Imperial County Planning & Development Services 801 Main Street, El Centro, CA, Meeting Minutes. Thursday, June 4, 1:30 p.m.

Transcription

1 Imperial County Planning & Development Services 801 Main Street, El Centro, CA, Proceedings Meeting Minutes Thursday, June 4, 1:30 p.m. The Imperial Valley Foreign Trade Zone, Joint Powers Authority (IVFTZ JPA) meeting was held on June 4, 2009, at the Imperial County Planning & Development Services, located at 801 Main Street, El Centro, CA, Attendees JPA Members Jurg Heuberger Teresa Santiago Marcela Piedra Rom Medina Other Attendees Jerry Santillan Diane Cason Daniel Fitzgerald David Harlow, Jr. Alida Monroy Maria Elena Rosas Esperanza M. Colio Sherry Leon County of Imperial City of Brawley City of El Centro City of Calipatria Imperial County Executive Office Imperial Valley Enterprise Zone (IVEZ) Calexico County Enterprise Zone (CCEZ) ITC-Diligence Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation (IVEDC) International Inbond Logistics Imperial County Planning & Development Services (ICPDS) Imperial County Planning & Development Services (ICPDS) I. Call meeting to order a) IVFTZ JPA meeting was called to order by Jurg Heuberger at 1:30 p.m. Board Members present included Jurg Heuberger, Teresa Santiago, Marcela Piedra, and Rom Medina. b) Rom Medina motioned to approve minutes from June 4, Marcela Piedra seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Motion passed. II. Discussion Action a) Approve IVFTZ Budget Jurg Heuberger opened the discussion. 1

2 Ms. Colio presented the budget. She stated that there was $20,000 left over from the previous budget, but is expecting expenses this month due to the workshops and other expenses that have not been included, since the budget ends June 30 th. Ms. Colio directed the JPA members to the fourth page of the budget, where she pointed out that the pending expenses were the $1500 for the workshops in Mexicali, the membership for the Southern California Foreign Trade Zone, and the May and June publications have not been included. She stated that $800 have been allotted for contingencies, which might not be used, and will be carried forward to this year s budget. She stated that there is $22,000 left over from last year s budget. Mr. Heuberger asked if the proposed budget is $78, and that includes the carry forward of $18,000. Ms. Colio included the activation fee for Pimentel Group, Coppel, Inc., and My Distribution Center because two of them are already activated and one is in the process. Ms. Colio stated that is there are additional activation fees, the budget should be amended, but for now, those are the only activations that she is including for this year. Ms. Colio stated that it will be up to the board on whether to keep the city membership dues the same, or if they should be lowered, since balances are being forwarded. Of if the city membership dues should remain the same for this year, just to be safe, and then lowered for the next year. Ms. Colio stated that the reason there were not that many expenses incurred this year is because there was no travel. No one attended the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones. Mr. David Harlow attended, on behalf of the FTZ, the Southern California Foreign Trade Zone. Mr. Heuberger requested to go back to last year s budget of $62, Ms. Colio stated the budget included the $5,000 from Pimentel. Mr. Heuberger stated that last year s adopted budget was $62,026.37, and this year s proposed budget is $78,169.01, which means that last year each member paid proportionately, shown on page 3. Those amounts will go up proportionately, but no one has calculated the difference. So, there is roughly a $16,000 increase. So ours would go up $2,500, Calexico about $1,000, and El Centro about $1,000 and so forth, just to put into perspective of what you will pay. Mr. Heuberger asked if everybody was happy, or if there were any comments. Mr. Medina commented that he liked the comment about remaining the same just because there is a budget crunch at this time. Mr. Medina commented that he would like to remain the same, speaking on behalf of the City of Calipatria. Mr. Heuberger stated that we couldn t stay exactly the same because the contract is going up for ITC. Ms. Colio stated that the contract amount has been included in the budget. Mr. Heuberger stated that he understood, but last year the contract was $24,000. Ms. Colio stated that she has, under contingencies, $17,000 left. Mr. Heuberger stated that he understood, but that we could stay the same, recognizing that we re going to use the contingency monies and the carryover to cover the differences. Mr. Heuberger asked if there were any additional comments. Ms. Santiago stated that she agreed they should stay the same on the membership dues or around the same. Ms. Cason commented that the revenue looked the same. Ms. Colio replied that it was. Mr. Heuberger commented that the only difference now is that there would be revenue coming in from Pimentel Group, Coppel, and My Distribution Center, theoretically adding $10,000 in nonjurisdictional funding. So, you could take last year s budget, increase it by $10,000, and everybody would stay basically the same. Ms. Piedra asked if the $5,000 was on a yearly basis or a one-time fee. Ms. Colio stated that it was on a yearly basis. Ms. Piedra motioned to approve last year s budget, adding the anticipated revenue of $15,000 that will be generated by Pimentel, Coppel, and My Distribution Center. Mr. Medina seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Motion passed. 2

3 b) Approve ITC Contract Mr. Heuberger stated that the next item on the agenda was a discussion/approval of the ITC updated contract. Ms. Colio stated that there was no contract, just a proposal. The contract is being revised by County Counsel. Mr. Heuberger stated that there is a proposed new contract for ITC. The proposal is to provide consulting, which they have already been doing, the only difference is that we are going to pay a little bit more. Mr. Harlow stated that one of the things that ITC will be doing, which they did in the last contract, was that the fee will remain the same for three years. Ms. Santiago asked what the increase from last year was. Mr. Heuberger replied that it was $24,000. Ms. Piedra asked if it was the same type of agreement, same services, just the cost was different. Mr. Harlow replied that it was. Ms. Santiago stated that is was not reflected on the current budget. The current budget shows $30,000. Ms. Colio replied that it was for this new budget. Ms. Santiago stated that in the proposal it shows $34,000. Ms. Piedra asked if it was $34,000 or $30,000. Mr. Heuberger stated that there was a $4,000 problem on the budget that was just adopted, and then stated that there was not a problem, since the budget has been increased by $10,000, so there should be no problem. So, we don t have to bother with the budget, we just will have $4,000 less to spend elsewhere. Mr. Medina motioned to approve the updated ITC contract for three years for $34,000 each year. Ms. Piedra seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Motion passed. Ms. Piedra asked if there was a need to return to the budget. Ms. Colio confirmed. Mr. Medina motioned to amend the previously approved budget of $30,000 for the consultant fee to $34,000, and no net change to the bottom line. Ms. Piedra seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Motion passed. c) Approve $1500 for Mexicali Workshop Mr. Heuberger opened the discussion stating that this was already mentioned during the discussion of the budget. Ms. Colio stated in the last two meetings, the board has agreed for the County of Imperial, along with IVEDC, and David Harlow, and the two foreign trade zones to put together workshops in Mexicali to advertise our foreign trade zones and enterprise zones. We have scheduled a workshop for June 25 th, 6-9 p.m., at Hotel Lucerna, Salon Los Candiles. Ms. Colio stated that everyone would be receiving all the information. She then stated that Daniel and she met with the Economic Development Commission in Mexicali and they will be able to support the event by inviting all the maquiladoras, because they are the ones that work with the maquiladoras, which is our target. Ms. Colio stated that they had come up with a number, which will be more or less the expenditures of $4,500. Perhaps less, but just to be safe, each one of the enterprise zones will contribute $1,500, the same with the foreign trade zones, so that the costs will be split between the enterprise zones and the foreign trade zones. There is a contract in place for the service and the invitations will be sent. The agenda is still in the process of being finalized, but the agenda consists of a presentation from the foreign trade zone to all the maquiladoras in Mexicali. Ms. Colio stated that Alida (Monroy) and she will try to help with David Harlow with the translation and Diane and Daniel will be doing the enterprise zone presentation. Mr. Heuberger asked if the Chairman of the Board would be doing an opening comment. Ms. Colio confirmed. Ms. Colio stated that they are asking the Board of Supervisors for a signed letter inviting the Mexicali maquiladoras to come to the workshops so they can learn about the services that we can provide. That will be supported by a letter from the commission in Mexicali, from Manuel Rubio. Mr. Heuberger asked who was being invited from the U.S. Ms. Colio replied that all the members of the board were being invited. Ms. Piedra commented that everyone should be aware that passports are now being required. Mr. Piedra asked how many people were being anticipated. Mr. Heuberger asked if the Board of Supervisors were being invited, city council. Ms. Colio confirmed and stated that around 200 people were being invited. Mr. Heuberger 3

