Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout7.10.25 DLI Board Meeting MinutesD OWNTOWN LANSING FEBRUARY 8, 2024 BOARD MEETING 112 S. WASHINGTON SQUARE DLI Board Meeting July 10, 2025 | 11:30 am 215 S. Washington Square Ste. 100, Lansing, MI 48933 Board Members Present: J. Estill, N. Thompson-Frazier, J. Flores, J. Durham, A. Rusek, K. Toma c, J. Pugh Board Members Not Present: J. Hinze Board Advisors Present: S. Benson DLI Staff Present: M. Gonzales, S. Zoss, K. Litwin, C. Edgerly Minutes 1. Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 11:36 a.m. by J. Estill 2. Citizen’s Comments (items not on the agenda): None 3. Correspondence: None 4. Consent Agenda Approvals • July 10, 2025 • Minutes from June 12, 2025 • Committee Reports • Monthly Financials – J. Durham Motion by N. Thompson-Frazier to approve consent agenda. Second by A. Rusek. 5. Old Town Updates: Samantha Benson provided updates regarding upcoming events including Scrap Fest which will be held this weekend. It’s the 15th anniversary of this event. Wake Up Old Town is July 25, as well JazzFest will take place at the end of this month. Art Feast will take place beginning August 16 and Krampus planning has begun. -Sweet Custom Jewelry has celebrated their soft grand re-opening in their new space June 8. -Twi ggies celebrates their grand re-opening in a new space tonight until 7:00 p.m. -The Chocolatier that was with Park Lake Creamery will be opening in Old To wn 6. Lake State Report: None 7. Reports • Director’s Report : C. Edgerly provided updates on her recent speaking engagements with Delta- Waverly Rotary and next Tuesday’s presentation to Choose Lansing members. -Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 7 for the Evening of Excellence and our 15th anniversary as a Main Street organization! -The IDA conference will be held this year at the end of September in Washington DC. To date Kate Litwin and Jen Estill plan to attend. If other board members are interested, please let Cathleen know. -Based on last month’s discussion and action taken by the Board regarding Fund Development services. Staff met with CFA to discuss an updated scope of work and deliverables. We anticipate an updated proposal today and will begin meetings with CFA later this month. -C. Edgerly will also meet with Councilmember Spadafore as our Board liaison to discuss the latest updates with our organization and answer any questions he may have regarding downtown happenings. D OWNTOWN LANSING FEBRUARY 8, 2024 BOARD MEETING 112 S. WASHINGTON SQUARE • President’s Report: No reports at this time. 8. Action/Discussion Items - Work Session with Dr. Bailey: Dr. Bailey led the board through a re-cap of the past 3 years of work completed by staff, the Board and DLI as an organization. We discussed areas where action can still be taken in the areas of Policies & Practices, Communications, Events and where we may unintentionally be leaving someone out. Dr. Bailey closed by asking staff to reflect on the work done to date, what their role is, and what each individual would commit to continue efforts in the area of cultivating a more diverse, welcoming downtown experience and organization where people feel a sense of belonging. - FY Year End : C. Edgerly reminded the Board that while our FY ends June 30, the final reconciliation of our finances and financial status will not be completed until September. J. Estill brought up a desire to do a deep dive with the FY year end financials, as well as look at where we’re currently at after the 1st quarter of FY 2026. The board discussed various ways to approach this and determined that a quarterly deeper dive into our financial position, especially based on upcoming fund development work, is the desired timeline and plan. - Annual Main Street Accreditation & 15th Anniversary: C. Edgerly reviewed the annual accreditation process and self-evaluation metrics included in the Board packet , walking the Board through all the evaluation points, how to provide their responses, and a due date of July 23. C. Edgerly will then take all scores and average them for the final report we turn in. An average score of 3 is needed in order to be re-accredited. Typically, once we turn in our self-assessment – then the Board President and Executive Director meet with MMS staff and Main Street America. - Strategic Action Plan: J. Estill reviewed the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) Matrix that was put together to track our progress and share updates on actionable items. This is based on what the Board discussed during the annual Board retreat. Discussion took place regarding various action items and edits, J. Flores reviewed the work of the Business Development Committee and how that supports Goal #2, and some suggestions were made to add clarity to the actions and evaluations needed regarding filling vacancies, fund development, and promoting the support provided. C. Edgerly made some updates in the shared document and in future months we will have further conversation surrounding one goal per month. - Middle Village Accelerator and DLPI: Over the past year+ the Board and staff have been discussing the accelerator programs we oversee. Staff were asked to put together a pros and cons list, of changing the current structure. While discussion took place regarding some clarifications that may be needed regarding our ‘Elevator Pitch’ to funders for this program, no branding changes, etc. need to take place. Motion by J. Pugh to maintain existing branding of Middle Village and partnerships in cross organizational planning with Monthly Learning Series, and shift day-to-day operations, legal oversight, insurance, and merchant participant agreements to DLPI. Second by A. Rusek. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Closed Session: Executive Director Annual Review: Board entered closed session at 12:50 p.m. Board motioned to exit closed session at 1:02 p.m. 10. Adjourn: Motion to adjourn by J. Pugh at 1:02 p.m. Second by J. Durham. Motion passed.