IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. January 12, 2021 board meeting was held online at 8:30am Attendance: Jake Durtschi, Brandi Newton, Shanon Taylor, Cindy Napier, Richard Napier, Jill Hansen, Tasha Taylor, Lisa Farris, Dana Briggs, David M. from Graybar, and Councilman Jim Francis Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon Minutes for December 8, 2020 were reviewed - Cindy motioned to accept the minutes. Shanon seconded and board approved Financial report – Brandi – expenses are being controlled well and the PPP loan has been moved to income; with no fundraisers we are still doing well and in the black. Catherine snow removal as always is a big expense with more coming and a parking invoice need to be moved; the fall cleanup and the install of the fall/winter décor was more expensive than anticipated. We will adjust during the spring clean up phase. Jake asked if we had done the fall/winter decorating last year? Yes, but not as much as we did this year and adding the extra cost. It looks so drab right after the flowers are removed, so adding the fall/winter plants helps if feel and look better. We hope to be able to have the money to do the Broadway pots in the future. We picked the prominent corners to have the fall/winter plants added. Brandi made the motion to approve the financial report; Cindy seconded and board approved. Catherine – we emailed out the board meeting schedule for 2021 and it will be posted at City Hall. We met the first Tuesday of each month. Brandi requested that the meeting calendar invites be sent out for the whole year so that they are on everyone’s schedule. Mala will do that. Parking – we are still working with the city to have a ‘block face’ parking ordinance – this is you can park for two hours say on A Street by Great Harvest on the 300 block and then you can park for another two hours on Park Ave on a different block, but you can not go back and park on the street of the 300 block of A Street in the same 24-hour period. This will make the software we use work the way it was designed so much better. People park, leave and come back and often park in the same spot then they are issued a ticket because our tracking photos show them in the same spot over the two-hour limit. There will need to be an education process, but the current signage will still work. We are having to work on this with the legal team as one change can affect other things. We will take this to a city council work session so we can explain it and give the background as to why this will work better. Use of Parking lots – We have gotten request from food vendors to be in the lots on weekends, Bank of Idaho was having an outdoor event and Healing Hands requested to use it for a Physic Fair and we have no process in place to extend that permission and make sure that liability insurance is in place. The Parking Committee recommends that we have a formal process in place so that we are aware of the parking lot being used for things outside of just parking a vehicle. This will require request ahead of time and a nominal fee of $25 to cover any things like clean up time after an event. Jake said he like the small fee of $25 as it helps a food vendor to commit to being there if they request the space. Cindy asked if this would include radio vans that do remotes? Jake could they pay the one day $5 fee for something like that as the van just sits there and the radio guy is inside? Brandi said Idaho Mountain Trading does this a lot in the summer with a couple of pop-up tents, could they give the dates and have one price for the whole summer to make it easy for everyone? Yes, a package deal can be done so it will be fair for everyone that requests use of the lots. Jake motioned that the formal parking lot use request be approved; Tasha seconded and the board approved. A Lot - Idaho Mountain Trading (IMT) - We have been working hard to get people educated on how the parking lot works and how they can go to the meter and pay to park. We want everyone to have a good experience downtown. IMT has a unique customer base where they might only come downtown once a year to get their skis tuned whereas the lot by Smokin’ Fins as repeat customers coming to eat often. We asked IMT to track and record the complaints they were getting. IMT has placed a sign by their backdoor that reminds everyone that they need to pay for their parking time. A large vinyl sign was also purchased and install by IMT that is on the front of the parking lot booth as you come in from A Street that again says you must pay to park. This has been a pay to park lot for years just how you pay for your parking time has changed. Rather than taking an envelope and putting your money in it you go to the meter and pay. We discussed the option of IMT paying for all the parking tickets in the A Lot and it would have said on the ticket “Your parking was paid for today by Idaho Mountain Trading”, but that left the door open for people to abuse IMT’s offer. IMT still wants the option of paying for their customers parking if they get a ticket. We will continue to issue ticket to those that do not pay for their parking at the meter. If that person is a IMT customer, they have the option of taking the ticket back into IMT and IMT will stamp it and return it to us. We will collect the stamped tickets and send an invoice to IMT. We currently charge an $8 fee to anyone who does not pay at the meter. The cost of an all-day pass is $5, so it is really a $3 fine for not paying at the meter. IMT has requested a discount on the cost of the tickets. Kevin Josephson recommended we reduce it to $5. Cindy said they were hoping for a $3 or $4 agreement per ticket. We don’t want our customers upset and feel like they don’t want to be downtown. Catherine asked if they have noticed an improvement of people going to the meter and paying since the sign was installed on the booth? Ed is out with Covid so the lot has not been monitored as closely since before Christmas. Cindy said it has been better. Richard said that in the training meeting they have the goal is to get and keep a customer for life. The way to do that is to give them a great experience and make it easy for the customer to park. Catherine agreed and feels like the new parking monitoring system we now use had helped open up the parking for more customers. Tasha made a motion that $4 per ticket be charged to IMT for each parking ticket they choose to pay for. Brandi seconded and the board approved. Catherine said it is important that we keep an open dialogue going to keep aware of any issues that come up so we can work together. Lisa – façade grant – We have just over $38,000. One application out for Page Insurance and they are hoping to use funds in 2 or 3 phases. The city council approved $50,000 to the Arts Council and the Symphony. We are working on our next 5-year plan from 2021 to 2025. Dana – Mayor Casper will be giving her State of Idaho Falls address this Thursday at 7:30pm and it will be recorded so you can listen to it later also. Jake – The Mayor is also doing a program called the Idaho Falls Family Happy Hour. It will be this Saturday and then every week after. It is an effort help decrease the feeling of isolation that some in the community have. There will be comedians, Nosey Neighbor Tours, cooking demos, motivational speakers. There should be a facebook page to follow with more details. Meeting was adjourned at 9:20am Our next board meeting is scheduled for February 2, 2021. Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon