City of Santa Fe Economic Development Advisory Committee met June 9.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Committee was called to order by Councilor Vigil Coppler, Chair, at 11:00 am and was attended virtually.
2. ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT
Councilor JoAnn Vigil Coppler, Chair
Kate Kennedy
John Fiens
Ryan Cordova
Meghan McGarrity
Robert Lurcott
Victoria Murphy
Ryan Gallagher
Johanna Nelson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Melessia Coleman
OTHERS PRESENT
Rich Brown, Director, Department of Community Development
Janice Krish, Economic Development
Liz Camacho, Economic Development
Sean Moody, Asset Development
Daniel Fernandez, Project Director, Midtown
Robert Lambert, Assistant Director, Arts and Culture Department
Sam Burnett, Public Works, Interim Property and Facilities Director, Midtown Elizabeth Martin, Stenographer
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION A motion was made by Mr. Fiens, seconded by Mr. Cordova, to approve the agenda as presented
VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows:
Chair Vigil Coppler, yes; Ms. Kennedy, yes; Mr. Fiens, yes; Mr. Cordova, yes; Ms. McGarrity, yes; Mr. Lurcott, yes; Ms. Murphy, yes; Mr. Gallagher, yes; Ms. Nelson, yes.
4. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA
None.
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
MAY 12, 2021
MOTION A motion was made by Mr. Fiens, seconded by Mr. Cordova, to approve the minutes as presented.
VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows:
Chair Vigil Coppler, yes; Ms. Kennedy, yes; Mr. Fiens, yes; Mr. Cordova, yes; Ms. McGarrity, yes; Mr. Lurcott, yes; Ms. Murphy, yes; Mr. Gallagher, yes; Ms. Nelson, yes.
6. ACTION ITEMS: CONSENT
None.
7. ACTION ITEMS: DISCUSSION
None.
8. PRESENTATION
A. MIDTOWN PROGRESS REPORT
Mr. Brown introduced Mr. Burnett and Mr. Lambert and stated that they will be giving a presentation to Council tonight on the status of the furniture, furnishings and equipment (FF & E) at Midtown.
Mr. Burnett gave a Power Point presentation entitled Public Works Property Management, Midtown, Santa Fe.
Mr. Burnett explained that there are two parts to this presentation. The first he will speak about. That is the plans for the disposition of assets at the Midtown Campus. The second, which Mr. Lambert will speak to, is the plan for managing the cultural and arts assets. We have a four tier strategy as follows:
- Assess the assets that we intend for the City to retain and other assets we intend to disseminate out to schools, nonprofits and others. This plan will go to the steering committee for comment and approval.
- Locate a secure depository on the campus and move the assets there while plans are made for future resting places.
- What remains will be sold at auction such as random dormitory desks and chairs.
- Prepare the assets for disposal. These would be assets of no architectural or other value. They will be sold or discarded.
Mr. Lambert stated that his Department is responsible for the arts and cultural assets and to verify and protect them. A comprehensive inventory was done in 2018. After the previous tenant left the property we did a value based list of the inventory as to their use as educational and research tools. We had three goals as follows:
- That the assets stay in the geographical area of Santa Fe.
- That the assets be accessible to the public.
- That they be used for education and research.
We did an identification match of the equipment and the arts collection as to locations and museums where we could locate the assets and they could be preserved and cared for and available to the public. We do not have the resources within the City to provide for that.
As to the Troje building, it was built in the 1700s and is a Mexican Colonial Building. We have located a partner for this asset. The Folk Art Center is interested in it. The building would have to be deconstructed and reconstructed there.
Phase 1 of this process will require $100,000 for the Cultural Assets Manager. That person will work in consultation with IAIA and the Santa Fe Community College and others to be hands-on through this program.
Phase 2 will require $250,000 to continue the Cultural Assets Manager, hire a team of consultants and paid interns and to get the assets ready to pack and ship.
