IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. May 5, 2020 board meeting was held in The DEC (480 Park Ave) at 8:30am Attendance: Jake Durtschi, Emily Fitzpatrick, Kevin Josephson, Brandi Newton, Greg Crockett, Jill Hansen, Steve Fishbauch, Kevin Cutler, Antonio Meza; Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon; visitors: Chase Martin, Councilman Jim Francis, Janice McGeachin Idaho’s Lt. Governor and a guest Minutes for March 3, 2020 were reviewed – Greg motioned they be approved; Antonio seconded, and board approved. No board meeting was held in April 2020 Financials: Brandi requested that we amend the financial report to include the PPP loan as income as it is a loan until it becomes a grant; other income is the insurance money we received when the A Street parking booth was damaged - $14,000 – it is our money to do with as we wish. Our assets to liability is very good so we can be flexible in this tough time. When we do more we spend more. Brandi made the motion to approve the financial report with the amendments; Kevin Cutler seconded and board approved. Catherine presented a revised operations budget to adjust for lost income from canceled events and reduced parking income. We are hoping to move Taste of Downtown event to July 18th.We will not be doing any public art this year – we did receive from the INL $5,000 for a mural to be painted on the side of Wee Bee Toys, pending their approval, which will be done at a future date. Catherine and Juan had planned to attend the Parking meetings in Oregon but that has been postponed until 2021 – the one in Boise last year was very helpful and informative. The new budget has decreased our expenses by $30,000 and reduced the projected income by $30,000. We will still need to be flexible as to what events we can and can’t do. Jake asked what portion of the loan will be forgiven? Catherine said 100% at this point, but if it is not all used there is a payback over the next 2 years at 1%. Bank of Idaho did 1,000 loans in just a few days for businesses. Greg proposed that the revised budget be approved as Catherine has thought this out very well; Brandi seconded and board approved the revised budget. Downtown watering for trees, hanging baskets and flower pots: Parks and Rec has had to do a major budget cut also and will not be able to do the watering of the downtown this year. They usually hire 300 summer time workers and will not do that this summer. They have agreed to contract our services for watering at the cost of $20,000 which is substantially less than what they typically spend to staff the downtown watering job. We will hire 2 part-time people to water the hanging flower baskets and pots at $8 an hour and hope we can make it work. Because of the limited resources we have cut back on the baskets from 133 to 85. There will be none on the Yellowstone highway, only a few on Memorial and South Capital. The baskets on Broadway are connected to auto drip so they will all be in place. We estimate it will take minimum 35 hours per week (X 2 people) to water the baskets and pots. Dave Lawrence has offered a watering truck to us that we can use to water the baskets and pots. We will need to purchase a pump and pay a small leasing fee and give him a release from all liability agreement. Being able to use this truck with a 500 gallon tank will make watering downtown so much easier than trying to use faucets on the outside of buildings or fire hydrants. The trees are another matter. They require deep watering and we should have started watering them in March. We have contacted Dave Lawrence and had them watered last Friday using the fire hydrants. Using the hydrants is a bit tricky as you have to make sure the hydrant is turned all the way on or the drain underground will not close properly and water will erode the underground soil. We have decided the best option is to contract with Dave Lawrence to water the trees and it will cost about $100 each time they are watered. He is willing to work with us on the cost to make sure it can fit in our budget. Jim Francis asked if we had contacted the proper people to use the hydrants? Catherine said Parks and Rec had an agreement with the city but that she would contact everyone to make sure we are still ok to use them. Catherine said the long term plan as each intersection is eventually overhauled that we will have auto watering installed. All the watering pipes that were in the old planters were removed and shut off. Antonio asked if Parks and Rec got any government loan help? Jim said cities can apply, but there probably would not be money for seasonal help. Janice said 1.2 billion is being sent to cities and counties based on population. Kevin Josephson asked if firemen could help with using the fire hydrants? Catherine said she would ask and also will find out where we can get the water truck filled. Emily motioned that the proposed budget be approved to hire Dave Lawrence to water the trees and that we lease his water truck for watering the baskets and pots. Greg seconded and board approved. Events: meeting with Krisi tomorrow to discuss options of how we can safely hold the Taste of Downtown event in July. At this point we are still planning on holding the OktoberFest the last Saturday in September, FallBrew in November and WinterBrew in January moving the location here to the DEC hopefully to get ahead of any bad weather cancellations. Kevin J. suggested that for Taste of Downtown people could do curbside drive by pick up for samples. All options will be looked at. Parking: very little income has come in from parking in April. We have $14,000 in outstanding citations that has not been collected. We have been working with the city attorney to try and get permission to access the data to get names and addresses that match the license plate numbers. The city had the authority before we took over enforcement, so we are hoping we can have the same. The ‘Look, Ask, Share’ campaign and Support Local Idaho Gems programs are up and running. We are supporting both and they are optional for businesses to participate in. Some have expressed concern that the Look, Ask, Share posters will be used against some businesses if they do not display it. Several restaurant and bar owner met yesterday to discuss reopening phases and bars can’t open until June. Brandi said these are guidelines and we are to interpret them and make them work for each of our circumstances. We cannot tell anyone what to do, you have to look at how your patrons will react to your decisions. We can and will help and be supportive by sharing info of what each business plan is. Catherine said the DDC will encourage each business to have a true entrepreneurial spirit and follow Health Department guidelines. We will support everyone’s decisions as they know what is best for them and their customers. Janice said there is concern that if a business doesn’t use the poster there will be negative results which is unfair as most businesses like The Celt were already following all the guidelines. It is a matter of survival for these businesses to get open sooner than later. Kevin J. said we support everyone and we can advertise who is open and what plans they have in place so people feel comfortable. Innovation is key and curbside service might be part of the future way of doing business. Idaho Gives goes thru May 7th and we are promoting the Foundation as a nonprofit worthy of donations. Community block grants – we have $38,000 for the 2020-2021 year. The old Ferrell’s building had $25,000 but they have not moved forward to use it as of yet. They have until June 1st or the money goes back in the budget and can be used by a new project. Jim said HUD has put some extra money in and Lisa can let us know about that. Kevin J asked if we have looked into having virtual concerts and have people pick up dinner or get growlers to fill with craft beers? Jake said they did the Comedy show in April and had 4 to 5,000 viewers. They did this to help the comedian who raised about $700 in donations for himself. We encouraged people to get a curbside dinner and will be doing another comedy show this week. It is hard to get restaurants all on the same page for these kinds of promotions. Brandi said it is tricky to live stream a video especially if you try to sell tickets to it. There are some real costs involved and no promise of return. Meeting was adjourned at 10:00 Our next board meeting will be held June 2, 2020 at 8:30am Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon