Image by Guy Harvey

The Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association (FEA), Fairfield Economic Development Association (FEDA) and Fairfield First announced the 2010 Local Economy Stimulus program, including a new micro-enterprise loan and access to equity capital, at the third annual Local Economy Summit held on Saturday, February 13 at Fairfield Public Library and attended by 50 people.

The Community Vitality Center recently awarded a $10,000 matching grant to Pathfinders Resource and Conservation District, FEA, Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa, and the Sustainable Living Coalition. The grant will be used to provide micro-enterprise loans for local food and energy-savings entrepreneurs in Southeast Iowa, as well as technical assistance and consulting services for those companies.

Elisabet Humble, local food coordinator for Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa, and John Dey, one of the owners of Everybody’s, said market demand was strong for more local food production. Dey suggested adding additional greenhouses in Fairfield to supply the local market.

Part of the CVC grant will be used to complete a feasibility study for a solar-heater hot water revolving loan fund for residents in Fairfield. According, to Lonnie Gamble, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Living at MUM, hot water uses 25% of the energy in an average home.

Dave Neff from Iowa State Bank said that plans are in the works for local bankers to provide renewable energy home improvement loans similar to the Fairfield Revitalization loan program. Neff also stated that Iowa State Bank was encouraging companies to take advantage of SBA loan financing this year because the loan guarantee is 90% with no loan fees for applications submitted prior to September 2010.

Burt Chojnowski reported that he was able to help secure a $6 million investment in a $75 million regional capital fund that will be actively seeking investments in Fairfield-based information technology, web-based, software, and specialty food businesses.

Brett Willett, Vice President of FEDA, reported that he and his staff have been working with Fairfield’s top 40 employers to nurture and support retention and expansion of jobs and training within Fairfield’s existing workforce.

Fairfield’s business sector is expected to see a 20% energy savings this year, according to Fairfield’s Green Business Council President, Ken Ross, CEO of Global ID. The Green Business Council includes manufacturers, office building owners, and non-profit building owners. The group has developed a game plan to audit and apply best technology and conservation practices to save money for local businesses.

Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenues have increased annually by 40% since 2001, according to Mayor Ed Malloy. He said the increase was due to the revitalization of Fairfield’s downtown retail economy due to Buy Local campaigns, the Revitalization Loan Program, Fairfield Art Walk, and Fairfield Arts and Convention Center (FACC). When asked it the May 4th election to use 12.5% of the LOST revenues to purchase the FACC would take away from other needed programs, Mayor Malloy said that these funds are discretionary and are not currently allocated for any other use. He also said that the expected purchase price of $1.15 million would be a way to protect the city’s previous investment of $1.6 million. Burt Chojnowski added that the $2.75 million total investment by the city was much less than the $8 million value of the property. Bob Ferguson, in charge of the fund-raising committee for FACC, said they have launched a 300 for $100 program to provide ongoing operational support and sustainability for FACC—and that a new initiative to secure 300 individuals or business pledges of $100 per month was underway.

FEA announced the publication of the 2010 Fairfield Business Review that will include the Fairfield entrepreneurial story and profiles of area businesses. The last Fairfield Business Review was published in 1980, and the 2010 edition will be available in print and online. The benefit for local businesses is to help tell their stories, increase customers, attract employees, and improve Internet search engine placement. Mario Van Dijk, FEA President, also announced a six-month mentoring program in marketing and social media to be led by Mark Cohen of Colloquy beginning in February.

Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk Executive Director Jeananne Robins submitted her resignation Monday, citing conflict with the event’s exectuive board of directors.  Robins said the board undermined her ability to perform her roles as the director of the Art Walk.  She likened the situation to too many head chefs in a kitchen. “It’s not fair to the city and the art walk to hire and executive director and have her only do the job of an executive assistant,” Robins said.

“The Art Walk board of directors has accepted the resignation of Jeananne and wishes her well in her future endeavors.  Her leaving is unfortunate yet was inevitable,” said a statement from Terry Baker, president of the board.  “The board is considering its options and formulating a plan that ensures the continuity and success of the Art Walk.  I am very confident in the Art Walk board.  They are a dedicated team and have been committed to working toward the Art Walk’s continued success for many years now,” added Baker.

Robins, who was hired in August, is the third Art Walk director since Cathy Wadsworth was hired as the event’s first professional director in August 2007.  Funding for Wadsworth’s position came from a matching Iowa Community Culture Grant given by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.  Amy Kettenburg and JoBeth Lewer also filled the Art Walk position prior to Robins’ hiring last August.

by Phyllis Khare

During the current fiscal year, the position was funded by $35,000 from Fairfield’s Local Options Sales Tax community betterment fund — that money also went to advertising and event expenses.  Prior to 2007, the event was run entirely by volunteers — a circumstance that Robins believes has contributed to the present state.

“The past board of directors had to act as executive directors.  It’s been hard for them to reverse that level of service, ” Robins said.  Her issues are with the few members of the executive board, who have individually countered her authority while serving on various committees. Robins acknowledged the board’s authority over her when acting as a single entity.  As the Art Walk’s executive director, Robins also felt she was kept out of the loop on too many details.  She cited and upcoming Art Walk that has been almost entirely organized by a board member as an example.

