Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, February 28, 2017 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:03 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:49 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Ron Clipp, Chair X Chris Hite X Joe Rath X Stacie Swederska X Morry Cole X Mark Hinkle X Tim Delanty X Matt Armstrong, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Mayor Gerry Welch Scott Davis – Director of Parks & Recreation Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve January minutes as corrected was made by Joe Rath, seconded by Tim Delanty, and unanimously approved. VISITOR COMMENTS • Gerry Welch shared with Commission members the collaborative efforts the Business Development Commission (BDC) has been working on to bring the three Webster Groves business districts together in order to promote a unified Webster Groves. She passed out a handout of notes from a recent BDC/PR Sub-Committee meeting which outlined the benefits and types of collaboration involved, and the process for collaboration. To help in this effort, Gerry requested a member of the Old Webster Special Business District Commission attend the BDC meetings on a regular basis. Mark Hinkle said he was interested and will be added to the BDC email list.  “Notes BDC/PR Subcommittee February 21, 2017 Benefits of Collaboration • Foster a focus on Webster Groves as one business location/destination • Aid in branding Webster Groves • Create an identity for shopping, dining, locating in Webster Groves rather than in a subsection of the City • Pool resources – financial, use of time and talent – to bring more effect results • Broaden the networking web of businesses Types of Collaboration • Creating and using one logo with unified branding • Social media – facebook, Instagram, and twitter • Creating a citywide banner • Enrolling in One Call • Year-round promotions and messaging • Setting a calendar of local events as well as national events • Using Explore WG in all messaging Process for Collaboration • Set a long-term vision o One identity for the City’s business community • Set short-term goals o One Call Now o Collaborative Social Media o Creation of a logo/branding o Year-round promotion • Lead efforts for collaboration through the BDC” • Gerry also shared informational data on the upcoming Proposition R that will be on the April 4th ballot. The proposition asks voters to approve an 8-cent property tax to increase retirement funding for Webster Groves police, fire, and non-public safety staff. The property tax increase will bring the City’s benefit package to the level of other neighboring cities. Last year, the City lost 21 employees of which 7 were firefighters and 8 were police officers. A Q&A can be found on the City’s website. BUDGET • Scott Davis provided pricing figures for Parks & Recreation Department (P&R) support of the District landscaping. o Perennial Beds (will not have to replant next year; will only need a few annuals) – 1. Pine Tree Bed at Straub’s: $150 material and $400 labor. 2. 2’ Dirt Strip in front of Straub’s: $280 material and $400 labor. 3. Lockwood Curb Bump Out Tree well Lockwood Chiropractic: $415 material and $400 labor. 4. “Concrete Park” at Lockwood entrance to parking deck: determined area used too much for events to expand/create a perennial bed 5. Lockwood Concrete Strip in front of parking lot near Dewey’s (not including removing the concrete): $1,200 for material and $640 for labor. 6. Ongoing, year-round maintenance for all: $750 o Staffing – One part-time and one full-time P&R staff members handle the landscaping work for all the Webster business districts. They receive a 3% salary raise every year which has not been figured into the landscaping budget mix previously. P&R would like the Districts to catch up with this budget and then contribute going forward to an annual amount. Overtime over the weekends in the summer to address watering needs will not be added to the request made to the Districts. An amount of $3,980 in the budget would catch up and then every year going forward it would just be the 3% increase. • Mara Perry shared the District has received $10,148 incoming revenue from St. Louis County from a financial institution tax on banks located in the District that file with as in Webster Groves. The District does not receive this tax revenue every year; it seems to be dependent on whether the banks file their taxes as in Webster Groves vs. St. Louis. • Benches – Lockwood Chiropractic has offered to pay for a bench and/or a “little free library” at the curb bump out near their location, where a vehicle jumped the curb and took out the items previously there. • Mara handed out a social media “Statement of Work” from the BDC for a year-long social media activity focused on the business community. The “Statement of Work” is from Creative Entourage (the same company that handled the 2016 holiday social media promotion) outlines estimated costs and services to perform year-round social media promotions for the City. The focus would be on creating an “editorial” or content calendar as well as some professional photography and social media “assistance.” “State of Work 3. Estimated cost of the work to be performed (‘fees’), costs and payment terms: Service Cost Creation of Editorial Calendar $300 Professional Photography $750 Estimated cost for a professional photography Estimated session of business activity in Webster Groves $500 per Monthly Social Media Assistance month Minimum of three month retainer for ongoing 5 hours per month assistance with the implementation, execution and monitoring of the social media effort. Facebook Advertising $200 - $500 Creative Entourage will work with the Per month Commission to determine an appropriate ad paid directly to spend for each month depending on events, Facebook” activities, and social media goals o Since the BDC/City would not be able to fund the entire package; the BDC is requesting the Districts kick in funding. The requested ask would use the same percentage formula that was used to contribute to the holiday promotions package. The total requested from the business districts is $11,000 broken down as follows: ▪ $5,830 from Old Webster ▪ $3,850 from Old Orchard ▪ $1,320 from Crossroads ▪ Since Yorkshire Plaza is not a “special business district” by ordinance and receives no revenue as such, it’s unclear how they would contribute to the funding pool. o Mark Hinkle inquired on background of Creative Entourage and how were they picked to be the social media vendor for the BDC. Was there a bidding process or other vetting process; since Mara was not involved in acquiring the vendor she did not know what process was used.  o Stacie Swederska inquired on how the BDC put together the holiday promotions package and would put together the year-long package. Since the BDC is handling this piece, anyone interested in that process is invited to go to the BDC meetings. o Mara explained the pieces of the social media activities that she contributed to the 2016 holiday promotions; some of which she would continue with the year-long activity. • Mara also handed out the budget figures spreadsheet, a percentage distribution chart. o The 2017 fiscal budget ends on 6-30-17; any dollars not spent in the budget at that time goes into the District’s fund balance unless a purchase order is issued against them. Discussion took place on the various categories in the fiscal 2017 budget and what they cover: ▪ Category #701 Miscellaneous for $4,500 = outdoor information kiosk. ▪ Category #730 Operational Equipment for $4,500 = $3,000 for rooftop lights 50/50 match program which leaves $1,500 for a bench or trash can. ▪ Category #830 Advertising for 20,500; major items included were: • $5,000 for the Old Webster Holiday Open House • $3,400 for the Old Webster Summer Night Street Dance • $200 for Paint Webster • $800 for WK-Times Old Webster “Gang Page” Ads • $2,500 for WK-Times Holiday Recipe Guide and Old Webster Holiday “Gang Page” Ads • $4,500 for Holiday Promotions Package to the BDC • It was determined to issue a purchase order to carry over any unused fiscal 2017 advertising dollars. • Commission members discussed the various aspects and all the “asks” in the budget, taking into account revenue not yet spent in this fiscal year along with purchase orders. Pros and cons and concerns were discussed. The breakdown of costs shows a huge percentage of the Districts’ revenue goes toward advertising and it’s difficult to measure its return on investment; there’s no way to track it. • Commission members want to get the best value for the dollars spent, the farthest reach for the advertising dollar balanced with keeping your core community of customers and continue to support of the business community. • Commission members would like a further, more detailed breakdown of advertising costs. In addition, they’d like to better understand how the income from property taxes and levy on business licenses works. • Motions o Joe Rath made a motion to approve Parks and Recreation proposed landscaping projects activity with maintenance from the 2017 fiscal year’s budget: ▪ #1.) Pine Tree Bed ▪ #2.) 2’ Dirt Strip ▪ #3.) Curb Bump Out Tree Well ▪ #6.) Ongoing Maintenance. Stacie Swederska seconded the motion and the motion was unanimously approved. o Joe Rath made a motion to keep the same the figures from the 2017 fiscal year budget for the 2018 fiscal year budget with the following changes: ▪ Category #971 Operating Transfer Out (plants) = add $2,000 to the $10,600 figure to bring it up to $12,600 to cover P&R project #5.) Lockwood Concrete Strip. ▪ Category #971 Operating Transfer Out (P&R staffing) = add $4,000 to the $20, 640 figure to bring it up to cover the raises. ▪ Category #830 Advertising = keep it at $20,500; however, include $3,500 in the detail for the year-long social media package. Stacie Swederska seconded the motion and the motion was unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS • Rooftop Lighting Update – Stribe Electric has a deposit to do the work, but has not yet completed the work. The one building on Gore still doesn’t have its lights turned on. CITY UPDATE • Zoning for drinking establishments was approved with a limitation of four, next step is changing the liquor code. • Work continues on residential zoning changes. • Request to use the property at 8925 Watson Road for a church will go to Council; requested use doesn’t match the use for that site in the comprehensive plan which is zoned for commercial use; a church would require a change and property would then be tax exempt. • Request for two B&B’s as “AirB&B type use” goes to Council. MARCH AGENDA Determine potential use of remaining 2017 District budget. ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 9:26 AM. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 28, 2016 at 8:00 AM – City Hall.