Greetings and welcome to another damp Friday, but also Super Bowl weekend! A good week of work, but more focused this go-round, with a lot of time spent on planning and trying to nail down our 2021 goals.
Here’s our update for the week –
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Suzan’s week:
* Daily/weekly routine tasks
* Pay bills in bill pay
* Financial report
* Proof Strategic Summary
* Prepare board packet
* Distribute board packet
* Update db in prep for MailChimp newsletter distribution
* Deal with News-Times subscription problem
* Contact Fitzsimmons about 3 gusto irregularities
* Board meeting
* Take minutes
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Paul’s week:
Strategic Overview – I spent the first few days this week thinking through some of the goal suggestions from Birgitte (as they grew out of our anticipated efforts and strategic priorities), and how we present those concisely and clearly for an audience outside of this board. I worked on some page layout approaches that would allow us to pull out our goals as well as several high-level efforts associated with each of those – that’s what you saw in the Strategic Overview document at yesterday’s meeting. I spent a little more time today, incorporating in some of your suggestions and making things a little clearer. I think one more pass on Monday and we’ll have something we can run with.
Enterprise Zone – I’ve laid out a process for our EZ renewal as well as the timetable. I also tracked down the precise ArcGIS maps for the exact boundaries of our current zone so we can see if the sponsors are interested in any adjustment to the boundaries. I’m also wrapping up the review of several exemption documents and will be reaching out to the county assessor’s office next week to move those forward. I also submitted written testimony today in support of HB2343, which will be going before the House Committee on Business and Labor on Monday – the bill looks to temporarily suspend employment number requirements for existing EZ abatements when the loss of employment levels are a direct result of the pandemic.
Toledo ART – We had a Toldeo ART committee meeting this week. It looks like the submission is going forward next week for the OR Main Street program. As of right now, Mayor Cross has three building owners committed to phantom galleries – hopefully that’ll hit four or five next week, so applications can go out for artists. Toledo digital media students are beginning website work and planning the social media marketing campaign.
CWEDD Economic Developers Roundtable – During our monthly lunch round table with ED practitioners in the Cascades West Economic Development District, we got to meet the new CEDS director (Jenny Glass) and also had some lively discussions on best practices for rural business incubators as well as potential alternate revenue streams for rural EDOs (this conversation will likely continue in the coming months).
Lincoln City – Conversations are beginning with a north Willamette vineyard to explore opening up a vinification operation and tasting room in Lincoln City. I pulled some information together for an initial meeting and stand at the ready to offer any additional assistance needed in the near future.
Next Newsletter – As mentioned in yesterday’s BoD meeting, we’re shooting for a February member (and other stakeholders) newsletter to go out on the 15th or 16th. I’ve got a short list on the content pieces I’ll be writing and Suzan is working on one as well. If you have any news or info you’d like us to get out to the members, please get it to me early next week.
Office Operations – A couple things on the office front this week: As you know, I’ve been looking at our mileage and reimbursable expense tracking. With Suzan’s help, I was able to examine some past reporting from several arbitrary months, and while all the info is there, the reporting and approval mechanisms aren’t standardized and can use some tightening up, so that’s on my to-do list. It looks like we’re ready to cancel out of our old Peak email and hosting service, which I’ll get rolling early next week. We’ve also pulled together some good art for our office walls and I’ll be getting some basic black frames so we can get things on the wall and wrap up our office rehab project. The next step is culling through our old file boxes to get rid of what we don’t need.
Thanks for all that you are doing out there! Please reach out to me if you need anything at all.
So who are you rooting for in the big game? The new guard and defending champs? The old Jedi Master with a chip on his shoulder? Could be an awesome game! We’re making homemade soft pretzels with beer cheese and whiskey weenies – Bring on those crazy commercials! Have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers,
-Paul 🙂