IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Board Meeting held May 3, 2022, at 9:00am in the Arts Council conference room. Those in attendance: Jake Durtschi, Kevin Cutler, Brandi Newton, Jill Hansen, Tasha Taylor, Greg Crockett, Chip Langerak, Shanon Taylor, Kevin Josephson, Antonio Meza, Lisa Farris, Christian Ashcroft, Kade Marquez, Lisa Schultz Staff – Catherine Smith, Mala Lyon and Juan Hernandez Thank you to Jake for being our Board President the last 2 years and we welcome Catherine back as the Executive Director – The new board of director officers are: • Kevin Cutler President • Chip Langerak Vice President • Jill Hansen Secretary • Brandi Newton Treasurer • Jacob Durtschi Past President Kade Marquez - Transit Coordinator for The Greater Idaho Falls Transit (GIFT) - The new micro- transit program presented and explained the effort will provide high quality transportation for the public, operating Monday through Saturday, 5 am to 7 pm starting in June with the cost being $3 per ride one way of accepting exact cash (no change can be given) or card. They will have seven multi-passenger vehicles that seat 10 or 6 passengers for on-demand rides scheduled through a smartphone app, online, or by a phone call. The computer system will then calculate the route so more than 1 person can be picked up in the same area at the same time. The boundaries are the city limits of Idaho Falls. Boise transit has an average of a 1-hour bus ride and 2 transfers per ride. The priority will be getting people where they need to be in the shortest time. If a rider needs help getting from home onto the vehicle the drivers can be asked to help. Estimated cost is $140,000 per vehicle, driver and gas. Minutes of the April 5, 2022, meeting reviewed; Jake motioned to accept, Jill seconded; board approved. Financial report – Brandi – we are operating at a loss due to high snow removal costs and 2 fundraisers that were canceled so income was not collected; still in a good position. Brandi motioned to accept; Greg seconded; board approved. Catherine – beautification expenses – we did not plant Broadway with spring flowers this year saving us $6,000 but will plant for the summer the first part of June. We have sponsors for 92 flower baskets so far and have 100 ordered. Springbrew is Saturday May 14th from 2 – 7pm at the Broadway Plaza; Between Smokin’ Fins and Lucy’s. Jill has worked with us to get the right electricity hooked up for the stage, DJ and band. The stage will be on the stairs at the east side and the beer trucks will be along Memorial. There is no issue to have a large crowd in the Broadway Plaza as it was designed to hold 300# per square foot. Summerbrew will be June 25th and we are looking at ordering 100-200 glasses with a Summerbrew logo that will be sold separately for those that want a complete set of all seasons. Chip Schawrze of the Chamber of Commerce granted us $5,000 in tourism advertising dollars to promote our events and is also working on grant money for the downtown brochures. Taste of Downtown – popular event with the public but has difficult logistics for us. We have had restaurants that no-show the morning of the event; coordinating and ensuring each restaurant provides their own tables and pop-up tents has been a challenge. IFDDC has provided the tables and tents to accommodate that issue and this increases our costs greatly – it’s not an event we make any income on. Alcohol permits are complicated for this event: if each bar sells alcohol they have to set up a beer garden and people cannot move out of their specific beer garden area where they bought their drink. It’s challenging in the setting to keep people in one area over the other – if we set up our own IFDDC beer garden there are complaints of undercutting the restaurants or bars on alcohol sales; many restaurants are still struggling with short staffs. It was suggested that restaurants are required to sign a commitment letter and pay a fee to have a booth. Some do not have tents and other equipment to set up a nice display so we might need to help them. Antonio said they need to understand this is like the Easter Bunny event, you don’t have a lot of sales that day, but people come back later. This is just a day to sell who you are. Suggestion - have each restaurant set up outside their own place like a sidewalk sale rather than bringing everyone to one location on a street. Last summer a small Merchant Association group tried to get weekly Saturday sidewalk sales going. Hannah Trost of Handmade Idaho wants to work on that again this summer. We are also going to encourage shops to stay open late on First Thursdays for the Gallery Walks. This is bringing a good size crowd downtown and they would like to shop, but few stores are staying open late for Gallery Walk. Park Smarter App demo – use the QR code or download app to your phone. First time takes a little longer to get set up, but then it is easy. It will send you a reminder when you are almost out of parking time. We have started the process of collections on parking citations that have not been paid. Once you receive a citation you have 14 days to pay, then during the next 45 days late fees are added and 2 notices will be mailed out; then it goes to collections; after 90 days after that letter it is reported to your credit history. We are using a collection agency out of California. A $25 collection fee is added, and they keep $19. We are not charged until all fees are paid. We have received permission from the city to tow vehicles when they are on-street, but we go thru the IFPD to have it towed. We can do towing in the parking lots on our own. Jake – meeting with Brad Cramer and Mike Kirkham (city attorney) about meters on-street – the issue to work thru is how to pay for the estimated costs. Do we finance it and the city owns them and contracts with us? We can only set up a 1-year contract with the city. At the end of that year if the city could cancel our contract, they would take over the payment left on the loan. 62 meters was the original plan, but we can use QR code signs and people can pay from their phone so we can buy fewer meters. Cities have tried the QR code signs only but have had to go back and install some meters, because not everyone wants to pay with their phone. Lisa Shultz (Willowtree Gallery) – Spring onto Broadway is May 21st Chip – Park Avenue water line project – pouring curbs and gutters; A Street and Park intersection is torn up, but they hope that section will go quickly and then they will pave and open the 300 block of Park and the intersection before moving onto the 400 block of Park. Idaho Gives – we have received $500 so far. New solar light at Capital #2 Lot – using leftover money from 2017 – 2021 grant money; $5,200 to install and then we will move the second meter that is currently at the B Street lot next to this new light. With the County in the west parking lot on B Street the need for us to have two meters there is gone, so we can move it easily. Lisa – public meeting May 12th and we now have $14,000 available for new projects Meeting was adjourned at 10:30am The next board meeting will be held June 7, 2022 Respectfully submitted - Jill Hansen, secretary and Mala Lyon