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Nassau County Industrial Development IDA (“IDA”) Agenda · 2020. 5. 5. · D1A (rev) 5-26-2020...
Transcript of Nassau County Industrial Development IDA (“IDA”) Agenda · 2020. 5. 5. · D1A (rev) 5-26-2020...
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D1A (rev) 5-26-2020
Nassau County Industrial Development IDA (“IDA”)
Agenda
May 28, 2020 at 6:45 PM
I. Board Roll Call II. Chair Report
III. Chief Executive Officer Report
IV. Public Comment Period
A. Public Comment1
V. New Business and Discussion A. Preliminary Resolutions2
i. DBD Realty Group, LLC
VI. Other Business
A. Minutes
i. Approval of May 7, 2020 Minutes
VIII. Chief Financial Officer Report
IX. Adjournment
1 In addition to participation via Zoom, public comments may also be submitted to [email protected]. 2 In addition to participation via Zoom, public comments may also be submitted to [email protected]. A public hearing will happen at a later date for a project receiving a preliminary resolution.
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MEDIA ADVISORY
ON THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2020
THE BOARD OF THE NASSAU COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
WILL HOLD A MEETING
STARTING AT 6:45 P.M.
THIS MEETING WILL BE LIVESTREAMED AT https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuERg-5BYx9VSdBVHUPTYJw/featured
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuERg-5BYx9VSdBVHUPTYJw/featured
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311391\4811-0879-7361\ v1
DBD Realty Group, LLC -Preliminary Inducement Resolution
A regular meeting of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency (the “Agency”) was convened in public session, electronically, pursuant to Executive Order No. 202.11 - Continuing Temporary Suspension And Modification Of Laws Relating To The Disaster Emergency - by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of the State of New York on May 28, 2020 at 6:45 p.m., local time.
The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, upon roll being called, the following members of the Agency were:
PRESENT:
Richard Kessel Chairman Lewis M. Warren Vice Chairman Anthony Simon 2nd Vice Chairman Amy Flores Treasurer John Coumatos Asst. Treasurer Chris Fusco Asst. Secretary Timothy Williams Secretary
THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL PERSONS WERE PRESENT:
Harry Coghlan Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director Danielle Oglesby Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Executive Director Colleen Pereira Administrative Director Thomas D. Glascock Agency Counsel Andrew Komaromi Bond/Transaction Counsel
The attached resolution no. 2020-__ was offered by _______, seconded by __________.
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Resolution No. 2020 - ___
RESOLUTION TAKING PRELIMINARY ACTION TOWARD THE ACQUISITION AND STRAIGHT LEASING OF A CERTAIN PROJECT FOR DBD REALTY
GROUP, LLC (THE “APPLICANT”) AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT WITH THE APPLICANT WITH
RESPECT TO SUCH TRANSACTION
WHEREAS, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency (the “Agency”) is authorized and empowered by the provisions of Chapter 1030 of the 1969 Laws of New York, constituting Title I of Article 18-A of the General Municipal Law, Chapter 24 of the Consolidated Laws of New York, as amended (the “Enabling Act”), and Chapter 674 of the 1975 Laws of New York, as amended, constituting Section 922 of said General Municipal Law (said Chapter and the Enabling Act being hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Act”) to promote, develop, encourage and assist in the acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, maintaining, equipping and furnishing of manufacturing, industrial and commercial facilities, among others, for the purpose of promoting, attracting and developing economically sound commerce and industry to advance the job opportunities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the people of the State of New York, to improve their prosperity and standard of living, and to prevent unemployment and economic deterioration; and
WHEREAS, to accomplish its stated purposes, the Agency is authorized and empowered under the Act to acquire, construct, reconstruct and install one or more “projects” (as defined in the Act) or to cause said projects to be acquired, constructed, reconstructed and installed and to convey said projects or to lease said projects with the obligation to purchase; and
WHEREAS, DBD REALTY GROUP, LLC a limited liability company organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York (the “Applicant”) has presented an application for financial assistance (the “Application”) to the Agency, which Application requests that the Agency consider undertaking a project (the “Project”) consisting of the following: (A)(1) the retention of an interest in an approximately 8.02 acre parcel of land located at 1 Old Country Road, Hamlet of Carle Place, Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, New York (Section: 9; Block: 670; Lot: 56) (the “Land”), (2) the renovation of an approximately 300,000s square foot office building (collectively, the “Building”) on the Land, together with related improvements to the Land, including surface parking spaces and 150,000 square foot parking garage (3) the acquisition of certain furniture, fixtures, machinery and equipment (the “Equipment') necessary for the completion thereof (collectively, the “Project Facility”), all of the foregoing for use by the Applicant as a commercial multi-tenant office building; (B) the granting of certain “financial assistance” (within the meaning of Section 854(14) of the General Municipal Law) with respect to the foregoing in the form of potential exemptions or partial exemptions from real property taxes, mortgage recording taxes and sales and use taxes (collectively, the “Financial Assistance”); and (C) the lease (with an obligation to purchase), license or sale of the Project Facility to the Applicant or such other entity as may be designated by the Applicant and agreed upon by the Agency; and
WHEREAS, the Agency has given due consideration to the Application and to the representations made by the Applicant therein, in certain supplemental documents and at this meeting, including, without limitation, representations of the Applicant that: (A) the granting by the Agency of the Financial Assistance with respect to the Project Facility will be an inducement to the Applicant to
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undertake the Project in Nassau County, New York; (B) the completion of the Project and the leasing and operation of the Project Facility will not result in the removal of a facility or plant of the Applicant or any tenant, user or occupant of the Project Facility from one area of the State of New York (the “State”) to another area of the State or in the abandonment of one or more plants or facilities of the Applicant or any tenant, user or occupant of the Project Facility located in the State but outside Nassau County, New York; (C) the Project will serve the public purposes of the Act by preserving permanent, private sector jobs and increasing the overall number of permanent, private sector jobs in the State; and (D) the granting of the Financial Assistance by the Agency will promote the job opportunities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the inhabitants of Nassau County, New York, and improve their standard of living, and prevent unemployment and economic deterioration, and thereby serve the public purposes of the Act; and
WHEREAS, a portion of the Financial Assistance consisting of an exemption from real property taxes, if granted, may represent a deviation from the Agency's uniform tax exemption policy with respect to the making of payments in lieu of real property taxes; and
WHEREAS, any approval of the Project is contingent upon, among other things, a final determination by the members of the Agency to proceed with the Project following determinations by the Agency that: (A) the public hearing and notice requirements and other procedural requirements contained in the Act relating to the Project and the Financial Assistance have been satisfied; and (B) the undertaking of the Project by the Agency and the granting of the Financial Assistance are and will be in compliance with all other applicable requirements of the Act, Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law (the “SEQR Act”) and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto (the “Regulations” and together with the SEQR Act, collectively, “SEQRA”), and all other statutes, codes, laws, rules and regulations of any governmental authority having jurisdiction over the Project or the Project Facility (collectively, the “Applicable Laws”); and
WHEREAS, the Agency desires to encourage the Applicant to preserve and advance the job opportunities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the people of Nassau County, New York, and to prevent unemployment and economic deterioration, by undertaking the Project in Nassau County, New York; and
WHEREAS, a preliminary agreement (the “Preliminary Agreement”) relative to the proposed undertaking of the Project by the Agency has been or will be delivered to the Applicant for execution;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE NASSAU COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The Agency hereby authorizes the Chief Executive Office/Executive Director of the Agency (and hereby ratifies any actions taken to date by the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director): (A) to establish a time, date and place for a public hearing (the “Public Hearing”) of the Agency to hear all persons interested in the location and nature of the Project and the proposed Financial Assistance being contemplated by the Agency with respect to the Project, said Public Hearing to be held in the city, town or village within which the Project Facility is or will be located; (B) to cause notice of said Public Hearing to be given to the public by publishing a notice of said Public Hearing in a newspaper of general circulation available to residents of the governmental units where the Project Facility is or is to be located, such notice to
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comply with the requirements of and to be published in accordance with the requirements of the Act; (C) to cause notice of said Public Hearing, pursuant to the Act, to be given to the chief executive officer of die County of Nassau, New York, and of each city, town, village, school district and other affected tax jurisdiction in which the Project Facility is or is to be located; (D) to establish a time, date and place for a meeting of the Agency (the “IDA Meeting”) to consider whether to approve a proposed deviation from the Agency's uniform tax exemption policy in accordance with the Act if the Executive Director determines that the portion of the Financial Assistance consisting of an exemption from real property taxes constitutes a deviation from such policy; (E) to cause notice of any such proposed deviation from the Agency's uniform tax exemption policy and of the IDA Meeting to be given to the chief executive officer of each affected tax jurisdiction in accordance with the Act; (F) to conduct the Public Hearing or to authorize a hearing officer to conduct the Public Hearing; (G) to cause a report of the Public Hearing fairly summarizing the views presented at said Public Hearing to be promptly prepared and cause copies of said report to be made available to the members of the Agency; (H) to hold the IDA Meeting and to review and respond to any correspondence received from the affected tax jurisdictions regarding the proposed deviation from the Agency's uniform tax exemption policy, if applicable; and (I) to otherwise comply with all other procedural and other requirements imposed on the Agency pursuant to Applicable Laws with respect to the Project and/or the Financial Assistance.
Section 2. The Applicant is hereby authorized to conduct such environmental, engineering, economic, feasibility and other studies and preliminary planning and budgetary processes necessary or convenient to enable the Agency to make its determination whether to proceed with the Project and to grant the Financial Assistance; provided, however, that such authorization shall not entitle or permit the Applicant to commence the acquisition, construction, installation or equipping of the Project Facility on behalf of the Agency unless and until the Agency shall determine that all requirements of Applicable Laws have been fulfilled. The officers, agents and employees of the Agency are hereby directed to proceed to do such things or perform such acts as may allow the Agency to proceed to its final consideration of the Project. This Resolution constitutes an authorization to conduct concurrent environmental, engineering, economic, feasibility and other studies and preliminary planning with respect to the Project within the meaning of Section 617.3(c)(2) of the Regulations and a determination of compliance with technical requirements within the meaning of Section 617.3(c)(2) of the Regulations and does not constitute, and shall not be deemed to constitute, either an approval by the Agency of the Project for the purposes of the Act or SEQRA or a commitment by the Agency to approve the Project or to grant the Financial Assistance.
Section 3. Any expenses incurred by the Agency with respect to the Project and/or the financing thereof shall be paid by the Applicant as set forth in the Preliminary Agreement.
Section 4. The findings of the Agency set forth herein are expressly conditioned upon full compliance of the Applicant, the Project and the Project Facility with all Applicable Laws, and the Applicant shall be required to provide evidence of same satisfactory to the Agency prior to the granting of any Financial Assistance.
Section 5. If, following full compliance with all Applicable Laws, the Agency adopts a
future resolution (the “Future Resolution”) determining to proceed with the Project and to grant the Financial Assistance, or any portion thereof, with respect to the Project and the Applicant complies with all conditions set forth in the Preliminary Agreement and the Future Resolution, then the
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Agency will (A) acquire an interest in the Project Facility pursuant to a deed, lease agreement, assignment of lease, license, bill of sale and/or other documentation to be negotiated between the Agency and the Applicant (the “Acquisition Agreement”); (B) construct, install and equip the Building and acquire and install the Equipment; (C) lease (with the obligation to purchase), license or sell the Project Facility to the Applicant pursuant to a lease agreement or an installment sale agreement (the “Project Agreement”) to be negotiated between the Agency and the Applicant; and (D) provide the Financial Assistance with respect to the Project, all as contemplated by the Preliminary Agreement and the Future Resolution.
Section 6. The form, terms and substance of the Preliminary Agreement (in substantially the form presented at this meeting and attached hereto) are in all respects approved, and the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Office/Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Executive Director or Administrative Director of the Agency are each hereby authorized, empowered and directed, acting individually or jointly, to execute and deliver said Preliminary Agreement in the name and on behalf of the Agency, with such changes therein as shall be approved by the officer executing same on behalf of the Agency, the execution thereof by such officer to constitute conclusive evidence of such officer's approval of any and all changes or revisions therein from the form now before this meeting.
Section 7. From and after the execution and delivery of the Preliminary Agreement, the officers, agents and employees of the Agency are hereby authorized, empowered and directed, acting individually or jointly, to proceed with the undertakings provided for therein on the part of the Agency, and are further authorized to do all such acts and things and to execute all such documents as may be necessary or convenient to carry out and comply with the terms and provisions of the Preliminary Agreement as and when executed.
Section 8. The law firm of Harris Beach PLLC, Uniondale, New York, is hereby appointed Special Counsel to the Agency with respect to all matters in connection with the Project. Special Counsel for the Agency is hereby authorized, at the expense of the Applicants, to work with counsel to the Agency, the Applicants, counsel to the Applicants, and others to prepare, for submission to the Agency, all documents necessary to effect the transactions contemplated by this Resolution.
Section 9. The Chairman, Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Office/Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Executive Director and Administrative Director of the Agency are each hereby authorized and directed to distribute copies of this Resolution to the Applicants and to do such further things or perform such acts as may be necessary or convenient to implement the provisions of this Resolution.
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The question of the adoption of the foregoing Resolution was duly put to a vote on roll call, which resulted as follows:
Richard Kessel Lewis M. Warren Anthony Simon Timothy Williams Chris Fusco Amy Flores John Coumatos
VOTING VOTING VOTING VOTING VOTING VOTING VOTING
The foregoing Resolution was thereupon declared duly _____________.
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STATE OF NEW YORK ) SS.:
COUNTY OF NASSAU
We, the undersigned [Vice] Chairman and [Assistant] Secretary of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency (the “Agency”), do hereby certify that we have compared the foregoing extract of the minutes of the meeting of the members of the Agency, including the Resolution contained therein, held on May 28, 2020 with the original thereof on file in our office, and that the same is a true and correct copy of said original and of such Resolution set forth therein and of the whole of said original so far as the same relates to the subject matters therein referred to.
WE FURTHER CERTIFY that (A) all members of the Agency had due notice of said meeting; (B) said meeting was in all respects duly held; (C) pursuant to Article 5 of the Public Officers Law (the “Open Meetings Law”) as modified pursuant to Executive Order No. 202.11 - Continuing Temporary Suspension And Modification Of Laws Relating To The Disaster Emergency - by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of the State of New York, said meeting was open to the general public, and due notice of the time and place of said meeting was duly given in accordance with such Open Meetings Law; and (D) there was a quorum of the members of the Agency present throughout said meeting.
WE FURTHER CERTIFY that, as of the date hereof, the attached Resolution is in full force and effect and has not been amended, repealed or rescinded.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our respective hands and affixed the seal of the Agency this 28th day of May, 2020.
___________________________ [Assistant] Secretary
___________________________ [Vice] Chairman
(SEAL)
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NASSAU COUNTY LOCAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
CORPORATION (the "Corporation")
and
NASSAU COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Meetings
Thursday, May 7, 2020 - 6:30 p.m.
-----------------------------------------------x
(Remotely taken via Zoom)
May 7, 20206:30 p.m.
B E F O R E:
NASSAU COUNTY LOCAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
CORPORATION
Richard Kessel, Chairman
Lewis M. Warren, Vice Chairman
Anthony Simon, 2nd Vice Chairman
Timothy Williams, Secretary
Amy Flores, Treasurer
John Coumatos, Assistant Treasurer
Christopher Fusco, Assistant Secretary
Harry Coghlan, Chief Executive
Officer/Executive Director
Anne LaMorte, Chief Financial Officer
(Continued on next page)
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B E F O R E (Cont'd):
Thomas D. Glascock, Agency Counsel
Andrew Komaromi, Bond/Transaction Counsel
NASSAU COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Richard Kessel, Chairman
Lewis M. Warren, Vice Chairman
Anthony Simon, 2nd Vice Chairman
Timothy Williams, Secretary
Amy Flores, Treasurer
John Coumatos, Assistant Treasurer
Christopher Fusco, Assistant Secretary
Harry Coghlan, Chief Executive Officer
Danielle Oglesby, Chief Operating
Officer/Deputy Executive Director
Anne LaMorte, Chief Financial Officer
Catherine Fee, Director of Business
Development/Chief Marketing Officer
Colleen Pereira, Administrative Director
Carlene Wynter, Compliance Assistant
Nicole Gil, Administrative Assistant
Kevin Murphy
Thomas D. Glascock, Agency Counsel
Andrew Komaromi, Bond/Transaction Counsel
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CEO COGHLAN: Good evening.
My name is Harry Coghlan. I am the
Chief Executive Officer of the
Nassau County Local Economic
Assistance Corporation. On behalf
of our chairman, members of the
board and staff, I welcome you to
today's open meeting of the board
of directors. Today is May 7, 2020
and the time is now 6:30 P.M.
The ongoing COVID-19 public
health crisis and related executive
orders issued by Governor Andrew
Cuomo, this public meeting is
conducted using telephone
conference and video conference.
Participants have access to this
public meeting through a Zoom
invitation on the Nassau County
Local Economic Assistance
Corporation website at
NassauLEAC.com or by watching our
livestream channel which is found
at NassauIDAlive.org.
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If you are participating via
Zoom, the Board encourages all
interested parties to participate
and as such has reserved certain
points in today's hearing for
public comment. If you choose to
make a comment, you can do so by
selecting the "raise hand button"
on your screen. If you are viewing
this hearing on a computer, the
"raise hand" button will appear on
the bottom of your screen and it
will appear by moving your cursor
to that location. If you are
viewing the hearing on a tablet,
the "raise hand button" is at the
top right corner of your screen.
Once you select the raise hand
button, you will have the
opportunity to speak when your name
is announced.
Please note that this is a
moderated Zoom meeting. At times
you hearing me speaking directly to
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our moderator.
Please note that this hearing
is being both livestreamed and
recorded. You can also view this
hearing by going to our website at
NassauLEAC.com,
N-A-S-S-A-U-L-E-A-C.com. Go to the
top of the screen, choose "watch
meetings" and watch the live
stream.
Please also note that we have
a stenographer attending this
meeting in addition to it being
recorded. The stenographer will be
transcribing the hearing so we can
add the transcript of this meeting
to the public record.
Interested parties may also
submit written comments to the
corporation which will be included
within the public meeting record.
Written comments may be sent to the
Nassau County Local Economic
Assistance Corporation located at
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One West Street, fourth floor,
Mineola, New York 11501 to my
attention, Harry Coghlan, Chief
Executive Officer, or please submit
via email at [email protected].
Mr. Chairman, I now turn to
you to commence the meeting.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you,
Harry.
Before I say a couple of
things, let's take a roll call of
our Local Economic Assistance
Corporation.
(Whereupon roll call was
taken and all members responded in
the affirmative.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
So we have a quorum, we have a full
house tonight, and I want to thank
the board members for taking time
out of your evening to do this
virtual meeting. I really
appreciate all of your help and
input, not just tonight but that we
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constantly get as well.
I do want to explain quickly
to the public that this, the LEAC,
as we call it, the Local Economic
Assistance Corporation is not the
IDA and this is not an IDA meeting.
This is our Local Assistance
Corporation and we are meeting
separately from the IDA. So for
the next 20 minutes or so we will
be dealing only with LEAC business
and not the IDA. When we get to
the IDA, I will and our CEO, Harry
Coghlan will make opening remarks
we will do a pledge of allegiance
and some other business, and so I
just want to explain that to the
public that this is not the IDA.
If you have any matters before the
IDA, I am hoping that that meeting
will start a little bit before
7 o'clock tonight.
Thank you.
This is a time where I would
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ask if any member of the public
would like to address the LEAC
board on LEAC business, and Harry
explained how you need to do that
and we would be glad to hear anyone
from the public who would like to
say anything about any LEAC
business. You are also welcome to
speak as we consider resolutions at
that time as well.
So if any member of the
public would like to comment on any
LEAC business, now is the time to
do it. You will have three minutes
and now I'll leave it over to
Catherine to see if anyone would
like to make any general public
comments.
(No response.)
CEO COGHLAN: At this point I
don't see any raised hands, I will
just ask Catherine to confirm.
MS. FEE: I concur.
CEO COGHLAN: Mr. Chairman,
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if you are ready, we can proceed
with the first order of business
which will be the Hagedorn Little
Village School. I can see that we
have Mr. Greg LiCalzi with us as
well as Mr. Anthony Mazur.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Yes. So
our first business as Harry said is
the Hagedorn Little Village School.
Just to make it clear to the
public watching that we are
approving this after having the
proposal made at our last board
meeting in April and we also held a
public hearing about this again,
all remotely, several days ago. So
I want the public to understand
that we are not taking this up for
the first time. This has come
before the Board publicly and it
has been presented to the board at
our last meeting.
We did have a hearing the
other day and so tonight's purpose
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is to get a short presentation on
what the Hagedorn Little Village
School is seeking and then any
public comment followed by any
board comment or questions followed
by a final vote.
So I will ask the Hagedorn
team if they would like to now make
a short presentation on the
request.
MR. LiCALZI: This is Greg
LiCalzi. I am acting as placement
agent for the transaction. I work
at Roosevelt and Cross on behalf of
the Little Village School.
Just wanted to give a quick
overview. The Hagedorn Little
Village School is based in Seaford,
New York. They provide
educational, therapeutic services
for children with developmental
disabilities. The school provides
year-round programs for children
aged from birth through elementary
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school.
They service the full County
of Nassau. Primary funding is from
County and State government as well
as donations from the private
sector.
As we discussed in the
preliminary approval meeting, the
financing is solely for refinancing
outstanding debt of the school
including LEAC Series 2013
tax-exempt bonds. The financing,
again, will not exceed $6.5 million
as we discussed in the last
meeting. Nothing has changed
fundamentally on that transaction
since that.
The two requests that the
client has from Nassau County is an
issuance of tax exempt and taxable
bonds during the Local Economic
Assistance Corporation agreement as
well as mortgage recording tax
exemptions on that transaction.
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CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
We appreciate it.
Does any member of the board
have any questions or comments.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Okay. Does
anyone from the public wish to be
heard on this matter?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Okay.
Hearing none, just a couple of
points: Number one, as I said at
the hearing the other day, I'm
thrilled to be supportive of this.
This school has got a great
reputation for helping people and
it's these people who have a lot of
challenges and the Hagedorn School
has been around for a long time.
And I have to tell you, and I
mentioned this at the hearing the
other day, that when I reached out
to public officials to let them
know about the hearing and the
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project and the meeting tonight, I
got great praise out there about
the work that the Hagedorn School
does and that's one of the things
that is great about LEAC and the
IDA, that we can assist entities
that need help to serve some of the
people who have challenges and
can't always help themselves, and I
think especially in this time,
challenged time and difficult time
being able to help the Hagedorn
School, I think is a privilege I
think for our LEAC board.
I do want to indicate as I
said the other day that in advance
of this hearing and project
presentation I did reach out and
speak to Brian Nevin on behalf of
Supervisor Saladino as well as left
a message for Rose Walker, a great
friend and County legislator and so
I let them know about this
information, and if there are no
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other comments or questions, I'm
going to take roll of the board at
this time.
(Whereupon roll was taken and
all members responded in the
affirmative.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
The vote is unanimous.
Just so we know what we are
voting for, we are voting for both
the approving resolution and the
SEQRA resolution.
All right. Now --
MR. KOUMAROMI: Sorry, this
is Andrew. Just one quick point.
This is not to exceed the bond
amount for 6.5 million of refunding
bonds collectively taxable or tax
exempt.
Just one quick question: You
moved the resolution.
Did anyone second.
MEMBER WILLIAMS: I seconded.
I was muted.
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CHAIRMAN KESSEL: It was Tim
Williams.
MR. KOUMAROMI: Thank you,
Tim.
MEMBER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry I
didn't say before, just really
quickly, Richie: You know, if
anybody like myself who is a parent
of children with special needs, I
think what the school and all
schools just like it in Nassau
County are doing is fantastic and I
think, I can't thank you, even
though my kids didn't go to
Hagedorn, for all the special
education teachers all throughout
Long Island and at Hagedorn, I
can't thank you enough.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you,
Tim. I appreciate that and I'm
sure the Hagedorn team does as
well.
Any other comments before we
move on.
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(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: This is the
only final approval that we have
LEAC-wise.
We now have a preliminary
resolution by SCO Family of
Services and I would ask if they
would now make a preliminary
presentation to the board.
CEO COGHLAN: Mr. Chairman,
if you could just give me one
minute so we can close the circuits
for the folks from Hagedorn and
just make sure we have everybody
from SCO, it just takes us a moment
to do that.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Sure.
Thank you.
MS. FEE: I would ask the SCO
members to unmute themselves and
share their video if they wish.
(Whereupon, there was a pause
in the proceedings.)
CEO COGHLAN: Okay. At this
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point it looks like we have Melissa
Bennett, Stephen Mack, Suzette
Gordon, Brad Hopper from SCO, so
you may begin with your
presentation.
MR. MACK: Hi, good evening.
This is Stephen Mack. I am the
Executive Vice President for
finance and administration and the
chief financial officer at SCO.
Joining me as you just
announced is Suzette Gordon, our
general counsel; Brad Hopper our
placement agent; and Melissa
Bennett who is our attorney.
If you can, Catherine, if you
can move to the next slide, please.