“This is not a club.  We need to sustain ourselves, The way to do that is to implement systems and run the event like a business,” Robins said.

“I don’t know what the solution is at this point.  I love the Art Walk, ” she said, “I just want to see the Art Walk survive, and I don’t think it can the way it is run right now.”

Baker was confident the Art Walk board would handle the matter and ensure the event’s future success. “As many of you can imagine, running an event every month of the year requires special skills and stanima, and I am very proud of this board for its flexibiulity and focus towerd the Art Walk’s continutity,” said Baker.

The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors decided 2-1 against allowing county residents to vote on whether a reallocation of Local Option Sales Tax revenues should be made to fund the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center. Supervisor Dick Reed stood alone in his support for putting the issue to the ballot this May, a vote which would coincide with the City of Fairfield’s upcoming vote on a reallocation of the City’s LOST funds  (a measure approved by the Fairfield City Council this past Monday, January 11th).

Supervisors Dimmitt and Bergmeier voted against putting the issue to the voters. Dimmitt questioned whether the FACC is a viable building or business. He doubts the center will be able to secure enough donations to cover the $160,000 gap between revenue and expenditures projected for the 2010 budget. “It says to me that if we enter into this public-private relationship, that even though we’ve been told we can evict, and we know realistically that that’s not going to happen, so that means that we will continue, from my estimation, to subsidize it from here into perpetuity. I don’t think it’s a viable solution.”

The issue can still be forced to a public vote in one of two ways: either the FACC can collect a petition of at least 400 signatures from County Residents requesting the issue put to a vote, or the City of Fairfield can force the County to put the issue on the ballot since 51% of the county’s population lives within city limits.

The FACC Board of Directors has their work cut out for them. They now have to spend more time forcing the issue to the ballot in the County, and give more time to a contingency plan in the event the County’s portion funding is never realized.

[UPDATE: the County Board of Supervisors voted no to have a public vote on whether to fund the FACC with LOST revenues]
The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing Thursday evening on whether or not the county should hold an election to support the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center (FACC) with a portion of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).   A standing room only crowd filled nearly 200 chairs and then lined the sides and back of room.   Thirty two citizens expressed opinions that varied widely from the thoughtful to the absurd during the 2 1/4 hour public hearing at the fairgrounds.

The meeting started with each supervisor giving some background on the issue, then Pat McMahon and Dave Neff spoke on behalf of the FACC.  Then a steady flow of citizens started to approach the microphone, some didn’t necessarily like the idea of having any change in the LOST allocation, but did support the process of letting the people express themselves at the ballot box.

The current allocation for the county portion of the LOST funds is 80% for property tax relief and 20% for bridge and culvert repair.  According to the supervisors, the current property tax relief that could be put toward the FACC, should a vote be held and it passed, is $6 per $100,000 of  valuation.  In other words, a county resident with a property valued at $500,000 would lose $30 of tax relief per year, however, many speakers were not interested in having any of their money going toward the center.

One speaker was not interested in holding an election because they didn’t want the county to incur the cost. Bob Moore of the FACC board responded that they have the money raised to cover the election cost for both the city and county, they will make a donation of that amount to each entity.

Jim Salts spoke in favor of the center and the vote saying, “if we don’t look forward and make the community attractive, our young people will have no reason to return and live here after college.”

A ’show of hands’ vote near the end of the meeting indicated that the majority of citizens in attendance were not in favor of putting the issue to a vote, nearly half of the speakers indicated a desire to put the question to a vote.

The Board will vote on holding the election during their regular meeting Monday @ 9:00, an estimated 4500 residents in the unincorporated areas of the county would be eligible to vote in the proposed election.

Facts and information about the plan to save the FACC can be found at http://www.fairfieldcenterinfo.com/

Bob Moore, President of the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center Board, spoke to the Fairfield City Council Monday evening.  Mr. Moore reviewed the center’s revised business plan and some of the center’s highlights from 2009.

Some of the highlights include;

• 262 Events in the Sondheim theater
• 325 Meetings and expos
• Nearly 14,000 out of town visitors
• $5 Million of spending influx from those visitors

Even with all the good news, the center is still  unable to fund the debt, or the annual operating expenses.  The board has a two-part fund raising plan, one to retire the $950,000 non-mortgage debt, and one to supplement operating revenues estimated at $306,000 for 2010.  The plan is to approach past donors first, those donors generously gave $400,000 to the center last year.  Mr. Moore stated that the next 3-4 months will determine the future of the FACC.

The FACC has been appraised at $1.75 million as an operating facility, this figure fits favorably with the amount hoped to be reallocated from city and county Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds.  As required by the USDA, the mortgage guarantor, the FACC building is currently for sale, however no interested buyers have yet surfaced and the FACC board has little confidence that one will appear.

In an effort to keep the refinancing process moving forward, Mr. Moore asked that the Council schedule a public hearing for the first meeting in January.  This would be the first step in the process of getting the LOST reallocation to a public vote.  The Council voted unanimously to hold the public hearing January 11, 2010.  It was suggested that consideration be given to holding the meeting somewhere other than City Hall in order to accommodate the large crowd that it will undoubtedly attract.

So, the question is; should the city & county reallocate LOST revenue to the FACC?

UPDATE: click here to download the FACC Business Plan.