Committee Meeting
Office of Urban Development Conference Room
1405 First Avenue North
Grand Forks, ND 58203

September 16, 2008

1. Roll Call: Present: Doug Christensen, Eliot Glassheim, Dwight Thompson and Mike McNamara. Also present: Greg Hoover, Meredith Richards, Connie Mangan, Tina Hoffart, Hal Gershman, Keith Lund, Klaus Thiessen, Bob Sween, Paul Sproule, Brad Gengler, Brian Osowski, Casey Wonnenberg, Tu-Uyen Tran and Melanie Richardson. Absent: Terry Smith.

2. Approval of Minutes – July 15, 2008: Motion by Glassheim, second by McNamara to approve minutes from previous meeting. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

3. Monthly Report: Accepted.

4. Other Business: Application from Concrete, Inc.: Bob Sween, representing Concrete Inc., is requesting Flex PACE participation from the Growth Fund in the amount of $160,000.00 over two separate phases. Lund explains that the Flex PACE program is in place to help a local business become more competitive even if the creation of jobs is not immediate. Sween explains that the money will be used to implement a finishing process that will allow them to be more competitive locally as well as in the overall market.

Motion by Glassheim, seconded by Thompson to approve the Conctrete, Inc. Flex PACE loan application. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

Potential Land Sale: Hoover states that there are currently two parties interested in the 11.24 acres of land near the intersection of I-29 and Highway 81. Hoover introduces Paul Sproule from Sproule Farms. Mr. Sproule states that he is interested in the land but doesn’t have any set plans for what they will build at this time. The estimated value of the property is $117,500.00 if used for industrial use; non-industrial use would be assessed at a lesser amount. Mr. Sproule has offered $75,000.00 for the land.

Executive Session: Motion by Glassheim, seconded by McNamara to go into executive session at 4:36 pm. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

Motion by Glassheim, seconded by Thompson to come out of Executive Session at 5:48 pm. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

Staff Financial Presentation/Cash Projections: Tina Hoffart presented financial information to the committee. Hoffart stresses that the numbers listed are an estimate due to changes based on the committee’s dealings – grants, loans, etc. The numbers listed are cash available; they do not reflect equity holdings. Everything that the committee has approved to date has already been included in this report. Discussion followed.

EDA RLF Annual Report: Connie Mangan reports that the only loan approved at this time is to DataCom. Therefore, the EDA RLF will not meet the utilization rate this reporting period. If the utilization rate isn’t met for two consecutive reporting periods, unused funds are sequestered into a separate account and the interest is sent to the EDA.

Motion by Glassheim, seconded by McNamara to accept the EDA RLF Annual Report. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

5. Project Update: None

6. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:08 pm.

________________________ ________________________
Melanie R. Richardson Doug Christensen
Office of Urban Development Chairman