HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDC 2018-05-02 minutes.pdfCity of Maple Ridge
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Economic Development Committee, held in the
Bridges Boardroom, Economic Development Office, Maple Ridge on Wednesday,
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
Josef Lara, Chair
Tom Meier
Chrislana Gregory
Councillor Robson
May 2, 2018, at 5:00 pm.
Community at Large
Community at Large
Community at Large
City of Maple Ridge
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT
Lino Siracusa
Bruce Livingstone
Karen Hansen
Staff Liaison/ Manager, Economic Development
Business Retention and Expansion Officer
Administrative Assistant, Economic Development
REGRETS
Oliver Perez
Alex Wells
1. AGENDA ADOPTION
R18-005
It was moved and seconded
Community at Large
Community at Large
That the Agenda of May 2, 2018 be adopted
2. MINUTE ADOPTION
R18-006
It was moved and seconded
That the Minutes of February 28, 2018 be adopted.
3. ONGOING AND NEW BUSINESS
3.1 Review of 2018 Innovation in Emerging Cities forum
CARRIED
CARRIED
A video with excerpts from the forum was played for the committee. It will be made
available through the City web site once it's finalized. On the whole, the committee
felt the panels were well received, the keynote was fun and it was good to have
Amazon speak as a high profile company. It was felt that the forum seemed a bit
compressed this year so the smaller events could be built upon for 2019.
3.2 Follow-up items from the 2018 Innovation in Emerging Cities forum
3.2.1 Formation of Innovation Forum Task Force for 2019 event.
A new task force will be launched with the specific task of organizing the 2019
event. It would be beneficial to work with School District 42 and Meadowridge
EDC Minutes
May 2, 2018
Page 2 of3
School to encourage participation from local students. The Code-a-thon will need
to be organized differently. This new task for force would report directly back to the
EDC.
3.2.2 Meeting with Ministry of Advanced Education
Mr. Siracusa, along with Mr. Gill, Acting CAO, met with the Minister of Advanced
Education in Victoria. The intention is to start the dialogue which may lead to
eventually bringing post-secondary education to Maple Ridge.
3.2.3 Mayor's Business Walk: Brikers
Mr. Livingstone organized and attended a tour of a new business to Maple Ridge
called Brikers. This company, located in the Kanaka Business Park, expects to
triple their work force in 5-10 years. There is some difficulty with hiring skilled
staff.
4. UPDATES AND OTHER BUSINESS
4.1 Tourism Strategy
The Tourism Strategy was brought to council on April 24 and was approved.
4.1.1 Tourism Advisory Committee
Mr. Siracusa reported that the first draft of the Tourism Advisory Committee bylaw
and terms of reference were presented to council on April 24. Once the bylaw is
closer to its final reading, an Expression of Interest for local tourism stakeholders
will be forthcoming.
4.1.2 Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT)
The MRDT is not currently supported by our local hoteliers. There may be further
attempts to introduce the MRDT in the future.
4.2 Economic Development Department Updates
4.2.1 Strategic Property Management
Mr. Siracusa will be managing city owned property as part of his portfolio. The
current Property and Risk Manager for the city will be reporting to Mr. Siracusa but
the risk management portion of the job will remain in the Clerk's Department.
4.2.2 Core Security
An additional area of responsibility for Mr. Siracusa will be downtown core security.
This involves coordinating security for all the different city owned buildings and
locations in the core area of Maple Ridge.
4.2.3 Tourism Position
The Economic Development office will be retaining a tourism coordinator for two
days per week.
-j
EDC Minutes
May 2, 2018
Page 3 of3
4.3 Home Based Business Task Force
The task force has completed their task of updating the new home based business
bylaw and had a wrap up party. It was suggested that there be a review of the
results including statistics of this by-law on an annual basis.
4.4 Support lobby to attract doctors
A group of doctors made a presentation to council on May 1, 2018 asking for the
city to lobby for new doctors to come to Maple Ridge. The doctors have been
working on this initiative for a long time and want to pass it along for further work.
It wasn't clear whether this should be considered a city initiative but some
members of the EDC would like to meet with the doctors, together with and the
Chamber of Commerce, to see if there is a way to support this issue.
5. Additional comments
Members of the EDC want to discuss the topics they will be working on over the next
year. This will be added as an agenda item at the next meeting.
It was suggested that new chairs were needed for the different task forces.
6. ~ Meeting, Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Chair, Josef Lara
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