4 asked if refreshments were being served. Ms. Colio stated that the menu was included in the packet. Mr. Heuberger asked if the people that were being invited, were being charged. Ms. Colio replied that they were not, that this was a free event. The event is being paid for through the $1,500 sponsorships. Ms. Colio stated that the event was not advertised because there was a target group for this event, the maquiladoras. Mr. Heuberger stated that the city councils and board are being invited, and then the community might have to be invited so as not to violate the Brown Act, because there can t be four boards or four councils going to some meeting. We need to look at that and get the notices out, because there s only two weeks left. Ms. Piedra asked how many people were anticipated in attending this event. Ms. Colio replied that 200 people were anticipated. Ms. Piedra asked who was doing the promotion with the maquiladoras. Ms. Colio replied that Comision Desarollo Industrial (CDI) will be working with them. Ms. Colio stated that $1,500 was suggested from each agency so that there would be sufficient funds to cover the expenses, it does not mean that the entire amount would be used; whatever the tab is, it will be split three ways. Ms. Piedra asked if the other agencies were already committed for the money. Ms. Colio replied that they were. Ms. Piedra motioned to approve up to $1,500 for the Mexicali workshops on June 25th. Ms. Santiago seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Motion passed. d) Approve IVFTZ Logo Mr. Heuberger opened the discussion by stating that everyone had a copy of the draft logo in front of them. Ms. Colio stated that after several proofs, this logo was the one that was chosen. She also stated that an example of how it would look on letterhead was also provided. Ms. Piedra motioned that the FTZ trademark logo, as presented, will be the future logo on the letterhead. Mr. Medina seconded the motion. All members were in favor. Motion passed. III. Discussion a) Update for the workshop series sponsorships Mr. Heuberger stated that this discussion was already held during the budget discussion. b) Update Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Coppel Ms. Colio stated that it was a successful and well-attended event. Mr. Harlow commented that the President of Coppel was there. Ms. Colio stated that pictures were taken and will be forwarded to the members. Mr. Heuberger asked if there was any press coverage. Ms. Colio stated that they were invited but they did not show up. Ms. Piedra asked in order to build internal credibility, if we couldn t pay for an article in the I.V. Press or the Business Journal, explained what IVFTZ and showcase these three businesses that we have. Ms. Piedra recommended that be done as part of the marketing strategy. Mr. Harlow stated that when Pimentel was activated, the TV people and newspaper were there, but for Coppel, no one showed up. Ms. Colio stated that there were people in attendance for the Coppel activation. c) Status report on all current FTZ activations Mr. Harlow stated that Pimentel and Coppel are already activated. Daniel Romero and My Distribution Center have signed the contract to begin the preparation for the contract. The application is nearly complete and once completed, will be submitted to the board for concurrence to submit the application. Maria Elena and her business are also interested in activating. There are a couple of other businesses that have shown interest, but the one that has shown a lot of interest has been Pacific Land. They re a land developer that is building an industrial park in Heber. Mr. Harlow met with them in L.A. They re showing significant interest to want to expand the zone project to include their industrial park. They re looking at breaking ground in October and they want to begin the expansion process by then as well. Mr. Harlow 4

5 has explained to them that before that can be done there needs to be a commitment by them, and there needs to be board approval. Mr. Harlow stated that YK America has also shown significant interest and they have sped up what they are doing at Mesquite Park. They have been in contact with IVED and him, as far as showing renewed interest in the Foreign Trade Zone. Their property would need to include expansion as well. Mr. Harlow stated that he would recommend that before the board reviews an expansion to their zone project, allow him to do a presentation on alternative site programs that the Foreign Trade Zone Board is starting to implement. It s a more flexible program that s going to essentially allow every square foot, of every city that s in the zone project to benefit rather than have them do expansions in the future. So, essentially you ll do one more expansion/reorganization and that will be it for the valley. The new program will become more flexible, that will allow businesses to do minor boundaries and activate a lot faster. It s a really good program and Mr. Harlow would like to do a presentation to the board to explain on how the program works and look at how both programs work. Unfortunately, with this type of expansion/reorganization, it does become very costly. Understanding that the board does not have the funds to usually support an expansion like that, it is his experience that the land owners/developers do have the funds to support that. Ideally, we would go to those land owners/developers and expect them to pay for the project to do the expansion, receive IVFTZ Board s support and use that opportunity to expand the project; the cities here in the valley to include other businesses to include other parts of the region in that same application. So there would no costs to the board, no costs to the cities, to participate in this expansion. The two land developers would bear those costs. Mr. Harlow stated that they have the greatest to gain because of the attractions they re going to create for their tenants, and so forth. Mr. Harlow recommended that at the next meeting, he could go through an education process. The presentation is about 30 minutes long and Mr. Harlow would give all the alternatives, the pros and cons to each program, so that the board is educated and can make the best decision for the valley. Mr. Harlow s only concern that the board would have to address is currently the JPA is only for specific cities that actually pay to be part of the board. The program is meant for other cities within a 60 mile radius and could participate in this program very easily. A good example of this is Heber, if Pacific Land were to designate, Heber would now be involved. Mr. Heuberger stated that Heber is County. Mr. Harlow thought they were an individual city. Mr. Harlow stated that other cities within the county. Mr. Heuberger commented like Holtville and Westmorland. Mr. Harlow stated that if there was any interest from them, and if we wanted to expand the service area of the zone project to include Westmorland or Holtville, then there would be a discussion. Mr. Heuberger stated that program would not preclude them from becoming members of the JPA and sharing in the costs. Mr. Harlow responded that it would not. Mr. Heuberger stated that if they were interested, they would become members of the JPA and share the freight. Mr. Harlow stated that the zone project does is expand to include those cities. Now in the zone project, giving them a benefit, I know that the rest of the cities and JPA have paid for that benefit. Mr. Medina commented on the zone project/program. He understood that they had acreage within the areas/jurisdictions and that expansion projects could be done or transfers, but acreage could not be added, but now this is different, now acreage can be added with this program. Mr. Harlow explained how the expansion would work to include other parts of each of the cities and other cities within the region. Mr. Heuberger wanted clarification on the miles. Mr. Harlow responded 60 miles from the port of entry. It s a good thing because it expands the program; it creates more flexibility for the businesses. There is no need to worry about doing an expansion for a business. There will no longer be anymore expansions, just reorganizations. Mr. Heuberger commented that if we go to the two developers to pay for the freight, it would be unfair for a third developer to come in and get a free ride. Mr. Harlow responded that the idea 5

