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 November 5, 2019 Attendance: Antonio Meza, Shanon Taylor, Brent McLane, Kevin Cutler, Jake Durtschi, Jill Hansen, Tasha Taylor, Sam Cornwall, Steve Fishbach, Dana Briggs, Cindy Napier, Lisa Farris; Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez; visitors: Jim Pletcher, Dan (Bybees), Josh Burtenshaw, Mike Caldwell Minutes for October 1, 2019 were reviewed – Jake motioned they be approved; Kevin seconded, and board approved Financials – Shanon reported that this is our 1st month in our new fiscal year; we have a balance of $178,000; received some income from the Crawl-o-Ween and we received the BID assessment from the city; Ladies Shopping Days and Oktoberfest events expenses are in. Catherine explained that we had anticipated having the meters and the on-street monitoring up and running Oct 1st. Approval was not given until Oct 10th and we had to wait until the 13th for it to be posted. We have written 205 citations and 27 have been paid. The citations paid online are batched and deposited daily. We didn’t factor in that people would wait until the end of the 21-day grace period to pay. People are paying at about a 10% collection rate. We have the software capability to connect to the DMV and get addresses of the people who have not paid and send them a collection letter. The process is very simple and we will work to get that activated. Jake said that we current have a 10% receivable rate and collection letters will push that to probably 20%. How did we obtain the right to be the to write the citations and collect on them? Catherine explained that we have been working with the City Council for the last 2 years to execute the recommendation from numerous parking studies to have one parking authority that is not the police. We have had numerous parking committee meetings, public hearings and discussions with the city council. How will this improve the situation downtown? Catherine suggest that we get thru the review of the financial report and then address questions. Shanon motioned they be approved; Tasha seconded; board approved. Catherine – Crawl-O Ween – Krisi worked to bring in restaurants this year along with the bars. We sold $10 coupon pages and the online pre-sales were over 100 sold better than the live night of sales were 47. Online sales help us gage the number of people coming. The coupon pages were sold at Frosty Gator and the Samoa. Antonio said they had a great night, lots of fun people in costumes. These events and others like the Comedy Nights at the DEC are really bringing people downtown. Fallbrew – not all the expenses are in yet; had a huge turn out; expanded it out into the street with street games – Jenga, beer pong with water in the buckets and a corn hole tournament. We pre-sold to teams of 2 spots in the corn hole tournament and it sold out bringing in $200. Will give a full report next month but we are anticipating $4,000 to $5,000 net after expenses. Parking software – we have launched the parking meters where people pay with credit card or coins. We are testing the coin payment option to see how many use it. The meter that is up and running is at The Broadway surface lot that has 21 spaces between Lucy’s and A Street. A Lot of employees have been parking there, but the goal now is to get them to move to off street parking areas and free up that space for customer parking. That is our goal with all the parking management is to keep the up front spaces open for customer parking. We have been slow to start up the parking meters as we needed to learn the license plate reader software, determine the correct signage with the 2-hour zones and be accurate in processing the citations to those that have parked over the limit. We have some work to do with the parking committee to make these. Juan has been doing an excellent job in learning the processes with the software and doing citations as needed. IPS worked with us to get everything here before the grant deadline, so we could receive the money, but there still are a few things to work out. Another issue is that we have discovered with Ed being down here in the evenings is that the street sweepers are here only Sunday evening, but our signs restrict on-street parking 3 nights on the north/south streets and the other 3 night on the east/west streets. We are trying to figure out why we have restrictions on those other nights if we don’t have street sweepers coming in. Snow removal is a separate issue depending of a snow declaration from the city. There are some other areas where parking was not enforced and it now is, so we are working out those issues too. Jake made the recommendation that we need to have a process for complaints and appeals about the parking decisions that have been made, because we are here to serve the businesses of the downtown. Businesses like Bybee’s and Idaho Mountain Trading have concerns. We went thru the whole process to in making these decisions with open meetings and we are trying to make the best decisions for downtown. Proposed that we have a parking committee meeting to figure out a process to review these concerns. Antonio said this has been discussed at many meetings for many years. Dan said he didn’t know about them. Catherine explained that they are posted on with City Hall, online, we also send out emails and weekly newsletters and Facebook, also have an annual meeting. Dan said it appears that you want us out of the downtown. It is a challenge to have a car that needs to be looked at and there is no place for them to pull up to and park because the street is always full. Uses the A Street parking lot with the validation, but need more spots. Catherine explained that the A Street lot is maxed out with 40 people on the waiting list. Jake proposed that we set a formalized process to meet with the parking committee to give him a voice. Tasha made that motion; Cindy seconded; board approved. It was asked who is on the parking committee – Jake, Antonio, Catherine, Greg Crockett, Mike Allen and Brent McLane is there as an advisor. It is a mix of board members and downtowners. Grants: we received $11,000 from the city community grant fund that will be used to re-hab the kiosk on the greenbelt at the end of B Street; $6,000 for additional trash cans. We currently have one trach can per intersection and with this grant hope to place 2. Other grants have been applied for and Catherine will report as we find out if we got them. Lisa- Façade Improvement Program - Approximately $57,415.57 available from 2017, 18, 19 CDBG grant years FY2017 Façade Improvement funds received $79,275 - $12,415.57 available FY2018 CDBG received $55,000 (~$5000 available) $25,000 Façade - DEC Façade 490 Park Ave Finishing up exterior paint project; $25,000 Facade - Samsel Murphey 2nd Floor Façade 417 W. Broadway (Ferrell’s) $50,000 Obligated and moving forward $5000 Available FY2019 Façade Improvement funds received $40,000and available: Interest and inquiries only (Applications pending): 1. Kingston - 477 Shoup Ave - Agreement pending. Application/Meeting 8/23 with business office. $25,000 for professional design and north/east façades (clean, repair, repaint); 2. Royal Shoe Shop Building on Park - (2) business pending façade applications pending; 3. Shane bldg. (Matt Runte) - Façade project for new front entrance door and replacing or wrapping, painting the rear building windows. No application received 4. Vogue Beauty College - Façade sent 9/28/18; 5. Dave’s Bike Shop - Sign or façade. Application out Dec 2018; 6. Persnickety Lemon - Sign and or awning. Application out Jan/2019; 7. Alderson Mitro - Sign. Inquiry 12/2018. FY2020 CDBG Application Cycle to start again in Nov/Dec 2019 Dana – today is an election day. We have one current City Council member, Tom Hally, that is up for re- election. We have been approached by a company that needs a 50-foot bus stop. Brent, Catherine and I are working on an option for a long-distance bus stop that will come in every morning and evening. Antonio asked for any other comments – none voiced. Meeting was adjourned at 9:05am Our next board meeting will be held Dec 3rd at 8:30am