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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 07-26 EDAM MINU"I'LS OF THE PROCELDINGS O1� THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THF, COUNTY OF HENNEPIN ANI� THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REUULAR SESSION JULY 26, 2021 VIA ZOOM l. CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Economic Development Authority (EDA) met in Regular Session called to order by President Mike Elliott at 9:1 1 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL President Mike Elliott and Commissioners Marquita Butler, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, and Dan Ryan. Commissioner April Graves was excused. Also present were Executive Director Reggie Edwards, Economic Development Coordinator Vong Thao, Community Development Director Meg Beekman, City Attorney Troy Gilchrist, and City Clerk Barb Suciu. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSF.NT AGENDA Commissioner Ryan moved and Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson seconded to approve the Agenda and Consent Agenda, and the following item was approved: 3a. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. July 12, 2021 —Regular Session 3b. EDA RESOLUTION NO. 2021-12 APPROVING THE CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION OF PROJECT (SONDER POINT) 3c. EDA RESOLUTION NO. 2021-13 APPROVING A RIGHT OF ENTRY AGREEMENT WITH LENNIE CHISM FOR USE OF 6100 SHINGLF. CREEK PARWKAY (FORMER TARGET SITE) Motion passed unanimously. 4. COMMISSION CONSIDFRATION ITEMS 4a. EDA RESOLUTION NO. 2021-14 AUTHORIZING A BROOKLYN CENTER 'i MICRO-LOAN PROGRAM I Dr. Edwards introduced the item and invited Mr. Thao to present the staff report. 07/26/21 -1- Economic Development Coordinator Vong Thao provided a YowerPoint presentation on the Brooklyn Center Micro Loan Program. He explained the 2021 EDA budget identified$50,000 for a micro-loan program for small businesses, particularly BIPOC-owned businesses, who have a hard time accessing capital. 1'he program is flexible in the uses of the funds to help businesses get back on their feet post-COVID and civil unrest. The City noticed it is a tough time for banks to finance businesses that have a not-so-strong cash flow so help is needed due to inventory and operational expenses that businesses may incur. Mr. Thao explained that the Liberian Business Association (LIBA) will charge a 10% administrative fee on the fund and an additional 6% spread to the sub-borrowers on loans to cover management costs. LIBA is a non-profit group in Brooklyn Center that supports a lot of small businesses and plays a big role in helping them. Mr. "l�hao stated the purpose of this program is to access capital for non-traditional borrowers who cannot get a loan through a bank. This will increase I3rooklyn Center's small business' tinancial acumen and readiness for traditional financing in the future from traditional financial institutions. LIBA is looking to borrow $100,000 from the City of Brooklyn Center with a 0°/o interest and 24- month term. The loans would be from a$1,000 minimum to a$5,000 maximum to sub-borrowers. Mr. Thao reviewed eligibilities are an annual revenue of less than $250,000, the business must be located in the City of Brooklyn Center, and they must take LIBA's financial education class. This will help small businesses be bank ready in the future. Eligible uses will be for inventory acquisition, purchase of goods, advertising and marketing branding, financial management tools such as QuickF3ooks, helping with credit repair, payment of accountant and booklceeping services, and access to capital preparation. The goal is to make these funds easily accessible. Mr. Thao stated the approval process involves review of the application by the LIBA to assure they are complete and decide whether the business is eligible to move forward in the application process. He noted the action requested of the EDA is to approve LIBA for $100,000 to be used in the Micro-Loan Program. "I�his program will be structured in accordance with the provisions contained in the proposal from LIBA that was presented to the EDA. EDA staff will be authorized and make modifications to the loan program that do not materially alter the substance of the loan program as presented to the EDA. He stated EDA staff will closely monitor the funds and assure LIBA runs a successful program and will assist where needed. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson asked if the EDA is offering a total of$100,000 made up of individual loans of up to $5,000 and through repayment, the money will return to the EDA for general use. Mr. Thao stated the$100,000 would be borrowed to I_,IBA and those funds will return in the form of monthly payments back to the EDA. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson asked who exactly the loan would be made to and how does the EDA know it will be repaid. Mr. Thao stated the loan would be made to LIBA and their sub- borrowers would be the borrowers from LIBA. There will be a loan agreement in place and City staff will closely monitor this program as well to make sure it is successful. 07/26/21 -2- Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson noted LIBA would be charging 10% to oversee the program plus an additional 6% on loans to cover the costs of managing payments. She stated the EDA would be charging 0% interest and asked to whom would LIBA be charging the 16°/o interest. Mr. Thao explained that 10% is what LIBA would take off the top of the $100,000 to provide one-on- one business education with business owners; that is their administrative fee. LIBA will make 6% off the sub-borrowers that will borrow from them to cover portfolio management time. Community Development Director Meg Beekman explained,from a context standpoint,that a year ago, when all were going through the pandemic, the City received CARES dollars from the federal government that were utilized to support residents and businesses that were suffering from the effects of the pandemic and economic fallout that came along with it. The City, at that time, contracted with a number of agencies such as Patio Consulting, ACER, and LIBA. Each of the programs was designed a little differently but geared to support small businesses in impactful and specific ways. LIBA designed a program at that time to take 30 businesses, provide technical assistance training classes,provide a laptop computer, QuickBooks and other software to run their business, and training in the software. When the business owners completed the training, they ' received a$1,200 grant to use towards operating their business. This program was designed to fill , the need around a specific gap of small businesses that were struggling to pivot their business � model to on-line or more of a post-COVID reality. These small businesses may not have had that �I technical knowhow or equipment. '', Ms. Beekman reported that program was very successful and 30 businesses completed that program. In talking with LIBA, City staff recognized the continuing gap for small businesses to receive additional private lending and access to capital, which is critical now as businesses are reopening. It is difficult far small businesses, particularly migrant owned, that may not have a credit history or be bank ready. What happens is that these small businesses have to rely on family and friends to borrow money, fall prey to predatory lending, or they don't get access to the capital they need. In recognizing that need, staff carved out with LIBA this particular program as a jumping off point to the program of last year. She noted it has a similar concept with 25-30 businesses being identified in need of working capital and becoming bank ready. They would be put through this mentoring program, report out to credit agencies as they are repaying their loan, and once the loan is paid off, the business will be ready to have access to traditional lending from a private bank. Ms. Beekman stated Mi•. Thao has done a terrific job of connection with Old National Bank who is interested in this program and participating on the underwriting committee to get to know these businesses, build a relationship, and provide technical assistance throughout the process. She stated she is particularly proud of this program that Mr. Thao has designed with LIBA. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson asked how many Brooklyn Center entrepreneurial businesses will be assisted with the $100,000. Ms. Beekman estimated 20 to 30 depending on the loan amounts. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson asked if LIBA will charge loan recipients 10% and 6%. Mr. Thao corrected that LIBA will charge the loan recipients 6% and the 10% will come off the 07/26/21 -3- $100,000, meaning this program will cost the City $10,000. He felt it was a phenomenal program '�� to provide 25-30 businesses with needed technical assistance and capital. ' Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated she supports the program and asked if there is any risk � to the City if there is a default fTom one of the loan recipients. Mr. Thao stated LIBA is ', guaranteeing on the loan. I Commissioner Ryan stated Ms. Beekman and Mr. Thao did a good job outlining the program. I Ic , noted there is certainly some risk to the City as there may be some borrowers who are not able to ��, perform. But that is a kind of risk he thinks the City wants our values directives to go in; then you � have to accept some of that risk. He stated if venturing a great deal more of the City's money ' unsupported, then he would have questions but he thinks the scale and design of this program is appropriate. President Elliott stated it was mentioned LIBA would guarantee to pay back the loan. Mr. Thao answered in the affirmative and explained it would be a loan to the organization. President Llliott asked about the terms of the City monitoring thc loan and lending and if the City is involved in the underwriting process. Mr. Thao stated the City would review the underwriting process and provide guidance, where necessary, to assure the program is run successfully. LIBA would have the underwriting criteria and the City will receive a quarterly report from LIBA on the number of businesses that were funded and received technical assistance through that program. Yresident Elliott referred to the question of Comrnissioner Lawrence-Anderson related to the