2014-04-28 reg Part 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5. Approval of the University City Chamber of Commerce request to have a representative as an Ex-Officio, non-voting member of the Economic Development Retail Sales Tax Board (EDRSTB) Mr. Glickert moved to approve, seconded by Mr. Sharpe. Ms. Carr stated that while this is not a bad idea, she is not quite sure that she has the sense that the Chamber of Commerce is actually representing the Olive Street businesses. She then asked if the Chamber had initiated a petition to solicit information from the business owners on Olive to determine whether or not they would like to have the Chamber represent them. Mr. Walker stated that there was no such petition to his knowledge. Ms. Carr stated that if the Chamber is going to represent them, then she believed step number one would be for the Chamber to reach out to these businesses and present a case for doing so prior to approval being granted. Mr. Glickert stated that it was his understanding that this representative would be a business member of the Chamber of Commerce who is located on Olive Street Road. Mr. Walker stated that Mr. Glickert’s statement was correct, and if you look at the report it indicates that the representative should be a member of the Chamber’s Olive Boulevard Subcommittee. Mr. Crow questioned whether the Olive Street Business owners had asked for a representative to be on this Board? Mr. Kraft stated that his understanding is that originally there had been an Olive representative on this Board, but that they never showed up or were no longer participating. Mayor Welsch stated that that was the case of the Economic Development Retail Sales Tax Board. She stated that the Chamber of Commerce has set up an Olive Business Focus Group and that the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce has asked to have a representative on this board, with the understanding that when the Olive Department Business group is up and running more fully they may also be asking for a separate representative from that group. Mayor Welsch stated that the Board of Directors, which represents businesses from all over the City, including some officers who are from Olive, are requesting that this move forward. Mr. Glickert stated that to that end, this is a one year pilot project, with a review at the end of that year. Mayor Welsch concurred. Ms. Carr stated that she still does not see why there could not be a petition, because it seems to her that buy-in would be very important, especially when you’re talking about funding projects out of this fund. So in her opinion, there is a need to make sure that the businesses on Olive are truly engaged because she would really like to see the Chamber represent those businesses. Mr. Crow stated that although the one year makes him more comfortable, he is still trying to figure out why the Chamber has not gone to the Olive businesses to ask them to support this. He stated that this sort of looks like they are asking Council to jump in and make a decision, when in fact the Chamber has not necessarily done their work with the Olive business owners. Mr. Crow stated that as he sits here with members of the Economic Development Retail Sales Tax Board shaking their head in agreement, it sort of made sense that this may not be ready for prime time. He stated that he would tend to think that right now he would have to vote no on this, because he believed that the Chamber has an obligation to see if they have the support of the Olive businesses. Mayor Welsch stated that she would like to go on record again and say that the Chamber has spoken with the businesses on Olive; that they have had much participation from the businesses on Olive, and she believes that at least two of the four officers are from businesses on Olive. The Board of Directors for the Chamber is asking for this also includes Olive business owners. Mr. Crow then questioned whether any of the Olive business owners were in the audience tonight.