04-11-2011 EDA AG MTG CANCELLATION & UPDATE

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~'~,".~` ~~ MEMORANDUM TO: Economic Development Authority FROM: Catherine Mehelich, Director of Economic Development DATE: April I I, 201 I SUBJECT: EDA Projects Update The April regular meeting of the EDA has been cancelled due to a lack of items requiring action at this time. Following is a brief summary of a couple items staff is preparing for the May EDA agenda - Micro Loan Program Amendments At its March meeting the EDA directed staff and the Finance Committee to proceed with a several proposed amendments to the EDA Micro Loan Program. One of the items requiring the most time and research has been the addition of the Energy Efficiency Improvement Loan and coordinating input from the various utility partners, Small Business Development Center, and other model financing programs. The EDA Finance Committee recently met this week to review and discuss amendments; however we anticipate another meeting is necessary to fully work out the detailed language. We anticipate a recommendation for approval of the revised policy at the May EDA meeting. In addition, we'd like to coordinate the announcement of the new Energy Efficiency Improvement Loan Program with the next Energy City Business Education Workshop slated for May/June. Branding Project Staff has been working with chandlerthinks on moving forward with the branding and marketing strategy. Steve Chandler and his team will be in Elk River Apri127-29 to execute the first portion of market research. The methods include: a community tour, 25 one on one interviews with stakeholders, three focus groups and mystery shops throughout Elk River and local area businesses. A `Discover Elk River ` Facebook page was created to begin collecting community input and staff collected over 100 responses to `Describe Elk River's most memorable characteristic in one word' survey completed at the Elk River Area Business Expo on March 27`h Following the visit in April, a community and employee online survey will be created for distribution to collect input. In addition, chandlerthinks will begin an attitude awareness and usage study (quantitative research method) and community segmentation analysis. This N:\Depaxtments\Community Development\Economic Development\EDA to move\Agenda\Year2011 \4.11.11 EDA update.doc