City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee · Tuesday, April 29, 2025 · City Council Digest

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of February 25, 2025

packet pp.5–6

Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 02-25-25 City Council Services, Safety & Parks Page (1) Committee Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH City Council Services, Safety & Parks Committee 6:30 PM Council Chambers, 135 E. February 25, 2025 MINUTES Sunset Way, Issaquah WA

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Economic Development Metrics COM 0122

45 min · Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager · packet pp.7–52

Topics: Economic Development

▶ Watch from 1:23 Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

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1476 segments .txt ↗

0:08 ↗ Welcome everyone. I, Council Member

0:10 ↗ Tolmarts, call the Tuesday, April 29th

0:13 ↗ city council services, safety, and parks

0:16 ↗ committee to order. First up is public

0:18 ↗ comment. There are multiple public

0:21 ↗ comment opportunities at tonight's

0:22 ↗ meeting. There's a general public

0:24 ↗ comment opportunity at the beginning of

0:25 ↗ the meeting or you can make comments

0:27 ↗ after the presentation and council

0:29 ↗ question and answer period but before

0:31 ↗ deliberation on tonight's one agenda

0:34 ↗ item. Uh do we have any members of the

0:37 ↗ public signed up?

0:39 ↗ Chair Marts, nobody signed up prior to

0:42 ↗ the meeting. Anyone indicated interest

0:44 ↗ in speaking this

0:48 ↗ evening? All right.

0:51 ↗ Um uh I guess I should probably Is there

0:53 ↗ anybody Is there any members of the

0:55 ↗ public online with us? Charts, there are

0:58 ↗ no members of the public online at this

0:59 ↗ point. Well, that's disappointing. Uh

1:02 ↗ but

1:03 ↗ uh I will somehow survive. So we will

1:06 ↗ move on then. Um uh are there any

1:11 ↗ potential We're going to do minutes

1:12 ↗ slightly differently this evening. Are

1:14 ↗ there any potential changes to the

1:16 ↗ minutes? Seeing none, I move that the

1:19 ↗ minutes are

1:21 ↗ accepted. With that, we will move on to

1:23 ↗ agenda item

1:25 ↗ COOM0122, economic development metrics

1:28 ↗ with Jen Davis Hayes, our economic

1:29 ↗ development manager. Welcome, Jen.

1:33 ↗ Thank you, Council Member Mart. And I

1:36 ↗ thought I pressed the share button. And

1:38 ↗ um thanks for uh having us here tonight.

1:40 ↗ Uh I wanted to uh introduce we have some

1:44 ↗ members of the economic vitality

1:47 ↗ commission here tonight. So I wanted to

1:48 ↗ introduce them first. Um we have our

1:51 ↗ chair Chris Richley and we have our two

1:54 ↗ members uh Jennifer

1:57 ↗ um oh my gosh Larson. Yes. I was I was

2:01 ↗ going to say Mason. That's not it.

2:02 ↗ Actually I was getting uh Jake McIll. um

2:05 ↗ making sure uh we uh don't add a C in

2:08 ↗ his name as as a as an error in the

2:10 ↗ past. So anyway, so they are here um to

2:13 ↗ listen to this conversation and and if

2:16 ↗ you know there's anything that you want

2:17 ↗ them to add, they're not prepared to to

2:19 ↗ speak as far as you know for the

2:20 ↗ presentation, but um really appreciate

2:22 ↗ their their willingness to come out

2:24 ↗ tonight for this. Um so the purpose here

2:27 ↗ is to review and talk more in depth

2:30 ↗ about the different economic development

2:33 ↗ data and metrics that we collect. So

2:36 ↗ looking at what we collect, why we

2:38 ↗ collect it, what does that data tell us,

2:40 ↗ and then how we use that data to inform

2:43 ↗ our work. There's no policy direction

2:45 ↗ tonight, but we definitely are

2:47 ↗ interested in hearing questions,

2:48 ↗ comments, and ideas of how to uh improve

2:51 ↗ how we are doing our work, of course.

2:55 ↗ And so um the information in the packet

2:58 ↗ has a a list of the 28 data points and

3:01 ↗ metrics that we collect um as a

3:03 ↗ twoperson economic development team. We

3:05 ↗ collect data from various aspects. So

3:08 ↗ looking at um market data uh around

3:13 ↗ around uh commercial retail space for

3:15 ↗ instance and looking at unemployment and

3:17 ↗ how people live and work in the city. Um

3:20 ↗ so some of those uh that those data

3:23 ↗ points are performance metrics and some

3:25 ↗ of them are data to that is uh again

3:28 ↗ part of uh the marketplace. Um so I'm

3:31 ↗ going to also talk about uh the

3:33 ↗ different audiences that we create our

3:34 ↗ data for. So the purposes for that and

3:38 ↗ then why we do that. So I'll the next

3:40 ↗ few slides I'm going to walk through

3:42 ↗ examples of that. And again this is

3:44 ↗ merely with 28 data points. We're not

3:47 ↗ going to go over all of them. Um but

3:48 ↗ again have have uh them in the packet if

3:51 ↗ there's any

3:52 ↗ questions. So um looking at why and who

3:56 ↗ we collect data for. So our economic

3:59 ↗ dashboard is really intended um to

4:02 ↗ showcase Isiqua's climate. And so

4:04 ↗ looking at if a business is interested

4:06 ↗ in learning a quick snapshot about e uh

4:09 ↗ the city of Isiqua um here's one here's

4:13 ↗ a tool that they could look at any time

4:15 ↗ of day um and learn about seeing that

4:18 ↗ our for instance our retail sales are

4:20 ↗ increasing seeing that our vacancy rates

4:23 ↗ are you know um compare are at a certain

4:26 ↗ level and the rates are at a certain

4:28 ↗ level um seeing about our unemployment

4:31 ↗ compared to the region. Um we have two

4:33 ↗ other uh dashboards dashboard and um

4:38 ↗ metrics that we collect that are more

4:40 ↗ performance-based. So of uh you you are

4:42 ↗ very aware of the performance dashboard

4:44 ↗ that city does for the entire um

4:47 ↗ strategic plan uh for the city the and

4:50 ↗ we are part of the social and economic

4:53 ↗ vitality goal area there. And then with

4:56 ↗ our recently adopted economic

4:59 ↗ development action plan, we have met per

5:01 ↗ performance metrics again looking at

5:04 ↗ ways that we are making sure that our

5:06 ↗ work plan progresses but also uh making

5:09 ↗ sure that the the longer term things

5:11 ↗ that we want to see happen uh are

5:14 ↗ starting to

5:16 ↗ happen. Um but that's not all. So um we

5:20 ↗ also as as you have seen in the um the

5:24 ↗ re the written reports we submit to city

5:26 ↗ council, we do collect and showcase this

5:29 ↗ sales tax uh for retail, construction

5:32 ↗ and lodging to show about again how the

5:35 ↗ broader community uh climate is h is uh

5:39 ↗ compared year-over-year.

5:41 ↗ And um we also uh collect lodging tax

5:46 ↗ revenues and share with the ELTAC at

5:48 ↗ every one of their meetings which is

5:50 ↗ every two months. So we're constantly

5:52 ↗ looking at data throughout time um and

5:55 ↗ you and using that to again uh inform

5:58 ↗ the work that we do. And then there's

6:02 ↗ various other things including uh we

6:04 ↗ have an annual port grant as part of the

6:07 ↗ economic development partnership program

6:09 ↗ where we get $1 per capita uh to invest

6:13 ↗ in economic development items. And for

6:16 ↗ the most part, what we end up reporting

6:18 ↗ there is, for instance, a number of

6:20 ↗ businesses served and marketing reach.

6:23 ↗ And they're slowly trying to get to that

6:25 ↗ more outcome uh met uh measures. But for

6:29 ↗ right now, um so those are again some

6:31 ↗ data that we uh continue to collect and

6:34 ↗ are responsible for reporting out.

6:38 ↗ Um in the other important piece that we

6:41 ↗ did last year was every four years we've

6:44 ↗ done a a business survey and so that is

6:48 ↗ the same 13 questions every year since

6:50 ↗ 2012 when we started it so we can look

6:52 ↗ at the trends and then we have added in

6:56 ↗ you know um some new questions. So uh in

7:00 ↗ 2020 it was very much about what's

7:02 ↗ happening right now with COVID and how

7:04 ↗ are you feeling. Um we did it in the

7:05 ↗ fall that year because we were a little

7:07 ↗ busy in the spring. Um but that helped

7:09 ↗ to at least give us a snapshot of where

7:11 ↗ businesses felt they were. Um and this

7:14 ↗ year we did have a question about how

7:15 ↗ are things since co um and one of the

7:19 ↗ things um that you can kind of see here

7:20 ↗ that again there's a lot of information

7:22 ↗ in the packet but showing that you know

7:25 ↗ either so 63% have either said you know

7:29 ↗ they've increased or stable since over

7:32 ↗ the past 3 years. So again, you know,

7:34 ↗ imagining during a recovery of COVID um

7:37 ↗ and 16% don't observe a trend which may

7:40 ↗ or may not mean that they're collecting

7:42 ↗ that data, paying attention to it um or

7:45 ↗ didn't want to share. Um but it again

7:47 ↗ does show that you know there are

7:49 ↗ obviously some businesses are decreasing

7:52 ↗ um and it has some unusual fluctuation

7:54 ↗ which um you know happens in different

7:56 ↗ industries. Uh the top three challenges

7:59 ↗ uh this time were two of them were new.

