We are now live and you are welcome. Call the meeting to order. Roll call. Mr. Dishman is not here. He gave advance notice. Mr. Lewis. Here. Mr. O'Brien. Here. Mr. Farmer. Mr. Scary. Here. Mr. Scary here. Mr. Zimp. Ms. Watkins. Here. Ms. Frankie. Hi, at this time I'd like to introduce our new EDA staff attorney, Brendan Hefty, who is joining us this evening. In addition to our new attorney, we have Dr. Daniel McGraw, here with us, who is our current EDA liaison from Town Council. We also have our Randolph-Macon intern joining us, Abu Wiligo, and two new EDA members I'd like to introduce this evening, Sean O'Brien and Denise Watkins. And for the rest of the panel if each of you the current members would state your name for us please. I'm Randy Lewis. I'm Jack Zimp. I'm Arnie Truskary. Thank you. Thank you. We do have quorum with those present and at that point we'd like to do the oath for the newly appointed members and Mr. Doug Goodman will conduct that for us. Thank you, Ms. Corniellis. If I can have Mr. O'Brien and Ms. Watkins, show me down on the floor please. Graduates, I'm working on reciting the Othes. I'm just repeating back to me. Obviously, you're stage running and you get to that point. And what to sign in. So if I can ask you, you can raise your right hand. Mr. Goodman, do you mind moving a little bit closer to the microphone? Thank you. Gosh, you would think of all people I would know to do that. I apologize. I'm going to. Hi. State your name. Toronto Bryant. I Denise Watkins. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support. That I will support. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States. And the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And that I will faithfully. And that I will faithfully. And impartially Junior. And that I will faithfully. And that I will faithfully. And impartially discharge. And impartially discharge. All the duties upon me. All the duties upon me. As a member of the town of Ashland Economic Development Authority. As a member of the town of Ashland Economic Development Authority. According to the best of my abilities. According to the best of my abilities. So help me God. So help me God. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you, though. You need to get a quick signature from you. Mr. Blanc. Yes sir, thank you. Thank you. That's why. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chair. That concludes the full ceremony. Thank you. As the first meeting of the 2024 year, Thank you. As the first meeting of the 2024 year, it is an organizational meeting for the economic development authority, as which we are now going to conduct elections of officers, beginning with the office of chair. So at this time, I would like to open up the nominations for chair. I would like to nominate George Randy Lewis. Chair. A second. Are there any additional nominations for chair? Having no further nominations, I will close nominations for chair. And with nods of a head consent, we can declare by acclamation with a round of applause, George Randy Lewis, chair for the nominations for Vice Chair. I nominate Wayne Dishman for Vice Chair. I second. Wayne Dishman has been nominated. We have no other nominations. I will close them. And by a round of applause and acclamation, we can declare Wayne Dishman vice chair for the EDA for 20 years. Our last officer that we need to elect is Treasurer. We have a lot of work to do. We have to do a lot of work to do. We have to do a lot of work to do. We have to do a lot of work to do. We have to do a lot of work to do. We have to Vice Chair for the EDA for 2024. Applause. Our last officer that we need to elect is Treasurer. I'm opening up the nominations for Treasurer. I nominate Marne Atreascar. I second it. Any further nominations for Treasurer? With that, we will close the nominations for Treasurer by acclamation and round of applause. We can now welcome Arnie as Treasurer for the 2024 year for the EDA. That concludes the election of officers. At this point, I would like to turn the meeting over to our new chair, Randy Lewis. The agenda has been distributed and unless amendments are needed, I call for a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. With a motion and a second, I'm going to go to a roll call vote for approval of the agenda. Mr. O'Brien? No, Mr. Former. Mr. Scary? Aye. Mr. Zemp? Aye. Ms. Watkins? Aye. Mr. Lewis? Aye. Motion carries. This is the time we open for public comments on anything on the agenda. Mr. Lewis. Aye. Motion carries. This is the time we open for public comments on anything on the agenda. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Any open comments? Okay. Next is I recognize Miss Kelly Frank. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. I would like to take this time to present to you the economic development authority handbook. It is inclusive, includes resources and information about the town of Ashland government, about the EDA and other information. I feel like that will be helpful for you while you serve your term on the EDA board. You can go ahead and open up your binders. There is a table of contents. We won't go through the whole thing. You can, did you get, does everybody have a book? Now we do. That's going to be our first question. Sorry about that. Everybody have a book? Yes. Okay, super. We won't go through the whole book, but just to introduce to you the table of contents, you've got a list of information there. And then included in the Spinders also the bylaws for the EDA. There is also a tab next that presents to you all of the loans, loan programs, incentives and grants that are offered by the EDA. And then the last section is additional resources with all of the public meetings for the EDA public meetings, a calendar that has all of the town and Ashland events as far as the town hall is considered. An interesting one that we put in here was acronyms, and it's a little like alphabet soup working in the government. So here is a list of some things that might be helpful when