Board Meeting Minutes - April

Board of Directors Meeting Chattanooga BID 
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 

Time: 2:00 pm-3:09 pm 
Location: By Zoom and Telephone Due to COVID-19 

1. CALL TO ORDER

Steve Hunt, Chairman of the Chattanooga BID, called the meeting to order.  Board members attending by Zoom were Kelly Fitzgerald, Walter Johnson,  Lisa Maragnano, Matt McGauley, Donald O’Connor, Erskine Oglesby, Charles  Perry, and Gordon Stalans. 

Not attending were Pierre Dabit, Travis Lytle, Darian Scott, Ember Souchet,  Todd Gardenhire and Robin Smith.  

Also present were Julia Bursch of River City Company (Zoom) and Steve  Brookes, Executive Director of the Chattanooga BID (Telephone). 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The following sets of minutes were approved: Hiring Committee minutes of Feb. 27, Vendor Selection Committee minutes of March 2, 9 and 10, Executive Committee minutes of April 8, and Board Committee minutes of Feb. 26.

3. OLD BUSINESS

(a) J. Bursch reported that walking tours of downtown were postponed until further notice. Bursch also reported that survey results were to be compiled and circulated.

4. NEW BUSINESS

(a) For the Executive Committee, S. Hunt gave an update. As of Feb. 28,  $540,000 had been received from the City of Chattanooga. Expenses for the first quarter were in the $30,000-35,000 range. 

(b) A Conflict of Interest Policy has been written, which Board members should sign and return to G. Stalans.  

(c) R. Ruiz of Miller and Martin is working on changes needed to the by-laws. 

(d) A motion to approve “Downtown Chattanooga Alliance” as “a doing business as” description of the BID passed unanimously. R. Ruiz will be consulted on this matter.

(e) After an update from the Vendor Selection Committee, a motion to hire  Block By Block as the vendor and to charge S. Hunt, S. Brookes, and J. Bursch with the negotiation of the contract passed unanimously. 

(f) For the Finance Committee, G. Stalans reported that as of April 9, the City of Chattanooga had collected $686,000 in assessments with $226,000 not yet collected. J. Bursch and S. Brookes were tasked with addressing late collections.  

Expenses incurred include a $11,000 collection fee from the City of  Chattanooga and $21,000 from P.U.M.A. 

The Finance Committee plans to meet later to address the requests from four non-profits for reduction/abatement of their assessments.  

The grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation is in process and will be moved to the BID account.  

The meeting adjourned at 3:09.