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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDLI 2021Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Online Meeting January 14th, 2021 Members Present: S. Schriner, JV Anderton, J. Tischler, C. Zarkovich, T.J. Bucholz, K. Dorshimer Members Absent: Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: Staff Present: C. Edgerly, B. Kuiper, S. Dhladhla Call to Order called to order at 11:31 am. -The meeting was II. Citizen's Comments - none III. Correspondence — Board reviewed positive correspondence from Stewart Powell, Linn & Owen Jewelers. Stewart highlighted all the programs and steps that DLI has taken to support his business. Despite hardly anyone working downtown, parking lots and parking ramps empty— Linn & Owen saw their sales increase by 10% compared to last year. IV. Approvals a. Agenda for January 14th, 2021: C. Zarkovich moved to approve, T.J. Bucholz supported. MOTION PASSED b. Minutes from November and December, 2020 meetings: K. Dorshimer moved to approve, C. Zarkovich supported. MOTION PASSED. c. Committee Reports: TJ Bucholz moved to approve, K. Dorshimer supported, motion passed. V. Downtown Business & Development Update a. Matt Hunt, Summit Comics & Games: Mr. Hunt shared that they purchased their building and will be tripling the size of their store. The community support has been incredible and they are thrilled to be expanding here. They are a gem of downtown and their plans are really exciting for everyone downtown. b. Jon Hartzell, Detroit Rising Development, Lansing Shuffleboard & Social Club: They are still waiting for some signatures and financial agreements but are in the process of purchasing a liquor license and things are moving along and they are hoping for a late spring early summer activation of the space. If everything moves forward as planned, the space should be fully operational in spring 2022. VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State) Jimmy shared that garland and bows just came down. Snow has been nice and light, so that's made the job a bit easier so far. Also Lake State is working with staff to remove trash cans and furniture to help prepare for the weekend's planned protests. VII. Reports a. Director Report -C. Edgerly: C. Edgerly shared that trash cans are being taken out in preparation for the weekend and next week and potential issues that may arise. The ornaments will be removed immediately as well, along with any moveable furniture hoping we are over prepared. She will be available to everyone via cell all weekend and through inauguration to try to keep everything running smoothly. At 2pm today Cathleen will be representing DLI and the state of Michigan presenting at a National workshop about winter events. The city will be participating in the work share program and the board was asked to evaluate whether that's a good decision for full time staff. It could be a good budget move, but C. Edgerly did share that her concerns include staff being fully able to support businesses, provide timely communication, as well as shared concerns surrounding staff's ability to cram 5 days of work into 4 days. Given this stressful time we may want to consider whether we want to try to do this and if costs outweigh the benefits. Board discussion took place and the decision was to have DLI staff NOT Participate in the workshare program at this time. C. Edgerly will provide this feedback to the city. b. President's Report- JV Anderton: B. Kuiper found a Community Foundation capacity building grant that requires a letter from the president to support the application. Diversity Training, fundraising, and volunteer management software are all areas JV believes we could focus the grant money on and will say as much in his letter. C. Zarkovich moved that staff apply for the capacity building grant with a letter of support from m JV. TJ Bucholz supported. MOTION Passed. C. Zarkovich and the Chamber have parted ways, and since that was her official tie to downtown for the board, she will step aside as VP for now but will remain on the board since there is a grace period of a few months to determine her next plans/connections to meet board downtown requirements and for the board to consider ways to keep her on should she want to stay. Several board members spoke to Christine's incredible achievements for Lansing and for the DLI board, and asked her to please remain with DLI. The board discussed how Christine has been a great asset and incredible board member and there is hope she will stay with the board beyond the grace period discussed with the city. c. Monthly Financials- Jim Tischler: J. Tischler reviewed financials with the Board and highlighted that DLI is on track right now financially and can afford to proceed without participating in work share. We are almost exactly in line with our budgetary plan. He has no concerns at all with the budget and is pleased with how things are proceeding. J. Tishler moved to approve the financials. K. Dorshimer supported. MOTION PASSED. VIII. Action/Discussion Items a. DLI Officer Elections: At this time no members of this board have expressed interest in serving as president. JV is willing to stay in his role if the board approves it. Because Christine is no longer with a downtown business she will be stepping aside as Vice President for now with the thanks and appreciation of the board. J. Tishler moved to put forward a slate of JV Anderton for President, TJ Bucholz as VP, S. Schriner as Secretary and J. Tishler as Treasurer. S. Schriner seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. b. Board Strategic Planning Session & FY 2021-2022 Budget: C. Edgerly approached the FY 2021- 2022 budget with a different process, and will be sharing this with Council. The budget presented includes anticipated income, backed out mandatory expenses, and then broke out the remaining line item budget based on what meets the board's priorities of having all programming and projects centered around providing small business supportt. The Board reviewed and agreed that the presented budget was consistent with board plans and discussion. Strategic Planning: TJ Bucholz shared that he and his office team are planning to lead a DLI Board strategic plan which addresses how to utilize dollars and how to leverage the organization with a new strategic plan for moving forward. Meetings and planning are just beginning, but it's early stages to create a draft of a new strategic plan. There will be a modified SWOT analysis and this new plan is intended to be a living document that will help the Board then shape a longer-term downtown strategic plan. Hoping for a living draft by the end of March created from board and community input. c. Annual Impact Report & COVID: C. Edgerly shared this year's amazing annual reported, with data compiled by DLI Staff, and then designed by the State of Michigan MEDC and Main Street marketing team. There was a bit of 2019 data that had to be relied on unfortunately because of COVID, but it's still a beautiful visual framework and helpful for the EV team and volunteer recruitment as well as other efforts. The last page was a highlighted list of activities that have changed due to COVID. The board congratulated staff on the incredible achievements downtown this year. In spite of COVID the DLI team is getting really amazing participation and attention for Lansing. d. City Board Liaison Q & A: S. Dhladhla has been working hard to improve communication here and Brian Jackson hopes to join us in the future, but was unable today. Questions that board members had have been conveyed to him, and the board looks forward to discussing these things with him at our next meeting. e. Downtown Lighting Crowdfunding Campaign: The 30K fundraising goal was reached so that we will receive the match. Over 50 donors contributed. Staff worked very hard and made this happen and the enhanced lighting should be installed in February. This will also lead to on- going efforts to work with LBWL and the City to improve the lighting and electrical infrastructure downtown in the future. IX. Other New Business: K Dorshimer said more grant programs will be coming down soon and details are being worked out. They could greatly help downtown and the region. He will send out info as soon as possible. This is in addition to the Lansing Cares loan program. X. Adjourn: K. Dorshimer moved to adjourn at 12:38. JV Anderton supported. MOTION Passed. Meeting adjourned at 12:38p.m. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Online Meeting Rescheduled: February 16th, 2021 Members Present: S. Schriner, J. Tischler, C. Zarkovich, T.J. Bucholz, Ashlee Willis. Members Absent: K. Dorshimer, J.V. Anderton Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: Staff Present: C. Edgerly, B. Kuiper, S. Dhladhla I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 11:33 am. II. Citizen's Comments: None III. Correspondence: None IV. Approvals a. Agenda for February 16, 2021: C Zarkovich moved to approve, S. Schriner supported. MOTION PASSED. b. Minutes from January 14, 2021: C. Zarkovich moved to approve, S. Schriner supported. MOTION PASSED c. Committee Reports: C. Zarkovich moved to approve. J. Tischler supported. MOTION PASSED. V. Downtown Business & Development Update: a. Social Sloth Cafe- The owner wasn't able to join today, but looks forward to joining us at a future meeting. VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State): They are busy clearing the large snowfall from overnight today. The trash removal transition to 3 days has begun as well. VII. Reports a. Director Report: Welcome to our newest board member, Ashlee Willis. Hopefully another board member who is a downtown resident will be joining the board soon as well. He's very involved in committee projects, is a downtown resident, and will also be a positive addition hopefully in March. The Lansing Built To Last competition is coming and is being led by Dewpoint and over 20 other partners, including DLI, as a pitch competition for individuals or groups to pitch their disaster -resistant business concept. The winner would receive their first year rent-free in the former Hallmark space. The application period closes mid-March and applications will be whittled down. Visit lansingbuilttolast.com for more info. The national Main Street conference will be virtual this year. Cathleen will share info. Main Street is also interested in meeting with our Executive board in the first two weeks of March. Fees for patios begin again around this time, the board agreed to waive fees again, and Beth will update the paperwork. President's Report- While JV couldn't attend the meeting, he wanted to extend another warm welcome to Ashlee. Monthly Financials- J. Tischler reviewed monthly financial with the Board. We're on track for revenue, and there is nothing unexpected in expenses. J. Tischler moved to approve the financials. Christine supported. MOTION PASSSED. Action/Discussion Items b. Board Ethics Training: We need to go through annual ethics trainings. Cathleen will be sending the links for us to watch 20 minute trainings. All Board members and staff reported that they completed the ethics training as follows: DLI Board Members Took Ethics Training Date Completed JV Anderton X 2/16/2021 Christine Zarkovich X 2/16/2021 Ashlee Willis X 2/16/2021 SummerSchriner X 2/16/2021 TJ Bucholz X 2/17/2021 Jim Tischler X 2/17/2021 Karl Dorchimer X 2/17/2021 Staff Cathleen Edgerly X 2/17/2021 Elizabeth Kuiper X 2/16/2021 Siso Dhladhla X 2/17/2021 c. Board Strategic Planning Session Update: TJ Bucholz updated the Board that we have plans in place to get a concentric circle approach to strategic planning for a living document addressing what's working best and what needs to change in the downtown district. TJ and one of his partners met with staff and collected their feedback, which will be shared with the board at large soon. The goal is to create a starting point that will be shared with the board, and for the board to go from there. J. Tischler inquired about if this will be strategic action or strategic planning. Board discussion took place surrounding the benefits of more of an action plan to accompany the strategy. More updates to come. d. City Board Liaison Q & A :Council President Spadafore will now be our Liaison. He is caught up in a day -job meeting at the moment, but will try to attend out next meeting. He was forwarded our questions/concerns. Board members requested that C. Edgerly reach out to Council President Spadafore to coordinate a special work session with President Spadafore, at a time that works with his schedule, so we can meet to address his and Council's vision for downtown. e. OTCA District B Grant Report: The OTCA grant for the last fiscal year was submitted and reviewed by staff and the Board. S. Schriner moved to reimburse the OTCA based on their report. J. Tischler supported. MOTION PASSED. f. Creative Placemaking District B Grant Applications 3 applications were submitted. -OTCA (22K ask), MICA (2K ask), and The Arts Council (2K ask). The board discussed all projects with the full budget being 22K. Questions were reviewed and J Tischler moved to defer action on this decision to give more time for review, until the board meets next in whatever capacity. S. Schriner supported. MOTION PASSED. An itemized income and expenses spreadsheet was requested for each event, as well as a paragraphs summary for each project that outlined any anticipated revenue for each project, as well as a summary describing what the overall positive placemaking effects would be for each project, and how it positively benefitted other areas of our city. g. WinterFest: The inaugural Lansing Winterfest will be held Feb 27th as a socially safe outdoor event designed to activate several outdoor spaces and support small businesses. The River Trail cocoa and coffee walk and ice sculptures will connect Old Town to downtown, all the way to 15 with their Winterfest activities, as well as activation inside the former City Market space with the Block Market and an adult beverage warming area. Also included are ice sculptures on Washington Square, winter patios, the opening of the ice skating rink, etc. Nearly all activities are free. There will be an outdoor boat race as well. We are still seeking about 3K in funding and additional volunteers would be welcomed. The event is a great way to show off all that Lansing has to offer in the winter. VIII. Other New Business: None. IX. Adjourn (Motion Required for Adjournment): C. Zarkovich moved to adjourn at 12:38, and A. Willis supported. Meeting adjourned at 12:47 p.m. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Special Meeting Minutes Online Meeting February 22nd, 2021 Members Present: S. Schriner, J. Tischler, C. Zarkovich, T.J. Bucholz, Ashlee Willis. Members Absent: K. Dorshimer, J.V. Anderton Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: Staff Present: C. Edgerly, B. Kuiper, S. Dhladhla I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 11:01 am. By T.J. Bucholz II. Citizen's Comments: None III. Correspondence: None IV. District B Placemaking Grants: The Board reviewed all updated District B Grant application information, a summary of line item charges, revenue expected from projects, etc. Board discussion took place surrounding all applications and options for grant funding for District B. J. Tischler made a motion to award $20K to OTCA to be applied towards all 3 of their projects per their discretion, and 1K to Jazz and Bluesfest to be applied towards virtual activities only associated with those events, and the final $1K to be awarded to the Arts Council for Arts Night Out/In for virtual activities associated with this project as well. TJ Bucholz supported. S. Schriner Second. A. Willis recused herself. MOTION PASSED. V. Other New Business: J. Tischler proposed an idea for the Board to consider at future meetings, which would specify that District B funding be awarded directly to OTCA Capital Improvement projects, with the requirement/understanding that OTCA will fun one non-OTCA project with the assessment dollars. VI. Adjourn (Motion Required for Adjournment): J. Tischler moved to adjourn at 12:38, and C. Zarkovich supported. Meeting adjourned at 11:42 am. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Online Meeting March 11th, 2021 Members Present: S. Schriner, J. Tischler, C. Zarkovich, T.J. Bucholz, A. Willis, K. Dorshimer. Members Absent: K. Dorshimer, J.V. Anderton Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: Staff Present: C. Edgerly, S. Dhladhla I. Call to Order -The meeting was called to order at 11:35 am. II. Citizen's Comments - none III. Correspondence - none IV. Approvals Agenda for March 11, 2021: C Zarkovich moved to approve, K. Dorshimer supported, motion passed. Minutes from Feb. 16th, 2021: S. Schriner moved to approve, C. Zarkovich supported, motion passed. Minutes from Feb. 22nd, 2021: K. Dorshimer moved to approve, C. Zarkovich supported, motion passed. Committee Reports: C. Zarkovich moved to approve, K. Dorshimer supported, motion passed. V. Downtown Business & Development Update: a. Soul Nutrition Business Update: Liv joined the board and recently had her one year anniversary. She loves that Downtown works together as a community to support the area and her business is unique in downtown, and it attracts a different and loyal clientele. VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State): Jimmy indicated that everything is going well. Trash cans are getting painted. We need to discuss mulching soon. We also need to plan potential clean-up days. VII. Reports Director Report — Cathleen Edgerly: It's been difficult on the office to come down to only 2 members on staff. The job is posted; please share with anyone who may be interested. Paul Brogan accepted the position of Program Coordinator and starts on April 5th. The Community Foundation and Delta Dental have expanded the scope somewhat. The Lansing Build To Last competition kicked off and applications are due on March 14th. Additionally, at the last City Council meeting social districts were approved. Corridor leaders are meeting to discuss. President's Report- JV Anderton/TJ Bucholz: J.V. was absent for business, so VP TJ Bucholz provided updates. At the meeting with the City Council president, he committed to attend regular meetings and we will continue to work on moving forward and improving our communication and relationships with Council. We need more inclusivity and representative people at the table and to diversify with development policy and a plan along with potential incentives and encouragement. Discussion then took place around Who/what is Downtown looking for? DLI needs to have a seat at the planning table. This could potentially be a standing item on our agenda. We can set policy with the Mayor's office and potentially work through it as a committee. Monthly Financials- Jim Tischler: Nothing unusual in the financials aside from being a little behind on PSD revenue. C. Zarkovich moved to approve the financials, J. Tischler supported, motion passed. VIII. Action/Discussion Items a. DLI Lease: Our lease ends August of this year. We need to decide whether to renew or not. A three year lease gets us a little bit of a discount. Cathleen will send us a needs/wants list for the office and the board will assist in looking at options. b. Assessment Revenue: We were hoping to have the assessor here to help us address missed properties. K. Dorshimer, C. Edgerly and J. Tischler will meet with the assessor to work on remedying this. c. Michigan Mainstreet Executive Committee update: A summary of the Executive Committee's meeting with MMS was included in the packet and we should refer back to it in our strategic planning. d. The Future of District B Grants: At our last meeting, J. Tischler suggested we keep the money in Old Town and provide District B funds to the OTCA with the requirement that they fund one non-OTCA project with it, as well as provide a budget and reporting of how they plan to use the funds. J. Tischler moved that DLI enter into an MOU with OTCA to say: the entire amount of District B funds will now be given to the OTCA to decide how to spend, with that proviso that they fund one non-OTCA project per year, and that they report to DLI once a year to talk about how funds were spent, as well as the join board meetings quarterly or twice a year so that communication remains. S. Schriner supported, motion passed. e. Strategic Planning: T1 Bucholz expects to have a draft next week and then a meeting by March 29th to discuss objectives. Strategic Planning meeting will be April 6th 11:30 - 1:00 pm to begin discussion. IX. Other New Business: There is a potential development for the old Clara's property. They would like a letter of support for the proposed project to send to the MEDC. X. Adjourn (Motion Required for Adjournment): K. Dorshimer moved to adjourn and C. Zarkovich supported. Meeting adjourned at 1:01pm. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Online Meeting July 8th, 2021 Members Present: S. Schriner, J. Tischler, C. Zarkovich, K. Dorshimer, T. Benoit, J. Estill Members Absent: J.V. Anderton, Ashlee Willis Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: B. Dowd, P Spadafore Staff Present: C. Edgerly, Julie Reinhardt Guests Present: Stewart Powell I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 11:36 am II. Citizen's Comments: None III. Correspondence - See parking later on the agenda IV. Consent Agenda Approvals a. Agenda for July 8th, 2021 b. Minutes from June 10th, 2021 c. Committee Reports C. Zarkovich moved to approve Consent Agenda items, J. Estill supported. Motion passed. V. Downtown Business & Development Update: Stewart Powell Owner of Linn & Owen Jewelers is here today. He's bringing 47 years of downtown experience to the table. He thinks we need to focus on these three obstacles: 1. Parking: it's too complicated. Customers don't see signage or know how it works. Businesses are spending a LOT of time and money handling this. It costs an additional twenty cents just to use a credit card. 2. He would like a 20 minute grace period without clients getting a ticket, as well as better parking signage. 3. Vacant Buildings: Weeded and un -kept spaces make it look sad and dangerous. Property owners should be required to maintain these eyesore properties so it looks safe and welcoming. The city should be saying "fix it, or we will and charge you for it." 4. Retail is experiencing something odd, and we don't know if brick and mortar will come back to this degree again, we may end up a lot more online. His business is not downtown workers, it's drive up business. We need to keep adapting. VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State): Jimmy said everything is as expected. Weeds have been a bit of a struggle because of the weather. Cathleen asked for the rain gardens and issues on Michigan Ave to be addressed today. VII. Old Town Update (Ben Dowd, OTCA): Art Feast is August 21st VIII. Reports Director Report — C. Edgerly: Several events are upcoming: Lansing Alive, Summit Comics' Grand Reopening. The first AfterGlow Market was last week, and lessons were learned for going forward. Those will continue every Friday through Sept. 3rd. Tacos and Tequila at the Stadium and the Car Show are also coming up July 24 and staff are working with event partners regarding public transportation options and businesses offering extended hours to keep people flowing and spending local dollars downtown. Aug 5th will be a Downtown Grub Crawl and the Chamber is assisting with that. There will be more seating areas and sponsorship to cover these additional outdoor seating spaces. C. Edgerly also met with a local foundation. The foundation may have some additional support for DLI with our goals including lighting, permitting, interior rehab, micro -market support programming and funding for marketing staff, etc. President's Report- JV Anderton: None Monthly Financials- Jim Tischler: Straight forward this month. Not much happening. But if you look at June, we ended up getting 93K from the city (rather than 30K) to cover the gap we had from last year. K. Dorshimer moved to support approval of all reports and placing them on file, J. Estill supported. Motion passed. IX. Action/Discussion Items a. Downtown and DLI Strategic Plan - A. Willis, J. Estill, J. Tischler J. Tischler asked us to postpone this discussion for A. Willis and the full board to be in attendance for guidance. b. Development Projects Downtown - C. Edgerly, K. Dorshimer There is a new program: Sunrise Small Business Grants. Info is available and K. Dorshimer suggested to send it to everyone who may need it. Open for another 3 weeks. Lake Trust property looks like it may be moving forward to be converted to residential. Brownfield agreements are being finalized and those projects will start soon also. It will retain the historical integrity. -The Hookah Lounge may become a music venue which could be a great new addition. Waiting on financial proposals and working with potential new owners to make sure numbers work, as well as working through development liquor license -Also with the Lansing Built To Last competition, the winner is moving forward with the former Hallmark space and she should be there soon. Runners up are looking like they are planning for downtown as well. -A new plant shop has a soft opening today Neva Lee's! Stop in and see them over the next few weeks as they come into fully opening. c. New DLI Office Space & Incubator - J. Reinhardt: The move got pushed back a month so that the property owner can get the space built out appropriately. Sept 1st is looking like the ready date. For the incubator space there has been a lot of meetings and planning held in order to ensure that these businesses become viable post -incubator. Programming and training being offered to businesses while they are incubating is hopefully our route to success. Right now it's looking like a pop-up holiday market start and then a real launch in the spring. d. Parking: This is an issue for everyone right now. The board suggests first 15 minutes or half hour free, no fee to use the app, training on the app, etc. It's driving people away from a very fragile downtown. In the packet there is some correspondence and may be some collaborations with OT and the CVB. J. Tischler asked that Parking be a topic on the agenda next month and that we consider a dedicated monthly discussion on this topic. X. Other New Business Maintenance - J. Estill: Jen and Jimmy clarified what is Lake State's responsibilities downtown, but she shared concern that there are places on the River Trail related to the Lansing Center and Afterglow market that look horrendous and unsafe and it needs to be addressed. Also the trees are dying and she wonders if we should be pushing for them to at least be trimmed to be safe? J. Tischler spoke to the river trail bridge replacement and other dangerous areas that aren't being maintained and would like to know if we can get our hands on some sort of plan and strategy. XI. Adjourn: J Tischler motioned adjourned the meeting at 12:53 pm. K. Dorshimer seconded. MOTION PASSED. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Online Meeting August 12th, 2021 Members Present: J.V. Anderton, S. Schriner, J. Tischler, K. Dorshimer, T. Benoit, J. Estill, A. Willis Members Absent: C. Zarkovich Board Advisors Present: B. Dowd, P. Spadafore Staff Present: C. Edgerly Guests Present: Fawn and Luke of Neva Lee's I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by J.V. Anderton at 11:40 am II. Citizen's Comments: None III. Correspondence: None IV. Consent Agenda Approvals • Agenda for August 12th, 2021 • Minutes from July 8th, 2021 • Committee Reports • Monthly Financials - J. Tischler K. Dorshimer moved to approve all Consent Agenda items. A. Willis supported. Motion passed. V. Downtown Business & Development Update: Neva Lee's: They specialize in houseplants, but also have art and gifts and have been very well received and have had visitors from all over the state. Things are going very well so far. Due to COVID houseplants have become much more important to people, adding green to their home or office, and plants are a growth sector. Both owners have been a part of the industry for many years, so it only took them a few months to get from their house to brick and mortar. VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State): Lake State is out getting caught up because of the storms. VII. Old Town Update (Ben Dowd, OTCA): • Jazz Fest just happened and was a success and the social district has been really successful. Clients are loving that and the businesses are doing well with it. • Construction headaches are still happening, but the city is being helpful. • Art Feast is August 21st and there are around 100 art vendors as well as food vendors. • Michigan Community Capital's development of the Temple is moving along and Ben is meeting with them today to see progress. They've become a good neighborhood partner. VIII. Reports Director Report — C. Edgerly • Several events are upcoming: The new spaces that we were looking at are looking at fiber internet. The costs are $400 per month for a five year contract with the city via Metronet. Cathleen will be following up with them, and T. Benoit will look into alternatives. • We are still on track with construction and flooring will be going in next week, and starting next week Cathleen will start interviewing for a Marketing Specialist. • The Mayor has asked for Cathleen to lay out our strategy for Downtown businesses moving forward. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Online Meeting October 14th, 2021 Members Present: J.V. Anderton, S. Schriner, J. Tischler, C. Zarkovich, K. Dorshimer, T. Benoit, J. Estill, A. Willis Members Absent: Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: P. Spadafore Staff Present: C. Edgerly, Julie Reinhardt, Whitney Roberts Guests Present: None I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 11:34 am II. Citizen's Comments: None III. Correspondence: None IV. Consent Agenda Approvals • Agenda for October, 2021 • Minutes from September 9th, 2021 • Committee Reports • Monthly Financials - J. Tischler J. Tishler moved to approve all Consent Agenda items. C. Zarkovich supported. Motion passed unanimously. V. Downtown Business & Development Update (K. Dorshimer) -The Lake Trust project is well underway, The old Hookah Lounge project is also still moving ahead as potential buyers look at liquor licenses and loans. -The Lansing Shuffleboard and Social Club will start construction soon. -Batter Up Bistro work continues as well as they pursue their liquor license. -Capital City Market celebrates one year this weekend. VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State): They're out prepping for the fall cutback. VII. Reports • Director Report: C. Edgerly reported that Middle Village celebrates the Grand Opening with a press conference tomorrow at 9a.m. All Board members are requested to attend. Middle Village then opens to the public at 11:00 a.m. The Fall Cutback is this Saturday and volunteers are still needed from 9:30am - 12:00pm. If it rains, work will be pushed to Sunday. City Updates: The 2 way street conversion update: The Capitol and Grand conversion may happen in November, but we need to see Michigan work finished first. More updates coming. On Oct. 25th C. Edgerly will be sharing our Strategic Action Plan and state funding requests with Council * President's Report- J.V. Anderton updated the Board on the city's new policy for attending remote meetings. Unless you're very sick or in the military, Council wants our meetings in person again. Based on Board conversation, unless emergency action is needed, DLI will cancel the December meeting. January is Board election time for us, a new president is needed. • Monthly Financials- Jim Tischler: The financials require no concerning updates this month. VIII. Action/Discussion Items a. Downtown and DLI Strategic Plan Items (A. Willis, J. Estill, J. Tishler): A few action items and updates have been added to the strategy grid. On the back a few things have been added as well including increasing organizational capacity, DEI action, and adding staff capacity among other things. Most have funding associated with them, and the Board needs to support staff by focusing on finding other funding. We have some serious foundational work to do. A DEI sheet will be sent to the board so we can assess where we are, and where we need to go. We will review scores and discuss communication with the public and other action at the next meeting. J. Tishler moved that we commence on a self assessment of DLI's DEI status, and C. Zarkovich seconded. Motion passed unanimously. TMA Update: MEDC will be providing funding for DLI to hire a contractor and assess the data. Staff and the TMA support team will put out an RFP to secure quotes for contractors/service providers to lead this process. An MOU will be drafted indicating what we plan to do. T. Benoit moved to grant the subcommittee the power to approve drafting the MOU and sending it over to the state. K. Dorshimer seconded. Motion passed unanimously. b. Federal Funding for Downtown: DLI has requested 500K per year for the next 10 years with the Governor in order to achieve our objectives in the Strategic Plan, but we haven't heard back yet. There is also a sub -ask for 2.5 million federally. Council will be updated on this as well. Staff is just waiting to hear back hopefully in December. The board will also need to address how to deal with those funds if and when we receive them. Regarding Federal Funding for Downtown, J. Tischler moved that the Executive Committee and Executive Director form a subcommittee (with input from other board members as needed) to develop a plan for a strategy and structure for use of, investing, and recordkeeping related to any large federal funds given to DLI. J. Estill Supported. Motion passed unanimously. c. Performing Arts Center in the City: The city was awarded $2.5 million from the State to support a performing arts center in the City. Staff and some board members have been advocating to keep this performing arts center in the downtown district to support downtown's recovery, support our small businesses and further support the Strategic Action Plan. d. Middle Village and Holiday Season: The opening of Middle Village was covered earlier. 5 retail locations will be open in Middle Village, with their own staff managing the stores, throughout the holiday season Wednesday -Saturday rom 11:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. IX. Closed Session: Director Evaluation: J. Tischler moved and C. Zarkovich supported going into closed session. Motion passed at 12: 35 p.m. Board exited closed session at 12:50 p.m., with a very favorable review of Director Edgerly's performance, approving an annual salary increase to go into effect immediately. J.V. Anderton will review the Board's review of Director Edgerly directly with Cathleen following this meeting. X. Other New Business: None XI. Adjourn K. Dorshimer moved to adjourn. T. Benoit seconded. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 12:51 pm. Downtown Lansing Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Minutes November 18th, 2021 Members Present: S. Schriner, T. Benoit, J. Estill, A. Willis, K. Dorshimer Members Absent: J.V. Anderton, J. Tischler Board Advisors Present: Board Advisors Absent: B. Dowd, P. Spadafore Staff Present: C. Edgerly, Julie Reinhardt, Whitney Roberts Guests Present: None I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 11:36 am II. Citizen's Comments: None III. Correspondence: None IV. Consent Agenda Approvals: • Agenda for Nov 11th, 2021 • Minutes from October, 2021 • Committee Reports • Monthly Financials - J. Tischler S. Schriner moved to approve all Consent Agenda items. T. Benoit supported. Motion passed unanimously. V. Old Town Update: None VI. Downtown Maintenance Update & Report (Lake State) Lake State is prepping sidewalks for Silver Bells. Picnic Tables are out or finished tonight, safety precautions have been taken. VII. Reports • Director Report — C. Edgerly A "Don't Be A Grinch" campaign has been launched to help downtown businesses with posters and videos promoting expectations for customers shopping/dining downtown, cooperating and supporting individual business policies for masking, limits for capacity, etc. Goals and targets for the Director's next year were reviewed. Cathleen will lay out an updated job description as well. J. Estill motioned to approve Cathleen's request that DLI Offices close the day after Christmas through January 3rd. T. Benoit supported. Motion passed unanimously. 9 President's Report- JV Anderton -N/A • Monthly Financials- Jim Tischler Jim was not able to attend, however Jim did review with Cathleen. There is nothing to be expected, but Cathleen highlighted a few line items and offered clarifications. IX. Action/Discussion Items: a. Downtown and DLI Strategic Plan - A. Willis, J. Estill, J. Tischler i. DEI: J. Estill is compiling all of our information and thoughts from the homework. We will be completely transparent and survey the community and look to a facilitator. The board will seek out facilitator names and circle back next month to discuss potential budget, etc. iii. TMA Update: We received approval from MEDC regarding our target analysis and funding. DLI staff and the subcommittee put together an MOU and RFP that were sent on to the MEDC. The MEDC responded that they would like to amend it to an RFQ format to include not just a residential analysis, but also a more comprehensive analysis of the commercial spaces and businesses, and priority sites for development as well as actionable steps to be taken to implement these types of projects for downtown. They had some stipulations and would like "CMA" rather than TMA. The focus is more on analysis and then actionable steps. The DLI Strategic subcommittee discussed and responded with approved changes. MEDC is now creating a legal agreement for us to review and sign. DLI will be able to select the contractor(s) we will be using and go forward. We're hoping to hear back from the MEDC's legal team early enough that we can put out an RFQ in December. b. Federal Funding For Downtown Update: C. Edgerly and the Mayor met with the State Budget Office and again submitted a formal request for Downtown Lansing's recovery to be allocated directly to DLI. Budget office confirmed that any allocated funds need to be spent no later than 2024, with a possible extension for 2026. Feedback from State Budget office included that our request was one of the only requests that they got that showed direct correlation to COVID and laid out how the funds were to be spent. Meetings are also being held between property owners and politicians to support this as well. Things are moving forward. c. 2022 Meeting Approval: J. Estill moved to approve the 2022 DLI Board meeting schedule as presented in the packet. S. Schriner supported. Motion passed. d. Holiday Season Downtown and Board Support Needed: Spirit Week/Lift Up Local has been working this week, but we'd like it to go to the next level. How can we keep this going and support businesses here every day? Several campaigns are working at this, but the office would like the board to support these efforts and participate. Dec. 6th - 11 th is the next spirit week! Michigan Premier's Winter Towns Holiday fest is December 1 lth, hosted all across town to support our small businesses throughout the city! A revised gift card program is here again! Yifty is where businesses enter a code and make it easy for customers. Consumers is snatching the first 10K starting Nov. 29th. e. New Businesses & Development -Lake Trust is still moving ahead, as is the Clara's building. -Totsi Nigerian food is moving into the For Crepe's Sake space. -Lansing Shuffle will start construction after the first of the year. -The Brow Bar is expected to open in early 2022 as well on Allegan IX. Other New Business: None X. Adjourn : K. Dorshimer moved to adjourn at 12:47p.m. J. Estill supported. Meeting adjourned at 12:47 p.m.