we're speaking about different things. And then the last one is a map of the town is zoning map. And I think that that will be helpful as we discuss business endeavors for zoning. There is, I will send you a PDF of this and there are links that are live in this document and so they will take you to specific locations on the Ashland website or other resources that might be helpful for you. If you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know of things that you think should be added or you'd like to see. Thank you, that was great. We've needed that from a lot of people. Oh, great. We've needed that from a lot. Very nice. Okay. We now will invite Brendan Hepti, the new attorney for the EDA, to introduce himself and say a few words. Well, thank you, Good evening, and glad to be here. Give you a little bit of background about me just briefly. I work at Hefty Wilingor, where a law firm that's very small out of Richmond, already across from the Jefferson. We focus on representing local governments, so we're 95% of our practices working with localities. It's how I know the town manager, it's through our work at the Regional Jail Authority. I've been with the firm for, I think this is my 14th year, although I am working with my dad's firm, so I feel like I've been in the business of his two-dolage for decades. I was selling Randy earlier, but I work with localities authorities and a lot of economic development authorities so I'm glad to help out. Do you guys have any questions at any time? Please feel free to contact me email me call me I'm here to help. So I don't really have anything more to add about practice, but I'm very glad to be here and very glad to be working with you all. Very good. The minutes from November 16, 2023 have been distributed. Is there a motion? The minutes from November 16, 2023 have been distributed. Is there a motion? Make a motion to accept as written. Second. All right, Mr. Former. Mr. Scary. Aye. Mr. Zimp. Aye. Ms. Watkins. Aye. Mr. Zimp. Aye. Ms. Watkins. Aye. Mr. O'Brien. Mr. Lewis. Aye. Motion carries. We also have a proof. We need approval for the subcommittee minutes from November 15, 2023. They've been distributed. Is there a motion? We approve the minutes from the subcommittee, meaning November 15, 2023 is presented. I'll second. Mr. O'Brien. Mr. Scary. Aye. Mr. Zimp. Aye. Ms. Watkins. Aye. Mr. Lewis. Aye. Simp. Aye. Ms. Watkins. Aye. Mr. Lewis. Aye. Motion carries. The chair recognizes that the 2024 treasurer is Marney Tuscari for the treasurer's report. There's a beginning balance. This is November and December, the end of November, we had a ending balance of 425,187.09. And we wrote a check for one of the route one incentives for $4,085 had interest of $1292 and 42 cents and brought us to an ending balance of 422,394.51. We have about 128,750 earmarked possible other grants and forgivable loans leaving us a balance if everything goes through on that of 293 644 51. Do I hear a motion to approve the an after report? We need to do that. The report will be included in the minutes. Okay. So my understanding is that we don't need a motion. Very good. Let's see. Now. Oh, sir, I'd like to bring your attention that Mr. Farmer has joined us. Hello. And we might want to introduce Mr. Farmer to the new members. I'm Sean O'Brien. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Denise Watkins. Nice to meet you. Brendan Hefty, legal counsel. Miss Frank, your time up at the pedestal again. At this time I'd like to give you the economic development authority update for the business development. We have had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 business licenses added in December of 2023. Popeyes, King's wholesale, Vincent and Company LLC, which is a home-based consulting business, your mom's cafe and grill on 525 Washington Highway and Smile Center, Ashland doing businesses, Ashland Smile Center, so changing the name of their business. Also this will be available after our meeting today. And in January 2024 we have four new businesses so far that have been added. A home occupation business, a nail salon, a gold buying business, and a trading cards business. First, I'd like to share with you EDA grants that an update. So budget mart, we'd had a demo loan approved for $20,000. We had a revised agreement sent on 12, 13 of 2023 because we had not yet confirmed work with that. With an agreement, it had not yet been signed. And so I reached out to the business owner and asked him, told him that we were going to revise an agreement. I sent a new agreement. I have called and emailed. We had in the new agreement, I had requested that the agreement be signed by January 26, 2024 because it had been six or so months since the approval of the loan. And if that agreement is not signed by January 26, 2024, then the application will expire and they will need to reapply. The Republic National Distributing Company agreement has been created by our legal counsel, attorney, Brendan Hefty. I am currently working with him. It has been sent to our Legal Council attorney, Brendan Hefty. I am currently working with him. It has been sent to R&DC and we are awaiting their approval. We should hear something next week. A grant agreement that was approved in December has been signed for McDonald's. They have, I believe in their agreement, I think I have, we have until September that we've agreed that their work will be completed. Currently working with our legal council, Brendan Hefty, on a demo, the demolition loan agreement for the Dabney Funeral Home property. And because of these agreements that I've just mentioned, it is the staff suggestion that the EDA revise the two loan programs and two grant programs for ease of administration and communication to business owners. We have received a revitalization grant application from Christem. I also met with Ashlyn Garage today for grant assistance and they are currently working on a revitalization grant and a route one grant application. So those should be coming in in the next couple