8:01 ↗ Space and lack of advertising. Traffic's

8:04 ↗ always been there. Um affordable housing

8:06 ↗ workforce are the top ones that we

8:08 ↗ typically see. And so for this data, we

8:12 ↗ um didn't just say, "Oh, okay. Now we

8:14 ↗ know these answers." Um what we really

8:17 ↗ do is to follow up with the businesses

8:19 ↗ and say, "Okay, what did you mean by

8:20 ↗ that?" Right? For instance, we had a

8:23 ↗ marketing um workshop we did in

8:25 ↗ coordination with the chamber last year.

8:27 ↗ We had one person sign up for it. So, so

8:29 ↗ what does that mean? So, one of our

8:31 ↗ things was to go back and talk to the

8:33 ↗ businesses who reported that or reported

8:35 ↗ a decrease in sales and learn more

8:37 ↗ information because we don't want to

8:38 ↗ assume something, create a program,

8:40 ↗ change something if we really don't

8:42 ↗ understand what that's like. So again,

8:45 ↗ one another thing that we we uh don't

8:48 ↗ just look at the data and say we now

8:50 ↗ we've got it or we assume that this is

8:52 ↗ good or bad. Um we really need to

8:54 ↗ understand the pieces behind that. And

8:55 ↗ part of what we learned with the space

8:57 ↗ conversations is sure it's a little bit

9:00 ↗ of the lack of space uh for retail and

9:03 ↗ some commercial uses. Um but it's also

9:06 ↗ um price, it's also about the type of

9:09 ↗ space. So some businesses need um more

9:14 ↗ flex space than is available here. Um

9:17 ↗ and or we've had some creative

9:19 ↗ businesses that just that you know they

9:21 ↗ don't really need a retail frontage but

9:23 ↗ they need some larger space and um that

9:26 ↗ really and the willingness for a

9:28 ↗ property owner to rent to them to create

9:31 ↗ the work they do which is um you know

9:34 ↗ varied among property owners. So um and

9:37 ↗ then more more often we started doing um

9:41 ↗ so a business retention expansion and

9:43 ↗ retention visit is when we go out and

9:45 ↗ talk to business

9:47 ↗ proactively you know how is your

9:48 ↗ business doing? What what kind of things

9:50 ↗ can we help you with? And so um I

9:53 ↗ started doing a survey after the fact to

9:55 ↗ say hey did you know our staff uh how

9:59 ↗ how did that work? Uh was there did you

10:02 ↗ get what you needed? Were we respectful?

10:03 ↗ All those kind of good things. So, um,

10:06 ↗ we're just kind of start we just started

10:08 ↗ that and and then, uh, I'm the only

10:10 ↗ staff right now, so we don't have too

10:11 ↗ much of that data to show, but, uh,

10:13 ↗ we'll continue to kind of again look at

10:16 ↗ data from many different angles because

10:17 ↗ if we're providing a service as we have

10:19 ↗ a program and it's not working, we

10:21 ↗ rather know that than just kind of

10:23 ↗ walking through our day thinking

10:24 ↗ everything is fine.

10:27 ↗ Um so the again looking at one uh piece

10:32 ↗ of data uh per each of the things. Um I

10:35 ↗ took the uh commercial vacancy uh data

10:38 ↗ point for the the dashboard. And so

10:41 ↗ again you know wanting to make sure we

10:43 ↗ understand the uh commercial trends.

10:46 ↗ Um, one of the things that uh we realize

10:52 ↗ is that as as we look at data sometimes

10:55 ↗ uh we already know we've known because

10:57 ↗ for instance we knew um as early as 2023

11:01 ↗ early 2023 or maybe before that

11:03 ↗ Microsoft was going to be vacating those

11:05 ↗ buildings. So we knew there was going to

11:07 ↗ be a large um vacancy rate um coming for

11:10 ↗ that. it. So again, this data is

11:13 ↗ collected to kind of you know make sure

11:15 ↗ we understand or to be aware of the the

11:18 ↗ uh quarterly changes and

11:20 ↗ so minus the uh you know knowing that

11:23 ↗ there were two large b you know

11:25 ↗ buildings that are currently um have

11:27 ↗ become vacant at the end of 2023

11:31 ↗ um because as I look at the the

11:33 ↗ information there uh these buildings are

11:36 ↗ 12% of the total isqua office market

11:39 ↗ right and and 75% of the current

11:42 ↗ vacancy. So that's not to say we don't

11:44 ↗ want to work to get those filled, but it

11:48 ↗ doesn't paint it paints the picture of

11:50 ↗ it much more drastic as far as our

11:52 ↗ vacancy. Yes. Yeah. I actually wind up I

11:54 ↗ look at this and I have two questions

11:56 ↗ associated with this. The first question

11:58 ↗ is we had an almost as dramatic as that

12:02 ↗ increase in uh office vacancy. We had a

12:06 ↗ drop in industrial and flex vacancy in

12:08 ↗ 2024 and we went from something like 8%

12:12 ↗ to like almost zero and we've come back

12:16 ↗ up to like 1.3%. Do you know what that

12:20 ↗ is? I mean literally to go from like you

12:23 ↗ know 8% to under under 1%. Yeah. Do we

12:27 ↗ know what that what Yeah. So we don't

12:29 ↗ have a lot of flex space as I mentioned

12:30 ↗ before. So, the Cascade Business Park is

12:33 ↗ the most of that and they went through a

12:34 ↗ new ownership um to well, I'm not sure

12:39 ↗ it was during CO when they purchased it,

12:40 ↗ but they started doing uh facade

12:42 ↗ improvement. They started uh changing

12:44 ↗ tenants out. So, I think that cuz when

12:46 ↗ we went Fel Juliana and I did a business

12:50 ↗ walk of that center, we could tell there

12:52 ↗ were things moving. People were saying

12:54 ↗ things are changing. So, I think there

12:55 ↗ was a little bit of um retening

12:58 ↗ happening there. Um yeah and again we

13:01 ↗ don't have industrial quote unquote

13:02 ↗ space which would be in that as well. Um

13:05 ↗ but that's that's there is some

13:07 ↗ industrial space right because marketing

13:09 ↗ masters marketing masters left the city

13:12 ↗ they had industrial space. Yes. Yeah.

13:14 ↗ And that may also be that may be

13:15 ↗ classified I should be looking

13:17 ↗ at my audience here um as also office

13:20 ↗ because there's office space in there

13:21 ↗ but yes that is. And then some of our

13:23 ↗ our um buildings over by public works

13:26 ↗ that's in our in our commercial

13:28 ↗ intensive zone which you know quote

13:30 ↗ unquote is our more industrial space. Um

13:32 ↗ so there's you know window installers

13:34 ↗ and you know Minutemen press and that

13:36 ↗ kind of thing that are over there. So

13:38 ↗ those are smaller homes and again not as

13:40 ↗ much square footage. And then the second

13:42 ↗ question is with both industrial inflex

13:44 ↗ and retail being under 2%. I mean, is

13:47 ↗ there a percentage where you say like

13:49 ↗ our problem isn't that we have too much

13:51 ↗ vacancy, it's that we have too little

13:53 ↗ vacancy and that and that it becomes a

13:55 ↗ strategic question for the city um

13:57 ↗ because I those numbers scare me on the

14:00 ↗ low side. Yeah, agreed. Agreed. Because

14:03 ↗ uh you know it's sad to say like oh when

14:05 ↗ businesses close that's good because

14:07 ↗ there's now opportunity for somebody

14:08 ↗ else to come back in. But of course we

14:10 ↗ wouldn't say that. No, we don't say

14:12 ↗ that. But what um we actually with the

14:15 ↗ economic vitality commission, we have a

14:18 ↗ subcommittee that we're working with the

14:20 ↗ planning policy commission looking at

14:22 ↗ commercial retail, I'm sorry, commercial

14:25 ↗ space retention. Um because the reality

14:29 ↗ for a while was that every commercial

14:32 ↗ space that uh building lot came uh

14:35 ↗ property that came up for sale was being

14:37 ↗ purchased to be redeveloped for multif

14:39 ↗ family. Now it's a little bit more town

14:41 ↗ homes. Um and uh we want to make sure

14:45 ↗ that we need we def this is they're

14:48 ↗ talking about central acquas. So we

14:50 ↗ definitely need more housing in that

14:51 ↗ area but we also need to make sure that

14:53 ↗ we have space for future jobs future you

14:56 ↗ know services for our community. So um

14:59 ↗ unfortunately many communities aren't

15:01 ↗ building retail you know new retail

15:03 ↗ because of just the way it is. So we are

15:06 ↗ looking at it as as we move forward.

15:08 ↗ Again, we don't have any recommendations

15:10 ↗ or even inklings of where we'll be, but

15:13 ↗ you know, do we require it? Do we

15:14 ↗ incentivize it? Do we just encourage it?

