So uh okay, great.

Okay, hello everybody.

Um this is the uh Peak Steel Industrial Development Agency meeting of Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025.

It's now 713.

Um I'm also gonna open up the PFDC meeting at the same time.

Um so we'll have two meetings open.

And don't let me forget about the last one.

Um the um I'm sorry, this is the P the P I D A and the PL PFDC, and then the PLDC we're gonna open up later.

Um and I am remote.

I will be chairing the meetings, but uh I won't be voting um because I am remote.

Uh is there anything else I need to add to that, Matthew?

I don't think so.

Okay, great.

Okay, so uh why don't we start with the correspondence, Matthew?

So under correspondence uh for the PIDA meeting uh is an interesting item, which is a letter from the city manager.

Uh and um in the past, uh letters from the city have been requests for funding, and this letter is not that.

Uh this letter is um one that was sort of very carefully uh written to the uh agency uh because uh it's a really a continuation of the city trying to involve uh and continue to involve the uh uh agencies uh in um economic development and marketing kinds of activities, uh such as we've been doing and and uh such as our bylaws really sort of allow for in terms of uh various marketing activities or trying to attract businesses or you know, tourist destination kind of economic development related activities.

And so the city manager reviews many of the activities that are underway and have been accomplished, uh including the funding by the uh PFDC of the workforce development program, which in fact um had monies have been transferred because it took a number of months to get those funds actually into the hands of the city.

So we now have a form of contract with the city where when the IDA agrees to a program, they'll there's actual contract signed for the transfer of funding.

So for both the $35,000 workforce development uh training program and for a ten thousand dollar um partial funding of uh of a uh highest and best use economic development study, those funds have been transferred to the city.

There are signed contracts for them, and that's it, that's a bit of an accomplishment, which we'll talk about potential future other activities.

Uh and so the the city manager's letter goes into some detail about reviewing some of the things that we've done and staff has done and I've done and Jonathan Zamora has done.

And one thing he he commented on, Julian, which relates directly to you, is that um in fact Jonathan Zamora just started our third round of this culinary training skills program, and he actually went to the um uh first session and met with the kids and I said, Hey, I want to go too.

And he said, I want you and I also want Jamie to come to one of the workshops because we'll be invited to the concluding dinner again.

But so I want to arrange with you or schedule with you you coming to one of those workshop meetings to see what's going on.

So there's a lot of fruitful things that are happening aside from the incubator and aside from some of the major things we all know about.

So that's an encouraging thing.

But in this particular circumstance, um the city he reviews what we've been doing uh marketing-wise and logo development-wise for the benefit of the board, and uh and and we're in the midst of the logo development process, and one of our board members has been involved in that process, Drew, uh uh, and uh and other people like that throughout the city.

We're going to our second round of meetings presenting the initial ideas, and that's very exciting for developing a new logo and new branding.

Uh also, you know, under DRI funding, we have um um uh started marketing activities.

That's planning the marketing and planning the kinds of social media platforms we'd be using, planning the development of content we'd be using to distribute, and that sort of thing.

And in each of the marketing um um uh consultancies we've had, it's always been raised that and and what's done around generally is that a nonprofit or a development entity or a BID or a chamber of commerce very often does solicitation of funding to support that marketing program.

That isn't necessarily a city general fund activity.

And um, and that's been recommended here as well.

And um, our corporation counsel, Eric Gordon, has expressed concern about the city doing that kind of fundraising itself, uh uh you know, in terms of general municipal law, the law uh just them know more about it.

But it what is common is that a local development corporation or a other type of development corporation, like even a facilities development corporation, can do those kinds of activities.

And what the city is suggesting, and and that's why I said was very pleasantly surprised when I knew that this letter wasn't asking us for money, because we know that money is an issue for us right now in terms of some of the big things we have in front of us.

Uh, but he did ask that in the name of the LDC that we could be using this strategies of um uh uh uh uh doing this kind of sponsorships and marketing fundraising through our business through our business um community.

And a lot's been advanced with regard to our business community because we now have um uh um um um uh a list of businesses that we're gonna be communicating with.

You know, it's been a qualified list that's still in development, but that we can be talking to and involving in our in our efforts to to encourage business investment and and all those kinds of positive things.

And I'm not sure if any of you had actually been to the July 4th celebration when there were 10 or 15,000 people in Riverfront Green, but Jonathan Zamora has uh gotten major screen, you know, the uh digital screens uh uh deployed uh and are suitable for advertising restaurants or businesses advertising, and so in the future, um the prospect of using those kinds of advertising opportunities as means of raising money to continue future marketing is something that the city wants to discuss with us.

So it's not a request for funding, but it is a request to the board to authorize me really and our council to meet with the city and its corporation council and to devise whether that kind of uh program is is feasible.

And the idea is that the city would bear the management and the operational costs of it.

So we're not being asked really to fund anything, but the funding would remain in our name in our accounts, and it would be deployed for advertising or developing you know content or posting activities.

So it would really be to present a program to the agencies to see one is illegal, two is it uh uh desirable, uh three isn't meet the test of Justin Miller review and and all of our own general municipal law kinds of requirements for nonprofit corporations, and uh and to sort of explore that opportunity.

And then, of course, at the end of the letter, the last paragraph, which I sort of believe is the most important paragraph of the whole letter, he really talks about the things we've done together and how we are really envisioning uh the agencies and the city really sort of undertaking uh a very coordinated and sophisticated tourist destination marketing and development program, which the pieces are coming together very nicely.

So it's really opening up a dialogue and exploring this opportunity.

So we're initial reactions or comments from Justin uh or whomever, or else we just you know uh if if if there's uh uh uh it doesn't have to be a vote, but if there's concurrence that's worth, you know, exploring, then we would go do that.

But let's if if anyone wants questions or wants to discuss it, I'll shut up.

I I just uh uh wondering if Justin has any uh initial comments on you know, is this something we can do?

And uh and should be doing, I guess.

Uh yeah, sure, that's a great idea.

And taking it a step further, the PFTC has a 501c3 determination from the IRS.

It can actually offer charitable deductions for anybody that contributes to the program.

So it's a not-for-profit fundraising effort that PFTC can lead.

So you're saying PFDC.

What if so, what about the PLDC, which is I thought what they were looking for?

Well, they didn't care which one it was.

I just was thinking it could be either, but just is the one one better than the other.

Well, PLDC is 20 plus years old, and I don't know much about the corporate establishment or whether it has any charitable designation from the IRS.