weeks. In addition, Stanley construction is waiting on one quote and they will be applying for a route one grant. So it is by recommendation with the possibility of having several grants to review for the next EDA meeting that Chairman Lewis put together a subcommittee and that Bernie reaches out to get something scheduled. Business visits. So, Abouna, I got to go visit Hanover Foils and we even made the Ashland Mechanicsville local newspaper. So, we're famous. We'll sign that after the committee meeting this evening. And we, in fact, had the jobs investment contact, his name is Jason Smith, and he joined us. He is from the VEDP, and he is going to be working with us and Hanover Foils as they expand their facility and their business offerings. And in the past month, I've had the opportunity to visit five hotels and six other local businesses. We are now also featuring Ashland businesses as a business spotlight in our local newsletter talk of the town. And so they're getting kind of a double dose. They get to experience a business spotlight or highlights in our, let's get down to business newsletter in addition to our talk of the town newsletter. We offer those with a Q&A interview. We are currently managing our Instagram page with reels and photos of local business activity. And that's at I love Ashlyn BA if anybody would like to follow along on the Ashlyn business journey. Let's get down to business went out on Tuesday January 9th you will notice in your handbook that there's a QR code for you to sign scan that and you can it'll automatically you can go in and subscribe to the let's get down to business newsletter. That newsletter has been specifically designed for Ashland businesses to offer support and resources. It goes out on the second Tuesday of every month. And map, market, Ashland partnership. As of January, first, I volunteered to be the market Ashland partnership president. And I will currently be doing that for six months in hopes to revitalize the organization and bring some new energy and excitement and just to help move the needle forward on business activity locally. We have a brand new leadership team that's in place and we have some excited folks moving forward into 2024. So we're excited about that. The RMC Randolph-Macon Edge Career Center is hosting their semi-annual boot camp and that is an opportunity for local business owners, mentors, people to get involved with their students as they work toward making getting ready for their professional world and I'll be volunteering for their boot camp on February 23rd and 24th. And next week, I wrap up by six-week basic economic development course with a final visit in person to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And that's a wrap. Wonderful. You have any questions? Thank you. Within the group, is there any announcement? Would someone like to make? Before we move to announcements, did you want to address a subcommittee for reviewing the applications that she noted that would be moving in? Volunteers, I need to volunteer for the subcommittee to review those. Two or yet, two or? I'll be one. Great. I'll do it. Thank you. John? If there's a third, then we prevent ties from happening. That'll be glad. Okay. Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Farmer, and Mr. Scary. And then we will reach out to poll you for availability times and pick a date and time that would meet with all three of you. And then as it involves more than two members, it will be a considerative public meeting and it will be posted so that the public wants to attend their welcome too. Dr. McBride, would you like to speak and tell us what's going on with council? Sure, I did not come with a prepared speech like I normally do when I'm doing planning but I'll be better prepared for you next time and I'll have a much more deep analysis but we had a very long meeting last time because it's the comp plan update and the comprehensive plan update has been about a three-year process started in 2020. Had many, many meetings with town members, business leaders, lots of input, but some of the bigger things are at said field, there was a zoning done way back when said field was done that had part of the office in areas industrial, thinking what happens if the mobile homes, it doesn't work, like it goes under. So it's a pretty successful area and so our cop plan amendment currently suggested that go into housing and continue the housing. On Western part of 54 there was a much much discussion within our planning group to allow for housing on 54, west of Ashland, or should that be commercial, should it be neighborhood commercial, planning landed on traditional neighborhood, but I think there might be some more discussion about that on council, so we deferred because we weren't quite sure how that would all work out. And those are the big items. So that's what we talked about most of the night. But in the future, I'll have a much more thorough analysis for you. Thank you. You're welcome. And thank you for coming. What happens with the EDA for new members is a member of town council who is assigned or volunteers will come. And it's the same person for a period of time and thank you, Dan, for doing this. I do want to say too. There are two things that I would have put in my update if I was thinking faster. At the Dollar Tree tonight at 7 o'clock, there's a history talk put on by the Asher Museum. I think they're the ones who sponsor it. It's a pretty interesting talk and also they set the date for Untold stories that February 25th at Patrick Henry High School Want to say it's four o'clock because we have in three o'clock rehearsals. That's usually about the top so those are two pretty big events Anybody else have any news? the next meeting date. Thank you. The next meeting date is Thursday, February 15th at 530. And with this, no other comments? Meeting adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. meeting date, it's Thursday, February 15th at 530. And with those no other comments, meeting adjourned.