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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-11-2019 Minutes h .cITYtt . . BIA Committee of Rate Payers Meeting ../AU I3 �- April 11, 2019— 1:00 PM WASHINGTON Auburn City Hall Council Chambers MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 1:03 pm by Chairman DiQuattro. Roll Call: Committee Members present: Chairman Giovanni DiQuattro; Members Bill Cowart, Kelly Gordon, Darren Jones, Ronnie Roberts,John Rottle Committee Members absent: Bob Klontz, Ruth Neil-Stover, Megan White City staff present: Julie Krueger, Parks Department Arts & Events Manager; Doug Lein, Economic Development Manager; Holly Ferry, Committee Secretary ADA Board Members present: Brittiany Karlson II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Committee Member Rottle moved and Member Gordon second to approve the March 14, 2019 meeting minutes. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4-0 III. FINANCIAL REPORT Economic Development Manager, Doug Lein, reviewed the data on the Financial Report. Discussion about unpaid BIA fees was discussed later in the meeting. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Marketing and Branding Members Roberts and Jones arrived during the Marketing and Branding discussion. Manager Lein reported that the current ad calendar is in place. Digital advertising is being placed at approximately$6,500 a month, with a lot of emphasis on driving activity in the downtown area. The year-end report that was delivered to the City Council by the City's consultants, showed an increase in sales tax collections. Retail Coach, who does the City's leakage studies, is now able to pull Department of Revenue data that includes addresses attached to credit card and sales tax reports from just the jurisdictional boundary of Auburn. If possible,the links to these reports will be added to the next BIA newsletter.There will be a cell phone activity report done for the downtown area, similar to what was done at The Outlet Collection. B. BIA Newsletter A copy of the March newsletter and analytics were provided. C. Update on Priority Projects Presented to City Council 1. Additional Security Lighting Puget Sound Energy has begun working on additional security lighting through the alleys and parking lot area.The contract has been executed for two test lights.The brackets to attach the lights are being made by a fabricator in Auburn, and the bid from the electrician has been received. 2. Christmas decorations There was discussion about buying commercial-grade lighting. Member Jones encouraged the Committee to look into it right away because now is the time for ordering that type of product. Manager Lein said that Economic Development Senior Officer Josh Arndt will work with Member Jones and will provide, at the next meeting, a count of how many are needed and a cost analysis. It was also stated that,when the cost of the new commercial lighting is known,the Committee should discuss how far they can expand the area of rope lighting within their budget. Permission was given by Public Works to contract with an outside electrician to adapt the light poles to accommodate the rope lighting. The topic of speakers for the purpose of playing seasonal music in the downtown area was revisited.A response from the City attorney is pending. 3. Banners There was no discussion on this topic. D. Update on 2019 Facade Grant Program Manager Lein reported there are five or six Facade Grant applications that Planning is currently reviewing. E. Heritage Building Update Manager Lein reported that the owner of the Heritage Building settled with her insurance company, and an application was submitted for a five story mixed-use building. There was a concern raised and some discussion regarding how much parking would be lost. Manager Lein will talk with Planning to find out more information on the project for the next meeting. V. NEW BUSINESS A. BIA Representation on Chamber Board Janice Nelson from Trillium Employment Services introduced herself to the Committee. She asked what the expectations were for the position of BIA Representative on the Chamber Board. Manager Lein explained that she would be a full board member, non-voting liaison from the BIA. She would attend all the Chamber's regular board meetings, and would come back to the BIA meetings each month to report on what happened. She affirmed that she would like to be the BIA's liaison at the Chamber Board meetings. B. 2019 ADA Funding Manager Lein reported that the contract between the ADA and the City is almost complete. C. Unpaid BIA Fees Manager Lein reported that after looking at records of BIA fees for the last 30 years, they found $26,454.50 had not been collected.The statute of limitations to collect unpaid fees goes back 10 years. He has asked the City Attorney's office for the procedure for collecting BIA fees and how to wipe the rest of the fees off the books.At an upcoming BIA meeting,there will be a report of what's collectible and the process for collecting fees. Anything that has to be wiped off the books will have to be taken to City Council. With the new fee collection system, if you don't pay your fee,you cannot renew your business license. D. Q&A with Parks, Arts & Recreation Julie Krueger, Arts & Events Manager in the City's Parks, Arts & Recreation Department, reported that they are finalizing a jury for the utility box wraps.The BIA gave some funding last year that was carried forward by the Council. Some Arts Commission funding was added to that proposal, and Code Enforcement also contributed some funds,which was used to cover 16 boxes in downtown. An update was given on the Arts and Culture Center.They have secured $325,000 in grants to support the building renovation.All of the historic windows have been updated and replaced and, almost all of the upstairs has been demolished so that it is mostly one big, open area.A request has been submitted to the State for capital budget funding. An explanation was given of what the space will be used for. The alley between the Arts and Culture Center and the Auburn Avenue Theater was a University of Washington Livable Cities Project last year. The Arts Division has been working on a grant with 4Culture to get some funding for artistic treatment to the alley, coupled with some City funds that have been set aside, to try to transform the alley.They were awarded $20,000 by 4Culture for the alleyway and will be working with an artist in a year-long project. The question was asked if parking would be taken away in the alleyway and if driving through the alley would not be allowed. Manager Krueger stated that the goal would be to temporarily close it and put bollards at the front and back entrances to the alley,which could also be put down so cars could pass through. The question was raised if any of the UW design concepts for Livable Cities would be implemented. Manager Krueger stated that they would and explained that City funding would take care of some of the hard-surfacing things in the alley, and 4Culture would take care of the art pieces. Examples of some design concepts were shown. Parks Director, Daryl Faber, sent Manager Krueger with a note asking her to give the opportunity for the BIA to contribute to the project, possibly matching the $20,000 4Culture grant.The Committee agreed to put it on the May agenda for discussion. E. Discuss Meeting Every Other Month Several members of the Committee had asked Chairman DiQuattro to bring up the idea of having BIA Committee meetings every other month. Manager Lein said that he would look at the ordinance to see if it dictates how many meetings the Committee has to have. It will be discussed at the May meeting. IV. AUBURN DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION UPDATE Brittiany Karlson, ADA President, gave the financial report and stated that they have $15,000 in the bank and $12,000 in upcoming expenses. An update was given of activities that are planned for the downtown area. Some of the activities will require hiring a coordinator. After discussion, Committee Member Roberts motioned and Member Rottle second to give the ADA a cap of$60,000 for the year but will give $30,000 now with a proposal of events for the rest of the year. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 6-0 The Girls Night Out and the last pub crawl were both great successes.They will be doing more of those events.The next pub crawl will be in July. V. TOURISM BOARD UPDATE Manager Lein informed the Committee that Tourism is looking at doing some permanent signage at venues that have a heavy draw. VI. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Committee,the meeting adjourned at 2:34 pm. • APPROVED this 9t"day of May, 2019. 4"-777:2-4-4-1. te s Giovanni DiQuattro, Chair Holly Ferry, ommittee cretary