IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Board Meeting held December 6, 2022, at 9:00am in the Arts Council conference room. Those in attendance: Jill Hansen, Antonio Meza, Kevin Cutler, Brandi Newton, Shanon Taylor, Chip Langerak, Tasha Taylor, Councilman Jim Francis, Caitlyn Long – Community Development Services, Lisa Farris – Grant Administrator and visitor - Mark Hirsch staff - Catherine Smith and Mala Lyon Minutes of the Nov 8, 2022, meeting reviewed; Tasha motioned to accept, Chip seconded; Board approved. Financial report – Brandi - proposed switching from a cash accounting to an accrual accounting system; we have received large sums from the BID account and the money for managing the city parking lots, so in a cash accounting we appear that we have lots of money just sitting here, but this is money that we have not ‘earned’ yet and will cover the expenses over the next 10 months. When we receive the BID payout and it needs to cover expenses from October to January, before we get the next installment. We spoke with the CPA that supports IFDDC and asked if there were any implications switching from a Cash Basis to Accrual accounting. It was determined with the start of a new fiscal year, it’s a good time to make this change. Chip asked if this would take more time for Catherine, staff, and our Treasurer, Brandi. Brandi indicated it would take additional time. Brandi was able to sit down with Catherine this morning and establish the rules in QuickBooks to automate some of the operations. Brandi recommended we make this change; Chip motion that the board approve; Shanon seconded; and board approved the change to Accrual accounting. Snow removal will be a big expense this year and we have made that a priority to keep downtown accessible. Brandi motioned that the financial report be approved; Tasha seconded; and board approved. Catherine – getting all the snow plowing up and going was a big challenge this year with the new parking lots we manage and the Broadway Plaza. We now have Kevin Machen plowing our pay to park lots & sidewalks and Mark Nolen doing the Yellowstone lots by the railroad and the South Broadway lot behind Chesbro’s & sidewalks. Mark is also doing the Broadway Plaza. This is a difficult space to remove snow as some of it must be done by hand and there are electric outlet boxes that were broken the first time it was plowed. We are working with Parks & rec to get those fixed. Brandi asked if we were doing all downtown sidewalks? No, it is way too expensive and not something that is sustainable for the long haul. Councilman Jim Francis asked if Parks and Rec had communicated with us on how they had done the snow removal at the Broadway Plaza. They took 5 or 6 workers and hand shoveled it every time. It is not any easy place to keep the snow cleaned out of and we put down ice melt as needed. We are committed to making it work and doing the best job possible. The Tree Lighting was held Nov 19th with Jeff Roper from Channel 8 News as the MC. He was great and really helped promote the event. We had a brass group from the Symphony play music. We hired Brad Barlow who took some great photos. We had an excellent crowd. We learned a lot and next year we will set up the stage along Memorial as the Color Guard could not come under the light with the flags. We have 10 decorated trees in the Civitan Plaza. They are much smaller than they have been in years past, but still very cute and festive. The garland we have put on the decorative light poles did not get put up this year as the garland is dirty and needs a deep clean. This summer we will take them out to a car wash and get them cleaned up so they can be used next year. The ice-skating rink is put together and being used. It was a huge process to get all the pieces together and the skates ended up being delivered to the Mountain America Center instead of downtown. We opened it up last Friday and Saturday and had good groups come. We haven’t had any interest or skaters on Sundays, so we may not continue having it open that day. We have some great teenage kids helping run it. It will stay there until the beginning of February and then we will need a big crew to take it apart and store it. Jim Pletcher had a son who played hockey and has been a great help with knowing how to take care of the skates and keep them sharpened. We had the Find Santa’s Puppy event last Saturday and we gave out about 250 maps. Parking – we had to update the parking pay stations to so they can access a 5G network and IPS is here today taking care of that. The enforcement vehicle is down and in need of some repairs. It has been hard to get an appointment but should be back out soon. Lisa – we have $52,000 available. We have several sign projects we are working on with WeeBee Toys, Glow Hair, Caramel Tree and Holiday House. We will be having a meeting next week to discuss the alley light project proposal. Councilman Jim Francis confirmed that Brad Crammer is leaving. The city received a matching grant to bury the power lines in the Constitution alley and improve the lighting. Suggestion was made that we install blue-tooth speakers so that music is playing all over downtown. Meeting adjourned at 10:25am The next board meeting will be held January 10, 2023 Respectfully submitted - Jill Hansen, secretary and Mala Lyon