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2020-09-10 ED! Edmonds Downtown Alliance MinutesEd! Board Meeting September 10, 2020 Meeting called to order: 8:05 AM Board Members/Administration in Attendance: Matt McCullough, Jenny Shore, Carol Sheldon, Kali Kelnero, Pam Stuller, Kali Kelnero, Cheryl Farrish, Kimberly Koening, Deandra Peterson, Jen Lawson, and Carrie Hulbert. City of Edmonds Representative in Attendance: Patrick Doherty and Cindy Cruz Guests: None Public Comment: None Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes: Matt moved to approve minutes. Kimberly seconded. All approved, none opposed President's Report: Pam reported that the committees have met and will need to present their 2021 budget proposals by 9/30/20. The Admin committee plans to meet the week of October 1" to review these proposals and come up with recommendations to present to the full Board at the upcoming 10/8/20 Board Meeting. Pam also reported that she virtually attended the recent City Council meeting and gave an update on the work Ed! has been doing. She acknowledged the contributions of the Savvy Traveler, which is closing due to retirement, to the downtown Edmonds community. Pam welcomed feedback on any additional topics that members would like raised at future City Council meetings. Treasurers Report: Kali reported that revenue is down about $8K compared to this time last year. Kali noted that the Marketing Committee recently met to see what cuts they could make to help the bottom line as this committee had the largest unspent budget for the year. With cuts for copywriting, trolley (saving $2K), holiday events and holiday advertising, amongst others, Kali reported a budgeted savings of roughly $12,082 to balance out this year's expected revenue shortfall. This will bring this year's projected expenses to roughly $68,000. No changes were proposed to the Program Management position because the goal was to use Carrie's expertise and time to try to offset some of the other cuts. New Businesses Added to BID: Left Craft, Puget Sound Wealth Strategies, FEW Tax, Inc., Kerith, LLC, Miniatures & More, Raads Barbershop, Kelnero Beyond, Amenity Services Corp., Barre3, Lullaby Lady City Report: Patrick provided an update on the grant program. In total, the City awarded 90 grants. The Economic Alliance of Snohomish County (EASC) is offering additional grants, estimated at $5K and $10K each, depending on how many employees a company has. The City has provided EASC with a list of businesses which applied for but did not receive grants from the City. Patrick reported that the City's legal department determined that Ed! Members who have delinquent dues could still receive grant money, provided that they were current on their "current bills" during the period of performance, i.e. they would have to pay bills within the roughly four month window of performance but would not have to pay all outstanding/delinquent past balances from their grant money. Patrick also provided other updates: - A meeting has occurred between some downtown businesses and the Diversity Commission to discuss how to foster diversity awareness and inclusive practices. - An application has been filed to change the 4th Avenue parking lot to a paid parking lot. - A Zoom town hall meeting will occur on 9/29/20 to discuss the challenges of these current times. This event will be moderated by a therapist. - The Diversity Film Series is working to resume its programming via streaming services. - Walkable Main Street and curbside dining continue. These initiatives are set to expire on 10/11 /20. - Survey on the 41h Avenue Cultural corridor is still up on the City's website. - There are two openings on the Economic Development Commission. Deadline to apply is 9/11/20. Committee Updates - Communication & Outreach: The committee is working on a Diversity Toolkit / pledge for best practices on implementing diversity inclusion and equality. This initiative needs to be driven by BIPOC in the community. Committee members have been assigned visits to new businesses — goal is to get those visits done by the next meeting on 09/30/20. Admin: To facilitate membership engagement, the committee discussed putting together a survey with the monthly newsletter to gauge member concerns and also adding a new email address comments(a)-edmondsdowntown.org as another avenue for connection. In addition, the committee discussed the role Ed! may have in bringing together our business community. Potential options included doing a roundtable around Parklets and creating a meaningful way to report back to the City on concerns raised by members. Marketing: This committee worked to cut down their budget (See Treasurers Report). The decision was made to not dilute social media efforts because this is a big way people are currently engaging. After discussion, Kimberly Koening made a motion to allocate $200 of the Marketing budget towards printing costs for a tabletop sign with a QR Code directing visitors to a downtown parking map on the front and a QR Code directing visitors to a Shop Like a Local directory on the back. Kali seconded the motion. All approved, none opposed. Jen is currently researching a "ED" car sticker with revenue potentially split between participating businesses and Ed! She will gauge interest and will circle back in October if there is enough interest to make a motion to purchase. Two member spotlights have been launched to date with a goal to release new ones every 3- 4 days. The posts are being promoted on Facebook and Instagram. - Appearance & Environment: No Update. - Grants Program: Ed! approved a grant to AWE for two murals last year, half of which was paid for one mural in 2019. The remainder of the approved grant money was reserved for the second mural in 2020, which has now been installed and paid. Meeting Adjourned: 9:08 a.m.