HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconDevAdv 2012-05-23
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
May 23, 2012 City of Kitchener
The Economic Development Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by
Councillor Paul Singh; the following members were in attendance: Councillors
Bil Ionnidias, Glenn Kohler, Rebecca Short, Peter Benninger, Darrin Snider, Mark
Bingeman, Shawn DeBruyn, Steve Sachs, Peter Benninger, Ian Cook
The following people sent their regrets: Amr Kebhi, Brian Bennett, Lisa
Polonoski, Steven Voll
The following people were absent: Dr. Takhar, Jeremy Auger, Darren Shaw
Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Valerie Machado, Cory Bluhm, Chris Farrell,
Tracey DeVille
Approval of minutes -
Minutes will be emailed to committee members.
New Business:
Terms of Reference
The committee broke into four groups to have a brainstorming session on how
we can review the Terms of Reference.
?
Composition – align with KEDS not sector, sectors should be guidelines,
ask what business they come from and what sector they are interested in,
reps from both the college and university, should be health sciences not
health care, time of day of the meeting, number of members is 18 can it be
more, green / environmental sector is not there – that is industry related as
a cluster, value of having additional, should the terms be staggered, two
year term is limiting due to learning curve
?
Expand the group to more members – more member at large positions (3),
break this down to broader sectors – maybe 10 focused sectors with 2
members of each sector, engaging the youth for talent retention – from
both university and college perspective, other potential sectors to add –
start up and small business and professional services (planning industry),
?
Have a committee of 20 and distribute over sections
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Do a report card every year – on the members when it comes to
attendance and ask them if they actually want to be on the committee.
And the other direction have a committee check in to ask how the
members feel about the workings on the committee
?
Use it more as a guideline or recommendation but not limited to those.
Mandate should echo the KEDS without the downtown – do subcommittee
for 6 months then switch
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Preamble with the desired achievements, length of the term should be a 4
year maybe staggered appointment, 2 year or a 4 year term, add the word
policy. Have a biannual meeting of a reality check of the economy.
?
Focus on the responsibilities is important and we need to understand not
only what our focus has been recently but where we are going in the
future.
Project Updates:
Update circulation list (Janette)
Rod advised that April was a good month for employment rates, with an increase
again in April.
Manufacturing Summit was a huge success with attendance in the 400s. The
Minister of Finance was a guest speaker which provided MIN with excellent
exposure on the federal side.
Cory Bluhm provided an overview of the Downtown Live program including the
Taco Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will also include food trucks. He
advised that there will be major headliners performing, first on Canada Day,
second during the KOI music festival, this will allow for our local musicians to
open for well known names. He also advised on the programming for the moving
bistro chairs. Cory advised that they are looking for corporate sponsors to assist
with funding.
Rod advised the committee on the partnerships with the City of Morogoro and the
partnership with FCM, they will be visiting Kitchener in August.
Summary of Breakout Sessions
Innovation District
?
Talk on how to make the innovation district a reality
?
Visualize what the district is about – needs to be modeled on what it will
look like over time
?
Having a name for the area is very important
?
Understanding the size of the district, understanding the marketing
component and it’s competitors (north Waterloo, Sportsworld, NCR lands,
Bingeman Drive area)
Start-up City
?
Access to capital
?
Marketing the area
?
Vacant properties and inventory of space – this became the focus
?
Identify all vacant space – city, provincial, private
?
The Hub is looking for space – we need to get involved in the discussion
to understand how we can help either temporary or long term to help
th
provide focus and assistance – would the 10 floor of City Hall be used
Talent
?
How do we use things like special events to encourage talent to be
interested in staying here
?
There is already programming on the streets so we looked at that and
asked how to link that with the young people we want to attract
?
We need to find out what is already in place
?
Create an app that you could allow people to know what is going on –
taking what is already here and saying lets try to find another way to
communicate with folks
?
University kids that do not get downtown – how do we do that? Would it
be a free bus service to the market on Saturday’s that includes
entertainment
?
Making these students feel they are actually part of the community is
going to be important in keeping them here
Cluster Development
No update available
On motion, the meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm