Our Agency

Virtual Special Meeting Only
 

Call to order 1:02 p.m.

Board Members Present

Timothy Whipple, Board Chairperson

Stuart Anderson

Jennifer Johnson

Dan Nickey

Joel Schmidt

Valerie Newhouse

Gul Kremer-Okuden

Rick Olesen

Nathan Young

Jenae Jenison

Debi Durham

Geri Huser*
 

Iowa Economic Development Authority Staff Present

Brian Selinger

Amber Buckingham

Stephanie Weisenbach

Ryan Young

Shelly Peterson

Terry Roberson

Lisa Connell

Jessica O’Riley

Betty Hessing

Vicky Clinkscales

Others Present

Brenda Biddle, Iowa Utilities Board Staff
 

Welcome & Introductions by Board Chairperson Timothy Whipple

Timothy Whipple thanked everyone for participating in this virtual IEC Board meeting.
 

Roll Call by Betty Hessing, Administrative Assistant

A quorum was established. All Board Members were present except Geri Huser.

*Geri Huser joined the meeting at 1:07 p.m.

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Motion by

Motion

Second

Voice Vote

Stuart Anderson

I move approval of the August 6, 2020 minutes.

Dan Nickey

All ayes in favor. Motion approved.
 

Public Comment Period – No comments.

Fiscal Update – Attachment A
 

Presentation provided by Terry Roberson of the final report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. In IEC’s main account there is about $11.5M and slightly over $12.3M in the loan account. One thing to note is we are still showing on the obligation log, the award to the Miles’ from last meeting. That has been rescinded, but as of June 30th it was an award, and the rescission happened in FY21. Terry Roberson stated he must keep it that way to keep the numbers straight for the State Auditors on our contractual commitments.
 

Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program (AERLP) Loan Program Update - Stephanie Weisenbach stated at the last meeting you learned about the proposal for revisions to the Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program. Since that time, we sent out a survey to some stakeholders and are currently reviewing those survey results and we will be able to discuss next steps and we will have a more substantial update for the Board at the October meeting. We received a total of three applications for this cycle—two of them did not pass our screening for eligibility and completeness, so we brought forward one application to the loan committee.
 

Keaton Martin – 80kW Solar Project – Attachment B

Stephanie Weisenbach explained Keaton Martin is an individual applicant that intends to construct a ground-mounted solar electric system for his 4,800 head feed-finish hog operation in Calhoun County. This solar project is 80 kW and the loan request is for $77,158. There is 50% available in private equity for the upfront cost of the project; the incentives are Federal and State tax incentives. In addition to an anticipated application to the USDA Rural Energy for America Program that has not been secured, but is listed in the incentives total. As terms of collateral, the applicant is pledging an irrevocable letter of credit, which eliminates risk to the IEC, and we will not be disbursing funds until collateral has been secured. The award decision date would be today so if the Board decides to approve this, they would be able to begin construction and would be completing the project and then submitting a report when it is placed in service.
 

The recommendation from the loan committee is a four-year term and for the IEC Board to approve the loan request.

Motion by Joel Schmidt

Motion Motion to approve the loan committee’s recommendation.

Second Jennifer Johnson

Roll Call Yes: 11 Abstain: 1 (Rick Olesen)

Motion approved.
 

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Grant Program

Committee Recommendations for IEC Competitive Grant Program Recommendations for Awards – Attachment C

Amber Buckingham gave an overview of each of the applications selected for funding for the IEC Competitive Grant Program Grant Recommendations.

Grant Approvals – Attachment C

Motion by Dan Nickey

Motion Approve 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 11 on IEC Competitive Grant Program Grant Recommendations list.

Second Timothy Whipple

Roll Call Yes: 12 No: 0

Motion approved.

Gul Kremer-Okuden got offline at 1:17 p.m.

Motion by Geri Huser

Motion Approve 5 on IEC Competitive Grant Program Grant Recommendations list.

Second Stuart Anderson

Roll Call Yes: 11 No: 0 Recused: 1 (Gul Kremer-Okuden)

Motion approved.

Gul Kremer-Okuden stayed offline and Joel Schmidt got offline at 1:19 p.m.

Motion by Dan Nickey

Motion Approve 9 on IEC Competitive Grant Program Grant Recommendations list.

Second Rick Olesen

Roll Call Yes: 10 No: 0 Recused: 2 (Gul Kremer-Okuden &

Joel Schmidt)

Motion approved.
 

Gul Kremer-Okuden and Joel Schmidt got back online at 1:20 p.m.; Timothy Whipple got offline at 1:20 p.m. Jennifer Johnson took over the discussion and vote.

Motion by Geri Huser

Motion Approve 8 on IEC Competitive Grant Program Grant Recommendations list.

Second Joel Schmidt

Roll Call Yes: 11 No: 0 Recused: 1 (Timothy Whipple)

Motion approved.

Motion by Stuart Anderson

Motion Approve 10 on IEC Competitive Grant Program Grant Recommendations list.

Second Dan Nickey

Roll Call Yes: 11 No: 0 Recused: 1 (Timothy Whipple)

Motion approved

Timothy Whipple rejoined the call at 1:25 p.m.

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Grant Denials – Attachment D

Motion by Geri Huser

Motion Approve 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of IEC Grant Committee Recommendations for Denial list.

Second Rick Olesen

Roll Call Yes: 12 No: 0

Motion approved.

Joel Schmidt got offline at 1:30 p.m.

Motion by Dan Nickey

Motion Approve 4 of IEC Grant Committee Recommendations for Denial list.

Second Jennifer Johnson

Roll Call Yes: 11 No: 0 Recused: 1 (Joel Schmidt)

Motion approved.

Joel Schmidt got back online at 1:31 p.m.

