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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-12-2019 Minutes CI IN OF BIA Committee of Rate Payers Meeting AUBURNSeptember 12, 2019 — 1:00 PM tV,t l i l Nc IO\ Auburn City Hall Council Chambers MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 1:00 pm by Chairman DiQuattro. Roll Call: Committee Members present: Chairman Giovanni DiQuattro; Members Kelly Gordon, Bob Klontz, Ronnie Roberts,John Rottle Committee Members absent: Vice Chair Bill Cowart; Members Darren Jones and Ruth Neil-Stover City staff present: Josh Arndt, Economic Development Senior Officer; Tanya Carter, Economic Development Officer; Holly Ferry, Committee Secretary ADA Board Members present: Brittiany Karlson, President; Kristina Driessen, Treasurer II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Committee Member Klontz moved and Member Gordon second to approve the August 15, 2019 meeting minutes. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5-0 III. FINANCIAL REPORT Economic Development Senior Officer, Josh Arndt, reviewed the data on the Financial Report with the ending fund balance through July 2019. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Marketing and Branding Economic Development Officer Tanya Carter encouraged the members and all businesses within the city to use and add information about their business to the Buy Local website. It is free tool for businesses to use, and the City is promoting it with several thousand dollars every month. There is an Instagram page where businesses can add photos and submit a story about their business, and those get fed to the Buy Local page. Officer Carter walked the Committee through the website. Officer Arndt added that they are working on an ancillary page that will connect the school system and what they are producing in talent to employers, so when needs arise, business owners can go onto the site and see students in the school system, both high school and college, with a description of the skills the students are learning that are written by the instructors. B. BIA Newsletter A copy of the August newsletter and analytics was provided. It was suggested to feature something about the Buy Local website so that businesses know it's available. Chairman DiQuattro asked that BIA Committee members talk to fellow business owners and inform them that important information that comes from the meeting is available in the newsletter and it would be helpful to them. C. Update on Priority Projects Presented to City Council 1. Additional Security Lighting There was no discussion on this topic. 2. Christmas decorations There was no discussion on this topic. 3. Banners Officer Arndt reminded the Committee that, with all the flowers that are currently being maintained and the number of Park maintenance staff, they are above capacity. Officer Arndt provided three handouts to the Committee that included cost estimates for adding additional flower baskets and manpower. Chairman DiQuattro recommended finding something else that could be done, other than baskets, to show all the downtown businesses that they are included. It was suggested that the existing baskets be spaced farther apart to include a larger area. Officer Arndt responded that it is prohibitive because of the operating and capital expenses that would require, but the question could be posed. Chairman DiQuattro reminded the Committee that the City will be working on the new budget at the end of 2020, and that is when the Committee needs to make the recommendation to City Council to expand the flower basket area. Officer Arndt informed the Committee that he has requested a quote for pricing from the company that the City has purchased the banner arms from. There would also be some installation costs, but adding additional banners would serve somewhat the same purpose as the flower baskets but wouldn't have the ongoing operational costs that the flower baskets have. D. Update on 2019 Façade Grant Program There was no update. E. Heritage Building Update Economic Development Manager Doug Lein reported that the owner filed a plan for the property, but nothing has come from it yet. F. Unpaid BIA Fees Officer Carter reported that there has not been much change since the last month. Chairman DiQuattro asked if the Committee could be provided a rough estimate of how much the two new buildings going in will affect the BIA's budget. Manager Lein replied that they will each have a $1500 fee. G. Rules of Procedure The Rules of Procedure discussion was started in the August meeting, and Chairman DiQuattro reminded the group that Member Klontz had pointed out that in the Amendment section of the Rules of Procedure, it states that to make any changes we must have the majority vote of all members. Officer Arndt talked to a City attorney, and his interpretation was that all members means all members of the Committee. Officer Arndt said that he would provide for the October meeting changes to the Rules of Procedure and the Ordinance for the Committee to vote on. Committee Member Roberts moved and Member Rottle second to table a vote until September meeting. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5-0 The question was raised as to whether or not alternates are required to be included in the vote. Officer Arndt will find out and inform the Committee at the October meeting. H. Bike Racks A handout was provided showing where the existing bike racks are on Main Street. The question was asked whether or not the City would install any new bike racks. Officer Arndt said he would find out if this is an identified project that has already been budgeted for in a capital project. It was also requested to find out if damaged or missing racks are in their budget to fix or replace, and if it is in their budget, could the Committee volunteer to pay for the upgrade and have the City install them. Officer Arndt said he would check with Planning about that, as well as changing the design standards within the code. He will also talk with the developers of the new downtown building projects regarding upgrading their bike racks. I. LED Light Project Officer Arndt reported that Traffic Operations Manager Scott N utter informed him that they are still in the mapping phase of identifying what the lights are, where they are located, who they belong to, their size and if they have power. V. NEW BUSINESS There was no new business to discuss. IV. AUBURN DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION UPDATE ADA President Brittiany Karlson and Treasurer Kristina Driessen reported on details of the Main Street Festival, which will take place on Saturday, September 21 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Posters were provided for distribution. They have already started planning their Halloween Harvest Festival events, including a Pumpkin Painting Fest with vendors, the Zombie Pub Crawl, and the Main Street Trick-or- Treat. They are also planning the Christmas holiday season events. The question was raised about whether the skating rink was coming back this year, but they informed the Committee that had not found a place that would accommodate it within the BIA. Committee members suggested the parking lot by Auto as a possible location that they could check into. The ADA helped sponsor Hops & Crops. They created passports for festival-goers with exclusive discounts for downtown restaurants and bars that would draw people to downtown. They will also advertise the Main Street Festival at Hops & Crops. President Karlson and Treasurer Driessen informed the Committee that they are looking at different options to keep the activities of the ADA going after their terms are up. There was discussion about what the role of an event coordinator might be. They reported that there has been more interest in ADA participation recently. V. CHAMBER BOARD UPDATE BIA Chamber Board representative, Janice Nelson, was not able to attend the BIA meeting, so Chairman DiQuattro reported that the Chamber Board did not have time on their agenda for the BIA and ADA to present at the September meeting. Chairman DiQuattro and Officer Arndt will attend the October 2 meeting to present for the BIA and ADA. VI. TOURISM BOARD UPDATE Officer Carter reported that they are reconciling the budget and projects against the strategy, going into the last half of the year, and ensuring that all of the projects that were planned are being executed and to see how the budget looks against that so they can give a good picture of that going into the strategy planning session for 2020. This will enable them to give a good overview of what was accomplished, how much money they still have and what the goals are that they still want to fulfill. They are also going to suggest a planning meeting for the 2020 strategy. The Tourism Summit was scheduled for the end of October, but because they would like to present the rollout of what is going to happen in 2020, they are planning to move the summit to January. They are also looking for the most appropriate venue. Tourism has a large quantity of Explore Auburn coasters featuring local attractions available. They have been well-received, and can be used by staff to engage with customers. Manager Lein reported that they are going through the interview process for the new Tourism Coordinator. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Committee, the meeting adjourned at 2:25 pm. APPROVED this 12th day of September, 2019. ..„1„..„:„.„. -,,s-_-..... ,2.,.. ,, ',.-. 4 0„,,,,y J Giovanni DiQuattro, Chair Holly Fer ,, Committe Secretary