IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. board meeting was held June 4, 2019 in the Syringa Networks Board Room (460 Park Ave) at 8:30am Attendance: Jill Hansen, Kevin Cutler, Jim Francis, Greg Crockett, Lisa Farris, Brandi Newton, Jake Durtschi, Shanon Taylor, Mark Munoz, Kevin Josephson, Steve Fischbach, Chip Schawrze, Derek Christiansen, Cindy Napier - Staff: Catherine Smith, Mala Lyon, Whitney Johnson & Ed O’Rayeh; visitor: Malory Johnson, Jim Pletcher Minutes for May 7, 2019 were reviewed – Kevin C. motioned they be approved; Brandi seconded, and board approved Shanon – financial report: Costs for our liability insurance is up because we are having more events. $7,000 is cash that we take out for the events to give change. Catherine will find a better way to categorize that item. Brandi suggested it be in petty cash moved out and in. Shanon motioned the report be approved; Jill seconded, and board approved Catherine introduced Whitney Johnson our summer intern. She is taking over the marketing and social media. She has created a google map for our downtown art. Director report: Construction has started on the north side of Broadway. The projection is 45 days start to finish with the goal to be done before July 4th. There is one section on Broadway where the wrong curb style was installed than what the city requested but we will not be re-doing it. At least one lane of traffic will be open going both east and west at all times. It is causing the traffic to be backed up, but it will be done soon. The trees are here. The pots will be arriving in late June coming from Canada. We are still discussing whether the city or 4 Seasons will be planting the new pots. We want them done ASAP after they are placed. Greg Weitzel is leaving Parks and Rec and PJ Holm is the acting director. We have been working closely with Lyon Johnson and Lee Washburn. Delbert Lloyd is no longer with Parks & Rec. They will be doing a national search for Greg’s replacement. Corner Project: We had a duck nesting in one of the planters and a crow nest in the tree that we had to work around. But all the eggs have hatched and we can move forward. There are just 2 or 3 people out of a 100 that are disgruntled. We have to keep it in perspective many are appreciative of the efforts but the loudest are usually the grumpy people. Public Works has worked closely with the property owners to make things go as smoothly as possible. Some property owners on Broadway were very concerned about their buildings as they are so old. The flower baskets will start to be hung this week. 4 Seasons has done an amazing job and is working to have plants specific to where they will be hung – sun or shade. The flower pots will go onto the corners ASAP to make everything come together quickly. Parking – Catherine has met with all the city council members except John Radford to discuss taking over and monitoring the on-street parking. We are asking $50,000 in operating support from the city. Met with Officer Royce Clements and they are happy with the idea and can use Kathy to monitor Snake River Landing more and other code enforcement throughout the city. It is a big financial risk for us so we need that money to get things started. We will be meeting one more time with the Mayor and then get on the schedule to present to the city council in a work session. Brad Crammer is willing to move this into his budget and supports having parking all under one umbrella. We have been distributing the Park IF maps. We will implement the color coding to the street signage so it matches the graphics. We are creating a Park with a Smile card for Ed and others to hand out. Our strategy is to encourage our community to take care of each other and welcome to downtown. Ed has been amazing at collecting and enforcing the parking rules in the lots. Our income for May was $1,460.77 and merchant validation is way up also. We will be working with IPS Solutions for our parking meters in the lots. It will be .07 on the dollar for each credit card transaction. This is cheaper than anything else we looked at. Public Murals –We have been contacted by the INL and they would like to sponsor a mural to celebrate their 75th anniversary this year. We will do another call to artists for that. The 3 murals going up this summer: Kris Burnham's "I love Idaho" piece will be located on The Villa Coffeehouse. Cherryn Wight's Butterfly mural will be on The SnakeBite Restaurant. Dustin Lyon's historical depiction of downtown will be on the Willowtree Gallery building and will feature a saturated color palette. There are lots of buildings that want murals. We are including Puggslane as one of our downtown public art spots. We are also looking at doing 3 more traffic cabinet vinyl wraps. Gate way signage designs are being looked at – finding a way to match the way finding signage but make it unique to downtown so people will know they have arrived. Greg asked what is going to be done to make the lamp posts that were in the planters look better? There will be a black metal sheet placed around the bottom. There is one in front of EMI that has the metal wrap. The art bench in front of Hopkins Roden is broken but we have contacted the artist to help fix it. The skateboard bench is in storage at parks & Rec and will be re-installed. Greg asked who owns the reader board on the east side of Yellowstone as the only signage on it seems to be for North Highway Cafe? Could we take it over? It is owned by the American Legion. Greg and Kevin C are going to find out more about it. Lisa – 2017 has about $3000, 2018 has $5000 with the following 2018 projects obligated and moving forward: Samsel Murphy Building (old Ferrell’s) façade project and DEC façade project. 2019 was Council approved for $40,000 that we should receive in August pending HUD approval. $40,000 for 2019 has been approved. We have paper work out on projects but they have not been returned. Jim Pletcher said they want to do a sign. Lisa suggested that we place parking map cards at the DMV and Brandi said they would mail them out with the season tickets. Jake suggested that we place a box on the sandwich boards with maps people can take. Mala said we have an old box from the parking lot that will work. Cindy requested that some maps be brought to Idaho Mountain Trading. Meeting was adjourned at 9:22am. Our next board meeting will be held July 2, 2019 Respectfully submitted by Kevin Josephson, IFDDC secretary and Mala Lyon