A memo relative to this issue was included in the packet. Mr. Casey summarized |
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the proposal for those Board members who were not at the last meeting. The |
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City Administration would like to shift 50% of the salary and benefits of the |
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Economic Development Manager, who also manages the Board’s activities, to |
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the LDFA Budget. As Mr. Casey is the chief administrator of the Rochester Hills |
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LDFA, it would be reasonable for the LDFA to fund 50% of his wages and |
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benefits. Since the Board’s inception, the City has managed its activities with no |
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charge to the LDFA. The law does allow the LDFA to hire an executive |
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director. The net result would be that the City would still be funding Mr. |
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Casey’s entire wage and salary, only 50% of it would not be coming from the |
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General Fund. The comment was made at the last meeting that the City was |
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shifting its financial burdens over time to the LDFA. Mr. Casey counters that |
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with the comment - the LDFA should have been funding this work all along, and |
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it was the City’s choice not to do this in the past. It is clearly an LDFA |
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responsibility. It was suggested that a contract be written up clearly stating that |
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50% of the executive director’s will be paid through the LDFA and list the |
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reasons why. The question was asked if some of the salary and benefits could be |
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charged against the SmartZone. Mr. Casey explained that the law does allow |
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the SmartZone to have an executive director, and in this case, Mr. David |
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Spencer at OU is the director. Mr. Casey commented that the SmartZone’s |
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revenue is going to significantly increase over time, whereas the LDFA’s |
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revenue is going to remain flat because the area is almost built out. After a |
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short discussion, the consensus is that the Board has no objections to this |
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proposal, and requested a resolution be brought to the next meeting. A draft |
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contract/agreement was also requested identifying what services the City will be |
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providing and stating that the funding by the LDFA of the executive director’s |
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position is expected to fully compensate for all of the City’s participation. This |
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contract will be discussed at a future meeting. |
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