So for those unfamiliar with
SCO, SCO is New York State's
largest human service provider
organization. Every year we
operate more than 80 programs and
we serve 60,000 children and adults
every year addressing their
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developmental and mental
challenges, poverty, neglect, abuse
and programs we provide include
foster care, early childhood
education and youth development,
family and community supports,
shelter and homeless services as
well as services for individuals
with special needs.
In total we employ
approximately 3,500 people at 120
locations throughout Brooklyn,
Queens, The Bronx, Nassau and
Suffolk Counties. Not on a slide,
but our annual payroll is
approximately $128 million agency
wide.
Within Nassau County itself
we operate several programs
including a nine-acre campus in Sea
Cliff which is for adults and
children with developmental
disabilities as well as other
programs with varying social,
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emotional and mental health needs.
In total within Nassau County we
serve approximately a thousand
individuals a year.
Our main headquarters are
located in Glen Cove. And within
our Nassau County locations we have
approximately 570 employees and an
annual payroll within the county of
about $19 million.
Next slide, please.
So we are here today, we are
requesting an issuance of
$14.3 million of tax exempt bonds
with the related mortgage recording
tax exemption. The purpose of this
issuance would be to refinance 2013
Nassau County LEAC bonds of
approximately $7 million; refinance
a line of credit that was used to
provide improvements to our
locations within the county; as
well as finance new capital
renovations at Sea Cliff at our Sea
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Cliff campus.
Lastly we are asking this
issuance would allow us to create a
master trust indenture which would
allow us to more efficiently add
debt in the future.
Should there be any savings
from our issuance, this would allow
us to operate our programs at a
more efficient cost which is
important for an agency like us
which is predominantly government
funded.
On the next slide you will
see just some pictures of some of
our clients and staff at some of
our programs that we operate within
the county. I know that slide
takes a little bit long to load
because of the pictures. But all
these individuals are served within
the county at our varying
locations.
With that I will turn it back
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to the board.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
First, do any board members
have any questions about SCO or the
application.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Couple of
points: First of all for the
public, this is a preliminary
presentation and the process that
we follow in this is pretty similar
to the IDA, that a vote this
evening is not approval of the
project, it is only authorization
for our staff to negotiate a
package with SCO. At a later date
there will be a public hearing
where the public can participate
and then this will come back to the
LEAC board at a future LEAC meeting
for another brief presentation.
Again, public comment is welcome,
and then there would be a final
vote at that time.
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Just to indicate, I am very
impressed with the work that SCO
does. I happen to also -- and I
mentioned this the other day -- I
happen to chair the board of the
Education and Assistance
Corporation, EAC. It's a large
nonprofit and I know how important
nonprofits are especially during
these difficult times.
The fact that this is a
refinancing to hopefully save some
money and make it easier to provide
better programming and more
programming to your constituency is
again, a very appropriate matter
for our assistance corporation.
Any time, especially in times of
trouble like this, that we can help
a nonprofit especially one like
yours, it's a very large one, the
ability to expand and improve, I
think that's the whole purpose of
LEAC and so I commend you for that.
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Obviously we will go through the
process.
And with that, I ask if any
member of the public has a question
about SCO Family Services or this
application at this time.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Okay.
Hearing none, so we will vote.
Again, this is just for a
preliminary inducement, it is not
final approval.
I will make the motion to
approve a preliminary inducement
for SCO Family of Services.
Is there a second.
VICE CHAIRMAN WARREN: I will
second, Chairman Kessel, Lewis
Warren.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Lewis,
thank you.
(Whereupon roll call was
taken and all members responded in
the affirmative.)
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CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Adopted
unanimously by the LEAC board.
Thank you.
We now have the minutes of
our last LEAC board meting that was
held on April 7th.
First, do I hear a motion to
approve those minutes.
SECRETARY FUSCO: I will make
a motion to adopt those minutes,
Chris Fusco.
SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN SIMON:
I'll second, Anthony Simon.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Are there
any corrections or changes to those
minutes by any board member?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Seeing
none, all those in favor of
adopting the minutes indicate by
saying aye.
In fact, let me do a roll
call quickly.
(Whereupon roll call was
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taken and all members responded in
the affirmative.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you,
the minutes are adopted.
Now we have a Treasurer's
report. Is Anne LaMorte, our new
CFO -- by the way, Anne, welcome,
it's great to have Anne LaMorte on
board. I think this is the first
meeting that she is actively
participating in. Anne has done a
great job in Glen Cove, and in fact
councilwoman Marsha Silverman, one
of my good friends, told me she was
very upset that we stole her from
Glen Cove but Glen Cove's loss is
our gain.
So Anne, are you going to
give the Treasurer's report for
LEAC.
MS. LaMORTE: Thank you.
Okay. Good evening, everyone.
If I can ask the board
members to please go to their
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dropbox and click on the Nassau
County LEAC 2020 Treasurer's
Report.
Are you with me.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Yes.
MS. LaMORTE: So if we take a
look at the revenue section, we are
currently not recognizing any
closing fee income to date;
however, we do have three projects
in the pipeline and we feel that
these projects will close this year
and we will make our revenue
numbers.
We received all the annual
income payments for last year from
all the projects which was good and
we head into the expense section.
There is nothing really out of the
ordinary here for professional
fees, that was the balance of the
audit.
And if you look at the bottom
of the April column you will see
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the cash position as of April 30th.
Does anyone have any
questions or comments about the
LEAC Treasurer's report.
(No response.)
CEO COGHLAN: Thank you,
Anne.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you,
Anne.
Is there any other business
that any board member of LEAC
wishes to bring up at this time.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Hearing
none, do I hear a motion to
adjourn?
MEMBER WILLIAMS: Tim
Williams, I make a motion to
adjourn.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Is there a
second?
VICE CHAIRMAN WARREN: Lewis
Warren seconds.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: I think we
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can do a voice vote here.
All those in favor indicate
by saying aye.
(Whereupon roll call was
taken and all members responded in
the affirmative.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Any
opposed? Any abstentions?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Okay. The
LEAC meeting is adjourned. We will
now take a brief two minute pause
so we can get set for our IDA
meeting.
CEO COGHLAN: Ladies and
gentlemen, this concludes the
meeting of the Board of Directors
of the Nassau County Local Economic
Assistance Corporation. The time
is now 6:57.
As the chairman said, we need
just a moment to convert over to
the IDA which will be conducting a
little bit passed our scheduled
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6:45 start time. Please bear with
us and we will get right back to
it.
* * *
CEO COGHLAN: Good evening.
My name is Harry Coghlan. I am the
Chief Executive Officer of the
Nassau County Industrial
Development Agency and on behalf of
our Chairman, members of the board
and staff I welcome you to today's
open meeting of the Board of
Directors.
