Portland Development Corporation awards grants, elects officers

[0:02] Beverly: Hi, everyone. Kirsten is not able to join us today, so in our president's absence, I will chair the meeting and welcome. We have quite an agenda, so I think we'll just dive right in. Nancy, could you give us a summary of the 12 job creation grant applications that have been received? [0:25] Nancy: Thank you, Beverly. We'll be happy to do so. So I'll give sort of a quick overview of what is before the board for this item. So at the last PDC meeting, I think it was September 3rd, $70,000 was programmed, so that left $130,000 left of this job creation grant to program. And I did a lot of marketing and outreach to try and get that, almost too much of a good job, because we got more, we got a lot of applications. So after review, found that 12 were complete and could be considered. Of those 12 applications, all but one business requested grants of $20,000. I will remind the board that what I thought was such a great idea over a year ago in suggesting that eligible funds be restricted to rent in an effort to stimulate commercial vacancy and streamline the paperwork process in a way that has limited the potential for programming these funds. So applicants who have off-site workers who don't have large commercial rent payments, I think they're gonna have difficulty meeting the compressed timeline of this job of this grant program. So for, I'll stop there, 's more information in the confidential memo that was shared with the committee. And certainly, if there's a motion to go into executive session, the underwriters are present as well, so we can discuss more. [2:27] Beverly: Does anyone have any questions that are suitable for public session? Doesn't look like it, so may I have a motion? You're muted. Oh, sorry. May I have a motion? Make a motion. Okay, now we do a roll call. Great. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Nate? Yes. Scott? Yes. Hina? Yes. Did Tuck join us? Doesn't look like it. Okay. And I am a yes. So before we leave, just a reminder that we will vote in public session [3:26] Speaker C (unidentified): discussion after our discussion. And can I just add that you'll be also discussing the delinquency report as well as the grant request. [3:36] Beverly: Thank you, Laurie. Yep. [22:56] Speaker C (unidentified): Looks like we're just waiting on Tuck O'Brien right now. [23:12] Beverly: But Nate, how long are you going to be with us? [23:16] Speaker C (unidentified): I got to leave momentarily, but I can stay for a vote. Okay. [23:21] Beverly: So do we have enough without Tuck? One, [23:26] Speaker C (unidentified): two, three, four, five, six. Yes, we do. [23:32] Beverly: Okay. Shall I go ahead, Lori, because we don't? Yes. Okay. Okay. So may I have a motion to approve $10,000 grant recipients for Casco Bay Cleaning, Arcana, Bad Neighbors, Polish Salute, and Water Lily. I'll make a motion. Thank you. To approve. I missed who that was, but thank you. And we'll do a roll call. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Nate? Yes. Scott? [24:21] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes. Dina? Yes. Tuck? He's not here yet. Oh, there he is, Tuck O'Brien. Doing a roll call, Tuck. [24:34] Beverly: Tuck, we're doing a roll call to approve the $10,000 grant recipient. I am here. And I approve it. Okay. And I am a yes. So those are approved. Approved. And moving on to Wild Card, a $10,000 grant with conditions. Can I have a motion? So moved. Thank you, Sam. A second? Anyone? I'll second. Thank you. And the roll call. John? Don? Yes. Sam? Yes. Nate? Yes. Scott? Yes. Nina? Yes. Chuck? Yes. And I am a yes. So that is approved. May I have a motion to approve a $20,000 grant to Feast 243 Restaurant and Sawyers Butcher and Deli. So moved. I'll second. Thank you. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Nate? Yes. Scott? Yes. Dina? Yes. Chuck? Yes. And I am a yes. So that is approved. May I have a motion to not approve a grant to Collinbrook and Top Care. [Speaker C (unidentified): So moved.] Thank you. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Nate? Yes. Scott? Yes. Tina? Yes. Tuck? Yes. And I am a yes. Very good. Thank you everyone for that. Next up on our agenda, and Nate, are you leaving us? I am. Thank you for your help. This is our annual meeting of the board, and we have a draft of the annual report that Kayla is going to walk us through. [26:54] Unidentified economic development staff: Thank you, Beverly. I'm going to share my screen, and I hope you are all looking at the annual report. Now, so economic development staff are pleased to present you with our draft FY2026 annual report for your acceptance or consideration and acceptance. We largely follow the format that we have done for previous reports, beginning with an introduction of the PDC. We go on to highlight the activity for this fiscal year, noting that the PDC provided commercial loans to nine businesses, two Brownfields loans, three Brownfields grants, and three interest-free storefront loans. We go on to highlight a few of our commercial loans. On page seven, we highlight the PDC's lending history. And I would just like to note that since 1991, the PDC has lent a total amount of over $18 million. We've leveraged over $350 million. We've retained 1,593 jobs and created 994. All of these were backing 231 local businesses. And then I would also like to quickly touch on our default rate. rate. We have a 4.1% total amount of funds lent that are in default. This is less than one third of the 15% capital reserve that we keep for this purpose. So we are well within our limits. The next couple of pages just further highlight our commercial loan activity and our Brownfields program. On page 10, I just want to bring note that we provided funding to Youth Family Outreach, the Rue Institute, Portland Housing Authority, Fathom Companies, and a $2.1 million loan to Avesta Housing for 89 Elm Street. We do give our last plug to our 2026 business awardees. That was Red Fern Properties, Smart Architects Engineers,, our Small Business of the Year, Factory 3, and Matcha Mood is our PDC Client of the Year. And our Legacy Awards went to David Woods Clothiers. Then we close out the report with our Statement of Net Position and our Statement of Revenues, Expenditures, and Changes in Fund balance for the year end thanks [30:02] Beverly: Does anyone have any questions? Okay, seeing none, I would entertain a motion to accept the annual report and send it on to the city council. Can I have a motion? I'll make a motion. Thank you, John. Second. Thanks, Sam. And now the roll call. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Scott? Yes. Tina? Yes. Huck? Yes. And I am a yes. Thank you, Kayla. Okay, so the next item up on our agenda is to vote to set the date for the annual meeting of the corporator or the city council as October 5th, 2026. May I have a motion? So moved. Thank you. Thanks, John. And now the roll call. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Scott? Yes. Yes. Tina? Yes. Chuck? Yes. And I am a yes. All right. We're making good progress. All right. So the next item that is a part of our annual meeting is the election of officers. And for that, I ask Nancy to fill us in. Thank you, Beverly. [31:48] Nancy: So there's a tradition that, of the officers being based in tenure. So before this meeting, I reached out after looking, you know, at the list and,, asked folks if they would be willing to serve. So based on their responses staff recommendation would be for Nate Henry to be secretary, Sam Dargan to be treasurer, and Beverly Werber to be president. [32:28] Beverly: May I have a motion to accept the slate? So moved. Thanks, Tuck. Okay, thanks, John. Okay, the roll call. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Scott? Yes. Dina? Yes. Chuck? Yes. And I am a yes. Thanks, everybody. [32:57] Nancy: Congratulations, Beverly. Congratulations, Beverly. Thank you. [33:03] Beverly: Let's hope I can measure up. Let's see. Is there any other business for our annual meeting? Is there anything else that needs to come before the board is a part of our annual meeting the [33:20] Nancy: annual meetings when we consider new members is that right I [33:26] Speaker C (unidentified): don't think we have any vacancies Laurie that's done by the city council's nomination committee based on applications the city clerk receives and we do have Kirsten she's termed out and to get that opening I think I think so layman's opening we have one opening Kirsten she's termed out she can serve until she's her position is reappointed and then Nate Henry has re-upped his application so I think we're going to be all set okay [34:09] Beverly: Okay so oh so the next item is this year's PDC business awards event and I would again ask Nancy to fill us in. Thank you Beverly. [34:27] Nancy: So I provided some information in an email to the board. Lori, Kayla, and I did some brainstorming, and looks like November 3rd is a good date for most of you. But, specifically, I'm sorry, December 3rd. Did I say November? Sorry. Sorry. And then regarding the slate, I did get some feedback from board members. So our recommendation to the board would be Unum for the Legacy Award, Cultivating Community for PDC Client of the Year, Holy Donut as Business of the Year, Big Sky Bread Company as Small Business of the Year, and Garbage to Garden for economic achievement economic development achievement award. Thanks [35:25] Beverly: very much. May I have a motion to approve the slate? I'll make a motion. Thanks John. Do I hear a second? Thanks Sam. Okay the roll call. John? Yes. Sam? Yeah. Scott? Yep. Thank you. Dina? Yes. And I am a yes, and I think it's a great group. Thank you, Nancy. And Nancy and excuse me, thank all the staff for their recommendations. Our next item on the agenda is to vote to appoint interim housing and economic development director Patricia Finnegan as the board's assistant secretary. Terry, you had a memo in your packet. Does anyone have any questions? May I have a motion to approve? Moved. Thank you, Sam. And a second? I have a second. Thanks, Tuck. John? Yes. Sam? Yes. Scott? Yes. Gina? Yes. Tuck? Yes. And I am a yes. Patricia, is Patricia still with us? [36:57] Speaker C (unidentified): Thank you very much and congratulations. [37:03] Beverly: Okay, next up is the Treasurer's Report. Oh, I did have a question, actually. Nancy, is it appropriate to ask at this point the timeline for an appointment of a new head? [37:20] Nancy: New head of the department? Yeah. That's a great question. I think that resumes are due Friday. Oh, I'm going to ask Tina to step in and give us some [37:33] Tina: information. Thank you. We will announce a wonderful new director as soon as we find one. I think you know that the job search has begun. We've received a lot of strong candidates and the interview process is going to begin very, soon. Very good. Thanks very much, Tina. [37:55] Beverly: All right. So Treasurer's Report, does anyone have any questions on this? I have one question, Dina. Does the PDC have a role in the interview process for that job? [38:08] Tina: Not formally. There's oftentimes a group of external stakeholders that are asked to join one of the interview sessions. I don't know if in the past the PDC had a role in that, But it's definitely something we can discuss. [38:27] Nancy: Sorry to interrupt you, Beverly. [38:29] Beverly: No, it's okay. Okay, so Treasurer's Report. Anybody have questions? Then we thank the staff for the report. And we move to item number seven, an update on the Vacant Storefront Initiative. Nancy, you want to give us an update? Thank you, Beverly. [38:56] Nancy: Beverly. This was a question I think perhaps Beverly had asked at the last meeting, but very timely because September 3rd was the one year anniversary of the city council passing their vacant storefront ordinance. So I was very happy to put pen to paper and draft a memo for the board's review. And I'm happy to answer questions, maybe just share some key highlights. So with the passage of the storefront ordinance city council also allocated twenty five thousand dollars as to be used to pay for the installation of art and for three hundred dollars stipend to be paid to those artists for storefronts that had been vacant for more than six months. So that was the carrot, so to speak. The stick is a fee. And I have sent several notices of violations. I'm really hoping that I can just convince everyone who's had a storefront be vacant for more than six months that is not undergoing renovation or all the other ways to get out of this ordinance. I really hope that we don't have to collect a fee, but I have had limited success with just a few property owners from whom I have not heard back from. But I'll focus on the positive. 25 pieces of art have been installed. Even better than art in a vacant storefront is actually getting businesses into those vacancies. The city created, the permitting department created a temporary use permit. East Broncow has used that twice now for their Canal Plaza property. That's on the outer boundary of the Pedestrian Activities District. So check out Maison Maine and Dunes if you want to see an example of that. And I've been in touch with a lot of businesses who are looking for space and I've been able to put them in touch with property owners so oh and then of course the PDC's product of the interest-free storefront loan has been a very popular product I actually have an unread email that I got during the meetings I think someone is asking about it but to date you all have approved five storefront loans for a total of eighty three thousand dollars four have been executed i don't know what's happening with space gallery maybe they found another way to pay for it that loan has not been executed so going to the arts and culture summit next week and maybe we'll be able to promote this product a bit more there as well happy to answer questions [41:51] Beverly: questions anyone i [41:57] Speaker C (unidentified): enjoyed seeing the update it's a good update and it's which, yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of friction, but it looks great. It's good. It's good success looks like. [42:09] Tina: Dina, did you have a comment or question? I just wanted to take a second. Nancy will never sing her own praises, but this program would not have happened or be where it is without her pounding the pavement. There have been times when I've left the office and I see her you know marching around the downtown area doing inspections and I know how diplomatically but also persistently she's negotiated with property owners to comply with this ordinance and it has been just very inspiring to see she's taken such a leadership role and again this program would not be where it is without her so I just wanted to recognize that. [42:50] Beverly: Thanks for that Dina I think we all would like to congratulate nancy and her indispensable you're making me blush thank you okay we don't have a vote on this thank goodness but we can ask nancy if there is a staff verbal update just [43:14] Nancy: wanted to mention that city council will be voting to accept and appropriate the next tranche of brownfield funds at their upcoming monday council meeting on the 21st so expect more recommendations for brownfields grants and loans after that great [43:34] Beverly: Anybody else anything from the board, questions, general comments? We've got time. Okay. Our next regular meeting is October 15th, 2026. And if we don't have anything else, I'm happy to take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Thank you, Scott. [Speaker C (unidentified): Thank you, Tuck.] Okay, John. Yes. Sam. Yes. Scott. Yes. Nina. Yes. Huck. Yes. And I am a yes. We will miss Kirsten, but I hope we'll persevere. Thanks, everyone. Thank you all.