County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA)
Audit Committee Minutes
March 15, 2022
CCIDA Staff Present:
Mark Geise
Rich Dixon
Kayla Strandburg
Jeanette Lo Bello
Committee Members Present:
Hans Auer
Mike Metzger
Also Present:
Dave TaTanna, BWB
Justin Isaman, BWB
Meeting was called to order at 8:07 a.m.
Justin Isaman – Three documents in front of you. Independent Auditors Report – looks different opinion at the top of the report – change in appearance -Clean modified option -Headings similar to prior years -Auditor’s responsibilities – Bullet points are new – not there in the past -Clear to the readers our responsibilities as auditors
Dave TaTanna
All these things pertain to prior year – front and center this year – letting the reader know -Description of the report -Responsibilities discussed
Justin Isaman
Page 8 – Numbers – balance sheet for all funds /EDA fund is growing – a lot of this stuff is similar to prior years – locations and Athenex are in there as long term receivables
Page 9 – Income statement review
Rich Dixon – Wind farm – received payments for Ball Hill – only recognized cash at first –
Justin Isaman – Close to end of project
Dave TaTanna – Discussed Americold briefly
Justin Isaman – Overall pretty good year- positive $400,000
Dave DiTanna – Bad debt expense discussed
Justin Isaman – Our calculation how we changed for reserves – applied 15% across the board – identified 3 loans not received payment -Page 9 Altech and CREDC loan balances came down
Hans Auer – Application and fee revenue for last year
Dave DiTanna – Page 5and -$700,000
Rich Dixon – Discussed what happens at the Board Meeting – we have kept the Board very informed – write that up and pass that resolution as a policy – what you see now and what you’ll see at the Board Meeting – when we go into Executive Session we present the loans – we go through them and discuss – can’t take official action on that – the policy will say that the board will empower the administrative director and the controller –we have kept the Board very informed with the loans – we’ll write that up – can certainly pass that resolution as a policy
Hans Auer – Is there any, from a regulatory standpoint – any potential negatives from having too much application?
Dave TaTanna – No I don’t think so
Mark Geise – Good problem to have
Rich Dixon – Mark & I have talked about what we want to do is accumulate some more industrial parks – Mark and Nate have done a great job at getting county money and federal grants
Mark Geise – EDA application discussed – Trying to take the $3 million that we got from the county through capital projects and ARPA and doubling it – so if we have $6 million dollars to buy 200 acres to buy property in Ripley – we may have to throw a little bit of other cash into that for the due diligence especially – we are working hard on that
Dave DiTanna – Good question. The IDA is governmental entity – no compliance type restrictions – but your right potentially the public sees that that’s probably where more exposure might be ***
Kayla Strandburg – Could we also show though that with this increase in application fees and increase in revenue that we are also hiring a lot more? –some of that revenue is designated towards admin. Expenses
Dave DiTatanna – Yes
Hans Auer – Just thinking about it from a public standpoint
Mike Metzger – Invest in both personnel and properties – history discussed – industrial parks were huge undertaking and we took a lot of flak for it but look at the success to be able to have shovel ready properties –your right maybe we need to set aside – it’s a long process – it’s not a three year deal – incur some hiccups through that process – something to buffer that
Mark Geise – We also don’t want the county to look at that and say hey you don’t need our money anymore
Mike Metzger – That’s a good point
Dave DiTanna – Back to the loan funds I think that one thing that might make sense is if you have the information – go back five ten years and do a historical – true write-offs that we had – on average what does that look like over ten years – it doesn’t mean it’s the end all be all – can provide a little bit of information
Rich Dixon – In the Cares money – just looking at the collateral – its riskier collateral – Rich discussed
Justin Isaman – Pages 11 and 12 – fiduciary responsibility – employee’s deferred compensation money they’ve earned – required to be on there
Notes – page 13 – first couple of pages not too much has changed
Page 14 – Pilot program – bottom right corner– discussed – $2.02 million dollars that flowed through PILOTS this year
Rich Dixon – Of that $2 million $420,000 is NRG – payments discussed – PILOTS over in six years – the Huntley Plant in Dunkirk discussed – assessed value discussed
Mike Metzger – Is that on the town or the city?
Rich Dixon – The city – doesn’t effect anything right now unless there is a tax cap calculation
Dave DeTanna – It’s affected them the last five years
Justin Isaman – Page 16 note three other receivables –
Mike Metzger – What is the story there with changeover in Athenex?
Rich Dixon – Immunitybio assumed all obligation – took over everything – not only the obligations but the benefits – was tax exempt – the PILOT just closed this year – discussed – 20 year PILOT with no payments – will pay the special district user fees going forward because we don’t exempt those – even though the town chose not to bill them special district user fees because they were a 501c3 that owned it – now they’re going to pay special district user fees – they assumed everything there
Hans Auer – Have they moved in there equipment yet
Rich Dixon – Yes – there is some equipment in there – it’s unbelievable – I think we should get the Board tour it sometime don’t you think Mark?
Mark Geise – Yes, We’ve been communicating with their marketing people – we did a five minute video – drone footage – clip from Dr. Siong Shong with the IDA Board and myself –about the project – its got a lot of good traction and they’ve also shared it with Immunitybio and their folks – the next time Dr. Sion Shong is in town I suggest that we meet and have a conversation and we’ll see if we can get in there for sure
Rich Dixon – Its unbelievable Hans.
