Lake Elmo EDA appoints officers, agrees to meet six times a year and forwards work plan to council

The Lake Elmo City Economic Development Authority (EDA) appointed Tony Manzera as chair and Jeff Holtz as vice chair, voted to change its regular meeting schedule to six times a year and approved forwarding its economic development work plan to the City Council with an added instruction to submit a proposal if the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) accepts the EDA’s letter of intent.

The decisions came during a February 4 EDA meeting in which members debated how the body should use its statutory authority, how much staff time and funding the EDA needs to advance redevelopment projects, and how environmental review should affect the timing of an upcoming request for proposals (RFP).

Members said the changes are intended to give the EDA more time to exercise its statutory authority and shepherd redevelopment projects. The board voted to move from four meetings a year to six, aiming for longer sessions that would better accommodate the panel-style work and occasional special meetings the EDA expects while running an RFP process.

Discussion and reasoning

Members who supported more…