DDBA Board Meeting Minutes

April 21, 2011 at DDBA office, 165 East A St. Dixon, 8:30 a.m.

  1. Meeting Call to Order at 8:31am; Roll Call of Directors/Established Quorum. Present: Jill Orr, Suzie Motley, Kathy King, Steve Lorente, Rich Mason, Teresa Schilling, Devon Minnema,Debbie Dingman, and Raye-Lynn Marquez. Absent: Bud Fanning. Guests present: Mark Hecky, Karen Firestein, Luis Sierra, Liz Robbin.
  2. Introductions – Suzie welcomed and introduced Karen Firestein, Luis Sierra and Liz Robbin.
  1. Guest Speakers – Karen introduced Luis who began with a short history of himself and an introduction to the California Center for Cooperative Development (CCCD). He explained the main requirements that distinguish a co-op from other membership organizations. He gave a few examples of actual organizations to illustrate the differences. Debra asked how this applies to the DDBA and Suzie explained that it is a lead in to the Farmer’s Market and that while we are not fully at the stage of setting up a co-op it might be something to consider. Luis explained that generally Farmer’s Markets are not a viable option for a co-op structure. Mark explained that we were exploring different options in order to obtain grant funds and financing in order to make our Farmer’s Market a thriving activity. Mark then directed the grant question to Karen Firestein, the UDSA representative. She responded that there were several grant opportunities available and that while some were directed toward the activities like the CCCD, there were some involving feasibility studies for Rural Development as long as the criteria was met. While Dixon meets the population criteria, we exceed the income criteria. She also explained that these grants could not be used to fund the operations of the activity; they were to be used in the feasibility studies in the preparation of such activities. Several pamphlets and informational documents were passed out and questions were asked and answered. Our guests were thanked for their presentation and the meeting took a five minute break at 9:20am.
  2. The meeting was called back to order at 9:25am and Rich mentioned that while the presentation was very informative that it should have been presented at a committee meeting and not a Board Meeting. Mark explained that certain deadlines needed to be met in order to secure grants and he felt this was the best way to expose the entire Board to the information presented.
  3. Approval of March Minutes: Suzie 1st/Kathy 2nd/motion carries
  1. Treasures Report
  2. Kathy King passed out the previous months financials to everyone and explained that not much major happened last month. We ended last month with $16,130.00 and the most notable transactions were the deposits from the Dinner Fund Raising event. She then passed out the revised budget to all the Board Members. She reviewed the revised budget she prepared and explained that based on removing many of the City funds and itemizing each event separately she was able to show that with the scheduled fund raising events, we should just about break even.She also pointed out that since the Grillin’ and Chillin’ Committee did not submit any financial information, she was unable to make any statements about that event. She also questioned what to do about the remaining members who have not paid their dues for 2011. She asked for a report on the remaining members and Rich said he would prepare one. Rich commented on what an outstanding job Kathy did on the revised budget. Steve questioned one item in the Wine Stroll itemizations about the tent/stage rental regarding we purchased a tent last year. Kathy explained that the cost was to cover the stage rental. Steve felt that for the cost it might be wise to think about owing a stage as well. He mentioned that for that kind of cost we could build our own stage. Debra brought up the need to store the stage and labor to transport and setup and remove should also be considered. It was suggested that we explore these options to see if this is something we should do.
  1. Old Business:
  2. Wine Stroll - Kathy King introduced Ray-Lynn Marquez, who reported that we have several wineriesthat are willing to participate. Jill suggested that we get in contact with the merchants and get commitments on who will participate. Kathy mentioned that she would go to the merchants and ask about that.Suzie Motley mentioned that she took the ABC class last year and recommended that any merchants who will be serving wine should take the class in order to better protect themselves from any legal liabilities. Jill Orr offered to take over the ABC class promotion.
  3. Oktoberfest – Suzie mentioned that we should start talking to the merchants to see if any would like to participate and suggested that we combine the ABC classes with this activity as well. Steve Lorente question if it would to confusing starting to promote the Oktoberfest at the same time as the Wine Stroll. Kathy felt it was not too early and Suzie suggested that we poll the merchants to see if we could get any commitments for the event. Kathy said she would handle the polling of the merchants at the same time she was communicating with them about the Wine Stroll.
  4. Bingo – Kathy reported that everything was set for our Bingo night on Friday June 17th and then she was informed that the Veterans Hall was no longer offering the Friday Bingo Night. She said she was waiting to hear about a rescheduled day which should be sometime that week, but as of now does not know when it will be. She said that we should know soon and then we can start to pass around a signup sheet to the merchants since it will take about 10 people to run this event. WE hope to have this by the time the next merchant meeting comes around.
  5. Grillin’ and Chillin’ – Jill reported she was planning on attending the City Council meeting on May 10th to see if there was a possibility of getting the City to cover the cost of using City employees to assist in the day’s activities and to see if we could get any funds from the City’s General Fund. Mark Heckey suggested getting in touch with the Chief of Police to see if they could help out in any way. Rich asked about the required financial documents and bank statements that the Grillin’ and Chillin’ Committee is supposed to present each month. Jill responded that she did not have these documents for presentation. Rich reminded her that the presentation of the bank statements and financial documents are a requirement to allowing the committee to have their own bank account. He also reminded her that the Board meeting is prescheduled each month and there is no reason not to have these documents ready and that since the motion was passed to allow the Grillin’ and Chillin’ Committee to have their own bank account several months ago, the Board of Directors have not seem any financial records putting the committee in violation of the agreement. Debra Dingman reminded Rich that Jill has been very busy and she explained to Jill that she has been put on notice to produce those documents.
  6. Membership Designation – Jill reminded everyone that we are evaluating the classification of the Associate Membership level and as recommended last month we were to look into what other organizations are doing. She introduced Raye-Lynn who reported that she had been in contact with the Vacaville organization and the Vacaville group felt that there was no reason to offer such a classification level. Debra mentioned that the classifications guidelines we are using were adopted from the Main Street Association recommendations and the purpose of the Associate level was to allow citizens who wanted to show support and keep updated on the activities of the DDBA. Kathy asked about seeing a list of all the Associate Members to see if most meet that criteria and Rich mentioned that there were several that were taking advantage of the classification level. Devon Minnema read from the list and he reported that most met the guidelines. Kathy asked who might be taking advantage of the classification and Steve reported that he was and it was mentioned that Jill was as well. Kathy mentioned that any changes that we might make in the rearrangement of this classification would not take effect until next year, so we have time to investigate this further and we also need to investigate raising the membership dues for all membership levels, since the City has reduced their support it is only right we look to the membership to help make up the difference.
  7. Revised Budget – This was presented in the Treasurers Report earlier.
  1. New Business:
  2. Pardi Market Site – Mark reported that there was no proposal submitted for the site and that based on the time schedule laid out from the City there would no chance of getting anything done in thisyear’s construction season anyway.Jill asked about the plan we prepared several years ago and Mark mentioned to put it together for presentation. Suzie asked if the City was maintaining the property and Mark reported that they were.
  3. May Fair Parade Float – Suzie reported that the cost to put a float in the parade was around $300.00 and while she has handled this activity in the past, since she was in charge of the Farmer’s Market this year and the Market’s Grand Opening was on the day of the May Fair Parade, she was simply too busy to handle the float. Debra asked the Board for an overall feeling about not participating this year. It was discussed and decided that since we would already have a strong presence in the day’s activities it should be fine not to host a float. Suzie made a motion to not present a float this year. Debra made the second and all approved.
  4. Shorten Mission Statement – Raye-Lynn passed out a letter from Jill explaining the need to alter our mission statement and the revised mission. Jill explained that in her pursuits in trying to acquire funding through grants in regards to 501c3 status she had been meeting with PJ Davis, a certified grant writer. Jill explained that PJ Davis made several recommendations and the one which would help the most was a revision of the mission statement. PJ recommended a shorter statement focusing on three main points.

