HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPAC.2013.1120.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS
STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING
November 20, 2013
AGENDA ITEM#1—CALL TO ORDER
Chair Alan Magazine called the meeting to order in Council Chambers at Town Hall at 5:00 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM#2—ROLL CALL
The following members of the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission were present for roll call: Chair Alan
Magazine, Vice Chair Nick DePorter, and Commissioners Alice Brovan, Peter Bordow, Audra Koester Thomas,
Nancy Ordowski, and Dana Saar. Youth Commissioner Kate Domin was present.
Also present were Town Manager Ken Buchanan and Recording Secretary Shaunna Williams.
AGENDA ITEM#3—CALL TO THE PUBLIC
No one appeared at the call to the public.
AGENDA ITEM#4— CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING OCTOBER 23,2013 MEETING MINUTES
Commissioner Koester Thomas MOVED to approve the October 23, 2013 meeting minutes and Commissioner
Saar SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present.
AGENDA ITEM#5—TOWN MANAGER'S UPDATE
a. Update on.business attraction initiative—Mr. Buchanan reported that interviews have been conducted
for a part-time(25 hours per week)Economic Development Specialist and an offer will be extended
pending Council action to change the position in the Town's organizational chart from contracted to
part-time.
b. Update on tourism initiative—Mr. Buchanan stated that the Town Council approved termination of
the Tourism contract with the Chamber of Commerce effective December 31, 2013. Staff is in the
process of preparing an assessment report for the Council to assist in their determination of how to
proceed with tourism. He stated that contact will be made with Fort McDowell and the Arizona
Office of Tourism.
AGENDA ITEM#6—DISCUSSION REGARDING THE ANNUAL STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS,
SPECIFICALLY ANNUAL GOALS AND BUDGET
Chair Magazine stated that commissioners will receive an email detailing what needs to be accomplished with
respect to the strategic planning process and that discussion will take place at the next SPAC meeting.
AGENDA ITEM#7—DISCUSSION REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES FOR SHORT-
TERM BUSINESS ATTRACTION OBJECTIVES IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Chair Magazine stated that he appointed Commissioners Bordow,DePorter and Saar to a Work Group to address
economic development implementation. He asked Commissioner Bordow to present the group's
recommendations.
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Commissioner Bordow distributed and discussed a document entitled"Recommendations for Implementation of
the Fountain Hills Economic Development Plan"(copy attached).
Discussion included the following: a comment that there are limited resources available to implement the I
Economic Development Plan and thus the need to keep implementation plans simple; a comment that the Work
Group is proposing adding a implementation factor to SPAC's existing charter as an advisory group and that
Council is the body authorized to change SPAC's charter;a comment that there may be some duplicative
activities with respect to the"Dashboard and Metrics"as they relate to the Economic Development Plan;a
comment that with respect to the"Roles and Responsibilities for Workgroup,"the Economic Development Plan
identifies the targeted industry sectors and also calls out action steps; a comment that work groups and volunteers
can assist,but major implementation is the purview of staff; a comment that it is important to get started on an
action plan and keep expectations realistic;a comment that volunteers/community resources can assist in `closing
a sale;' a comment relative to the importance of focusing on the short-term priorities adopted by Council in the
Economic Development Matrix and placing them on each SPAC agenda for discussion on how to attain and
measure them; a comment that staff is currently assessing the current Visitors Bureau program so that Council can
determine how to proceed with tourism and that Parks and Recreation will assume responsibility for tourism
functions in the interim; a comment that Chair Magazine will be meeting with the Chamber of Commerce relative
to the role they can play in economic development and that he intends to make contact with the Business Alliance;
a comment that a SWOT analysis may be helpful with respect to business attraction; a comment that action plans
and action steps need to be created for each of the short-term priorities;and a comment that examples of good
economic development websites are those of Mojave County and the Town of Gilbert.
Discussion ensued with respect to which targeted industry sectors should be prioritized.
Commissioner Bordow MOVED that Professional,Technical,and Scientific Services(NAICS 54)and
Healthcare,Medical,Biosciences,and Wellness(NAICS 62)be established as targeted industry sector priorities
and Commissioner Brovan SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present. -
Chair Magazine suggested that the Work Group refine the draft,after which a meeting be scheduled with Mr.
Buchanan to review and edit the draft. SPAC attendees proposed were Chair Magazine,Commissioner Bordow,
and one other member of the Work Group.
Mr.Buchanan stated that he would meet with the group if that was SPAC's desire.
AGENDA ITEM#8-SCHEDULE UPCOMING MEETINGS
The December 4, 2013 meeting was rescheduled to December 17, 2013 at 4:30 p.m.
