Downtown Odessa

DOWNTOWN ODESSA, INC Minutes for September 14, 2021 Council Chambers Board Members present: John Herriage, William Vaughan, Lonnie Lawrence, Denise Swanner, and Sondra Eoff Absent: Alma Gomez, Mark Matt, Shawn Rodriguez and Cruz Castillo Others present: Michael Marrero, Randi Pineda and Alexa Moulakis Invocation: Sondra Eoff gave the invocation. Board Chairman William Vaughan lead the meeting. The meeting started a 12:00 p.m. Downtown Odessa, Inc: 1. Approval of minutes – August 10, 2021 – Motion was made by Board member Herriage and seconded by Board member Lawrence to approve. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Herriage, Vaughan, Lawrence, Swanner and Eoff Nay: None 2. Review of August 10, 2021 Financials – Board member Herriage went over the financials. Motion was made by Board member Lawrence and seconded by Board member Eoff to approve. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Herriage, Vaughan, Lawrence, Swanner and Eoff Nay: None 3. Old Business: a. Updates to the grant program – Per Alexa, last month we talked about ODC wanting to make changes to the grant program. Last council it went for its 1st reading before council to be approved and the second reading will be tonight for the approval of the changes they are requesting. Some of the changes are requiring a resume with 3 years of management experience in lieu of them taking courses, waivers from the contractors before being reimbursed are some of the changes they are wanting. 4. Event Update: a. Halloween/Fall Event – Going forward, this will be on Saturday October 30th early evening 4th Street by Noel Heritage Plaza. b. Winter Events i. Parade of Lights – 1st Saturday of December, Winterfest Market before and after  ii. Teddy Bear Tea – December 18th and will also be associated with Winterfest Market iii. New Year’s Eve – This will be like the 2019 event that included plated dinner, comedian, DJ w/dancing, fancy countdown to midnight w/champagne toast. c. Future Outside/Partner Events i. Rocktober Fest – West Texas Radio decided to cancel, they just think they will not get a return on their investment. They will do Taco’s and Tequila in May. 5. Director’s Report: a. Grants Update: i. Compiling documents for reimbursement – Ambler Law (façade and infrastructure) ii. Under construction – PediCardio of West Texas (façade and infrastructure) iii. Under construction– ICON Tavern (façade and infrastructure) iv. Should be opening any day now waiting on C of O– The House (infrastructure) v. Under construction– La Catrina & Co. (infrastructure) – 301 W. 2nd, This is an upscale Western Boutique. vi. Resubmitted documents under review – Gifts R Us (façade) vii. Resubmitted documents still under review – Paradigm Physical Therapy (façade) viii. Awaiting Paperwork – Par II companies (façade) ix. Potential future applicants 1. Dr. Pill 2. Dr. Kurra 6. Downtown Odessa Inc Executive Director Update: Mr. Marrero started with apologizing to the board. He stated that hiring the Director for DOI has taken longer than he anticipated but not from lack of effort. He said we have received dozens of applications and have done a few interviews. We have had a couple of good candidates and we have made offers to those candidates, unfortunately they have chosen to do other things. Mr. Marrero and the Hr Director have re-evaluated the position they looked at the application to increase the pay. They also hired a headhunter to do a national search and they have altered the pay to be more competitive. Mr. Marrero is committed to hire the right person.