Meeting Minutes

FALMOUTH EDIC OPEN MEETING:  April 13, 2021

Zoom Meeting

PRESENT
Christopher Land (C), Paul Burke (T), Thomas Feronti (CK), Michael Galasso, Patti Haney and Samuel Patterson

ABSENT
Christopher Simmler (VC)

8:35 am* CALL TO ORDER
A quorum was established. The Chair called the meeting to order.

8:35 PUBLIC COMMENT
None

8:36 FINANCE
Paul Burke

  • Burke provided an overview of the financials and the warrant. The negative net income of $44K is because the solar payment has not yet arrived, and the PPP Loan is still showing as a liability until it is forgiven. Cash on hand is $380K and total assets is $504,699.57.

  • MOTION: Haney made a motion to approve the warrant in the amount of $19,634.47. Feronti 2nd. Roll Call: Patterson Aye, Haney Aye, Burke Aye, Galasso Aye, Feronti Aye, Land Aye. Motion passed.

8:40 GUEST SPEAKER: Kevin Pease, Proposal for Sports Center at Falmouth Technology Park

  • Mr. Pease advised his intent to build a recreational facility at 0 Langdon G Burwell Drive.

  • It will have 4 indoor tennis courts, fitness area, café, outdoor tennis courts and exercise classes and maybe childcare.

  • The vision of the facility it would be something for the community and the corporate entities within the Tech Park to use. Mr. Pease thinks will assist to retain and attract employees into the Tech Park.

  • Mr. Pease is currently the Tennis Director at the Falmouth Sport Club and the Woods Hole Golf Club.

  • Mr. Pease showed a presentation of the potential design for the new facility.

  • It would be a non-profit organization as is dictated by the town zoning laws and would have a Board of Directors to oversee operations.

  • Mr. Pease is organizing a team to move the project forward and obtain investors.

  • Galasso stated he thought it a good idea to put solar panels on the building roof. Mr. Pease agreed.

8:48 CDBG Community Development Block Grant COVID-19
Mike DiGiano, Lynne Broderick

  • DiGiano reported the grant portal opened on March 1st.

  • We have received 27 applications.

  • Working with grant review committee of: Michael Galasso (EDIC Board Member), Michael Kasparian (Falmouth Chamber of Commerce) and Mark Lowenstein (SCORE).

  • 7 of the applications have been conditionally approved by the grant committee, pending submission of additional documentation. This will represent about $70k in grant awards.

  • There are another 12 applications still “in progress”.

  • The deadline was extended to April 30th and it will most likely be extended again.

  • Marketing of the program consisted of: Falmouth Enterprise ads (4), mailings to small businesses, but we are still trying to generate more interest.

  • It was suggested to put the flyer on social media i.e. Facebook, websites, Twitter, Town website, etc.

8:52 MASS DEVELOPMENT TECH. ASSIST.GRANT - FALMOUTH STATION
Mike DiGiano, Chris Simmler, Tom Feronti

  • DiGiano advised that MassDev had some difficulty reaching MassDOT to discuss the scope, however, they finally were able to discuss.

  • The work scope was finalized and approved by sub-committee: Feronti, Simmler and Galasso.

  • MassDev is working on obtaining a final budget from Mitch Engineering. MassDev will be providing a memorandum of agreement to the Falmouth EDIC within the next week.

8:54 SEAPORT COUNCIL FUNDING & MERCO/ FEDIC GRANT APPLICATION
Mike DiGiano

DiGiano is awaiting the grant agreement document from the Seaport Council, though MERCo has begun some of the initial engineering work.

8:55 AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT 2021
Michael Galasso

  • Galasso advised the Town is to receive State funding in the amount of $3M. Galasso would like to request that some of this funding is provided to small businesses impacted by CV-19.

  • Patterson advised that many others are also inquiring about some of this funding, but nothing has been discussed by Selectmen as yet.

  • MOTION: Galasso made a motion to send a letter to the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen advising them of the Falmouth EDIC’s interest in participating in an allocation of some of those funds to continue to support the small businesses through grants and loan within our community. Haney 2nd. Roll Call: Patterson Aye, Haney Aye, Burke Aye, Galasso Aye, Feronti Aye, Land Aye. Motion passes.

9:06 OUTREACH PROJECT – MEETINGS WITH LOCAL COMMITTEES

  • Galasso reported the Affordable Housing Committee is working on recommendations on how to generate more funds for affordable housing in Town.

  • Patterson reported that the Falmouth Housing Corporation is developing a 48-unit property on Main Street near Scranton Avenue. It is chartered for residents aged 60 years and over.

9:09 COMMITTEE REPORTS

FALMOUTH TECHNOLOGY PARK
Tom Feronti, Patti Haney, Mike DiGiano

  • DiGiano stated that he has been working on Lot 21 - the water tank lot, for preparation for sale/lease. He has been dealing with drainage easement issue. Holmes & McGrath provided a plan that shows the 1-acre area could be reduced to a much smaller size.

  • The Town of Falmouth is requiring and instrument survey and a development plan. Holmes & McGrath estimated a cost of $23K to have this additional engineering work done. DiGiano is going to review the SOW to determine if there are any areas in it to reduce this expense. DiGiano recommends the Board approve this expense.

  • The board reviewed the lot plan. DiGiano advised that sites are selling for about $250 an acre.

  • Discussion ensued about making the engineering investment and the relative gain to the lot sale.

  • Patterson inquired if there was a market analysis completed. DiGiano responded said there is interest from industrial and solar developers in the property, and land sale comps were reviewed. A market analysis was not yet done because the drainage easement issue and how much developable land will be available needs to be determined first.

  • DiGiano suggested that he work on this matter further and provide the board with more information.

FALMOUTH STATION
Mike DiGiano, Lynne Broderick

  • DiGiano advised that John Marcellino has requested the board to approve him installing a canopy on/over the crossing bridge.

  • Mr. Marcellino was directed to go to the Town Hall to determine what permits would be required for the canopy and was told that as the Station it is a State property, they have no jurisdiction.

  • Mr. Marcellino contacted the State building inspector who came out to inspect the crossing bridge. Marc LaPointe verbally signed off on the canopy.

  • Patterson expressed concern about how the canopy will be secured to the crosswalk bridge, to avoid high winds pulling it out. DiGiano said this would be addressed with Mr. Marcellino and the state inspector. Galasso noted the EDIC would need to be named as Additional Insured.

  • Discussion ensued about the canopy and other options for a covering.

  • MOTION: Patterson made a motion that board delegate the decision about the canopy to the sub-committee who will address all the concerns mentioned by the board i.e. insurance, installation, color, anchoring method and period of use. Feronti 2nd. Roll Call: Patterson Aye, Burke Aye, Feronti Aye, Haney Aye, Land Aye. Motion passes.

  • DiGiano reported that the EDIC was recently notified by the MassDEP that under the EVIP program rules as funded and defined by the VW settlement, the EDIC only qualify for 80% of the hardware costs; not the 100% as expected. The EDIC would have to fund approximately $2,400 for the hardware as well as the warranty and software expense of approximately $10,000; a minimum investment of about $13,000. Eversource would cover almost all of the installation costs, but not all. Eversource also confirmed that they would not run the cables/wires under the road but would need to run them over the street onto poles. Broderick reminded that board that about 6 parking spaces would need to be designated for the charging stations, which would result with less parking availability for the patrons of the Falmouth Station, as well as the fact that EV Charging Stations are not a revenue source for additional Station income. The board discussed and agreed to pause on this project for time being and to wait to see if any additional infrastructure funds become available.

SOLAR LANDFILL PROJECT – PHASE 2
Mike DiGiano

  • DiGiano showed a photo of what the current construction site looks like for Phase 2.

  • Construction is expected to be complete by summer. They have a commitment from Eversource to connect in Q3 / July – August and rent should commence by August, on schedule.

OPEN CAPE
Mike DiGiano

  • DiGiano said there is nothing new to report: currently at 36 connections for 34 businesses.

  • Open Cape was working on new marketing materials and plans; expect to receive them soon.

FIBER OPTIC NETWORK STUDY UPDATE
Mike DiGiano

  • Galasso mentioned that the FO Network Committee is requesting $200K of the $3M the Town of Falmouth is to receive from the State for funding for this project. Michael stated he thinks that if these are funds are awarded, then the FO Network Committee should reimburse the Falmouth EDIC for the $50K spent to fund the Falmouth Community Fiber Optic Study. He would not be supportive of this request unless the $50K reimbursement was made to the Falmouth EDIC.

  • DiGiano noted that the FO Network letter does not specifically request that the Network Committee receive the money. The letter leaves it open-ended as to whom and for what the funding is directed, but some of the funds should be directed to the project.

  • DiGiano noted that the Falmouth EDIC is invited to their meetings and is kept in the loop. DiGiano said this committee has spent a lot of time and effort and have done great work on this effort.

  • DiGiano made a 2nd request to present the Community Fiber Optic Feasibility Study findings to the Board of Selectmen to determine next steps and the Town’s role. DiGiano said that use of some of the requested $200K funds for a more in-depth fiber optic engineering study is a good next step.

  • Patterson advised the network committee met with Mashpee Communication & Technology committee. They are interested in piggy backing on the project efforts and were excited about the potential of the project. Patterson thought it would end up being a support to bring in a private party to be the over-builder and ISP for a network in Falmouth – they would be a growth opportunity for it. However, right now they are not talking to contractors interested in doing this work right now. The network committee doesn’t have an implementation or funding road map.

  • The board discussed sending a letter to the Select Board to support the Fiber Optic Network Committee’s request for a Falmouth Fiber Optic Network Engineering Study and agreed to submit.

9:56 EDIC ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS

  • MOTION: Feronti made a motion to approve the Mar. 9, 2021 Board Meeting Minutes. Patterson 2nd. Roll Call: Patterson Aye, Burke Aye, Feronti Aye, Haney Aye, Land Aye. Motion approved.

  • DiGiano reminded the board of the occasional issues the EDIC encounters due to the older legislation under which the EDIC was originally set up in 1981; it is dated. Issue arise when working on new initiatives when the Town and other Attorneys provide differing legal views of EDIC authority based on the original enabling statute. Many towns that have set up economic development organizations in recent years have chosen not to organize under the original EDIC enabling statute as it is dated, and instead set up Special Legislation to modernize some of the definitions and responsibilities. DiGiano recommends that board consider and establish a sub-committee to investigate further. The board discussed.

  • MOTION: Haney made a motion to create a sub-committee to investigate the Special Legislation and process to clarify and update the Falmouth EDIC legal authority and powers. Patterson 2nd. Patterson Aye, Burke Aye, Feronti Aye, Haney Aye. Motion passes.

  • Patterson and Haney volunteered to work on this sub-committee.

10:03 NEW BOARD MEETING SUBJECTS OR GUEST SPEAKERS
None

10:03 ADJOURNMENT

MOTION: Land made a motion to adjourn the Public Meeting Session and move to Executive Session, not to return to Public Session to discuss the Falmouth Station lease and procurement process as discussing this subject in a public meeting would be detrimental to the EDIC’s negotiation position. Patterson 2nd. Roll Call: Patterson Aye, Burke Aye, Feronti Aye, Haney Aye, Land Aye. Motion passed.

NEXT MEETING – May 11th, 2021, 8:30am

*Times listed are intended merely for guidance.

 
 

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