It was noted that a SPAC meeting is also scheduled on January 21, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.
An additional SPAC meeting was scheduled on February 18, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM#11—ADJOURN
Commissioner Brovan MOVED to adjourn at 7:00 p.m. and Commissioner DePorter SECONDED the motion,
which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present.
Shaunna Williams,Recording Secretary
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Recommendations for Implementation of the
Fountain Hills Economic Development Plan
Presented to SPAC
11-20-13
Abstract
Dana, Nick and I met at the behest of Alan as a SPAC Workgroup to brainstorm and
discuss possible approaches to implementation of the ED. The following are the
combined recommendations of that workgroup with subsequent alignment input from
Alan.
Implementation Structure and Approach
• Form three separate workgroups, each responsible for accomplishing a specific set
of action items.
• Each workgroup should contain:
o Leadership provided by SPAC members- no more than 3 SPAC members in
each workgroup
o Volunteers drawn from the volunteer pool and from additional discrete
sources.
o Town Manager, Ken Buchanan
o Specific subject matter experts (SME) drawn upon from within and outside of
the Town
o Part-time Economic Director
• Initial priorities and tasks should be initial short-term priorities previously identified
by SPAC.
• We recommend initial focus on the medical/wellness and high-tech/online
industries.
• Specific workgroups may include:
o Online content and Campaigns/ Messaging and Communications
o Infrastructure and Facilities/ Processes and Regulations
o Focus Target Industry Areas
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Roles and Responsibilities for Workgroup
• Online Content and Campaigns/ Messaging and Communications
o Develop and mature messaging about Town economic development
initiatives and activities.
o Advise and architect re-organization of Town web site content and structure;
include content provided by other workgroups where appropriate.
o Advise and develop architecture and content focus of new ED web site
o Develop and execute social media campaign
• Infrastructure and Facilities/ Processes and Regulations
o Create messaging on technical infrastructure; what the Town offers and why
it's important; e.g., high-speed Internet backbone, attractive SRP energy
policies, etc.
o Create messaging on Town "Quality of Life" —leverage Tourism Bureau/web
site, other existing sources.
o Create business attraction tools and collateral; e.g., inventory list, business
plan templates, "how to" for town, county, and state permits and licenses.
o Review and recommend revisions to business-related Town processes and
regulations; articulate challenges and benefits of changes.
• Focus Target Industries
o Plan and execute direct reach-out campaign to companies and organizations ,
1111)
in the initial industry sector focus areas
o Develop overall target industry strategies (clusters, micro-specific industry
focus).
o Develop list of target companies and contacts.
o Arrange meetings and follow up communications with prospects
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Dashboard and Metrics
To become successful, we must first define success. While setting long-term goals may
not be appropriate (or desirable) at this early stage, we strongly recommend defining
metrics that could be used as a measure of incremental progress.
We also recommend creating a dashboard where these metrics can be centralized and
updated as appropriate.
We also recommend that "snapshots" be taken of each metric as a baseline
measurement, facilitating incremental progress measures.
The workgroup identified a number of possible success measures that would allow long-
term goal setting (when appropriate) as well as be used to measure incremental success
(albeit not all on the same time scale). Here are some of the POSSIBLE metrics:
a. Increased sales tax revenue
b. Increased property values
c. Periodic surveys—to businesses and residents
d. Number of business licenses and permits issued and renewed
e. Changes in Town demographics—This needs to be better defined; more specific
parameters need to be set.
I f. Number of FHUSD school enrollments—reopen Four Peaks school
g. Percentage of available (vacant and occupied) commercial and industrial space
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Abstract thoughts and discussion
The workgroup had some "free thinking" time, in which some general thoughts, ..,,
observations, and ideas were thrown out. As least one conversation thread stood out as
being an interesting academic conversation. I thought it was worth sharing and possible
further discussion.
To be clear,this is outside the boundary of Economic Development implementation, and
speaks more toward a longer strategic view of the Town.
Identity
The Town is in an identity crisis. There is no clear message of who we are or who we
intend to be.
It may be worth considering crafting the Town as a Center of Music Excellence. Greater
scope may include focus on visual and performing arts. Elements of this may include:
• Build on the existing popularity of the musical instrument museum in Scottsdale.
• Convert Four Peaks to a charted school for the performing arts.
• Music attraction: create additional, small music venues along Ave of the
Fountains.
• Construct a world-class music venue in the Park.
• Enhance the existing "amphitheater" to better accommodate music events. Ned
SPAC Structure and Format
The Workgroup also suggested we look at changing the SPAC rules of order/venue and
format to better facilitate discussion and participation. The existing structure seems to
be less-than-optimal for fully engaged conversation and expression.
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