Today is May 7, 2020 and the
time is now 6:58 P.M.
The ongoing COVID-19 public
health crisis and related executive
orders of Governor Andrew Cuomo,
this public meeting is being
conducted using telephone
conference and video conference.
Participants have access to
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this public meeting through a Zoom
invitation on the Nassau County
Industrial Development Agency's
website at NassauIDA.org or by
watching our livestream on our
YouTube channel which can be found
at NassauIDAlive.org.
If you are participating via
Zoom the agency encourages all
interested parties to participate
and as such has reserved certain
points in today's meeting for
public comment. If you choose to
make a comment you will do so by
selecting the "raised hand" button
on your screen. If you are viewing
this hearing on a computer, the
"raise hand" button will appear on
the bottom of your screen in the
middle upon moving your cursor to
that location. If you are viewing
the hearing on a tablet, the "raise
hand" button is at the top right
corner of your screen.
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Once you check the "raise
hand" button you will have an
opportunity to speak when your name
is announced. Please note that
this is a moderated Zoom meeting
and at times you may hear us
talking to our moderator, Catherine
Fee, Chief Marketing Officer and
Director of Development for the
agency.
Please note that this hearing
is being both livestreamed and
recorded. You can also view this
hearing by going to our website at
NassauIDA.org. Go to the stop of
the screen, select "watch meetings"
and you can watch the livestream.
Please note that we have a
stenographer attending this meeting
in addition to being recorded. The
stenographer will be transcribing
the hearing so we can add the
transcript of this meeting to the
public record.
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Interested parties may also
submit written comments to the
agency which will be included
within the public meeting record.
Written comments may be sent to the
Nassau County Industrial
Development Agency located at One
West Street, fourth floor, Mineola,
New York 11501 to my attention,
Harry Coghlan, Chief Executive
Officer, or also via email at
NassauIDA.org.
Mr. Chairman, I now turn to
you to commence the meeting with
the Pledge of Allegiance.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
I ask everyone to rise in place
where they are and I ask Tim
Williams to lead us in the Pledge
of Allegiance.
(Pledge of Allegiance.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you,
everyone.
Before we begin, we ask the
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board and anyone viewing this for a
moment of silence. Obviously, we
are going through very difficult
times right now here in our county,
in the region, in the state and in
the nation, and, unfortunately, the
COVID virus has taken the lives of
many residents of the county, of
the state and of our nation, and I
think everyone is praying for
that -- that for the people that
were lost and also for the people
who are still sick to get better,
and so I would ask for a moment of
silence to pray for the people, may
they rest in peace, and to pray for
everyone else that they get
healthy, stay healthy.
Please, a moment of silence.
(Moment of silence.)
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you
very much. I appreciate that.
Let's do a board roll call. Just
for, again, the public, because I
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know sometimes this gets confusing,
this is now the roll call of the
IDA, which is the same board as the
Local Economic Assistance
Corporation.
Richard Kessel.
MEMBER FLORES: Amy Flores.
MEMBER SIMON: Anthony Simon.
MEMBER WILLIAMS: Tim
Williams.
MEMBER COUMATOS: John
Coumatos. MEMBER WARREN:
Lewis Warren.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Okay, we
have a quorum. And again, I want
to thank the board. We have
everyone present, so the time now
is for my report. I will try to
keep it relatively brief, and then
I am going to ask Harry Coghlan,
our CEO, to issue his report.
First, I just want to thank
the board again. I hope you don't
mind, but I just want to say that
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I'm delighted that Tim, who missed
last time's meeting, is back. He
looks a little different, but he's
a good-looking guy, but I'm really
heart warmed by you being back and
participating in this meeting, Tim.
It means a lot to all of us.
MEMBER WILLIAMS: Thank you,
and thank everybody for their
e-mails and prayers and messages
and texts. I'm really, really,
really, really, we can't -- we
appreciate it tremendously.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
Really great to have you back, and
I also, before I give a couple of
items here, I want to thank our
staff. You know, these are very
difficult times, we're all not
together, and, you know, I just
sent Catherine a note, you know,
just the way she handled putting
all of this together, working with
Danielle, our chief operating
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officer, working with Harry and all
our support staff, Tom Glascock,
our attorneys. You can't express
enough how challenging this is and
what a great job that they do, and
I can tell you, the IDA, for me, is
almost a full-time job, and I
couldn't do any of this without the
work that our staff has done,
putting this meeting together,
putting the hearings together,
figuring out how to get the public
involved, doing all the staff work
that's required.
I told our County Executive
Laura Curran yesterday and her
staff, Evlyn Tsimis, who does a
great job as Deputy County
Executive For Economic Development,
we couldn't do it without our staff
and the great work that they're
doing. It's just every day and I
see it every day, and to be able to
do it remotely and yet it all comes
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together is just an honor to work
with all of you, and I want to
thank you really for the great work
you do on behalf of the county and
the taxpayers and our board. Thank
you very much.
MS. FEE: Thank you, Rich.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you.
A couple of thoughts of
interest to me. One is that, you
know, one of the -- this is a great
challenging time, and in the work
that Harry and I have been doing
along with Stu Rabinowitz and our
economic advisory council to the
county executive, the county
executive staff, it's very clear
that businesses are going to be
challenged tremendously coming back
when hopefully they do in the near
future. This is going to be a real
challenge, and the economic
advisory council that we have
formed is working very hard to get
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us ready for that future.
I will tell you that in the
survey that we're doing, I'm deeply
concerned especially about our
small business community out there,
and in that regard, it's somewhat
challenging that under current law
the IDA is not able to, except in
very limited circumstances, help
assist small businesses, and, you
know, I think that this is a time
of crisis where the IDA could be a
great assistance to small
businesses helping them to reopen.
And in that regard I have spoken to
our economic advisory council. I
have spoken to representatives of
the regional economic development
council and Laura Curran and her
staff, our county executive, about
urging Albany, in particular, the
governor and his staff -- I think
the governor has done an
extraordinary job under very
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difficult circumstances -- if they
would consider giving, at least
temporarily, expanded powers for
the IDAs in this state to be able
to assist small businesses recover
from this tragedy.
Tim I hope will jump in here.
We were talking a few minutes
before the board meeting about what
happened after Super Storm Sandy
and what the IDAs were given the
ability to do.
I understand that there are
people who have concerns about IDAs
and it's very difficult to grant
them expanded powers, so we're not
looking for any expanded powers.
