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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_MSTAB_12.08.2017Minutes of a Meeting of the Main Street Advisory Board of the City of Georgetown, Texas Friday, December 8, 2017 The Main Street Advisory Board met on Friday, December 8, 2017 at 8:30 AM in the Classroom of the Georgetown Public Library located at 402 West 8" St., Georgetown, Texas The City of Georgetown is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you require assistance in participating at a public meeting due to a disability, as defined under the ADA, reasonable assistance, adaptations, or accommodations will be provided upon request. Please contact the City Secretary's Office, at least three (3) days prior to the scheduled meeting date, at (512) 930-3652 or City Hall at 113 East 811 Street for additional information; TTY users route through Relay Texas at 711. Taylor Kidd called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM. Board members in attendance were, T. Kidd, V. Jackimiec, T. Tallman, B. Nicholson, and D. Gaume. Board members absent were, K. Curry and K. Warren. Staff in attendance, Michaela Dollar, Economic Development Director, Kim McAuliffe, Downtown Development Manager. Guest in attendance: Kristopher Kasper, Linda McCalla. Regular Session (This Regular session may, at any time, be recessed to convene an Executive Session for any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code 551.) A. Discussion and possible action regarding approval of the October 13, 2017 board meeting minutes —Taylor Kidd, Board Chair Motion by B. Nicholson to approve meeting minutes, second by T. Tallman. Approved: 5-0 B. Discussion and possible action regarding Main Street Facade & Sign Grant application — 706 S. Austin Avenue — Kim Mcauliffe, Downtown Development Manager K. McAuliffe gave the staff report for the Facade Grant request. The board discussed options to proceed and reached the decision to table to request to seek further guidance from City Administration due to a lack of funding available in the facade account. Motion by V. Jackimiec to table the item for the February 9, 2018 meeting to allow Main Street to seek further guidance from City Administration regarding the status of the facade grant account balance. Second by D. Gaume. Approved: 5-0 C. Discussion and possible action regarding Main Street Facade & Sign Grant application — 604 S. Church Street — Kim Mcauliffe, Downtown Development Manager K. McAuliffe gave the staff report for the Facade Grant request. The board discussed options to proceed and reached the decision to table to request to seek further guidance from City Administration due to a lack of funding available in the facade account. Motion by T. Tallman to table the item for the February 9, 2018 meeting to allow Main Street to seek further guidance from City Administration regarding the status of the facade grant account balance. Second by V. Jackimiec. Approved: 5-0 D. Staff Report T. Kidd reported on prior discussion of the facade grant program status. He pointed out that this fiscal year we have awarded nearly $100,000 in funds. With the current status of the grant program having limited funds remaining, this gives us a great opportunity to talk up the Swirl and the impact every ticket makes, and how beneficial that fundraiser is to provide continued funding for the grant program. The success we are having in downtown is making Georgetown a great place to live, and we shouldn't be disappointed because we have Page 3 of 10 done a lot of good with this fund. K. Mcauliffe has reached out to Karl Meixsell of the Stromberg-Hoffman about the status of his project and to find out if he will submit a letter requesting an extension since his project is almost at the 12 -month mark. She will report back and hope to bring something to the January meeting for the board to consider. General discussion of the fagade grant continued but will be discussed in depth at the January meeting once we have insight from City management. Updates regarding progress with project teams: T. Tallman discussed attending the DGA partner meeting this past month. They are looking to do a year-round Shop Small type of promotion. They also talked about the secret shopper visit and reports that were done through Main Street. a. Swirl Project Team T. Tallman reported that the Swirl e-mail was sent out to past participants, attendees, and sponsors. There are already some wineries committed. We also have a social media plan set up for the event, this will be led by Chair Rachel Hancock and Jr. Chair Miranda Bradley. b. Shop Small Project Team T. Tallman and V. Jackimiec reported on the event. Things went well, but there are always areas for improvement. Some of those include better communication with merchants, a formal sign-up sheet — not just verbal agreements, and sending e-mail reminder before event. Doing better social media postings, more frequently and afterwards, including donors. Removing some of the Sherpa stations and adding volunteers. Next year, the city buildings may not be available if they are sold next year. We need to think about alternative locations for future kick-off events. There were twice as many participants as last year, it was very well attended. The event set a record for attendees. All in all, a successful event! c. Breakfast Bites Project Team The next Breakfast Bites will be in March. Kudos to T. Kidd for giving a plug for the Swirl during the last Breakfast Bites event. Topic details to come in 2018. T. Kidd reported on the HARC meeting he attended last month. 600 Degrees is expanding and opening a Market concept that will offer take-out pizza as well as other to -go items. The development proposed for 204 E. 81h Street was discussed and was ultimately not approved by the commission. The vote was 7-0 with several members of the public speaking against the development on that site. The Wish Well project also received approval from City Council to then go before HARC. Staff report: K. McAuliffe reported that there were 30,000+ views, 166 shares, and 273 likes on a Facebook posting about the snow in downtown. The monthly volunteer luncheon will be on the 18m at Wildfire and will include an ugly sweater competition. Upcoming partner meetings: Arts and Culture, next week at 4:30 in the library. DGA will meet in January with the date TBD. Adjourn Motion by V. Jackimiec, second by B. Nicholson to adjourn the meeting. T. Kidd adjourned the meeting at 9:49 AM. Approved by the Main Street Advisory Board on .�116 - Date CZ T yio idd, Board Chair Kim McAuliffe, Downtown De elopment Manager Page 4 of 10