IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. August 4, 2020 board meeting was held at The DEC (480 Park Ave) at 8:30am Attendance: Shanon Taylor, Brandi Newton, Steve Fischbach, Emily Fitzpatrick, Jill Hansen, Lisa Farris, Dana Briggs, Cindy Napier Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon Visitors: Chase Martin Minutes for July 7, 2020 were reviewed – Steve motioned they be approved; Jill seconded, and board approved. Financial report – Brandi said we are still in a good place; working with the PPP loans and waiting for info on whether they will be forgiven; Brandi motioned that the financial report be approved; Emily seconded and board approved. Catherine presented the proposed budget for next year Oct 2020 – Sept 2021. It was emailed out to all board members last week. We are dividing out more categories to show profit and loss so we can show true costs of things we are doing like the parking. The goal is not to write tons of tickets, but to manage and keep the flow of parking moving. We are a team of people working to promote the downtown. We should receive the funding from the city at $45,000 to manage parking per the final vote on the city’s maximum budget. Lots of budget cuts happening at the city like the Community Grants are not happening this year. We do have a decrease in validation income as no one has paid for validation since 2019. We are waiting on the software program to be developed to use online validation. California is still in shut-down so the programmers are not working. It will be awhile yet before we have that in place. We have had a few complaints about not offering it the same way as was done in the past, but most merchants are offering some kind of discount that works for them to help people pay for the parking in the lots. Hourly income for the parking meters is good. Yesterday we collected over $100 with all three lots. The city provided funds to help us do the watering and we will be doing a MOU with the city to make sure those funds keep coming for next year. We are not sure if the city will take the watering back now they have seen we can do it. Oktoberfest and Fall Brew are still being planned at this point, but they may be canceled. Events are expensive to put on and we can make changes depending on whether we have the events or not. Credit Card processing fees are currently 7 cents per transaction. We are applying for funds for more public art for next year. We are working thru the process to work with Lexis Nexis to do collections on unpaid tickets. It will cost us $1 per address look up, so we are looking at $2,500 to start. We will not be collecting Social Security numbers as that requires a whole different level of clearance. Greg worked with Catherine to get all the paperwork done. We will need to decide at what point we turn it over to a collection agency down the road. We are looking at those with only one ticket outstanding sending out a printed postcard as that will be cheaper for postage. We have our event equipment stored at Krisi Staten’s home and she has told us she will no longer be our event person, so we will need to rent a storage unit. We are hoping that she might change her mind once she gets settled in her new job and still work with us. Brandi said that we need to look at how the BID members want us, the IFDDC staff, using our time and resources in the future. With the new way the budget will be lined out we will be able to see how our time and resources are being used clearly. Brandi made the motion to have the proposed budget for 2020-2021 be approved; Cindy seconded and board approved. We need to have a process in place concerning towing of vehicles that have unpaid tickets. We would like to recommend a process that is like other cities of 5 unpaid tickets or $200 in unpaid fines we can tow the vehicle. The city attorney has told us we need to follow a specific process to be able to do this once we have the limits in place. There is no clear policy currently in the city ordinances or at the State level about towing for unpaid tickets. We are not going to do any tire booting. Brandi said that as a member of the Parking Committee she would make the motion that 5 unpaid tickets of fines totaling over $200 and be subject to an official warning sticker placed on the vehicle and then can be towed the next time it is in violation. Cindy seconded this motion and board approved. Cindy thanked us for the green zone loading zones in the parking lot and that they have been very helpful. Lisa reported that we still have CDBG funds from 2018, 2019 and 2020 – just over $57,000 is available. It was suggested that a notice go out to all property owners letting them know this is available. We had discussed a grant to get improved lighting in the parking lots. Catherine said she had been hesitant to use it not wanting to take money from building owners. Brandi suggest that we look at the leftover money from 2018 and 2019 and have that be our benchmark of funds we can look at using. Catherine will follow up with Lisa on this. This funding needs to be use or we will lose some of it going forward. Catherine said we will be putting a seal coat on the murals that were painted last summer. The sign language one had some graffiti written on it that we had to clean off. It will be easier to protect them if they are sealed. Dana updated us on some economic development of new businesses coming to our area – a meat processing plant will be up and running in Iona next year. Department of Energy has put a bid out for new office space. Costco is opening next Friday Aug 14th. We are having a meeting with National Realtors in Oct to discuss housing options, increasing choices and needs. Brandi said we need to watch for the new INL contractors like BEA and Fluor as they like to give to their community. Catherine said the ‘call to artists’ for the INL mural went out. The deadline for submissions is Aug 26th and the artist will have the month of Sept. to get it painted. This new mural will go on Marilyn Manguba’s building in the alley off Park Ave across from Kelly Sheridian’s mural. They are very excited to have it. Waterline main is being replaced on Park Avenue from B Street to Constitution. This will be in the works for about 40 days. Meeting was adjourned at 9:20am Our next board meeting will be held September 1, 2020 at 8:30am Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon