Old Orchard Business District Advisory Commission

Old Orchard Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, January 18, 2018 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:05 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:53 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Joe Fichter, Chair X Angel Venegoni X Claire Winkler X Mary Jane Armstrong X Steve Scheipeter X Holland Saltsman X Robert Weber X John Barr X Steve Zielinski X Frank Janoski, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support Administrative Note: The January meeting of the Old Orchard Commission was scheduled for January 9th; the following Commissioners where in attendance: Joe Fichter, Mary Jane Armstrong, and John Barr. Since a minimum of five Commissioners is needed for a quorum, the meeting was rescheduled for January 18th. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve the December minutes as was made by John Barr, seconded by Holland Saltsman, motion was unanimously approved. BUDGET DISCUSSION Commission Members reviewed a budget history and projections for the Old Orchard Business District (see Appendix A). Members discussed the various categories, what they included, what their possible changes might be, and what needs to keep in mind for the upcoming 2019 fiscal year which runs July 1, 2018 thru June 30, 2019. Discussion for potential items needing new and/or increased funding included: • 50/50 Rooftop Lighting Program – Commission Members would like to move forward with this program. Preliminary cost figures can be put together by Mara Perry, but a member/s of the Commission or other identified individual from the District will need to handle the coordination of the program with the property owners. • Spring/Summer Lamp Post Banners – New banners are needed to replace the Farmers’ Market banners. Old Orchard has two sets of banners; one for Spring/Summer and one for Fall/Winter. Members decided to replace them in total, not just the ones left vacant by the Farmer’s Market. New Fall/Winter banners were purchased and put in place this past holiday season; the design matched the new Winter banners put in place by Old Webster this past holiday season. Old Webster has banners for four seasons; Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall. They have only replaced the Winter banner thus far. For Old Orchard’s new Spring/Summer banner, members would like to match Old Webster’s Summer banner design if Old Webster decides to replace it this year  • Augmenting Holiday Season Decorations – One possible holiday decoration suggestion is to add some additional large ornaments (like those hanging on the lamp posts this past season). They could be added to lamp posts that didn’t have any or to the Murdoch Bridge. Since the current strands of lights on the holiday tree in Gazebo Park really don’t cover the whole tree, they could also be added to the tree; members were not in favor of this idea for fear of vandalism and cited the damage done to Santa’s Mailbox and the lights on the gazebo this past season as the reason why. Members do want to ensure whatever holiday decorations that occur takes place all the way to the ends of the District. • Business Development Commission (BDC) Promotional Activity & Social Media – Continued and/or increased financial support of the city-wide promotional efforts of the BDC for next year is expected. Members find value in the BDC’s efforts but would like to be able to quantify the funding amount with the activity. They would like a better understanding of what Old Orchard’s future funding contribution would look like; what is BDC’s plan, who will be managing it, and what avenues and platforms will be used? Members stated several factors they feel affect a successful social media plan and need to know how the BDC will address them; in-depth and/or hands-on understanding of the business/s involved is important as it requires the correct tone, an awareness and understanding of the differences between material marketing and digital marketing, and different types of media are used for different types of businesses and to reach different targeted markets. They need to see the impact of plan going forward. Members want to know how the BDC determines who is the right person or company to take on putting together and implementing the marketing plan; a vetted person or company. Members were encouraged to attend the January BDC meeting to learn more about their plans and process. Numbers for items will be gathered for further budget discussion and decisions at the February meeting. STREETSCAPE PROJECT Work on the project is continuing to move forward. The contract for the engineer doing the design will be signed off at the next City Council meeting. Funding Review: • Project Construction o $247,730 Federal TIP Funds; approved, fiscal year 2020 o $61,933 City Matching Funds; approved, fiscal year 2020 • Design Engineering o $34,063 City Funds; approved, fiscal year 2018 NEXT MEETING Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 8:00 AM – City Hall. ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 8:53 AM  APPENDIX A Note: Billing is still coming in as of the January Commission meeting and will impact these figures