IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. September 1, 2020 board meeting was held at The DEC (480 Park Ave) at 8:30am Attendance: Shanon Taylor, Brandi Newton, Steve Fischbach, Greg Crockett, Jake Durtschi, Kevin Cutler, Tasha Taylor, Kevin Josephson, Cindy Napier, Brent McLane and Lisa Farris Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon Visitors: Brent Summers Minutes for August 4, 2020 were reviewed – Brandi motioned they be approved; Greg seconded, and board approved. Financial report – Brandi said we are doing good at controlling our expenses and we have moved the parking out as a sperate item so we can see expenses and income clearly. Brandi made a motion to approve the financials and Greg seconded – board approved. Catherine – has completed the PPP loan process to have the loan forgiven. It needs to be submitted Sept 30th. We are set up with ‘Lexis Nexss’ to submit license plate numbers and get names and addresses. Each one will cost us $1.00. We currently have 2,500 outstanding citations equaling $27,000 of uncollected fines. We will start with last October and work our way forward until we are caught up. We will send a postcard first, then a letter, turn it over to a collection agency. Jake asked if they can still contest a ticket when they receive the notice. Yes, we will review them, but they will have to contact us directly, because once the 21 days has passed, they cannot do it thru the portal. We will resolve contested ticket in the office and only bring the ones we cannot resolve to the parking committee. Greg emphasized that we will be scrutinized by Lexis Nexis and only receive the name and address. Who does the city use for collection? Catherine said she did not know but will find out. We are not looking at thousands of dollars, but there are quite a few that are $200 plus. The parking committee will need to establish a policy of how long we carry it on the books before it is turned over to a collection agency. We are still working with the city attorney about when we can do on-street towing. We have a call-to-artists out for the INL mural. INL gave us $5,000 ($3,500 to the artist and $1,500 for their supplies) to have a mural painted on Marilyn Manguba’s building in the alley across from the hands mural. We extended the deadline to Sept 14th as we did not get any submissions. If we do not get submissions, we will commission an artist to do the mural and it might not get painted until next summer. The mural is to capture the INL vision for the future and we think artists might be intimidated by that request as they are not “graphic” artists. We hope to put some murals also in the alley between SnakeBite and Ford’s to make that section an exciting exhibit of murals. Catherine is writing more grant applications for murals. Bank of Idaho has requested a native history mural and we will work with the Museum of Idaho and Native Americans to accomplish that. Lisa – We have $73,000 from 2017 to 2020 available. $15,000 is going to Pie Hole and Spruce Home and Gift as their façade ended up being more expensive. We have started working on a grant to improve the lighting in the parking lots. Looking at $20,000 for that improvement. 2020 funds have been approved, so we have plenty of funds available. Brent – this has been the busiest year for new construction and remodeling. The costs of supplies are high, you cannot even get pressure treated wood right now. We have a big need for apartment complexes and duplexes. Jake said rent has gone up 30% in the past year, so housing is hard to find and afford – supply and demand. Brent announced that they are going to change the zoning on the historic core buildings so that they can put residential on the main floor of buildings with a 30-foot retail space in the store front. These old historic buildings do not have elevators and so to have an ADA compliant apartment it must be on the main floor. Under the old rules the Roger’s building could not have put upstairs apartments in without an elevator. It is going to the Planning Commission this month. Reminder that the parking Committee meeting will be held Sept 10th at noon at the DEC. Meeting was adjourned at 9:00am. Our next board meeting will be held Oct 6, 2020 at 8:30am. Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon