Crossroads Advisory Commission

Crossroads Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 2024 LOCATION: City Hall & Zoom CALLED TO ORDER: 8:03 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:38 AM NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Heidi Butts-Wiegand, Chair X Chris Westmeyer, Vice Chair X Alison Kinderfather X Jeff Sanders X Julia Leenig X Vacancy Vacancy Laura Arnold, Council Liaison X Eric Peterson, City Liaison X Renee Tyler, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Sgt. Jason Flanery – Webster Groves Police Department Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support Approval of Minutes – A motion to approve the August minutes was made by Julia Leenig, seconded by Alison Kinderfather, and unanimously approved. Introduction – Vincent Acevez is the new Webster Groves Police Chief. Streetscape Project – The new Public Works Director, Sinan Alpaslan, hopes to have the RFP for the City’s engineering design piece of the project by the end of the month; if so, will then be available to review at the next meeting. Commission Members discussed adding a flashing light at the new pedestrian crossing to the project list to encourage pedestrians, especially students walking to Hixson Middle School cross at a pedestrian crossing instead of going behind the south side of the District along the railroad tracks and then jaw-walking across Elm. Community Improvement District (CID) – Members determined they did not need to go into a closed session this month. A discussion of a CID petition details and is slated to take place at the October meeting and will go into closed session at that time. Events in the District Events • Digital Strike’s Community Charity Pickleball Tournament - September 28, 8:30 – 4:30, benefitting Might Oakes Foundation. A section of Gore will be shut down at Big Bend and a small section of Kennilworth. There will be almost 200 players participating; you can still sign up to play. There will be a car show, live music, a silent auction, food trucks, and activities for kids. Details can be found at https://pickleballtournament.net/. Page 1 of 2 • Trick or Treating in Crossroads; Saturday, October 26, 3-5PM – Alan Nehring has agreed to update this year’s map of participating businesses. Fran Sudekum will solicit District businesses for their participation. • Webster Groves Fall Fest; Friday-Sunday, October 25-2, 5-8PM on Friday, all day on Saturday and Sunday – This is a new event taking place Webster-wide organized by a group of business owners and managers spearheaded by the Business Development Commission that started collaborating with a goal of promoting Webster Groves businesses. The event is a fall-themed business crawl allowing each business to participate in a manner that suits their particular business. There is a $15 participation fee to help offset the cost of a promotional collectible poster. • Crossroads Holiday Walk/Open House; Possible Date=Sunday, December 15 – Julia Leenig is organizing a District-wide holiday event again this year. Ms. Leenig requested the holiday decorations be out earlier than in the past; the Parks and Rec Department is responsible District decorations; wreaths for District business will be ordered. Commission Vacancies – The Commission currently has two vacancies. Members discussed personally reaching out to business owners/property owners. Business Development Commission (BDC) Update • The BDC’s next Business Coffee is Wednesday, September 18, 8:30-10:30, at the Rec Center. The new Bludot will be demonstrated and info on the CID model will be available as well as information on Economic Development Sales Tax. • The BDC efforts to engage business owners had a well-attended happy hour on August 29 and “collaboration” meeting on August 23. District/City/Council Update • The City is hosting two visiting Young Southeast Asia Leadership Institute professional fellows for a month; Katdy Chanvipha from Laos and Lydia Nuant from Myanmar. It's a joint fellowship between the International City Manager Association and the State Department. Their area of focus is sustainability and urban development. • Commercial property values have gone done which will result in a tax rate per the Handcock Amendment to keep the revenue the same. • The KVC requested their hospital proposal be pushed to the October meeting. • The City Council will be putting 2 of the City Charter Review Commission’s recommendations on the ballot; City Council compensation and codifying public engagement. • Council will be reviewing the commissioned storm water report this fall and will begin to prioritize, examine, and rectify storm water issues. Next Meeting –October 16, 2024 at 8:00 AM. Adjournment – Meeting adjourned at 8:39 AM. Page 2 of 2