IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. board meeting was held in the Syringa Networks Board Room (460 Park Ave) at 8:30am October 1, 2019 Attendance: Antonio Meza, Shanon Taylor, Brent McLane, Kevin Cutler, Greg Crockett, Jake Durtschi, Jill Hansen, Tasha Taylor, Brandi Newton, Jim Francis – city council; Staff: Catherine Smith, Mala Lyon, Juan Hernandez; visitors: Jim Pletcher Juan Hernandez was introduced as our new full-time parking ambassador. Minutes for September 10, 2019 were reviewed – Brandi motioned they be approved; Jake seconded, and board approved Financials – Shanon reported that this is the end of our fiscal year. Our line of credit at the Bank of Idaho is at zero; We made $76,000 with the events last year and $91,000 from parking revenue; Expenses that were up last year were the public art/murals, insurance for the parking monitoring vehicle and office supplies. We are ending the year in the black. Shanon motioned that the report be approved; Brandi seconded, and board approved. Parking Committee – Jake explained that the B Street lots has had an increase of problems since we stopped the 24/7 monitoring and ticketing. It is recommended that we go back to having Juan during the day and Ed in the evenings and at night monitor and give out tickets in just the B Street lots. Greg motioned that we return to the 24/7 monitoring of the B Street lots; Brandi seconded; board approved. Validation – it is proposed by the parking committee that the validation now be 100 hours of validation for $100. It is currently a flat fee of $100 for unlimited validation. Brandi asked if businesses can just be billed for what they use? Greg said we need to have a minimum purchase $200 = 200 hours to be in the program. It was discussed that, that might be difficult for the smaller Mom & Pop type stores to budget $200 in. Is the goal to have more merchants participate? Having a $200 minimum will push some out even with on-street parking more strictly enforced. Jake proposed that since all that are participating now pay $100 that we keep it at that point - $100 = 100 hour of validation. Tasha expressed that we can go slowly on this and make changes as needed. Brent said we need to be sensitive to the small businesses. Many of them are not using 100 hours of validation now. Higher users will have to pay more, but smaller businesses can still be part of it. Tasha made the motion that we offer for $100 – 100 hours of validation with no maximum cap-off of what a business can buy. Validation hours purchased will be good for 1 year then they will have to be renewed. Greg seconded and board approved. Brandi said that after this year we can relook at it and maybe for the smaller businesses we can offer $50 for 50 hours. Oktoberfest report – it was cold and rained until about 5:30. We started at 3:00 and had street games. Sawtooth Brewing from Ketchum reached out to us asking to come and be part of this event. They sold food and beer, which cut into our sales. We only made $3,897 which leaves us about $1,200 short to cover our expenses. We are anticipating Sawtooth will give us a kickback from their sales, but we didn’t have an agreement with them on that before the event. Crawloween will be Oct 26th and Fallbrew will be Nov. 2nd. Corner projects are finished now that the corner at the Celt is done. A pergola will be installed with a safety bar along the edge to protect people from the traffic. There is a list of a few other problems that we will work through so that everything is the way it should be. Jake said some broken pavers were replaced outside his place. Catherine said there is some cleanup work needed where cement splashed on some lamps and trash cans. Antonio asked if I.F. Power was going to do the skirts around the base of the lamp poles? Catherine said yes, they were just waiting for all the work to be finished so they could come in and do them all at once. Special thanks to Kevin Cutler for all his help in coordinating this project. Parking – the Smart Meters have been installed. The are currently covered with plastic garbage bags as we are not ready to start them. We are waiting on the city attorney to get final permission to drive the UTV on the street. We will do a slow roll out with lot of education not the merchants. Juan and Ed have been practicing with the handheld machines that print out the tickets. Jim F. asked if we are on the agenda for the Council meeting? We need to double check with Brad Cramer to make sure we are. Once that is approved by the City Council, we will receive the $35,000 from the city. The license plate reader cameras were installed on the ‘bumper’ of the UTV and we feel they are too close to the tires. We have a call tomorrow with IPS to discus a solution. We have had great training with IPS. There are no lights on the UTV at this point. We need clarifications from the police as to what we can use. Brent invited everyone to the open house discussing ‘South Downtown’ Oct 9th at the library from 7- 9:00pm. This area involves south of the railroad track that runs behind the library to Pancheri and then from the river to Yellowstone Highway. Meeting was adjourned at 9:30am. Our next board meeting will be held November 5, 2019. Respectfully submitted by Kevin Josephson, IFDDC secretary and Mala Lyon