WGA Board Meeting Minutes — November 12, 2019
WestGate Authority
November 12th, 2019 | 1:30 PM.
The meeting of the WestGate Crane Authority was held on November12, 2019 at the WestGate Academy. The meeting was called to order at 1:30 PM by John Mensch with the pledge of allegiance.
Authority Board members in attendance include: John Mensch, Pam Loughmiller, Natalie Smith, Brian Sparks, Jerry Braun, Paul McFeaters, Samantha Bobbitt, Darla Norris and John Preble.
Also In attendance: Janice Taylor (SIDC), Mark Dobbs (NSA Crane), Samantha Nelson (PRF), Kelsey Sopko (PRF), Paul Macy (PRF), Jason Salstrom (PRF), Tim Kinder (Martin County Alliance), Liz Irwin (Smithville), Brad Barcom (Smithville) and Dale Ankrom (WCDC).
Natalie Smith made the motion to approve the minutes from September 10th with a change on the wording for the Radius report. John Preble seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
The Development Committee
- Did not meet.
The Governance Committee did not meet
- Is meeting to discuss the proposed budget for 2020.
The Tenants Committee
- Working on the next Tenant Social for November 26. They expect over 30 to participate and said it has grown each time they do it. Natalie Smith made the motion to approve up to $1,000 for the Tenant Social event. Brian Sparks seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
The White River Military Coordination Alliance
- Did meet on November 1, 2019. This was the 1 year anniversary of the organization.
- They have completed the communication plan
- MOU has been drafted for how communication will take place between Crane and Communities.
- ROI/Indiana Uplands presented their Housing Study of the region.
- The website has launched.
- The conservation tool was demonstrated.
- There are more JLUS items to try and achieve.
- Seeking to set up a Crane Community Affairs Committee.
Financial Reports were presented by Janice Taylor. She provided an overview of the Tax Revenue, Building Maintenance, Non Tax Revenue, the Escrow CD, and the Crane Federal Credit Union Certificate.
Samantha Bobbitt made the motion to approve the financial report. Pam Loughmiller seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
John Mensch presented the proposed 2020 budget for the WestGate Authority. The Budget was created by the Governance Committee. The Budget was based on senate bill 563 which only anticipates revenues going forth to be $300,000 annually. A discussion was held about future funding and the budget.
Brian Sparks made a motion to approve the budget. Jerry Braun seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Jeff Quyle from Radius discussed the following:
- Pitch Competition — Preparing for the next Pitch Competition on December 6.
- Elected Officials Forum — Dec 3 will be a one day training session.
- Strategic Planning for County Partners — Exploring discounted strategic planning facilitation for LEDO Boards and Chamber of Commerce’s.
- Commuter Study — Online survey will be distributed to understand who commute out of the radius region. The study begins with Crawford and Washington Counties only right now.
- Site Selector Events/Trips
-Successfully held their joint Radius/SCI Louisville site selector luncheon in October.
-Approached by the Terre Haute region to facilitate a joint site selector event in Chicago.
-Working to Schedule an Indianapolis Site Selector luncheon.
- Site Development — Our partnership with Verisite is moving on to Daviess County and Linton now that Mitchell is complete. There is a need for a bigger inventory of sites in the region.
Purdue:
Jason Salstrom gave a discussion on the PRF activities.
· First Tuesdays— December event will be Disruptive Technology and the Indiana Economy. New technology will disrupt business and this forum will help gives businesses a heads up on what is coming.
· The Crane Career fair had 1500 people attend.
· Working on more opportunities for Crane with the State of Indiana.
· Working with Ascend to determine the talent needed for the future of the region and Defense industry.
· There is an MOU between Purdue Westgate and Board to Global from South Korea. This would allow the WestGate to be a soft landing spot for companies coming out of South Korea. BIC is also a partner in helping deliver resources or bring resources to the companies.
· There is talks with Verizon of 5G training and bringing a 5G lab to the space in the Academy that is unoccupied.
· Fire Starter candidates are performing well.
Old business
WestGate activity update, Paul Macy discussed the following:
· If the upstairs was finished out they could use that space for a lot of other uses. Really just need drywall carpet and ceiling.
· The two smaller offices construction has started.
· Signed three new leases and is currently looking at a potential lease with Crane.
· Request to allow a sign on the building or near the building to advertise those who are located in the building. Possibly they would look at an electronic sign. Samantha Bobbitt will look into with Paul Macy.
· Need to have a more secure locking system on the doors with better control. Would cost close to $10,000. They are looking to add one with facial recognition. Purdue IT will no longer support the current system called Key-Scan. They will get quotes.
· The projectors need to be updated. They are having issues and need replaced. Total price is $21,544. If additional quotes are got they will have to change out all the screens and audio as part of the quote. This ends up being a maintenance issue. Paul will go back to the company to discuss.
Brian Sparks made the motion to approve the projectors purchase. Jerry Braun seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. The Authority mentioned that there is not another technology that can go into the projectors because the Sensorycom is proprietary for the equipment that is currently on the system.
· The lights in the conference need changed out and LED added. OMEGA is the company and they will do a 5 year contract for 482 a month and will help you get a rebate from DUKE that is roughly 5,000 a year. There are questions on how DUKE can give rebates when the Academy is in UDWI REMC power district. The total cost is $24,723.05. Return on investment was 20 months. Paul Macy will look further at the contract with John Mensch.
New business
· Radius contract will need to be reviewed for the future.
· There is a Veterans Affairs representative that is working to have a VA clinic near the WestGate by 2022.
Claims for the Tax Revenue Account were presented as follows:
Natalie Smith made a motion to accept the Tax Revenue Account Claims for Payment. John Preble seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Claims for the building maintenance account were presented as follows:
Paul McFeaters made the motion to accept the Building Maintenance Account Claims for Payment. Pam Loughmiller seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Jerry Braun made the motion to cancel the November 26, 2019. Darla Norris seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Pam Loughmiller made the motion to change the December 10, 2019 meeting to December 3, 2019 to match up with the first Tuesday event at the Academy. Brian Sparks seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 3:35pm.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held Tuesday, December 3, 2019, at 1:30pm at the WestGate Academy.
