Economic Development Committee Packet

Economic Development Committee Agenda January 10, 2023 Convenes promptly at 4:00 PM; Adjourns no later than 5:30pm City Hall Council Chambers, 15 Loockerman Plaza, Dover, Delaware Public comments are welcomed on any item and will be permitted at the appropriate time. When possible, please notify the Mayor's Office (302-760-4920 or email mayorsoffice@dover.de.us) should you wish to be recognized. 1. Welcome 2. Adoption of Agenda 3. Adoption of Minutes • Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 • Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 4. Rail Haus Beer Garden (Donny Legans) 5. Mayor's Announcements 6. Next Meeting Date: February 14, 2023 7. Adjournment THE AGENDA ITEMS AS LISTED MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED IN SEQUENCE. PURSUANT TO 29 DEL. C. §10004(e)(2), THIS AGENDA IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE TO INCLUDE THE ADDITION OR THE DELETION OF ITEMS, INCLUDING EXECUTIVE SESSIONS, WHICH ARISE AT THE TIME OF THE MEETING

Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes October 11, 2022 – 4:00pm The Economic Development Committee Meeting was held in person and by video conference on October 11, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. with Mayor Robin R. Christiansen presiding. Committee Members present in person or via video were Councilman Ralph Taylor, Councilman David Anderson, Kim Adams, City Manager Dave Hugg, and City Planner Mary Ellen Gray. Clayton E. Hammond II and Designee of Downtown Dover Partnership Diane Laird were not present. Guests present were Councilman Fred Neil, Dr. Vilicia Cade with Capital School District, and Pete Bradley with Kent County Tourism. Public present were Dr. Tony DePrima with Capital School District Board, and Bobby Wilson. WELCOME At 4:00pm Mayor Robin R. Christiansen called the Economic Development Meeting to order. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Mayor Christiansen called for a motion to adopt the Agenda. Councilman Fred Neil moved for adoption of agenda, seconded by Councilman Taylor, unanimously carried. (Clayton E. Hammond II and Diane Laird absent). ADOPTION OF MINUTES Mayor Christiansen called for a motion to adopt the October 12, 2021 minutes. Councilman Fred Neil moved for adoption of minutes, seconded by Councilman Anderson, unanimously carried. (Clayton E. Hammond II and Diane Laird absent). Mayor Christiansen called for a motion to adopt the September 13, 2022 minutes. Councilman Fred Neil moved for adoption of minutes, seconded by Councilman Anderson, unanimously carried. (Clayton E. Hammond II and Diane Laird absent). CAPITAL SCHOOL DISTRICT – DR. VILICIA CADE, SUPERINTENDENT Dr. Vilicia Cade representing Capital School District. Dr. Cade states good afternoon to the city council and all honorable people here, to my vice president of my board that is present with me today, and my board member Mrs. Duggins. I appreciate this conversation on Economic Development because I believe very firmly that K12 education institutions play a vital role in Economic Development. Here in the City of Dover we have so much synergy, so much movement, so much enthusiasm and momentum that is growing around this topic. I am hopeful

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 2 that my brief presentation will help us spark a conversation and provide some insight on my vision on how to support Economic Development in our city. Dr. Vilicia Cade reviewed the presentation entitled “Capital School District Presentation” Attachment #1. Mayor Christiansen asked are there any questions for Dr. Cade. Councilman Fred Neil stated not so much a question but the loudest applaud that I could possibly give to you. Councilman Fred Neil stated there is no question the irony of that video. The irony is we have people who do not want to work and an industry that states we don’t need you. And yet the very foundation of everything we do depends upon on the continuous of humans being able to work and do the job. I offer my bravos, great keep it up, do what you have, and we will try to support what you have. There is no question in my mind this is something that has to happen, and you are doing the right thing at the right time for these kids to grow up. If you had grew up in a household where you had a second language you would learn that second language. The second language today deals with dots and dashes, it deals with coding, it deals with all of that. I did not grow up with that. The kids today would have to teach me. What do I want to do with my cell phone if I want to do more than call home? What you are doing is on the right track, and all I can say is bravo, bravo, and bravo. Councilman Taylor asked about the Parent Leadership Program. Councilman Taylor ask has Capital School District started working with free adult education either onsite or in the community? Dr. Cade responded we have a very vital partnership with POLYTECH who has the adult education contract for Kent County. So, within the Department of Education there is an adult education branch that is typical. We just had a literacy night and adult education kick off last Monday, which we worked with our ESL parents. As a part of our parent leadership program, you will see more partnerships between us and other districts because what I am very firm on is intentional and receptacle partnerships where we commingle our funds, minimize duplication of efforts, increase capacity, so we can increase impact by working collaboratively. Councilman Ralph Taylor had a second question about assisting seniors. As we know seniors are not capable of some of the technology out here today of basic things. Have you ever considered an alternative or different type of version of Adopt a Grandparent? Which means you would deal directly with the seniors. You would teach them how to use these devices, so they can get the information in real time. I think that would be truly an asset to the community. The long-term things are necessary, but the right now fixes are inundating us and leaving our seniors behind each and every day. Dr. Cade responded. Yes, in my previous position in Ohio, I started an intergenerational partnership with the NAACP, and our school district. I think it is very important that our young people work with our seniors, and elderly in our community to close those generational gaps, and to help them advance their use of technology. So, I think there is great merit in that, I am going into year two, so I haven’t been able to tackle all our issues in the community. I absolutely see this as an opportunity to work with our senior citizens, and to allow our young people to take some leadership. But again, going into my year two and the processes of reconfiguring our entire district I am still building. So, I would take that under advisement. Councilman Ralph Taylor stated great job, we are well pleased with your efforts. We can see your fingerprint on things. I was on Capital School Board for about 4 years; absolutely loved it.

