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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.100219 1 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION OCTOBER 2, 2019 Chairperson Jeb Ball opened the meeting at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Angi Wang, Amanda Tanaka, Charles Cunniffe, Terry Butler, Jeb Ball, Bill Dinsmoor, Kiki Raj. Absent were John Starr and Candice Olson. Staff present: Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk Mitch Osur, Parking Services Director Mitzi Rapkin, Community Relations Specialist Other attendees: Kathy Strickland, Saturday Market Manager, Jeff Armstrong of Abundant Life Organic Farm, Jeff Isaacson of Jeffreezze and Councilman Ward Hauenstein. PUBLIC COMMENT: None. MOTION: Mr. Cunniffe motioned to approve the minutes of September 18th, 2019, Ms. Wang seconded. All in favor, motion carried. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Ms. Raj said Mary Catherine’s booth looked like a flea market at the last Saturday market. Everyone agreed. Mr. Ball congratulated Ms. Henning on running the Golden Leaf half marathon. He also mentioned the shopping event in December and said he will discuss that in detail later. SATURDAY MARKET: Ms. Strickland said she was told they would lose 95 feet by Justin Foreman in engineering. December 1st is their stop dead to let her know if they will be demolishing the Daily News building or not. She said overall, it was a good season, but had a few issues. She said overall, there were a few aggies who didn’t show up because they didn’t have a product and they were new. There were issues with the ACRA booth because they require people to bring their own banner, tent and weights. Lee Mulcahy had the booth one weekend and had no tent, no banner and no weights. Besides that, his 10x10 painting fell over on someone. The ACRA booth needs to be more consistent and Ms. Strickland said she will work with them on this because this can’t keep happening. Ms. Wang said she saw Mr. Mulcahy going into other tenants’ booths and being kicked out. She said he was a huge hot mess. Mr. Osur said he would advise Ms. Strickland to call the police next time something like this happens. Ms. Strickland said she called ACRA to deal with it and she advised them that he did not bring a tent or banner. She was unsure if ACRA addressed this with Mr. Mulcahy. Mr. Hauenstein said the rules obviously never apply to Mr. Mulcahy. Mr. Ball said we need to send notice to ACRA and put it in writing regarding Mr. Mulcahy for next, so there is a plan moving forward. Mr. Hauenstein asked if there is an official complaints channel for the Saturday market and Ms. Strickland said she could write a letter for all the things that have occurred. Mr. Osur mentioned our QAspen system and that we could potentially add the market for formal complaints. Ms. Strickland said last year, the same person was in the ACRA booth three times. She said this year, everything went smoother and they offered the spots to all 17 different people. 2 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION OCTOBER 2, 2019 Ms. Wang said she likes the idea of an online complaint system because various vendors complain to Ms. Strickland or board members who are walking around the market, so we need a way to document this so that we can notify vendors as soon as a complaint is received. Mr. Osur mentioned QAspen again and said that even Ms. Strickland and Ms. Wang can go in and add the complaints themselves. Ms. Henning said she will reach out to the quality department to see about having the market added as an option. Ms. Strickland said she received two complaints regarding Mary Catherine because her products weren’t Colorado made and the second was that her booth looked like a flea market. It’s disrespectful to the market. She said she also received some complaints about several aggies because their sales tax was inconsistent. Some were rounding up and saying they didn’t have change. We can address this in January with the aggies at their annual meeting. She also had some safety issues with the barricades. If you don’t move them back, the trucks come through. It worked well, except for the Hunter end. At the last meeting, the aggies asked Ms. Strickland to speak with the board about closing earlier in the day and starting a week earlier. Mr. Armstrong said we have a lot of spring produce that we would like to bring that first week. We could also think about planting asparagus and doing some canned items. We could do more greens and snap peas. Ms. Raj asked if the growing season is lasting longer on the front end. Mr. Armstrong said no, there’s no consistency for the growing season in Colorado. He said farmers should be prepared and expect inconsistency. Mr. Armstrong said a lot of the vendors would also like to close at 2:00 p.m. He said they have an issue with sales and weather. They have to put up with the wind and they are out of produce by 2:00. Ms. Strickland said that opening the market a week earlier, helps them get organized before food and wine. It’s busy that weekend and by the second week, we are all a bit more settled. Ms. Butler said to her, the first two weeks of June, she’s only half full, so that would help her fill her hotel too. Mr. Ball said it sounds as though everyone is ok with opening a week earlier, and there seems to be more energy around closing early. He said both sides are understandable. Mr. Isaacson said it’s the opposite for him and he paid his dues in the morning and then gets busier in the afternoons as it warms up. Ms. Raj said from the community standpoint, it’s best going until 3:00. Mr. Armstrong said everyone has got to vote. MOTION: Mr. Cunniffe motioned to start a week early and close at 3:00 p.m., Ms. Butler seconded. Ms. Wang said that closing at 2:30, to her, doesn’t make that big of a difference. Mr. Armstrong said that Two Roots said if the market doesn’t close by 1:00, they won’t be coming back. They have more perishables than what some of the rest of us have. Ms. Raj said they do a wonderful job and they do seem to sell out much earlier than other booths. Ms. Butler said that when they moved the market from 4:00 to 3:00, it was a huge stretch and she hates to make it any shorter than it already is. 3 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION OCTOBER 2, 2019 Mr. Isaacson said a lot of people claim that business drops off that last hour for many vendors and the music stops at 2:00. He asked if we can have music play until 3:00. He said if the music went as late as it could, it would help keep the market going. It works wonderfully in Carbondale. Ms. Raj agreed that it would help. The board voted 4-3 in favor of opening a week early and closing at 3:00 p.m. Mr. Armstrong said he loves Two Roots being a part of the market as it benefits everyone. We all make a beautiful orchestra together. He said he will talk to them and find out how they feel and how serious they are. Ms. Strickland said she wants to work on the 2020 application with Mr. Ball and she wants to add booth display photos in there as a requirement. Mr. Armstrong thanked Ms. Strickland and said that we have the best manager right here in Kathy. The board agreed and there was a round of applause for her. Mr. Osur said that November 11th is the date for the work session with city council. Mr. Ball said he and Mr. Osur met with Ms. Rapkin yesterday regarding doing some advertising and communications for the retail night in December. Ms. Rapkin said instead of making it a female/male event, it will be more of a family related event. She said it will be during the 4-8:00 timeframe. Retailers can get a special event permit from Ms. Henning and could offer wine and cheese. She said they will do a winter “shopstice”, so it has a solstice theme. Maybe we allow a tent outside and have Louie Swiss is there taking orders for Christmas cakes. Mr. Cunniffe recommended a winter “soupstice” since Soupskol isn’t happening this year. Ms. Tanaka said the stores could offer a cup of soup or cider too or hot cocoa. Mr. Armstrong suggested having private chefs come in. Mr. Dinsmoor thinks this is a terrible idea. Mr. Cunniffe asked what ACRA thinks of the idea and Mr. Osur said they love the idea, but if we do soup or mac n cheese, they might not like it as much. Ward filled the board in regarding the change in council meetings and gave an update on the gun control issue. MOTION: Ms. Butler motioned to adjourn, Ms. Wang seconded. All in favor, motion carried. ________________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk