Chas. Stevens called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm on March 11, 2024.
Kevin Sluka conducted roll call the following Board Members were present:
Present: Tania Althoff, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Chas. Stevens, Kevin Sluka, Rick St. Pierre, Mike Kerwin
Late: Adrianna Popowych
Absent:
Excused:
Approval of Meeting Minutes
Vote to Approve February 2024 Meeting Minutes
MOTION: Chas Stevens
SECOND: Rick St. Pierre
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin
Nay: None Recuse: None Abstain: None
Chairman Remarks
Chas Stevens commented that Downtown Somerville has many open projects this year, including the Streetscape project, and expressed his excitement to get started and work with everybody.
Executive Directors Report
- Old Business
- Update on CDS/Clean and Safe Program
CDS weekly reports were included in the packet describing what the CDS has been working on around the district.
The Clean and Safe program will continue to be discussed in the agenda.
- Update on engagement with Grant Writer
Natalie had a meeting with the grant writer and spoke about priorities for the year and some of the grant opportunities that might be available.
Natalie has already flagged a couple of grants that might be good for DSA including the Main Street Program and the T-Mobile hometown grant.
The Main Street program is doing a grant that is possibly due in April and will give up to $150,000 for a variety of types of projects.
Other grants that will be researched are infrastructure improvements to fund the streetscape program, general operating support, public art programs, and strategic planning.
- Update on Paul Robeson Sculpture
Natalie reiterated that the DSA was the recipient of a $34,000 LAP grant from the county last year.
Sterling Brown, a New Jersey based artist, is the selected artist that aligned more with the mission of the Robeson program.
She stated that the DSA really wanted to get the community involved in the artist selection process, but the DSA had to commit in order not to have the funds taken back.
Natalie explained the next step is her phone call with Brown to discuss the parameters of the project, formal pricing for the sculpture, and working on putting that committee together to discuss potential location and design.
The plan is still to involve the local community and to involve the Paul Robeson Institute from Raritan Valley Community College.
It is also planned to involve the St. Thomas AME church, which is the church that Paul Robeson Senior was a pastor of, and Reverend Donna Stewart, who’s the current reverend of that church.
Natalie has been in touch with her and they have a meeting scheduled to discuss how St.Thomas can get involved in the process.
Mike Kerwin suggested speaking more about a small, three-dimensional model and to get a clear understanding of what the sculpture would look like and more about the fundraising.
Natalie states in addition to getting a 3D model, there is also a plan on blowing up the renderings and putting those on display in the district. There is also a plan to have a public poll to see which design people are most attracted to.
Mike Kerwin asked if there is going to be a vote on four designs or if there will be tweaking.
Natalie says that will be discussed with the committee and there can be tweaking if needed.
Mike Kerwin advised he was looking for a more youthful Paul Robeson because the sketches were of a more mature Paul Robeson and that is not what Mike thinks of when he thinks of Somerville and Paul Robeson.
Natalie explains that is definitely something the committee can ask for and there is no formal contract or locked in designs.
Mike Kerwin advised asking the artist if they would be available to help present a couple of times to the public and to the borough council.
Natalie said she will make a note of that.
- Update on Community Policing Initiatives
Community police officers were unavailable to join today’s meeting.
Discussed potentially creating a better notification system to work with our business community to notify them in the event of an emergency.
There will be a community session at the Civic Center and all of the business owners are invited.
DSA is working with them to get better communication and help the business community feel safer.
Rick St. Pierre requested a breakdown of ownerships in the businesses because different owners have different concerns about safety. He also requested possibly creating a survey for the business owners about safety.
Natalie explained data can be collected to help.
- New Business
- Sponsorship Request: Tour of Somerville
Natalie reported that she has not yet received the sponsorship request from the Tour of Somerville.
Darrell met with Casey, the tour director, and she expressed that they need operating support.
Natalie spoke about potentially offering them the same deal offered to the St. Patrick Day parade committee, which is a three year commitment to give them operating support.
Chas. Stevens asked if there was a discussion of what they need in finite terms.
Natalie highlighted that she did let them know they would need a sponsorship request but is unsure if there is enough time to decide what number works within the budget.
Mike Kerwin suggested working with the tour for next year with a solid foundation and more time and also suggested an appropriate amount of support similar to what was given for St. Patrick’s Parade.
