Laserfiche WebLink
<br />July 31, 2008 <br /> <br />Tourism-Mr. Heath reported he should have someone on board as tourism <br />director in September. Other points made included: Budget FY08-09 is <br />approximately $310,000; the EDC will work with the Southern Virginia Sports <br />Authority to assist in promotion of the Soccer Complex and Sports Arena as well <br />as continue to promote other sports related venues in the area; will continue to <br />work with existing attractions on promoting events through local media; will <br />guide the development of the Deep Roots Initiative which will be the EDC's <br />retail/commercial effort for Martinsville and will engage Becky Anderson of <br />Handmade in America and Stuart Rosenfeld of RTS as on-site working <br />consultants (50% of the costs for this project are funded by the Martinsville Area <br />Community Foundation's anonymous donor section); will need incentive program <br />to have significant retail development; Mayor Lawson pointed out that Council <br />wants more emphasis on retail/commercial development and are interested to <br />hear what Mr. Gwaltney from Danville has to offer as suggestions; it was <br />suggested that antique outlets be pursued as well as something similar to the <br />Virginia Furniture Festival. Mr. Heath will continue pursuing as Council <br />requested. <br />Performance agreements-Mr. Heath explained process for performance <br />agreements and reviewed criteria and incentives. He reviewed the Local <br />Enterprise Zone incentives and State Enterprise Zone incentives used in <br />performance agreements. He reviewed the recent RTI performance agreement <br />with Council explaining the Governor's Opportunity Fund and the Virginia <br />Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund. <br />Clearview Business Park-Mr. Heath explained his recommendations made to <br />Council in his 2/ 12/08 memo still stand and are listed as follows: The City <br />should not invest additional money in Clearview Business Park beyond what's <br />required for normal and appropriate maintenance and upkeep; The City, in <br />cooperation with Henry County, should consider alternative options for the <br />Athena Building as it is overbuilt for the majority of data clients M-HC attracts. <br />Even with the County's reasonable pricing, none of the clients the EDC has <br />recommended the facility to have had serious interest; Much of this is due to the <br />cost of refitting the facility to a particular use, when viewed in light of other more <br />