Board Minutes January 2018

DOWNTOWN DOVER PARTNERSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES January 24, 2018 in City Council Conference Room ATTENDANCE: Mayor Christiansen, Anita Evans, Mike Harrington, Dave Hugg, Diane Laird, Maxine Lewis, Mitch May, Donna Mitchell, Gregg Moore, Councilman Fred Neil, Todd Stonesifer, Erin Thwaites, Councilman Tim Slavin, and Robert Clark STAFF: Tina Bradbury, Brynn Voshell OTHER ATTENDEES: Capt Bernat, Tom Smith, Jonathan Street, Kirby Hudson, Mike Finney Agenda was approved with the month correction on the printed version: 1st Todd Stonesifer 2nd Gregg Moore All approved/No Opposition, motion carried December Minutes were presented via previous email and hard copy at the meeting. Approve by: 1st- Todd Stonesifer 2nd- Mike Harrington All approved/No Opposition, motion carried Dover Police Department Update – Captain Bernat gave an update on the annual crime statistics:  Been with the Police Department for 23 Years. Recently promoted to Captain about 6 months ago.  1 Burglaries to date which the same for this time last year.  2 Robberies compared to 12 in January of 2017. Robberies are still being investigated, suspects were apprehended, and guns were recovered.  0 Shooting to date. Dover PD is doing a program where they set up patrols in different “Hot Spots” and have seen a drastic reduction in the number of shootings. What classifies as a shooting? A confirmation of a person, vehicle, dwelling, etc will determine if it is considered a shooting.  9 Cadets are currently on rotation. Cadets always work in pairs unless they are stationed at the library. DDP Financial Report and Main Street Dover Tina stated that a November payment was made for a façade grant totaling $1683.00. Also a payment made to Connor Strong for insurance in the amount of $22379.00. Advertising 4423.00. December Insurance 1901.00 L&W, Advertising for Small Business Saturday and Holiday Celebrations $1725. Actors Attic $700 for the Capital Holiday Celebration. Compliance $4,237. Gregg asked why Dover Developmental Corp listed with open project listing. Tina informed him that the property is still listed under the Dover Development Corporation and it is reflected in the actual budget numbers. Motion to approval Financials as presented: 1st Gregg Moore 2nd Mike Harrington All Approved/No Opposition, Motion carried President Report All board members received that Joan Cote’s resigned on January 15th. An active search is on for a new Executive Director. Job description is being sent around. As of right now Tina, along with Brynn and Maureen are helping with this transition. Maureen will be Interim Director until mid-May. Diane passed around a timeline and job description. With the office staff, Maureen and the timeline we will be able to hold a broader search and would like to wait until after the Main Street Conference. With having announced Tina as a very qualified Main Street Overseer the job description will have to be updated as Tina has taken on more responsibilities in the Downtown Dover Partnership. Discussions of ad

placements and cost management. Diane and Anita suggested that all board members help in the interview process to make sure that we have the right candidate for this position. Interview process was discussed as to initial being a 5- minute phone conversation, then the next being a 20-30 minute in person interview, and third being a meeting with board. Suggestions of letting the public know that Maureen Feeney-Roser will be “Interim Executive Director”. Property-Phil was unable to attend. 680 Forest waiting on asbestos removal quotes. Currently have 1 quote for $26,500 but will have other quotes by the end of the week. Property North Street Parking Lot, EZ Pass has been moved over to that lot. Anita said that they are still working on terminating the easement. Erin Thwaites spoke up regarding her customers and employees complaining about not having a safe spot to park as that is where they were always directed to park. She stated that she is struggling telling her customers where to park. All permits for the Bradford lot are oversold. Bradford metered spots are filled during prime hours. Some permit spots in the Loockerman Way lot are being taken by merchants’ trash receptacles. Robin Eaton will be going to the Merchants and help find an agreement as to where to place trash so that it can be picked up. Tina will try to update the website with a better detailed parking map. Dave Hugg asked if there is any opportunity to get a large sign with parking information. Jonathan Street informed the board that there are signs for parking, but it is very complexed with some lots having metered, permit and 2 hours free in each area. Todd mentioned that the more success that you have downtown, the more parking is going to become an issue. Tina mentioned doing some landscaping in the Governors’ lot and better lighting. Jonathan suggested to move all metered spots to Loockerman, all permit spots to Bradford. Jonathan suggested going back to the owners of EZ Pass to discuss the parking situation. Dave said that he is working on numbers to see what the process would be to get a parking structure. Todd suggested to check in to Salisbury and find out how they handle their parking structures. Councilman Neil suggested a private/public partnership for the parking structure in which permit holders pay a fee for prime spots in the parking structure and then leave the rest open to the public for a fee. Tina and Jonathan can work on a flyer for merchants to hand out to customers regarding parking. DDP-Tina Went over the poster that was made up with the list of all of the years events. Several publications throughout the year will be published with the branded event poster. The