IRONWOOD, MI - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - The Ironwood Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) held its regular meeting Wednesday at 10:00 AM in the Community Development Conference Room on the second floor of the Ironwood Memorial Building.

The first order of business yesterday was to swear in the two new members and one returning member to the board. The board previously had nine members. It now has ten. There was a mix-up in communication between board chairman Jim Huss and Mayor Noren. Noren thought Huss wanted to step down from the IEDC board. Huss, however, wished to remain. Noren and the City Commission initially ruled to fill two vacancies, effectively removing Huss from the Board. At the last City Commission meeting, Noren and the Commission corrected the mix-up by temporarily assigning a tenth member -- Huss -- to the Board. When there were nine members, five had to show up in order to have a quorum. With the increased number of members, six must appear at any given meeting in order to have a quorum.

Members present for yesterday's meeting included: Jim Huss (re-appointed); Debbie Bowles (new) ; Bob Schonberg (new); Mark Ruppe; Dave Ramme; and Jim Lorenson. Also present for yesterday's meeting were the following City Staffers: Dan Peterson, Community Development Director and Scott Erickson, City Manager. Donna Scorse, the new Gogebic County Economy Development Director, and Dr. Maria Toohey were also present. Representing the press at yesterday's meeting were Ralph Ansami, photojournalist for the Ironwood Daily Globe, and yours truly.

Dr. Marcia Toohey approached the Board yesterday requesting a change in her revolving loan agreement. According to Toohey, a balloon payment (full payment to satisfy her debt) was due in June. She told the IEDC that paying the entire balance at this time was not possible. She said her husband has had a series of medical problems recently and considering the current financial situation, banks have severely limited their lending. According to Community Development Director Dan Petersen, Toohey has done a good job repaying her revolving loan to date. She made every monthly payment on time as agreed. The Board agreed to defer the balloon payment until June of 2010. According to the motion that was passed regarding Toohey's loan, she can again approach the board at that time and renegotiate the loan if it is necessary.

The Board also discussed action on the US-2 Industrial Park Billboard. The sign advertises the City's spec building. The members of the board agreed to allow a sub-committee to select and approve the new sign for the industrial park spec building.

The Board also discussed the possibility of awarding Burton Industries a revolving loan. According to Dan Petersen, Burton was applying for an unspecified amount of money -- potentially the entire available IEDC fund balance. The Board was not required to make a decision at yesterday's meeting, but they fully discussed the matter and several questions were drawn up for the Industrial Park Company to answer. Personal financial statements were not supplied with the application. There was no mention of collateralization was made. No specific purpose was named for using the funds and no mention was made of creating new jobs. According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, all loans through the revolving loan program must result in the creation of new jobs. Job retention is not an acceptable reason for the IEDC to grant a loan.

Finally, the Board discussed action on a request from the Ironwood Industrial Development Corporation (IIDC) to continue the web presence on the Daily Globe's website, with funds from the IEDC. The Board agreed to postpone a decision on the Globe ad until the City makes needed improvements to it's website. According to City Manager Scott Erickson, the City has been seriously considering revamping their current website to make it more effective. The City plans to have the site redesigned and would like to have someone maintain the site on a regular basis. Jim Huss pointed out that a good website needed to be regularly updated and maintained in order to be effective.