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 3 Being there and seeing things firsthand and you coming in and handling things. Once again, well pleased with your efforts. Thank you Mayor Robin R. Christiansen stated I want to thank Dr. Cade personally for being a part of our workforce development committee, she met in my office with some other folks, and we are gone to have some great things happen. Thank you again Dr. Cade, and the school board members for being here. KENT COUNTY TOURISM UPDATE – PETE BRADLEY, PRESIDENT Pete Bradley stated thank you for having me. I have a PowerPoint presentation, but feel free to ask me any questions. We have a small staff; I am the President. We have a Marketing & Communications Manager, Cathrine Jenkins; Rachel Rohm is our Business Service Manager; and Debbie Eashum part-time Group Sales Manager. I am very blessed for our great staff. Pete Bradley reviewed the presentation “Kent County Tourism Presentation” Attachment #2. Councilman Taylor asks, how do you depict Dover when you start doing your county wide advertisement? I’ve been seeking for a couple years now a sustained advertising program that was showing Dover as safe, clean, welcoming, and exclusive. It must be something that it is sustainable. It cannot be a one-time deal for that will not stick. If you just give a few advertising spots on the television. It must be sustainable. If you can start advertising that to Bally’s, and to all that may come on board, that may give us more traction of what we currently do not have. So, you if you gone to depict us as anything it will be safe, clean, welcoming, and exclusive. We will take care of the rest as time comes. Pete Bradley responded anytime in advertising promotion you must have a constant and relentless message when it starts traction. That is why I am really excited about the master plan. Nothing happens overnight. Councilman Taylor agreed the master plan is a great thing to talk about. However, people are not going to come to an area that isn’t safe. We need to tell them that Dover is not a shooting gallery. Dover is not one of these places, but a beautiful city, and we just don’t get the good out as much as the bad goes out. So, we need to control the narrative. I think we can control it through this means right here. Councilman Neil states news is bad news, and good news is a feature. I think the perception is because you’re seeing it here in our newspaper, you’re hearing the criticism that is not getting out to the public beyond these walls. In truth in 2015 the metamorphosis that took place from the tourism when I was first appointed to the board. Which basically the volunteers did not have the professionalisms that has been brought into the organization. As soon as we brought in the professionals from the outside suddenly, we had on one of the major sites for hotels “come to Dover for a weekend” it was special because of everything that is here. It was a big deal at the time in 2015. Since that time, we have moved on to a different Executive Director. I felt like he brought in a period where he is a native. Having someone who knew Dover basically added another dimension to that. So, sometimes we see the perception because were looking in the mirror, and we say Oh my God I got that blemish. The fact is that blemish is not going beyond that mirror. So, in term of getting the word out for these activities. Which is why Pete, the Mayor and I and Councilman Anderson feels the same way with the DDB coming up. With the river walk coming up, with all these things coming up. When you have the restaurants that are

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 4 downtown as well as the developments downtown along with the new lighting system downtown coming in. So sometimes it is hard to ignore what you see in the mirror. What they see is NASCAR; what they see is FireFly. And if you’re not having problems with FireFly getting the word out to the music world, or NASCAR having a problem with crime here in the sports world, and now with the Gifts of Light; I think that’s marvelous. I think that you have to understand by looking down more globally on it, how does this affect us. We want more. Because you understand what that local problem has been. People out there really don’t understand that they don’t even see it. So, understanding that as we work to correct the problems here locally is extremely important. Councilman Anderson had a couple questions. How will certain things affect marketing? Like if Dover gets a river walk, when we open our state-of-the-art skate park, and dog park. I am not saying people will come, some will come for a skate park, but how would it affect for people to come for other events to have those particular amenities. Will that have a positive affect extending their stay? How will that help or not help? Pete Bradley responded it will help. Some of the things you mention are for local residents. But like you mention when you have a River Walk and some of things you mention will benefit the tourist and get that cross pollination. Very important anything new or unique can be marketed. I always talk about the AMC because that is unique. How are you different from the guy down the block? Or the other region? AMC is just a concrete example. Other regions do not have a phenomenal air museum. But again, they play an important role. I am really excited. I am confident we will have those additional wins. Nothing happens overnight, yet it does build that momentum, and other developers come in see what’s going on. Councilman Anderson questioned if you could have one relative unexpensive easy to achieve things that we are not doing that would help tourism, what would that be? What would you recommend? Pete Bradley’s response was to put yourself in the eyes of the tourist of someone coming into the city for the first time. One of thing is that welcoming, and that first impression is huge. You have different avenues to come into the city, but that is very important. Again, they have a great team. If you are coming into the city for the first time it can be confusing with parking. Where do I park? Especially if there is an event going on. That will be addressed. People want something simple and easy. I know it has been asked of a parking garage. I can tell you it’s not similar, but an analogy is my daughter went to Notre Dame and at first, I did not want to go downtown but my daughter said there is a parking garage. They built this garage and around the garage are these restaurants and shops. So easy to park and would not have to navigate to find a parking spot on the street. I saw firsthand that entire section of economic development was crazy. Councilman Anderson final question is how do you see the new role of Kent County Tourism at Dover Days because we do miss you all? Pete Bradley responded when I first started, the first week we ran Dover Days for the last time. And then the next year we were part of the committee and I told John Doerfler, who was the marketing manager, that I don’t want the impression we are abandoning it. We play an extremely important role, and we have to be very active on the committee and be participates. Unfortunately, it has been cancelled. The committees are starting again. Rachel will be our key player. She lives downtown, right off The Green. She is from the park system, and she loves Dover. Tourism is in her DNA. We play an extremely important role

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 5 with that. It’s a huge event. I was blown away and I only was here for 5 days when I started at Kent County Tourism. The organization did a great job with it. It is a huge event, and we have to play an important role. HEALTH OF MINORITY BUSINESS IN DOVER Councilman Anderson stated we have a couple of subject matter experts on the committee here. This item was actually requested to me by another committee member. Councilman Taylor and I have made some interesting trips. Councilman Anderson asked Councilman Taylor, would you like to start with some things that have happened over the last couple months? Or protentional out reaches? Councilman Taylor stated you start, and I will piggyback right from where you are coming from. Councilman Anderson stated there has been of course with all the businesses in the county there has been impacts recovering from Covid. There are concerns that have been raised in the entire businesses community including the minority business community. And some people have wondered if there is an east / west divide. There have been some recommendations that have come out of the DDP public safety committee for enhancing more west of Governors Avenue when it comes to amenities. Making sure that there are simple things such as adequate trash cans. Sidewalks that are walkable instead of being serious tripping hazards and things of that nature. There have been safety concerns which are, while they are improving thankfully and thank God for that. We are definitely grateful for our police force and definitely has been approvement but now we are moving more from the violent crime type issues to the quality of life. We can actually breathe enough to get to the quality-of-life issues, and in the townhall we referred a number of those concerns now. For people that have raised quality of life concerns that are affecting their businesses. Would you like to take it from there Councilman Taylor? Councilman Taylor stated just listening to the business owners talk about the divide. A night and day difference. I don’t know everything of how to fix it, but I just know we can do a little better. Trash cans the simplicity of things like trash cans. When we cross from east and west side of Governors; the east side was clean, the west side was immediately trashed with needles, drug paraphernalia and all different kinds of things. So, when you have business owners who are relying on foot traffic. Between the tripping hazard, the blight and the nastiness, how can we really say we are trying to do the best thing when we allow that to happen again and again? I am not challenging you Mr. Mayor. Just simply saying now that we know better, we can do better. We need to focus and be very conscious of these things and start fixing them. I know Mosaic is on its way, but Mosaic is not here and there is a lot of life to be lived between now and then. We just have to do a whole lot better. Our business community is very concerned. Donnell came to the DDP safety meeting, and he grew up right here right downtown. He knows a lot of these people, but he is trying to avoid having to go hands on to move people who are addicted, who are under the influence and passing out. He is trying to remove these people who are urinating and defecating in the doorways but that should not be his responsibility as a business owner. He should be able to stand in front of his business and welcome people in but right now that is just not happening on a consistent basis. Where do we go from here? I think it is going to take a little more dialogue, but it is time for us to start moving. It is not a time just to advertise of what we can do. It is time to do what we do best. For me it is law enforcement. I try to stay in my lane with the Police Department and make sure that everyone is making good decisions. I try to flood

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 6 them and you with great ideas to make sure that we can move forward. But again, we have to do something. We got to act, and we got to act now. Mayor Christiansen stated he would have to concur on the fact that there is a certain organization that we will remain nameless at this point in time that has for quite a while has ignored the minority businesses that seem to flourish on the west side of Governors Avenue. I would like to remind everybody that one of things I did after I became Mayor was, and I still do, to walk and I touch base with a lot of the businesspeople there and the people that live in those residents. One of the things I noticed was Christmas stopped at Bayard Pharmacy. So, I took it upon myself and went out and bought $3,500 dollars’ worth of Christmas decorations that match the ones that was on the main part of Loockerman Street. I had them put up and bought a $300 Christmas tree and planted where I thought city property was. Turned out to be Bob Duncan’s property. He wasn’t really happy about it but we got a nice tree out of it. The merchants on that end of the street appreciated that Christmas went from State Street to the railroad. I concur with you that we need to do to a better job. We have an organization we put in place that is funded very well and have received a lot more funds. That maybe they should pay more attention to the people that are trying to develop businesses and properties west of Loockerman St. I am not pointing fingers at anyone. However, it is kind of obvious to me that we have dropped the ball. We have people that go down there every morning. The young man that picks up trash all along Loockerman and all the way to Simaron. So, we do make an effort. It is not an easy job Councilman Taylor as you have already acknowledged. The one thing with the new ordinances we may be able to do something more rather than what were able to do now and moving people along that are undesirable and causing certain properties to be diminished. But let us remember that when we squeeze the toothpaste there, it will go somewhere. So, Mr. Anderson do you have anything else on the subject or Councilman Taylor? Councilman Anderson stated he would like to thank Mr. Hugg for his cooperation and when it comes to making sure that we are more inclusive with our contracting. Councilman Taylor and I went to a conference on our own dime just in case someone wanted to know that and it gave us some excellent information which we are sharing with staff. We hope to have some more positive things come out of that within the next few months when it comes to increasing of supply and diversity. Bringing in more businesses and jobs in the city and building the businesses that we have. We need to make sure that when it comes to supply; number one the taxpayers get their best bang for the buck in the free market. That’s the most important thing. Not a social agenda. Part of that bang for the buck is keeping some of their money local. Making sure that local businesses, including minority businesses, have the opportunity to get city business will have a very positive economic impact. When you look at dollars that remain in the community you look at that a contract is worth about $8 dollars for every dollar you keep in the community. It is actually worth $8 in economic activity. That is an important factor. Local businesses in general and try to make sure minority own businesses and women own businesses are included in a better outreach is vital. Councilman Neil questioned if the gentleman or the businesspeople that you have contacted or work with, are they involved in the activities of the DDP? Because I think this is where the pressure comes from, that we make sure that when we sit in on the executive board meetings that we understand and can bring forth some of the things you are talking about. Because I know

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 7 there is a good relationship between Public Works and DDP. If there is a problem, then I think our people are out there, if they are not already, to assure to make the cleanup gets done and faster. I would like to make sure they have a voice within that organization. Kim Adams, a business owner on both side of Governors Avenue, stated she is on DDP as you know and a lot of other boards that are here as well. Yes, I own properties on Bradford and Loockerman. One of my issues is the trip hazards. I witnessed a mother and 2 children fall into the street one weekend when I was there. I witnessed two elderly people and a special needs grandson fall into the street in the same area. So, I made a call, and the second time something was done that day in front of the building. But a lot of the problems comes from the same people doing the same things day in and day out. There is no change. There is this one guy, I do not know his name, but he has backpack, some black pants hanging off, a burgundy jacket and he is high on the street in front of my store. People are not going to come if they see that type of stuff. He is defecating in my doorways. In the alley they are sleeping in between the buildings. I have cameras up and at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning they are doing drug deals behind the building. These things continue to happen. It is not a secret. I just don’t understand why there isn’t a change. I am investing a lot downtown. It just has to change. There are four new houses on New Street getting ready to come up. Nobody wants to spend that type of money to continue to have these same problems. So, I do not know how it gets solved or what happens. It is the same people. Mayor Christiansen stated that I will credit council with making a continuous effort to enforce the laws that we have on the books. To make sure they are constitutionally vetted. We are believers in the constitution. Just 2 blocks from here we ratified that very living document that we all live and try to run our country by. However, it will be vetted so that it is a constitutional law and will give the police officers a little bit more of power to their punch to take folks off the street. A lot of it is not necessary law enforcement, it is mental health issues and we do have a mental health person with our patrol people on the street. So, between the good efforts and good intent of everyone gathered in this room, and the people that aren’t in this room will try to do better and make downtown and our entire city a better place to live, work, and play. Councilman Anderson requested Bobby Wilson, a minority business owner, to speak. Where to we stand on minority participation on contracts? I know we have talked about revisiting this issue. Mayor Christiansen responded that the City Manager, after being instructed by City Council, was to review our bid awarding process, advertisement process and to piggyback on the State’s list of contractors that are available to do the specific work that we are interested in having done. So, we have made every effort via our Council President and members of Council and unanimously instructed the city staff to do so. Councilman Taylor added that one of the other things we are doing. Right after we awarded the contract to A-Del, I contacted them, and I asked them exactly; how does this work when it comes to minority participation for example of a building being torn down? And A-Del said that they were totally inclusive, they did everything. I then said to them that I don’t understand how that is going to help the minority businesses if you do everything and you do no subcontracting. Because typically the minority businesses are unable to do the whole scope of work, so they have to be subcontracted in. So now that is one of the target areas that we are doing. We are really

Economic Development Meeting of October 11, 2022 PAGE 8 starting to look at that now. How do we break that job down so that we can make sure that the minority businesses that are included on the list already, or maybe even coming in, still get some of the opportunities for that business? It was several minority businesspersons from Maryland that were telling me how to do this and again, I’m trying to take their good works and bring them here. It’s going to take a little time, but we are heading in the right direction. Mr. Wilson commented that he thinks it is taking too much time. This is something that is long overdue, and we are not concentrating on it wholeheartedly to make this happen. A-Del doesn’t deserve a contract if they are bringing everyone from New Castle. They should be required to break it down in some shape, form or fashion and the citizens and businesses of Dover should have an opportunity on the project. There are opportunities to learn about this. Why don’t we have a class about this with all of your procurement officers? So, they can get an educated understanding of how this works. That way everybody can be inclusive. If we need to have a study, we can bring professionals in to sit down from Maryland to help us in this situation. Mrs. Adams commented about the Family Court project. For that project, was there a small business plan to use small businesses? I agree with his question; I’m a small business here in Dover. I can do a lot of that work as well, but I wasn’t given the opportunity to even bid on it. I deal with A- Del and a lot of other businesses, larger businesses, that are around here. With DelDOT, they don’t participate with us either. I do more contracts federally than I do right here locally. My money stays here because I hire people here, my jobs are here, I spend the money here, and I employ people here. But a lot of those other companies, there’s such a thing called a small business plan. How are you using the small businesses here? Where’s your percentage of minority, women and veteran service disabled? Where is that plan? There is something that someone can do. I don’t know how much that project is. I know it is over 100 million. Mayor Christiansen responded that the city had nothing to do with awarding of any of the contracts. That is specifically a State of Delaware project and I think that you might want to speak to the local Representative and the local State Senator and also the Governor’s Office as well because that project came down from higher up. The basic involvement we had is where we wanted it put so that it would be the southern anchor for our downtown revitalization. Mr. Wilson commented in reference to the courthouse we are speaking to the Legislatures. We need a supply diversity goal within our legislation, and I urge everyone here to get with your State Legislature representative and ask him to formulate a bid bill for supply diversity with goal setting. Mayor Christiansen stated that it is Council’s policy to seek out qualified minority contractors to do work for the City of Dover. MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS NEXT MEETING DATE November 15, 2022 at 4:00 PM ADJOURNMANT Mayor Robin R. Christiansen called the meeting adjourned at 5:30PM. Exhibits Exhibit #1 – Capital School District Presentation Exhibit #2 – Kent County Tourism Presentation

Attachment #1 Dr. Vilicia Cade CEO & Superintendent Capital School District Taking a Two-pronged Approach to Supporting Economic Development… Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 “A Dynamic Economy Begins with a Good Education.” Dr. Bob Taff Center for Educational Excellence, University of Dayton Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 The Role of K-12 in Economic Development • Unique responsibility of preparing the future workforce “Educational Excellence today for a Changing Tomorrow” • Businesses want to place their companies in community with thriving schools • The forgotten “Captive Audience” Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 Will Our Children Be Prepared As you watch the video I ask that you envision a child that you care about and ask yourself what aspirations and dreams you have for this child? Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 Show the Video of The Future of Work: Will Our Children Be Prepared? https://youtu.be/59d3UZTUFQ0 Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 Dover Middle School Campus School of Excellence School of Innovation Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

K-12 Schools have the Unavoidable Attachment #1 Responsibility…. Schools must change and create new paradigms to align to the changing needs of our evolving technological world….. Schools must be responsive the wholistic needs to advance the quality of life to support a health economic growth Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 Launching an Era of Excellence through Innovation Students: • Focus on work-based learning and career exploration earlier • Support pivotal partnerships with central Delaware business to create pipelines and pathways to living wage earning opportunities • Service learning and connecting students to our legislators deepen sense of community, belongingness and Senator Pride • STEAM integration and intentionality Parents: • Parent leadership programs that provide opportunities to upskill and connect to employment opportunities to raise the quality of life Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #1 Economic Development is everyone’s responsibility K-12 is at the foundation of this effort……. “Technological innovation is indeed important to economic growth and the enhancement of human possibilities.” Dr. Leon Richard Kass, University of Chicago Spurring the Audacity of Hope to Achieve Excellence through Innovation

Attachment #2 TOURISM IN KENT COUNTY PETE BRADLEY PRESIDENT KENT COUNTY TOURISM CORPORATION

Attachment #2 YOUR Kent County Tourism Team: Pete Bradley President pbradley@visitdelawarevillages.com Catherine Jenkins Marketing & Communications Manager cjenkins@visitdelawarevillages.com Rachel Rohm Visitor Services Manager rrohm@visitdelawarevillages.com Debra Eashum Part-time Group Sales Manager deashum@visitdelawarevillages.com

Attachment #2 WHO IS KENT COUNTY TOURISM CORPORATION? Mission Statement Kent County Tourism Corporation (dba Delaware’s Quaint Villages) is the official destination marketing organization for the county and its jurisdictions, whose mission is to generate incremental economic impact for the community through the attraction of visitors, especially overnight visitors. It is a self-governing private not-for-profit 501(C)6 corporation with a Board of Directors established in 1990

Attachment #2 IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM “It All Starts with a Visit” Tourism is Everybody’s Business Visit, Live, Work – All are interconnected

Attachment #2 VALUE OF TOURISM IN DELAWARE • In 2019, there were 10.4 million visitors to the State of Delaware. • The Delaware tourism industry is the 4th largest private employer in the state, employing 45,500 people. • The tourism industry generated $568 million in state and local government taxes/fees in Fiscal Year 2019. • Without tourism, each Delaware household would pay an additional $1,564 in taxes. • The average visitor spent $315 per trip in 2019 Sources: D.K.Shifflet & Rockport Analytics 2019

Attachment #2 HOW ARE WE FUNDED? PUBLIC ACCOMODATION TAX (PAT) Current Public Accommodation Tax Allocation HOW IT’S ALLOCATED: General Fund – 5% Beach Replenishment – 1% Delaware Tourism Office – 1% Local County CVBs – 1% TOTAL COLLECTED BY STATE – 8% 12.5% allocated by the State to the Local County CVB’s from the PAT Tax goes to Kent County Tourism Corporation to promote Kent County to tourists. $413,000 in FY22 Note: FY 21 PAT Revenue was $324,000 Pre-Covid FY 19 PAT Revenue was $461,000

Attachment #2 PUBLIC ACCOMODATION TAX (PAT) COVID IMPACT Month 2019-2020 2020-2021 Inc (Dec) % Inc. (Dec) April $ 33,496 $ 19,062 $ (14,434) -43.09% May $ 35,661 $ 11,026 $ (24,635) -69.08% June $ 47,907 $ 12,043 $ (35,864) -74.86% July $ 60,615 $ 22,673 $ (37,942) -62.60% August $ 52,712 $ 33,855 $ (18,857) -35.77% September $ 42,992 $ 38,954 $ (4,038) -9.39% October $ 36,793 $ 25,755 $ (11,038) -30.00% November $ 44,427 $ 21,193 $ (23,234) -52.30% December $ 34,110 $ 20,041 $ (14,069) -41.25% January $ 30,352 $ 26,247 $ (4,105) -13.52% February $ 20,939 $ 16,305 $ (4,634) -22.13% March $ 24,167 $ 21,370 $ (2,797) -11.57% Total $ 464,171 $ 268,524 $ (195,647) -42.15%

Attachment #2 KENT COUNTY TOURISM- PARTNER SUPPORT • Kent County Levy Court ARPA Grant Programs • Kent County Tourism and the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce played a key role in developing the grant program specs/logistics to gain approval from Kent County Levy Court • Hospitality Grant Program • Eligible organizations- Hoteliers and Banquet Meeting Facilities • 23 organizations awarded a total of $995,000 in grants • Small Business Grant • For profit small businesses with 100 or less full-time equivalent employees • 140 small businesses awarded approximately 2.2 million in grants • Fiscal 23- Kent County Tourism expanded sponsorship plan • Dover Days Event • Dover Air Show • Delaware State Fair • New proposed County Major events

Attachment #2 WHAT WE DO We lead the Kent County Tourism Industry to work together to generate visitor spending by developing and implementing comprehensive destination marketing programs. ► Marketing/Communications inspires visitation to benefit the local tourism economy ► Group Sales attracts the memorable experiences that motivate group travelers and provides fuel for our marketing machine ► Visitors Services ensures Visitors get the most out of their stay, spend more, enjoy themselves, tell others & come back soon (CTA) ► Industry Relations lifts the industry and acts as the conduit between Kent County Tourism and our tourism partners

Attachment #2 WHAT TOURISTS LIKE ABOUT KENT COUNTY History and Heritage Outdoor Recreation Breweries, Wineries, and Distilleries

Attachment #2 OUR WEBSITE 240,000+ Visitors Per Year ❑ Responsive Design ❑ Vivid Photos & Video ❑ All Tourism related businesses have listings ❑ Community Event Calendar ❑ Itinerary and Tour Suggestions w w w .Vis it D e law are Vil lag e s.co m

Attachment #2

KENT COUNTY TOURISM “THE VILLAGER” Attachment #2 Sponsored by Chesapeake Utilities Ford Transit 250 Van runs on Natural Gas & Gasoline! • Kent County Tourism in partnership with Chesapeake Utilities created the Mobile Visitor center “The Villager”. • The center is a 250 Ford-Transit that has been converted and is equipped to run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) with gasoline as back up. • The Villager attends festivals, fairs, and events that appeal to visitors to help pro-actively engage with them along with locals on what to do in Kent County.

