IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. December 8, 2020 board meeting was held online at 8:30am Attendance: Jake Durtschi, Emily Fitzpatrick, Brandi Newton, Shanon Taylor, Greg Crockett, Cindy Napier, Kevin Cutler, Steve Fischbach, Brad Cramer, Lisa Farris, Councilman Jim Francis and Jim Pletscher Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon Minutes for November 3, 2020 were reviewed - Brandi motioned to accept the minutes. Cindy seconded and board approved Financial report – Brandi – the report is no longer showing the PPP loan as it was a one-time deal and has been forgiven, except for the $5,000 that was paid back. We can now see the budget and the actual income and expenses since we have split it into parking and operations. Brandi made a motion that the financial report be approved; Cindy seconded, and board approved Catherine – holiday re-cap – we moved the tree lighting to Friday evening, so we didn’t conflict with the Ammon light parade and to use it as a kickoff for Shop Small Saturday. We had planned to work with Ammon to advertise together this year but will hope to do that next year. The tree lighting was promoted as an online only event, but we still had about 30 people show up. I was in quarantine, so we asked Krisi Staten to be the MC. The Mayor read the Shop Small Saturday and then did the count down with Santa to turn on the lights. We only have 10 potted trees this year as we usually have 18 – 20 and the Memorial tree for the Veterans. Parks and Rec hung all the lights and garland for us on the light poles and have put up lights on Memorial and in the Friendship Garden. The horse drawn trolley is downtown every Saturday thru the 19th. We used Eventbright to have people to reserve tickets. We are accommodating people that just show up as there are no shows and we can get them on if they are willing to wait. The Road Apple Trolley people have also brought down a white carriage that you can fit 5 or 6 people in at no extra charge, so more people are getting rides. Juan is staying downtown to manage the rides. East Idaho News did a story last Saturday and we have had lots of calls and emails from people wanting to know how to get a ride. Very popular event. We are needing to revise the budget and remove the income we projected we would receive from the Winterbrew and Springbrew. Also removing the projected expense of a storage unit. Krisi had told us she didn’t have time to help with our events anymore, but now that she has settled into her new job and had a rest she would like to be involved again. They are willing to store our supplies at their place. The beautification, office supplies and general categories have also been adjusted. We are keeping St Paddy’s event on in hopes things are good and we can hold the event. Brandi made the motion to accept the revised budget; Shanon seconded and board approved. Catherine thanked Brandi for all her help in getting QuickBooks and the budget to work better for us. Parking updates – We are working with Brad Cramer and the city legal team to make an adjustment in the on-street parking and have requested they approve what is called the block face ordinance. This is where you can only park for the free two hours on one block then you would have to move to a different block for the next two hours. It is amazing how many people park and then leave and when they come back, they park in the exact same parking space. We assume that when the police department moves out the small lot on the corner of Capital and B Street will be open to the county employees. We will keep you posted. Problem with homeless people – we have found homeless people in the parking garage during the cold months and leaving their items behind. Ed and our staff have dealt with this in the past, but we have been told by Lt Shane Kaiser with IFPD that we are not to engage and allow the IFPD to handle the situation. We can ask them to leave, but if they do not, we call the police. We had some sleeping the Wells Fargo ATM that the police had to remove. It is not illegal to be homeless, so we will contact the police in the future. The new December Idaho Falls Magazine is out, and we have the Downtowner section in it. There are great articles and a parking section. The Parking Committee will be meeting next week in a virtual meeting, we did not have a November meeting. Kent Lott the owner of Centre Theatre has talked to Mala, Catherine, and Jake about the problem he has of people who come downtown to see a matinee movie and are parked more than two hours on the street then they are getting a $20 parking ticket. We encourage business owner to educate their customer where parking is available when they need to park more than 2 hours. Kent brought up the idea of having meters on the street so people can just pay for the time they need. Jake pointed out that it is very difficult to manage free parking. Hair Salon owners have also expressed the need to clients to have a longer period of time to park. With an on-street option people can take in dinner and a movie and add time to their parking with their phone thru the app on their phone. Catherine said this will be a big topic for the Parking Committee. She is putting together a couple of surveys that will go out to the public, our facebook followers and then one to the business owners and property owners. We are not naive about what some of the feedback we will receive. There will be plenty of criticism, but we are hoping for positive feedback also. Lisa – 2017 – 2020 funds are being worked thru. We have about $57,000. Spruce and Pie Hole Pizza are almost finished. There are a few other applications out that have not been returned. Please encourage people to contact Lisa so this funding can be used. There is a virtual public hearing for applications received for CV3-CDBG Thursday, Dec 3rd at 7:30. Catherine said we are still working on our lighting project. It has been challenging as we want to use solar lights and they are not used to installing those. We will work out those details. Brad did not have any other updates from the city that Lisa and Catherine hadn’t already covered. Meeting was adjourned at 9:10am Our next board meeting is scheduled for January 12, 2021.