15:17 ↗ Um and so we'll be back to council

15:19 ↗ probably next year with some

15:20 ↗ recommendations to kind of look at that.

15:22 ↗ But um making sure we don't lose that

15:24 ↗ opportunity um too soon or too it's too

15:27 ↗ late. Um well and and you know, part of

15:30 ↗ it gets at the goals that we have as a

15:32 ↗ city, right? In our strategic plan as a

15:34 ↗ city. I love our friends to the north,

15:36 ↗ Seamish. They have a different view

15:38 ↗ towards businesses, re, you know, all

15:40 ↗ sorts of, you know, commercial and

15:42 ↗ retail space, right? Yeah. Um, but we're

15:44 ↗ we're a different city and we view

15:46 ↗ ourselves differently. And this concern

15:48 ↗ this concerns me greatly. I uh you know,

15:52 ↗ it's it's like uh unemployment rates, it

15:55 ↗ can be too high or it can be too low.

15:57 ↗ Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

16:01 ↗ Chris, you look like you have a

16:03 ↗ question.

16:04 ↗ I do and since you uh dove into this

16:07 ↗ chart I will dive in along with you. Um

16:09 ↗ not all retail I think is created equal.

16:11 ↗ Do we know um can we subdivide that that

16:16 ↗ blue bar into what its components are

16:18 ↗ because there's a lot of difference

16:19 ↗ between a uh I don't know a 10,000

16:22 ↗ square foot you know big box kind of

16:25 ↗ Yeah. and and uh you know and Office

16:28 ↗ Depot or Home Depot or I guess Office

16:30 ↗ Depot's gone, but yeah. So, so there's

16:33 ↗ there's and then I you know when I

16:34 ↗ superimpose on that the thing that I

16:37 ↗ heard

16:38 ↗ uh from your survey that space is the

16:41 ↗ biggest concern that that makes me kind

16:43 ↗ of um you know perk up sort of like uh

16:47 ↗ council member Mart's perked up. So

16:49 ↗ anyway, it would be interesting if we

16:51 ↗ could um if you had any data on how that

16:53 ↗ how that breaks down and how the

16:56 ↗ vacancies break down by um relative

16:59 ↗ size. I'll look into that. I'm not I'm

17:01 ↗ not sure. I think we we do we can get

17:04 ↗ that data, you know, within the the long

17:06 ↗ list. Um, I mean right now just knowing

17:09 ↗ we don't have any big box o openings and

17:12 ↗ I've worked here long enough where we

17:14 ↗ had where Hobby Lobby is, where Lazy Boy

17:17 ↗ and where uh Town of Mark Town of

17:20 ↗ Country Market was. Right. So, but right

17:22 ↗ now we don't have Barnes & Noble. Yeah.

17:24 ↗ Oh, yeah. And Barnes & Noble. There you

17:26 ↗ go. Um, so Ross I let me take that back.

17:28 ↗ So, Ross is uh currently vacant um in

17:31 ↗ the commons, but they have uh they're

17:33 ↗ negotiating with businesses and so

17:36 ↗ what's that

17:38 ↗ hortales and they're also negotiating

17:40 ↗ Thank you. with um with a a potential

17:44 ↗ user. So, until they sign that, I can't

17:46 ↗ really say that out loud who it is, but

17:48 ↗ um but show so sure there is some larger

17:50 ↗ spaces. Um but I I will see if I can do

17:52 ↗ that.

17:54 ↗ I think that would be really interesting

17:55 ↗ too and and maybe something that will

17:57 ↗ help inform maybe off topic but also

17:59 ↗ help inform um PTE in in looking at um

18:03 ↗ or planning policy in looking at uh land

18:06 ↗ use because if we're finding like lots

18:09 ↗ of vacancy

18:11 ↗ um in a certain size range then we want

18:13 ↗ to kind of discourage that while

18:16 ↗ encouraging something else. So um we'll

18:18 ↗ come back to that at the end. Okay.

18:20 ↗ Yeah. Yeah. And I think as you know um a

18:23 ↗ lot of people are again looking at

18:24 ↗ retail and the changes with you know

18:26 ↗ online that has been talked about for a

18:28 ↗ decade now. Um and so I think that's

18:30 ↗ again that's one of the reasons why

18:32 ↗ retail when it is built it's going to be

18:34 ↗ limited in scale unless they have a

18:37 ↗ grocery store that's going to be in

18:38 ↗ there or something else that's um able

18:40 ↗ to

18:41 ↗ uh you know be ready to move in. So not

18:45 ↗ speculative. Any more questions on this?

18:49 ↗ Okay.

18:52 ↗ Um, and then did I make sure I didn't

18:54 ↗ skip? All right. I did go to one too

18:57 ↗ many. So then looking at Oh, and I guess

19:00 ↗ you know for so for the V I just want to

19:03 ↗ step back for a second. So um because I

19:05 ↗ didn't mention this that but it's on the

19:07 ↗ slide here about so for the office

19:08 ↗ buildings we've done a lot with the 90

19:11 ↗ East Park is what they're called now.

19:14 ↗ Um, we toured our Greater Seattle

19:15 ↗ partners staff um, in 2023 actually

19:18 ↗ before they were even officially on the

19:21 ↗ market. Um we met with the owners to

19:23 ↗ talk about um you know what they were

19:25 ↗ looking at and they were actually just

19:27 ↗ recently looking at a lease for a

19:29 ↗ business that's in town and um making

19:32 ↗ sure that um they're in you know they

19:36 ↗ were getting the right information slash

19:38 ↗ um all the information they needed in

19:40 ↗ order to make uh to do the tenant

19:43 ↗ improvements to potentially have this

19:44 ↗ business move in. So, we're really

19:46 ↗ making we're really connected with the

19:47 ↗ the uh broker um and they uh they have

19:52 ↗ so they know that it's going to be a

19:54 ↗ while before they someone may come and

19:55 ↗ lease 175,000 ft from them. Um they are

19:58 ↗ releasing per floor, but they do have um

20:02 ↗ besides recently painting the buildings,

20:04 ↗ they have a really robust tenant

20:05 ↗ improvement package that they're ready

20:07 ↗ to activate as soon as they have a large

20:09 ↗ tenant sign in. So that includes some

20:11 ↗ improvements to the cafeteria, adding

20:13 ↗ some amenities, you know, bikes and

20:15 ↗ kayaks and that kind of stuff. So, so,

20:18 ↗ um, you know, while you may see this and

20:20 ↗ think, oh, you know, what's happening

20:22 ↗ there? There's there are some, um, wait

20:24 ↗ and see kind of things, but they did

20:26 ↗ invest in some ways to, um, be ready for

20:29 ↗ when the market changes. And that's, I

20:30 ↗ think, really important.

20:33 ↗ Oh, I I opened the Pandora's box. Go

20:36 ↗ ahead.

20:38 ↗ Um that is really interesting. Does our

20:40 ↗ does our office number include the

20:42 ↗ recently um opened Costco facility?

20:46 ↗ Yeah. Okay. Cuz that was that was a

20:49 ↗ whole truckload of office space coming

20:51 ↗ online at something near 100% occupancy.

20:55 ↗ Right. Right. Yeah. I think it's it was

20:57 ↗ it is 100% occupancy. So yeah, it

20:59 ↗ wouldn't have changed the percentage of

21:01 ↗ Yeah. But it would would have um

21:03 ↗ increased the denominator and the

21:06 ↗ numerator. Yeah. I mean it would have

21:08 ↗ shown us to be more full than before

21:12 ↗ that information came online. So it

21:14 ↗ would it would jog the the vacancy rate

21:16 ↗ down. Yeah. It's not up. So anyway, just

21:20 ↗ interesting. Good point.

