Main Street Advisory Board Meeting

CITY OF BASTROP MAIN STREET ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of the April 11, 2018 Regular Meeting Main Street Advisory Board chair Dick Smith called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Attending were members Michelle Adams, Sandra Grawunder, Naseem Khonsari, and Jennifer Long. Members absent were Steve Bridges, Jeanette Condray and Terry Moore. Also attending was BMSP Director Sarah O’ Brien and Bonnie Coffey, chair of the Small Business Committee. January 10, 2018 minutes: On a motion by Michelle, seconded by Shanda, the Board approved the minutes of the January regular monthly meeting as presented. 2018 Board Postings calendar: Sarah presented to the Board the City Secretary’ s calendar of 2018 Board meetings and associated deadlines for agenda completion and posting, packet distribution, adoption and posting of meeting minutes. In general and applicable to all City boards and commissions, the meeting agenda is provided to the City Secretary seven days prior to a scheduled meeting and posted on the City’ s website six days prior to the meeting. Agenda packets are posted and distributed five days prior the meeting. Meeting minutes are approved at the next regular Board meeting and sent immediately to the City Secretary for posting on the City’ s meeting and commissions web pages. Sarah noted that the calendar ensured that all meeting notices would be timely posted in accordance with law and that meeting packets and minutes would be access to members and the public. Director’ s report: Sarah updated the Board on several business changes in the Main Street Program Area: Viejo’ s Tacos y Tequila has discontinued daily restaurant service but will be open for special events only. The New Caledonia Quilt Cottage & More will be moving from its present location at 922 Main Street to the old Virginia Piper law office at 701 Walnut Street. The Bastrop Beer Company, a craft beer shop relocating from Cedar Park, will open soon at 1008 Main Street Neighbor’ s Kitchen and Yard, at 601 Chestnut, has a new owner, Tom Dickey. The R.A. Green Mercantile, at 1022 Main Street, is home to several new shops. Ramos Restaurant, at 710 Chestnut, may not reopen. The restaurant sustained heavy damage in an April 2017 fire. Other updates included the following: Sarah has been invited to speak at the National Main Street Conference in Kansas City in late September. She will present information about the Texas Historic Commission’ s innovative DowntownTX” online inventory of historic properties and Bastrop’ s pioneering role as an “ Imagine the Possibilities” pilot location. ( A second “ Imagine…” tour is scheduled on May 17.) She shared with the Board a year- long full roster of training programs and events for small business and entrepreneurs. Budget development for FY 19 begins shortly. Sarah has been working on a Downtown Beautification Action Plan, as part of that budget. She will approach BEDC about assisting with funding the plan; other funding sources include Main Street program revenues and a possible CARTs  grant. The #MyBastrop ( Small Business Revolution) steering committee will convene early next week to contemplate next steps in sustaining the momentum and focus on small retail business resulting for the Bastrop’ s participation in the Deluxe Corporation’ s Small Business Revolution competition. Committee Activities: Design Committee: new wayfinding signage— to point visitors to downtown parking lots—have been designed and are in production. The signs are bright yellow with a blue “ P” and directional arrow( s). Economic Vitality: Committee members have recommended that name of the committee, derived from the National Main Street Program “ Four Points Approach”, be changed to “ Small Business Committee” to better express the emerging focus of its work. On a motion by Jennifer, seconded by Steve, and with Dick abstaining, the Board voted to approve the name change. Organization Committee: the narrowing focus of the committee led its members to contemplate abandoning its pattern of monthly meetings in favor of a more fluid project- based schedule defined by committee’ s annual work plan. Those projects include a number of paused activities ( e.g. bylaws revisions and the annual planning event) that await City clarification regarding the appointments cycle, the correlation between BMSP initiatives and the City’ s comprehensive plan priorities. Other activities ( such as recommending new board members) will be driven by events. Promotions Committee: project teams are currently working on the second annual Table on Main scheduled for April 29), a schedule of “crawls” during 2018, and possible enhancements to ArtWalks in 2018. The next MSAB meeting has been tentatively scheduled for May 9, at 5:30 p.m. With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.