Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC)
BWB Building
201 West Third Street, Jamestown, NY
2nd Floor Board Room
&
Fredonia Technology Incubator
214 Central Avenue, Dunkirk, NY
1st Floor Conference Room
November 22, 2022
11:06 a.m.
Gary Henry Secretary
Steven Thorpe Member
Sagan Sheffield- Smith Member
Jay Churchill Member
Rhonda Johnson Member
Dan Heitzenrater Treasurer
Also in attendance:
Mark Geise Administrative Director/CEO
Richard E. Dixon Chief Financial Officer
Milan K. Tyler, Esq. Counsel
Greg Peterson Counsel
Crystal Almeter Counsel
Kristine Morabito CCIDA Staff
Crystal Erhard CCIDA Staff
Jeanette Lo Bello CCIDA Staff
Rosie Strandburg CCIDA Staff
Kayla Strandburg CCIDA Staff
Jason Toczydlowski CCIDA Staff
Nate Aldrich CCIDA Staff
Monica Simpson CCIDA Staff
Absent Board Member(s):
Michael Metzger Chairman
Brad Walters Member
Kevin Muldowney Member
Meeting was called to order by Gary Henry, Secretary, at 11:17 a.m.
Gary Henry
Good Morning. We welcome everybody to the Board of Directors Meeting for the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation at the BWB Building, 201 West Third Street, Jamestown, NY and the Fredonia Technology Incubator, 214 Central Avenue, Dunkirk NY. It’s November 22nd and it’s approximately 11:17. We’ll begin with a call to order. Roll Call.
Board
Aye – Unanimous.
Gary Henry
You should have already received the October 25, 2022 minutes. Do we have a motion to approve those?
Jay Churchill
So moved.
Gary Henry
Jay approved it. Do we have a second?
Steve Thorpe
Second.
Gary Henry
Thank you. Roll call vote.
Board
Aye – Unanimous.
Gary Henry
Minutes are approved.
Greg Peterson
Just a point of order. I think we have to appoint Dan to be a member of this Board. I don’t think it’s automatic.
Rich Dixon
I thought it was, but we would have to look at the by-laws. It wouldn’t hurt to do it.
Milan Tyler
I’m not sure offhand.
Greg Peterson
Let’s appoint Dan to this Board and that makes it official because you have three separate Boards.
Gary Henry
Ok. Do we have a motion to approve Dan Heitzenrater to the Board for CREDC?
Rhonda Johnson
I’ll make that motion.
Gary Henry
Do we have a second?
Jay Churchill
Second.
Gary Henry
We will do a roll call vote.
Board
Aye – Unanimous. (Dan Heitzenrater abstained)
Gary Henry
Welcome to this Board as well. Thank you. New Business A. Mark would you like to discuss?
Mark Geise
I’ll talk through this resolution and Nate if you want to provide commentary. This resolution is approving acceptance of county funding and entry into contractual agreements for trail and greenway development. I’ll give you a little history on this. When I was running the Planning Department years ago, we did a comprehensive plan for the County and it was adopted in 2011 and one of the takeaways from the Comprehensive Plan is that we have a lot of natural assets – overland trails, waterways and parks. One of the things that we thought we should think through is how do we create or make more efforts to establish Chautauqua County as a mecca for outdoor recreation and active living, One of the things that we did is we created a Greenway Plan to really look at natural corridors, where trails currently exist and connecting towns – really make it a four season destination and by doing all these things and improving the quality of life we are also improving the economic viability of the County by being able to attract people etc. So one of the takeaways from that Greenway Plan was to establish a stakeholder group that we would call the Friends of Chautauqua Greenway – sot of chase after resources and implement projects. When we did the Greenway Plan in 2013 there was some of that but it sort of tailed off. We did do some projects though. We did the one down in Mayville behind the rail depot and the one in Westfield – we worked with the Village. There has been renewed momentum for some time now- I would say the last year year and a half. A number of trail stakeholder groups have been meeting they sort of got some momentum and we have been meeting with them as well. So the idea was let’s create this friends group. We ended up through a Shelding Grant contracted with Camoin, who did the early work for the Partnership for Economic Growth, to sort of look at where should this group reside. Should it be a new 501C3, is there an existing trail group that makes sense to house this group so that they can legally bring in money and then allocate to projects. What Camoin concluded is that it made sense for it to be under the Partnership for Economic Growth because we have five workgroups. One of the workgroups is Placemaking and certainly this is what this is all about. So that grant helped us to work through that. The County had put aside funding through the Occupancy Tax and allocated it to this Friends group to be able to hire someone that would work part-time to lead this effort, meet with the stakeholder groups, to look at funding opportunities out there, help write grants and overall increase the offerings that we have of trails. So, we are desiring to hire a part-time contractual employee under the Partnership and the County through the Occupancy Tax has allocated $35,000.00 for this purpose. That’s what this resolution is about. It will authorize the Administrative Director, Chief Financial Officer and the Chairman to execute and deliver any and all documents necessary to effectuate this resolution and give full ability to enter into agreements and expend funds in a manor consistent with the goals of CREDC and that such actions be in here are ratified in all aspects. Nate, do you want to add to that?
Nate Aldrich
You covered it Mark. Unless there are questions.
Gary Henry
Thank you. There is certainly a lot of potential in our County to develop some of these trails for a lot of different groups that can be used not just by any one group but where you can get everyone working together. This certainly could be a great benefit. Steve, would you move Resolution A?
Steve Thorpe
- RESOLUTION 11-22-22-08 RESOLUTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CHAUTAUQUA REGION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION APPROVING Acceptance of county funding and ENTRY INTO Contractual agreement for Trail/greenway development
Gary Henry
Thank you. Do we have a second?
Dan Heitzenrater
Second.
Gary Henry
Roll call.
Board
Aye – Unanimous.
Gary Henry
By unanimous vote it is approved. I would like to move Resolution B. Resolution to Appoint a Nominating Committee for CREDC Officers for the Year 2023 of Kevin Muldowney and Brad Walters. Do we have a second?
Jay Churchill
Second.
Gary Henry
Roll call vote.
Board
Aye – Unanimous.
Gary Henry
So approved. Is there any Old Business to come before the Board? If there is no additional business we will consider the meeting adjourned.
Meeting adjourned at 11:26 a.m.
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(Assistant) Secretary (Vice) Chairman