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Attachment #2 FISCAL 23 MARKETING PLANS/CHALLENGES Marketing Plans Concerns • Increased Advertising Spend • Staffing Challenges- Hospitality Partners • SEO, PPC, Social Media Advertising Focus • Group Market Slow to Recover • Instagram and Youtube advertising • Connect TV advertising • Explore Tiktok advertising • Continue conversion focus- visitor guide, email sign-ups • Fall Photoshoot • On-going website enhancements • Potential new website • Expanded visitor guide distribution sites • Downtown Dover Focus- Master Plan

Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes November 15, 2022 – 4:00pm The Economic Development Committee Meeting was held in person and by video conference on November 15, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. with Councilman Ralph Taylor presiding. Committee Members present in person or via video were City Planner Mary Ellen Gray and Designee of Downtown Dover Partnership Diane Laird. Committee Members that arrived late were Mayor Robin R. Christiansen, Councilman David Anderson, Kim Adams, Clayton Hammond, and City Manager Dave Hugg. Clayton E. Hammond II was not present. Guests present were Councilwoman Trisha Arndt, Susan Love and Jessica Quinn with DNREC and Dr. Dina Vendetti with the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce. WELCOME The meeting will not be called to order at this time due to lack of quorum. There are no action items that require a vote; proceed to presentations. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL (DNREC) – DELAWARE CLIMATE ACTIVE PLAN – SUSAN LOVE, ADMINISTRATOR Susan Love representing DNREC stated, thank you very much for the opportunity to come speak to you tonight. Hello, I am Susan Love, Administrator of the Climate and Substantiality Program in the Division of Climate Coastal and Energy in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Thank you very much for inviting me here tonight. I appreciate the opportunity to come talk to you about climate change in Delaware and opportunities for the City of Dover to lead in climate change activities. I brought with me tonight, Jessica Quinn, who is my principal planner on the climate section, she is also available for follow ups. If there is additional information that any of you would like, Jessica would help me get that information to you or help remind me that you asked for that information so I can get it to you. You have invited me for a reason, and I hope and think that reason is because you see the opportunity to lead by example in the City of Dover and to be a champion for climate change and substantiality initiatives. Also, to reap some economic and employment opportunities from the transition that we are hoping to make here in the State of Delaware to prepare for the future climate and reduce our emissions. I have worked in Dover for a very long time. I have played in Dover, you guys are an incredible town with a vibrant work force, and incredible tree canopy. Which in DNREC we really appreciate and like. Employment opportunities and some of the best festivals in the state. There is always something going on down here in Dover. So, we can build on that, and you can add substantiality to that list.

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 2 Susan Love reviewed the presentation entitled “Delaware Climate Active Plan Presentation” Attachment #1. Councilman Taylor requested for Ms. Love to speak more of preparedness for climate change. Councilman Taylor stated if were dealing with temperatures extending 100 degrees and were having more and more of these days. What are you referring to when you say preparedness? Ms. Love stated there are a lot of different approaches for preparedness for heat impact. They go from some of the emergency response preparedness making sure you have cooling centers for people without air conditioning or you’re doing fan give aways or you have programs where you can check up on elderly neighbors. You guys probably have a pretty good handle on where the housing quality may not be very good, so you might know where people do not have access to air conditioning. There are other things that you can do to prepare that are not incident related. Putting in place things that will help reduce the vulnerability of your population to those impacts. Things like making sure you have a good tree canopy that is shady and identifying areas that don’t have a tree canopy. It can be 10 degrees cooler under a tree than it is outside in a paved area. If you every walked across Walmart parking lot in the middle of summer, you know what I mean. It is hot. Making sure your building codes are up to date. Because when you build new buildings to a higher standard those buildings retain heat and cool better than they would otherwise. So, those are some primary examples of the way we can prepare for that heat. Knowing it’s coming and thinking about the activities we are doing today to prepare for those changing conditions is really important. So, one of the things I do in my job is making sure that people are considering these changing conditions in everything they do. Whether you are a farmer, an emergency manager, water resource engineer, architect, or a bridge designer; that you are thinking about what life will be like next week, in a decade, or in two decades because when we build something and we create things we create them to last for a very long time. When DELDOT builds a new bridge, they have an eighty-year life span. Councilman Taylor asked a question regarding prevention portion. Have you guys examined working with the municipalities on the impervious service coverages. There are a lot of places where there is just concrete or asphalt; there is nothing there and nothing has been there for a while. Nothing is planned. Do you guys have some kind of program that would come in and assist us or at least with the cost of removing some of that concrete? I believe that would also be a huge help when it comes to water being absorbed into the earth versus running into a drainage ditch that is already strained from the very beginning. Do you have a program like that already in place? Susan Love responded with yes and no. Often times there are funding mechanisms, and because of recent federal activities through the bi-partisan info structure bill and the inflation reduction act, there are billions and billions of federal dollars seeking a home to do things just like that. DNREC worked with the town of Bowers Beach recently. If you have been to Bowers Beach, they have a ridiculous large parking area that used to be full on weekends when there was more recreational fishing happening at Bowers Beach. That sort of dried up. Now, they just have a huge impervious parking lot not being utilized by anyone, and flooding concerns. They worked with DNREC and got money through DNREC to take out some of that pavement and turned that into a park. So, we can do things like that, but what we need municipalities to do is identify where they want to work. And we can help with resiliency planning and sustainability planning to help you identify where those opportunities are. Once you identify where those

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 3 opportunities are and where you want to work, we can also help identify funding mechanisms for those things, so that opportunities out there for sure. As your having ideas there is definitely people and programs, we can hook you up with for that. I can certainly think of some large parking lots in Dover that are not utilized for cars very much. Councilman Ralph Taylor asked about the Energize Delaware Empowerment Program Grants. We talk about solar. Does that tie right into with the solar program you currently have, or do we have to apply as a city to be able to be a part of this fund? Susan Love responded that one of the benefits of going through the Energize Delaware Empowerment Grant Program is that they will help identify all the pots of money for you that are available to do these things. So, if you wanted to add solar to your roof here that would be through the Energize Delaware Program if they have money for that. If you wanted to help set up a community solar program, I don’t think we have one in the state yet. That is a brand-new emerging opportunity. If you wanted to do improvements on this building here, the entry point is Energized Delaware and they will send out energy auditors to access the building for opportunities and once they have that assessment done, they will help fund those opportunities. They might say you have a bunch of leaky windows, and we will help you pay to seal those windows up. Or you don’t have adequate insulation in the attic area, and we will help insulate that and that will save the municipality money. I can help hook you up with that program. Councilman Ralph Taylor asked City Manager David Hugg, with a program like this would we be able to connect with it directly through the city either through services or a special organization? Would a program like this be allowed to fit into utilities? Would it be allowed to be a part of our electric bill? Dave Hugg responded; I think so. We are already pursuing the electric vehicle side of this pot of money. We have two small solar installations that are on city property one at the electric plant. My understanding is we are eligible for and can take advantage of all these program opportunities. Councilman Ralph Tayler asked if we need to go to Leg & Fin first or have we already started the process? Dave Hugg responded a little bit of both. On the electric vehicle side, we already have a committee working on in it. In fact, we will be meeting with City Council by the end of the year with a proposal. Part of our energy plan we are updating, the Integrated Resource Plan, which is the national plan for you will for energy service for the city. Which is the nation’s plan for energy service for the city. Solar is a major component of that mix of utility resource. I expect we will see some opportunity to actually invest in solar other than being just a purchaser. Councilman Ralph Taylor stated that is what I am looking at. Where there is a 25 or 27 percent increase in cost of the electricity utility, we can have a city- wide program put in place. Perhaps we can tie homeowners, that are already stressed, into the program and they move into it organically after we are able to get it going. I think it would be a fantastic idea and it will be the vehicle portion of it is needed, but if I am looking at the biggest need right now it is some kind of decrease in our cost of energy. I believe this would be a great segue into it if we were able to do that. City Manager, David Hugg, responded that right now the cost of solar is not that much more of an advantage to us then what we are able to buy in the open market. Susan Love stated that she would like to mention there are a lot of programs specifically for residents or homeowners that they can access directly. And Mary Ellen, Planning Director, has been talking to the DNREC weatherization assistance team. The weatherization program provides free weatherization to low-income residents who qualify. All homeowners or renters can also, through Energized Delaware, have an energy audit of their own home. And have

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 4 some measures taken in their own home where they can save money. We can certainly help with getting information, education, and outreach materials to city residents for those programs. Councilman Ralph Taylor responded, I am trying to share my vision and I am trying my best to tell you as best as I can. I am just not looking at something for low or moderate income; I believe there is a lot of people out here that can use this relief. Whether or not they are deemed low or moderate income. They work every day, they have bills, the bills that come to their home have their name on them. So, if we can do our part to assist and that’s what I am after. Even if Mrs. Love I need for you to come to another committee meeting, if need be, where I give you plenty of time in front of all our colleagues where you are going to be bombarded with questions, and we will go from there. Dave Hugg, City Manager, stated we have a number of programs that we have been looking at for various ways to increase the availability of nontraditional energy to the city. We have been looking at electric vehicles in part because one of our huge costs in providing services to the city is the cost of fuel for these vehicles and in at least in one of the programs there is an opportunity to get the vehicles themselves for free. So, we need to get some charging stations that would not only serve our fleet but that could be available as an Economic Development incentive. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a couple chargers out back here where people that are coming downtown could take advantage? What I was going to call to your attention is that you all are probably familiar with Del Tech Terry Campus, and they have that large solar array over their parking lot. There are a number of municipalities that have done the same thing. There is an opportunity there for us that we never really ever explored but I think there is funding available to do that kind of project if I remember correctly. Susan Love responded that I think we can figure that out. We are looking at all our programs. We are looking for funds that are available from the federal government and trying to figure out where there are gaps and where we can go after funds as a state. Capacity is always an issue as it always is at a local level. If there is something you want to do; let’s talk about it. I have a lot of information but a lot of the programs I have mentioned here are not run by my shop. Tony DePrima who I understand used to have a role in Dover government. So, I am sure he has a special place in his heart for helping Dover. Rob Underwood who runs our energy office; and several others I think would be useful to have us all together. I know just enough about some of those programs to be dangerous, and I’ll try not to get out any misinformation about them. Councilman Ralph Taylor stated that cost and the need are there, but availability is not. For example, our lighting project that we have, the lights are not available. It is a great program, and it is a needed program. The cost is right, but the availability of product. So, if guys are going to make us a promise; please, please, please have the supplies and everything available to us so we can hit the ground running. Susan Love responded that there are definitely supply chains shortages happening all over, from charging stations to transformers to electric vehicles to electric school buses. So, there are some wait times. I haven’t heard about lighting; I did not know there were any supply chain issues on lights, but that very much could be. Getting in line is important so you can get them ordered and to deploy them when they finally come in, and that is what we are doing for a lot of things. Councilman Ralph Taylor stated is there anything else you would like to leave us with? Susan Love responded with, thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity and I expect we will have some ongoing conversations and I welcome them.

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 5 CENTRAL DELAWARE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (CDCC) UPDATE – DINA VENDETTI, PRESIDENT Dina Vendetti stated good afternoon everybody. Thank you so much for this opportunity to be here with you and talk about all things Chamber. I feel like I am preaching to the choir here. You could tell the story as well as I could tell the story. Because looking around at all the people that are already involved with the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce. But I always appreciate the idea to come and talk a little bit. The mayor asked that I come talk about our partnerships and I am happy to do that. The agenda says give an update and I am happy to do that because there are always things to give an update about. But before I do any of that I’d like to give you some high spots in case these are the chamber trivia topics that maybe you don’t know. The Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce was established in 1919. We look pretty good for over a 100. We were established as the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce. The office was right over here in Treadway Towers. That was long before I was around, or in Dover. Eventually, we were incorporated in 1959 as a nonprofit. We are a 501(c)(6) not a 501(c)(3) because we lobby. The vision of the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce is to be the essential resource for the development of businesses in central Delaware. That is a pretty bold statement, don’t you think? To be the essential resource. So, for our members we are a member’s organization right now we have about 780 business members. For our members we want to be top of mind. Whether they are going through something that’s wonderful or whether they are going through something that is challenging, we want them to be in touch with us. And when something comes up, we want them to think of us. Not because we have all the answers, we don’t. We have a lot of the answers. But for the things we don’t have the answer for, we know the people that do. So, the job of the chambers is to connect businesses. We connect business in 4 big areas; education, so we connect businesspeople with ways to learn and opportunities for learning. It might be learning about a new business strategy. It might be learning about a new trend that is coming along, it might be a learning a new situation in their area. The premiere educational experience of the chamber is the Leadership Central Delaware program. Where we connect people with ways to develop their leadership skills and talents and give them a look behind the curtain to see what makes Kent County tick. In that program they have the opportunity to meet the people who are the movers and shakers here in Central Delaware and learn from them how they do leadership, what their strategies are, and the skills that are needed to do the things that they do. So, that is education. We connect people with legislators and with legislation. In terms of legislation, we are honored to be the voice of the business community here in Central Delaware. Our job as that voice is to monitor what goes on at the general assembly to make sure that the legislation that is passed is friendly to our business owners. In terms of are we getting ready to pass something that will cost an inordinate amount of money from the businesses, or is it gone to take an inordinate amount of time they don’t have or are there things that are happening that will require more workforce than what they can get their hands on. If that is the case, we get in the middle of it and we do some education, and some influencing, and a lot of negotiation to try to create something, that not necessary to take those pieces of legislation and those ideas and throw them out but instead be of help in making them something that is gone to be useful and helpful to our business community. Because we know that small business is the backbone of the economy here in Central Delaware. That is really important stuff. We have two lobbyist that are a part of the Chamber, and their services are used every day that the general assembly is in session. The third area is marketing. We connect people with ways to tell their stories, and that is something we

