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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesDOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES January 20, 2015 1 PRESENT: Megan Lang, Sandy Prunty, Vicky Schroeder, Andy Ratchman, David Krumplitsch, Kris Larson, Kay Bahr, Chanda Anderson, Marlo Ambas, James Evans EXCUSED: David Sparr, Jim Stapel STAFF: Cassie Daniels – BID Manager, Jeffrey Nau – Associate Planner OTHERS: Sergeant Matt Kroening – Oshkosh Police Department, Darryn Burich – Planning Services Manager I - CALL TO ORDER Vice-Chair Lang called the meeting to order at 8:06am and a quorum was declared present. II – APPROVE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 16, 2014 MEETING Mr. Nau reported back to the Board concerning alternate members; he stated he met with the City Attorney and confirmed that in place of excused regular members, alternate members do have voting privileges in addition to counting towards quorum. There was no other discussion on this item. Sandy Prunty moved to approve the minutes of the December 16, 2014 meeting as presented. Kay Bahr seconded the motion which passed unanimously. III – POLICING/TRAFFIC/PARKING/ENFORCEMENT ISSUES Sergeant Kroening reported the Oshkosh Police Department made an arrest connected to the robberies reported last month. The suspect was apprehended shortly after leaving Winnebago Bicycle after an Oshkosh Police Department-installed alarm went off which was installed earlier that day. Sergeant Kroening credited a bit of good timing as well as good detective work for the arrest. Since the arrest, there have been no commercial burglaries; however there have been a few unrelated residential burglaries just outside the downtown area. Other than the burglaries, Sergeant Kroening reported things have been quiet. IV – APPROVE RECRUITMENT FUND GRANT PROGRAM REQUEST FOR THE AMOUNT OF $3,000 FOR FIRE ESCAPE ARTS STUDIO & GALLERY BID Manager Daniels distributed minutes from the January 12, 2015 Recruitment Fund Grant Committee meeting and provided additional background information on the grant request. Ms. Daniels explained that the proposed business is a paint-your-own pottery studio to be located at 428 N. Main Street. She added the original request was for a $5,000.00 grant, however, after much deliberation and results of the scoring system used by the RFG Committee, they recommended the grant be lowered to $3,000.00. Ms. Prunty stated this will be a fun addition to the downtown. Vice-Chair Lang stated she would abstain since she is the owner of the building. Sandy Prunty motioned for approval for the $3,000.00 Recruitment Fund Grant for Fire Escape Arts Studio and Gallery as presented. James Evans seconded the motion which passed 9-0-1 (Abstain – Lang). DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES January 20, 2015 2 V – APPROVE RETENTION FUND GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,000 FOR THE LAW OFFICE OF CHARLES WILLIAMS BID Manager Daniels provided background information on the $1,000.00 Retention Fund Grant request for a door replacement for Charles Williams Law Office, 128 State Street. Ms. Daniels noted that Mr. Williams expressed his happiness that this program is in place and is able to utilize it. Ms. Lang questioned if this is his second grant request. Ms. Daniels responded that this is his first grant request; properties are eligible to receive a grant once every three years. She added that there is $2,000.00 available in the 2014 Recruitment/Retention Fund Grant budget. Mr. Larson asked how many businesses have received Retention Fund Grants. Ms. Daniels responded there were four recipients including Hot Dog Charlie’s, Varsity Club, Sparr Law Office and Urban Esque. Mr. Larson wanted to be reassured that the retention grants were not only going to law offices. Ms. Anderson stated she felt since this request was made and potentially approved in 2015, the funds should come out of the 2015 budget. Ms. Lang responded that was true, however, that would mean there would be $1,000 less available to use in 2015. Ms. Lang also added that she supports the request as this is a customer service-orientated business off Main Street that may not receive as much benefit of being in the BID compared to a retail, tavern or restaurant and was happy to see other businesses utilizing the program. Discussion followed if the funds should come out of the 2014 or 2015 budget. Mr. Larson stated since the application was submitted in 2014, the funds should come out of the 2014 budget. Sandy Prunty motioned for approval for the $1,000.00 Retention Fund Grant for the Law Office of Charles Williams to be expended from the 2014 budget. Andy Ratchman seconded the motion which passed unanimously. VI - MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT BID Manager Daniels reported that the 2014 budget should be closed by February 1st. There was no further discussion on this item. Kris Larson motioned for approval of the monthly financial report as presented. Vicky Schroeder seconded the motion which passed unanimously. VII – BID MANAGER AND SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Ms. Daniels presented a summary of her activities over the past month as outlined in her report included in the BID packet. Highlights include: • Finishing up the 2015 Downtown Directory working with Blue Door Consulting. Ms. Daniels stated she will be sending out proofs for the advertising this Friday. The directories should be going to print in February. • Preparing for the BID Annual meeting on January 28th. Ms. Daniels estimates 40 to 45 RSVPs including the BID Board. • Advertising for billboards and buses are almost filled up for the year. DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES January 20, 2015 3 • Marketing Consortium o Kyla Morris, owner of Backlot Comedy Club is the new Chairperson for 2015. o Downtown is starting a Third Thursday Program which promotes longer hours on the third Thursday of each month. • Beautification o All of the contracted services agreements have been signed. o Holiday décor has been removed; winter banners have been placed. o Started discussion with Joes Signs for design of the changeable copy sign for Opera House Square. o Information Kiosk at Opera House Square will be updated after the downtown directory is complete. • Recruitment Fund Grants o Held meeting for the Fire Escape grant. o Met with two interested clients for 2015, anticipates one will move forward for approval next month. o Dream by Thimke has submitted receipts as required for their grant disbursement. • Retention Grant Program o Met with Charles Williams for a potential grant. o Meeting with another potential applicant. • Looking into ending the Gift Card Program due to difficulties administrating the program and recruiting new participants due to the $13.00 monthly cost. Investigating other options to start a similar-type program. Ms. Lang asked Ms. Daniels how much the BID has invested in this program. Ms. Daniels responded businesses were only responsible for the $13.00 per month, there were no startup costs. Ms. Daniels stated she did not have a total for what the BID has spent on cards, envelopes and promotions. Ms. Lang suggested that the Board needs to give Ms. Daniels direction on how to proceed; should she continue to try to make the gift cards work or should she try to implement an entirely new program? Ms. Prunty asked how many businesses were signed up with the Gift Card Program. Ms. Daniels responded 17 businesses were currently part of the program. Mr. Evans stated he accepted a $5.00 gift card and was unable to process it with his machine so he ended up giving his customer a $5.00 discount and kept the card. Mr. Larson added that he has $500.00 in cards he has been unable to redeem. He added the problem is it takes too long for his machine to process transactions so he just gives a discount at the register. Now his business does not accept them. Ms. Schroeder questioned if they can try using paper certificates. Ms. Daniels responded that many small businesses do not like giving back cash to their customers for small purchases. Mr. Larson stated for simplicity, the Chamber’s certificates are the best option; they can be used anywhere, even New York City as they are actual checks. Ms. Daniels agreed but reconciling the Chamber certificates is very time-consuming. Ms. Bahr added that the BID should have some type of program but should be simplistic enough for employees to process transactions and customers to understand. The Board’s consensus was for Ms. Daniels to continue exploring gift card/certificate options and report back within the next month or two. DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES January 20, 2015 4 Ms. Daniels asked the Board for direction for recruitment efforts; should she be doing onsite visits with other downtowns? She added that there are four available retail spaces. She added they could draft up an updated wish list and noted she still has a lot of recruitment materials available. Ms. Anderson suggested that she has to find businesses that are even considering expanding, although that is hard to do. Ms. Lang added she likes the fact Ms. Daniels visits other communities, just to see what they are doing and possibly get ideas. Mr. Larson suggested Ms. Daniels should be working with property owners to help promote available spaces and it shows additional service for being in the BID. After further discussion, the Board deemed it prudent for Ms. Daniels to do three or four visits to other communities early in 2015 and to work with the property owners of vacant spaces. VIII – ENDORSE LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR CENTRAL CITY INVESTMENT STRATEGY Mr. Nau informed the Board that the City is in the process of updating and expanding the Downtown Action Plan which was adopted in 2000. He added the City is currently preparing a grant application to help fund the plan and introduced Planning Manager Darryn Burich to provide more information. Mr. Burich explained the City will be investing $125,000 to $200,000 into this new plan which is a spinoff of the Comprehensive Plan which will focus on the expansion and continuation of the successes achieved with the Downtown Action Plan. The end product will be a focused Comprehensive Plan for the Downtown area, north and south of the Fox River. Mr. Burich added that requests for proposal will be going out in early 2015 with a final product completed hopefully nine to twelve months later. Mr. Burich asked the BID for support to be used as part of the application process as there are many stakeholders key to the development of this plan. Kris Larson motioned to approve a BID letter of support for the Central City Investment Strategy grant application for WEDC. Chanda Anderson seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Mr. Burich also informed the BID that the City is currently working on a rewrite of the Zoning Ordinance and was seeking a volunteer from the BID Board to participate on a working/focus group. Mr. Larson asked how often the group would meet. Mr. Burich responded the group would meet periodically throughout the year. Mr. Larson agreed to volunteer. Mr. Burich also gave an update to the projected adaptive reuse of the Washington Building which will be converted to upscale residential units. Mr. Burich added that part of the plan calls for selling a portion of the Washington Street parking lot which would be used for the apartments. IX - BID END OF YEAR PRESENTATION REVIEW BID Manager Daniels distributed a PowerPoint presentation which will be used at the BID social on January 28th. Ms. Daniels asked for feedback from the Board. Ms. Lang asked the Board to contact Ms. Daniels with comments and asked if the final presentation could be posted on the Downtown website. Ms. Lang added that over 40 people have signed up so far. Ms. Daniels asked the Board how she should budget for hors d’oeuvres. The Board suggested $500.00. Ms. Daniels added there would be a cash bar and the funding for the hors d’oeuvres can come from the Leadership budget. Sandy Prunty motioned for approval of a $500.00 budget for appetizers/hors d’oeuvres from the Leadership Budget. Vicky Schroeder seconded the motion which passed unanimously. DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES January 20, 2015 5 Ms. Daniels reminded the Board that the social will be at the Algoma Club on January 28th from 5:00 to 7:00pm. X – BIKE SHARING PROGRAM UPDATE There was no discussion on this item. XI – IDENTIFICATION OF AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE FEBRUARY 17, 2015 MEETING - BID Assessment evaluation update (Lang) - Liquor License opportunities in the Downtown (Anderson) XII – ADJOURNMENT With there being no further business, Sandy Prunty moved for the meeting to be adjourned at 9:16am. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Jeffrey Nau Associate Planner