Snowy Mountain Development Corporation

Board of Directors Meeting

Wednesday, October 18, 2006, 1 p.m.

SMDC Conference Room

In Attendance: Kathie Bailey, SMDC Executive Director; John Peccia, Larry Lekse, Kevin Myhre, Ed Arnott, Ken Ronish, Richard Moe, Edgar Lewis, Ron Ahlgren, Ken Minnie, Mike Holmberg; Bob Geise and Carrie Mantooth, SMDC; Monty Sealey, Central Montana RC&D Coordinator; Loren Randall, CPA; and Jim Dullenty, Lewistown News-Argus.

Call to Order and Introductions: In the absence of Chairman Jeff Whitcraft, Vice Chairman Kevin Myhre called the meeting to order and introductions were made.  

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held Aug. 23, 2006, were mailed out in advance of the meeting and unanimously approved following a motion by Ken Ronish and seconded by Ed Arnott.  

Financial Report: Kathie distributed the financial report reflecting a balance of $64,004.49 as of Sept. 30, 2006. Edgar Lewis made a motion, seconded by John Peccia and unanimously approved to accept the financial report as presented.  

Auditor’s Report:

• Audit: Loren Randall was at the meeting to discuss the recently completed SMDC audit. He said the annual report on pages 1 and 2 of the audit are similar to a government summary. He complimented Kathie on a job well done. Loren explained the statements of financial position on page 4 and said the cash and cash equivalents of $84,923 in 2006 are cash collected on the Fergus County Revolving Loan Fund that are held in Fergus County . Loren said SMDC is doing very well, especially for such a young organization.
• SMDC RLF: When a $123,175 loan was made in July 2003 to Gebhardt in Roundup, $110,000 was restricted and $13,575 from SMDC had never been designated. Kathie said the funds are separated on paper, but are co-mingled with the county RLF . Loren suggested that the $13,575 dollars be formally designated as unrestricted by the SMDC board and placed in SMDC’s general operations, rather than the county’s. In response to a question, Kathie said SMDC doesn’t need these funds for operations at this point. As a point of clarification, Kevin noted that there were no restrictions on the original funds, and these dollars came from dues to SMDC, etc., and were non-federal. The funds are set up to earn interest and will earn nearly $7,000 in interest by the end of the term in 2013. After further discussion, Ken Ronish made a motion, seconded by Edgar Lewis and unanimously approved to designate the $13,575 and nearly $7,000 in interest earned by 2013 as unrestricted and to separate the funds from the Fergus County RLF so SMDC is able to use these funds for operations if needed.

 Executive Director’s Report:

• Contractor’s Report: Kathie distributed a written report from contract grant writer Jennifer Pfau on her activities. Jennifer has been helping the Utica Rod and Gun Club in its quest to renovate the Utica Community Center . Grants have been awarded from nine sources totaling $42,613 for the project. She also assisted the Lewistown Area Chamber of Commerce with a grant to the Tourism Infrastructure Investment Program for the Charlie Russell Chew-Choo Dinner Train and received full funding of $64,322. Jennifer also sends out monthly emails to area schools and libraries on behalf of SMDC notifying them of potential grant opportunities, as well as working with several other organizations in Central Montana seeking funding sources.
• Kathie’s Report:  Kathie is working with Winifred and Harlowton on Capital Improvement Plans and with the Musselshell County TIFID planning committee. She is also submitting an application for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on behalf of SMDC. She said they currently have 10 centers and have funding for 10, so it is unlikely that they will fund SMDC. She reported on the expansion of the SMDC offices and said staff members have painted the new offices and have been spending time on the relocation. Landlord Don Bost put in new carpet and did some remodeling to connect the conference room to the new offices. The rent will just about double. Kevin Myhre said the expansion is a sign of the growing organization and said it’s nice to see.
• Staff Reports: Bob Giese reported on his work with the Stanford Housing project’s historic inventory. He said SMDC received a few more funds for the Montana Ag Innovation Center, but the program is ending. He will continue to work with value-added businesses, however. He reported on a number of businesses he’s been working with on the RLF and providing technical assistance. Bob also reported on the WIRED grant submitted to the Department of Labor through Department of Ag. Carrie Mantooth reported that she and Kathie had attended the Horizons workshop in Harlowton and she has been writing press releases for participating communities including Stanford, Harlowton and Roundup and will continue to help as needed if communities decide to be part of the 18-month long program. She has also been writing articles for the Musselshell County TIFID to inform the public, and will write informational articles on the CIPs. She is also working on the SMDC website. Westwind Designs has the website design done and Carrie will add the information for the site and is learning that program. She is also working on the CEDS and RC&D area plan and asked the group to submit any comment they want to see included in those documents.