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 6 love, love, love to do. So, the more we know about our members the more we can talk about our members. The more we can let people know what they are doing. The more we can put them in front of people so they can share on what it is they are doing that is helping the community at large. The last area is probably the most fun and that is connecting people with each other which we call that networking in the business world. So, we do all kinds of events and activities. Actually, we do 75 or 76 events and activities every single year. And so that is kind of the skinny on what the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce is all about. I would be amidst if I didn’t remind you, we are a credited chamber. In fact, we are the only accredited chamber in the State of Delaware. And what that means for us is not just a pat on the back and a nice certificate on the wall, but it means is that our members can be assured that what they are getting is something of high quality. We are credited by the United States Chambers of Commerce. They come in every five years and do what we call a “look under the hood”, to make sure we are doing things that Chambers are supposed to be doing. But more than that, are we doing what we say we do? That is very important because you can say you do anything. We are doing what we say we are doing. And according to the United States Chambers of Commerce, indeed we are. More than that we are a second time five-star credited chamber. What that means is that the United Chamber of Commerce when they come in and examine what we are doing, they compare us to the very best chambers all across the country. And there is a rating system, and they score us compared to the very best chambers across the country. And if we rate high enough then we can become what they call a five-star accredited chamber. And all that is very cool, but what is cooler than that is that when somebody else in the country wants to become a five-credit chamber, guess who they compare them to? That’s pretty cool, right? And so again that is not design just to give us all these wonderful bragging rights. To tell you how good we are and how the United Chamber of Commerce thinks we are great, but it provides credibility for us in terms of what we are doing and also provides a much-needed accountability. We are held accountable to a higher standard. And what that does for us allows our members to understand that what they are getting from their membership with the Chamber is something of the highest quality in our country. In terms of our partnerships, we believe firmly that we can do far more together than any of us can do on our own. That is something we go back to again, again, and again. So, we don’t pretend to be the essential resource for the development of businesses in Central Delaware all by ourselves. Because that is not something we could accomplish. But together we can all be the essential resource for businesses in Central Delaware. So, we are honored to partner with the City of Dover on a variety of projects and activities. We are honored to partner with the Downtown Dover Partnership; I attend their board meetings. And when I can make it happen, I go to the merchant meetings because they are so much fun. And it is really cool to see the new businesses starting up in downtown Dover. We are a part of the board for Kent Economic Partnership. We partner with them in terms of bringing business into the county. Once they get here, what do we do to get them established and get them known? And that is part of the job that we do. So, we are involved in all those different entities and more. The Greater Kent Committee, you know all of that. So, we can work together to make things happen. In terms of updates, I am happy to tell you something that probably you didn’t realize was going on with the Chamber; as of last week, after an eight month wait, we are fully staffed. And that is marvelous. In this era of workforce issues, we felt it too. Now we are back up to full staff and we are excited about that because that enables us to do the things we need to do. We’ve just gone through a big technology update, that’s the good news. The bad news is that we just went through a big technology update, and I think you all what that means. One of our biggest accomplishments in the last year was to be

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 7 able to be a part of the Kent County Small Business Grant. We worked with the County in disturbing ARPA funds through a grant program to our small businesses. And we worked with Kent County Tourism. They took the hospitality side; we took the small business side. On the small business side of things, we were thrilled to be able to give away 2.413 million dollars to small business. It was called the American Rescue Plan Act. And when we gave those checks to the business owners and we saw their reactions that was rescue in every sense of the word. So, that was a big deal. And the lesson that we learned, and I’ll leave you with this unless there are questions. The biggest lesson we learned in the last couple of years is that our businesses need real help in real time. They don’t need something that we are going to think about 6 months to a year, and then think about how to have a committee. When they need help, real help, in real time. So, it is gone to be really important to us to be in touch with them all of the time, so we know what they need, and we continue to do that work of connecting them with the things that they need. That is really super important to us. As we look forward, we are trying to do whatever we can to remain relevant in a world that has changed. And that is something many of us are looking at. We got businesses now that once were brick and mortar and now they have gone to become e-commerce, and their online businesses. Are we still relevant for them in terms of what they need and what we can offer them? If were not, what are we doing to make ourselves relevant? So those are things we are doing as we look ahead. I think that’s all I got for you today. Councilman Anderson asked two questions. First, I want to thank you for coming today, and sharing, it is always good to see you. First question has to do with recovering from the pandemic. How do you feel the small business community, which was hit the hardest by the regulations, with the shutdowns, etc. for an unknown reason because they were probably the safest and they were the most effected? How have recovered now and the members and the others that you have seen how has their recovery been? Dina Vendetti replied that the small business community was hit in a big way. I can tell that over the course of the shutdowns just talking about just Chamber members we had 70 businesses close not to reopen and that was heartbreaking to see that and not being able to do something more to help them. We had another number of businesses that because they were the only ones working, they didn’t have time to use their Chamber membership, so we ended up losing them as well. And that was very difficult because at the time they needed us the most, we did our best to be there regardless of membership for our business community but that was a tough spot as well. In terms of the recovery, I think a lot of businesses are coming back now. We are starting to see businesses that had limited their hours beginning to expand their hours again. The problems with shutdowns and lack of revenue when that part of it was over and they were allowed to reopen again the next problem became not having enough people to work. And that has been just a really big issue with everybody we talk to. We get calls every single day. We want to reopen up, we want to expand our hours, we want to expand our services, but we don’t have the people to do it. I do feel like that is just at the very beginning of starting to ease just a little bit. And I do think from where we sit it looks like that is going to come back it is just taking a long time for reason that none of us really understand. But I think businesses are working hard to come back. The thing we saw during over the course of the pandemic, and I am sure you saw this as well, is that our business community is extremely resilient. And the people in those leadership positions in our businesses are the most creative, the most innovative people on the planet. Because they were able to take a horrible situation and turn into something different. Either provide their product in a different way or provide their service

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 8 in a different way so that they can remain relevant during that time and remain open to some extent. We saw people dig deep and come up with things that they never dreamt they could do before. And it works well for them and for some of those businesses they are continuing to do those things even now that they are able to be back open now, so I was thinking it was a showcase of creativity and innovation. Councilman Anderson stated that in today’s world of communication is a lot more challenging because there is such a segmentation of the population, and no one seems to be at one place. Everybody doesn’t watch one of the three tv stations, they don’t listen to the local radio/satellite radio all the time, or people don’t always read the paper. There is a lot of social media platforms. What lessons has the Chamber learned that maybe we can learn from when it comes to trying to communicate to a diverse audience? Dina Vendetti responded; I think the biggest lesson that we can all learn is that there are some situations that allow us to be redundant. So, you say it once then you say it again, then you say it again, then say it again until you get tired of saying it and even then, there is going to be somebody that might miss it, so you say it one more time. Part of the issue is that we are competing for air space. And I mean that kind of in symbolic way. Like you mention, people are getting information from so many places and sometimes all at the same time. Your ears can only hear so many words a minute, and your brain can only process so much in that period of time. And so, everybody who is trying to communicate is competing in that market. That is what is happening. So, the message has to be clear, the message has to be important, has to be seen as relevant, there is that word again, and it has to be repeated. And we have as a chamber really worked to learn to use as many avenues of communication as we can. So, we have the newspaper, we have email publications, we are on social media, we are calling people, it’s all the stuff. We are telling people to tell other people. We’re encouraging people to like and share so that our social medica stuff goes up higher on the google list. All of those things so that we can grab attention and I think those are things we have to keep in mind all the time when we are communicating with the people we are communicating with. MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS Councilman Ralph Taylor stated that the Mayor is not here so I’d like to do something a little different. Diane, and anyone else, what would you like to see on the next Economic Development meeting on January 10th? Diane what would you like to see? Diane Laird responded that I think we will be ready to present the Master Plan in January for Downtown Dover. Kim Adams stated I don’t have anything on the spot right now. I will get back to you. Councilman Anderson stated I think that the Master Plan is definitely something I would like to see in January and maybe a little afterwards just an update on where we are on some of the Economic Development grants and other avenues. David Hugg stated I really am looking forward seeing the Master Plan and I really want the opportunity to think about it. But I think the sooner we can start identifying some of the key implementation steps that we as a city can do. I know there is some zoning things we can do. I know there are some capital improvement projects that we can start the program. To the extent if we have the time to both listen to the plan and understand what it is, and also ask that question of what can we do pretty much right now? What can we do quickly? I think that would be an important step rather than having another topic on the agenda. Councilman Taylor stated the Master Plan seems to be one of things we need to do. I would like to look at it from a little bit different perspective. Safety obviously is something

Economic Development Meeting of November 15, 2022 PAGE 9 we need to continue to look at. However, I like to see some type of tutorial playing continuously on our website to help potential business owners to get started. I know there is different avenues to take but I like for someone to be able to go on our website or go to our Facebook page and something is looping, something that you can see continuously. There will be different tutorials such as, how to get your permitting, how to get your plan through, and how to get started. I think that is vitally important. I know when I was starting my business years ago, fear is a powerful thing. So, if you are afraid to get started because of the financial reason then you don’t know how to get started so you just don’t get started. So, if we have something there that is constantly telling them how to get things going, I think that would be greatly appreciated. And also, if we can find some experts on hiring. I believe that hiring struggles are real, and everybody is going through them. And a lot of people are sifting through some of the exact same people. So, I believe we start identifying our key core principles of what we are after, and we will and will not accept. And then move forward from there, I like to see that being on one of our future meetings. NEXT MEETING DATE January 10, 2023 at 4:00 PM ADJOURNMANT Councilman Taylor called the meeting adjourned at 5:05 PM. Exhibits Exhibit #1 – Delaware Climate Active Plan (DNREC) Presentation

Attachment #1 Delaware’s Climate Action Plan and Sustainability Opportunities for the City of Dover 1

Attachment #1 Why is the climate changing? Human activities have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, warming our planet and causing climate change. The leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Delaware are: • Transportation • Industrial • Electrical Power 2

Attachment #1 Climate Change in Delaware In Delaware, the impacts of climate change are already being felt. Here in our state, climate change primarily takes the form of: • Sea level rise, • Increased temperatures, and • More frequent intense storms, including heavy precipitation and flooding. 3

Attachment #1 Climate models show that Delaware will continue to warm Days with Maximum Temperature 75 Lower >100oF 60 Scenario Higher 45 Scenario 30 15 0 1981-2010 2020-2039 2040-2059 2080-2099 (historical) (near (mid-century) (late century) century) De.gov/climatechange 4

Attachment #1 Sea Level Rise Rising sea levels have many effects: • Inundation of low-lying areas • Reduction of natural flood benefits of wetlands and buffers • Inundation of critical facilities like wastewater plants • Saltwater intrusion and rising water tables At left: Projected sea level rise in Dover 2080-2100. Blue is high tide today; Green is high tide with 3 feet of sea level rise 5

Attachment #1 Planning for Delaware’s Future Delaware’s Climate Action Plan guides state efforts to Minimize greenhouse gas emissions and Maximize resilience to climate change impacts. The Climate Action Plan was created to: • Help Delaware meet its emissions reduction goal (at least 26% from 2005 levels by 2025). • Integrate emissions reduction and climate change adaptation actions. • Set a course for state climate action in the decades ahead. 6

Attachment #1 Strategies For Minimizing Emissions • Clean and Renewable Energy • Energy Efficiency • Transportation Systems • High Global Warming Potential Greenhouse Gases • Offsetting Carbon Emissions 7

Attachment #1 Strategies for Maximizing Resilience • Updated or New State Regulations • Management Plans • Facility and Infrastructure Design and Management • Agency Support • Research and Monitoring • Support for Communities and Stakeholders • Outreach and Education November 4, 2022 8

Attachment #1 Progress Highlights Regulations for High Electric Vehicle Renewable Energy Global Warming Charging Infrastructure Goals updated to 40% Potential Chemicals Planning and Grants by 2035, plus (HFCs) effective Sept, community solar 2021 9

Attachment #1 The Important and Special Role of Municipal and County Governments • Zoning and Building Codes • Energy Conservation Code • Roads, Bikeways and Sidewalks • Parking standards • Water, Sewer and Energy Infrastructure • Vehicle Fleets and Municipal buildings • Conservation of Natural Resources/Green Infrastructure 10

Attachment #1 Funding and Financial Opportunities for Municipal Operations • Energy Efficiency Improvements • Energize Delaware Empowerment Grant • DNREC Energy Efficiency Investment Fund • Public Electric Vehicle Infrastructure • DNREC Clean Transportation Incentive Program • Clean and Electric passenger and heavy-duty vehicles • DNREC Diesel Emissions Reduction Program • Energize Delaware EVs for municipalities • Resilient Community Partnership • DNREC Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund • MANY MORE! 11

Attachment #1 Getting Started • Identify Key Needs or opportunities • Review existing strategic or comp plans • Develop a Sustainability and/or Resiliency Plan to bring it all together • Start with small pilot projects • Ask questions; we are here to help link you to resources November 4, 2022 12

Attachment #1 Learn More @DelawareDNREC @DNRECClimate @DelawareDNREC de.gov/climateplan @ DNRECClimate 13

CURRENT CONDITIONS

HIGH PRIORITY TARGET AREA RAIL HAUS =

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