poster has been added to our website. St. Patrick’s Day is the kickoff to our events. The first Dinner and a Movie will be held after the parade on March 17, 2018. DDP partnered with the Library and Restoring Central Dover to help get a grant to fund the Dinner and a Movie project that will be held once a month in the Plaza from March to September. Tina is acquiring sponsorships for the Dinner and a Movie, she already has 3 in place. Gregg requested a monthly newsletter be sent out to keep everyone up to date, Tina informed the board that she has started that process and the first newsletter has already gone out and will be called the Downtown Declaration. Unlock the Block is a program that the DDP, the former DEDO (being renamed) and a grant from Restoring Central Dover. Tina along with Dave Hugg, and Diane Laird have inquired 6 properties to get the store fronts filled with new businesses. The program gives opportunities to business owners incentives to open stores in the downtown area. We are the pilot for this program. Tina met with President Clark about a Wesley collaboration to try to engage students, facility, families and those coming in for sports events. The first one is the Wesley Discount Program where merchants will offer some type of discount if students/staff show id. Tina will be creating advertisement for this just like the one done for the Military Discount Program. Second is a Wesley Corner where we will take one of the empty stores and change it out with the seasons with Wesley information. DDP is hosting the Tourism Talk at the Library. Tina is trying to show our partnerships and also asked that each committee member send her a brief description of their committee along with information on upcoming projects. Tourism Talks will be on March 20, 2018. Tina asked if she can share the board listing with Tourism to get them on the email list for their newsletter. Restoring Central Dover and Transportation committee big project is the electric boxes, DDP is taking the corner of Governors and Loockerman Electrical box and is having Dover High Art Club work on designs for that. Tina would also like to do other boxes as well as the one in the plaza. United Church that has moved out to Dover High, would like to host a clean up the week before Dover Days. If there is any certain cleanup project you would like please let her know and she can relay it to them. Mayor’s Comments Mayor Christiansen had to leave early. Donna gave notes for him. A meeting will be scheduled to discuss First Night and Holiday Events with DDP, D3 and other partnerships to see if we need to make any changes to the current events and to see if we can get sponsorships to try to get First Night back.

Legislative Update No Legislators available for this meeting. Planning Department Dave said in terms of the planning department the key priorities moving forward this year are updates on regulatory process and making ordinance revision and eliminating the 125% parking rule. Big project this year is updating the comprehensive plan. Not a lot of structural changes to the plan but a lot has happened in the last 5 years. Trying to organize the response process when people inquire about opening a business. Restoring Central Dover Art project is partnering with Del-Dot and has extended to several Dover utility boxes. Painting of the electrical boxes will begin in the spring. We are about 2 weeks away from settling on 10 properties that have been bought by NCALL. Working with State Housing and NCALL about getting properties into active status. The Owner of Tresses is in the process of purchasing her building. Parking & Safety – Jonathan stated they are working on the workplan. He said that the main focus is to improve the image of parking and safety. Improve way-finding and better signage in parking lots. Manage and improve existing parking lot, parking meters, and parking permit programs and finally a parking study implementation. Anita suggested that the board vote on approving Parking and Safety to continue with the workplans. All Approved/No Opposition, Motion carried Economic Vitality – Mitch said they are working to finalize their workplan. Design Committee – Tina stated that they are going ahead with the Façade Grant Program and have increased the total amount from 2500 to 5000 with a match program. New implementation process is in place. Façade has it’s own form and architectural will have it’s own form. It will eventually be available online is a fillable format. Goal is get word out to people about the incentives. A spreadsheet is being created so that the committee is able to keep track of what is being spent on each grant as it was not tracked before. Enhancing the visual appearance of Downtown Dover by including seasonal banners which we are now on a schedule to change them out. Managing Downtown Dover Window Decorating contest. If everyone one likes the idea of vacant store fronts being painted, we will continue with that. Design is currently working with Wesley College to try to get a downtown mural created on the side of the Art League. Money has been set aside for that project and we are working on getting details as to what can be placed on the mural. Educate the public constituents about all the available incentives to start a business downtown. All Approved/No Opposition, Motion carried Marketing & Promotion - Tina stated that the events banner has gone out to the merchants and advertisers. Expanding ways to put more feet in the streets by expanding the number of downtown events. We are trying to create a shop small event to happen quarterly. More community outreach and communication. Tonda is trying to target different community-based agencies that we can implement into the marketing and promotions to make sure that we are working with those entities to make sure that we are effectively communicating what were are doing so that they are aware and so that they will travel to downtown for our events. Branding by making sure that everything is the same and making sure that we spread the word as to what we are doing downtown. Trying to be more strategic about how we get the word out. Acquire partnerships with outside corporate entities, Dart and WSFS have already been contacted and sponsorships are being worked out. All Approved/No Opposition, Motion carried Merchants – Tom spoke about the last merchant meeting and the importance of communication between the City, DDP, Merchants and the residents. He said many customers have complained about not being able to access streets and parking. He is currently the only merchant attending the parking and safety meetings and would like other merchants to attend so that they can have their opinions heard. He went over the workplan which includes the goal to create an environment that provides business networking support with a Shop Small, Shop Local philosophy to enhance and grow the Downtown Dover Business District. Develop cooperative marketing campaigns and explore additional opportunities to create sales. Continue to evaluate and market the military discount program. Develop holiday advertising for 2018. Add retail components to existing events. Explore ways to benefit from the cultural and historic tourism within the

town. Assist Marketing and Promotions Committee in building on the Downtown Dover map and business directory currently in place. Increase communications between merchants, DDP and the City. Tom also spoke on improving the perception of public parking and safety. He wanted to point out that a major economic driver for Downtown is First State Heritage Park and The Green. Councilman Fred Neil spoke about the closures on Bradford and the fact that people did not seem to know about the closures. Need a better way to communicate to the merchants and residents about closures. Tina informed the board that she sent out notices to the merchants, but some may not have received them in time as they may have been away due to the holidays. Donna reiterated that the streetscape project is with the intention to help create a better atmosphere to recruit more business. All Approved/No Opposition, Motion carried City Wide – Dave Hugg announced that the Kent County Profile Document was released. It is a great promotional piece that lets people know of the reasons move to or start a business in Dover. The City is moving forward. Wesley College – Dr. Clark said that with the extreme weather conditions over the holidays, Wesley had 4 major water main breaks. 50th Anniversary over the next 18 months. Welsey has the #1 Bachelor of Science Nursing program in the state for the second year in a row. And for the first time in this state Wesley has the highest pass rate and were 1 person away from 100%. MOT program continues to be in high need and we are going through the final phase of accreditation so that will allow us to expand what we offer. Once this is done we could realistically double our graduate numbers. The plan is to repurpose the old library to be a combination of MOT/Health Science/Ped Program. MOT is Master of Occupational Therapy. President Clark said that he would like to bring the director in to give a brief description of the program at a future meeting. President Clark said student highlights would be the several interns in the community and the state including the 3rd year in a row they have a legislative fellow. A young man that is currently a student that is projected to go mid to high in the draft for football. He was selected as a top offensive lineman. Dr. Clark is having a meeting with the Interim President of Del State next week to discuss the Schwartz Center. One of the challenges that Wesley has is that the maintenance staff is contracted so they are looking to get more support from Del- State. Tim Slavin and Community Leaders are trying to bring back the Schwartz Center and its Board of Directors by Dover Days. Neither Wesley or DSU has the expertise nor staff to run this facility. Financial stability will be dependent upon community philanthropic support. Final thing is that Wesley is in talks with Rowan University Engineering Program to get an agreement that if they come to Wesley for Stem Program Courses such as Math and Science and do well in 5 years in with core courses they would get direct path into Rowan. It would be a win-win for both colleges. He said they have been in discussion with the fire department about having a Wesley Engine. He thanked everyone for their continued support of the college and said that they goal is to not only get more students but to make this a place where they want to stay after graduating. Tourism – Councilman Fred Neil pointed out that Expedia has listed Dover as the #1 getaway in Delaware. That is due to the history, culinary, and museums. He spoke about the food trucks program and said that no one comes to visit Dover for food trucks. If you haven’t checked the site, please do. He has offered to sell copies of his book and have a book signing with all proceeds going directly to the Schwartz. Public Comments – Next meeting is at Bayhealth and is a 3-hour strategic plan workshop help by Peggy Giesler. It is a big commitment but please plan to be there 7:30-10:30 as we need everyone’s input to get this Strategic Plan in place. Todd asked for a city scape update regarding the trees. Gregg said he has to bring it in front of council. Tina informed Gregg that Tim would like to meet with him before they put it on the agenda. Motion to Adjourn All Approved/No Opposition, Motion carried