06-16-2020 EDC Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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EDC Minutes June, 16, 2020 Page 3 of 4 ----------------------------- the park, and a craft fair. She stated that they are spreading the craft fair throughout the park and down streets. She also said they will have the food vendors and Water Wars. Ms. Wassermann stated that they are encouraging businesses to do individual activities and encourage everyone to follow all the state guidelines regarding social distancing. Ms. Wassermann stated the Bean Hole Days will require people to sign up for time slots for the beans. She said the Chamber is also offering packages where people can get beans to go. Commissioner Becklin inquired who would be paying for the Fireworks as well as where people can donate. Ms. Wasserman stated the Chamber will sell bracelets to raise the funds and accept funds that could come in. She said they also received a donation from the Sibley Lake Association in the amount of$2,000 however the fireworks fund is still short$2,000. 8. BLAEDC Uadate Mr. Glynn wanted to commend the EDC Commission and City Council for moving forward with the Xcel Energy project. He stated BLAEDC has a key recruitment program and he sees encouraging signs for employment opportunities and our area economy. Mr. Glynn stated they are looking at a couple loans for the Unified Fund which means businesses are still continuing with original plans with potential expansion and growth. He stated that he is getting less calls regarding funding relating to business relief considerations. Mr. Glynn said that with the grant program Brainerd kicked off they ended up granting out$90,000. He said they had eight additional grant applications that did not meet the cutoff and they ran out of money but the Brainerd City Council approved another$24,000 to provide $3,000 grants to these other eight businesses that had applied. Mr. Glynn said the City of Emily also did a Minnesota Investment Funds where they were able to release and grant out money to some of their businesses as well. Commissioner Lubke inquired where the funds came from for the grant program. Mr. Glynn stated the City of Brainerd held onto some MN Investment Funds that could be used for general operations instead of placing all of it into the Unified Fund. Mr. Glynn said they were able to utilize those funds for grants to local businesses due to the impact of COVID-19. He said the businesses that received the funds did need to utilize the funds for COVID-19 within a 2 month period and update the City on how the money was used. 10. CitY of Jenkins Update Mr. Lubke stated the County is redoing County Road 145. 11. Other Business