Mr. Gallagher asked how they will guarantee proper shipping of the assets and to assure they are received in good condition.
Mr. Lambert said that will be a legal process and will require formal documentation as to the assets condition. We will work with a professional art handler to pack and sent out the assets. There will be paperwork on our end and on the museum end to accomplish legal acceptance.
Ms. McGarrity asked about the Fogelson Library. Is it appropriate to leverage Fogelson and the assets there for education and students. The La Farge Library building is ready to retire. Maybe Fogelson could become the library at Midtown. That lends itself to social justice and equity.
Mr. Brown said we are looking at the hard assets. Fogelson is a legacy asset and will probably become an innovation center after the zoning is done.
Mr. Burnett said there is a lot of monitoring of the status of the art at Fogelson. It is still a priority for us.
Ms. McGarrity said there is a lot of interest at the Community College about the use of the assets for education and students.
Mr. Fiens said he was happy to hear that the financial information he had asked for was presented to the City Council two weeks ago. Is seems like a lot of the Council is less engaged in that part but some are. Sharing this information with this Committee and engaging us is making a difference. Hopefully we will be helpful in helping the
Councilors in their decision making. Thank you for that.
One of the lessons in a huge project like this is to celebrate the small victories. It is important for everyone’s morale. An example is the piano Mr. Lambert spoke about that was made accessible to the public. That one piano could be a game changer for the person who uses it and their future. These cultural tools made available have enormous potential. Don’t lose site of that
He is excited to see that Mr. Lambert is working on these assets. He has worked with him before and has followed his progress. He is a high quality person of exceptional talent. These assets are in great hands.
Mr. Burnett mentioned auction. He wonders if those items could be donated as well. There would be a better tax reward. Just a thought.
It occurred to him to ask if somewhere in this process there could be a brain storming session regarding the options of use of the land and facilities with constituents. We are looking at spending $100,000 and $250,000 of tax payer money. It is important to have a budget with more exact numbers that can be reviewed for these expenditures.
Chair Vigil Coppler thanked the presenters for the report. She liked the report very much and she liked Mr. Fiens comments. They were spot on.
Mr. Brown stated that as far as donating equipment, we have to walk a fine line with the anti-donation clause. Daniel is heading the public engagement process. In July we will be doing brain storming sessions around certain topics.
Mr. Cordova asked what is the potential of using some of the facilities on the campus as temporary student housing that could be rented by educational entities such as Northern New Mexico University who is having issues with housing students.
Mr. Burnett said that is physically possible, however; it is complicated and is limited by the current zoning there. He cannot speak to how that would effect temporary housing, but there are legal and zoning hurdles. The answer is maybe, but it depends. We are having issues at this moment with early uses.
Mr. Cordova said there is a housing shortage at Northern. In August it will have sixty five students that need housing.
Mr. Burnett said if you have an interest in that put together a one page introduction of the idea and send it to Mr. Brown for the City to look at. It is surprisingly complicated.
Ms. McGarrity said she had some concerns around student housing when you look at Federal regulations and Title 9. It is something we need, but it is complicated. Maybe bring in IAIA.
Chair Vigil Coppler said thank you all. This has been very valuable. Mr. Burnett, Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Lambert left the meeting.
B. FEDERAL AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT UPDATE
Mr. Brown said the Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law in March. It has to go to the US Treasury to put the final guidelines together for how this will work. This presentation is from the information he has been able to gather and what we are thinking as far as Santa Fe. This is the first of several presentations on this.
Mr. Brown presented a Power Point presentation.
Mr. Brown said the City will receive $15 million and the County will receive $25 million in two annual tranches. The first one will be in July hopefully. The Jobs and Infrastructure Act is Phase 2 of this plan. The plan is focused on five areas: public health; economic hardship; revenue loss; pay and water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.
Ms. McGarrity asked if any of these funds can be used to address the challenges at Midtown.
Mr. Brown said Midtown is not in an eligible census track. The Hopewell/Mann neighborhood just north of Midtown is. We are trying to get some use of funds in the infrastructure portion of the plan. That will be in the second tranche.
Mr. Lurcott asked how the program will work with the program the State is undertaking.
Mr. Brown said the funds we receive for assistance will be funneled into the Connect program the City has. Connect is a City/County program and will work with Constituent Services to do local services.
Chair Vigil Coppler asked how well will you audit these monies and how they are spent. Is there a plan to monitor, evaluate and audit.
Mr. Brown said we will have a Grant Manager who will audit the program. Larger projects will go through an RFP process.
9. PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Krish stated that Liz Camacho had received written comment from Mr. Gurule. He requested that the comment be shared with this Committee.
Ms. Krish read the letter into the record. The letter is attached to these minutes as Exhibit “1".
Chair Vigil Coppler asked Mr. Brown to send the Committee a copy of his response to Mr. Gurule.
Mr. Brown said the request of Mr. Gurule for use of the Midtown property temporarily is like Mr. Cordova’s request. The kitchen facility that Mr. Gurule references in his letter is not usable at this time. The City would have to spend over $200,000 to bring it up to par for use. The Anti-donation Clause would come into play as well. He talked to YouthWorks about this request. The City invests in some of their work now. It would also have to be an RFP process to use that facility so everyone could submit a bid. We would still need the appropriate zoning for the use of the facility. He will report back on this in July.
10. MATTERS FROM STAFF
Mr. Brown said at the July meeting we will discuss the framework of our Economic Development Plan. There will be an ARPA update and he and Sam will update the real estate assets at Midtown. The real estate assets report will then go to the Governing Body. We have some LEDA updates as well. The City is planning to begin going back to work physically on June 30th. We will present plans for that. We also have an update on the hiring of the Project Manager for Midtown.
Chair Vigil Coppler stated that we may have to be mindful of our time at that meeting.
Mr. Lurcott said he would like to get the information as to when and where the public engagement process will begin and the brain storming will be held.
Mr. Brown said they are working on scheduling the workshops and a plan for that now. He will add that to the July agenda.
11. MATTERS FROM THE COMMITTEE
Mr. Cordova asked if there were plans to begin meeting in person.
Mr. Brown said right now just the Governing Body will be meeting in person. Over the next two weeks they will be working on the building we are housed in as to safety and for cameras to enable a hybrid style meeting. There has been no date set for non Governing Body Boards to meet in person.
Chair Vigil Coppler asked that Mr. Brown keep the Committee informed on that.
Ms. Murphy said she was proud to say that her family on her mother’s side has been in Santa Fe since 1598. Her father was a major architect here. She has had wonderful opportunities to work with several companies based in Santa Fe. They all folded. Nambe Mills was one of them. They had a foundry here. The company lost over three hundred employees. The Mayor at the time fought against it. This is part of the reason she wanted to be on this Committee.
She recently saw a story about a small town with far less population than Santa Fe, was chosen for a huge distribution center. She would love to see us looking at jobs that pay well for everyday citizens.
Chair Vigil Coppler thanked Ms. Murphy. That was very informative. It gives us ideas of what is possible.
Mr. Fiens said the Albuquerque Journal is covering the cannabis action. We have been so COVID and Midtown centered that we have not discussed this economic opportunity. This is six months away from happening. It is a new industry, there is high demand and a need for a Project Manager.
Ms. Murphy said she participated in a presentation on issues that were not anticipated with that industry in Colorado. They were significant and not anticipated. One was that rental prices went higher due to the need for grow centers.
Mr. Brown said he had met with the Regulation and Licensing folks who are responsible for regulating this. There are many issues around it. We need to figure out where Santa Fe puts its stick down. We need to know what works best for Santa Fe now and in the next twenty years.
12. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIR
None.
13. NEXT MEETING
JULY 14, 2021
14. ADJOURN
There being no further business before the Committee the meeting adjourned at 12:35 pm.
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