IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development board meeting was held June 4, 2024, at 9:00am in the Willard Arts Center. Those in attendance: Tasha Taylor, Greg Crockett, Jesse & Tara Mendoza, Chip Langerak, Lisa Farris – city Grant Manager; Caitlin Long - Planning Division; Michelle Ziel-Dingman – city Council member; staff: Bryan Chaffin – Executive Director, Courtney Hernandez, Juan Hernandez & Mala Lyon. Visitors from the City of Nampa: Amy Bowman – City of Nampa Director of Communications Amber Bothwell – City of Nampa Economic Development Analyst Julie Vincent – BID Chair and Downtown Business Owner Christina Branesky - BID Director and Downtown Business Owner Beatrix Westmoreland (BID Director and downtown business owner) Clayton Borah (BID Chair and downtown business owner) Catherine Keys (City of Nampa – Economic Development Analyst). Minutes from May 7, 2024board meeting - Greg motion to approve, seconded by Tasha – approved by the board. Financial report – Chip – we have $30,000 earmarked to pay for the resurfacing of the A & B parking lots. Tasha motion to approve, seconded by Greg – approved by the board. Executive Director report – Bryan – met with Brad Cramer and we will be contracting with him to work on some of our major projects such as the parking meters. We have not come to an agreement on how much he will be paid. The A Street parking lot booth has been donated and moved out. It was given to the BMX Track and Diversified Containers moved it for free. The resurfacing of the A and B Street parking lots should happen in the next couple of weeks. The opening of the asphalt plant was delayed. We are looking at new signs for the A Lot. Chip said we also need to look at signage for the west end of the Capital lot. Lisa – We still have $39,000 for new projects available and $24,000 for the pedestrian safety light on Memorial that IFDDC has requested. There will be a public hearing next week that Bryan will need to attend as IFDDC has requested funding for next year. Courtney – ‘Dogs Dig Downtown’ was very successful – we made about $544 – we did purchase some water bowls and water bottles, but they didn’t sell like we had hoped. We will take them with us to the Farmer’s Market when we do a booth in July to sell pet murals and try to sell them then. ‘Benefit your Body’ series started last Saturday and goes thru August. We offer free exercise classes at 8:30am for an hour then encourage everyone to stay downtown, do the Farmer’s Market, go have breakfast. We had 15 to 20 people come. This event was sponsored by Bishop Barbell Company and Empire Strength & Fitness. With the sponsorship money we were able to buy yoga mats and bottled water. Hanging flower baskets will go up on Thursday. We applied for a grant with AARP, but didn’t get it. We still hope to find funding to be able to do the sidewalk art as the city has approved the material we would use. June 22nd is ‘SummerBrew’ and we need volunteers for the 7 – 9 shift. Downtown After Dark shopping night is this Friday June 7th from 8pm to midnight. We will be handing out 100 swag bags. Mountain View Hospital has sponsored our fall Ladies Shopping Days for $4,000. This will help pay for the bags and the coupon booklets. We are planning a second Downtown Cleanup on Monday June 24th from 6:30 – 8:30. There are lots of weeds growing so we need to do some spraying of the weeds. Tasha & Caitlin – the city is working on a 10-year Historic Preservation plan with Kirk Huffaker to create a personalized plan for Idaho Falls and we would like everyone’s input by taking the survey at https://arcg.is/1i81P This survey will be open until July 31, 2024. This will help determine the actions and goals. City Council member Michelle Ziel-Dingman – Parks and Rec will be planting flowers soon; The ‘Dogs Dig Downtown’ was an amazing event for the Animal Shelter with 100% adoption of the dogs we brought. Caitlin – thanked the downtown staff and board. Your social media presence is excellent. Meeting was adjourned at 9:32am Our next board meeting will be held July 2, 2024 Respectfully submitted - Jill Hansen, secretary, and Mala Lyon