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Village of Fall Creek Finance, Personnel & Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes 1/17/2022 Page 1 of 3 1. Call to Order: 5:00 p.m., Village Hall Meeting Room, 122 E. Lincoln Ave., Fall Creek 2. Roll Call: Members Present: Village President Tim Raap, Trustees Ben Burch, Karen Herbison, Karen Hurd, Sheena Kaatz. Members Absent: None. Other Village Board Members Present: Trustee Matt Mattoon. Staff Present: Administrator/Public Works Director Jared McKee, Clerk-Treasurer Renee Roemhild. Also Present: 1 citizen. 3. Certify Open Meeting Law Requirements Have Been Met: A notice of the meeting and an agenda was posted at the three public places and local newspapers were notified. 4. Adopt Agenda:  MOTION (Kaatz/Herbison) to adopt the agenda. PASSED, without negative vote. 5. Old Business A. Recommendation re: Business Recruitment: Trustee Karen Hurd stated said she would like to generally approach people to try to recruit businesses to locate in Fall Creek. President Raap clarified that this would be general contacts only, inviting the person to come to the committee or the whole board, not to go into details or promise anything on behalf of the Village.  MOTION (Herbison/Hurd) that committee members may solicit for businesses. Only general statements should be made; members should invite prospective businesspersons to come talk to the committee or the whole board. PASSED, without negative vote. B. Recommendation re: Revising Ordinance Chapter 268 Zoning: President Tim Raap explained some cleanup needs to happen with the zoning ordinances to eliminate double or conflicting entries, along with possible changes to reflect ideas that have been discussed at various Board, Plan Commission or committee meetings. Raap stated he has started a draft ordinance, putting it into the new format and will redline any content changes for the committee to review. He will bring back to the committee when the draft is completed. 6. New Business A. Recommendation re: Personnel Policy: Raap stated a draft showing recommended changes was in the Board packet at the last meeting. Administrator/PWD Jared McKee reviewed the draft, item by item, discussing such things as hours, uniform reimbursement, vacation and insurance upon hire, the hiring process for both part and full-time employees, etc. McKee stated it is hard enough to hire for certain positions, he is trying to remove any unnecessary barriers.  MOTION (Kaatz/Burch) to recommend to the Board for approval Jared’s recommended changes to the Personnel Policy. PASSED, without negative vote. B. Recommendation re: Raether Property Debt Repayment/Debt Strategy: McKee reported on the current loan balance for the Raether Property, along with giving a summary of the Village’s current loans. He talked about the money currently in the Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which is basically a designated General Fund (GF) savings account for capital projects. The Village prepares for capital expenditures by budgeting an amount to go into this fund yearly, and by having a resolution that states that any excess revenues over expenditures in GF at year-end will be transferred to CPF to help save for necessary capital projects. McKee stated it is expected a sizeable amount of money will be deposited into CPF after year-end accounting is finalized, making this a good time to talk about the best use of those funds. McKee stated he has been shopping Village of Fall Creek Minutes of Finance, Personnel & Economic Development Committee Meeting January 17, 2022 Village of Fall Creek Finance, Personnel & Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes 1/17/2022 Page 2 of 3 around for the highest interest earnings on bank deposits but they are still very low, so the fund balance is not earning much in interest. On the other hand, the Village has some loans in which it is paying a high interest rate to the bank; the GF loan with the highest interest rate is the Raether loan. McKee stated there may be a way to use the Village’s money more wisely – using CPF money to pay off the GF Raether loan would save approximately $250,000 in interest charges from the bank over the life of the loan. To give the Board the full picture, McKee reviewed the other funds held by the Village explaining the Village is in a safe financial position to use the money in this way, along with outlining the upcoming capital projects. President Tim Raap stated it’s good to realize the money received for renting out the Raether property goes back into CPF which will help restore the fund balance, plus Raap said you could look at having General Fund “pay back” Capital Projects Fund the same payment it would have paid to the bank, in essence “financing” the GF loan internally with CPF money allowing CPF to “earn” a higher interest rate on their funds than they would earn on deposits from a bank.  MOTION (Kaatz/Burch) to recommend the Board payoff the Raether loan as of 3/15/22, that any rent or sales revenue generated from the property would go to CPF, and in addition that GF yearly pay to CPF an amount equivalent to the debt payment it would have paid to the bank. PASSED, without negative vote. C. Recommendation re: Amendment to Ordinance 2.4.1 Board of Review:  MOTION (Hurd/Herbison) to recommend the Board amend §2.4.1. to increase the number of members of the Board of Review to seven by adding the Village Administrator. PASSED, without negative vote. D. Recommendation re: Discuss Potential Designation of ARPA Funds: McKee reviewed the allowable uses for the ARPA (America Rescue Plan Act) funds stating the committee may want to start thinking about what they would recommend to the Board for use of the funds. E. Recommendation re: Economic Development, TID #2, Raether Property, Crystal Creek: Hurd stated she would like the opportunity to talk to Michael Benrud about Crystal Creek and would like to approach other developers to solicit more interest in Fall Creek. Raap responded that a disadvantage of having multiple contacts can be an inconsistent message and it can go poorly, a developer can think he’s been promised something - that was one of the reasons for hiring an Administrator to bring more consistency and to have a designated point-of-contact. For that reason, the Administrator should be involved in any contacts. Raap stated he has always involved the Administrator before any contact is made. McKee stated he feels economic development is one of the more important parts of his job, saying there have been some problems in the past because of too many solicitors going out so he would like to be involved in any contacts, both before and as they are happening. However, he welcomes board members getting involved because attracting a business through long-standing relationships is more probable. He doesn’t have some of the organic relationships that some local members have and he thinks they are very valuable. Hurd said she agreed and felt everything should be funneled through Jared. Jared reiterated that he would like to be involved on the front end and not on the back end of any contacts.  MOTION (Hurd/Herbison) that committee members can be involved in approaching developers but to involve Administrator McKee. PASSED, without negative vote. u F. Recommendation re: Brian Larson’s Developers Agreement/Lot Sale: Raap stated the draft developer’s agreement was provided at the Regular Board meeting. Real estate transactions are always a time-of-the-essence situation in which you don’t want to slow Village of Fall Creek Finance, Personnel & Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes 1/17/2022 Page 3 of 3 the developer down for his financing. McKee stated Brian Larsen contacted him stating he must have the board’s approval this week if he’s going to be able to move forward this year. A special board meeting will need to be called in order to fulfill that time frame.  MOTION (Herbison/Kaatz) that Brian Larson’s Developer’s Agreement goes to the Board for approval. PASSED, without negative vote. G. Move to Convene in Closed Session Per Wis. Stat. 19.85(1)(e) Deliberating or Negotiating the Purchasing of Public Properties, the Investing of Public Funds, or Conducting Other Specified Public Business, Whenever Competitive or Bargaining Reasons Require a Closed Session, Namely, re: Economic Development. At the End of the Closed Session, the Board Will be Going into Open Session to Conduct Further Business.  MOTION (Herbison/Kaatz) @ 6:46 p.m. Trustee Mattoon is part of the parent Board so he stayed for the closed session. PASSED, roll call vote: Burch-yes, Herbison-yes, Hurd-yes, Kaatz-yes, Raap-yes. H. Move to Return to Open Session and Action, if Any, on Matters Discussed in Closed Session.  MOTION (Kaatz/Herbison) @7:02 p.m. PASSED, roll call vote: Herbison-yes, Hurd-yes, Kaatz-yes, Raap-yes, Burch-yes. 7. Adjournment: @ 7:02p.m. Renee Roemhild, Clerk-Treasurer