Rick St. Pierre agreed with Mike and added that one of the objectives of the DSA is feet on the street and not just feet through the door. He advised that next year they can maybe consider more involvement.
Natalie stated that the DSA will always provide some type of marketing support. She does not want to waste resources and can show support with marketing and cash donations.
Kevin Sluka asked if cash donation has already been done and mentioned how the DSA would not receive a response after giving cash donations in the past and that’s how they ended up in the community zone.
Mike Kerwin agreed with Kevin and urged accounting at the end of the tour to know the money was invested appropriately and acknowledge the level in which the DSA is contributing.
Natalie also agreed with Kevin and explained the DSA’s involvement last year had no real accounting of what the finances of the tour were and they received a complaint.
Natalie advised giving $4,000 and promising it for three years; the same way it was done for the St.Patty’s Day parade. She also advised a formal accounting at the end of the year.
Chas. Stevens asked if last year’s $7,500 was part of what was spent on the community zone stuff.
Natalie explained that amount included rentals for the community zone, Porta Johns, and advertising costs.
Rick St. Pierre mentioned it is very beneficial that Somerset County allowed the DSA to use the lawn and it should be used for more projects.
Natalie reassured the DSA can certainly reserve the lawn for other events and projects.
Kevin Sluka mentioned there will be a parade on Main Street 40 minutes before the tour begins.
Chas. Stevens asked if the parade route is the same as the race route.
Kevin Sluka said the parade route will definitely be part of the race route, but the logistics have not been worked out yet.
Mike Kerwin asked if $4,000 should be given to the tour.
Natalie advised it should be that amount because it is fair and the same deal was given to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee.
She also advised that the event does not bring out as many people, but it is equally as an important event in terms of history and what makes up Downtown Somerville.
Chas. Stevens asked if the community zone would be paused.
Natalie confirms it would be paused for a year theoretically.
Natalie stated that the motion would be to approve a multi-year sponsorship for the tour of Somerville for $4,000 a year.
Kevin Sulka asked if the DSA could do one year at a time instead.
Natalie explained that it can be done and she suggested multi-year because that was done for St. Patrick’s State Parade.
Natalia Kleyman asked if that would put the DSA in the same position next year where we are being asked very late.
Mike Kerwin explained that is what they are trying to avoid and motioned donating $4,000, receiving an accounting number of finances, and a strong request to participate as the advocates for downtown to create a new structure to provide long term stability for the tour.
Natalie stated she will tell them that moving forward, there will need to be a sponsorship request in January.
Vote to Approve New Plan for Tour of Somerville
MOTION: Mike Kerwin
SECOND: Rick St. Pierre
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwi, Chas. Stevens
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
- FYI- Events Calendar for 2024
Natalie informs that she and Robin have agreed on the Jazz Fest being Sept. 14, but might change.
AAPI Heritage Month event is now included. The DSA is committed to doing something to commemorate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May.
Natalia Kleyman stated the DSA did not do that two years ago.
Natalie said she believes the DSA did and there was a nonprofit partner involved to help with the event.
Natalie has reached out to the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission to get connected with some of their Asian American partners that they’ve done programming with in the past. If that does not work, the DSA will look at doing some artwork and highlight Asian American business owners in the district.
Rick St. Pierre asked if the DSA still had contact with that group.
Natalie said that she will be getting that info from Kaitlin Bundy from C&HC.
Rick St. Pierre brought up the logistical issue of Juneteenth falling on the same day as Flag Day and the Diversity Festival being the same weekend as the start of the October street fairs.
Natalie mentioned the county has reached out to have the DSA be a part of the DF planning committee and there is no set date because there are a lot of conflicts in October.
Chas Stevens asked who runs the Diversity Festival.
Natalie said Somerset County.
Kevin Sulka mentioned that Rolling Thunder will be coming down Main Street on the Sunday before Memorial Day.
Adrianna Popowych asked if the DSA received any feedback about restaurant week.
Natalie stated a survey was sent out to ask restaurants if they would be interested in a restaurant week or weekend. Restaurants said they wanted a restaurant week.
There is an issue of many restaurants being closed on Monday or Tuesday and the DSA will confirm who will be open those days to make sure that we can support it.
Adrianna Popowych asked if the DSA knew last year’s turnout for a weekend.
