Chairman Chas Stevens called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm on September 8, 2025.
Kevin Sluka conducted roll call and the following Board Members were present:
Board Members Present: Chas Stevens, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Rick St. Pierre, Tania Althoff, Conlyn Chan, RanD Pitts
Board Members Virtual: Beth Akkaway
Board Members Absent: Chris Edwards, Andrianna Popowych
Professional Staff Present: Leah Horowitz, Dana Kessel
CHAIRPERSON REMARKS
Chas welcomed everyone to the meeting and remarked on several guests in the room and online. Chair discussed the finance reports that were distributed by email; he reported that the assessment from the borough was received and deposited and mentioned no notable changes were reported. It was discussed that our See My Legacy Community Page is now “live” and linked to the DSA website – it will serve as a central hub for events, sponsorships, volunteer signups, our Veterans banner program, and payments (allows credit card and ACH payments with fees incorporated into pricing).
APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
Minutes from August meetings were approved.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
a. Design/Infrastructure
i. PSE&G project to begin early 2026 on Division and West Main Street from Maple to Doughty
ii. Kevin Sluka explained the scope of the project from the meeting he attended with Dana Kessel earlier that day including the possibility of sleeving the line which would reduce construction time and disruption to Division Street. The work on Main Street must occur at night due to DOT requirements but the work on Division can occur during the day. Discussion centered on fixes to the restoration process since the work and settlement of work areas won’t be ready for restoration until May which would interfere with the spring event season.
iii. Dana updated the Board on the Dog Friendly Initiative and the discussion around installation of K9 grass areas along Main Street. Challenges arose for original placement due to tree locations. The cost of installation and maintenance of the areas was discussed. Specific details about the dog waste stations and the logo will be shared at either the October or November committee meeting.
b. Promotions
i. Social media KPIs (August 2025): Presented by Leah Horowitz
- Instagram reached 19K accounts (+5%); 315K views (81%of views from followers, 19% of views from non-followers); 3.6K interactions (93% interactions from followers, 7% interactions from non-followers; 1.6K unique accounts engaged with our content; Total Followers: 18,703; 285 follows, 115 unfollows (+170) with biggest days of follows Aug 21-24 which coincides with the Artisan Market
- Facebook reached 105K accounts (up 25K from previous month); 250K views (up 82K from previous month; 41% of all views from followers, 59% of all views from non-followers; 1.5K interactions (68% interactions from followers,32% interactions from non-followers)
- Email open rates: ~37%; click rate 2.4% (+30%); very low unsubscribe rate.
- Placer Data
- Visits (The extrapolated number of visits to the property): 3.7M
- Visitors (The extrapolated number of individual visitors, or people in your selected audience group, who visited the property): 641.1K
- Visit Frequency (The average number of visits per person in the selected audience group in the selected date range. This helps you understand how often people are returning to a location): 5.81
- Avg. Dwell Time (The average amount of time spent by people in your selected audience group at the property during a visit): 73 Mins
- Panel Visits (The number of visits generated by panel devices (the unique number of mobile devices that visited the location examined)): 205k
- YoY (The percent change in visits during the report’s date range relative to the same period in the previous year): +1%
- YoY2 (The percent change in visits during the report’s date range relative to the same period two years ago): -2.3%
- Yo3Y (The percent change in visits during the report’s date range relative to the same period three years ago): -4.4%
- Peak Visiting Time (The average time the most amount of visitors were in Downtown Somerville): 7:00pm
- Upcoming Events and Volunteer Need
- Jazz Fest
- Haunted History
- Spooktacular
- Small Business Saturday
- Dana was asked to provide an update on Small Business Saturday as businesses felt it has been lackluster in the last few years. Dana shared the robust plans for the event.
- Reimagining some events was discussed such as Movie Nights with themed experiences, Girls Night Out with an expanded wellness/self care focus, and the Central Jersey Jazz Fest which would be reconceived as a multi-genre Music Festival. Discussion also began about exploring a partnership with Fever to bring Candlelights Concerts to Somerville as the Central Jersey hub for that experience.
c. Economic Vitality
i. Dana provided an update on the two current grants – NJEDA Asset Activation Grant and the work Arterial is doing for that and the NJDCA Main Street grant including the desire to modify the latter grant to meet the needs of the downtown area.
ii. Dana then discussed the two new grant applications underway with the help of Kevin Sluka – the Somerset County LAP grant for a mural on Giardina and the T-Mobile Placemaking grant to assist with the cost of a glow in the dark pedestrian walkway in Giardina.
iii. Natalia Kleyman and Rick St. Pierre stressed the need to develop a capital improvement plan.
iv.Several new businesses have applied for zoning: Elixir, Mocha & Co, Dafina’s.
NEW BUSINESS
- Chas introduced the proposed ADA policy that was required for the county LAP grant and the need to appoint an ADA coordinator.
- The Board voted to adopt the policy and appoint Kevin Sluka as the ADA coordinator.
- Chas Stevens spoke about the need to revise the bylaws so that the bylaws matched the process taken the previous year and made sense with the timeline of the annual meeting. The discussion included the need for a clear nomination process for new board members.
- The Board voted to approve the amendment, with modifications to ensure a transparent and inclusive process for nominating new board members.
- The board then discussed the composition of the nominating committee and the need for a diverse and representative group.
- The board agreed to form a nominating committee of at least four members – Natalia, Conlyn, RanD, and Chas
PUBLIC COMMENTS
- Question from Jessica at Ambee about the impact of the PSE&G project on businesses.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Discussion of 2026 budget.
ACTION ITEMS
- Provide more information to businesses about the impact of the PSE&G project.
- Finalize plans for Small Business Saturday
- Provide an update on K9 grass and dog waste stations
FINAL REMARKS AND ADJOURNMENT
The meeting concluded with a reminder of the upcoming events and the importance of community engagement and planning.
Meeting adjourned at 8:21 pm. Next meeting is scheduled for October 13, 2025, at 6:00 PM.