Minutes

Downtown Development Partnership of Great Falls, Inc.

January 26, 2017

Board members present: Brett Doney, Kellie Pierce, Joan Redeen, Sheila Rice, Brad Livingston, Craig Raymond, Garry Hackett, Jason Brantley, Tom Micuda

Board members absent: Barbara Murfield, Greg Doyon, Jane Weber, Trevor Mikkelson

Guests present: Adam Hunt, Erin Borland, Carol Bronson, Bob Kelly, Patrick Sullivan, Shane Etzwiller

Brett called the meeting to order at 9:00am.

1.  Introductions –

2.  Consent Agenda - Approval of Minutes – Craig motioned to approve the 11/30/16 meeting minutes, as provided. Kellie seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

3.  Financials – Sheila provided the financial report as of 11/30; TIF update was provided as well. Brett reported that he is writing the letter to the City in regard to the RIF Budget Recommendations. Craig noted that an application will need to be completed.

4.  Major Project Updates –

1)  Governance – Brett Doney, GFDA

Brett reported that the DDP renewed its insurance policy.

2)  Design – Joan Redeen, BID

  1. Wayfinding – Craig reported that there is no update on wayfinding, at this time. Brett recommended that some TIF funding be used to fund a consultant to pursue grants. Joan motioned to increase the TIF Budget Recommendations an additional $10,000 to fund a consultant to pursue funding for the wayfinding study. The total TIF Budget Recommendations will be $57,500; which includes $35K for wayfinding for the consultant and the study. Garry seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
  2. Parking – Craig reported that the parking commission met last week. He is working with a local architect on the south parking garage; trying to establish what the costs are to bring the system to a point where people want to use it. Discussion followed on Standard Parking staff and daily maintenance; an art project to secure the facility; landscaping and benches around the garage; and making downtown inviting and welcoming. Craig noted that all options are being explored.
  3. Public Art – Joan reported that traffic signal box project is moving forward; estimates are being collected to determine how many TSB’s can be completed. A press release with the Call to Artists will be going public very soon.
  4. Pedlet – Joan reported that Max Grebe is the architect volunteering his time on this project; his original estimate for having design complete was the end of January. We continue to move forward and the goal remains May 1st.
  5. River’s Edge Trail – Brett reported that he will invite the Rivers Edge Trail to join us at the next meeting in February.

3)  Promotion – Kellie Pierce, DGFA

Kellie reported that she is working with Carol on integrating the DDP website with the DGFA website; so there will be one website for downtown. Upon completion of the website they will get to work on an app for downtown.

4)  Economic Restructuring – Brett Doney, GFDA & Sheila Rice, NWGF

  1. Brownfield Assessments - Brett reported that they are out of brownfield money but they can submit to EPA for funding. They still have petroleum money and with the petroleum inventory completed they’ve been contacting the property owners.
  2. Major Development Opportunities – Sheila reported that NWGF had a consultant in town to look at their rental development line of business; she had some input on the Rocky Mountain building. They may have a development partner who could be interested in the project. She added that we are looking for space for the downtown office; this building is the only building mentioned by name in the Master Plan. The commercial space is the part that is the most risky and vulnerable; the upper level residential is not the hardest part. She considers revitalization of this building to be the single greatest thing we could do for downtown. Brett noted that he’d like to see projects happening with the Wells Fargo building, the Strain building and the Rocky Mountain building. Brett reported that the City lost 707 jobs since the 4th quarter of 2015. Sheila noted that we have all of the pieces in place that the other large Montana cities have but we don’t have a dedicated person to economic development of downtown. She mentioned that the Downtown Master Plan is getting close to being in need of an update. Fire Artisan Pizza is opening. First Call Resolution continues to move forward.

5.  Initiative Updates –

1)  BACI – Joan reported that the BACI group is meeting right now; they have not met since the last DDP meeting so there’s nothing new to report at this time.

2)  National Heritage Area – Tom reported that the NHA continues to make great progress; they are actively fundraising for their feasibility study and the RFP is being drafted for the study. Members of the board will be coming to the DDP meeting in February or March to do a brief presentation on what they’ve accomplished and what remains to be done.

6.  Downtown Partner Action Updates –

·  Brad introduced Shane who will be joining the Chamber on February 1st. Brad thanked the DDP for their work on behalf of downtown; he commented on various development projects and noted that he appreciates downtown.

·  Shane reported that he is excited to start work at the Chamber; he added that there are exciting things happening downtown.

·  Joan noted that the early bird registration ends very soon and she recommends that Kellie attend again, if no other DDP members wish to attend this year. The Board approved sending Kellie to the National Main Street conference in May; Kellie will get registered.

·  Sheila reported that the 12-plex of 3-bedroom apartments at 1201 1st Ave S is almost ready to open.

·  Carol reported that she’s working on expanding the neighborhood watch in the downtown boundaries.

·  Brett reported that they have 28 active clients downtown right now. They still have funds in their downtown loan fund. Brownfield funds were used for the Russell home.

·  Adam provided an update on the DDACTS stats; the statistics were for November. The boundaries of the DDACTS program are Park Drive to 15th Street, 6th Ave North to 6th Ave South. He added the majority of the tickets they are writing are for drivers not having insurance.

·  Joan reported that the next Business Watch meeting is 3/14 and the Chamber is the sponsor; the topic is Combating Addiction and Crime and the speaker is from Gateway. The May Business Watch is 5/9 and Adam will be the speaker with almost a full year of stats on the DDACTS program.

·  Garry reported that he can now lease his ground floor at 511 Central as the sprinklers in the basement are complete; he is hoping to open the event center upstairs in April.

·  Jason reported that GFPS will start selling bonds. They’ll be interviewing architecture firms for Roosevelt; they’ve had push back on Little Russell. They are proceeding forward on the levy plans; they expect 7x the return of the $99M levy to the City.

·  Erin reported that the Farmer’s Market has held their first board meeting; the market opens on June 3rd and runs through September. Erin expressed interest in serving as a Member At-Large on the DDP board.

·  Tom reported that the City will be meeting with Nick Geranios in regard to the Thisted building and some possible façade work. They are currently doing interior work on the building in preparation for a new business, Edward Jones. Stockman Bank is moving forward on the demolition of their building; they plan to have 6 parking spaces total and remove their green space on 5th Street by their drive through. Discussion followed on City code in regard to green space.

·  Joan reported that the BID has discovered three graffiti tags and is working on removal or notifying property owners of the need for removal.

·  Kellie reported that DGFA is not doing a coupon book this year; they are working with KRTV on an online marketing campaign.

7.  Public Comment – No public comment at this time.

The next meeting of the Downtown Development Partnership has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 22nd at 9am in the NeighborWorks Learning Center at 509 1st Ave South.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45am.