The revised statement is as follows: “The mission of the DDBA is to promote economic vitality, advocate for the success of its members, businesses, and community through education and special events resulting in a better place to live for all Dixon Residents.”

Debra asked the old mission statement be read and it was. Debra made a motion to adopt the new mission statement as adopted in the letter from Jill. Steve made the second. All Approved.

  1. Debra reported that she attended the meeting on the Transportation committee evaluation of our proposal to reroute truck away from the downtown core. She reported that they voted 3-2 in favor of our proposaland those against were concerned about the studies required to make such changes. These studies could cost around $20,000.00. Several important points were made about why the change is needed including the relocation of the High School and the Pulte Homes subdivision. Kathy made a point that before there was a stop sign at 1st and A Street forcing all the trucks to slow and stop and since the traffic light had been installed it encourages them to speed up to make the light causing a further hazard. Kathy asked if that statement could be added to the argument and Debra thought that it could.
  2. Debra reported that she read an article stating that the RDA still has a chance of remaining and that many people are lobbing to keep it going. There is still hope.
  3. Debra reported that the Solano County Visitors guide has been published and that there were several errors regarding information about the DDBA and pointed out the importance of staying in touch with the publisher to make sure the information accurate.
  4. Jill announced that there was a memorial service for Dixon’s only officer killed in the line of duty to be held on Tuesday and that should help bring commerce to the downtown.
  5. Suzie reported that she has six farmers committed to attend the Farmers Market and that as of now she has spent no money in the project. She did mention that the insurance fee was to be due soon and that she would need a check for that and Kathy mentioned that bill is in the budget and has already been approved. She also mentioned a couple of other expenses including the porta-potties and permit fees need to be covered as well. Debra mention that we need to start marketing the event and Kathy mentioned we still have a retractable booth. Devon suggested that we look into Groupon. Debra suggested that we get the signup sheet to the merchants for the booth and Steve mentioned that a short announcement could be made during the May Fair commencement activities.
  1. Adjourned – Meeting was adjourned at 10:14am. Minutes prepared by Rich Mason