Natalie stated it was difficult to quantify how much of that was directly related to the promotion of the restaurant weekend. She advised that doing restaurant week will help quantify how much of that is due to the DSA programming or how much of that is due to just regular foot traffic.
Natalia Kleyman mentioned she thinks there is a good mix of restaurants that are open on Monday but closed Tuesday and vice versa and people will have their choice of going to one place on Monday and another place on Tuesday.
Natalie stated the DSA is doing a microsite that’s connected to the website to be able to quantify how many people flick through to get the information about the restaurant week. It is on the agenda for the events committee meeting.
Tania Althoff asked if we know how many restaurants participated last year with a special menu.
Natalie said she could get that information for her.
Rick St. Pierre mentioned that Mike Prosky formed a Somerville, New Jersey restaurant owners page and has made an inquiry of the restaurants interested in Restaurant week.
Natalie stated on the events committee is Chas, Adrianna, Dimitri, Kristen Cosmos from City Lifestyle, Kevin from Epic Cookies, Osprey Lane, Noah Hunter (a resident who will be opening Main Street Cheese Co Good) and New Star consign.
Mike Kerwin asked if Turf, Surf, and Earth had been invited.
Natalie informed Mike that she can invite Mackenzie from Turf, Surf, and Earth.
RanD Pitts asked Natalie to add Thana at Kuay.
Natalia Kleyman asked if there was an opportunity for smaller community driven events in the slower months.
Natalie stated there could be a subcommittee for micro events.
Adriana asked where the farmer’s market will be taking place.
Natalie said it will take place in the middle school parking lot for 30 weeks every Sunday.
Adrianna asked if the vendors pay in to participate?
Kevin Sulka responded sure and there is a nonprofit SAFE, Somerville Alliance for Food Education, that has the lead on it and does the collection of all the vendors.
Adrianna asked if parking would be an issue.
Kevin reminded everyone that no one is charged for parking on Sundays.
Adrianna asked what was the impetus for moving the location from Dukes.
Kevin Sulka explained the market was too successful for them to do anything else and they were looking for other partners.
- FYI January 2024 Vacancy Report
Natalie announced there are six vacancies that are scheduled to be occupied. There is one temporary occupancy, which is JSM’s construction office.
The total true vacancies in the district is 13, which brings the vacancy rate to under 10%.
Natalie mentioned there are several businesses that are really excited to open businesses in town, including a cheese shop and a potter looking to open a studio.
Rick St. Pierre asked if the DSA has a relationship with John Muselli to be informed of why those businesses have not opened and if there are issues.
Natalie stated her and Adrianna have been in touch with some businesses and their issues and she will follow up to help with any needing permits.
Kevin Sulka wanted to inform everyone that when there is a board application, it goes through a compliance and then Muselli issues the permits.
Natalie plans on putting it up on the website so if people have inquiries about available space, they can see what’s available and what’s coming in.
- Committee Update
Natalie explains that the infrastructure committee met to discuss the relationship with CDS, the third party contractor that runs our Clean and Safe program.
The contract with CDS is up at the end of the month and the committee has agreed to not renew the contract. The renewal included an 8% increase, which the DSA did not budget for.
Natalie advised two options: reissue the RFP and get new proposals for outside service or consider bringing the program in-house.
Natalie has updated the clean and safe RFP and is in the process of getting a cost comparison for the cost to bring the program in-house.
Rick St. Pierre asked what services are provided from DPW and what services is DSA looking for.
Natalie explained she had a meeting with Rodney Hadley and discussed garbage on Main Street and other important infrastructure issues including trash cans, recycling, and cardboard. She is going to find out where DPW can supplement some of those services first.
Chas Stevens asked if the RFP is live.
Natalie stated the RFP is not live.
- Other New Business
- Somerset County Business Partnership Office Space
Natalie reiterated that last year the board discussed potentially doing an office move and moving in with the Somerset County Business Partnership.
- Somerset County Business Partnership Office Space
The partnership has been a wonderful partner and has helped provide services and outreach to the business community.
Natalie mentioned that the DSA’s current agreement of the two offices is up in July.
Chris Edwards, the President of the Somerset County Business Partnership, introduced himself and Melissa Deefrest, who runs the tourism bureau for Somerset County.