Public Input: Monty distributed two press releases from Ground Water Montana . The first was about the abundance of groundwater in Montana , and the fact that only 2 percent of total water usage is groundwater. In comparison, other states use more groundwater compared to surface water. Wyoming uses 14 percent groundwater; Oregon uses 17 percent; and Idaho , 27 percent of surface usage. The article continues by talking about the movement in Montana that would severely restrict groundwater use; and discusses how important that groundwater development will be for Montana ’s economy. The second article talks about the abundance of unused groundwater in Montana and said a large portion of Montana ’s groundwater resources are found in confined or semi-confined aquifers that are not directly connected to surface water. Discussion followed of upcoming legislation in Montana that could effectively restrict or shut down any new wells, the need to stay abreast of these issues due to impact to businesses and the economy, and to include this concern in the CEDS.

 Old Business:

• Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy: Opportunity was given for public comment on the CEDS. No one spoke publicly, but those present were asked to think about projects they’d like to see SMDC work on and bring those back for inclusion in the CEDS goals and objectives sections, as well as any other comments relating to the needs, strengths and vision of the six-county area.. Kathie also distributed the old resolutions in the CEDS and asked that entities sign new resolutions with SMDC and return them along with a list of concerns, projects and activities for the next five years in each community.
• Policies and Procedures: The revised document was sent to board members with the minutes, but Kathie said she overlooked the change in the bereavement section discussed at the last meeting to change “may” to “will.” She said she also didn’t change the vacation section, because staff was hired under the vacation schedule in the policies. She said the vacation days are only slightly higher than the county, but she asked that it not be changed. Edgar said that on Page 14 under military leave, the section is geared towards training, but suggested that “mobilization” be added. It was noted that federal law requires letting an employee who has been mobilized have that leave, but the group decided it should be changed anyway. Edgar made a motion to approve the policies and procedures as written with the mobilization and bereavement changes discussed, seconded by Ken Minnie and unanimously approved.
• Interviews for Program Manager in Wheatland, Golden Valley & Musselshell: Three candidates are set to be interviewed on next Thursday, Oct. 26.
• Website: Discussion continued about the website for SMDC and Mike Holmberg said links to other area websites should be included. SMDC will be linked to the new Destination Lewistown site and others. Kevin Myhre said that as activity increases on the SMDC website, it will cause it to be found more easily when using a search engine like Google.

New Business:

• Musselshell County RLF : Kathie was asked by Musselshell County a few weeks ago about SMDC managing its revolving loan fund. She said they have approximately $244,000 available and not a lot of active loans currently. Kathie said this would be an opportunity to help make an impact in the Roundup area and stimulate the economy. Ken made a motion to allow SMDC to administer the Musselshell County RLF, seconded by Ed Arnott and unanimously approved.
• Office and Conference Room Chairs: Kathie asked the board to allow SMDC to purchase 20 conference room chairs and 10 office chairs for visitors. Central Montana RC&D Board of Directors voted at the morning meeting to split the cost, since RC&D holds monthly homebuyer education meetings and their board meets in the SMDC conference room. Ed Arnott asked what will be done with the old chairs and Kathie said they could possibly trade some back to Flament’s Office or help out clients or local governments who needed chairs for their businesses. Kathie said SMDC has an additional $3,000 from Montana Ag Innovation Center funds that they hadn’t anticipated and also have enough funds in the general budget for the expenditure. The cost will be about $2,500, to be split with Central Montana RC&D. Ken Ronish made a motion, seconded by Ron Ahlgren and unanimously approved to buy the chairs for the SMDC offices.

Announcements: Kathie invited everyone view the website, tour the new offices, and to stay for the Governor’s Energy Economic Development Plan for Montana following the meeting. Senior Economic Development Specialist Major Robinson will give the power point presentation and a question and answer period will follow.  

Next Meeting: The next meeting of SMDC will be Thursday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. in the SMDC Conference Room (rather than the regular meeting date of Dec. 20, due to several conflicts.) With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes prepared and respectfully submitted by:

Carrie Mantooth, SMDC Marketing and Planning Director

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