HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-08-19 Approved MinutesMINUTES 8-19-09
Minutes of the Economic Development Committee held at the City Council Chambers, City of
Newport Beach, on Wednesday, August 19, 2009.
Members Present:
E
Mike Henn, Chairman
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CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
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Jennifer Gonzalez
MINUTES 8-19-09
Minutes of the Economic Development Committee held at the City Council Chambers, City of
Newport Beach, on Wednesday, August 19, 2009.
Members Present:
E
Mike Henn, Chairman
E
Sheri Drewry
X
Keith Curry, Council Member
E
Jennifer Gonzalez
E
Steve Rosansky, Council Member
X
John Hyatt
X
Robert Hawkins, Planning Commissioner
E
Lloyd Ikerd
X
Mike McNamara, Vice Chairman
X
Brion Jeannette
A
Fred Ameri
E
Debra Legan
X
Craig Batley
X
Richard Luehrs
X
Seymour Beek
E
Scott Palmer
E
Jeffrey Cole
X
John Robinson
E
Steven Coyne
X
Gregg Schwenk
E
Gary DiSano
E
Gary Sherwin
X
Jim Donnell
E
Gay Wassail -Kelly
X
Kenneth Drellishak
Staff Representatives:
X
Sharon Wood, Assistant City Manager
X
Tara Finnigan, Public Information Manager
X
Leigh De Santis, Economic Development
Administrator
X
Katie Bowden, Economic Development
Coordinator
Guests Present:
Roy Freeman Jack Donnell
Roll Call and Introductions:
Vice Chairman McNamara called the meeting to order at 8:02 am and began self -
introductions of the assembled members, staff and guests.
EDC MINUTES 8-15-09 amended.doc
UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff was appointed by Council to become the new City
Manager upon Homer Bludau's retirement.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. Minutes of July 15, 2009.
Vice Chairman McNamara called for comments on the draft minutes. Greg Schwenk
moved approval and Craig Batley seconded. The minutes were approved.
2. Presentation by Tara Finnigan, Public Information Manager, on the City's new
website.
July 24, 2009 the City went live with a newly redesigned and relocated website. The
City's new web address is newportbeachca.gov The .gov extension comes with
certain specific criteria, one of which is that "ca" must be used in the address. Staff
email addresses will now be first initial, last name@newportbeachca.gov.
The need to update the website was highlighted in the customer service surveys done
by the City in 2007. The goal of the redesign was to provide an easier to navigate and
more intuitive to use service for residents, business, and visitors. The new site allows
for multiple pathways for reaching information. It also standardized departmental
pages for a uniform look throughout the site. Staff worked with the consulting firm
Vision Internet during development. The site now has approximately 1,100 pages and
growing. In addition, the search function has been strengthened and should make
specific queries easier. All but two services are fully integrated into the new site.
Alchemy and the FAQs section link to separate external pages. After the format was
established, each department was offered the opportunity to redesign its section.
3. Presentation by Katie Bowden, Economic Development Coordinator, on the new
CDBG Website pages.
Previously it was difficult to locate CDBG information on the Economic Development
page. Most interested parties know to look under the Planning for CDBG, but not
necessarily under Economic Development. In keeping with new Federal emphasis on
ease of access, CDBG is now listed as a separate heading under Planning. Further, it
has been broken into several pages for quicker access to specific information. The
first pages talks about the program in general. The second page allows you to access
all the principal documents of the Newport Beach program. The third page is for
Notices of Funding Availability.
The City is starting the process of developing its next five- year Consolidated Plan for
2010-2014. The first public meeting will be August 26, 2009. The website has let us
post that information on the City's home page and the Planning Department main page
as both News and Events, and as a flashing alert on the CDBG pages.
EDC MINUTES 8-15-09 amended.doc
4. Presentation by Leigh M. De Santis, Economic Development Administrator, on
the new Economic Development Website pages.
The former Economic Development page has also been broken down into more user-
friendly and specific topic pages. The first page covers the City's Economic
Development Policy, the Strategic Plan to implement policy, staff's role and links to
other economic development groups in the City such as the Chambers of Commerce.
The second page is the EDC. The third page contains ED staff contact information.
The fourth page is a short piece on the Newport Beach Business Climate with links to
demographics, top ten private employees, a business license search function, and
links major city -sponsored public events of an economic development nature. The fifth
page offers site selection services for finding a business location in Newport Beach.
The sixth page contains the Commercial Village Parking Studies, which will remain
until that project is completed. The section ends with a separate page for each of the
City's five Business Improvement Districts. Those pages link to each BID's webpage.
The Clearinghouse sub -committee was responsible for the separate Site Assistance
page and adding the link to Business License Search. They also recommended that
we try out the CALED developed "Tools for Business Success" program, which will be
an added feature in the near future.
In discussions following the presentation, it was noticed that Taste of Newport was
missing from the linked events. Staff will add a link for this event.
5. EQAC Representative's Report
EQAC will be reviewing three projects over the next several months — Megonigal
residence, the new City Hall, Park and Library Improvements, and Sunset Ridge Park.
ITEMS FOR A FUTURE AGENDA
September - Film Festival Wrap-up by Greg Schwenk
October - Budget/Revenue Update by Dennis Danner
Suggested topic - Status Update on Traffic Improvements
PUBLIC COMMENTS
• The Port Restaurant's application for extended hours and entertainment will be before
the Planning Commission tomorrow. Mr. Hawkins suggested interested members
members to come support the Port Restaurant application. He also suggested that
applications like that of the Port Restaurant should perhaps come to the EDC for
consideration.
ADJOURNMENT
Vice Chairman McNamara called for the meeting to be adjourned at 8:55 am.
EDC MINUTES 8-15-09 amended.doc