IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Board Meeting held February 1, 2022 at 9:00am in the Arts Council conference room. Those in attendance: Jake Durtschi, Jill Hansen, Kevin Cutler, Brandi Newton, Tasha Taylor, Kasi Nelson, Antonio Meza, Chip Langerak, Shanon Taylor, Emily Fitzpatrick, Kevin Josephson, Steve Fischbach, Anas Almassrahy. Staff – Catherine Smith, Mala Lyon and Juan Hernandez guest - Katie Fitz – Post Register Minutes of the January 11, 2022 meeting reviewed Kevin Cutler motioned to accept, Jill Hansen seconded; board approved. Financial report – Brandi – we had budgeted income from Winterbrew which was canceled; snow removal expenses are still high; but the budget is still in good shape. Brandi motioned to accept; Tasha Taylor seconded; board approved. Catherine is leaving as the IFDDC executive director to pursue other opportunities. A search committee has been formed which will include Brandi, Kevin Cutler, Kasi and Jake. Jake suggested we contract with BBSI in our search for a new director for $3,500. They will help create a job description and they have experienced recruiters that utilize the latest methods and candidate screening techniques to identify the most qualified people. Brandi motioned that we contract with them; Antonio seconded, and board approved. Catherine has agreed to come in for a few hours every Friday to keep things going and to train the new person. Catherine – Valentine’s Day Bingo event – this was suggested by the owners of Winnie & Mo. People will pick up a bingo card from them and go to different businesses and complete what is on the card, then return the card to Winnie & Mo to be entered into a drawing for a downtown gift certificate. We had started to plan our St Paddy’s Day event and wanted to have it on the Broadway Plaza, but the city denied our application, as they are concerned about having a large group of people in the plaza over the parking garage. Jill said she would reach out to the Oppenheimer’s to get engineering info that can be given to the city to resolve their concerns. The plaza was built to be a gathering place for events. Construction 2022 - The intersection of Broadway and Yellowstone will be redone this summer. We are hearing that traffic will be rerouted around that area, but in a meeting yesterday it was said they will keep one lane of traffic open. We do not have a timeline for this yet. Park Avenue water mainline replacement – will begin in March starting at the A Street and Park intersection. Once that is finished, they will move on to the Park Avenue and Broadway intersection. The project is to take 12 weeks. Water tower – will be placed in the southeast corner of the library parking lot. During construction the south half of the parking lot will be blocked off for the construction site. In a meeting yesterday I suggested that they start getting signs and info out now about where other parking options are. Education works if you can get it out to the community. There is an overflow parking lot on Cliff Street and rows of all-day parking east of the library behind Chesbro. This lot is used by downtown employees like Chesbro that has 60+ employees. It was suggested in this meeting that lot be turned into a two hour lot, butwe strongly disagreed with that idea. We have parking it just needs to be utilized better. The parking lots on the east side of Yellowstone by the railroad tracks are underused and the one furthest south is empty. But no one feels safe crossing the Yellowstone Highway. Chip said he timed that walk from the Yellowstone lots and it is 6 minutes. The intersections on Broadway are not safe. Recently an employee of the Villa was hit while crossing. The Celt has also had employees hit by cars. Things can be taken care of once you find the right person to talk to. We had lamp pole lights out by the Villa and after talking to several different departments connected with I.F. Power thru their Facebook page and got them fixed. Kasi asked if anyone on the city council works downtown or owns a building as that experience can be helpful as decisions are made. Board of Director elections will be held in April. The executive committee serves for two years. We will email a current list of our board and you will see the term limit info. Official nominations will be accepted at our March board meeting. The board expressed a sincere thank you to Catherine for all her work and achievements over the past 5 years. The downtown has grown and improved under her guidance. It has not been an easy task for her, but she did an excellent job and will be missed. Adjourned at 9:45am The next board meeting will be held March 1, 2022 Respectfully submitted Jill Hansen, secretary and Mala Lyon