2015-08-13 Edmonds Downtown Alliance (BID) MinutesEd! Alliance Meeting 8.13.15
Location: Edmonds Center for the Arts
8:04 Called to Order by President Cadence Clyborne
Attendance: Pam Stuller, Jacob Comstock Kim Wahl, Jordana Turner, Patrick Doherty, Juliana
VanBuskirk, Clayton Moss, Robert Boehlke, Cadence Clyborne, Kimberly Koenig, Cindy Cruz, Shane Hope
— City of Edmonds, Russ Whaley — Rick Steves
Opening remarks — Introductions
Pam moved to approve minutes, Robert seconded, all approved.
Presidents Report — City Birthday celebration went well. 39 Businesses participated in the sidewalk sale
and used Ed! balloons. 8 bouquets were delivered to the city. 100 balloons left for another event.
Washington Kids In Transition nonprofit, supported by Insurance Services Group is up for $10,500 grant
from Safeco. Please vote.
Treasurer Report - Current assessments $58,976.43 2015 Budget $66,544.51
Shane Hope —City of Edmonds
The city is updating the municipal sign code with a special focus on sidewalk/temporary signs. Current
code allows temporary signage in front of a business for 60 days, but is difficult to track and enforce.
Asking for public input as part of the process in creating the updated code. Please email Shane or Diane
with suggestions, photos and input. A recommendation will be brought to the planning board in late
fall. Ed! Board to gather a committee to bring suggestions to the city.
Member Engagement and Outreach
6 new business licenses issued;
• Straight Up Fashions
• Stacey Apple
• Selmann Massage
• Nadia's Evening
• Spangler Book Exchange
• Landmark Location
Ed! Email — Nicole can create an email signature for all board members if desired. Board indicated
consensus with having Nicole do so.
Business Cards — Discussion over the need for business cards for the board. It was recommended that a
generic business card be created that individual board members could fill out their contact information
on and hand out as needed. Looking at local printing options.
Committee Updates
Marketing/Identity/Branding
Continuing social media posting and presence. Launched a #Ed!Summersnaps photo contest to increase
Facebook interaction.
Discussed utilizing Google AdWords for some key Edmonds related terms to continue to grow the Ed!
Website traffic and google listing.
Pam moved to allocate up to $1,000 in purchasing of Google AdWords terms. Kimberly Seconded.
Discussion: Where are we in the budget? Very little to no spending of the businesses resource budget.
Would like to include a presentation piece for new business out of the same budget, but the search term
spending would leave plenty to do so. Agreed upon that a special test project with a time limit and an
update report at the September meeting is suitable.
Pam withdrew her motion and made a new motion. Pam moved to allocate $1,000 for Google
AdWords as a test with a report at the September 24th meeting. Robert seconded. No discussion. All
approved.
Holiday planning meeting reconvening September 1". Trolley is reserved.
Member Engagement - Cadence reported that Nicole is meeting with businesses not on the website to
help them be added. If anyone knows of businesses not listed, please send the information to her.
The updated new business Ed! Letter needs to go to the city for approval. It will be sent to the board for
input prior. Asking the city to add Ed! to the business site. Patrick reports that Ed! is included on the city
site under the downtown business district section.
Work plan includes a new business leave behind and welcome new business email.
Appearance - Jordana reports that the large sign install will happen after Labor Day and there is no city
feedback on additional parking plan.
Grant Committee - Pam reports that they are waiting on a revised proposal from the museum and will
do an update the next meeting.
Umbrellas — Will reintroduce in September. There are 38 buckets and exploring ways to add a low cost
mesh grill to discourage trash. If any members want to provide a vessel or hook, they can also have
umbrellas. First come first serve.
Totes - Ed! committed to a larger quantity on original order. The color was replaced by the printer and
the committee did not like that color, but printer moved forward in error. They are offering the totes at
40% off. Discussion is that that some merchants are having success with the totes, some are not.
Original order was 400, this order is 600. Board would like to see if they will discount further.
Robert made a motion to offer tote company a max of $600 to purchase bags in stock. Jordana
seconded. Aye — Cadence, Clayton, Jacob, Juliana, Jordana, Kim and Robert
Nay — Pam
Press Release Brainstorm — moved to next meeting.
2016 Ed! Work Plan —Jordana, Pam and Robert to help on work plan committee. All committees need
to have a paragraph submitted by Wednesday September 2nd and to include budget recommendations.
City Update — Patrick Doherty - Thank you for the help on 125th Birthday Celebration. Holiday meeting
will be soon. City is moving forward with a holiday market, Valerie Claypool will be coordinating. It is
slated to run Saturday before Thanksgiving to the Saturday before Christmas.
There is a business who is appealing the BID. This business feels it does not fall under category and is a
'closed door' business. 15t appeal to the City Financial Director failed and they are taking it to the next
level.
City Budget Draft — Restrooms were included in the budget recommendation. Tourist bureau, Museum
and Rotary all want to participate. Question about possible grants.
Press Release - News section on website; "Building space + site locator" showing available business and
retail space. PR to reach out to other property managers to include their information on properties.
Additional Comments - Cadence picked for the railroad analysis committee.
Next meeting is September 101h. Museum will be in attendance.
No New Business.
Public Comments — Russ Whaley thanked the board for having him.
Meeting adjourned at 9:38AM