14 - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

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Item No. 14 memorandum TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: John Godwin, City Manager SUBJECT: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM DATE: September 18, 2017 BACKGROUND: At the August 28 city council meeting, I presented a draft economic develop- ment plan to put into place should the November local option election result in the elimination of the Type A tax in Paris, and the creation of a one-fourth cent road maintenance tax in its place. Keeping in mind, regardless of the election's outcome, the PEDC and the tax may remain in place for as much as two more years; therefore, I believe the city still has an obligation to plan for the future and also to define for voters the alternative that is actually being proposed. STATUS OF ISSUE: The council now needs to discuss and agree to conclusions on certain decision points. Specifically: Timing to transfer staff to the city_. You do not need to set a specific date, but a general one would be useful, specifically in relation to the actual terminal date of the PEDC. I suggested the period between 90 days after the election and 90 days before the Type A tax ceased being collected. This would mean sometime between February 5, 2018 and June 30, 2019. Expansion of ED responsibilities. A change in the funding mechanism for economic development would increase flexibility to address more than just industrial and manufacturing type uses. The city council has previously adopted ED policies for retail and the airport, both of which remain in place. Creation of an advisory board and the details thereof. I provided a draft last month of a board that called for seven members with two-year terms, the option of allowing up to two council members to serve (for one-year terms), and a chair selected by the council. There is really no right or wrong way to do this; I simply wrote it this way as a starting point. Boards typically have three, five, or seven members; some cities include council members and others do not. I