Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.21.2023 Business Improvement District Full Agenda TO: Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District Board FROM: Megan Lang, Chair DATE: March 13, 2023 PLEASE BE ADVISED the Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District Board will hold a regular meeting at 8:00 A.M., Tuesday, March 21, 2023 in City Hall Room 404, 215 Church Avenue, Oshkosh, WI to consider the following agenda: AGENDA I. Call to Order II. Approve Minutes of the February 21, 2023 Meeting III. Approve March Monthly Financial Report IV. Policing/Traffic/Parking/Enforcement Issues V. Dumpster Enclosures – Homeless living in the enclosure 400 East Lot VI. Downtown Parking – 2 hour vs 4 hour, permitted parking and paid parking with app. VII. Tree and Overhead Lighting – Lights in trees in the square, lights across or parallel to Main Street VIII. Budget Amendments – Clarify allocated funds vs. funds spent IX. Beautification Grant Application - $1,000 421 North Main Street X. Art in the Alley Programming - $500 Sponsorship XI. BID Manager and BID Committee Reports a. Events b. MemberCo c. Beautification d. Marketing & Communications XII. Other Business (Must address items not listed on the BID Board meeting agenda) XIII. Identification of Agenda Items for the April 18, 2023 Meeting XIV. Adjournment 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 Description Expenditure Leadership Oshkosh Convention and Visitor's Bureau Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau - February Salary & Benefits 5,565.32$ Reimbursements: Website Maintenance/Office Supplies Jan-Feb Credit Card Reimbursement - Kwik Trip, Amazon, Intuit 50.87$ USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services - Salaries/Travel/Supplies 298.00$ Reimbursements: Recruitment/Retention/Video Grants Recruitment & Beautification Grant Program Reimbursements: Events Waterfest Waterfest, Inc. - 2023 Donation 2,000.00$ Music in the Square/Lunch Events Wine/Beer Walks Reimbursements: Farmers Market Reimbursements: Holiday Parade Reimbursements: Downtown Events Park N' Print - 74823 112.50$ Waterfest, Inc. - 2023 Donation 500.00$ Advertising Jim Koepnick Photography LLC - Chocolate Stroll 250.00$ Jan-Feb Credit Card Reimbursement - Canva, MailChimp, OpinionStage, Beckets 131.80$ Dec-Jan Credit Card Reimbursement - Canva, USPS, HZL Photo, OpinionStage, Facebook, MailChimp 246.43$ Park N' Print - 74843 51.00$ Park N' Print - 74839 23.25$ Reimbursements: Gift Card Program Member CO Chocolate Stroll Holiday Chalk Walk Beautification Monthly Maintenance (COTS) Holiday/Seasonal Plantings Dec-Jan Credit Card Reimbursement - Kitz & Pfiel 35.38$ Reimbursements: Seagull Mitigation Project USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services - Salaries/Travel/Supplies 2,900.00$ Storage Unit Reserves / Capital Improvements Reimbursements: Total 12,164.55$ 2023 Business Improvement District February 15, 2023 - March 13, 2023 2023 Assessment 140,610.00 2023 Reserves 23,480.00 2022 Carry over 98,559.01 2022 Encumberance 0.00 TOTAL AVAILABLE 262,649.01 Funds Allocated 262,649.01 Balance Available 0.00 2023 Encumbered Allocation Expenditures Receipt Transferred Balance Balance Leadership Oshkosh Convention and Visitor's Bureau 72,000.00$ 11,142.66 0.00 0.00 0.00 60,857.34 Website Maintenance/Office Supplies 5,000.00$ 832.36 0.00 0.00 0.00 4,167.64 Recruitment/Retention/Beautification Grants 20,000.00$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20,000.00 Events Waterfest 2,000.00$ 2,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Music in the Square/Lunch Events 10,000.00$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10,000.00 Wine/Beer Walks -$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Holiday Parade -$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Farmers Market 5,000.00$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5,000.00 Downtown Events 2,500.00$ 612.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,887.50 Advertising 15,000.00$ 702.48 0.00 0.00 0.00 14,297.52 Gift Card Program 1,000.00$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,000.00 Member CO Chocolate Stroll -$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Holiday 2,000.00$ 35.38 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,964.62 Chalk Walk 150.00$ 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 150.00 Arts & Beautification Monthly Maintenance (COTS)10,000.00$ 0.00 0.00 10,000.00 0.00 20,000.00 Holiday/Seasonal Plantings 15,000.00$ 0.00 0.00 13,480.00 0.00 28,480.00 Seagull Mitigation Project 3,000.00$ 3,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Storage Unit 1,440.00$ 360.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,080.00 Reserves / Capital Improvements 98,559.01$ 0.00 0.00 (23,480.00)0.00 75,079.01 TOTAL OPERATING BUDGET 262,649.01$ 18,685.38$ -$ -$ -$ 243,963.63 Postings through March 13, 2023 Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District - 2023 Operating Plan BID Manager Report March 2023 Priorities for the Month:  Post on social media 5+ times per week  Continue email template to be sent out to property/business owners  Change message on interchangeable sign  Continuous website updates  Attend monthly Chamber EDAC meetings and give monthly BID update  Meet with Rob Kleman from the Chamber and Tricia Rathermal from GOEDC once per month for downtown opportunity update  Reconcile gift card account and BID invoices every Friday  Develop and send community newsletter (I send these as I feel they are needed) Committee Reports: MemberCO o Attend monthly meeting and give BID update o Cottontails & Cocktails – April 8th o Update – Barb/Chanda o 2023 Events Plan (?) o October & Holiday Events Plan due July 7/30/23 Beautification/Retention Grant/Mural Grant o Beautification o 2022 Banners  Over $30,000 fundraised for the project  Spring banners will go up last week of March o 2023 Mural Project Update o Horticulturist Position with City of Oshkosh o COTS Garbage Cleanup Partnership o Testing new lights March 20th-24th o Beautification/Blade Sign Program  About $4000 remains for funding o Vibrant Spaces Grant Program Update o Beautification Grant o 421 N Main St - $1000.00 (Ruby Owl Tap Room) o Recruitment Grant o No pending applications o Mural Grant o No pending applications Marketing & Communications  Instagram o Followers: 3485 o Reach: 8,321  Facebook o Followers: 9,683 o Reach: 8,815  March – Women’s History Month/Girl Scouts Week Scavenger Hunt  Working on Oshkosh Herald Contract Events  March 16th at 2pm – DORA Informational Meeting  May 13th – Wine Walk  May 25th – Greetings Tour Meet the Artist Event/Into the Night  June kicks off Music on Main & Live at Lunch music series o Looking for Live at Lunch presenting Sponsorship and individual event sponsors Other Highlights/Projects  Annual BID Video  Vibrant Spaces Grant Pilot – Alley Activation  DORA – Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area o Begins April 1st o Wed-Friday 5-10pm, Saturdays 1-10pm  Plaza Concept and Downtown Planning/Imagine Oshkosh Plan (CVB, City, Chamber, GOEDC, Community Foundation) o Initial Plan Review March 16th  Commercial Rehab Loan/Grant Project o Suggested and did extensive research on this and presented to City, Chamber and GOEDC  Update BID Recruitment/Retention Grants o Meeting to review RFG is March 30th  New kiosk in Opera House Square and downtown guides  BID Strategic Direction and additional staffing o Met on this March 9th o Follow up meeting April 11th