Chairman Chas Stevens called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm on May 12, 2025.

Kevin Sluka conducted roll call and the following Board Members were present:   

Present: Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Chas Stevens, Andrianna Popowych, Rick St Pierre, RanD Pitts, Tania Althoff, Virtual: Conlyn Chan 

Missing: Chris Edwards, Beth Akkaway

CHAIRMAN REMARKS
Chas wanted to take this time to thank Rick for his help getting the flower pot initiative going with Michael, they look terrific. 

APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES

Chas made a motion to approve the meeting minutes from April, Kevin seconded and the motion passed. Minutes were asked to be more detailed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

1. Finance Report (Olivia/Chas):
   1. Accounting report given by guest speaker Bob Butvilla of Suplee, Clooney & Co LLC. Bob noted back in 2020 there was a $128,000 deficit that year and $269,000 in equity. In 2021 we ran a $257,000 deficit with $12,000 in the bank. 2022 we had $128,000 deficit and equity was in the negative of $117,000. 2023 looked worse with $66,000 deficit and negative $182,000 balance. 2024 this was turned around with a $184,000 surplus. At the end of the year we had  positive equity of $2,500. No issues to bring to your attention at this point. 
   3. Formal resolution to sign NJEDA grant, awarded last June for $50,000 to use for Ghiardina and Division Street improvements. Chas motioned to approve, Kevin seconded and all voted in favor. 
   5. Sam.gov submission due by July 1st to accept grants. That has been completed for this year. 

2. Infrastructure & Design Team (Kevin/Tania)
   1. PSE&G is wrapped up for now and done until next year. NJ American Water is tying up a veterans memorial. PSE&G noted they’ll be doing Division Street and the remainder of Main Street next year.
   2. Main Street grant was awarded, waiting on documentation to sign.The total awarded amount is $150,000. It’s a reimbursable grant with 50% up front. We will need to close the grant by the end of June 2026. This grant is covering design team projects. 

3. Promotions (Natalia/Olivia)
   1. All KPI reports went up a percentage, and no unsubscribes reported. The placer reports that people are coming from everywhere including NY and Easton, PA. Influencer posts have been doing well and gearing new followers to our page and the pages of the businesses included. The marketing goal for the year is to get people coming back to Somerville at least 5+ times. 
   2. We’re currently working on 7 events simultaneously. Coming up first is Girls Night Out, followed by the kick off of Cruise Nights, then Tour of Somerville, the International Street Fair, Pride, Movie Nights, and restaurant week. 
   3. Rick made a motion to cancel restaurant week, we don’t have the restaurants on board and the date is quickly approaching. This was supported by Chas due to lack of responses by the restaurants. Motion was approved all in favor. 
   4. Movie nights moved to Wednesdays due to lack of availability on Thursdays. Movie trivia will happen prior to the movie. 

4. Economic Vitality
   1. Beneath It All had it’s grand re-opening.
   2. Teas Up had it’s grand opening.
   3. The Granitz Building was sold, details to come.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

• Currently some issues with the watering process for the plants, we’d like to move forward with Michael for the watering because he cares about the plants. ABS is not equipped to handle the watering.
• Currently interviewing potential summer interns, they will be paid with a stipend of $1,500, two interns, roughly 20 hours per week. 
• Big Belly update: Proposal just received, please review so we can vote for our next meeting.
• Outdoor Museum Proposal for the 250th: Total investment would be $41,833 and we would get to keep the entire finished products and hardware. Tania brought up the validity of her work, Olivia noted she would be in touch with local historians and she holds a masters degree in museum history. It would be up to the board to determine the length of it being up, noting it would have to be up by the 4th of July, which is the actual 250th. The board noted they would want something more visually appealing, and not so bulky on Division Street. This project would need an 8-10 month lead time. Kevin suggested agreeing to a partial contact so we can get other organizations on board to help us out financially. They ask that we go back to the drawing board with this, potentially doing a history tour instead, spreading out the project to all of Main Street. The board made a motion to approve the research phase of the project, and then all agreed it’s not ready to go to vote as nearly the entire board wanted to abstain from the vote. 
• All voted in favor of hiring a SID attorney.

NEW ITEMS/UPDATE

• We did a small business week scratch off incentive for all businesses that take part in our Yiftee gift card program, everyone noted its success. 
• Borough is getting a parking consultant for Somerville.  

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 7:40pm, next meeting June 9th at 6pm