Mike Metzger – I took the tour when Athenex had it – discussed – Immunity bio showed up at job fair that we had – that was encouraging – discussed employment
Justin Isaman – page 17 note 6 – owner revenue – discussed – The IDA has three unearned revenues right now –Ripley Solar Project about $19,000 remaining on that that is unspent, the next one, moved it to unearned revenue but actually PILOTS that have paid in advance – their paying the 2022 January bill too early – their giving us the money in December – we store it in this bucket until we pay it – op page 17 county projects – $330,000
Rich Dixon – That’s for site acquisition and such
Mark Geise – Yes that’s the capital projects money form the county
Justin Isaman – CREDC has two under its umbrella – the first is $200, 000 which is one of the OCR Loans – Cockaigne –attached to the actual loan they are paying back which will get released at some point in time – both in unearned revenue and receivables related to that one the final one there – Ralph Wilson – $350, 000 received on your books – I think we might add a little bit to it to say received $350,000 of the million or something along those lines
Rich Dixon – Three year deal – Mark and Nate identified a lot of projects for that
Justin Isaman – Page 18 – starts with notes and lasts or a few pages – discussed – compare to last years to see which ones have changed – for the most part you have payments on everybody
Dave DiTanna – Last year there were a lot of references to forbearance – this year maybe there is one – really don’t remember ever a year that there is no reference to interest only type stuff
Rich Dixon – Not a lot of people asking for money either – banks are the same way
Hans Auer – Utilities is no longer interest only?
Rich Dixon – No, they are paying
Mike Metzger – What are we at as far as with payments building back principle each month?
Rich Dixon – Principal and interest is about $145 in Altech – CARES is quicker0 a lot of working capital in there – coming back nicely – discussed cares money process
Dave DiTanna – Will you utilize the entire ten?
Rich Dixon – Yes absolutely – some of the loans that we are going to make are quite substantial – example given and discussed – make sure we use the ten million
Mike Metzger – Thought we had a lot that haven’t closed yet.
Rich Dixon – We do. Commitments were $10.8 but there is one that’s not going to go through – $646,000 – Big Inlet Brewing
Mike Metzger – Yes, which I think was smart
Rich Dixon – But we have to make sure we spend it
Mike Metzger – I was concerned about that one – growing too big to fast
Justin Isaman – Page 24 – windfarms and Athenex and remaining payments – discussed
Page 25 – Note 21 CCPEG – discussed put it in last year kept it in this year and talked about the grant income that’s been received over there – what the purpose of the organization is – Note 22 – Recent OCR Grant that fell through discussed
Rich Dixon – So that was for the Webb’s project in Mayville – discussed.
Dave DiTanna – Rich make sure that Note 22 reads ok
Rich Dixon – I thought it was fine
Justin Isaman – Note 23 EDA Cares discussed– Note 24 Altech loan fund – discussed.
Rich Dixon – Note 25- I can’t stress enough how hard it was for our staff dealing with clients and dealing with us – I had two knees replaced and Kayla had a baby – everyone stepped up did a real good job
Justin Isaman – Back schedules – page 26 inner agency charges – discussed
Rich Dixon – CRC only function we use it for is the bonds – every 18 months or two years – promoting the bonds – calling on the not –for profits – we’re doing the work – discussed governance committee and George Craig –
Mike Metzger – Normalize between the corporations – the way we conduct the business – more transparent
Rich Dixon – Now if the state ever allows the IDA’s to do those tax exemptions it might go away
Mike Metzger – I’ll give you credit you saved it
Kayla Strandburg – I didn’t – I just filed taxes
Mike Metzger -Interim transition – now it’s very viable – a lot of private planes coming in through the Dunkirk airport
Hans Auer – Did you lengthen that runway up there?
Rich Dixon – Yes, it’s longer than Jamestown’s – Jamestown’s not long enough – Cummins can’t land here in the winter
Mike Metzger – I see more opportunity in Dunkirk than in Jamestown
Mark Geise – We worked about the last year and a half on developing a strategic plan for the airports – interviewed forty people – looked at best practices – we got that drafted and meeting with the new airport manager who took over for Ron – were going to talk through that -what type of investment would be required – certainly for the Dunkirk airport it would require – private side of things – building more hangers and catering to the industry that is here – extending runway – difficult – property owners have structures around it – can’t get them on board with working with the airport –almost like an eminent domain situation – not sure what will happen with that
Mike Metzger – Management letter
Justin Isaman – Last two pages are the single audit –discussed briefly -Journal entries discussed – reviewed and signed – digital or in a binder
Hans Auer – Who signs off on that?
Justin Isaman – Rich or Kayla or board member
Kayla Strandburg – Sometimes I will enter in a payroll journal entry incorrectly and then just void it and start fresh – example given
Justin Isaman – In most situations you would want to accumulate that and have it be part of your payroll
Kayla Strandburg – I always put in the description – missed entry to adjust error
Rich Dixon – We will do that Dave and I started it – same with the bank records –I looked at them but I didn’t sign them
Justin Isaman – Last one accounting for leases – evaluate them – they are bringing in more into the capitol realm
Rich Dixon – I tried to find some training on that – there’s none
Justin Isaman – There isn’t much out there
Rich Dixon – Its confusing
Dave DiTanna – I can send you a couple things – the other thing that’s not in here that last year – Comment on pilots -make sure that the amount we receive goes out and going out in a timely manner – maybe doing a reconciliation – Kayla’s put together a really nice schedule every quarter – shows all the detail – really good – nice job
Mike Metzger – Any questions?
Hans Auer – Great Job
Mike Metzger – Thank you Kayla & Rich & Mark
Meeting Adjourned at 8:55 a.m.
