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2014-12-11 Edmonds Downtown Alliance (BID) MinutesMinutes from Edmonds Downtown Alliance on December 11, 2014 at Sam at ECA room 225. Attendance: Pam Stuller, David Arista, Cadence Clyborne, Robert Boehlke, Sally Merck, Mary Kay Snearinger, Jordana Turner, Natalie Pascale-Boisseau, Paul Rucker, Kim Wahl, Patrick Doherty, Cindi Cruz, Andy Cline, Jeff Shearer, John Dewhirst, Mary Beth Johnson. Meeting was called to order at 8:02am. Minutes from November 13: Action Item- Cadence contacted the marketing firm but did not hear back yet. Minutes were approved. Presidents Report: Pam gave us an update on the holiday activities. Boys and Girls Club will be holding a fundraiser in March, more info to follow. The museum will be giving us a presentation at our next meeting on their future plans. We gave a presentation at the Nov. 18 City Council meeting regarding the work plan and budget. The City Council approved it with 2 modifications. One was the removal of the boundary adjustment, per the City Attorney's recommendation since it does not involve any money spent that it does not need to be included in the budget. The other was that under the Small Grants program we would have the City Council review and approve the program before implementation. On Dec 9 Patrick also discussed the assessment structure with the City Council. He will report under the City update. Pam will be putting together a letter and possibly a survey to send to the members in January. Patrick and a group are also looking at a "place making grant". It is an arts place grant to incorporate art in the community. Treasurer's report: Cadence and Patrick put together an easier to read format of the budget. We have collected $81,959 and spent $70,727 for 2014. If the board has any outstanding invoices to submit they need to be submitted before Dec 15 for payment in 2014. City Update: Patrick reported that the City Council had 3 issues with Ed! that they wanted to address. 1) Rate structure: Patrick researched different BIDS and found they are all over the board as far as the fees with no set rules. At this time the City Council will advise us what they want us to do. 2) Collections: Patrick reported to the Council that we really have no other recourse if someone chooses not to pay. He did report that we try to work with those businesses that are having difficulty paying. There are businesses that are not paying to make a statement. 3) Boundary: It was noted that we not even be looking at the boundary issue at this time. If we are to look into it there should not be any staff or expenses incurred. If it were to happen it would be done by the members of the board. The reason that the boundary issue was even included was due to some City Council members suggesting it. Pam received an email from Lora Petso after the City Council meeting regarding the rate structure and they met to go over it. She suggested we look at the fact that 55% of our assessments come from open door and 45% from service and that our budget should reflect that. Patrick suggested we need to send the message that everybody benefits from a vibrant downtown and that we should include testimonials on the website. Website: Went live on Dec 5th. Turnstyle will be giving a training on Dec 12 and then an email blast will go out after that to let the members know. Pending an official job posting and hiring of an administrative assistant, the committee has found someone to input information to the website, this would be on a temporary basis. Cadence made a motion "that we move to approve hiring a temporary assistant to do web updates and maintenance from Dec 12- Mar 31, 2015 on an hourly basis for $20/hr. for an amount not to exceed $2500. Robert seconded and it was passed unanimously. Small Grants: Pam sent out the revised draft to the board for recommendations, she also sent it to Lora Petso. The board agreed that it looked really good. The next step is to present it to the City Council for their vote of approval. Patrick will find out when we can get it on the council agenda. Member Seminar: We have not heard from the other marketing firm. It was suggested we have another presentation so we can compare. Hopefully, the committee will be able to bring more information to the next meeting. Umbrella Program: Robert and Pam walked around and assessed the bins and how many umbrellas are in the bins and the shrinkage factor. We are all in agreement that we need more bins. The bins are being discontinued in February so we need to decide if we want to purchase more. Cadence made a motion "that we approve the purchase of 20 additional bins from Ikea in Jan 2015". Robert seconded, and it was passed unanimously. It was suggested that we put out a press release about the umbrella program. Signage update: the small signs are supposed to be installed next week. The large signs install had to go back to engineering due to some issues with the wording on the liability of the installation. Work plan: Each board member needs to pick 2-3 committees (from the work plan) they would like to be on. Non-profit: Cadence, Natalie, David Admin: Robert, Pam Assessment and Evaluation: Paul, Member Engagement: Mary Kay, Cadence, Friends of Ed!: Paul, Marketing: Robert, David, Mary Kay, Professional business resources: Juliana, Natalie, Kim Parking: Robert, Appearance and environment: Jordana, Sally, Robert, Kim Small grants: Natalie, Sally, 2016 work plan: Cadence, Pam as president will be involved in all committees. Cadence will send out an email so the board can look it over and see if there are other committees they would like to be on. Public comments: Jeff asked if we have a procedure to assess ED! The satisfaction and the participation of the work plan that the City Council approved. Pam responded that we have not come up with a way to measure that yet, it is something the assessment and evaluation committee will be coming up with. John D reported on the downtown restroom issue. Funding is included in the Capital Improvement budget that is up for vote at the next City Council meeting. He also reported on the tourism committee that he is on. They have many ideas for 2015 that they are working on and he will report more at a meeting in January. Meeting was adjourned at 9:42 am. Next meeting January 8, 2015 at ECA, room 225 at Sam.