21:23 ↗ Okay. Um and then the performance

21:25 ↗ dashboard. Again, you've had u multiple

21:28 ↗ com uh presentations about this, but one

21:30 ↗ of the things that we do look at for

21:33 ↗ economic development is jobs. And so, I

21:35 ↗ actually was just talking to the

21:36 ↗ employment security department uh uh

21:40 ↗ economist today to get the latest

21:41 ↗ numbers for 24 um which aren't available

21:44 ↗ till 20

21:46 ↗ September. Um but basically, you know,

21:49 ↗ we look at this making sure that um

21:52 ↗ while we're talking to businesses every

21:53 ↗ day and we're, you know, talking to the

21:55 ↗ larger businesses and hear about employ,

21:58 ↗ you know, employment growth or we're

22:00 ↗ having to cut back because of uh a lot

22:03 ↗ of restaurants or other service

22:05 ↗ businesses now are making choices to cut

22:07 ↗ hours because of costs, rising costs,

22:10 ↗ right? So, um, well, we hear that every

22:12 ↗ day. You know, actually looking at it,

22:14 ↗ uh, and the trend is important in making

22:16 ↗ sure we're moving in the right direction

22:18 ↗ because as we grow as a community, we

22:19 ↗ want to grow with our jobs. So, um, you

22:23 ↗ know, if it what again what we've heard,

22:25 ↗ what we hear on a more regular basis,

22:28 ↗ you know, there's problems finding

22:29 ↗ employees or for smaller businesses, you

22:32 ↗ know, can't afford uh to hire more

22:34 ↗ people on. Um and so we'll you know work

22:37 ↗ with them to see if there's some al you

22:39 ↗ know options um working with some

22:42 ↗ nonprofits in the area as far as

22:44 ↗ alternate you know workforce going to

22:46 ↗ job you know letting know about job

22:48 ↗ fairs they may not be aware of. Um for

22:50 ↗ the most part uh you see the dip for 21

22:53 ↗ uh again COVID and then it slowly slowly

22:56 ↗ uh got up moved up and the 22 to 23 um I

23:01 ↗ think there was a little bit of an

23:02 ↗ adjustment after people who kind of held

23:04 ↗ on for a while during CO um then kind of

23:07 ↗ made some adjustments to um either their

23:10 ↗ workforce andor decision to be in

23:12 ↗ business for themselves. So, um hoping

23:16 ↗ what I'm asking for now from uh

23:18 ↗ employment security division is the

23:19 ↗ latest that they have for 24 as far as

23:23 ↗ without I think it's through third

23:25 ↗ quarter and it's preliminary. But just

23:27 ↗ to kind of see where that goes there,

23:30 ↗ but we anticipate with the growth that

23:31 ↗ we've heard from some of our larger

23:33 ↗ employers um that this will may you know

23:35 ↗ eek up a bit. So, one of the things that

23:38 ↗ I like about the performance dashboard

23:40 ↗ is that most of the metrics um have

23:43 ↗ essentially a red, yellow or green

23:45 ↗ associated with them, right? Um this one

23:48 ↗ doesn't. This one just in the area where

23:50 ↗ it would be red, yellow or green, it's

23:51 ↗ just it says blank. Um it's similar to

23:55 ↗ percentage of people who both live and

23:56 ↗ work in isqua also blank. Um so is this

24:01 ↗ about these sort of red, yellow, and

24:03 ↗ greens?

24:06 ↗ Um, do we want to have are we going to

24:10 ↗ get to a point where we'll have a red,

24:12 ↗ yellow, or green on this? And and what

24:14 ↗ do we do with our reds? Because I feel

24:16 ↗ like Yeah. Um, and I'm neither council

24:19 ↗ president nor mayor, but it seems like

24:22 ↗ uh at some point we should say a here's

24:24 ↗ our reds and here's what we're doing

24:26 ↗ about ours. Mhm. So I think there's a

24:28 ↗ snafu in the back end of this

24:31 ↗ performance uh dashboard which I don't

24:33 ↗ work I don't work at I think because we

24:35 ↗ don't have 2024 numbers that's why it's

24:38 ↗ blank. Okay. Um, and so actually I have

24:41 ↗ a meeting with uh Dale Marky Crimp on

24:44 ↗ Friday to talk about this and to talk

24:46 ↗ about the fact that we so we have two so

24:49 ↗ the live live and work in in in Isqua is

24:51 ↗ available in May but that's from the

24:54 ↗ federal government and I'm hoping we get

24:56 ↗ that in May right so um what if we don't

24:59 ↗ right um you know we will get that as

25:02 ↗ soon as we will share it so we should

25:04 ↗ fine yeah so we should we should though

25:07 ↗ fix that so it's not just blank right

25:09 ↗ yeah I There's nothing wrong with saying

25:10 ↗ estimated time of arrival May 2025. And

25:14 ↗ both of these are Yeah. are um later on.

25:16 ↗ So, we're going to talk about that. So,

25:18 ↗ but I think it is an automatic thing

25:20 ↗ that for our two these are the two that

25:23 ↗ uh the two that you mentioned that don't

25:24 ↗ have um aren't completed quote unquote

25:27 ↗ by um by end of uh March I guess is when

25:31 ↗ but but this whole red yellow green

25:33 ↗ thing it's like when you do annual

25:34 ↗ performance reviews you're like met

25:36 ↗ expectations met most expectations did

25:39 ↗ not meet expectations and we have some

25:41 ↗ did not meet expectations in this in

25:43 ↗ this dashboard. So the question is, you

25:46 ↗ know, how does that, you know, how does

25:49 ↗ what does that come back as, right? Like

25:51 ↗ it's great to look at all the data. It's

25:52 ↗ great to have it at our fingertips, but

25:54 ↗ once something's, you know, once the red

25:56 ↗ ink comes out, then what does it mean to

25:58 ↗ have the red ink come out? Yeah. Well, I

26:00 ↗ mean, I think again part of it is

26:01 ↗ looking at it and trying to figure out

26:02 ↗ why. Um, so for instance, we just had so

26:07 ↗ um a lot of businesses are having

26:09 ↗ trouble finding jobs or certain

26:11 ↗ employees some right now. Um, and so the

26:13 ↗ hospitality industry is one that's often

26:15 ↗ struggled. Um, we just had a

26:17 ↗ conversation with the workforce

26:18 ↗ development council's um, sound jobs,

26:22 ↗ uh, where they're actually supporting

26:23 ↗ the hospitality industry with $20,000

26:26 ↗ worth of services to help them create a

26:28 ↗ a culture and a workplace where people

26:30 ↗ want to stay and grow. Um, so there's

26:32 ↗ things like that that we are, you know,

26:34 ↗ actively uh, letting folks know about.

26:36 ↗ Is isn't the issue that 3 million jobs

26:38 ↗ have gone from hospitality to

26:40 ↗ transportation and logistics as the

26:43 ↗ retail delivery? Basically, they're

26:45 ↗ Amazon drivers now. Is that Yeah.

26:47 ↗ delivery drivers. My understanding is

26:49 ↗ the magnitude is three three million

26:51 ↗ jobs have gone from hospitality to

26:53 ↗ transportation and there's changes in

26:54 ↗ immigration and there's changes in Yeah.

26:57 ↗ birth rates and yeah so lots of things.

26:59 ↗ So, so what can we do as a a tiny city

27:02 ↗ with uh very little resources is work

27:05 ↗ with our regional partners who have

27:07 ↗ investments in the workforce system,

27:10 ↗ finding ways. We coordinated with our

27:12 ↗ east side cities during COVID to try to

27:13 ↗ get an economic development

27:16 ↗ um administration grant. So anything we

27:19 ↗ can do in that way but um yes so I'm not

27:21 ↗ yeah individually we're probably not

27:23 ↗ going to change that trend but what can

27:25 ↗ we do to help those businesses again

27:28 ↗ improve the workplace environment for

27:30 ↗ people so maybe when they are interested

27:33 ↗ in not doing that anymore they have a

27:35 ↗ place that they can go back to and it's

27:37 ↗ uh or getting more of those

27:39 ↗ transportation and logistic jobs. Sure.

27:41 ↗ Right. Could be part of it. Distrib

27:42 ↗ Yeah. distribution

27:45 ↗ stuff quite okay. Um yeah, so again we

27:50 ↗ you know we work regularly with our

27:52 ↗ businesses. We meet uh at least once or

27:54 ↗ twice with our larger businesses per

27:56 ↗ year and actually you know focused on

27:59 ↗ what's going on but also have uh

28:02 ↗ multiple conversations without

28:04 ↗ throughout the year. So again these are

28:06 ↗ metrics uh performance metrics um that

28:09 ↗ we

28:10 ↗ collect. And then um another uh thing

28:14 ↗ that's a new uh metric that we collect

28:16 ↗ is for the economic development action

28:18 ↗ plan is new business licenses. And so

28:21 ↗ again, we want to make sure that some of

28:23 ↗ the efforts that we've been saying, hey,

28:25 ↗ we're doing all these startup classes,

28:27 ↗ you know, how to start your business. Um

28:29 ↗ so it's one measure of a business

28:30 ↗ climate that people feel like they can

28:33 ↗ take that next step to actually get a

28:34 ↗ business license. They may have a dream,

28:36 ↗ they may talk about it, but do they have

28:38 ↗ the resources and the and the

28:39 ↗ information to move forward? We for

28:41 ↗ instance start uh created a book uh last

28:44 ↗ year how to how to do business in

28:46 ↗ Isiqua. So it gives them some ideas of

28:48 ↗ you know uh what they need to do. Um so

28:52 ↗ this is the first year we collected it.

28:53 ↗ Um so we'll be able to see trends in the

28:56 ↗ future. But one of the things just so

28:58 ↗ you know things that we do for new

29:00 ↗ businesses. So we send them a welcome

29:01 ↗ letter say hey we're here. Um it

29:03 ↗ actually has not only economic

29:05 ↗ development it also has community

29:06 ↗ planning and development's contact to

29:08 ↗ say if you need a permit please call us.

29:10 ↗ Um, we make sure they're on our econ or

29:13 ↗ business e-news which has resources

29:16 ↗ about uh, you know, whether it's

29:18 ↗ technical assistance or things happening

29:20 ↗ um, in the city and promote and ability

29:23 ↗ to kind of promote through that. And

29:26 ↗ then um we we also have as part of our

29:29 ↗ BRE business retention and expansion

29:32 ↗ program, we make sure that we include

29:35 ↗ some new businesses and find out, you

29:37 ↗ know, why did you open InSqua and you

29:39 ↗ know um what what made you uh decide to

29:41 ↗ to be here? And a lot of times people

29:43 ↗ say they've been looking for a long time

29:44 ↗ if they're going into a retail space.

