1/13/2021 - Meeting Minutes SALT LAKE CITY
BUSINESS ADVISORY BOARD
Wednesday, January 13th,2021
8:30 a.m.— 10:00 a.m.
This meeting will be an electronic meeting pursuant to Salt Lake City Emergency Proclamation No. 2 of
2020(2)(b).
I,Kestrel Liedtke,Vice Chairperson of the Business Advisory Board,hereby determine that conducting
the Business Advisory Board meeting at an anchor location presents a substantial risk to the health and
safety of those who may be present at the anchor location. The World Health Organization,the President
of the United States,the Governor of Utah,the Salt Lake County Health Department, Salt Lake County
Mayor, and the Mayor of Salt Lake City have all recognized a global pandemic exists related to the new
strain of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
Due to the state of emergency caused by the global pandemic,I find that conducting a meeting at an
anchor location under the current state of public health emergency constitutes a substantial risk to the
health and safety of those who may be present at the location.
MINUTES
1. Roll call
The following members of the Business Advisory Board were present:
Kestrel Liedtke, Vice-Chair Jeff Carleton
Sue Rice John Lair
Karen Gunn(by phone) Angela Brown
The following members of the Business Advisory Board were absent:
Darin Piccoli, Chair JD Smith
Abudujannah Soud Alfonso Brito
Also Present:
Rachel Molinari, Department of Economic Development; Ben Kolendar, Department of
Economic Development; Roberta Reichgelt, Department of Economic Development;
Will Wright, Department of Economic Development; Peter Makowski, Department of
Economic Development; Clark Cahoon, Department of Economic Development; Allison
Rowland, Salt Lake City Council Office; Edward Bennett, Suazo Center; Derek Deitsch,
Downtown Alliance; and Kristen Lavelett, Local First Utah
2. Announcements
City Council Announcements
• Ms. Rowland announced that Amy Fowler was selected to be the new City Council
Chairperson and James Rogers will serve as the City Council Vice Chairperson. She also
said that Ana Valdemoros is the new Chairperson of the RDA Board and that Dan Dugan
will serve as the Vice Chairperson.
• Ms. Rowland said that new resources exist for unsheltered people including a second
overflow shelter at the Airport Inn located at 2333 W North Temple. There are 157
people there now. She noted that hotel vouchers were still available and that the City of
Millcreek has opened a shelter with 60 beds. She explained that encampments are still
problematic but that the City was doing what it could to provide additional resources.
• Ms. Rowland explained that the Council is working with the current administration to set
up expectations and goals of development in the Fleet Block area between 300 and 400
West, and 800 and 900 South. She said that the public process is important for a multiple
reasons, including the current murals painted on the walls of the property and the strong
feelings by community members to keep the murals intact, and issues of how to best
serve community with the future development plans.
• Ms. Rowland said in December 2020 the City Council approved the use of the
Redevelopment Agency's funds for a new Trax station planned for 650 South Main
Street. She said that the total estimate of the project's construction is about$2M and that
the RDA is working with private property owners to secure the funding.
Mr. Carleton asked if there were plans to close the Trax stop a few blocks north of the
new station. Director Kolendar said the intent is to add an additional stop and not take
away existing stops.
Mr. Carleton asked if there were any security updates related to potential protests for the
weekend of January 16-17, 2021. Ms. Rowland said that SLCPD is working with Salt
Lake County and the State of Utah in anticipation of protests expected to occur over the
outcome of the Presidential election. Director Kolendar added that it would be wise to
avoid the Capitol grounds during that time.
Economic Development Announcements
Director Kolendar said that he has received support from the Council to hire a Deputy for the Department
of Economic Development.He explained that since these types of positions don't become available very
often that it was important to follow through with equity and inclusion hiring practices. The department is
currently working on finalizing its policy regarding equity and inclusion. Once the policy is finalized the
position will be posted.
Director Kolendar said that there is technically no Director of Business Development in the current
staffing document and as a result, once a Deputy is hired,Mr. Makowski will no longer be in the Acting
role.
Director Kolendar mentioned that that the Department also has an opening for a Small Business Loan
Officer to manage the Economic Development Loan Fund(EDLF). He explained that some preferred
qualification for an applicant would be that they have underwriting experience and that they also speak
Spanish. Director Kolendar asked Board members for help recruiting for this position.
Mr. Carleton asked if the compensation for the position was similar to a private sector package. Director
Kolendar said the compensation package has been increased to be on par with the private sector and that
the Human Resources Department could re-benchmark the rates again because these positions are so
highly needed during the pandemic.
Mr. Lair asked if there was a large backlog of loans to process at this time. Ms. Reichgelt said there was
not a backlog and that there have not been many new loan applications,because people are hesitant to
take on debt during the pandemic.
Board Announcements
Ms. Reichgelt said the Downtown Alliance will be holding its Annual State of Downtown virtually this
year on January 19,2021.Urbanist and author of Happy City,Charles Montgomery,will be the keynote
speaker at the event. Tickets are still available at the link below:
https://www.downtownslc.org/blog/item/1717-2020-state-of-downtown-purchase-your-tickets-here
3. Approval of the minutes of the December 9,2020 meeting
Mr. Carleton made a motion to approve the minutes from December 9, 2020 meeting. Ms. Rice seconded
the motion. Upon roll call,the motion passed unanimously.