Chris Edwards explains there is an opportunity for the partnership to be the 21st Century Chamber of Commerce that’s providing a business hub for their members.
Chris highlighted that he is in contact with Microsoft to build modern conference rooms to attract businesses to use the space.
Chris explained they want to be a tool in the DSA toolkit, be more engaged in Somerville, and be able to connect with the small businesses in downtown.
Rick St. Pierre highlighted that some of the board members were worried about losing the DSA’s identity and expressed that he feels much more comfortable with the partnership and does not believe the DSA would lose their identity.
Mike Kerwin mentioned the space looks like it is going to be spectacular and the technology is going to make it a really cool location and an event location for micro events.
Chris Edwards explains that one conference room can fit about 50-60 people, and if it opens up, it can easily fit 100 people. He also mentioned they would be able to offer the DSA that type of space.
He also states they are investing in security and people will be able to use the space whenever they need with no time constraints.
Kevin explained his concerns and does not believe the DSA should stay in its current building and it should be on Main Street to have direct contact with people.
Chris Edwards explained the SCBP looked at locations on Main Street in storefronts and he would have loved the location to be there.
Rick St. Pierre commented how Main Street is more expensive than this opportunity that’s being provided. He also advised to think about what the square footage cost is and to not forget there is an elevator in this building.
Chris adds that his goal is for people to know the Somerset Business Hub is here, not the business partnership.
Mike Kerwin asked Chris for the dimensions of the two offices.
Chris states they are right around 150 square feet. He added another positive to the location is the parking garage.
Natalie mentioned doing a lot of amazing work with Somerset County Tourism and a lot of the work with tourism directly impacts the downtown district. She stated that being in the same building will strengthen the relationship and allow there to be more of a partnership. It impacts all of Somerset County because the anticipated reach goes much further than just Somerville.
Mike Kerwin agrees with Chris and believes this is going to be increasingly important.
Rick St. Pierre expresses he is a fan of the business hub because he believes the DSA is running the business of Main Street. Rick highlighted a business hub is something the DSA would want to be associated with.
Chas Stevens spoke with the Mayor and there is a list of objectives including the American flags for the street polls and the music speakers up and down Main Street.
Chas asked Natalie if the American flags for the street polls will arrive at the end of the month.
Natalie explained the flags can be picked up at the warehouse in Summit or get them shipped to arrive at the end of the month.
Chas mentioned that the music speakers need to be repaired to resolve the squelching. He also mentioned the speakers are pointed straight out, so the second and third floor tenants are getting blasted with music.
Rick St. Pierre agreed to work with Natalie to resolve the speakers issue.
- Finance Reports
Vote to Approve
MOTION: Mike Kerwin
SECOND: Chas Stevens
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Chas. Stevens
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
- Payment Authorization
Natalie explained there is a payment for the CDS for their January services and there will be one more payment approved on the March agenda, even though their contract is up at the end of February, for February services.
She also explained the DSA’s contract with the retail consultant, Richard Cohen, is up and will not be renewed for 2024. There will be one more payment on that for February.
Adrianna asked what this payment authorization is for.
Natalie explained the payment authorization was for a retail consultant the DSA was working with previously.
Natalie highlighted there will be membership renewals, including the International Downtown Association, Downtown New Jersey and the National Main Street program. Natalie added the DSA will be applying for accreditation this year from the National Main Street.
Vote to Approve
MOTION: Rick St. Pierre
SECOND: Chas Stevens
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Chas. Stevens
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
- Comments from the Public
Brittany, the owner of Revive Consignment, thanked the DSA for their hard work.
She agreed with matching the Somerville Tour with the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
She explained her experience as a business that tried to be open for a year on Mondays and it didn’t work out. She stated the tour is still great for advertising and she understands it indirectly helps her business.
She believes the Granites building is up for sale at 5 million. She believes that would be great to discuss and potentially fill it with retail space.
Adriana mentioned the Granites building is no longer up for sale.
- Executive Session
Motion to close public session and enter into Executive Session: Michael Kerwin
SECOND: Chas Stevens
Yea: RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Sejal Sharma, Michael Kerwin, Chas Stevens, Rick St. Pierre, Iris Frank, Kevin Sluka
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
H. Adjournment
Chas. Stevens made a motion to adjourn the meeting on Monday, March 11, 2024 at 7:30 pm.
