Downtown Odessa

DOWNTOWN ODESSA, INC Minutes for December 14, 2021 Council Chambers Board Members present: John Herriage, William Vaughan, Alma Gomez, Sondra Eoff, Denise Swanner, Mark Matta and Lonnie Lawrence Absent: Shawn Rodriguez and Cruz Castillo Others present: Randi Pineda, Alexa Moulakis, Audrie Lujan, Phillip Urrutia, Michelle Cervantes, Omar Galindo and Casey Hallmark Invocation: Mark Matta gave the invocation. Board Chairman William Vaughan lead the meeting. The meeting started a 12:00 p.m. Downtown Odessa, Inc: 1. Introduction of the incoming Executive Director of DOI – Board Member Herriage welcomed our new Director for DOI starting January 3rd, Casey Hallmark. Per Ms. Hallmark she is very excited and is ready to get in there and get started. They also welcomed Audrie Lujan the new Executive Assistant. 2. Approval of minutes – November 9, 2021 – 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, Gomez, Eoff, Swanner and Matta Nay: None 3. Review of November 2021 Financials – Alexa went over the financials. She said we have a net revenue of $23,422.45. This consisted of entry fees for the parade, registration for the market, ticket purchases for the Teddy Bear Tea and sponsorships from various Winterfest events. 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, Gomez, Eoff, Swanner and Matta Nay: None 4. New Business: a. Cancellation of Swipe Simple account – Per Alexa one thing that you see on the financials every month is a $15.00 monthly fee for Swipe Simple. This is what we previously used for credit card transactions. They charge $15.00 a month to be set up on their system regardless of whether you are going to run any transactions that month or not. For the parade we have been using Square because we intergrade it into forms and they can do it on their own. We had 300 transactions come in this month and we only had to run 17 manually whereas to with Swipe Simple we would have to run everyone manually. Square does not charge a monthly fee and their  rates are comparable of what they charge percentage wise. We are looking at cancelling Swipe Simple that we have thru Southwest Bank. DOI has been using Square for a month and have not had any issues. They did not use Swipe Simple at all in the last event. Board Member Herriage made the motion to cancel Swipe Simple, Board Member Gomez seconded, all approved. 5. Event Update: a. Winter Events i. RECAP: Parade of Lights- Dec. 4 – Per Alexa this was the largest parade we have ever had. DOI had to close registrations on Wednesday night. She said it was very nice not having to register anyone on site. They had over 235 vehicles from over 95 different organizations. It was large, but they did a very good job coordinating with all the different departments. OPD and Fire did a really good job keeping it on track. They did not have any reports of large gaps like they have had in the past. It ended right about 8:30pm which was right at 2 hours. Our Parks Department did a great job in helping us with the line up and getting that coordinated it took a whole city effort but from all the feedback that we have been getting from social medial people have said this was the best parade in years. She said there were no major hiccups or any complaints. Overall DOI was very pleased on how the parade went. ii. RECAP: Winterfest Market – Dec 4th and 18th – This will be from 11am to 4pm, We have 70 vendors registered for the 18th. iii. Teddy Bear Tea – Dec. 18th – 12pm session is full, we still have some spots for the 10am session. They are doing a free movie of Elf at the Courthouse lawn at 2:30pm to 4:00pm. iv. New Years’ Eve – Dec 31st – Comedian has been confirmed, it will be Mark Price formally known as Skippy from Family Ties. Tickets will be going on sale they are just waiting on finalizing room packages with the hotel. They want to make sure they have a good rate for people so that they can push them in that direction to not drink and drive and they can enjoy the night. Tables will be $1250 for 10 seats and individual seating will be $175. b. State of Downtown – Per Alexa, DOI got to do this in 2020 but did not get to do it in 2021 due to Covid. She said 2022 is looking positive. This was discussed during last week’s Play Committee Meeting. Another thing they wanted to do is change the format from a dinner to a luncheon and that is something the committee still thinks would be a good idea and is wanting the boards permission to move ahead. They are also looking to keeping the same date pattern which is the 3rd Thursday in February 11:30 – 1:00pm wanted to make sure it was good with the board so that we can start looking for a venue that could host us for a luncheon instead of a dinner. This is the recommendation of the Play Committee. The price will be the same as it was before it will range from $125 for individuals to $175 at the door. c. Tap into Downtown – Per Alexa they have discussed with the Play Committee on what the future looks like. They didn’t get to do this in 2020 nor in 2021. Before that we never broke even, the only profit we ever made was matching what City Council gave us. Our goal is to be self-sufficient eventually she said they think for  now we need to table for at least another year until there is more businesses that can support it, more infrastructure to support an event like this. d. Firecracker Fandango- Fire Marshall Michelle Cervantes and Omar Galindo gave an update on the status of looking for a new location for the fireworks display. She reminded everyone that the location that we had on Crane has been sold, and we can not used that. She said they have not been able find a location as big to accommodate the fireworks that the City likes to display. Omar has done some research on the entity it requires and on the fire code but a lot of it depends on the drop zone., Board member Herriage asked if they have looked at an aerial map to see what areas would be available and maybe they can give them some recommendations. Per Omar they have driven downtown to look, and they also measured some properties but they’re so many regulations for downtown and they have not found anything big enough. They also suggested the Coliseum but per Board Member Herriage it’s not downtown, he wants to see if they can keep it downtown. He asked if they could look at an aerial map for us and if they see something there that would be perfect but it’s privately own then ask who knows this property so we can get permission to use their property. Michelle agreed to do that Also Alexa will ask if fireworks at the Coliseum would be visible to downtown. 6. Director’s Report: a. Grants Update: i. Compiling documents for reimbursement – Ambler Law (façade and infrastructure) no movement ii. Under construction – PediCardio of West Texas (façade and infrastructure) iii. Under construction– ICON Tavern (façade and infrastructure) they have had a couple of delays due to the architect iv. Under construction– The House (infrastructure) should be completed quite shortly and will be moving to compiling documents v. Verifying documents for reimbursement– La Catrina & Co. (infrastructure) – 301 W. 2nd, This is an upscale Western Boutique. vi. Is on HOLD – Gifts R Us (façade) vii. Awaiting paperwork – Paradigm Physical Therapy (façade) viii. Awaiting paperwork – Par II companies (façade) ix. Awaiting paperwork – Clover House (façade and infrastructure) x. Awaiting paperwork – Forever Young Spa (façade and infrastructure) xi. Potential future applicants 1. Dr. Pill 2. Dr. Kurra