IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development board mee�ng was held January 9, 2024, at 9:00am in the Willard Arts Center. Those in atendance: Kevin Cutler, Tasha Taylor, Jill Hansen, Greg Crocket, Cindy Napier, Brandi Newton, Jess & Tara Mendoza, Sid Page, Michelle Colvert – Chamber of Commerce, visitor – Jim Pletscher; Lisa Farris – Grant Administrator; staff: Mala Lyon, Courtney Hernandez and Juan Hernandez Minutes from December 5, 2023- Cindy mo�on to approve, seconded by Tasha – approved by the board. Financial report – Brandi – under contract with city to do downtown parking enforcement and we need to request payment. Do we know how much is currently in the BID account with the city? No but will find out. Funds above the agreed amount can be requested and then received if the city council approves the request. Greg mo�on to approve, seconded by Jill – approved by the board Mala – A Street/Yellowstone lot was struck Dec 14, 2023 and badly damaged. We filed a police report and filed a claim with our insurance, but it was denied. Recommended that we just remove the parking booth. We will find out the cost to have the electricity taped off that is on the east side of the booth. Bid for flower plan�ng and maintenance for summer of 2024. Need to find out what all Parks and Rec will be watering – flower pots, hanging flower baskets and trees? - before agreeing to bid. An email to vote on the bid will be sent out. Courtney – WinterBrew will be Feb 24th in the Broadway Plaza. Parks & Rec has agreed to clear out the snow for us that one �me. This Friday and Saturday are the last days for the ice ska�ng rink. We have had 350 skaters come this year. We will need help taking the rink apart and storing it. Kevin suggested we get inmates from the jail to help. The holiday wreaths were all taken down by the IFDDC staff and a service missionary volunteer. The horse drawn trolley was very successful and we had enough sponsorship money to add an extra Saturday a�er Christmas. We are planning to do that next year and adver�se they will be downtown a�er Christmas too. New updated brochure is in the works. It is being paid for by YTT and will have mul�ple pages of info. Downtown Gi� Cer�ficates – talked with 2 companies about doing gi� ‘credit’ cards that can only be used in downtown businesses. We currently have paper gi� cer�ficates for $10 each. Is there high demand? Most are bought to be given as gi�s to others and they some�mes request an amount other than $10. We sold about $700 worth of gi� cer�ficates last year. It needs to be promoted and invest in marke�ng it. If these ‘credit’ cards are not user friendly for the customer and the merchant it will become a nega�ve. Ligh�ng grant – met with Lisa and I.F. Power – the poles in the alleys are being removed which means the security lights that are on the poles will be gone. We are looking at the ligh�ng along Yellowstone from Broadway to Cons�tu�on and then west on Cons�tu�on to have the decora�ve light poles installed. There needs to be more ligh�ng by the ‘hawk’ light at B Street and Yellowstone for pedestrian traffic. Some of the businesses have expressed wan�ng to have the over the street strings of lights at their intersec�on but that does not qualify for this ligh�ng grant. Social media person – Kelsie is no longer working with us and we would like to hire a new social media person to do the newsleters, spotlights and social media posts. We need to review all the IFDDC employee responsibili�es as we are a new organiza�on compared to what we were 5 years ago. Lisa – we have $39,000 from 2023 and will apply in March for 2024. New interest in applying for grants: Chesbro Music Co. and Lyn’s. The Vogue is also interested but we need to decide if they qualify Michelle Colvert – the Chamber would like to partner with the IFDDC more. We are looking at crea�ng a ‘City Pass’, a check-in challenge’ where you go find landmarks and crea�ng a loyalty card. The Chamber Annual Mee�ng is Jan. 23rd and we are encouraged to come. Mee�ng was adjourned at 10:00am Our next board mee�ng will be held February 6, 2023 Respec�ully submited - Jill Hansen, secretary, and Mala Lyon