Mike Kerwin called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm on August 12, 2024.
Kevin Sluka conducted roll call and the following Board Members were present:
Present: Tania Althoff, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Andrianna Popowych
Late:
Absent: Rick St. Pierre
Excused: Beth Akkaway, Chas Stevens
Chairman Remarks
Vice Chairman Mike Kerwin filled in for Chairman Chas Stevens.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
July meeting minutes were approved this month.
- Committee Reports
- Infrastructure Committee
The infrastructure committee did not meet yet this month.
Kevin Sluka added that there is a pending meeting scheduled with PSE&G. Olivia will be introduced to the project manager and PSE&G will be outlining the project scope happening on Main and Division Streets. - Public Art Committee
The public art committee did not meet yet this month. - Promotions Committee
Natalia Kleyman mentioned the DSA will create a social media policy for the businesses. The policy will inform them on what to expect from the DSA in terms of social media sharing.- Back to School Business Crawl
Successful small event with positive feedback. - Central Jersey Jazz Fest
DSA is working on the Jazz Fest and vendors.
Olivia reiterated that Somerville is still working with Flemington. She will be meeting with Flemington’s Executive Director, Robin. - Haunted Horseman
Somerville has done haunted history tours before with Jane from Haunted History Productions.
- Back to School Business Crawl
- Infrastructure Committee
Olivia said she’s worked with Jane before and found a date for another haunted tour this year.
The Haunted Horseman event will feature a headless horseman story walk and it should pay for itself. The DSA will handle the costs for actors and story creation, and then sell the tickets.
Mike Kerwin asked if this event involves actors stationed at different spots downtown. Olivia confirmed it does, but it will have a new story.
The event will be on Saturday, Oct. 12, and the scheduled rain date would be the next day, Oct. 13.
- Spooktacular
The promotions committee had a brief discussion about the date for this year’s spooktacular.
Olivia clarified that last year’s Spooktacular was on Halloween, while the two years before it were on the Friday before Halloween.
The DSA sent a poll to the public and the public prefers the Friday before. The businesses seem to prefer Halloween itself.
The DSA will send a poll to the businesses to gather their feedback and opinions on the event. - Finance Committee
The finance committee met last month and discussed the bills concept and approving bills that have not been paid yet.
Olivia explained that the previous method was inherited from the borough and doesn’t work best for the DSA. Since the DSA deals with many vendors and expenses regularly, a different approach is needed.
The DSA created an expense report for every month where all three employees record their expenses.
Natalia Kleyman asked whether the board plans to reconcile the reports with the bank statements at the end of the year.
Olivia said yes and assured that Rebecca, the new bookkeeper, is familiarizing herself and starting to go through the process.
Kevin reminded everyone that the contract with the former bookkeeper had ended and the board will no longer be voting on bill payments.
Rebecca will have the financial reports for the next meeting.
- Recruitment and Retention Committee
The recruitment and retention committee did not meet yet this month. - Director’s Report
Olivia said the DSA is thinking about changing their email domain to downtownsomerville.org for better consistency and branding. She also applied for Google’s nonprofit program, which offers this option for free.
Natalia Kleyman asked if the domain should be downtownsomervillenj.org to differentiate from other Somerville’s.
Olivia added that the domain should match the website and social media. The social media handles are Downtown Somerville, and the website is downtownsomerville.org.
Ed Rebenack asked if the existing email addresses will be removed.
Olivia said the existing email addresses will forward to the new ones for at least six months to a year.
- New Business
- Ride Wise
Olivia introduced Sarah Catherine from Ride Wise, a nonprofit organization where Olivia serves as a board member.
Their mission is sustainable and safe transportation. They work a lot with towns, communities, businesses, and schools that all focus around safe walking, biking, using public transit, etc.
Sarah discussed Ride Wise doing a sidewalk or walking audit to see what makes Somerville safe or unsafe for pedestrians. She added that the data is useful for grant applications in the future.
Sarah demonstrated examples of walkability audits that Ride Wise had done in the past for other towns. They will plan out a route that the town might want to focus on and make note of all the things that make the road unsafe.
