There shall be a fund known as the "Economic
Development Fund" for the purpose of stimulating economic development
and creating new employment opportunities. The Fund shall be used
to study, evaluate, and finance development programs to promote social,
cultural, educational, physical, tourism, housing, industrial, transportation,
recreation and commercial improvements in the City. For such purposes,
the funds may be expended for engineering, surveying, legal, and other
consultants' services, for the purchase of options, leases, easements
or other interests in real property, for rehabilitation or new construction
of recreational, residential, commercial, industrial, transportation
or other facilities, for relocation expenses, for property management
including repair, insurance, and other incidental expenses, for loans
and grants for rehabilitation of properties or facilities, for administrative
services, for development projects, and for all things necessary and
incidental to carrying out the purposes for which the fund is created.
All requests for use of the fund shall be reviewed
by the Economic Development Committee. In considering such requests,
the Committee shall consider the availability of monies from any other
City agency or from any external source, public or private. To the
extent practical, the fund shall be used to initiate new start-up
projects with an emphasis on new business creation and business expansion/retention.