IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. February 9, 2021 board meeting was held online at 8:30am Attendance: Jake Durtschi, Shanon Taylor, Steve Fischbach, Cindy Napier, Jill Hansen, Tasha Taylor, Lisa Farris, Kevin Cutler, Dana Briggs, Brad Crammer and Steven Boorman from I.F. Power. Staff: Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez, Mala Lyon Minutes for January 12, 2021 were reviewed - Cindy motioned to accept the minutes. Jill seconded and board approved Financial report – Catherine –second PPP loan for $27,297.00. Liability Event Insurance with Hartwell $5,000– we have not received an invoice – rates will be based in the number of events. We paid this in full last January and then didn’t have any events. The charges for the parking software are based on usage. Met with IPS who runs the software, and we are looking at options as there are two plans we can use and pay for – like a cell phone unlimited usage fee or fees based on usage. Jake asked if we are looking at holding events? Catherine has been in touch with Parks and Rec, specifically Mason Handke who must clear and approve all events. We are hoping to do the Springbrew April 17th as it is an outside event, and we can spread the event out into the street making social distancing easier. The question will be what is “full capacity” when you are outside and in the street? The Civitans with Alive After 5 are moving forward to have their weekly event starting in May. We have trimmed the budget so we don’t need the events to make our budget work, but it will be fun to have an event to look forward to. Jake asked if we could get or will need special approval from the Health District? Catherine said we can ask for a safety plan. We want to be clear in our message that we are responsible and following the directives form the Governor and the city. Motion was made by Cindy that the financial report be approved; Shanon seconded and board approved. Directors Report – Catherine - we received the second PPP loan for $27,297.00 and hope it will be forgiven like the first one was. This will help cover the loss of income from the events. We have trimmed the budget to account for that loss of income. Lighting Project – the board approved the use of façade grant funds that are left over from 2017 to add additional lights to the parking lots. The B Street lot especially needs more lights to make it more friendly and safe. We worked with Lisa through the process to install 5 additional lights that would be solar. The cost of connecting lights to the grid is very expensive. We investigated moving the electricity in the B Lot and it was $8,000 which would have put completing this project with a $22,000 budget out of reach. We did a bid process with Lisa and picked Wheeler Electric to do the install. We have run into a problem with the Mayor not being comfortable with us doing improvements without specific permission. Lisa did all her due diligence in making sure the city was informed on the project. Idaho Falls Power wants to know why we want to use solar as they do not feel it is the best option. Brad said our contract with the city offers little help in knowing if we can do improvements. It is very basic and saying IFDDC is in charge of maintenance, snow removal, weeds, trash and such, so basically use the parking lot for parking and keep it clean. Catherine said we have managed the lot all these years and didn’t know that special permission was needed to make improvements that were no cost to the city. Jake said this has never been a precedent in the past. Steve (with I.F. Power) was curious if there a better or cheaper way to get these lights? I.F. Power are offering to do a review of the project and let you know what other options there are. Lisa said we do have a signed contract with Wheeler Electric, the city and IFDDC. Brad said that the city attorney Mike Kirkham is looking at the agreement the city has with IFDDC. The city is the actual property owner of the lots, we want to avoid having to restart the bidding process and going back to HUD. Lisa said we started this project last Oct and recommends that we move forward as it is. Parking Survey – we sent out a request for people to fill out a survey on downtown parking with questions about a possible parking garage and on-street meters. We put it out to the public on pour facebook page and the newsletter and then sent it specifically by email to the downtown property owners and merchants. The goal was to gather feedback and to help people understand that a parking garage would not be built in the heart of downtown at the expense of existing buildings. On-street parking meters have been suggested by some of the downtown business owners like Centre Theatre and a hair salon, so that people can just pay for however long they want to park. We thought we would get lots of negative comments as that has been the case for past surveys, but we didn’t. Not one person said downtown parking was horrible on a scale of one to five. The survey is still open for one more week. 25% said they thought meters on-street were a good idea and 75% thought it would drive customers away. One comment was why have paid parking when there is plenty of parking available? Block-Face ordinance – this would make it so you can park for two hours on one block then you would have to move to a new block to park again. The way it is now if someone moves their car one inch they can claim they have “moved their vehicle” and can now park for another 2 hours. We still have lots of downtown employees that move their cars every two hours. It is with the city legal department to do the wording for the ordinance. Lisa – there are no changes we have about $57,000 and currently the only project is Spruce/Pie Hole Pizza. We will be working on our new 5-year plan Meeting was adjourned at 9:26am Our next board meeting is scheduled for March 2, 2021. Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon