Executive Meeting - November

Executive Committee Meeting
Chattanooga BID
Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Time: 2:00 pm-3:30 pm
Location: River City Company (Large Conference Room)
850 Market Street, Suite 200, Chattanooga, TN 37402

I. Call to Order

Steve Hunt, President of the Chattanooga BID, called the meeting to order. Executive committee members Kelly Fitzgerald, Charles Perry, and Gordon Stalans were present. Also present were April Holland of Miller and Martin, Julia Bursch of River City Company, and  Amy Donahue of River City Company.

II. New Business  

(a) Agenda Format: It was decided that board minutes would be compiled by the Secretary and distributed by J. Bursch along with the agenda for board meetings.

(b) It was stated that, as the lawsuit against the City of Chattanooga has been settled, the BID process could move forward.

(c) On behalf of the BID, the President executed the Agreement for Support Services with the River City Company. (The agreement had been accepted in principle at the October 16, 2019 board meeting.) 

Particular attention was drawn to three issues: (1) River City would provide meeting and office space, but in the future the BID board should consider establishing its own space (2) the BID board needs to comply with the Tennessee Opening Meetings Act (3) Expenses for travel and other out-of-pocket costs which might be incurred by River City Company need to be pre-approved by the BID board. 

(d) J. Bursch reported on her findings at the International Downtown Association meeting in Baltimore. This report led to a discussion of two issues which the board needs to address:

i. The board needs to discuss its  priorities as to the following goals-clean services, ambassador services, safety services, and beautification and other improvements. (Once the priorities are set, they should be communicated to Yvette Freeman of P.U.M.A. for inclusion in the RFP.) The suggestion was made that the BID board do a walking tour of the district to see conditions first-hand. 

ii. The board needs to move forward with the selection of a BID manager and a BID vendor (in that order). There was discussion of the steps needed to accomplish these outcomes and what the board calendar should be to facilitate the process. One possibility would be to hold an off-cycle board meeting on February 5, 2020 to choose a BID manager. The vendor would then be selected at the meeting of the board on February 19th.

(e) Business cards will be ordered.

(f) A review of the by-laws will be carried out by the President, the Secretary, and A. Holland. After the review the by-laws will be presented to the board.

(g) There was a discussion of some financial issues: opening a bank account, establishing tax-exempt status with the IRS, setting a budget and presenting that budget to the City Council. A tax ID number has been established with the IRS. It was also agreed that the fiscal year should be the calendar year. There was also discussion that a financial committee, consisting of the Treasurer and two other members, should be established.

(h) It was agreed that procedures for the application process for requests from non-profits and entities operating under the PILOT program for exemptions/reductions from assessed property fees need to be established by the board. The hope was expressed that this should be done by December 18th. 

Respectfully submitted,

Charles Perry, Secretary