July 2024 Minutes
Minutes
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
PANAMA CITY DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT BOARD
Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024 @ 8:30 AM
Panama City Center for the Arts
19 East 4th Street
1. Call to Order at 8:01 AM. Present: Chair Catherine Shores, Allan Branch, Jake Sostheim, Catherine McCloy, Lesli Todd. Absent: Jennifer Burg
2. Additions or Deletions – 12 d. Hiring an additional employee 12 e. – Lockboxes in Gateway Park 12 f. - Strategic Planning workshop
3. Chairman’s Report – Catherine shared that her board seat will be open on 8-1-24. She would like to stay on the board but would like to step down as chair. The board currently has one seat open.
4. Approval of Minutes from June 5th, 2024- Allan made a motion to approve. Catherine McCloy 2nd. All approved.
5. Public Participation – Kathleen O’Brian shared that the historic Society of Bay County will be hosting a Coffee & Cookie get together on the 3rd Friday of each month from 9 – 11 AM. Danielle Sim’s asked if there is a way we could make the Social District area golf cart friendly, like The Cove neighborhood. Jenna will bring it to the city. Allan made a motion for Maria to write a letter of support to the city in favor of this. Jake 2nd. All approved. Denise Cox with the Panama City Symphony thanked the downtown businesses for their support. Quality of Life will be hosting a symphony series Oct. – May at 2:30 PM on Fridays as well as three evening events that will be ticketed. Suzanne Mandel with public works shared that the preconstruction meeting for phase 2 of streetscapes will happen next week. This project will have a different funding source, a different contractor, and a compressed timeline. Businesses will always have access to their storefront by front or back door. This is a HUD funded project and extensions will likely not be granted. The weekly newsletter updates will start again once construction starts. Catherine asked that Maria have a seat at the meetings to bring any merchant concerns. Suzanne agreed. Maria asked if the city could add a map to the website showing patrons where available parking is.
6. Financial Update
7. Arts Update – Jayson Kretzer shared that Gov. DeSantis recently vetoed a line item for the arts. This resulted in a loss of about $50,000 for The Arts Center. Jayson will be asking for $8000 in support of FLLUXE at the next board meeting. Back Stage Pass will be held at the Marina again this year. Bay Arts will manage McKenzie House and plans to have it opened to programming by Oct. 1st. Catherine Shores asked if he could consider putting some of the arts budget into a permanent photo spot in Gateway Park.
8. CRA Update – Waiting for more complete plans for the Breezeway. Waiting on a change order for the public restroom design. Once received, construction will begin.
9. QOL Update – May 16-18 is Cultura. Change to Friday event to include storytelling and Wines of the World at The Center for the Arts. They are looking for a sponsor for this event. Looking for community partners for Martin Theatre groundbreaking.
10. DPC Update – Downtown 4th of July Celebration is on the 4th at Destination Panama City.
11. Old Business
12. New Business
a. FY 25 Budget – Allan made a motion to approve. Lesli 2nd. All approved.
b. Attorney to research DIB borrowing power – Allan would like the DIB to hire Cole Davis to research what the DIB borrowing power is. He made a motion to approve $750. Jake 2nd. All approved.
c. Florida Redevelopment Conference 2024 – Maria brought to the board’s attention that the conference was in October, and she would like to attend. Once more information comes out, it will be brought back to the board.
d. Hiring an additional employee – Catherine would like the DIB to hire another employee that may be able to complete all currently hired work but does not want to have to own equipment. Maria will speak with current contractors to see if can work out or look at an employee that brings their own equipment.
e. Lockboxes in Gateway Park – The homeless have been using the electrical outlets in Gateway Park to charge their cell phones. Allan has suggested purchasing lock boxes for the outlets to prevent this from happening. Maria will research which will work for the outlets and bring it back to the board next month with the cost.
f. Strategic Planning Workshop – Allan requested that the DIB hold a strategic planning workshop and put together a 5 year plan. Catherine shared that parking is part of the DIB mission and a parking garage design has been done. It was handed over to the City Attorney’s office 4 years ago. Allan asked Maria to track it down and share it with Cody Hardin and Michael Higdon. Maria and Jayson Kretzer will collaborate and come up with a plan for a Strategic Vision meeting.
13. Administrative Update
a. EV Charging Stations – Electrical work by the contractor will begin next week. Still waiting on an invoice from FPL and to get on their calendar to begin their work.
b. Social District – The 2nd reading of the new ordinance is on July 9th. Maria requested that any downtown merchants that would like to show their support attend.
c. POM 2024 – Catherine and Maria will be attending in Tallahassee from July 10 – 12.
d. The parking lot behind the Martin Theatre is complete.
e. Maria asked the board to provide her with a head shot and a short bio to update the website.
f. Maria will be going to Pensacola July 22 and 23 to meet with their DIB Executive Director and attend their DIB board meeting.
g. Jenny Kelly has completed her agreement with DPC to start posting on the DIB social media. Her first post was on July 2nd and was well received.
h. The new lights in Gateway Park will finish being installed today.
14. Reminders/Calls to action
a. Next meeting will be Wednesday, August 7th, 2024
b. Next Workshop meeting TBD
15. Adjournment at 9:59