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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.21.2023 Business Improvement District Minutes Downtown Oshkosh BID Board Minutes February 21, 2023 Present: Megan Lang, Kris Larson, James Evans, Chanda Anderson, Barb Nelson, Carrie Olson, Autumn Urban, Aaron Armstrong, Derek Mulloy, Marlo Ambas Excused: Sandra Prunty, Jim Stapel, Jill Anderson, Andy Ratchman Staff: Jessica Meidl – BID Manager, John Zarate – Economic Development Specialist, Sgt. Kari Pettit – Oshkosh Police Department, Kelly Nieforth Community Development Director Others: Amy Albright – Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau, Colan Treml – Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce I. Call to Order Chairperson Lang called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. A quorum was declared present. II. Approve Minutes of the January 17, 2022 Meeting The minutes of the January 17, 2023 were approved unanimously as written. (Larson, Olsen) III. Approve February 21, 2023 Monthly Financial Report The February 21, 2023 financial report was approved unanimously as presented. (Larson, Olsen) Discussion followed on requirements from the City Finance Department on properly listing expenses from the budget (budgeted vs. actual cost). If amount paid is over what was budgeted need to make sure to have a budget amendment. Staff will set up a meeting to discuss this with Meidl, Albright, and Larson. IV. Approve budget transfers from reserve fund Approved budget transfer of $10,000 for COTS and $13,480 for holiday/ seasonal plantings. (Larson, Armstrong) V. Policing/Traffic/Parking/Enforcement Issues Sgt. Pettit. No major concerns. 139 calls for service. Area boundary clarified reported up to Parkway not Irving as was previous. Discussion followed regarding concerns with homeless people living in a tent within the dumpster enclosure in the 400 East North Main Street southern enclosure. VI. Dumpster Enclosures Kelly Nieforth discussed topics from a recent meeting with Meidl, Jim Collins, and other City staff. At a future BID Board meeting will be bringing in a plan of who from the BID is responsible for which dumpster enclosure and what responsibilities the City will have such as cleaning up graffiti and disposing of larger items left within enclosures. VII. 2 Hr. vs 4 Hr. Parking Lots Can there be some parking expanded to allow for 4-hour parking within the downtown BID? A point was made that the BID tries to encourage someone to get their hair done, go to lunch, and shop afterwards, which takes more than two hours. Can staff look into expanding some stalls as 3-hour or 4-hour parking? How many permits are issued for leased spaces? How many leased spaces are there? Possibly look into a company that could install and maintain an app with QR code for downtown parking. VIII. Blade Signs Kelly Nieforth said that staff is looking into amending the current sign ordinance to see if blade signs could be allowed and not count as part of the overall signage typically allowed on a building. IX. Overhead Lights and Tree Lighting In discussions with City Forestry staff, it was determined that the current tree lights in Opera House Square will need to be removed before leaves start growing this season in order for the tree to properly grow and for staff to prune the trees. Discussion followed to switch to lights similar to lighting in Fort Collins where the lights aren’t wrapped around individual branches but are strung through the branches and secured to the branch. Current lighting cost to install and take down is about $8,000-$10,000/ year. Option to go with new lights and different way of attaching to trees would cost about $6,000 to buy new lights and about $4,000 to install. It is anticipated that this option would only have to be done once every five years. Meidl is going to reach out to Fort Collins to see how it is done there. Motion was made and amended to spend $10,000 for the new lights and installation as long as there is a written agreement with City Forestry that the lights would be allowed to be left in the trees for four to five years and left in year around. Motion approved (Olsen, Larson). Discussion regarding options for lights parallel to Main Street. Meidl is looking into getting specs for light poles and weight of lights to see if the current light poles could support the weight of the string lights. Larson mentioned that all owners in the area where the proposed lights would be strung across North Main Street were in agreement to have them mounted/ attached on their building. Engineering was done to figure out attachments to the buildings. The hold up for this option is insurance. Talk to DPW staff to keep this idea moving forward. X. BID Manager and BID Committee Reports MemberCo – New President C. Anderson, Vice President Jessica Graf – went over events within the manager’s report. Meidl reviewed upcoming events. Meidl raised concern that MemberCo events are giving her more work than she had planned for events for the BID. Music on Main will be a night time event on Thursdays and Live at Lunch music series will be family orientated and be held Wednesdays around the lunch hour. Beautification – discussed the Greeting Tour mural is coming along also BID members would like to continue with the sidewalk flower planter program. Can this be extended to keep with current owner instead of updating annually? Could other encroachment agreements be brought to the BID Board meeting for signatures? XI. Additional Staff for BID and Creating a Separate Business Entity C. Anderson stated that Meidl does so much work and there are concerns that she is being handed more than she can handle. Currently CVB is backfilling this with help from their staff. Board suggested Meidl put together a pie chart or spreadsheet showing how much time is spent on what items and bring to March meeting. Discussed creating a separate entity for the BID as a 501(c)(3). It was discussed previously that some sponsors aren’t able to donate unless it is a donation to a 501(c)(3). BID is missing out on these sponsorships. Suggestion that a committee should be formed/ brought back to look into how other cities are doing this. Try to get this done prior to October budget deadline for 2024. XII. Other Business No other business. XIII. Identification of Agenda Items for the March 21, 2023 Meeting Budget Amendments Dumpster Enclosures Hourly Parking Tree Lighting and Overhead Lighting Hours spent by Jessie on items XI. Adjournment – Adjourned 9:35am. (C. Anderson, Armstrong) Respectfully Submitted, John Zarate Economic Development Specialist Economic Services Division