DDA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Meeting Minutes for November 3, 2008

St Marys Downtown Development Authority

St. Marys Downtown Development Authority (DDA)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Meeting Minutes for November 3, 2008

The regular meeting of the St. Marys DDA was called to order by Craig Root at 9:02 AM.

Members Present: Bill Deloughy, Walt Natzic, Craig Root, Tom Monahan, Jim Lomis, and Barbara Ryan

Members not Present: Carol Buddin

Guest in attendance: Mary Neff; Spencer House, Paula Amari; Promotions Chair; Janet Brinko; St. Marys Tourism & Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), and Jim Wells

Staff: Alyce Thornhill; Executive Director, Renée Coakley, Executive Assistant

Minutes: Monahan presented the October 6th, 2008 meeting minutes. There were typographical changes noted and the minutes were approved with edits with a motion by Ryan and a second by Natzic. All were in favor. Root asked Alyce to have yard signs created for businesses who utilize the design assistance offered by the Georgia Trust through the DDA office. Alyce will get prices and present them at the next board meeting.

Treasurers Report: Monahan presented the treasurers report, the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheets. It was noted that the rental income received from leased properties was reported incorrectly and should be spread over three months for the deposit from St. Marys Parts and Supply. Monahan will meet with Renée to adjust this deposit and the reports were approved with a motion by Lomis and second by Natzic. All were in favor.

Root welcomed all visitors to today's meeting. Natzic asked to postpone his report on the Golf cart/Bike Paths Resolution. He will be resubmitting paperwork to the Georgia Department of Transportation and address this item at next month's meeting.

Additions to the Agenda: The items added to the agenda were as follows: Interstate welcome center sign (Alyce) to be added to the Director's Report, and Weed Ordinance (Root) after Adopt a Median.

BUSINESS DISCUSSION:

Design Committee -Alyce mentioned that the committee Chair is actively recruiting members. The committee's first meeting will be November 10th. They will be addressing adding trash receptacles, benches and other beautification items to the downtown. They are also working on the design guidelines.

Economic Development Committee - Alyce mentioned that June has several applications for volunteers and will be submitting those applications for approval. Alyce and June will be meeting with Debbie Graham, the Small Business Development Coordinator and the Chamber of Commerce to include them on this project. June will present the SCORE program to City Council in the near future. The Committee is also working on a recruitment package and will have a workshop at the next meeting to put this package together.

Promotions Committee - Tale of Two Georgias: Paula mentioned that the Tale of Two Georgias will take place at the Howard Gilman Waterfront Park on Thursday, November 6th at 5:30 pm. This event will kick off the Sub Vet weekend. Valerie Goddard will be completing the press release for this event. Arts, Antiques and Eats: Paula mentioned that a publication is being completed that will include all of the restaurants, art galleries and antique stores in the county. This publication will be placed at all local hotels and Georgia visitor's centers. Twenty thousand copies will be printed with full color on the outsides and full color on the center section that will be a pull out map for visitors. A website has been created and will list all of the menus for the restaurants in the area.

DDA Real Estate Update: Root mentioned that the leases for the commercial property have been delivered and rental income has begun to come in. Bid packages have been completed for the two residential properties and are currently in the city attorneys' office. Advertisement for bids for these two properties are due by the 18th of November to the city's purchasing department. A database has been created of local builders, realtors and adjacent property owners of the two residential properties to offer for bid. These will be mailed with a cover letter explaining the offer. Lomis suggested having invitation to bid signs made for the two properties with contact information for the purchasing department on them. The board will make a decision on the disposition of the commercial property at a later date.

Golf cart/Bike Paths Resolution: Natzic will report on this at the December board meeting.

Adopt a Median: Alyce mentioned the medians in downtown and the proposal that was put forth for businesses to adopt medians in the downtown by the City Manager. Alyce mentioned some concerns that may come forth which may include: who would water, design consistency, the frequency of maintenance, etc. Alyce did research on other cities to determine if a program such as this was in place. She determined that in most cities businesses may maintain smaller items such as planters or flower pots but not entire medians. Ryan mentioned that a Keep Camden Beautiful subcommittee may be able to assist with this program. Ryan will put this on the upcoming Keep Camden Beautiful meeting agenda. Root asked what the cities obligations would be in maintaining these medians. Alyce will invite the city manager and Public Works Director to the December board meeting to answer these questions.

Weed Ordinance: Root mentioned that the areas around the mill site are becoming unmanageable and what steps could be taken to manage this area. Root asked Alyce to find out if the city has a weed ordinance in place.

DIRECTORS REPORT:

Alyce mentioned the mission statement and wall hanging that are now displayed on the front entry wall in the DDA building.

Brochure for Antique Trail: Alyce showed the board the printout of what the brochure will look like once completed. This brochure highlights 40,000 square footage of retail space that belongs to 15 shops along the trail with at least 25% of their inventory antique or vintage collectible items. The brochure includes businesses from the waterfront to Borrell Creek and will be given out to visitors on the Cumberland Sound Ferry, the state welcome center and various other locations.

Kingsland Hotel: Alyce mentioned that she is working on a marketing idea that will join the downtown restaurant owners with hotel owners in Kingsland. This venture will aid in capturing visitors who exit the interstate at exit 3 and are not aware of what downtown St. Marys has to offer. Alyce will have cards printed with a picture of St. Marys on front and restaurant info on back to be placed in the hotel room key envelope. When visiting the restaurant the visitor can show his room key and this would entitle him to the special that the restaurant owner is offering. Alyce has meetings scheduled with the downtown restaurant owners to pitch this concept and determine if they would like to offer a percentage discount, free food item or free drink item. Alyce will also schedule meetings with the hotel owners and on the visit date take a food item from one of the restaurants to offer a sample to encourage them to promote the business. Alyce will also attend front desk training at the Sleep Inn in Kingsland in the near future to speak with the attendants about the program. Each hotel will also have a menu book at their front desk with menu's from the downtown restaurants.

Marketing Plan: Alyce mentioned that the board has a copy of the marketing plan proposal in their binders. She asked the members to look over the plan and this item will be on next month's agenda.

Pavilion Sign: Alyce mentioned that she has received an estimate for a sign to be installed at the pavilion to greet ferry visitors. The sign would be vinyl and cost approximately $170. Alyce presented the photo of what the sign would look like. The board agreed the sign should say Welcome to Historic St. Marys. Ryan made a motion to approve the sign with a second by Lomis. All were in favor. Ryan asked if the sign could be up before the boaters arrive for Thanksgiving. Lomis will contact bank managers to try to raise funds for the sand blasted sign and get back to Alyce next week.

Hospitality Interns: Alyce met with Mr. Wright at the local college to discuss utilizing some of the school interns for volunteer projects such as the downtown concierge.

Shop Talk: Alyce mentioned that the city of St. Simons will be bringing Marjie Johnson from Shop Talk to the area to speak to business owners on ideas to maximize their business. This will happen in the spring time and cost approximately $2000 and Alyce asked the board if they felt this would be something that could be held in St. Marys as well. The board asked Alyce to find out costs to see if they would be able to afford sponsoring Ms. Johnson to come to our area.

Christmas Events Support: Alyce mentioned that we would be offering support for The Live Nativity and Christmas in the Park. Santa will be arriving downtown by boat on December 5th thanks to the St. Marys Yacht and Boating Club.

Business Updates and recent publicity: Alyce mentioned that she attended the last Planning and Zoning meeting where an approval was given for a day care center to be opened in downtown across the street from Read 'Em Again bookstore. Alyce mentioned the concierge program received exposure in the local paper for the award that it received in October. Alyce mentioned that she is working on a gateway grant in conjunction with Planning and Zoning and the Tree board for beautification of the exit one area.

Sign at State Welcome Center: Alyce mentioned the current state of the sign at exit 1. The proposal for repair is $800 with installation by Public Works employees. The St. Marys Convention and Visitors Bureau will have this sign replaced and Alyce was asking the board if they felt it should partner with Tourism to have this completed to increase Economic Development. Ryan made a motion to contribute $400 to the cost of this sign and it was second by Lomis. Root left the discussion due to conflict of interest. After discussion the motion was amended by Ryan to include that tourism will be responsible for having the area around sign maintained and tourism will secure alternate bids for the signs creation. Lomis second the amended motion. All were in favor of the amended motion.

Adjourn - The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 1st at 9:00 am and the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 am.

_____________________________

Tom Monahan, Secretary

Prepared by Renée Coakley, Executive Assistant