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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear BJ and Visionaries,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>BJ, I respect your opinion and your service to the
City over many years in the area of economic development. Without your support
on the State Department of Commerce Community Development Committee, we would
not have gained the needed funds for projects at the 1912 Center, among
others.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, I must disagree with your recommendation
concerning the Fiscal Year 2009 budget and encourage Visionaries to SUPPORT the
addition of a CIty of Moscow Economic Development Director.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here is part of a Budget Session Memorandum,
<STRONG><U>dated July 16, 2007</U></STRONG>, that I distributed to the Mayor and
Council last summer. The services of an in-house economic development
coordinator, shared by the URA, make even more sense now. <EM><U>Note that
this addresses a big problem with the way economic development is managed by the
governmental partner: lack of coordination and consistent follow-through.
</U></EM>This is part of recognizing the defined roles of the Chamber, LEDA and
regional project-oriented organizations like CEDA and retaining appropriate
financial support for those groups. These groups do not address the need for
public/private partnerships throughout the City over the long haul to coordinate
a long-term, consistent community vision for economic development. This vision
must incorporate policies that increase local wealth, building on what we
have first and reaching out to capital intensive development that enhances job
creation. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Chamber's role is primarily marketing of
the existing business community. LEDC is county-wide and regional, with the very
important focus of the Knowledge Corridor in cooperation with UI, WSU and
Pullman. The City of Moscow has no coordination for downtown development and
revitalization, commercial development on the edges of the CIty, business
development incentives, and a sense of how to follow through with the goals of
economic development identified in our comprehensive plan revision. Many other
communitites have successfully employed talented people in positions like this
to make sure the community maintains a hold on its future direction. They
have paid for themselves many times over.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIR>
<P>"Goal for an In-House Economic Development Director.</P></DIR>
<P>The goal of such a director is the development of new jobs for Moscow, to
enhance the existing business community and expand and improve business
opportunities throughout the City. </P>
<P>There is constant pressure in and out of Moscow for growth and development.
It is clear that if the City does not take a strong, positive stand for
‘right-sized growth’ that we will not be able to shape our future. We need more
and better jobs, in the private sector as well as in higher education. We have a
wonderful opportunity to coordinate with LEDC and CEDA to assist at a regional
level. However, if we do not have local in-house follow through, we are not
working intentionally to create the kind of economic future we want and need for
our citizens.</P>
<P>The models exist in many other communities across the northwest, with
excellent results for those communities. Eugene, Oregon, another university
community, has benefited greatly from having such in-house expertise over the
years and is a model to review as we determine the proper job description
here.</P>
<P>Now is the time to begin this process because of the Urban Renewal Agency
efforts adjacent to downtown Moscow and because of the impact this area can have
on the university and the community at large. A partnership with the URA is an
obvious choice because our city supervisor’s time and talents are already
stretched to their limits." </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2> from Memorandum to City Council,
July 16, 2007 by Linda Pall, City Council Member through January,
2008.</FONT></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Please support the inclusion of this position
in BOTH the city economic development director in the city budget and the URA
staff proposal. Providing an Advisory Committee to work with the Director,
composed of representatives from LEDC, CEDA, the Chamber, and other stake
holders to help the City Council develop policy for economic expansion could
answer many of the concerns we citizens have about Council decisions concerning
economic development such as the one to advance the competition to Moscow
businesses by provision of water across the stateline. </FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>All the best,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Linda Pall</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Former Moscow City Council Member</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=bjswan@moscow.com href="mailto:bjswan@moscow.com">B. J. Swanson</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, August 02, 2008 8:11
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] City Budget
Hearings</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal>Please mark your calendars and attend two City budget
hearings this week:<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2"><![if !supportLists]><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><SPAN style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><![endif]>Monday, Aug. 4, 7:00 PM, City Council
Chambers: Moscow City Budget Hearing<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2"><![if !supportLists]><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><SPAN style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><![endif]>Thursday, Aug. 7, <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">7:00</SPAN><B><U><SPAN style="COLOR: red">
AM</SPAN></U><SPAN style="COLOR: red">,</SPAN></B> City Council
Chambers: Urban Renewal Agency Budget Hearing<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black">I am opposed to the continuing
expansion of City government as demonstrated by the $55 million budget.
According to The Daily News, the City budget five years ago was $35
million. That is a 9.5</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">% </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">annual growth rate. I doubt your income or budget
have expanded at that high rate. The budget includes three new
positions. The proposed City Economic Development Director at a cost of
$86,000 is certainly redundant considering we already have the Moscow Chamber
of Commerce, Latah Economic Development Council, Clearwater Economic
Development Association and many local realtors. In the difficult
economy we are experiencing now, this is not a good time to up-staff and
expand City government. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black">The Urban Renewal Agency wants
to increase administration to $30,000 and to fund one-half of the $86,000
economic development director’s position. The URA wants to fund this
expansion by using taxes from the Alturas Urban Renewal District. They
also want Alturas to loan money to fund administration of the Legacy Crossing
Urban Renewal District. Please tell the URA not to do this.
Instead of up-staffing, increasing administration and loaning funds to Legacy
crossing, that money could be preserved to close out the Alturas Urban Renewal
Taxing District within two years and return the approximately $300,000 annual
tax revenue to lower the property tax bills of all property owners in Moscow
and Latah County. If the URA continues to use Alturas funds for Legacy
Crossing, increasing administration, etc., there will be no benefit to the
property taxpayers until 2016, if then. The Urban Renewal Agency has not
demonstrated prudent financial management of previous projects including 200+%
cost overruns on completing Alturas Phase II and purchasing undeveloped land
at developed prices. As another example, at the July 24 URA meeting,
Pat Raffee, the URA consultant said Beebe & Germer offered to sell the URA
four acres in the Legacy Crossing District for $20 million. She said
that was too high but suggested the URA buy an option on it. These
examples do not give me confidence in the URA’s management of our tax
dollars.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black">I am not opposed to Legacy
Crossing if it is properly managed. It is highly unlikely in these
economic times that Legacy Crossing will be developed at all in the near
future. Forcing some kind of development before its time will only
result in failure. URA consultant Pat Raffee estimated the first project might
be 2½ years away. Again, now is not the time to up-staff and add
administration at the expense of property taxpayers.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The URA budget hearing is at 7:00 <SPAN
style="COLOR: red">AM</SPAN> on Thursday, Aug 7. The URA Commissioners
say they want public input on the budget, but the 7:00 AM meetings are not
well attended. If you have an opinion on the budget, please do attend
the hearing or contact one of the URA Commissioners:<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">John McCabe, <A
href="mailto:john.p.mccabe@wellsfargo.com">john.p.mccabe@wellsfargo.com</A><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">John Weber, <A
href="mailto:jweber@ci.moscow.id.us">jweber@ci.moscow.id.us</A><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">Brandy Sullivan, <A
href="mailto:brando@moscow.com">brando@moscow.com</A><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">Robin Woods, <A
href="mailto:rwoods@alturasanalytics.com">rwoods@alturasanalytics.com</A><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">Stephen Drown, <A
href="mailto:srdrown@uidaho.edu">srdrown@uidaho.edu</A><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">Jack Nelson, <A
href="mailto:jnelson@latah.id.us">jnelson@latah.id.us</A><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in">Tom Lamar, <A
href="mailto:lamar@pcei.org">lamar@pcei.org</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>These are very uncertain economic times. With oil
prices at record highs and resulting high food prices, layoffs, etc., citizens
are tightening their budgets, the City and the URA should do the same.
Please tell them this is not the time to increase staff and administration at
taxpayer expense.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>B. J. Swanson<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
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