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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-16-08 BID MinutesDowntown Business Improvement District • Board Meeting Minutes 7/16/2008 Present: Eric Bowman, Dan Harding, Dan Himsworth, Ileana Indreland, Buck Taylor Eric Bryson, Chris Naumann, Ellie Staley Absent: Travis Collins Eric Bowman calls the meeting to order. Public comments John Milanovich introduces himself as a Republican candidate for Montana House District 66. He requested to sit in tonight's meeting to learn more about the BID and its role downtown. Minutes June's minutes will be presented at the August board meeting ACTION: Buck Taylor motions to accept the April and May minutes. Dan Himsworth seconds the motion. There is no discussion. All vote in favor Financial Report Chris presented the financial report as of June 30, 2008 (year-end). The only activity was the residual management fee requested by the Partnership for $1450. Several board members thought that amount was $1000. Chris said he would research and confirm. Other activity included deposit on the new office sign ($500) plus on-going maintenance and graffiti costs. Executive Director's Report Business Improvement District Board July 16~" 2008 Downtown 2020 Plan Update On Monday, July 14, I presented a request to the City Commission fora $100,000 allocation from the Development Impact Fund (aka Big Box Fund) to partially finance the Downtown Neighborhood Plan as part of the Bozeman 2020 Community Plan update. As part of the request, I indicated that the BID and TIF had discussed and/or earmarked monies ($20,000 to $40,000) to go towards creating a new vision document for downtown. emphasized that the proposed "neighborhood" plan would serve as an update the 1995 Urban Renewal Plan and the 1998 Downtown Improvement Plan (Maker's). In general the idea was well received by the Commission, but with so many requests for the remaining Big Box funds they were doubtful the possibility of awarding the entire $100,000. In fact, the Commission delayed awarding any Big Box funds until August 11, 2008. Several Commissioner's indicated they would prefer to award the funds as a dollar for dollar match up to $50,000, while other spoke of allocating a flat $50,000. They did ask that I update them with the total amount the Partnership member boards approved as part of this year's budgets. Ellen Theater Update Ellie and I met with John Ludin of the Montana Theaterworks for a tour of the Ellen. They have resolved their lease dispute with Carmike Cinema and have begun to remodel the lobby and clean the theater. John plans to unveil the plans for the revitalization of the theater in the next 4 weeks. He is planning to have an "open house" at the theater during Sweet Pea weekend. At that time members of the public can see the inside of the theater and view the plans. I offered to facilitate spreading the word about the plans for the theater via our a-mail list serve, downtown newspaper and newsletter. Downtown Tree Replacement The City of Bozeman Forestry Division has determined that 14 Black Ash trees in the downtown district have died. The species has been hit hard throughout the city. The Forestry Division has offered $1050 in Tree Replacement Vouchers to assist with replacing those trees. I have asked 3 local nurseries to submit bids for the project. Once • the costs are known I will strategize on how best to secure the funding necessary to replace the trees. STIP Project Updates Downtown Visitors Center Sign Thanks to the financial support of the BID, the exterior office sign is being repainted with our new logo by Duncan Kippen. Duncan crafted the original sign and was excited to update the graphics. The new sign should be completed in the coming weeks. Art Crossing Project have been working with the Gallatin Art Crossing which is anon-profit organization dedicated to placing public art throughout the community. The plan for the inaugural year of the project involves installing three sculptures on the library grounds and one in Soroptomist Park. Contributing artist include Zak Zakovi, Gary Bates, Ken Reiser, Pete Stecher and Chad Denton. I have met and communicated with Tate Chamberlin (GAC), Paula Beswick and Alice Meister (Library), and Brit Fontenot and James Goehrung (City) regarding the necessary requirements to place public art on municipal property. Several of the sculptures were installed at the Library on July 11 and 12. Future locations for additional public are include the new City Hall property and potentially other Main Street locations that have the necessary set back allowances. Discussion Items Big Box Fund and Downtown 2020 Neighborhood Plan Ileana Indreland expressed concern that the Big Box funds should be used for tangible "on-the- street" projects rather than consulting and a vision document such as the proposed Downtown 2020 Neighborhood Plan. Chris indicated that his proposal to the Commission did not specify • how the money would be spent. He agreed that at a later date it could be decided to spend a certain amount of the budget on an updated vision with the remainder to be invested in a project or as seed money for several. Ileana did not think the BID should contribute a single dollar towards the Downtown 2020 Plan. She asserted that the BID's mission stipulates that money be spent on maintenance and beautification, not planning. Eric Bowman offered that an updated vision document is integral to not only the BID's continuing programs but as an evaluation tool for designating future programs and projects. Dan Harding added that a current plan would help us, the BID and downtown, respond to issues that arise such as historic preservation and new developments. Chris indicated that the $10,000 of BID money to potentially invest in the Downtown 2020 Plan project would come from the STIP account rather than this year's assessment revenues. BID FY2009 Budget Chris presented the BID FY2009 budget. The board expressed some confusion about separating the different parts of the budget. Chris incorporated the STIP programs and the contract maintenance program into the assessment budget. After some discussion, it was agreed that Chris will present the assessment budget separate from all other program budgets so as to clarify exactly how the property owner's assessment will be reinvested. He offered to do that immediately and send the BID FY2009 Assessment Budget to the board via a-mail. Chris identified that the STIP Program budget and Maintenance Program budget could be discussed and decided upon at the next board meeting since they are not tied to the assessment. • Eric Bowman adjourns the meeting