Downtown Odessa

DOWNTOWN ODESSA, INC Minutes for May 11, 2021 Zoom Conference Call Board Members present: John Herriage, William Vaughan, Shawn Rodriguez, Alma Gomez, Denise Swanner, and Mark Matta Absent: Cruz Castillo, Sondra Eoff, Lonnie Lawrence Others present: Michael Marrero, Randi Pineda, Phillip Urrutia, Alexa Moulakis, Monique Wimberly, Randall Ham, Michelle Cervantes and Omar Galindo Invocation: Mark Matta gave the invocation. Board Chairman William Vaughan lead the meeting. The meeting started a 12:15 p.m. Downtown Odessa, Inc: A. Approval of minutes – Motion was made by Board member Herriage and seconded by Board member Gomez to approve. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Herriage, Vaughan, Rodriguez, Gomez, Swanner and Matta Nay: None B. Review of April 2021 Financials – Motion was made by Board member Herriage and seconded by Board member Rodriguez to approve. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Herriage, Vaughan, Rodriguez, Gomez, Swanner and Matta Nay: None Old Business: A. Mural Assistance Program (VOTED) – All in favor New Business: A. Purchase of Downtownodessa.com domain name – All agreed not to purchase. B. Transition from Survey/Monkey to Jotform – Motion was made by Board member Herriage and seconded by Board member Rodriguez to approve. C. Water for DOI offices – Per Mr. Marrero we will handle on our end. D. Resuming in person meetings – Motion was made by Board member Herriage to resume in person meetings, Board Member Matta seconded it. Event Update: A. Seek-o-De Mayo Scavenger Hunt – Per Board Member Herriage scavenger hunt from a business owner went well, lots and lots of traffic. Alexa went over the numbers. B. Painting Class – Alexa will be getting with Jolene to make the videos for us. She also asked since the masks are coming down, do we want to start meeting in a central place. Per Board member Herriage lets wait till after this one and gather again. C. Hot Summer Nights – Per Alexa Hot Summer Nights will be at the Ector Theatre. It will still be free, there will also be a bar for everyone over 21. Since this year we will not have a Fandango there will be 9 concerts instead of 8. We added one on 4th of July weekend (Friday, July 2nd). Per Randy Ham there will be social distancing. D. 4th of July – Per Alexa we lost the site where we shot the fireworks from, she said that the hopes of the Play Committee was to do a similar presentation of the fireworks as we had in the past. Omar w/Fire Department said unless we find another similar situated site with all the clearance a repeat would not be possible. And looking around now there is nothing that size available that they can find. Also suggested was the Ector County Coliseum, many years ago the fireworks display was done there. Michelle w/Fire Dept asked Alexa if there was a Plan B. Next option would be to do a laser show, either on the IC Tower or on the side of the Hotel Convention Center. Alexa did talk to Pyro Technician last year during covid times and the company did recommend us to go back to using the Coliseum for something smaller. Per Michelle, once we talk to the distributor let them know what has been decided. E. Discussion on Future Tentative Partner Events  Ultimate Summer country Festival – July 24th, 7 to 10 days starting at 2pm thru 10:30pm a full days worth. Food truck vendors that kind of thing. This will be a ticketed event. There is also a financial incentive to the partnership they would make a donation to our organization for our assistance in helping with permits and planning and street clousure.  Basin Pride – August 7th, They are wanting to bring Basin Pride to Noel Heritage Plaza and utilize the built in stage. It would be on 4th Street from Grant to Sam Houston and utilizing the built in electricity we have on 4th Street. So we would have to assist them. So this is a possible partnered event. The last time this was done was in 2019 at Mckinney Park.  Roctober Fest – October 2nd, This is put by West Texas Radio Group same group that did Tacos and Tequila downtown in 2019. They are looking to do a similar type event, which will be really beer centric with barbecue, burgers, pizza and rock music. Tom Petty cover band will be the headlining concert with different variations and types of beer and drinks.  Night of Light Downtown – October 31st, this is still evolving which is our partnership with Crossroads Church. They are trying to get with their leadership team and figure out whether or not they have enough support from their congregation to see if they would be able to do a night of lights downtown similar to the one that was done in 2019. Waiting to see exactly what’s going to develop with this partnership. If they decide not too, most likely they will do something on their own campus and we would do something similar to what we did before the partnership. Director’s Report: A. Grants Update:  Reimbursed- Flores (façade)  Submitted completion documentation for audit-LCA (façade)  Compiling documents for reimbursement-Ambler Law (façade and infrastructure)  Proceeding to ODC for approval-PediCardio of West Texas (façade and infrastructure)  Proceeding to ODC for approval-PICON Tavern (façade and infrastructure)  Proceeding to ODC for approval-The House (infrastructure)  Awaiting Paperwork-Par II Companies (façade)  Awaiting Paperwork-Gifts R Us (façade)  Potential future applicants 1. Dr. Kurra – Per Alexa they will potentially do the grant in the future. 2. Dr. Pill – Per Alexa they will potentially do the grant in the future. Downtown Odessa Inc. Executive Director Update: Per Mr. Marrero it has been difficult to find someone that would be good for the organization. We have received a lot of applications but very few of them have any experience in terms of what we are looking for. We have received a couple of applicants here in the last couple of days that look really promising. He is trying to schedule a couple of conversations with some of these applicants this week with him and John to see if they meet our needs. We concluded early on that we want to make sure we find the right person.