The service is being provided at no cost. - Automotus
Automotus is one of several companies that has camera technology to provide some backup data and information on vehicle traffic, parking, loading, and unloading zones, etc.
Olivia believes this project will be best suited for the borough to take on exclusively, or for the DSA to partner with the borough because it is related to the parking meters.
Olivia and Chas met with the mayor, who asked them to suggest to the council that they consider updating the parking meters, either by replacing them with digital ones or another method.
Olivia added that partnering with Automotus and using Ride Wise’s audit information will help make a more informed decision about the parking meters.
Automotus also offers a curb management tool. They have cameras that stay in place and can issue tickets within minutes.
Kevin said he thinks the DSA needs to be involved and that the auditor noted the borough deals with too much cash since every meter takes change, which many towns have stopped doing.
Natalia mentioned that some people were upset because they didn’t know they could pay the meters with coins and thought they could only pay by phone. She was also concerned that a large company might prioritize its own interests, since Somerville is much smaller compared to other downtowns in NJ.
RanD Pitts believes the cameras are essential, especially since the mayor has been advocating for them due to more traffic in town.
Olivia said that they could use another company and the data will be difficult to skew. Using a company like Automotus will provide more specific information about people, cars, areas, etc.
Mike Kerwin added that data, consulting, and partnership with the borough is needed to achieve this.
- Ride Wise
MOTION to have a policy discussion by the Borough of Somerville on the future of the parking meters situation in downtown: RanD Pitts
SECOND: Natalia Kleyman
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
- Holiday Market
Olivia said she met with the owner of the old Provident Bank location. He asked for help finding a tenant because he’s had difficulty.
Olivia suggested a temporary popup at that location to host a vendor market for a longer period of time.
It would be a holiday vendor market for 6-8 weeks with hours to be decided. The space, which is already divided into small offices, will be used as is. The DSA will find and manage the vendors, who will pay a fee. The DSA will have volunteers cover certain hours.
Olivia said the property owner and manager will inform her about the rent and utility costs.
Ed Rebenack asked if there is any concern that it would set expectations for other landlords, expecting the DSA to go to similar lengths to use their spaces.
Olivia said it wouldn’t be a problem because the DSA’s goal is to showcase the space to help the owner find a tenant, which is the main purpose of using the vacant spot.
A meeting with zoning will be needed to see this forward. - Outstanding Items
- Main Street America
Olivia reiterated that Main Street America is visiting for two days and they asked for some assistance with organizing focus groups and discussions with community stakeholders.
At the end of their visit, there will be a board meeting that will be highlighting the findings and the potential strategy as a result of the study.
- Main Street America
- Outdoor Music System
Olivia stated that the outdoor music played again in the middle of the night this past weekend.
The music company explained that the problem is often due to network issues, where the system plays automatically if the network goes down. They are investigating further to identify any other potential problems.
Kevin spoke with KRS, the borough’s IT consultant, and they did not identify any disturbance or breakage in the system.
Olivia suggested adding a timer so it shuts the whole rack off between certain hours. She also said that some residents on Main Street have mentioned it becomes challenging to work at home with the music always playing.
Andrianna Popowych suggested creating a schedule that works better with the ambiance in town so the tenants aren’t left listening to music all day. Andrianna has to disclose about the music to potential tenants and it can become a marketing disadvantage.
Olivia stated that the music has been limited to Wednesday-Sundays with different times.
- Finance Reports
Olivia stated that she has been in communication with the auditor and the audit process is near completion.
Olivia also suggested creating a more robust list to make it easier to categorize.
The board agreed to the decision.
- Payment Authorization
This process is now removed and it will switch to monthly spending reports provided by the DSA staff every month. - Comments from the Public
Audrey Jones asked if Somerville has looked into how Morristown, Summit, or Westfield handle their parking meters. She suggested that this could provide useful guidance.
Mike Kerwin stated it would be part of the process. - Adjournment
Mike Kerwin made a motion to adjourn the meeting on Monday, August 12, 2024, at 7:30 pm.