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2020-11-12 ED! Edmonds Downtown Alliance MinutesEd! Board Meeting November 12, 2020 Meeting called to order: 8:05 AM Board Members/Administration in Attendance: Pam Stuller, Matt McCulloch, Jenny Shore, Carol Sheldon, Kali Kelnero, Mark VonGunten, Cheryl Farrish, Kimberly Koening, Deandra Peterson, Jen Lawson, Carrie Hulbert. City of Edmonds Representative in Attendance: Patrick Doherty Guests: None Public Comment: None Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes: Two amendments were proposed: (1) Correcting that Olivia Latham was a guest and not a Board Member at October's meeting and (2) correcting the spelling of Matt McCulloch's name. With these amendments, Matt moved to approve minutes. Carol seconded. All approved, none opposed President's Report: Pam reported that the Marketing Committee has been very busy with holiday preparations and thanked Carrie for her ability to drive implementation of our collaborative holiday plans with varied executions and deadlines. Ed! is working towards a 2021 goal of greater member engagement and progress has already been made here with our Membership Committee visiting more of our members this month. Effs budget proposal has been submitted to City Council. Ed! had applied for CARES funding from the City in the spring to execute marketing strategies for our members, but the City allocated those funds to business and household grants as well as to reimburse the City for Covid related expenses. Treasurer's Report: Kali utilized October billings to get a more data -driven approach to expected revenue for the rest of 2020. This entailed removing closed businesses from the expected revenue list, which must be done manually because the City does not currently have a process to report closed businesses to Ed! Those businesses with outstanding bills were then broken into categories, i.e. those with only one unpaid bill, those with 2-4 unpaid bills, and those with 4+ unpaid bills. There are also a few new businesses which need to be sent assessments. Based on this, Kali was able to generate expected revenue projections by factoring in those businesses most likely to pay their bills. As far as expenses, Ed! has reduced its budget by $12,000 to account for this year's challenges, while still leaving budget for the holidays. With the assessment projections for the rest of the year and proactive budget cuts, we anticipate having a minimum fund balance of $10,000 at the start of 2021. New Businesses Added to BID: Hive & Honeycomb Counseling, Shannon Hart Massage, Backbone Pilates, Georgia Fahl Bodywork, Waterfront Coffee Company (new owner), Soaring Heart Natural Beds City Report: Patrick provided a City report. The City is working on potential Code fixes to provide for better guidance on curbside dining. Curbside dining has been extended until the City Council approves new guidance. There is a second round of CARES Act funding. EASC also provided a few grants to Edmonds businesses. Residential grants are in process. Patrick addressed Effs CARES Act application reported that the City created four "buckets" for funding and that Ed! does not fall into any of the four categories and therefore will not be considered for funding. The Holiday Market started last weekend. Discussions for a waterfront hotel are still underway. The City is accepting Requests for Proposals for tourism services. Interviews are in process. The Diversity Commission created a toolkit to support diversity efforts in businesses. Budget: See Treasurer's Report. Committee Updates - Communication & Outreach: The committee has made a lot of progress on visits to new members and are continuing to make visits. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Matt made motion to spend up to $550 to publish a 2020 "Year in Review" summary. Jen seconded. All approved, none opposed. - Admin: The Admin committee plans to review how businesses who share space are assessed and how we can improve upon that process. Marketing: Kudos to Carrie for keeping all our messaging, ads, etc. on track. The Edmonds Holiday website is up with featured articles rolled out. Ad campaigns are running for the holidays. Posters and table tents have been distributed. The Holiday Market is underway. First Dibs starts 11/27/2020 and there is a lot of business involvement. A Holiday gift guide is in progress, with 21 businesses participating to date. A Festive Drink Tour with a BINGO card will feature local restaurants and bars and will be promoted with articles and social media advertising. Emily the Elf will be present (socially distanced of course) on Saturdays. A Wreath Walk has been hosted by Art Walk Edmonds. A Scavenger Hunt is underway in conjunction with DEMA. Character cutouts will be put around town near where the trolley stalls usually are to create "Selfie Stations." Window decals have been designed and there will be a sign-up sheet with a limit of two per saying so there is some diversity in messaging. - Appearance & Environment: Need to remove after hours parking signs from the Bank of America parking lot. This lot is still in the process of transitioning to a pay lot. The City will reach out to BOA to see how much they would charge the City to allow it to be used as an after-hours lot. - Grants Program: No updates. New Business: None. Meeting Adjourned: 9:07 a.m.