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11-06-12 DBID MinutesKALISPELL BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT Board Meeting Agenda Tuesday, November 6, 2012 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM Whipps Building Conference Room 14 3rd Street East, Second Floor Kalispell, Mt. 59901 Call Meeting to order Approval of the Agenda Acceptance October 2, 2012 minutes HEARING OF THE PUBLIC BUSINESS First Night Flathead - Patrice Monget CORE AREA - Review and update - Katharine Thompson Trippons - Statistics and New contract discussion BID discussion - on -going discussion re: renewal, expansion etc. Montana Main Street Program -Affiliate vs. Designated Community Hanging flower pots downtown - new baskets Board support of community issues - discussion COORDINATORS REPORT NEW BUSINESS Next meeting - Tuesday, December 3, 7:30 AM Future scheduled meetings: 1/8/13, 2/5113, 3/5/13, 4/2/13 ADJOURNMENT P. O. Box 1997, Kalispell, Mt. 59903 * (406) 253-6923 * pam@downtownkalispell.com KALISPELL BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT BOARD MEETING MINUTES Meeting date: November 6, 2012 Location: 14 3rd St. E., Kalispell, MT. PRESENT: Pam Mower (Vice Chair), Janet Clark, John Hinchey, Tim Price, Jon Fetveit, & Pam Carbonari (BID Coordinator) ABSENT: Margaret Lekander, Marshall Noice PUBLIC IN ATTENDANCE: Jill Redmond, Patrice Monget, Katharine Thompson MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:40 AM by Vice Chair, Pam Mower MOTION: to approve the agenda dated 1116/12 by Janet and second by John Hinchey— Approved unanimously. Motion to approve the minutes of 10/2/12 by John H with a second by Janet — Motion was approved unanimously. HEARING OF THE PUBLIC: No One — public present scheduled on agenda BUSINESS: Patrice Monget and Jill Redmond provided an update on First Night Flathead 2012. They thanked the board for the donation of $1000.00 with an additional $500.00 on television commercials. An update on the afternoon activities, musical talent and button sales was presented. Some of the board members offered constructive advice with regards to volunteer duties and where it might be improved. The board is very supportive of First Night, thanked Patrice and Jill for the tremendous amount of work that they do for this event and offered their support for a great 2012 event. Katharine Thompson with the City of Kalispell provided an update on the CORE area review which is in process. The draft plan was presented to the board for comment and will go forward to the Planning Board and City Council before the end of the year. A section on tourism, arts & culture and historic preservation was recently added to the planning document. Over the next three to four months, Willdan Financial Services hired by the city to perform a feasibility study will explore various redevelopment opportunities in Kalispell's railroad corridor and the feasibility of pulling out the tracks. Part of the study includes working with stakeholders to develop cost estimates and a track -removal and business -relocation strategy, identifying possible funding sources and estimating returns on investment in terms of job creation and increased property values and tax revenues. Willdan's work is expected to be completed by the end of February 2013. The board had a lengthy conversation about Trippons and whether to renew the contract which expires on November 8 for an additional year or not. In an attempt to put the issue on the table after questioning the methodology regarding the redemption statistics, the mobile application and the desire to look at other on line advertising a motion to renew was made by John Hinchey but died for a lack of a second. A new motion was made by Jon Fetveit and seconded by John Hinchey to not renew the contract which passed unanimously. Coordinator Pam presented information from the City of Kalispell regarding the creation of the BID and the dates assessments and fees have been collected. A discussion continued regarding the potential timing for renewal of the BID and the boundary of the BID currently. It was determined that we would continue to discuss renewal and expansion at future meetings but there was no immediate threat to expiration. There are three businesses that could potentially benefit from annexation to the BID and have indicated some interest. in the past. As long as a business is contiguous to the BID they can request annexation to the district. Benefits to BID district businesses was discussed and additional time will be spent at our December meeting discussing adding Items such as web site changes to include; featured business of the month and/or web site deal of the week. A motion was made by Janet and seconded by John Hinchey to authorize Pam to approach 3 businesses regarding annexation to the BID. This motion passed unanimously. The Montana Main Street program has indicated that they would like to see Kalispell become a designated Montana Main Street program. Currently Kalispell is an affiliate to the program. There is no fee to be a designated community and benefits include technical advice, notification of grant opportunities, recognition in the federal Main Street program. A motion was made by Janet and seconded by Jon F. to approve a letter of request by sent by Pam C to the Montana Main Street program requesting a change from affiliate community status to designated community status. Motion passed unanimously. Pam C. presented to the board a request to purchase 40 new flower pots for the hanging pots on Main Street. Bob Balding from Plant Land approached Pam with a pot that has the potential of eliminating the twice a day watering of the hanging flower pots. The pots would cost $35.00 each and would save the BID substantially in labor costs. It is anticipated that the pots will only need to be watered once per day at the maximum. A motion was made by Tim and seconded by John H. to authorize the purchase of 40 pots at $35.00 each from Plant Land and to get two bids to plant the pots. Motion passed unanimously. The issue regarding BID support of community/political issues was postponed until December. No New business ADJOURN Jon Fetveit moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:25 AM, seconded by John Hinchey - Approved unanimously NEXT MEETING Tuesday, December 4 at 7:30 AM — Whipps Building, Second Floor Conference Room Respectfully submitted, Pam Carbonari, BID Coordinator On behalf of the BID Secretary November 6, 2012 Coordinators Report to the Board MEETINGS • Continued participation in the CORE review committee —The committee met with Willdan, the firm selected to perform the financial feasibility plan at the October meeting and also review the CORE draft plan. The draft plan will be presented to the BID Board at the November meeting. • I attended the Montana Downtown Association meeting in Great Falls, October 24, 25 & 26. The conference was well attended with approximately 75 participants from all of the major cities, some from smaller communities and people representing the development community. Kalispell has most of the programs in place that the larger cities have, just on a smaller scale. I attended a seminars on taxation and tax relief available for new business and/or businesses building or remodeling, diversity of boards by personality types, parking roundtable, branding in downtown development, public art and had a great opportunity to re -connect with the other Directors of BIDS and Downtown Association throughout the state. I will be following up with Helena and Missoula regarding BID renewal. COMMUNICATION/COORDINATION • I met with Tash Wisemiller the new coordinator of the Montana Main Street Program. We have been an affiliate member for the past two years and he is suggesting that we now apply to be a Designated member. The benefits for a designated community are similar to an affiliate member however there are no matching funds for grants, you are nationally recognized, are notified of grant opportunities and receive priority technical assistance if you are a designated member. I am requesting that the board authorize a letter to be sent to formally request designated member status. • I am distributing a comprehensive business survey to gather information that I believe will assist the BID and KDA in making decisions and ultimately helping the downtown businesses thrive. • Katharine Thompson and I presented to the Montana League of Cities and Towns during their annual conference. We discussed successful downtowns and joint partnerships. • At the board request that I sent a letter to the City Manager signed by Chairwoman Lekander requesting that the city inform us of the dates that assessments have been collected, what is the official date the BID originated and to offer an opinion regarding the sunset date of the BID. I met with the City Manager Doug Russell and Attorney Charlie Harball and will share the information learned during our November meetin& • I attended the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce transportation meeting in which a representative from Senator Baucus's DC office was in attendance. We talked about the Kalispell alternative route and learned that the next phase of the route is not on the MDOT's 5 year plan which goes through 2017. We will pursue options to make our concerns know about this. Does the board wish to sign a letter to MDOT requesting our placement on their priority projects? Cindy Martin from GPIA was also in attendance and updated us on current and proposed airline routes. She informed us that Alegiant is having difficulty committing to the SF/Oakland route due to gate problems at LAX. They are looking for a new home, possibly Burbank. They have also suspended the flight to LAX January — April for the same reason, gate problems. Delta airlines will not be offering Rights during the winter months and are in the process of suspending 50 seater planes getting 90 seater planes but our load limit will probably be the same as flights will be less frequent. There are no changes in United flights anticipated. EVENTS • Since our last meeting we have celebrated two additional First Fridays in Downtown Kalispell. It appears that more people are coming out each month and that the Downtown businesses appreciate the advertising opportunity. • The 5k Run Through History was held Saturday, October 6. National Flood Services was the event sponsor along with the KBID. It was a successful event with 165 runners. • December 7 is the Kalispell Art Walk. There is a lot of interest in this great event.