Appointments to Committees and Election of Chair/Vice Chair –
 

Attachment E

Appointments to Grant Committee – Lisa Connell stated these are just recommendations, based on the legwork Brian Selinger did to determine who was interested in serving on committees and serving as Chair and Vice Chair.  Please state if you are interested in serving on any committees. Lisa Connell stated that she put in the Board Report that we would make these appointments through August of 2021; Lisa Connell suggested we change that because Joel Schmidt and Timothy Whipple’s terms expire in June of 2021, so let’s change the terms to through June 30, 2021. That will put us on a good schedule to do this annually as other peoples terms expire June 30 in subsequent years. Lisa Connell stated the first appointment to the Grant Committee will be reappointing Jennifer Johnson, Gul Kremer, Dan Nickey and Rick Olesen, and adding Jenae Jenison in Debi Durham’s place, at her request. That would be a five person Grant Committee through June 2021. Voice Vote Timothy Whipple asked for a voice vote on all in favor of the listed appointments to the Grant Committee. All ayes in favor. Appointments to Grant Committee approved. 
 

Appointments to Loan Committee – Lisa Connell stated the next is the appointment of the Loan Committee. Suggestion is to reappoint Stuart Anderson, Valerie Newhouse and Timothy Whipple to a three-person Loan Committee through June 2021. Timothy Whipple suggested we have 4 to 5 1members on the Loan Committee. Lisa Connell replied that one thought was to have the new Board Member  appointment appointed to the Loan Committee, once he has been officially appointed to the Iowa Energy Center Board. Lisa Connell stated we could vote as is today and plan to add the new Board Member once he/she is officially appointed. Timothy Whipple told Brian Selinger that if we have trouble getting enough of a vote without conflicts, then we may need to add a fifth person to Loan Committee, but proceed as is for now.

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Voice Vote Timothy Whipple asked for a voice vote on all in favor of the listed appointments to the Loan Committee. All ayes in favor. Appointments to Loan Committee approved.

Election of Chair and Vice Chair – Lisa Connell stated the proposal was to elect Joel Schmidt as Chair and Dan Nickey as Vice Chair through June of 2021.

Motion by Rick Olesen

Motion Elect Joel Schmidt to serve as Chair and Dan Nickey to

serve as Vice Chair through June 2021.

Second Valerie Newhouse

Roll Call Yes: 11 Abstain: 1 (Joel Schmidt)

Motion approved.

Other Business

Volkswagen Settlement Update

Stuart Anderson stated the State of Iowa received $21M from the Environmental Mitigation Trust that was set-up to settle allegations of violations the Clean Air Act by Volkswagen. Those funds are used by each State to take actions to mitigate those Clean Air Act violations by supporting projects that reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the State. The Iowa Department of Transportation was assigned to administer these funds; we worked very closely with other State agencies, particularly the Iowa Economic Development Authority, but also the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Attorney General’s Office—was involved in the settlement. We initially developed a plan for how to allocate those funds amongst different categories and then review applications and ultimately award funds. We did the first-round last year and in July we announce the second round of awards. What was unique about the second round was this was our first crack at awarding funds for zero emission vehicle technology projects. In the awards in July, we awarded a little over $2M to replace 40 school buses and public transit vehicles across the State of Iowa with either much better emission diesel vehicles or some alternatively fueled vehicles. Also, awarded a little less than $300,000 to replace 11 freight trucks around the State. Our third category is for non-road transport and equipment and here we awarded funds to replace the engines on two tugboats that operate on the Mississippi.
 

For the zero emissions technology projects, we made funding available in two different categories--$900,000 was set aside for direct current fast charging sites, targeted on the I-80 and I-35 corridor—to try to eliminate where we have more than 50 miles gaps so we can increase comfort of people travelling on those interstates that charging facilities are available and fast charging facilities.

Six sites were awarded—3 along I-80 in eastern Iowa and 3 on I-35—one south of Des Moines and one at the Minnesota border (Northwood) and one in the Ames area. The second category--$200,000 was set aside for Level 2 Community Charging Sites—we were able to fund most of those applications—awarded funds for 15 sites across the State of Iowa. Excited to see these

charging projects get awarded and out there.
 

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The next round will be coming up with solicitation by the end of this calendar year, with applications due early calendar year 2021 and awards next Spring or so. We set this up to do three rounds of funding for each category. This will be the third round for the non-vehicle charging categories, but we will likely still have some funds left over so we’ll probably do another round of those funds beyond that and then coming up we will just be on our second round of the vehicle charging category so we will have one more after that. It is nice to see these funds get moving and projects implemented quickly.

Energy Office Updates

Brian Selinger reported we still have our vacancy for the municipal Board seat, but the Governor’s Office will be working to get that application acted upon. We hope by the October Board meeting, we will have a full complement of Board members. Brian Selinger stated that for the October Board meeting—besides the normal Board business—we plan on having the consulting group that we had contracted with—Synapse Energy Economics—make a brief presentation to the IEC Board. By that point, we will have publicly released the Energy Storage Assessment—the economic potential for Iowa Energy Storage. That would give you a chance to ask questions. We will be in touch as we build out that Board agenda.

Brian Selinger will start working on 2021 calendar schedules so we know when the four Quarterly IEC Board meetings will be held and get them on your schedules.

Joel Schmidt asked if the ad hoc committee is going to bring the legislative proposal to the Board in October. Brian Selinger replied that was the pathway we are going to take—that ad hoc committee—the loan committee and up to the IEC Board.

4th Quarterly Board

Meeting for 2020

October 29, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. via virtual only.

Chairperson Whipple asked for a motion to adjourn.

Motion by Rick Olesen

Motion I move to adjourn.

Second Joel Schmidt

Adjournment 1:45 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Betty Hessing, Administrative Assistant