Greetings and welcome to Friday! With the inland heatwave, we’re in store for a crowded and foggy weekend. This was a busy, fast moving week, so without further delay…
…here’s our EDALC update for the week:
====
Cindy’s week:
* Finished up Board of Directors digital packet
* Continued work on Lincoln County top Employer numbers
* Read through and offered suggestions on enhancing county profile web page
* Proofed newsletter
* Completed draft of June BoD minutes
* Assisted on BoD resource page
====
Paul’s week:
Enterprise Zone Re-Designation – Much of this week was spent tracking down scans of signed resolutions, maps and such and getting some final questions answered from the state. I’ve also been working with Brad Balk at the county to pull together the GIS maps for the re-jiggered zone. On Monday, we’ll have the final two resolution votes from the County Commissioners (3pm) and from the Port of Newport (6pm). Our goal is to submit the re-designation application to the state on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
COGs (Council of Governments) Grant Program – The COGs received 27 applications totaling $232,000 – they have $100,000 of CARES Act money for this grant program, so there will certainly be some cuts and tough choices on their end. We should hear by next week if we receive any funding for our two projects, with funds being dispersed by the end of the month.
Toledo – This week, we had an ART Toledo committee meeting, and I was very pleased to learn that the City Council approved a bright and energized paint color palette for buildings on Main Street – it was designed by artist Veta Bakhtina (a Russian-born muralist who now lives in Newport and has a studio in the Crows Nest). I also had a great meeting with Mayor Cross and the City Attorney on approaches to managing downtown buildings with serious deferred maintenance issues and how that can interface with their Urban Renewal District goals.
Newsletter – We proofed our newsletter and it went out to about 200 folks on Tuesday and we’ve received some nice comments back – seems like folks are enjoying this digital engagement, and our goal is to have something of actionable value in each go-round. Starting next month, we’ll move the newsletter to monthly instead of bi-monthly.
Letter of Support – I drafted a letter of support for Oregon RAIN for their application to the Oregon Community Foundation for a funding request to help support Laura Furgurson’s Blue Economy Catalyst position.
Meet and Greets – I trekked north and attended the Lincoln City Chamber Luncheon on Tuesday and got to meet (in person!) quite a number of folks I’ve only interacted with via Zoom – and I got a great big hug from Chamber Director Lori Arce-Torres! It still feels a little strange being at a populated event without masks and sitting next to other people – that will take some getting used to!
News-Times Economic Development column – I submitted my initial column to the News-Times this week and it looks like we’ll be doing this column bi-weekly over the next few months – it’ll be a great chance to get the word out and to help educate folks on how economic development works. I’m looking forward to it!
End of the Fiscal Year – Next week marks the end of the 2020-21 fiscal year and the start of the 2021-22 year, so we’re getting all of our ducks in a row. Our rent goes up on July 1 (about $35/month) and I did receive what initially looked like a threatening official letter from Mishey Real Estate regarding “non-payment of rent during emergency period” – after reading it through, it looks like it was sent to all tenants and our non-payment totaled $0.00, so we’re good. Oh, and our building is for sale for a cool million – any takers?
Board of Directors Resource Page – One of the cool things to announce this week is that we’ve finished up initial work on our Board of Directors Resource Page on our website. It isn’t a public-facing page, but you can access it from this direct link:
It contains all of our weekly updates, minutes and agendas from the past year, resources to help you all be EDALC ninjas with your board service and a digital directors handbook. Check it out and give me your feedback – we want this page to be a tool for all of you and a valuable information resource.
In other news, Susan is grooving on her new job that Jeremy Burke created for her at the News-Times (her degree is in journalism). She’s managing the new “Cove” art galley and visitors center, plus will be working as the editor and a main writer for the OC Waves magazine. So proud of her! If you have any feature story ideas for the magazine, shoot them off to her at: sschuytema@newportnewstimes.com.
This weekend, we’ll be trekking to the Otter Rock Marine Reserve to take part in the 2021 BioBlitz (hard to believe that it’s been a year since we’ve done that!), and this time, I have some muck boots to make exploring the tide region a drier affair.
Thanks for ALL that you are doing out there! Please reach out to me if you need anything at all.
Cheers,
-Paul 🙂