HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.06.2015 Main Street MinutesMain Street Board Meeting
4-06-2015
Minutes
The Main Street Program Coordinating Board met Monday, April 6, 2015 in the City Council Chambers at
City Hall. The meeting was called to order by President Chris LeFevre at 12:05PM.
Board members in attendance were as follows: Frances Barrera, Diane Book, Melinda Brown, Paul
Drager, Dr. Michael Graves, Chris LeFevre, Beverly McCaskill, Debbie McPherson, Janice Payne, and
Phillip Shackelford. Also in attendance were Susan Blackerby, Teressa King and Melinda Brown.
The minutes from March 9, 2015 were approved. Debbie made the motion and Beverly seconded it to
accept the minutes. Passed.
Belinda Hinojosa, City Secretary, led as we all read the Oath of Office for the Main Street Program
Coordinating Board. Signatures from each Member affirmed their duties required by the Program.
Melinda reviewed the requirements for the Hot Grant Policy. An applicant representative must
complete and submit the forms to Main Street/Convention Visitors Bureau. All applicants must follow
requirements in their requests to receive Grant funds. Melinda told the Board that there is $6000 in the
account and that monies awarded to the applicant can be up to $750. The grant allows organizations,
events, or facilities to apply for funds to be in the promotion, rentals, advertisements, meeting rooms,
and that these groups must use local hotels or motels of Plainview. A motion to accept the Hot Grant
Policy was made by Paul and seconded by Beverly. Three applications have been submitted by
Soroptimist International of Plainview, All School Reunion, and Hale vua Dualthon. Phillip made the
motion to accept the Soroptimist application for a funding of $750. Frances abstained her vote because
she is a member of Soroptimist. Beverly made a motion and Janice seconded. This was approved. The
AIISchool Reunion application was reviewed and accepted with $750 granted in funds. The motion was
made by Paul and 2nd by Frances and it passed. Hale vua Dualthon benefitting the Crisis of the Plains
application was received. They need to meet the guidelines for advertising their event. Paul made the
motion to accept the application with $700 to be allocated for this event. Dr. Graves seconded the
motion. Chris and Janice abstained their vote because they are on the Crisis Center Board.
Melinda went over the Facade Improvement Incentive Grant Program that encourages quality exterior
rehabilitation in the historic business district and any property within Plainview downtown area. There is
$2500 in this account and eligible businesses can receive $500 but the applicants must follow all
requirements stated in the Grant and have 30 days from the date of award notification to confirm their
acceptance of the Grant. One application from Tender Hands has been submitted. They are current on
taxes but needs to update a utility bill. This is not in the within the guidelines and Paul made the motion
to table this request until bills are updated and cleared. Janice seconded the motion and it passed.
The Work Plan put into effect by the Board was discussed by each committee leader. The Organization
led by Beverly is joined by volunteers Beverly, Christy Pendergrast, Debbie and Melinda. Melinda gave
the plans for the Main Street Program Open House to be held in conjunction with Business After Hours.
Open House will be on June 11, 2015 from 5-6:30 PM at the Fair Theater utilizing Melinda's office,
lobby/concession area. Along with a children's activity, there will a recognition of the downtown stores.
On the upcoming Parade on July 3rd, Beverly made a motion while Janice seconded it for the Board to
assist with the Parade by helping line up and by directing the Parade entrants. The Dairies will organize
their event on July 3rd. Ice cream, milk, and cheese will be distributed by the Dairies.
Design Committee is chaired by Janice with her volunteers include Beverly Wall, Kay Harris, and Kelly
Carpenter. Janice also would like to schedule another meeting with the Austin Design Team. The
planters, bought by the Main Street Program, in front of various businesses are in place and Mike Patrick
will water the flowers, bought by the Downtown Association for these planters. The Board received a
copy of the FULL OF OPPORTUNITY signs that can be placed in vacant building/properties that are
available with information of whom to contact. Beverly made the motion, seconded by Chris to utilize
these signs. Motion passed.
The Economic Restructuring is chaired by Phillip. He gave the update on the Task Force that is working
on a change in variance that allows the sale of alcohol in the downtown area. The Task Force group is
Phillip, Beverly, Debbie.Diane, Jack Oswald, Sylvia DeLaGarza, Brian Wood, Cindy Tye, Hari Kotoiya and
V.O. Ortega . This group met on March 23rd to work on the wording of the survey/questionnaire that is
to be presented at a Town Hall meeting. V.O. suggested using the City Website as another type of media
source. Phillip presented the changes in the wording of the survey. And the Board again felt it too wordy
and the decision on acceptance of the survey was tabled to the next meeting. Any suggestions in the
editing can be sent to Phillip. The copy of the Open Banner program was viewed and discussed. This
program allows new business owners for the first 30-60 days to advertise the business is OPEN by
hanging this banner. An applicant must agree to abide the rules and requirements for the usage of the
banner. Applicants are to sign and turn into Melinda.
Melinda gave an update on the Main Street social media. Melinda is sending a monthly newsletter that
contains in-depth information on Main Street. The first newsletter was sent to 193 subscribers with 74
opens (41.8%) and 13 clicks (7.3%) — both are twice the industry standard. She also discussed the
Facebook page — Main Street Plainview Texas. It currently has 778 likes (they are currently working
through paid advertising to create more "likes") and it is used to advertise events and other quick bits of
information. Melinda has also created a Twitter account — PlvMainSt- with 9 current followers and an
Instagram account— PlvMainStreet — with 21 followers. They are still in the infancy stage but Melinda
wanted to claim the names before they were taken.
The meeting was adjourned by Phillip at 1:30PM