Amador County – Amador County Supervisors discussed the present and future of economic development Tuesday, after the Amador County Business Council presented a plan to form a new Economic Development Corporation.
The Business Council requested $50,000 over two years to fund the new EDC, but Supervisors discussed how that would affect Amador Economic Development Corporation, run by Executive Director Ron Mittelbrunn.
Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said there was $15,000 in the budget from Transient Occupancy Taxes for economic development, and they could pull another $10,000 from contingencies.
Plasse said one issue was whether to pursue retention and expansion of existing companies, or to pursue attraction of new companies. The board would also decide if it wanted a staff position to head economic development, or to hire someone. Most importantly, they must decide if they want to merge the AEDC and the Business Council’s EDC, or have them work together.
Supervisor Richard Forster said if they de-fund Mittelbrunn, and give the money to EDC, they would only have one vote. Forster said: “I’ve seen the work you have done, and I’m not going to support this if you are going to be aced out.” But he also saw they should not have the redundancy of two corporations.
Supervisor Brian Oneto said they need small business loans to help farms, and “one way or another that has to stay.” Supervisor Ted Novelli said he would like to see promotion of existing businesses. Plasse said he favored funding Mittelbrunn in the past, and if the two were not merged, they might have to cede the duties to one of the corporations.
Jim Conklin, Business Council Executive Director, said as investors, Supervisors and other EDC board members would decide how to spend money. Conklin said “the difference between the new EDC and the old EDC is that they are going to have money on the table and you will expect reports and progress.” He said “loan packaging and financing should be a major part of the EDC.”
Plasse said Mittelbrun is “generating money from loans,” and “if you put in money, you will be more demanding.” Mittelbrunn said his budget is “totally dependent on fees from loans,” and “I’m working on $3.5 million worth of loans, so there will be some more money coming in.”
Supervisor Louis Boitano said the request came to the Administrative Committee two weeks ago and by an internal error was not given to the board. County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley said it should have followed to the agenda.
Boitano said it was probably a good idea that the groups met one more time, and they table this for a couple of weeks. The Admin Committee was delegated to discuss it with AEDC and the Business Council.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
