COMIDA Meeting March 26, 2024

• Emerald Point Developers LLC for an expansion of Advantech manufacturing facilities at 3841 Buffalo Road in Ogden.
• Sibley Redevelopment II LP for the renovation of an existing facility at 260 East Main Street in Rochester for professional office and existing tenant space.  

• O’Connell Electric, Inc. for an increase in projects costs due to the acquisition of new trucks to support their facility in Henrietta. 
• Gallina Elmgrove, LLC for an increase in project costs for their project in Gates.
• Lemcke Real Estate Holdings, LLC for an extension in the sales tax exemption through December 31, 2024 for their project in Henrietta.

• Executive Director Anna Liss introduced a review of the Rochester Careers and Development TRACS program.   This is an 8-week program introducing students to the construction industry.  Joseph Meli, Jr., President and CEO of Rochester Careers in Construction, presented a program update.   Mr. Meli asked the Board for $250,000/year for three years to support the program.   The request was approved.
• A request from 1199 FEIU Training and Employment for a no-cost 6-month extension of their workforce resiliency project contract with COMIDA was reviewed.
• The Public Authorities Reporting Information System (PARIS) is the online reporting system that allows COMIDA to submit reports to the Authorities Budget Office and the Office of the State Comptroller. Staff is working on Saturdays to meet the PARIS report deadline of April 1^st.   The report will be delayed waiting for input from companies that have not submitted their data.
• The annual report for 2023 was reviewed.  There were 27 new projects with almost $1.2 billion in company investments.  Job creation was 515 new FTEs (full time equivalents) over 3 years with 321 jobs retained.  Some of the larger projects were discussed.

• A meeting was held on March 19^th.  The 2023 draft audit was presented by the accounting firm Mengel, Metzger and Barr Company.  No significant deficiencies or material weaknesses were found. Net position was up $2.9 million mainly from project fees.  Revenues from interest were increased from the previous year.  The financial audit was approved as presented.
• The Committee re-adopted its charter and reviewed its whistle blower policy.  The Committee recommended that the Board re-adopt these policies without changes.  A need for continuing education was noted.

• The Committee met on March 19^th and reviewed the fee schedule, committee charter, investment and development deposit policy, the employee handbook, and the self- evaluation.  The Committee re-adopted its charter and recommended re-adoption of the investment and deposit policy, approval of the fee schedule with the adoption of the new small project sales tax only fee schedule as a pilot program for one year.  The investment management fiduciary RFP was reviewed and asked the staff to re-issue it and advertise on other platforms to receive more responses.  Motions to approve the handbook and fee schedule pilot program passed.

• All of the Committee’s policies were reviewed.  Renewal of all the policies was recommended with a change to the conflict-of-interest policy.  A need for more education was identified as well as more Board involvement in selecting the skill set of prospective new board members being considered by city council. A motion to adopt all policies as discussed was approved.
• A new policy regarding potential Board candidates contacting Board members is being created.