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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBusiness & Ind - 1997-09-10BIAC\1997-09-10 BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1997 PRESENT: Carl Zehi' (Chair), L inda Kieswetter, Councillor Tom Galloway, John Tibbits, Peter Cook, Mike Hisco~ Jeff Morris, Pauline Houston and Valerie Gibaut RECORDER: Sandy Curzon 1. Team Kitchener L Kieswetter was asked to give Committee an update on the Team Kitchener report which was presented to City Council on August 18t]~ Council asked that a stemqng committee be established, headed by the Chief Administrator to take the recommendations as outlined in the report~ It was noted that there was no representation on the sub committee by an individual with economic development expertise. a) Minutes of August 13, 1997 Minutes of Ap~ql 13, 1997 were approved and adopted b) Business Arising from Minutes With respect to Skills Shortage, P. Cook indicated that the skills shortages are far wider than can be imagine& Apprentice are getting their skills from night school instead of the regular school progra~ Some industries have ah'eady indicated that because of the lack of skills in our community, they may have to move their company elsewhere. The point made k that if you provide the skilled labour, business will come. V. Gibaut had recently made a visit to Research in Motion who indicated that they will be doubling in size in the future and fully intend to training in-house because their requirements are not being met~ Ih'. Tibbits indicated that it k important for the City to focus on working with other surrounding municipalitie~ With respect to Team Kitchener Report~ more specifically Part 9, 9.6, Cl~ should take all efforts to increase the skilled labour force by:. second bullet: o facilitating partum~hips between univm~ities, municipalities and businesses to increase the skilled labour force and intellectual capital fourth bullet: o supporting the efforts of Conestoga College to be the permanent home of the Ontario office of 'Skills Canada' BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE - MINUTES Ih'. Tibbits indicated that the decision will be made by September 15th, 1997. Committee agreed to endorse item 9.6 as well as efforts taken by Conestoga College and change bullet #9 to include all educator~ Moved by Mike Hiscott Second by Peter Cook Carrieck Discussion followed that emphasized that 90% of grade nine students fully intend to go to University and that it k the parents who are misguided when it comes to skilled labour. School guidance counsellors are not aware of the activities of local businesse~ Students and parents need to be educated to all options with respect to post secondary educatio~ Other Business a) Continuous Improvement l:q'ogram City Council has approved in principle the implementation of a 'One-Stop-Shopping' centre, located in City to Hall to provide the necessary applications and/or approvals for businesse~ The process has become a priority especially for the small business perso~ An independent survey recently published gave IGtchener a low mark in the approval process areo~ Various concerns have yet to be adch'essed such as location, ownership, staffing, etc. It is Council's intention that this centre will be up and running by Ap~4l 1998. A staff sub-committee has been formed and will report to Council by October 31st~ b) Business Taxes Pauline Houston, I)h'ector of Budgets gave committee an overview of the current level on taxation and the effects on businesse~ Business tax k to be eliminated in 1998 meaning that the level on business will be via property ta~x~ The PI'ovince has decided to change the way that property k assessed by providing factor ranges which will be set by the Regiom The business tax will be based on a percentage of real estate property, a dilTerent percentage for dilTerent type of business ie. service vs industry. ~V[~ Houston indicated that the preliminary budget k set at 147o increase of which 5-67O k due to downloading by the province. BIAC decided that since business Economic Development Division September 10, 1997. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE - MINUTES isn't being affected, no action be take~ Economic Development Activities a) Marketing Plan 1998 V. Gibaut reviewed a Marketing Hah prepared by Will~qd Laurier University. It was determined that at this time there was no specific area of the marketing plan that needed BIAC immediate attention or recommendatio~ b) Call Centre V. Gibaut summarized report she gave to Council which indicates that IGtchener may have theh' own call centre headed by Peter Berczi who initially worked with staff in setting up a centre in IGtchener. ~Vh~ Gibaut will keep committee intbrmed of the progres~ c) Offer to Purchase An offer to lease two sites in Huron Business Park will go to PED on September 22nck It is recommended that the cost of leasing these sites for a two year term will be deposited to the purchase price. There was some concern of having prime sites off the market for this period, however, Committee felt that providing there was a sLxty day escape clause there was nothing to lose by endorsing staff's recommendatiom The potential revenue was 'better than nothing'. Huron Woods There is a meeting arranged between the City Sohcitor, Chief Administrator and Economic Development staff to review the land option proposed by Huron Woods Development~ V. Gibaut will report the findings at a future meeting. Meeting adjourned at l:10pm Economic Development Division September 10, 1997. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE - MINUTES Next Meeting: Wednesday, November lQ, 1997 11:00 am - 1:00 pm City of Kitchener, Human Resources Training Room City Hall, ~nd Floor Economic Development Division September 10, 1997.