Business Improvement District (BID) Board

A meeting of the Business Improvement District (BID) Board was held at City Hall on August 29, 2024 at 6:00 P.M. Board members Kylee Wussow, Duane Johnson, Mark Hanson, Vincent Meyer, and the City Administrator were present. Andrea Hoffman was excused. There were 5 citizens in attendance. 1. The City Administrator called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. 2. It was moved by Kylee Wussow, seconded by Duane Johnson to approve the Connect Communities Agreement and pay the $200 annual fee. Motion carried. 3. It was moved by Duane Johnson, seconded by Kylee Wussow to award a Signage Grant in the amount of $750 to Love on Your Home for 131 Main Street. Motion carried. 4. The Board discussed funding requests received for Downtown Trick or Treating, Small Business Saturday, and Christkindl. 5. It was moved by Kylee Wussow, seconded by Duane Johnson to approve spending up to $975 for Downtown Trick or Treating expenses. Motion carried. 6. It was moved by Duane Johnson, seconded by Vincent Meyer to approve spending up to $1,200 on gift certificates from downtown businesses to be distributed by the Chamber of Commerce for Small Business Saturday. Motion carried. 7. Christkindl was discussed. Festivals have not been funded using BID money for the last couple of years and there is no money in the 2024 BID budget for festivals. Everyone agreed this is a great event that should be continued. The City Administrator will check to see if the City’s liability insurance would cover the event or if additional premiums would be required. Laura Lindow and Amy Bloczynski agreed to solicit for donations for the event. Donations can be made to the City and will be deposited in the BID Fund and earmarked for Christkindl. The Downtown Association should have funds in reserve that may be available and they should also have items in storage that are needed for Christkindl. 8. It was moved by Duane Johnson, seconded by Mark Hanson to authorize Kylee Wussow to request financials and inventories from the Downtown Association. Motion carried 3-0-1 with Kylee Wussow abstaining. 9. The City Administrator advised that another decorative street lamp post had fallen over. It is believed the mounting plate and bolts rusted and failed. The City Street Department is inspecting the remaining decorative street lamp units to determine if the plates and bolts need to be replaced in all of them or not. It is believed the weight of the flower baskets may have contributed to the failure. Many of the flower pot hangers that are strapped to the decorative street lamp units are bent and/or off center. The flower pots have been in use for 27 years. The lamp fixtures have been in place for 42 years. In 2022, the estimate to replace one complete decorative street lamp unit was $8,790.00 plus freight and labor for installation. It would cost an estimated $250,000 to replace all 26 decorative street lamp units in the downtown. The first step will be to look at repairs to shore up all 26 of the decorative lamp units and then look at new designs for flower pot hangers. Three Karner Blue Garden Club members were in attendance and were advised to place the order for next year’s flowers if they would like. 10. It was moved by Kylee Wussow, seconded by Vincent Meyer to purchase one (1) new decorative street lamp unit to replace the unit that recently fell and was severely damaged. Motion carried. 11. The City Administrator was advised by Rod McGillivray that the by-laws for the newly formed organization “BRF Downtown” should be ready by the end of next week. No action was taken on a recommendation for an organization to implement the 2024 BID Operating Plan. 12. It was moved by Duane Johnson, seconded by Kylee Wussow to set the next BID Board meeting for Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 5:30pm. Motion carried. 13. It was moved by Kylee Wussow, seconded by Duane Johnson to adjourn. Motion carried at 6:51 pm. A. Brad Chown, City Administrator City of Black River Falls Page 1 of 1