Rexburg Urban Renewal Agency
Meeting Minutes – March 26, 2021
Rexburg, Idaho
Attendance
Members: Williams Riggins, Tisha Flora, via Zoom Robert Chambers, Randall Porter, and Tracy Peterson
City: Scott Miller, Scott Johnson, Matt Neilson
Visitors: Todd Smith & Bradley Peterson with Madison County; Joe Allen, Jim Hirrlinger, Nikki Hepworth, Sephlin Hepworth, Derek Hepworth, and via Zoom Christian Anderson
Administrative Support: Krisi Staten from ECIPDA
Welcome
Chairman William Riggins called the meeting to order. He did ask for an agenda change to allow the Hepworth family to address the board.
Washington School District:
The Hepworth’s met last week with Chairman Riggins and would like to participate in the property at 2nd West 1st North. The developers who previously proposed on the property will attend the next agency meeting to give an update on their schedule and plans. At the December 1, 2020 meeting the board agreed to a time extension until this spring for the developers to move forward. If their plan falls through the Hepworth’s would like the opportunity to submit a proposal for the property. They would like to build a boutique hotel with 30 to 40 rooms. They would also like to build a convention center and a few store fronts. They have been in contact with a restaurant chain that is interested in moving to town. The Hepworth’s also own the property across the street so that would help with parking. They estimate their timeframe to be 2 years.
Administrative Items
The March 10, 2021 meeting minutes were reviewed. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Tisha Flora and a second by Robert Chambers. The motion was approved with all members saying “Aye.”
The invoices listed were motioned to approve by Robert Chambers and a second by Tisha Flora. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
1. Rudd & Company: $4,500.00
2. Elam & Burke: $402.12
3. Elam & Burke: $380.00
4. Elam & Burke: $140.00
5. Standard Journal: $37.40
6. Standard Journal: $15.80
Matt Neilson discussed the Agency Administrator job description. This is work outside of the scope performed by The Development Company. Richard Horner performed much of this work while he was on the board. With his absence Scott Miller has taken on the responsibilities. Scott has strong knowledge and commitment regarding the URA and is excited to assume the role. Matt Neilson has discussed the role with the Mayor and the Mayor is supportive of Scott taking on these responsibilities. The City will pay all compensation for his time. Matt also discussed the need to hire a consultant when new districts are recommended. Robert Chambers motioned to approve Scott Miller be the Agency Administrator and was second by Tracy Peterson. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
With the election of new board members, the check signers need to be updated. It was proposed the signers be William Riggins, Randall Porter, Matt Neilson, Doug Hancey, and Terry Butikofer. Tisha Flora motioned to approve those presented as check signers and was second by Tracy Peterson. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
With Scott Miller being assigned the Agency Administrator role it was discussed that he needed to be added to access the banking account on-line. He is not a check signer; this will grant him access to the account to view transactions. Robert Chambers motioned to approve on-line account access to Scott Miller and was second by Randall Porter. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
Scott Miller handed out a RFQ for an Urban Renewal Consultant. This is to help create the new College Avenue District. The Consultant will look at the downtown with the City’s vision in mind. The agency members were asked to review the RFQ for approval at the next meeting.
North Highway District:
The board discussed the Grover property RPF. There was a proposal from JKMN LLC to remove the house. Matt Neilson is one of the owners of JKMN LLC and discussed their proposal. They have found property to move the house to. It is not in the City limits as he was unsuccessful finding a parcel that was not “build on site”. The movers estimated they would not be able to move the house for two months. The concrete cannot be completed until then as well. They will salvage as many trees as possible. Moving the house instead of on-site demolition will save the agency approximately $30,000. The bid to move the house was $1,501. Traci Peterson motioned to accept the bid from JKMN LLC for $1,501 to purchase and remove the house and was second by Randall Porter. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
There is a large shop on the property that the golf course would like to move to their location. The golf course would be responsible for moving the shop. It was discussed that once the shop and the house are gone the City will clean up the parcel and remove the basement so it’s ready for development. Robert Chambers motioned to donate the shop to the golf course and was second by Randall Porter. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
Scott Miller reviewed the second proposal that was received, this one for developing the parcel. Joe Allen and Jim Hirrlinger are the proposers and were in attendance to discuss their ideas. They are proposing to build a different product than you will typically find in Rexburg. There are some unique challenges on the property due to setbacks and the size of the parcel. It was discussed and agreed for Scott Miller to start the negotiation process with Jim and Joe and update the board at the next meeting. The developers will not know all their costs until more work has been done. Scott Miller will keep a spreadsheet capturing all the costs and benefits of this project and update the board. A motion to have the re-use appraisal now and have it run concurrent to the negotiation process was made by Robert Chamber and a second by Tisha Flora. The motion passed with all members saying “Aye.”
Washington School District:
No further discussion
Downtown District:
No discussion
University Boulevard District:
No discussion
North Interchange District:
Christian Anderson with Zions Public Finance discussed with the board the current state of the bond and the options for refinancing the bond. There are no costs for RURA to request bids to refinance and the board can reject all bids and make no changes. It was agreed that Christian will perform pre-screening to refinance and will bring solid recommendations to the board at the next meeting.
North Central District:
No discussion
General Discussion:
No discussion
Next Meeting Date and Adjournment
The next meeting will be held April 21, 2021. Meetings will be held every third Wednesday at 12:30pm.
Minutes prepared and submitted by Krisi Staten.
Approved by: Board on ___________________________________________
X________________________________________________________________________
William Riggins, Chair