29:46 ↗ And so it's really interesting to kind

29:48 ↗ of hear that information. Just last week

29:50 ↗ I met with a couple who want to open a a

29:52 ↗ Mexican bakery and yeah it was really

29:55 ↗ they gave a little sample. It was really

29:57 ↗ good. Um so uh but anybody know an empty

30:00 ↗ bakery in Isabah? Right. And so you know

30:03 ↗ working with them to try to do some

30:04 ↗ steps beforehand. So thinking about

30:06 ↗ popup opportunities thinking about other

30:08 ↗ ways for them to gain that experience

30:11 ↗ brand awareness and test out their

30:13 ↗ products. So it's not just going from I

30:15 ↗ have an idea today to opening up a

30:17 ↗ storefront. So, we're working on things

30:19 ↗ like that. I think Deputy Council

30:21 ↗ President Dim Michelle has a question.

30:23 ↗ Oh, just uh I know that we have a lot of

30:25 ↗ homebased businesses in Aqua. So, do we

30:27 ↗ do we um track Yes. How many of those

30:32 ↗ 598, which seems like a really nice

30:35 ↗ large nice number um are just uh people

30:39 ↗ who are setting up a business in their

30:41 ↗ garage or their kitchen table or

30:43 ↗ whatever. Mhm. Yeah, we can split that

30:45 ↗ out. Um and and so the one thing I will

30:48 ↗ say is that the business license

30:50 ↗ database so people apply through the

30:52 ↗ department of revenue and then add us on

30:54 ↗ as a city endorsement. Um it's it's a

30:58 ↗ little challenging sometimes there's

30:59 ↗ businesses that already are open and

31:01 ↗ have a quote unquote new business

31:02 ↗ license that it's self- selecting for

31:04 ↗ are you a homebased business yes or no.

31:06 ↗ So we can so we we do you know we do our

31:09 ↗ best to clean the data but we don't know

31:11 ↗ every business that's already in the

31:12 ↗ city. So we've kind of, you know,

31:14 ↗ established a here's what it is. So we

31:17 ↗ can definitely look at the yes nos for

31:19 ↗ the homebased businesses and no it may

31:21 ↗ be a little off but my guess is it's

31:23 ↗ going to be a large percentage of the

31:25 ↗ 598. Yeah. Um I have a question. Yeah.

31:29 ↗ So I'm in soouththing through these you

31:31 ↗ you have um a nice page in the report

31:34 ↗ that's got four columns. It's got the

31:37 ↗ metric. It's got economic development

31:39 ↗ dashboard, action plan, quarterly

31:40 ↗ report, citywide performance dashboard.

31:43 ↗ So the economic development dashboard

31:45 ↗ stuff is is beautiful and easy to see.

31:48 ↗ The citywide performance metric stuff is

31:50 ↗ beautiful, easy to see. Action plan

31:52 ↗ quarterly report. So you were just

31:53 ↗ talking about new and active business

31:55 ↗ licenses, which um is in the action plan

31:58 ↗ quarterly report column and I go to that

32:01 ↗ link and that is the economic

32:02 ↗ development action plan. Yeah. Um, we

32:05 ↗ haven't set up a reporting. Is that

32:07 ↗ where you're going to Yeah. Where do I

32:08 ↗ find that? If I said, "Boy, I want to

32:10 ↗ see how we've been doing with new

32:11 ↗ business licenses over the last several

32:13 ↗ years." That's not That's not there.

32:15 ↗ It's not there yet. Nope. Okay. Nope.

32:17 ↗ Okay. I'm not losing my mind. I want No,

32:18 ↗ you aren't. The other two columns, all

32:20 ↗ that data, it's beautiful, and you got

32:22 ↗ multi-year, and it's all the stuff my

32:24 ↗ nerdy engineer brain wants. But that

32:26 ↗ that column is still is in work. Yes.

32:29 ↗ and our our our data person moved to to

32:32 ↗ Dallas in August last year. So he so um

32:36 ↗ but we you know and this is part of

32:37 ↗ working with the economic vitality

32:39 ↗ commission that we you know have kind of

32:41 ↗ paused you know slowed down the ability

32:42 ↗ to kind of you know make pretty uh

32:45 ↗ displays of it but we are collecting it

32:47 ↗ um and we'll and definitely we'll get

32:50 ↗ better on it uh moving forward and and

32:52 ↗ it all really comes back to what do we

32:54 ↗ need to worry about and what don't we

32:56 ↗ need to worry about. Some of it is yes,

32:58 ↗ we compile the data and and it's it's

33:00 ↗ and it's great that that you talk about

33:02 ↗ that process, but you know, ultimately

33:04 ↗ at the end of the day, it's where is we

33:06 ↗ as a city, you know, we know we need to

33:08 ↗ focus on public safety. We know we need

33:10 ↗ to focus on social services, right? Um,

33:14 ↗ you know, where else do we not know that

33:16 ↗ we need to spend more time and effort

33:18 ↗ on? And so that's why when I say that,

33:20 ↗ it's not to, you know, yell at anybody,

33:22 ↗ but just because I'm hungry to see that

33:24 ↗ information. Me, too. Gotcha. Yeah. No,

33:27 ↗ so it's it's in the works and we and in

33:29 ↗ our the next steps I'll kind of talk a

33:31 ↗ little bit more about that. Okay. Thank

33:33 ↗ you. Yep.

33:35 ↗ Okay. So again, like you said, you know,

33:38 ↗ you can collect data for data sake, but

33:40 ↗ really, you know, how do we use it? So

33:42 ↗ when we get data, we look at it, but we

33:44 ↗ don't just look at it and say, oh, this

33:46 ↗ must be the reason we're going to go and

33:48 ↗ create a new program or change things.

33:49 ↗ So we really go out and talk to

33:51 ↗ businesses to try to understand what

33:53 ↗ that really means. we come to the

33:54 ↗ economic vitality commission. We have

33:56 ↗ that discussion, right? Um then we

33:59 ↗ figure out what what's a good response

34:00 ↗ and then you know kind of like any good

34:02 ↗ strategic plan or action you're you know

34:05 ↗ you're making sure that you follow up

34:06 ↗ and find out did that really meet your

34:08 ↗ needs um and then you know modify and

34:11 ↗ kind of go from there. So you know

34:13 ↗ overall um the the data that we see as a

34:17 ↗ big picture for the city of Isiqua we're

34:20 ↗ you know again I've been working in

34:21 ↗ economic development for 25 years in

34:23 ↗ municipalities and you know we have a

34:26 ↗ really strong uh business climate and

34:28 ↗ economic vitality here doesn't mean

34:30 ↗ there aren't things that we can improve

34:31 ↗ on um and aren't things we should be

34:34 ↗ aware aren't coming down the pike. Um

34:36 ↗ but because of our work daily with PE,

34:39 ↗ you know, property owners, business

34:41 ↗ owners, um developers, brokers, um you

34:44 ↗ know, we we we start to hear kind of

34:46 ↗ some things in it and we um are able to

34:49 ↗ suggest and remind people of what's

34:51 ↗ really important for the community. But,

34:53 ↗ you know, our commercial space, as you

34:55 ↗ mentioned, retail spees really limited.

34:57 ↗ I think there's going to be um some, you

35:00 ↗ know, our office vacancy isn't as bad as

35:02 ↗ other areas. again, you know, it it can

35:05 ↗ be improved and we are uh one of the

35:07 ↗ things I started at the beginning of

35:08 ↗ this year but have put on pause is to

35:10 ↗ contact th those uh property owners who

35:13 ↗ do have vacant space about popups and so

35:15 ↗ maybe uh one of the office spaces that's

35:18 ↗ nearby and arterial could do some popup

35:21 ↗ um you know uh events doesn't have to be

35:24 ↗ you know full full blast retail but it

35:26 ↗ could be some things like that. Um and

35:29 ↗ um the the thing that has really changed

35:32 ↗ and I um city minister Bob Kovich has

35:35 ↗ said this for the last I don't know four

35:36 ↗ or five years is that we now have um a

35:40 ↗ lot more people living and working in

35:42 ↗ the city. So, I looked up that data for

35:44 ↗ 2023 and 24 is not available. Um, and

35:47 ↗ it's about 50% where there was about 30%

35:50 ↗ in 2022 and before that. And so, a lot

35:53 ↗ of that I think is I'm working virtually

35:55 ↗ and I may not be here full-time, but

35:56 ↗ that br that shows that we have a a

35:58 ↗ bigger um, you know, uh, audience,

36:01 ↗ bigger uh, number of people to

36:03 ↗ potentially go out to eat, to

36:05 ↗ potentially run some more errands here

36:07 ↗ versus wherever they worked. So, let

36:08 ↗ make sure I understand that right

36:09 ↗ because I have been saying for 20 years

36:12 ↗ that the people who work here can't live

36:13 ↗ here and the people who live here can't

36:14 ↗ work here. But what you're telling me is

36:16 ↗ that's changing. That that used to be

36:19 ↗ 70% and it's now down to 50%. That's

36:22 ↗ great. That is that is a that is a very

36:25 ↗ strategic number. Yeah. Yeah. Some some

36:28 ↗ of it may be some partially work from

36:30 ↗ home and I I'm moving into a job that

36:32 ↗ allows partial work from home. I haven't

36:34 ↗ been in a job that was 100% uh being in

36:36 ↗ the office. So, you know, I understand

36:38 ↗ we have to be careful, but at the same

36:40 ↗ time, yeah, that's important. That shows

36:42 ↗ Yeah, that that we're moving in the in

36:44 ↗ the right direction. So, thank you.

36:46 ↗ Yeah, that was again I just looked at

36:47 ↗ that today and and updated the

36:49 ↗ dashboard. So, it'll it'll be refreshed

36:51 ↗ on Friday

36:52 ↗ probably. Any questions then before I go

36:55 ↗ to the next steps? Nope.

36:59 ↗ Okay. Come on.

37:02 ↗ Slide. Okay. Um, so we started um a a

37:08 ↗ customer re resource management tool in

37:12 ↗ the fall of 2024. Um, so we're still in

37:15 ↗ the midst of we I am still in the midst

37:18 ↗ of cleaning up data um that has been

37:20 ↗ imported from many many spreadsheets.

37:23 ↗ But what's exciting about this is that

37:25 ↗ we're going to have a much better and

37:27 ↗ easier way to track and report all types

37:29 ↗ of actions. new businesses, how many

37:31 ↗ BREs, how many women owned businesses do

37:34 ↗ we serve? And so, um, I'm looking

37:36 ↗ forward to, uh, that in the next few

37:39 ↗ months to be able to start to report

37:41 ↗ that out, um, again, in a way that truly

37:45 ↗ reflects all the work we do because a

37:46 ↗ lot of times, um, you know, you're not

37:48 ↗ always writing down exactly those three

37:51 ↗ things you did for a business, but, uh,

37:52 ↗ this has helped to make it more

37:54 ↗ systematic. Um we're going to have more

37:57 ↗ we're going to have some trends for the

37:58 ↗ economic development action plan. Again,

38:00 ↗ we have one year. Um and so looking at

38:04 ↗ uh probably early this fall talking to

38:07 ↗ the economic vitality commission looking

38:09 ↗ at that seeing okay what progress so far

38:12 ↗ what things uh do we need to adjust? Had

38:14 ↗ something changed complet you know in

38:16 ↗ our in our community and or the the

38:19 ↗ business environment. And then um one of

38:22 ↗ the things again that our data guy was

38:24 ↗ working on um was really creating more

38:27 ↗ data on uh the website for focus on you

38:30 ↗ know people who want to know about our

38:32 ↗ business. So our our community. So

38:34 ↗ business recruitment is kind of the

38:35 ↗ words we use but but also for businesses

38:38 ↗ that are currently here and want to are

38:39 ↗ thinking about expanding what they do.

38:41 ↗ And so, you know, some of this

38:43 ↗ information that's typically on economic

38:45 ↗ development websites, you know, and

38:47 ↗ we've had and have old data on marketing

38:51 ↗ brochures that I made back in 2015, um

38:54 ↗ include um you know, household income,

38:56 ↗ number of households, average age, you

38:59 ↗ know, the industry sector data, public

39:01 ↗ safety, education levels of residents.

39:03 ↗ So, all this will be easily found on our

39:06 ↗ web page um under yaqua or other areas.

39:10 ↗ And um a little a little little uh

39:14 ↗ snippet that the person that we're going

39:16 ↗ to be starting as our economic

39:17 ↗ development coordinator in May um has a

39:21 ↗ strong data background. So that's why

39:24 ↗ I'm like it's going to happen. So once

39:26 ↗ you have somebody who really knows what

39:27 ↗ they're doing and has that, you know, uh

39:29 ↗ focus and and ability to kind of create

39:31 ↗ those uh those stories and the uh the

39:35 ↗ data that that makes sense to show,

39:37 ↗ right? Again, not just data for data

39:39 ↗ sake. So, that's what we uh will be

39:41 ↗ having coming up in in the next uh few

39:44 ↗ months. And again, really excited to

39:46 ↗ have some systems in place where it

39:48 ↗ doesn't have to be looking through your

39:50 ↗ email and calendar every time you think

39:52 ↗ about what what have we done.

39:54 ↗ So, any questions?

39:57 ↗ No. Uh questions?

40:02 ↗ Yeah. Uh so you know talking about

40:06 ↗ employee retention

40:08 ↗ uh and because we know that housing's

40:10 ↗ expensive here commute times are

40:12 ↗ horrendous. Uh the isqua Hobart road is

40:14 ↗ a horrible pl way to get into isqua etc

40:18 ↗ etc etc. So what are we really seeing uh

40:22 ↗ working? You talked about going out and

40:24 ↗ helping people get produce a different

40:27 ↗ environment. What do we see that is

40:28 ↗ really working in terms of increasing

40:31 ↗ retention and making people want to come

40:35 ↗ here to work even though we do have some

40:37 ↗ significant barriers. So just just your

40:41 ↗ overall thoughts about that. Yeah. So I

40:44 ↗ I think um so if you're talking about

40:46 ↗ employees versus business owners um I

40:48 ↗ think that I think it's the cl the cult

40:51 ↗ the climate of your workplace means a

40:53 ↗ lot right and so I think we have a lot

40:55 ↗ of business owners who um are you know

40:59 ↗ have have started their business as a

41:00 ↗ passion have gotten good at it and are

41:03 ↗ creating you know they want they know

41:04 ↗ they need to keep employees uh happy in

41:07 ↗ order to keep them because again ups and

41:09 ↗ downs we've had over the past few years

41:11 ↗ um you know you know if you got a good

41:13 ↗ employee, you're going to do whatever

41:15 ↗ you can to keep them. Um there's and I

41:18 ↗ don't know, this is hard to know how

41:19 ↗ many of the business owners um you know

41:21 ↗ are taking advantage of some of these um

41:24 ↗ classes slash resources slash um hey uh

41:29 ↗ there at the business fair that that

41:31 ↗ they um Washington State does every year

41:34 ↗ there's a workshop about this or that.

41:36 ↗ Uh the chamber has done the business

41:38 ↗ summit in the past and they you know

41:40 ↗ sometimes talk about that. Um, and so I

41:43 ↗ think the sound jobs program is going to

41:45 ↗ be really interesting because they're

41:46 ↗ collecting uh data to be able to again

41:48 ↗ see if this makes if this is working

41:50 ↗ across the region. So um kind of having

41:55 ↗ a better idea of what things did work of

41:57 ↗ investing in employers to create and

42:00 ↗ what things didn't um I think will be

42:02 ↗ something that we that we can take and

42:04 ↗ and move on to others. So I think yeah

42:07 ↗ it's it's it's really hard to tell. Uh

42:09 ↗ but again I think some of those job

42:11 ↗ fairs and making those connections with

42:12 ↗ the colleges where they can find um

42:15 ↗ other other employees has helped um

42:18 ↗ whether they stay and that's you know

42:21 ↗ internal a thing that is important.

42:23 ↗ Yeah. And that's the reason it's really

42:24 ↗ hard to track these things because it's

42:26 ↗ a complex set of of things that people

42:29 ↗ make their decisions or base their

42:31 ↗ decisions on uh about whether to stay.

42:34 ↗ Um

42:35 ↗ yeah there's unpredictable almost but

42:38 ↗ you know but on the other hand we do

42:40 ↗ know that there are some things that

42:41 ↗ people consistently talk about the

42:43 ↗ commute the cost of living etc. Yeah

42:46 ↗ yeah and I you know and I don't know if

42:48 ↗ ESD employment security uh department

42:51 ↗ collects retention numbers because like

42:53 ↗ a job's a job right and so if uh I have

42:57 ↗ it and then somebody else has it it's

42:59 ↗ still one versus Yeah. So, I'll I'll

43:02 ↗ since I'm in communication with them

43:04 ↗ just this week, I'll ask about that.

43:10 ↗ And that concludes your presentation

43:12 ↗ twice this evening? Yes. Okay. Uh I will

43:15 ↗ ask uh our clerk's office if there's any

43:19 ↗ members of the public now uh online.

43:23 ↗ Unfortunately, there are not. Chair

43:24 ↗ Martin. Disappointing. Okay. Well, um we

43:29 ↗ don't have a deliberation phase. uh

43:31 ↗ because we're not we certainly do have a

43:34 ↗ comment. I was going to say though we

43:35 ↗ don't have deliberation. We could

43:36 ↗ certainly uh editorialize at this point

43:39 ↗ or I editorialize is a loaded term.

43:41 ↗ Comment. Yes, council member A. You look

43:43 ↗ like you would like to comment. I would

43:45 ↗ really love to comment and Jen, thanks

43:47 ↗ for the presentation. It was super super

43:49 ↗ fun, super interesting, so much

43:51 ↗ potential. Um I have two thoughts um

43:54 ↗ that I want to share. one is um

43:58 ↗ uh uh something that might be useful and

44:01 ↗ the other is my hobby horse and I'll

44:03 ↗ start with my hobby horse which is we

44:05 ↗ have to build more retail. We cannot um

44:09 ↗ let builders come in and put in uh

44:12 ↗ nothing but residential without putting

44:14 ↗ in corresponding

44:17 ↗ uh retail. And I've been I've been kind

44:19 ↗ of beating that drum for some time. But

44:22 ↗ now um I look at the survey that says

44:24 ↗ our biggest problem is we don't have

44:26 ↗ space and then I look at the uh cost of

44:29 ↗ uh commercial rent in Isiqua and retail

44:33 ↗ is significantly higher now than office

44:35 ↗ space. And so uh it's telling me a

44:38 ↗ pretty interesting uh tale that um my

44:42 ↗ confirmation bias is being confirmed. So

44:45 ↗ um but anyway we seriously though we

44:47 ↗ have to do that and and so in your

44:49 ↗ conversations with um PPC as we start to

44:51 ↗ work through any code changes um we have

44:54 ↗ to make it so that if we're putting in

44:56 ↗ real

44:58 ↗ uh residential we have to put in more uh

45:01 ↗ retail. Um my second uh thought I'd like

45:05 ↗ to share which I think you um align to

45:07 ↗ which is better data results in better

45:09 ↗ outcomes. I'm super psyched about your

45:12 ↗ CRM. Um I happen to be working on a CRM

45:15 ↗ myself right now and so I would like to

45:18 ↗ share one observation which is CRM are

45:20 ↗ most effective when you have a network

45:22 ↗ effect. The more people who use it the

45:24 ↗ better the data um and um the the richer

45:27 ↗ and better the outcomes you get from

45:29 ↗ that data. So if you could get u any

45:32 ↗ everybody who is public facing within

45:35 ↗ the city of Isiqua to embrace that CRM

45:38 ↗ and to add information to it um all of a

45:41 ↗ sudden it becomes more valuable to you

45:43 ↗ from economic development but also more

45:45 ↗ valuable to them being at PTE or

45:48 ↗ um

45:51 ↗ um

45:54 ↗ planning

45:56 ↗ community planning development

45:58 ↗ environment. No, community planning and

46:00 ↗ development. Community planning and

46:01 ↗ development. Thank you. I was really

46:03 ↗ binding up on that one. Um and also um a

46:07 ↗ couple thoughts on dashboards. Another

46:09 ↗ uh interest of mine of late. There are

46:12 ↗ kind of two kinds of dashboards. One I

46:13 ↗ think are what I would call the check

46:15 ↗ engine light. That's where it turns red

46:17 ↗ because it falls off the table and you

46:19 ↗ go something is out of alignment and we

46:21 ↗ need to react quickly. But the other

46:22 ↗ one, the more interesting ones are the

46:24 ↗ ones where we actually bring together

46:25 ↗ data from various sources and we look

46:27 ↗ for trends and we look and we recognize

46:30 ↗ that our economic conditions are always

46:32 ↗ changing and that we need to have um

46:35 ↗ metrics that help us be proactive and

46:37 ↗ get ahead of those coming waves. So that

46:40 ↗ um to use the um hockey analogy that

46:43 ↗ we're shooting our economic development

46:45 ↗ puck to where the economy is going to be

46:48 ↗ in the future, not to where it is today.

46:50 ↗ So, um I I think we've got a solid solid

46:53 ↗ foundation and just a couple of things

46:55 ↗ where I think uh we could maybe tweak it

46:58 ↗ a little bit and you really take it to

47:00 ↗ the next level. But thank thanks for all

47:01 ↗ the work you guys are doing. I think

47:03 ↗ this is super important.

47:07 ↗ Deputy Council President,

47:12 ↗ I I I think that um I don't have a lot

47:15 ↗ to say. Uh, I love the data that you're

47:18 ↗ collecting and and the fact that we're

47:20 ↗ following so many of these uh important

47:23 ↗ trends. Um, I think I've expressed my

47:26 ↗ concern about, you know, the it I hear

47:30 ↗ all the time from folks that it's really

47:32 ↗ hard to recruit people and retain people

47:35 ↗ and that seems to be one of the major uh

47:38 ↗ things that we need to focus on. Um,

47:41 ↗ it's hard to know again what's the

47:44 ↗ solution there. We want to increase our

47:47 ↗ transportation. Uh we want to we want to

47:49 ↗ do all of the everything is a very

47:51 ↗ expensive very expensive proposition for

47:53 ↗ changing the environment here and yet

47:56 ↗ isqua is a wonderful place to come to

47:58 ↗ work. So so uh well we'll just keep

48:02 ↗ watching what's going on and like uh

48:04 ↗ council member Mart said uh where are

48:07 ↗ the red flags that we really need to

48:09 ↗ worry about and and that maybe we can do

48:11 ↗ something about. So, I appreciate the

48:14 ↗ presentation. I did want to ask the

48:16 ↗ visitors if any of them would care to

48:19 ↗ comment as well. I'd love to hear from

48:21 ↗ them if if you're willing to to spend

48:24 ↗ some time with us.

48:27 ↗ And if you'd like to identify yourself

48:29 ↗ and your role on the commission.

48:32 ↗ Good evening, uh, Chris Richley,

48:34 ↗ council. Uh, w thank you for having us

48:37 ↗ tonight. Uh my name is Chris Richley,

48:38 ↗ economic vitality commission chair, also

48:41 ↗ ISQUA resident up in the Isqua Highlands

48:43 ↗ for 11 years now this year. Um and first

48:48 ↗ I want to start by thanking Jen Davis

48:50 ↗ Hayes for all the work that she's done.

48:52 ↗ I've been working with Jen now going on

48:54 ↗ 5 years now. So, it's been tremendous

48:56 ↗ working with her. And I thank the

48:57 ↗ council for and the city for passing to

49:01 ↗ allow her to keep another staff member

49:03 ↗ cuz I know it's a it's honestly a three

49:05 ↗ member staff that could be helpful, but

49:07 ↗ two is better than one to be honest. And

49:10 ↗ the and the city to take

49:12 ↗ um economic vitality as an initiative to

49:16 ↗ really continue to grow the the city in

49:18 ↗ a in a sense of business is supported.

49:21 ↗ It's shown by the passing of the recent

49:22 ↗ economic development plan last year by

49:25 ↗ council. So, thank you again for that.

49:27 ↗ Thank the 12 commissioners and that you

49:29 ↗ know I want to also thank them for their

49:31 ↗ time and service because it is a

49:32 ↗ volunteer position, right? So, um with

49:35 ↗ that said and we do hear council and we

49:37 ↗ do appreciate council's feedback

49:39 ↗ tremendously on on the economic

49:40 ↗ development plan. We have the same

49:42 ↗ questions. I could tell you that as a

49:44 ↗ commission. We have the same questions

49:45 ↗ around recruitment. um what could we do

49:48 ↗ better to ask you know businesses and

49:50 ↗ partner with businesses and the chamber

49:52 ↗ you know is is one of those those

49:54 ↗ partners that we very much look for

49:55 ↗ support. Um me as a chair and my and my

49:58 ↗ vice chair now we look at the

50:00 ↗ recruitment of our commissioners to

50:02 ↗ mirror a lot of the businesses within

50:04 ↗ the community so we get a voice from

50:05 ↗ every one of those businesses in the

50:07 ↗ community. We've done that um to the

50:10 ↗ best of our abilities. We've had the

50:12 ↗ most applicants over the last two now

50:15 ↗ years out of all the commissions and

50:17 ↗ boards. So economic vitality and is very

50:19 ↗ much on the minds of a lot of residents

50:21 ↗ and community members to say that. So um

50:25 ↗ the the concern around recruitment yes

50:27 ↗ looking at the different businesses that

50:29 ↗ we can it's also about that environment

50:31 ↗ that the businesses do recreate because

50:33 ↗ I do believe that there are a lot of

50:35 ↗ good businesses that people want to work

50:36 ↗ in isqua but again that challenge of

50:38 ↗ living in esqua is very challenging

50:40 ↗ because of the fact of the rent which we

50:43 ↗ cannot control but if the central Isqua

50:45 ↗ plan does take off there would be you

50:46 ↗ know maybe mixed use to a sense to where

50:49 ↗ there's retail on the bottom retail in

50:50 ↗ the back it doesn't matter where it

50:51 ↗ could be around the top of the building

50:52 ↗ at this point but retail mixeduse with

50:55 ↗ affordable workforce housing and that's

50:57 ↗ been brought up a lot. So know that it's

51:00 ↗ been talked about in the EVC. We always

51:02 ↗ welcome council and the mayor and the

51:04 ↗ city's recommendations as far as that.

51:06 ↗ To be honest, we would like some more

51:09 ↗ feedback. If you have something that's

51:11 ↗ of a concern, don't hesitate to reach

51:12 ↗ out to Jen for the economic vitality

51:14 ↗ commission. Myself, you know, you know

51:17 ↗ where I'm at. I'm I'm here. So I mean at

51:19 ↗ that point we it really shows that the

51:21 ↗ city does care about the vitality and

51:23 ↗ the economic growth of the of the city

51:24 ↗ for that. So with that I thank you all

51:26 ↗ for that and any questions I can answer

51:28 ↗ for you as well.

51:31 ↗ No but thank you for your comments.

51:33 ↗ Thank you guys.