What we're really looking for is
the ability to be able to, on a
temporary basis, whether it's six
months, nine months or a year,
assist retail in recovering and
being able to reopen and survive a
very challenging time.
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I will say that Ryan Silva
and the association of IDAs and
economic development councils have
been supporting this. We are
lending our voice, the county
executive is lending her voice. I
know that the REDCs, especially the
one for this region, is lending its
voice, but as an IDA I think that
we want the ability to help small
businesses.
The county executive and
myself and Harry and some of our
other economic advisory people had
a call last week with the local
chambers of commerce, the
leadership of almost every chamber
of commerce. They need help.
By the way, if it's one thing
that they need more than anything,
other than probably a lot of money,
which, obviously, we can't afford
to give, is PPE for their employees
and for their customers, whether
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it's masks, gloves, hand
sanitizers, and a lot of them need
that and either can't access or
can't afford to access it. If we
had the ability to provide that to
some of these small businesses I
think it would be an extraordinary
help in getting them to reopen and
succeed.
So I wanted to tell the board
that we are working very hard to
see if we can get Albany and state
government to give us this ability
along with the other IDAs in the
state.
I will tell you that some of
the IDAs in this state have a lot
of cash on hand. We don't have as
much. We have some, but some have
millions of dollars, and some of
that money can be used to help
small business people reopen and
survive, and I'm hopeful that we
can get that authority quickly so
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that we could utilize it.
In that regard I also want to
make a point that we are working
with our legal team, and, again, I
want to thank Andrew and Tom Garry
and also Tom Glascock, our counsel,
for their help.
We are looking at ways that
we may be able to do this initially
with other funding that is given to
the IDA, not our funding, but
funding that we may be able to
receive in the form of a grant and
whether legally we could spend that
money to help these small
businesses. I don't have an answer
yet, but it's something that we're
looking for, and I will report back
to the board as quickly as
possible. It's my hope that some
of our business community will be
able to start reopening soon, and
the challenge is to be able to
reopen and then be able to get
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their customers back, because right
now people are afraid and it's not
going to be easy, and anything that
the IDA or the county can do to
help them reopen and reengage their
customers is critically important.
So I'm working with Harry and
the county executive's staff.
We've got some ideas about ways
that we may be able to help them in
addition to financially, and,
again, I will report that back to
the board at the appropriate time
as well. IDAs can be very useful
at this point.
And I do want to make a
separate point that we want
projects. We encourage developers
to come to us and help us get jobs
for people. I will tell you in
talking to Matty Aracich of the
building trades and some of our
board members, we need construction
jobs this summer and fall. A lot
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of the trades and union people are
out of work and the more projects
we get and we can approve on an
expeditious basis, the more jobs
will be available in the
construction area once the ability
to do that kind of construction is
granted, and I'm expecting that to
start relatively soon.
And so the more projects that
we can intake now the better off
our brothers and sisters who need
work can get work over the summer.
Yes, our projects are about
jobs for the long-term but right
now we also need jobs for the
short-term, and so I want to
encourage developers and those
people that are listening out
there, if you've got a project, big
or small, bring it to Nassau
County. We're welcome and we will
move as quickly as possible and
accommodate as quickly as possible
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any project that comes to us that
brings jobs and construction jobs
as well.
I also want to indicate that
a number of our businesses and
clients of the IDA, current
clients, which I think are over
150, are being challenged as well
at this particular time. And it
may be that some of them are going
to have difficulties making their
commitments, whether it's on jobs
or other aspects of that and, you
know, while we've indicated in the
past that we have to hold our
clients to the commitments that
were made with them, and this could
go back years, we recognize the
fact that right now in this current
climate that may be very
challenging for some of them, so I
want to indicate that Harry and
myself are sending an e-mail to all
existing IDA clients indicating to
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them that if they have challenges
and they have some complex problems
that they should get in touch with
us immediately or over time and we
will be glad to discuss that with
them. We have a heart and we have
to have some understanding of the
climate that we're in right now.
And, again, while we can't
let the floodgates open up and we
have to hold companies to the
commitments that we made, we also
have to have compassion and
understanding during these
difficult times, and I'd rather if
your company and you're a client of
the IDA and you know right now that
you're going to have difficulties
going forward, please come to us,
we don't need to come to you, and
we will listen.
I will tell you personally as
chairman of the board I will talk
to anyone of you and with staff,
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with Harry, Danielle and our staff,
we will work with you to make sure
that you survive and that your
employees keep working. That is so
important to us. So I just wanted
to indicate to the board, and I'm
sure that we all feel the same way,
that we not only want to help new
businesses but we also want to help
those businesses that we are
currently engaged in with to make
sure that they're whole and that
they understand that they can come
to us if they've got concerns and
we will help you. I promise that.
With that, I'll end my report
and ask Harry, our CEO, to give his
report, and then I am going to ask
our board members if any of them
would like to make any comments as
well.
Harry, thank you.
CEO COGHLAN: Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. And as you and I
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agreed, we wanted to make sure we
took a moment in our joint remarks
and say thank you and express our
gratitude to our frontline workers,
whether they be grocery store
workers, transit workers, frontline
people in the health care industry,
first responders, police, fire,
everybody who's active right now in
making sure that we continue to
operate as best we can as a county
and a community. We do express our
thanks to all of you and really do
appreciate your sacrifice during
this critical time.
Mr. Chairman, I'll be brief
in my remarks. I just want to do a
quick staff roll call. Today we
have with us, in addition to
myself, today we have our chief
operating officer, Danielle
Oglesby; our chief marketing
officer, Catherine Fee; chief
finance officer, Anne LaMorte; our
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administrative director, Colleen
Pereira; our compliance assistant,
Carlene Winter and our
administrative assistant, Nicole
Gil and also Kevin Murphy.
I just wanted to let you know
how much we appreciate their effort
not only in this meeting but also
in general as best can be.
Right now it is business as
usual at the agency and with the
LEAC. So we are continuing to
drive business forward. We've had
three public hearings this week and
as best we can we are conducting
normal business operations, albeit
remotely.
You've already mentioned the
economic advisory council. This
agency has been supporting the
county executive's efforts. We did
conclude the agreement with HR&A,
which was approved by resolution at
the last board meeting. We did
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receive their baseline economic
report, which was what was the
economic situation pre-COVID. We
are awaiting their impact scenario,
which we expect at some point late
next week.
We've had numerous meetings
with the advisory council working
groups, HR&A, Nassau County
Economic Development as well as
Suffolk County on recovery
initiatives.
As the chairman said, we are
going to do everything we can to
find ways in which the IDA can be
supportive. We've had discussions
on numerous public recovery support
initiatives, which are still t/b/d,
but, as the chairman said, given
that this great agency's resources
are limited and we must work within
New York State guidelines for being
judicious on whatever programs we
may develop.
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You will find in your drop
box over to My Comments that we
have been very active on COVID
response on social media as well as
providing resources on our website.
I have given you a report of our
social media activity in the last
30 days should you wish to see how
we are reaching out to the
community and keeping everybody
abreast of current issues.
We have commenced the
strategic review brand identity and
website redesign initiative. We
concluded those agreements with
both Camoin Associates and
Millennium Communications as was
approved by resolution at the last
board meeting.
We commenced that project
with a kickoff meeting with both.
We developed a stakeholder
interview list and invited
participants. We commenced the
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stakeholder interviews, and there
is an upcoming board presentation
and interviews.
I just want to thank members
of the board for giving your time
to speak to these consultants as
your point of view will be
important to frame out the future
direction of the agency. We have
negotiated scope of work with fees
with Zimmerman, Edelson, and we
have received a grant award from
National Grid in the amount of
$50,000 for brand identity and web
redesign which will offset the cost
of those projects for the agency,
and you will see a resolution later
in today's agenda to approve that
receipt of grant.
Catherine, if we can just
show the next slide? I just want
to, again, I'm really warmed by the
response from our member
communities and our companies. As
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the chairman said --
Catherine, I'm looking for
the next slide. Thank you.
-- as the chairman said, our
own companies, our client partners
number 150, and we've seen them
jumping in here, they've been
calling us offering support.
Here's one example of Misha from
Supreme Screw, CEO there. He
purchased face masks and face
shields for his staff. When
they're working he had excess and
he reached out to us and he ended
up making a donation to the Office
of Emergency Management of those
face masks. So it's really great
to see our community coming
together during this critical time.
Are there any -- that
concludes my report.
Are there any questions or
comments from the board at this
time before we move into other
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comments?
MEMBER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry.
I had it on mute again. I'll get
the hang of this soon.
So I just wanted to say thank
you again to everybody for -- so if
you don't know, my wife and I both
were sick for over a month, and
hence, why I have all this hair and
why I'm wearing a hat because I
haven't cut my hair, but we're
doing much better.
I know everybody's been
affected, family members, both sick
and who have -- who have passed,
and my heart goes out to everyone,
but I'm -- I am incredibly grateful
for all the text messages, as I
said earlier, and calls, and if I
didn't get a chance to call you
back or text you back, know that I
greatly appreciate it and thank
you.
I also want to especially
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thank Evlyn. I don't know if
Evlyn's on the call, but if she
isn't I owe her a big call.
Right before I got sick,
actually, a couple of days, as many
of you know, I serve on the board
for a small nonprofit agency in
Hempstead and Baldwin, and we have
two homes that house adults with
disabilities, and one home is in
Baldwin, one home is in Uniondale.
And one of the persons got sick and
we needed PPE equipment for the
staff and we couldn't get it, and
no matter how much we tried it
became very difficult.
Obviously, this is a
population of
developmentally-disabled adults who
can't care for themselves full
time. We need staff. Staff was
getting concerned and afraid
because people were getting sick,
and Evlyn made calls, reached out
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and she made sure that we got --
the company got what they needed,
and so I am incredibly grateful.
The families who placed their loved
ones in those homes are incredibly
grateful, so I wanted to publicly
thank her and privately as well and
give her a call and then -- and
quickly, and I also want to thank
and I agree with everything that
Harry said and Richie said, all the
businesses that keep paying their
employees, even though they're
staying home and even the
businesses that can't continue to
pay their employees, I am -- I
think this in any crisis, this
brings out the best of us, and I
think this shows it just like other
crises we've gone through brings
out the best in everyone, and so I
know a bunch of businesses have
been paying their employees and
they don't even have revenue coming
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in. I know a bunch of CEOs who are
using their personal money to
continue to pay their employees,
and I think that's fantastic, and I
hope that this ends soon and
everybody can go back.
I think relevant to what
Harry and Richie were saying about
economic assistance, I think one of
the most important things we need
to start talking about is going to
be debt forgiveness and working
with some of the lenders.
More debt is not going to be
the absolute answer for everybody.
More debt is just going to hurt a
lot of people, and so I think we
should have some dialogue with
lenders about how we help some of
the small businesses who may need
more debt but can barely pay the
debt they have. We saw that right
after Sandy, businesses went into
additional debt and a lot of them
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are not around today anymore
because they couldn't survive it.
So while we're talking,
Harry, you know I think it would be
a great idea. I think we've got a
lot of banking partners. I think
there are a lot of banks that
operate here in the county. I
think there are a bunch of things
we can do getting a commitment from
them to lend but also a commitment
from them of how they will address
the businesses that are suffering,
because it's going to trickle
uphill. If you can't open - just
to use as an example - a
restaurant, the owner can't make
any money, he can't pay his rent.
If he can't pay his rent, the
landlord can't pay his mortgage,
and it trickles down as well as up,
and I think if we start talking now
with some of the banks, hopefully,
we can have an impact on that.
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CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Thank you,
Tim, and I think it's an excellent
idea, and I'd like to ask if you
and Lewis Warren and Amy would work
with Harry and our staff to see
what we could do to be helpful in
that area. I think it's a terrific
idea.
MEMBER WILLIAMS: Sure, I'll
be happy to.
MEMBER FLORES: Absolutely.
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Does any
other board member want to make any
comment at this time about any
matter?
CEO COGHLAN: Mr. Chairman,
if I may?
CHAIRMAN KESSEL: Yes.
CEO COGHLAN: At this time we
will open the meeting for public
comment.
As a reminder, this period is
for general public comment. There
will also be an opportunity to
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comment after each project
presentation. Again, if you choose
to make a comment you will do so by
selecting the Raise Hand button on
your screen. If you are viewing
this hearing on a computer, the
Raise Hand button will appear at
the bottom of your screen. If you
are viewing it on a tablet, the
Raise Hand button is on the top
right.
Once you select the Raise
Hand button you will have the
opportunity to speak when your name
is announced. It is requested that
remarks be limited to three minutes
per speaker. Please state your
full name with spelling and address
for the record, and at this point I
will ask Ms. Fee to check the queue
and open up microphones by
individual in order in which their
hands are raised, and I do see one
raised hand from Matthew Aracich.
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