rates. �, I Ie stated the City is lending the money at 0% to LIBA and the micro loans will have a rate of 6%. He asked how that rate was determined. Mr. Thao stated the 6% was a proposal that LIBA provided and staff felt 6% was favorable in comparison to what non-profit organizations and lending institutions are charging. In addition,when you look at giving out a$1,000 to $S,OOO loan, ', a 6% interest rate is not much to pay when it includes receiving one-on-one technical assistance. President Elliott stated the loans at$5,000 are not huge and he thinks the rates the Small Business Administration (SBA) lends starts at 3.75% or 3% and then it goes up and the average business loan is between 3% and 7%. He is wondering whether 6% is too high of a lending rate for presumably businesses that are already at risk. Mr. Beekman stated that is a fair point about the interest rate, noting the average loan amount at the SBA or other business loans are much higher than $5,000 and this recognizes there is a cost to administer the repayment of those loans which is not always an easy or small task. She noted the City has housing rehabilitation loans and the company that services those loans on behalf of the City charges a flat fee per loan from $500 to $1,000, depending on the size of the loan. She stated to extract that kind of fee on a $5,000 loan is not feasible so staff was seeking a middle ground to cover the administrative cost of administering the loans and not be overly burdensome to the business owners. � Commissioner Ryan stated a couple factors to consider are that first of all, these are unsecured ��� loans to people who are just starting out and have limited assets so a number of the loans will not � 07/26/21 4 I � perforni. He noted if a business gets $1,000, at 6% it is a $60 charge per annum. Mr. Thao stated that is correct. Commissioner Ryan stated on a $5,000 loan, at 6% it is a $300 charge per annum. He stated let's not forget that the interest rate people pay on loans is always factored against the rate of default in a given loan category and set of borrowers. While he would like to just give people the money, that is not feasible and as there are costs to administer the loan and audit the program, he felt 6% was entirely reasonable. In addition, banks don't like to loan to people just starting out and expect people to get started on their own by whatever means. Banks like to loan to businesses that are up and running and the EDA needs to consider those factors. Mr. Thao stated the long-term strategy of this program is that if 25-30 businesses can be helped to understand how the process works to borrow money. Then, in the future when they go to traditional institutions, they will be more financially prepared to answer questions the banks may have. He stated that would be a success for businesses in F3rooklyn Center. President Elliott stated he hopes the City will continue to do these types of programs and monitor the effectiveness. He asked what is the staff plan for understanding, from the micro-loan recipients,the impact of the program,design of the program,and its eff-ectiveness. Mr. Thao stated staff will monitor that closely and at a minimum, if 20-30 loans are given out, it would be 20-30 Brooklyn Center businesses that receive business technical assistance. At a minimum,that will be what the City gets as the outcome. President Elliott stated he would like the City to have a focus group of people who have received the loans and to understand from them about the effectiveness of the program. Mr. Thao stated staff could factor that in with the LIBA loan,to do a pre- and post-loan survey of borrowers, which would help us understand the changed difference of small business owners from the beginning of the loan to the end of the loan. President Elliott stated he supports this program but would like the EDA action to include, as a condition, language around having that pre- and post-loan feedback. President Elliott moved and Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson seconded to adopt F,DA RESOLUTION NO. 2021-14 Authorizing a Brooklyn Center Micro-Loan Program, as amended to require a pre-and post-loan survey from borrowers relating to the effectiveness of this program. , Motion passed unanimously. ' 5. ADJOURNMENT � Commissioner Ryan moved and Commissioner Butler seconded adjournment of the Economic ��I Development Authority meeting at 9:42 p.m. �� Motion passed unanimously. I 07/26/21 -5- SZ'A"I'E OF MINNESOTA) COUNTY OF HENNF,PIN) ss. Certification of Minutes CI"I�Y O}� BROOKLYN CENTER) 1'he undersigned, being the duly qualified and appointed Secretary of thc 1?conomic Development Authority (EDA) of the City of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, certifies: 1. That attached hereto is a f'ull, true, and complete transcript of the minutes of�a Regular Session of the Economic Development Authority (E;DA) of the City of Brooklyn Center held on July 26, 2021. 2. That said meeting was 11e1d pursuant to due call and notice thereof and was d�ily held at Brooklyn Center City Hall. 3. That the I?conomic Development Authority (EDA) adopted said minutes at its September 13, 2021, Regular Session. � _ � ` . Secretary President 07/26/21 -6-