IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. September 14, 2021 board meeting was held at the Bank of Idaho board room 350 Memorial Drive, Suite 200 at 8:30am Attendance: Lisa Farris, Brandi Newton, Jill Hansen, Emily Fitzpatrick, Chip Langerak, Greg Crockett, Jake Durtschi, Tasha Taylor, Kevin Josephson, Cindy Napier, Dana Briggs, Rain, guest of Kevin Josephson and Councilman Jim Francis Staff: Catherine Smith and Mala Lyon Minutes for July 13, 2021 were reviewed – we did not have a full quorum to approve in August - Brandi motioned they be approved; Jill seconded and board approved Minutes for Minutes for August 3, 2021 were reviewed were reviewed Brandi motioned they be approved; Tasha seconded and board approved Financial Report – Brandi – We are in a good position thanks to the careful management Catherine has done and in applying for the PPP loans. We have not sold the old ‘Vroom Vroom’ yet so that money will come back in when it does. Brandi motioned the financials be approved; Greg seconded, and board approved. Greg made the motion that Chip Langerak, the owner of the Villa Coffeehouse, be nominated to be a new board member. Kevin seconded and the board approved. Catherine presented the 2021-2022 budget draft. Proposed that monthly parking permits be increased from $35 to $40 per month and the reserved parking spaces be raised from $35 to $50 per month which will bring in about $9,000 more a year to help offset the cost of maintenance and snow removal. We have not increased the price for permits since April 2016 when it went from $32 to $35. Bonneville County has purchased the building that Melaleuca owned, where DePatco was, and included in that sell was the parking lot across the street that we have been managing that we call the B Street West Lot. They are moving the election office into that building. The County has agreed to allow the Arts Council to keep their 7 reserved parking spaces in exchange for us doing the maintenance and snow removal. The Arts Council will pay us for the 7 parking permits, and we will be allowed to have the meter stay and people will pay to park in the evenings. Melaleuca owns a second parking lot on the west side of Capital, and we are in negotiations to manage that lot and to have the first option to buy it if they decide to sell. We are estimating that we can install 36 parking spaces by re-striping it. Greg suggested that we lease 10 parking spaces back to the county as they are buying up buildings downtown and we do not get BID taxes from any building that they own. Brandi suggested that if people are willing to pay a year in advance for parking permits, they could get a discount. Greg motioned that the increases be approved; Brandi seconded; board approved. Catherine will send out an email with updated numbers. We are planning on doing some fall and winter beautification projects in the flowerpots. We are planning on holding all our events with OktoberFest being Sept 25th and FallBrew Nov 6th. We are anticipating that we will receive $65,000 from the events with $40,000 expenses. Parking software and connection expenses fluctuate with usage, so we have increased the budget from $8,500 to $16,500. Last month we had 2,200 people use the meters and there are fees for each transaction. Murals – hoping to do 2 murals at $5,000 each next year. We will do them by commissioning an artist rather than a call-to-artists. Travel expenses for a PIPTA conference for Catherine and Juan to attend and a Main Street Conference for Catherine to attend and some other webinars. Hoping to push $5,000 into the Idaho Falls Historic Downtown Foundation funds.Catherine will make the changes to the budget and email it out and request a vote. “Labs of Downtown” project is still on hold while we work with the INL. They gave us $5,000 for a mural project that didn’t happen and now there is some difficulties in getting approval to move forward. Brandi asked if it would just be easier to give the money back and reapply? Chip said public art cannot always happen on our timetable like we would like it to. We might want to plan for 3 projects – 2 murals and the labs and then we might only get 2 finished. Catherine will talk to Misty again. Brandi also reached out to Rae Moss with INL to see if she can help get approval for the project or give us advice on what to do next. Catherine was told to apply for $5,000 more so we would have all the money needed to do this project and was turned down. We have a new traffic cabinet that was installed at Memorial and Broadway. This is next to the other traffic cabinet that has the Fred Ochi art vinyl on it so we are adding more of his art to this new cabinet. Events: • OktoberFest Sept 25th at the Civitan Plaza and B Street – this is a new location that will give us more room to social distance • Ladies Shopping Days – Oct 8 & 9 this will include a shopping passport full of coupons and 200 tote bags that we will give away • FallBrew Nov 6th The Block Face ordinance passed the City Council and will go into effect as soon as the new signs go up. This ordinance makes it so you can park for 2 hours on one block and then must move to a new block if you want to park longer during the same 24-hour period. It will take about 6 weeks to get the new signs. Brandi asked if the city would do a press release and take the lead in announcing this change? Councilman Francis said that we do need to get the info out there and get it right. Tasha said if the city makes the announcement, and we are just enforcing it should go better. Catherine has talked to Chris Fredrickson about the ‘Welcome to Downtown’ arch and he is looking into what the step are we will need to do and who we need to get approval from. Catherine said a new sign has been installed on the Riverwalk/greenbelt that we can put posters in, but it needs to be adjusted as it is too tall. The new case is watertight, and it has out logo on it. Lisa said Page Insurance is going to be using $50,000 of the grant money and the new bookstore is getting a sign grant. Greg announced that a new restaurant is going in in the same building as Lucy’s Pizza called Chops & Ribs. They hope to be open by February. Greg asked if we know when the INL will be moving to their downtown offices? No one has heard. Meeting was adjourned at 9:30am Our next board meeting is scheduled to be held October 5, 2021. Respectfully submitted by Jill Hansen, Secretary and Mala Lyon