4. Business Item
A. Discussion on BAB Role and Future Agendas—Kestrel Liedtke,Vice Chair
Chairperson Liedtke said she would like to have an open discussion regarding the role of the Business
Advisory Board within the confines of its Code:
https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/saltlakecityut/latest/saltlakecity_ut/0-0-0-43942. She explained that
the Powers and Duties sections were intentionally vague for flexibility of the Board. She brought up the
idea of expanding the number of members on the Board in order to create subcommittees. She said that
over the years it has felt as though the BAB has played a passive role by just listening to presentations
from other City departments and not weighing in on items that are presented to the City Council.
Mr. Lair said the Board has had many conversations similar to this one throughout his time as a member
of the BAB and wanted to make sure that the time is spent usefully because he understands that everyone
has other responsibilities and commitments.
Director Kolendar said since the creation of the Department in 2016,and with the new administrative in
2020,the department has grown and matured and felt now would be a good opportunity to transform the
role of BAB into an operation instead of an idea. He said one way to accomplish this could be by creating
subcommittees which would require an ordinance change to increase the number of members allowed on
BAB. He also mentioned that there is room for improvement at the Department level to decide at what
stage items are placed on the agenda to be presented to the Board. He acknowledged that a lot of what has
been on past agendas has already been decided and that there was not much input opportunities for the
Board to give its opinion on. He stated that the department staff would work to better mold future
agendas. Mr. Lair suggested creating a process for getting Board member input on what they would like
to see on future agendas. Ms. Reichgelt said that the current process involves discussions with herself and
the Chair and Vice-Chair and recommended that other members could bring topics to the Chair and Vice-
Chair to bring up during the discussion with staff.
Ms. Gunn said that it would be helpful for Economic Development to identify what BAB can do
operationally to better define their role. Director Kolendar gave the example of subcommittees that would
be created around the intent of the Board and if a subcommittee has not seen items in a few months to ask
staff to monitor a topic more closely to see if the Board could weigh in on the item before it is presented
to Council.
Ms. Lavelett asked if the subcommittee members had to be members of BAB or if they could be members
of the public. She recommended creating subcommittees based on a geographical basis. Director
Kolendar said that subcommittees were not defined by the ordinance so the Board could make that
decision internally. He also said that as an alternative to expanding the BAB,it could look to the
community as a pipeline for what the Board should give input on.
Director Kolendar asked the BAB for if it could take this discussion and draft a letter so that what has
been represented in the back and forth of the conversation can be laid out on paper and the Chair and
Vice-Chair can present their ideas to the wider BAB. Vice-Chairperson Liedtke said she would work on
drafting a letter with Chairperson Piccoli and the Board could vote on it at the next meeting. She said the
Department of Economic Development is very willing to be collaborative with the BAB right now and
that the Board should take the opportunity to be in a more collaborative role with the department.
Mr. Lair suggested having equal representation from each Council District if the Board was expanded to
15 members and for the subcommittee groups to be representative of the districts as well.
Ms. Reichgelt said the current structure of presenting information to the Board was not a good mechanism
to provide input to the various departments that present in the meetings because there is often not enough
time to fully comprehend the information and make a solid recommendation. She said the subcommittees
could be a good way to dive further into the information and then bring it back to the wider Board for a
recommendation.
Mr. Carleton stated that he like the idea of the subcommittees,but he does not want to slow down the
process of any City business because the Board hasn't had a chance to hear a presentation.
Ms. Lavelett suggested using the term"feedback group" instead of subcommittee because people might
be hesitant to commit to those types of meetings. She said that Board members could ask their neighbors
or industry peers if they would like to be involved. Ms. Rice suggested using the erm"working group".
Vice-Chairperson Liedtke said as a business owner she tends to back away from additional big time
commitments so she thinks that it is important for the subcommittees to be strategic with everyone's time
and to be more collaborative and have a greater voice within the City.
Director Kolendar thanked the Board for their input and suggested including representatives of various
districts such as the Granary District,Midtown,or the Downtown Alliance if the Board did expand.
Mr. Lair mentioned that he had previously tried to get an informal meeting between businesses in District
2 and warned if the Board choose to go down this road that Council Members may want to also be
involved and that could potentially slow down the process,make it less fluid,or potentially act as a
barrier for people participating.
Ms. Rowland added that as an independent Board, it would be fine for the Business Advisory Board to
not include Councilmembers in their district meetings.
Vice-Chairperson Liedtke asked if a map of the Council Districts showing the different neighborhood
districts and business alliances existed. Director Kolendar said there was a process to apply as a City
recognized community group,but he was unsure if the group had to specify its boundaries on a map when
applying for recognition. He provided the link to the Planning Department's Master Plan:
https://www.slc.gov/planning/master-plans/. Ms. Reichgelt provided the robust Community Council list:
http://www.slcdocs.com/recorder/rco list.pdf.
Vice-Chairperson Liedtke summarized what would be put in the letter:
• expand BAB to 15 members
• Redefine what neighborhoods look like
• Create working groups that are more collaborative with the community and the Economic
Development Department
• Establish a stronger pipeline between BAB and Council
• Be a stronger voice for neighborhoods.
She then asked that if there was additional input to please email her directly.
Director Kolendar added that a potential subcommittee group could be focused on Covid related issues.
B. COVID Updates—Ben Kolendar, DED
Director Kolendar stated that Covid is still prevalent in the community and that current testing rates were
hovering around 20-25%positive rate. He said the vaccine has started to roll out to healthcare workers
and vulnerable populations. He added that health officials at the federal level are saying that the full
rollout could take months to distribute. The next wave of conversations will focus on the vaccine as it
relates to children because that is a different level or testing and approval processes.
Director Kolendar said Salt Lake County has a great dashboard related to Covid and shared the link:
https://slco.org/health/COVID-19/data/He also said that there were webinars about the new stimulus
package available on the Department's website: https://www.slc.gov/ed/covidl9/. He added that the most
relevant information for businesses is that the Paycheck Protection Program(PPP)is now open for new
applicants and a second draw option is available for businesses that have already received PPP to apply
again.
Director Kolendar discussed what is coming up on the horizon with President Elect Biden's Covid Relief
Plan. He said the administration has stated its goals which include looking at a$2K stimulus check for
individuals and provisions for more local assistance which was not included in the previous stimulus
package.He said the details of the Biden Plan can be found here: https://joebiden.com/covid-plan/
Director Kolendar stated that only a few businesses have taken the Department up on its offer to assist
with the outdoor dining program process. He asked the Board to spread the word about the program to
any restaurant owners they know who would benefit from the expansion of their premises for dining. He
reiterated that temporary structures located on private property under 200sqft do not need to apply for
special permitting and that their options are flexible as long as they meet those requirements. The
program is meant to be a resource for restaurants that are looking for options to keep serving customers
during the pandemic.
C. Suazo Center Resources—Edward Bennett,Director of Partnerships and
Operations Manager, Suazo Center
Mr. Bennett explained that the Suazo Business Center has been in existence since 2002 and was started by
Pete Suazo who was the first Latino elected to the State Senate in Utah. Mr. Bennett said Pete Suazo was
a big community activist and he got the opportunity to serve an internship under Suazo in 1995. He went
on to say that in the min 1990s there was a woman named Gladys Gonzalez who was a bank executive in
Columbia. She migrated to the United States, specifically to Utah County,but quickly realized that no
banks would hire her, so she got a job cleaning banks. He said that she came to realize that the"American
Dream"was not what she thought it was and that the real"American Dream"would be to start her own
business. She went on to create a Spanish newspaper called Mundo Hispania because there was a lack of
Spanish news at the time. As the demand for the paper grew, she realized that she would need help with
the operations of the business and that was when she was introduced to Mr. Suazo who introduced her to
banking executives who helped her create a business plan,marketing plan, and budget that enabled her to
secure funding for the newspaper business. Mr. Edward said Ms. Gonzalez sold the newspaper business
and became a serial entrepreneur. After Mr. Suazo passed away in 2002,Ms. Gonzalez had the idea to
create a center for immigrants to help them start their businesses. While many other centers like this
already existed,many immigrants did not feel welcome in these spaces and it was important to her to
work with people who looked like her and spoke like her, so she wanted to create that space for other
immigrants and that idea turned into the Suazo Center as it exists today.
Mr. Bennet said that in the last 20 years, the Suazo Center has helped to create tens of thousands of
businesses which provide millions of dollars to Utah's economy. He mentioned that one of the first
people the Center helped was Ellie Madrigal who operated one store and wanted to open a chain of
grocery stores but did not know how. They helped her with plans, and she was able to open the first
Rancho Market which now has 11 locations and over 500 employees.
Mr. Bennett explained that the Suazo Center assists minorities and women with economic development,
business development, one-on-one advising, and various classes that teach the skills necessary to start
businesses. He also said that the Center has a microloan available to its clients as well as various
workshops. The Suazo Center had also been broadcasting weekly Facebook Live events early on in the
pandemic from April-November 2020 which had over 1M impressions on its Facebook page.He stated
that the Center serves the entire state of Utah and in order to use its services the business must be located
in Utah.
Ms. Reichgelt said that she appreciates the Department's relationship with the Suazo Center especially
since Silvia Castro and Mr.Bennet have taken over. Since the Center is located in Glendale it is well
anchored and has a good pulse on the westside business community.
5. Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Darin Piccoli(Mar 15,202122:51 MDT)
Darin Piccoli, Chairperson
This document and the recording constitute the official minutes of the Economic Development
Business Advisory Board meeting held January 13, 2021.
BAB Minutes12 .9.20
Final Audit Report 2021-03-16
Created: 2021-03-15
By: Rachel Molinari(rachel.molinari@slcgov.com)
Status: Signed
Transaction ID: CBJCHBCAABAA8xeO2gGjBmJ2slkNeslVv4-OAzbaB7dd
"BAB Minutes12.9.20" History
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