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1/5/2023 - Meeting Minutes (2) ERIN MENDENHALL L DEPARTMENT of COMMUNITY Mayor y and NEIGHBORHOODS DEPARTMENT of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 1 1 1 ' MEETING MINUTES Thursday,January 5th, 2023 4:00-6:oopm The following members of the Community Recovery Committee were present.All participated electronically: Jake Maxwell,Vice Chairperson Steve Anjewierden Jason Wessel Esther Stowell Sarah Longoria Pook Carson Also Present: Cathie Rigby, Department of Economic Development Todd Andersen, Department of Economic Development Absent: Tanya Hawkins, Chairperson 1. Briefings by the Staff a. Report from the Program Manager Ms. Rigby stated that she would give staff updates during the`Business Items'portion of the meeting. Mr.Anjewierden entered the meeting at approximately 4:03 pm. BUSINESS ITEMS: 1. Discussion regarding Conflict-of-Interest Ms.Rigby discussed the conflict-of-interest clause in the Committee bylaws and the process which the Committee and staff should follow if any committee members have a conflict-of-interest with a grant applicant.Mr.Anjewierden asked if it was appropriate to abstain from scoring an applicant if there's enough information in the application to identify the applicant,and a committee member has specific information about that applicant that could affect scoring.Ms.Rigby responded that if a ERIN MENDENHALL L DEPARTMENT of COMMUNITY Mayor y and NEIGHBORHOODS DEPARTMENT of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT committee member sees overwhelming evidence of the identity of an applicant,and the member has close,personal ties to the assumed applicant,they can request to abstain from scoring.If a committee member is not i00%sure of the applicant's identity and can be unbiased in their scoring,staff encourages the Committee to score the applicant. 2. Discussion regarding Final Review and Sorting of Applicant Scores Ms.Rigby updated the Committee on how the process of the final review and sorting of application scores would be conducted over the next several weeks.Ms.Rigby added that staff will also collect feedback about the grant process from applicants and present that feedback to the Committee. 3. Review and Discuss Small Business Applications Vice Chairperson Maxwell asked if staff were verifying that applicants have an active business license in Salt Lake City.Ms. Rigby responded that applicants are required to have an active business license, but there are a few exceptions that were discussed in the Committee's first meeting such as home- based businesses and nonprofit applicants. Ms. Rigby notified the Committee that there is one applicant that closed their business and withdrew their grant application. Mr. Wessel made a request for Phase 2 of the grant program: applicants need to be trained to be clearer when explaining their business plan and/or COVID-19 impact responses.Mr.Wessel felt that many applicants did not answer all parts of a question and were vague in their answers. Ms. Stowell agreed with Mr. Wessel's and asked that staff compile all feedback from the Committee and share with applicants,so that applications can improve in Phase 2 of the program. 4. Briefing on Upcoming Week's Small Business Applications Ms.Rigby explained that staff will take lessons learned and suggestions made by the Committee to make improvements to Phase 2.Specifically,staff will be making updates to the application itself to make review and scoring easier.Also,applicants that were unsuccessful in Phase 1 will be required to schedule a technical assistance appointment with staff before they can apply for Phase 2.Vice Chairperson Maxwell requested that during these appointments,applicants be trained on how the Committee scores and notified that their financial documents are only seen by staff and not by the Committee. Mr.Wessel also requested for Phase 2,that questions 4,5,and 6 should be combined into one long essay question.He also requested that the word"briefly"be taken out of short-answer questions.Ms. Rigby explained that those questions were separated to make it easier for Finance to follow federal ARPA reporting requirements.She also noted that during previous training sessions,applicants were advised that short-answer(i.e.narrative)questions would be the most important questions scored. 5. Other Business Ms. Stowell thanked staff for sending Committee members holiday cards. Mr.Anjewierden and Ms. Carson also thanked staff for their hard work on the Community Grant Program. ERIN MENDENHALL L DEPARTMENT of COMMUNITY Mayor y and NEIGHBORHOODS DEPARTMENT of ECONOMIC C,nr` .1 DEVELOPMENT 6. Adjourn There being no further business,the meeting was adjourned. ,79,'ob ti1�xw�CG Jacob Maxwell(Feb 28,2023 12:20 MST) Committee Chair This document and the recording constitute the official minutes of the Community Recovery Committee meeting held January 5th, 2023.