6 would be that the third developer would not come in and get the benefit but the smaller cities and the small businesses that maybe don t have the funds to benefit. Mr. Harlow stated that he understood where Mr. Heuberger was coming from, but the reason the Board went with this new program is because land developers were designating property, wherever it was, just to designate it, just so they would have a chance. Even though there was no legitimate company that was designated. They were doing three or four expansions and no activations. Mr. Harlow gave an example of the port of L.A., who has 20,000 acres and maybe 5,000 acres that is actually activated. It discredits the foreign trade zone program because that productivity goes down. This is to protect the program and take a comprehensive look at it. So, they now want each grantee to give them more flexibility, limit the number of expansions, and puts all of the land developers on the same playing field; the last land developer that pays for this benefit, every other land developer that comes in after that, gets the benefit for free. Mr. Heuberger would like to look further into what can be done to collect some fees and reimburse the original landowner who paid for the benefit. In closing, Mr. Harlow stated that there are two activated companies, and there are two potential companies. One is Maria Elena and the other would be Daniel Romero. Mr. Heuberger asked where they were in the process. Mr. Harlow stated that he re-submitted the application for Maria Elena today. The next step is for the board to review the application, review her experience and then make the decision to approve her as an operator. Once she is approved as an operator, then her application is filed to Customs to begin the activation process. Mr. Harlow stated that one of the services he provides is to review the applications on behalf of the board. He will review the application and will report at the next meeting on his recommendation. IV. Public comments, reports, and discussion items Mr. Medina thanked David (Harlow) for visiting the City of Calipatria. There was one business that showed up to hear the presentation on the foreign trade zone. Since then, Mr. Medina has solicited other business and will be contacting Mr. Harlow soon. Mr. Santillan commented about the budget and marketing and suggested that for marketing, a chamber mixer be held, invite the press, and let everyone know that we are present. If the marketing isn t accounted for in the budget, that is something that should be looked at. Mr. Heuberger responded that there are some contingency monies that can be used. Ms. Monroy asked if there was going to be a FTZ website. There will be, it is in the works. Mr. Harlow commented that there should be brochures created, as well. Mr. Heuberger thanked Ms. Colio, Mr. Harlow, Ms. Monroy, and Mr. Fitzgerald for their participation/contribution in the Mexicali workshops. V. Next meeting Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, July 16, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. Meeting location will be at One Stop in Brawley. Due to David s (Harlow) presentation, the meeting will be moved to 1:00 p.m., instead of 1:30 p.m. VI. Future Agenda Items/ Other Business Mr. Heuberger asked if there were any additional items right now for the next meeting. There are two discussion items for the next meeting; one is the presentation by David (Harlow) on the new 6

7 procedure for expansions, and Jerry s (Santillan) suggestion on marketing. If there are items for the next agenda, to please contact Esperanza (Colio) by or phone VII. Meeting Adjourned Meeting was adjourned at 2:20 p.m. 7