51:41 ↗ It's a talk button. Cool. Uh Jake McIll

51:44 ↗ here. Uh commissioner on economic

51:45 ↗ vitality. Uh Chris is hard act to

51:48 ↗ follow, but I just wanted to echo his

51:50 ↗ sentiment of what he said. Uh we're

51:51 ↗ eager and hungry here on Economic

51:53 ↗ Vitality Commission to really help you

51:55 ↗ all out. Um if you have any policy

51:58 ↗ changes or code updates you all are

51:59 ↗ doing, I just want to encourage you all

52:01 ↗ to send that our way if you want the

52:03 ↗ opinion of the business community.

52:11 ↗ Thanks. Good evening. I'm Jennifer

52:14 ↗ Larson and I'm on the Economic Vitality

52:16 ↗ Commission and I also have the pleasure

52:18 ↗ of working with Sanmar as their chief

52:20 ↗ people officer. Thank you very much for

52:22 ↗ having us here this evening. It's been

52:25 ↗ wonderful to hear all the information

52:26 ↗ shared. I have been on the commission

52:28 ↗ now for a few years and I want to also

52:31 ↗ thank Jen for the work that she has done

52:34 ↗ to bring to bring both our commission

52:36 ↗ forward as well as to provide great

52:38 ↗ information to the city. It's

52:40 ↗ fascinating to be on the commission and

52:42 ↗ to see the amount of information that's

52:45 ↗ collected and it's collected in the

52:46 ↗ right ways. It's not just a survey. It's

52:49 ↗ not just seeing people. It's not just

52:52 ↗ what's provided by the government, but

52:53 ↗ it's really putting the whole package

52:55 ↗ together that makes a difference because

52:58 ↗ we're in it for the long game and it's

53:01 ↗ really hard to find some of the

53:02 ↗ measurable things like, you know, what's

53:04 ↗ happening and how we're moving it. So,

53:06 ↗ we want to be sure that we're moving the

53:07 ↗ city in the right direction. And then I

53:09 ↗ couldn't help adding one thing. I'll be

53:11 ↗ fascinated to see what the data looks

53:13 ↗ like a year from now relative to

53:15 ↗ retention because as Jen said, there are

53:17 ↗ things that we can help businesses do to

53:19 ↗ create a culture and a climate so that

53:22 ↗ people want to stay and work there, but

53:24 ↗ they're also things that are that create

53:26 ↗ sort of the external environment. And

53:29 ↗ one of the things as as a local employer

53:32 ↗ and we have 450 who work in the the uh

53:35 ↗ office building here is that with

53:38 ↗ changes in the economic climate

53:41 ↗ retention changes dramatically. So the

53:44 ↗ difference for example if you had asked

53:46 ↗ me how we're staffing Sanmar two years

53:48 ↗ ago I would have been concerned about

53:50 ↗ retention. If you ask me right now, I

53:52 ↗ have more candidates than we've ever had

53:54 ↗ before and last year our turnover was

53:57 ↗ the lowest it had been in a long time.

53:59 ↗ So I think it's just sort of looking at

54:01 ↗ all the trends both what's happening in

54:02 ↗ the city, what's happening globally as

54:04 ↗ well or kind of around the state as

54:06 ↗ well. So thank you for having us here

54:08 ↗ and I appreciate your feedback and your

54:09 ↗ time and thank you so much for your

54:11 ↗ comments, Deputy Council President. Oh,

54:13 ↗ I was just going to say that I'm I'm so

54:15 ↗ glad to hear from all of you and I

54:17 ↗ appreciate the time that you put in and

54:20 ↗ uh I I know we all do. So, thank you and

54:22 ↗ uh I appreciate the dialogue back and

54:25 ↗ forth. So, thank you so much.

54:28 ↗ Um and and do you have any other

54:30 ↗ comment? Do not. Okay. Um I have a

54:33 ↗ couple. Uh I want to absolutely plus one

54:37 ↗ uh what Council Member Ray said about

54:38 ↗ retail. You know, when I think about

54:41 ↗ retail, I think about there's a very

54:43 ↗ famous scene. I won't describe it too

54:45 ↗ much, but it's in the movie When Harry

54:46 ↗ Met Sally, and the and the punchline in

54:48 ↗ it is it where uh I think it's Rob

54:50 ↗ Reiner's mother uh is playing a patron

54:52 ↗ there, and she says, "I'll have what

54:54 ↗ she's having." Um I want what both and

54:56 ↗ Woodenville have. They have created a

54:59 ↗ ton of four over one and five over one

55:02 ↗ development in their in their downtowns.

55:04 ↗ and we got told we've been told for a

55:06 ↗ decade that we can't do it here for some

55:08 ↗ reasons that I've never understood, but

55:10 ↗ they've done it and they're not that

55:12 ↗ different from us. So, um I couldn't

55:14 ↗ agree with you more, Council Member Ray.

55:16 ↗ Um and we just get more and more data

55:18 ↗ that says that we need more retail and

55:21 ↗ you know, maybe it's council just saying

55:22 ↗ we're not going to let people build if

55:24 ↗ they don't do four over one or five over

55:25 ↗ one. I mean, I don't know what it looks

55:27 ↗ like. Um uh but that's you know that's

55:30 ↗ something that I would love to have

55:32 ↗ economic development help us like how do

55:34 ↗ we how do we be like both and

55:35 ↗ Woodenville. They've done it right. They

55:38 ↗ have so much development downtown and

55:39 ↗ it's been done beautifully and it's been

55:41 ↗ done like all the pictures that we've

55:43 ↗ had of the central area that all the

55:45 ↗ pretty pictures that we've had made for

55:47 ↗ the last 15 years. They've actually gone

55:49 ↗ and done it. So whatever you can do to

55:51 ↗ help us create that future where there's

55:53 ↗ where there's more retail. And then the

55:55 ↗ other thing I'll mention and this is

55:56 ↗ really around metrics and and control

55:59 ↗ systems. So engineers talk about

56:00 ↗ openloop control and closed loop

56:02 ↗ control. Openloop control is you're in

56:04 ↗ your car, you're driving down the road,

56:06 ↗ you look, you decide, I care about my my

56:09 ↗ speedometer. And you look down, you go,

56:10 ↗ "Oh, that's interesting. I'm only doing

56:12 ↗ 45 miles an hour. Maybe it's because I'm

56:14 ↗ going uphill. I don't know." And then

56:16 ↗ the next time you look, you're like,

56:17 ↗ "Oh, hey, I'm doing 75 miles an hour in

56:19 ↗ a 60 mph zone. That's interesting." So,

56:22 ↗ uh, that's an openloop system, right?

56:24 ↗ Closed loop system is I'm going to I'm

56:27 ↗ going to have a thing that I control and

56:30 ↗ I'm that's going to be the accelerator

56:31 ↗ pedal, right? And I'm going to look at

56:32 ↗ the steering. I'm going to look at my

56:33 ↗ speedometer and if I'm over the speed

56:35 ↗ limit, I'm going to take my foot I'm

56:37 ↗ going to start lifting my foot off the

56:38 ↗ gas and if I'm below the speed limit,

56:40 ↗ I'm going to put my foot on the gas

56:41 ↗ more. But it's identifying what are the

56:44 ↗ levers of control that I have that can

56:46 ↗ respond to my metrics, right? And so you

56:48 ↗ know one of the ancillary questions I

56:50 ↗ asked earlier about things that are red

56:52 ↗ flags right so the question is what is

56:54 ↗ the equivalent of the accelerator pedal

56:56 ↗ on those red flags right and how do we

56:58 ↗ move from um you know you always have

57:00 ↗ you start with openloop you start with

57:02 ↗ like what are the things I'm going to

57:04 ↗ measure and I think you're doing and I

57:05 ↗ think the city is doing a good job and I

57:07 ↗ think tonight you've really highlighted

57:09 ↗ how much data uh we are we are using the

57:13 ↗ challenge is now to go from open loop to

57:15 ↗ closed loop and and what are the

57:16 ↗ accelerator ator pedals for each of

57:18 ↗ these things and some of those

57:19 ↗ accelerator pedals are things on the

57:21 ↗ administration side and some of those

57:22 ↗ things are policy and large fiscal

57:24 ↗ questions for council. So that's my

57:27 ↗ feedback. Any other closing thoughts? I

57:29 ↗ want to thank again the members of the

57:31 ↗ commission uh for being here this

57:32 ↗ evening. That was awesome support for

57:34 ↗ this. Uh Jen, thank you so much for

57:36 ↗ coming back with this information. Um I

57:39 ↗ think gives us a much better picture and

57:41 ↗ I'm going to I'm going to hardily

57:42 ↗ encourage the other four council members

57:44 ↗ to watch the video from tonight. Not

57:45 ↗ that I don't always of course but um in

57:48 ↗ particular this evening.

57:50 ↗ Um so with that um is there uh I think

57:56 ↗ we're done with this action item. So any

57:59 ↗ good of the order from my fellow

58:02 ↗ members? Not from me either. So with

58:04 ↗ that at

58:06 ↗ 7:28 p.m. we are adjourned. Thank you.

58:09 ↗ Uh throngs of viewers at home.

Approved minutes

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Attendance

Council / Members (3)

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Barbara de Michele

Staff (2)

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Chris Grabowski, Deputy City Clerk

Recommendations & actions (1)

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The minutes were approved by unanimous consent.