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<br />V. Report from Council Liaison <br />Councilmember Axberg provided the EDC with an update from the City Council. She encouraged <br />residents to participate in No Mow May, which encourages awareness around pollinators. She <br />reported more than 300 residents were already participating. She explained goats were brought <br />in to Creek View Park to assist with buckthorn removal. She stated work has already begun on the <br />2023 budget. <br />VI. Business Items <br />A. New Commission Member Introduction <br />Gozola introduced the newly appointed EDC members Faycal Belkhous, Victoria Prasek and <br />Michele Norman to the Commission. The existing members of the EDC introduced themselves <br />to the new members. <br />Chair Carter welcomed the new members to the EDC. <br />B. Overview of Business Outreach Initiative <br />• Business Outreach Website <br />• Overview of Business Outreach Spreadsheet <br />• Approval of Next Outreach Newsletter <br />Cady stated in the past year the EDC has prioritized cultivating a more open line of <br />communication between staff/commissioners and local businesses. Part of this attempt was <br />creating a business outreach page on the New Brighton website with names and pictures of <br />the current commissioners. This webpage features a sign-up form for any interested <br />businesses owners to receive a quarterly newsletter about relevant business news/city <br />updates; also an opportunity to meet directly with EDC representative Jacqui Sauter to <br />discuss how New Brighton can help business owners reach their goals. <br />Cady explained since the initial outreach push in October of 2021, we have only received <br />twenty business owners who have indicated an interest in receiving the newsletter and eight <br />who requested to meet directly with a city representative. In light of this, we’d like to bring <br />this topic back to the commission to discuss our new course of action and how we can engage <br />more businesses in a second wave of outreach. Commissioner Sauter has graciously offered <br />to call businesses individually to gain contact information, gage interest in receiving a <br />newsletter, and potentially working directly with a commissioner from the EDC to accomplish <br />their business goals. <br />Discussion included: <br />• The Commission asked that the EDC members be added to the email list. <br /> <br /> <br />• Staff commented further on how they were working to collect business email <br />addresses and better contact information for local businesses. Several commission <br />members volunteered to contact businesses in order to get updated contact info. It