IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. March 3, 2020 board meeting was held in the Syringa Networks Board Room (460 Park Ave) at 8:30am Attendance: Jake Durtschi, Emily Fitzpatrick, Tasha Taylor, Kevin Josephson, Brandi Newton, Chip Schawrze, Greg Crockett, Jill Hansen, Cindy Napier, Lisa Farris; Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon; visitors: Jim Pletscher, Chase Martin and Jim Francis Elections held and the following were voted in for the 2020: Jacob Durtschi President Kevin Cutler Vice President Jill Hansen Secretary Brandi Newton Treasurer Antonio Meza Past President Shanon Taylor 2nd term - Board Member Greg Crockett 2nd term - Board Member Kevin Josephson 2nd term - Board Member Minutes for February 4, 2020 were reviewed – Jill motioned they be approved; Jake seconded, and board approved Financials: insurance settlement of $14,000 for damaged A Street parking lot booth is in our market savings account; 6 new garbage cans have been ordered and will be placed on the opposite corner of the current ones with the Street Department emptying them; Parking: we are ahead of our prediction with payment at the meters $5,800, but down on the on-street citation collection – Jake reminded us only a small percentage will pay their citation right away and we are still working on the access to the database that will provide us with addresses to send a letter. Chip asked if we are writing as many tickets as we thought we would – yes but the goal is not to see how many we can write it is to educate people on where they can park for the time they need. The process of collection is smoother now and those contesting tickets are directed to go online. Winterbrew was canceled, we had some pre-cost of $1,052 for advertising and permits. We pay $150 for a park impact fee to Parks & Rec, rent garbage cans, $50 alcohol permits with city and another $50 to the State. Greg appreciated the list of events sent out and wonder if we have too many? Catherine said no, with having Krisi as the Event Coordinator it works, but we are probably at our max with the number of events we do. We are planning to have the Winterbrew an indoor event next year and use The DEC so weather will not be an issue. We are tweaking the Taste of Downtown to make it almost into a Summerbrew so that we will make a profit. We need to make sure each event pays for itself or brings in income for us. Brandi said we currently have a good variety of events, some that are good for adults and others for families. Greg asked if the credit card processing fee is a monthly cost? It is paid weekly and we pay .07 per transaction with a card at the parking meters. We planned for all these expenses, but under budgeted for signage, marketing and some supplies. We will need to ask for more support from the city next year. Greg motioned the financials be approved; Brandi seconded and board approved Catherine showed the rendition of the new parking shed/garage and its new location - it will be installed just east of the old booth and showed the bids for the new shed, the electric work, the concrete pad and adjustment to curb and gutter. This location will make it so we do not lose any parking spaces and keep the drive out option on the south end. Signage will be kept simple and be attached to the new shed. Brandi asked if these bids include insulation – it doesn’t. Kevin asked if we would place bollards to protect the new shed and meter? We can if it is needed. Kevin made a motion the new shed be built using the $14,000 from the insurance claim and that bollards be installed as needed to protect the building and meter; Tasha seconded and board approved. Spring beautification – Sherry will be downtown cleaning out the pots and planting spring scape in 20 of the most visible pots. We can plant earlier because the new pots hold water so we don’t have to wait on the city summer crew to be up and running. We have 110 pots that will be full of flowers and the 135 hanging flower baskets that we will start getting sponsors for soon. We will be sending out a request to artists on March 16th for the crosswalk art that will be done at the corner of Park and B Street. The art will be within the crosswalk area only. We are looking at a art project called “Labs downtown” where we will have fiberglass Labrador dog statues made that artists will paint. Each ‘Lab” will be sponsored and attached to the sidewalk but not in a permanent way so they can be moved. The art benches have been in place for 15 years and some are in pretty sad shape. We are going to evaluate each one and maybe replace them with a “Lab” The artist of the old benches will be contacted and a decision of what to do with those that will be removed will be made. Lisa suggested they be auctioned off. There are several places that connect with “Labs” like the INL is the Lab, Teton Toyota has a lab mascot. INL has given us a $5,000 grant to paint a mural that will celebrate their 75th anniversary. The call to artists will go out in April for this mural. Main Street America costs $280 to join for a year membership. They have lots of resources. We were part of this years ago when Shirley Chastain was the executive director. It is a great place to network with our cities out size and see how they are doing things. They have 4 points – design, organization, promotions and economic vitality. Greg motioned that we approve the $280 to become members; Kevin seconded and board approved. Parking – Juan, Ed and Catherine went to Boise to meet with Tyler Johnson and Shane Anderson talking to them about their parking. They have on-street single space meters, but it was good to talk with other parking enforcement people and see how they do things and what their policies are. They do run a shuttle but it is very expensive and they are losing money on it. Their on-street parking is monitored until 8:00pm and ours stops at 6:00pm. Cindy asked if they use validation in Boise? No except for buildings with parking garages like what we have under The Broadway and the businesses in that building validate just for their garage. We have a number of vehicles that are parking on Constitution all day for days or weeks at a time, but there is no ordinance requiring them to move. We need to look at an ordinance called “Block Face” which means a vehicle has to move at least one block away to park for a second or third 2 hour block of time. Validation – Jake said we had our open house meeting that was open to all the merchants and had about 30 people in attendance. We presented the validation options and explained how they would work and the costs to the merchant which is $1 per 1 hour of parking for the customers. It was suggested that a code be available that customer could be given to enter into the meter, but our technology cannot support that kind of an option. Greg said that interest in validation seemed low in validation and other issued were vented. Kevin asked if it is worth our time to even have validation with such a low participation? Are we catering to just a handful of merchants that want it? Catherine explained that validation can be offered in the A Street lot, the B Street lot and the Broadway surface lot. Option #1: A customer will park and they then have 10 to 15 minutes to go into a store and request validation. The merchant will login and validate for as many hours as they would like to give. Each validated hour will cost the merchant $1. They will be required to purchase 100 hours of validation parking that will be in their online account to use for their customers. Option #2: The customer parks and pays at the meter. When they go into the store the merchant can give them a $1 off of the purchase or offer them a $1 off coupon for the next time they come in. The customer gets “free” parking when they are offered these options. 95% of all downtown parking is free, so there are options when someone doesn’t want to pay to park. This validation software was built just for us at our request. No business has to participate it is optional as always. Are there software costs to DDC to run the program? No. Catherine said that the manager for Ford’s bar asked if they could stamp citations and have the customer drop them in the box and we send an invoice at the end of the month. Brandi expressed concern that someone could run up a validation tab and then not pay. This is something we could do, but it will take more of our time. Bybee’s has figured out a way to make their parking work without using the parking lot. Kevin expressed that it feels like we need to just be done with validation altogether. Brandi suggested we try it for 6 months and see. Catherine said we had a conference call with IPS yesterday and there are still a few things that need to be in place so we will launch this on April 1st. We do not want this to be a hassle for the merchants or the customer, each business will have to see what works for them and use that or not validate. We will have to spend time going out and training merchants on how to use the online portal. Brandi said we should send out an email offering to come help and train, but if they do not reach out to us we do not go looking for them. Kevin made a motion that we not offer validation and merchants can offer coupons or discounts as they want. Brandi suggested an amendment to try this program for 6 months and then if it doesn’t work we can disband then. Greg seconded that amended motion and board approved. Kevin requested that our time spent on this be logged so we can see how much it is taking. Lisa stated that the 2020 grant funding was approved at $422,000 – April 9th. There are 13 applicants to have some of this funding. The DDC is one of them. Meeting was adjourned at 10:04 Our next board meeting will be held April 7, 2020 at 8:30am Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon