Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority - Regular Meeting

Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority 400 Franklin Street SE Minutes Packet Grand Rapids, MI 49507 January 19, 2022 @ 11:00 AM ICCF Community Center I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 11:11 AM by Secretary Darel Ross PRESENT: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Reuben Ramos, Commissioner Senita Lenear, ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman OTHER: Verah Narh-Kamara, Jessica Solis, Tricia Chapman, Kelsey Liebenow Carlos Calderon, William Dejong II. Public Comment on Agenda Items None. III. Minutes Approval 1. Approval of Minutes from September 15, 2021 No corrections were noted. Motion to approve minutes from September 2021. RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Senita Lenear, Commissioner SECONDER: Kristian Grant, Vice-Chair YEAS: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Ruben Ramos, Senita Lenear ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong IV. Financial Statements 1. Interim Financial Statements as of December 31, 2021 Tricia Chapman presented this item. No corrections were noted. Motion to approve statement C, interim financial statement from July 2021 to December 2021. Generated 1/24/2022 02:46 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 2 January 19, 2022 RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Kristian Grant, Vice-Chair SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Ruben Ramos, Senita Lenear ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong V. Action Items 1. Approval of the 2022 Meeting Schedule The board discussed the meeting schedule and agreed to approve it with a condition to use no meeting slots as holds for possible meetings. Motion to approve 2022 Southtown meeting schedule with condition to use the no meeting months as holds for future meetings. RESULT: APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Ruben Ramos, Member SECONDER: Kristian Grant, Vice-Chair YEAS: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Ruben Ramos, Senita Lenear ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong 2. Southtown Facade Improvement Program Projects Board discussed the 4 facade applications and had questions about the owners of the businesses on the application. They suggested adding a property owner/tenant to the column on the memo. The board also had questions about the verbiage of the facade program policy, Commissioner Lenear requested the amended policy be sent to the board as well as invitation to the next facade committee meeting. Jessica Solis reminded the board they can attend committee meetings if there is no quorum. The board also discussed possibly advertising the facade program to make it more accessible to all the business districts and to ensure equal dispersion of program funds to the districts. Ms. Solis informed the board the Economic Development office has a contract with Well Design that includes advertising of facade programs. The board would like some more information on the details of the contract. Commissioner Lenear noted a 60-seconds video with footage of the murals will be a great way to advertise the program and Southtown. Darel Ross also suggested it will be good to see some data on the facade programs of other CIAs. Ruben Ramos alerted the board he may have a conflict of interest because his company is responsible for some of the projects on the facade application. Ms. Solis noted that unless he is directly being paid for this specific project, he can vote. Generated 1/24/2022 02:46 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 3 January 19, 2022 Motion to approve the façade applications for an amount not to exceed $50, 000. RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Ruben Ramos, Member SECONDER: Kristian Grant, Vice-Chair YEAS: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Ruben Ramos, Senita Lenear ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong 3. Franklin & Eastern Holiday Decor Kelsey Liebenow presented this item. Motion to approve the Franklin and Eastern décor for an amount not to exceed $1,750. RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Senita Lenear, Commissioner SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Ruben Ramos, Senita Lenear ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong 4. Electing Board Officers for Calendar Year 2022 One volunteer request was received ahead of the meeting for Kristian Grant as Vice- Chair. Helen Harp was absent but sent a verbal response with Kelsey Liebenow for Chair. Commissioner Lenear nominated Darel Ross for as Secretary and presented the slate for 2022. Motion to approve the slate of officers for 2022 Southtown CIA officer positions: Helen Harp as Chair, Kristian Grant as Vice-chair and Darel Ross as Secretary. RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Senita Lenear, Commissioner SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Ruben Ramos, Senita Lenear ABSENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong VI. Reports 1. Corridor Manager and Committees 1. Corridor Manager and Committee Updates Generated 1/24/2022 02:46 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 4 January 19, 2022 Ms. Kelsey presented the reports. 1. Project 49507 Ms.Kristian commented on Project 49507, she wanted to know if Diatribe has ownership to the art space with the Southtown CIA. She was made aware other artists, specifically, Monroe made a pitch to the board on a similar project but was not considered. Other members of the board noted they did sponsor the project in question when it was presented to the board last year. However, the Diatribe was selected this time because his project is specially centered on the Southtown district. 2. Eastern Parking Changes Commissioner Lenear would like this to be a follow-up as soon as possible Businesses need to be included in the conversation Post cards were sent out to businesses about feedback on the new design. C would like a Southtown focused engagement because the business owners may not be very comfortable talking to the city. VII. Other Business 1. MEDC Area Revitalization and Placemaking (RAP) Program Carlos Calderon with the WMEAC commented that he heard about the Revitalization and Place making (RAP) program with the MEDC when Commissioner Kurt presented it at the South Division-Grandville CIA meeting. The Right Place is working on a regional application to fund streets cape and other infrastructure projects. He does some work with the Alger Heights business association an he is scheduling a meeting with the Right Place to talk to them about some of their projects on the application. Ms. Jessica added the economic development office is engaged in the conversations with The Right Place for the regional application and we will be engaging the CIAs on possible projects to be included in the application. Ms. Kelsey will be provided a link to the MEDC website so the committee can start thinking of possible projects. VIII. Public Comment None. IX. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned at 12:10pm by Secretary, Darel Ross. Generated 1/24/2022 02:46 PM