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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-13-09 Main Street Advisory Board minutes THE MAIN STREET ADVISORY BOARD MET THIS THE 13th DAY OF AUGUST, 2009 AT 6:00 PM IN CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 604 W. FAIRMONT PARKWAY, LA PORTE, TEXAS, WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT: Present: Rebecca Jurtshuk Paul Larson Mark Follis Bill Manning Debra Gallington Ed Matuszak Jason Leopard Maggie Anderson Staff: Stacey Osborne, Tim Tietjens, Masood Malik 1. CALL TO ORDER-The meeting was called to order at 6:04 pm. by Chairman Bill Manning. 2. SWEARING IN OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS-Board Members Jason Leopard and Rebecca Jurtshuk were sworn in by Main street coordinator Stacey Osborne. 3. CONSIDER AND TAKE NECESSARY ACTION TO APPROVE JULY 9, 2009 MEETING MINUTES-The minutes were reviewed. Board Member Maggie Anderson moved to approve the minutes, and Ed Matuszak seconded. 4. RECOGNITION OF OUTGOING BOARD MEMBERS-Chairman Bill Manning recognized former Board Members Shar Lynch and Jerry Carpenter for their service to the Main Street Advisory Board. 5. ITEM lO: DISCUSSION AND CLARIFICATION WITH PLANNING DIRECTOR REGARDING EXISTING ORDINANCES WHICH IMPACT THE MAIN STREET DISTRICT -Chairman Bill Manning asked to move Item lOon the agenda, Discussion and Clarification with Planning Director Regarding Existing ordinances Which Impact the Main Street District, up so staff members would not need to stay longer than necessary. Maggie Anderson seconded. City of La Porte Planning Director Tim Tietjens took the floor and explained the existing ordinances that affect Main Street. He also took questions from the Main Street Advisory Board and clarified misunderstandings. 6. MAIN STREET COMMITTEE UPDATES, CONSIDER AND TAKE NECESSARY ACTION AS NEEDED: A. ORGANIZATION - no updates were given. B. PROMOTION - Main Street Coordinator Stacey Osborne gave a brief update on the plans for the Fall Back Festival and said that she needs assistance. Board Member Maggie Anderson said that she had volunteered to fmd volunteers for the dunking booth at the Fall Back Festival. C. DESIGN - no updates were given D. COMMUNICATION - no updates were given E. ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING - no updates were given. 7. DESIGN PACKAGE SURVEY UPDATE - Chairman Bill Manning asked that the Board next discuss the Design Package Survey Update (Item 7 on the agenda). There was a discussion and review of the Main Street Design Guidelines Survey. Corrections were made. Board Members Debra Ga1lington and Becky Jurtshuk expressed doubts about the necessity of sending the survey, but after discussion most Board Members agreed that the survey should be sent as soon as possible with the corrections noted. Chairman Bill Manning agreed to send Main Street Coordinator Stacey Osborne an MS Excel file with the names and addresses of the business owners who should receive the survey. 8. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS-Chairman Bill Manning made the following committee assignments: Maggie Anderson-Organization; Becky Jurtshuk-Promotions; Debra Gallington-Promotions. Additional committee assignments were tabled for future discussion. 9. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL UPDA TE- There was a discussion about how to present Main Street Advisory Board recommendations to Council. The Board members agreed that they would give the recommendations to Main Street Coordinator Stacey Osborne, who would present them to City Manager Ron Bottoms and take necessary action to ensure that the recommendations were presented to Council. Chairman Bill Manning said that he would put the recommendations into a memo format and email it to Ms. Osborne. 10. DISCUSSION OF F A<;ADE GRANTS-After some discussion, Chairman Bill Manning asked for a motion to recommend that council implement just the fa9ade grant portion of the Design Guidelines. Board Member Mark Follis moved to do so, and Chairman Ed Matuszak seconded. The Board voted unanimously to implement the fa9ade grants. 11. STAFF REPORTS AND UPDATES A. REPORT ON BEEVILLE TRAINING- Main Street Coordinator Stacey Osborne gave a report of her Main Street Training in Beeville, Texas on August 4 - 6. B. FALL BACK FESTIVAL UPDATE - Ms. Osborne said that she has continued to work on planning the Fall Back Festival and said that she needs some help. Board members suggested that she talk to the Chamber, Lil' Jacks, the Eagles and the Rainbow Girls. C. CHRISTMAS ON MAIN STREET UPDATE - Ms. Osborne said that she has not done a great deal of planning on Christmas because duties for the Fall Back Festival have kept her busy. She said she had talked to the handler for Clutch the Rockets Bear and had scheduled him to appear at the Christmas on Main Street festival on December 3. D. CLUTCH UPDATE - This update was taken care of in the previous item. E. REPORT ON VISITS WITH BUSINESS OWNERS- Ms. Osborne submitted a report of her visits with the business owners on Main Street and gave a copy to each Board Member. She invited them to read the report to learn more about what the business owners on Main Street wanted from the program. F. MAIN STREET MORNING BREW-REPORT ON JULY EVENT AND SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES FOR AUGUST EVENT - Ms. Osborne reported that the fIrst Main Street Morning Brew in July went much better than expected, and that the August event was scheduled for August 19 at Main 101, with a tour of the Town Plaza. G. REPORT ON GATEWAY, TOWN PLAZA, AND SYLVAN BEACH PROJECTS-Ms. Osborne reported that the Gateway project plans were still being completed. She said that the Town Plaza was scheduled for completion in time for Christmas on Main Street, and that the Sylvan Beach Project should be completed by the end of December. 12. PUBLIC COMMENTS - No public comments were given 13. BOARD COMMENTS A. FUTURE AGENDA ITEM REQUESTS - The Board asked to review a copy of ordinance 106.443. B. MATTERS APPEARING ON AGENDA - No action was taken. C. INQUIRY OF STAFF REQUIRING A STATEMENT OF SPECIFIC FACTUAL INFORMATION OR A RECIT A nON OF EXISTING POLICY - No action was taken. 14. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made to adjourn by Board Member Maggie Anderson and seconded by Board Member Mark Follis. The meeting adjourned at 8:28 pm.