June 10, 2024 Meeting Minutes

Chas. Stevens called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm on June 10, 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, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Beth Akkaway

Late: Andrianna Popowych

Absent: 

Excused: 

Chairman Remarks

Chas Stevens spoke about the fire that occurred on Main Street.

He added that it was incredible to witness the outpouring support and generosity from the businesses and residents. It is the reason why a lot of businesses and residents come to Somerville.

Chas also welcomed the DSA’s new Executive Director, Olivia Manning.

Olivia mentioned she was able to go through some documents, familiarize herself with history, and attend several meetings.

She added she was able to save some money with the Starlit Cinema series in July and is currently looking to get technology discounted or free.

She mentioned that the DSA will be utilizing more that they are a non profit and she is excited to continue to do all the good work of running downtown.

1. New Business
   1. Fire Assistant Response
      1. Kevin discussed the aftermath of the fire and residents that were located above were all displaced. The borough has offered to house for a period of time.
         
         He added that the municipality booked hotel rooms for the residents. The county is helping as well and other people are providing some opportunities for housing.
         
         Kevin also mentioned he has met with the owners of all the properties. The municipality hired its own structural engineer that helped during and after the fire.

Kevin reported that the King Tut building would likely have to come down and the Mike’s Courtside building could certainly be rehabbed.
Sushi Yokohama and Yoga Odyssey will be fine.

Savor suffered water damage and it was discovered by their insurance company that they may have an asbestos issue. There is currently testing.

Kevin added that the King Tut building and the Mike’s Courtside building’s structure are built into each other. King Tut has been issued an unsafe structure notice.

Chas shared with everybody that they were able to find temporary space for Yoga Odyssey.

Olivia added she reached out to the New Jersey Business Action Center and they are in the process of connecting with each other and their departments to see if there’s some additional resources that might be available for the business owners.

Chas asked to recognize the efforts that Kevin has put in over the last week.

Kevin added that Civic League is tremendous if people are still looking to donate, to go to the Civic League website.

Beth Akkaway mentioned the hospital’s community heath and marketing team would like to coordinate something.

Kevin responded that the Civic League is still taking gift cards and monetary gifts of any amount. He will connect Beth with the Civic League.

2. Juneteenth
   1. Chas spoke about  the County Juneteenth event on June 19. The DSA provided the entertainment and will be exhibiting at the event. The event will begin at 4:30 pm.
      
      Kevin brought up the naturalization ceremony. The DSA is providing mugs.
      
3. Audit
   1. Kevin added he will speak to the auditor about potentially starting in July.
      
4. Reorganize DSA Committees
   1. Chas mentioned it is important to continue the DSA’s relationship with the Main Street New Jersey organization. There are a lot of services they offer that the DSA has not been using.
      
      Chas added about reorganizing/combining some of the committees to  bring them in line with how Main Street New Jersey categorizes..

The idea would be combining infrastructure and public art together as a design committee; events and marketing being combined as promotions committee; recruitment and retention changed to economic vitality committee.

Chas also added it is necessary to devote time to an organizational committee to handle fundraising efforts, volunteer management and recruitment.

Rick St. Pierre advised to not move forward with it yet and to still break down the committee work individually because the talents are different.

Natalia Kleyman added the members need to educate themselves on what the pros and cons are.

Olivia Manning added that there are several resources including support and guidance from professionals and funding.

Chas Stevens stated they will continue the conversation when the members have had some more time to digest the information.

5. Main Street New Jersey

Chas mentioned the DSA had spoken about bringing in a consultant and reexamining the strategic plan, which is one of the services that the Main Street program offers for free.

Chas suggested including it in the conversation about committee restructure and further involvement with the Main Street program.

Rick St. Pierre mentioned the discussion of extending the SID into Gaston Avenue.

Andrianna Popowych asked when the master plan was supposed to be finished.

Rick added they expect to have the master plan in its working ability a year from now.

Andrianna added she believes that the idea of adding Gaston Ave will be met with a lot of pushback or heavy expectations.

Chas suggested pulling more information from Main Street about what their transformational plan engagement looks like.

6. County Diversity Festival

Chas mentioned the County Diversity Festival on September 29. The County is expecting the DSA to participate, but it was not previously on any list of events for this year or included in the budget.

Kevin Sluka added that the county could run their events in another town, but they don’t and Somerville would not want that to happen. He believes the DSA is always obligated in some way to support a county event.

Rick St. Pierre added how the courthouse lawn is the county’s property and a relationship with the county is important to put things on the lawn for us to support so that we’re on the lawn and we can use that lawn as a gathering point, not the county’s property.

Motion to approve not to exceed budget of $1,500 for the Diversity Festival.

Vote to Approve
MOTION: Kevin Sluka
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, Beth Akkaway
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none 

7. Primepoint
   1. Chas received a proposal from Prime Point, which is the DSA’s current payroll company, to track time and attendance, including paid time off.

The total will be $63.50/month based on three employees and a one-time, $300 set up fee.

Vote to Approve
MOTION: Kevin Sluka
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, Beth Akkaway
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none 

Approval of Meeting Minutes

April and May meeting minutes were approved this month. 

2. Committee Reports
   1. Infrastructure

Kevin mentioned ABS has started and the garage locks were changed.

There is more discussion about the tree grates.

Kevin mentioned they recently learned the DSA has a contract with a company that was executed last year to remove the trees and the grates.

Kevin added that every tree has got to be replaced.

2. Public Art Committee

Mike Kerwin mentioned a proposal from the artist was received of $223,000 to do a bronze sculpture.

Mike suggested briefing the mayor council now.

Tania Althoff added that there were a few new locations identified that are not in the SID and could affect the funding status for future grants.

Mike added a new member, Dr. Randall Westbrook, joined the committee. He is a college professor at Fairleigh Dickinson and a Robeson Scholar for 40 years and a Somerville resident.

3. Marketing Committee
   Andrianna suggested sending out an email to everybody that was on the events committee to ask if they are all still interested. She added it’s a great idea to merge both marketing and events committees.
   
   Natalia is concerned about the time and length the meetings will now be if both committees are merged.
   
4. Payment Authorization
   

Vote to Approve
MOTION: Mike Kerwin
SECOND: Tania Althoff
Vote to Approve: 

Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Chas. Stevens, Beth Akkaway
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none 

4. Comments from the Public
   Noah Hunter, the owner of Main Street Cheese Company, created a charcuterie cart and asked if there was an opportunity to set up the cart on Division Street during an event.
   

Chas stated the idea will be brought up at an upcoming events committee meeting and consider it very carefully.

He added there is a delicate balance between the mobile vendors and the building vendors who are paying the SID tax.

Adjournment

Chas. Stevens made a motion to adjourn the meeting on Monday, June 10, 2024, at 7:00 pm.