Business Improvement District

Business Improvement District Board Minutes Noon, October 19, 2021 Country Traditions 303 N. Main Street, Fremont NE 68025 and via Zoom Board Present: Tom Coday, Vince O'Conner, Richard Register, Roxie Kracl, Brenden Murray Howard Krasne and Ginger Rosenthal, Absent: Bill Parks, Kevin Main, Jerry Johnson, and J.J. Bixby, Guests: Brian Newton, Loren Paquette, Sandra Murray, Angie Olson, Mayor Joey Spellerberg, Collin Spilinek, Jennifer Dam and Amy Vermeline Guests on Zoom: Dr Bryce Lund 1. Meeting was called to order by Chairman Coday at 12:04 pm. Roll call was taken. It was noted that a copy of the Open Public Meeting Act was posted and available in the room. 2. Introduction of Amy Vermeline as new Director at Mainstreet Fremont. 3. Motion was made to approve the minutes of the July 20, 2021 meeting by Vince O'Connor and seconded by Howard Krasne. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote 7/0 4. Comments from Public – Dr. Lund inquired about light poles off of Military & H. Discussed cost of approximately $25,000 per pole and Board & City are aware of the need but no action taken as of this meeting. Brian Newton introduced Angie Olson, who has filled the Grants Coordination position at the City. 5. BID request up for third and final reading on October 26th, 2021. Board is encouraged to attend to help answer questions and support action. Discussion regarding Council members concerns and some public comments regarding how the Board budgets for projects and how this BID is different from previous BID. 6. Update from Amy at Mainstreet on Grants. Keno Board recommended $5,000 for speaker project and Mainstreet is working with CVB on a matching grant to also help towards the speaker project. Due to cost of the project it will go out in a formal RFP to allow vendors to bid on the project. Brian will be putting together the RFP to send out. 7. Discussion on the comprehensive plan meeting on October 27, 2021 and a second meeting with the Hispanic business owners. Jennifer Dam spoke regarding the comprehensive plan meetings scheduled for October 27th at the Art Association from 6pm-8pm. She encouraged the board to come to meeting to pass along their goals and visions for downtown. The focus of the meeting is to put together a strong plan for a stronger future. There is grant monies available for seed money to help start a creative district. Discussion on areas such as alley ways and buildings under the viaduct. 8. Discussion and action taken on doing a fall BID newsletter. Motion was made by Vince O'Conner that when the BID renewal gets approved by city council a fall newsletter will get sent out with a cost not to exceed $300.00: seconded by Roxie Kracl. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote 7/0 9. Committee Reports Financial- Tom Coday reported on amount in account remaining of $100,245.48. There are a few outstanding bills yet to be paid. Confirmation was made these monies will carry over into next budget year when BID gets renewed. Maintenance- Discussion on benches, and flower pots. We have two benches in storage that can be placed if anyone has a good location, and we could look at getting sponsors to purchase more benches. Discussion on adding flower pots on Military and more on H street was also discussed. Roxie will go take pictures of current poles on Military to see if pots can be added. Future Projects- no report at this time as we will wait for City Council Meeting  Design/Christmas Decorations- Would like to see Christmas decorations go up first of November as there are a few downtown events scheduled. Christmas Market November 5th & 6th and winter wine walk on December 9th. 10. MainStreet- The report as discussed when Amy was introduced. 11. Chairman Coday said the next BID Board meeting will be November 16, 2021 at 12:00 pm at Country Traditions and via zoom. A motion to adjourn was made by Vince and seconded by Howard Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote 6/0 as Richard Register left at 11:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted,