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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.120518 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION DECEMBER 5, 2018 Vice-Chair Charles Cunniffe opened the meeting at 8:38 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Charles Cunniffe, Bill Dinsmoor, Amanda Tanaka, Jeb Ball, Angi Wang. Absent were: Kiki Raj, Terry Butler, Steve Fante. Staff present: Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk Mitch Osur, Parking Services Director Jim True, City Attorney Other attendees: Councilman Ward Hauenstein, Market Manager, Kathy Strickland and Jeff Isaacson, Co-Chair for the aggies. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Ms. Tanaka mentioned that she, Mr. Ball, Ms. Wang and Ms. Henning put the welcome baskets together last week and will be handing them out later today. She also mentioned the business we will highlight in the next newsletter will be, Souchie Boutique in the Mill Street Plaza. Mr. Ball reminded the board that we plan to have the next newsletter out prior to President’s Day. Ms. Wang entered the meeting. MOTION: Mr. Dinsmoor motioned to approve the minutes from November 28th, Ms. Tanaka seconded. All in favor, motion carried. NEW BUSINESS: Saturday Market Jim True & Kathy Strickland Ms. Strickland noted the first draft and said everything highlighted in red is what she changed from the previous year. She said this year, there will be no emails accepted and the deadline will be December 28th. She said the non-profits can apply for two weeks. She feels we need to be clearer about applying for two weeks and that the market supplies the tent, so it gives everyone a chance. Mr. Osur asked if we had any trouble filling this and Ms. Strickland said no and listed several non-profits from the previous year such as, Shining Stars, the Science Center, Buddy Program, Save the Elephants, etc. Ms. Strickland mentioned that Clarks will be applying this next year and said they should have a standard 20 feet like Isberian, who has 20 feet. She said Georgia Brown will not be coming back as they left the market four weeks early. She said in the past, they let Twinkle out just for some exposure and they have not paid in the past or put in an application, but she said the tiny little thing has grown so now we need her to apply. Ms. Wang and Ms. Tanaka said they would reach out to her and let her know. Mr. Osur asked Mr. True for some direction as to how we get the word out about the Saturday Market applications being due on December 28th. Mr. True said that is up to the board. He said they can blast email everyone or put an ad in the paper. Mr. Cunniffe asked if there is something specific in the application about 2nd tier and Ms. Strickland said they are all welcome to apply. Mr. True said it wasn’t clear from council as to what the rule was about store fronts and Ms. Strickland said they couldn’t get Hyman to join in at that time, so that is when we REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION DECEMBER 5, 2018 got Hopkins store fronts approved with council. Mr. True said that council has intent to promote second tier businesses and in looking back at the minutes from that meeting, it’s not clear they intended to leave out 2nd tier. He said he gets risk adverse and really wants to avoid future issues because Mary Katherine wants to challenge the rules that we have. You get into these constitutional arguments and you take risks. You need to, as a board, evaluate the risk. You’re talking about three more stores, so you need to decide if they can be an exception as well. If she complies this year by applying, you want to be careful about not letting her in. Again, it’s a matter of picking your battles. Mr. Cunniffe suggested that in moving forward, we may want to apply the Colorado made and grown rule to the store fronts as well. We may want to think of evolving to this for everyone eventually and go back to the original roots of the market. This idea benefits the store fronts anyway by having activity in front of their stores for people to discover. We may want to start playing that up over the next few years, otherwise, we’re opening the flood gates. Mr. True agreed and said that’s a legitimate concern, but he has difficulty distinguishing the store fronts and 2nd tier but his understanding that the number of stores in 2nd tier spaces is only three. Ms. Strickland said no, think about Kenichi, Kitchen and all the other businesses. Mr. Ball said we should be consistent with other markets in the state. After looking at other markets, he said he noticed the same Colorado grown and made requirement. Mr. Dinsmoor agreed and said there are ways these businesses could take advantage of all the people there to get them in the door. We’re not going to please anyone by doing this. PUBLIC COMMENT: Siam Castillo Ms. Castillo said she runs the Aspen winter market and has been a summer market vendor for eight or nine years. Her problem with Mary Catherine is that she has no business hours and it’s a storage space, not a store. She used to do shows with her and she feels that MC cheats. Regarding the market, she wants to come back, break the rules and leave again. She messes with the integrity of the market. Ms. Castillo said she got so many complaints last year about why MC was allowed in the market. It’s very important we maintain the integrity of the market. It’s more important to for us to maintain what we have. Mr. Cunniffe said that last year, CCLC told MC that she wasn’t allowed back in. Mr. True said he has a lot of problems with this conversation. He didn’t intend to come here to discuss her in particular. His point is not about her individually, it’s about 2nd tier spaces. I believe council’s intent was to provide exceptions for these store fronts and second tiers that wouldn’t have access. I was not under the impression the impact would be as great as expressed here. Mr. Dinsmoor said that maybe they refer her to the ACRA booth instead and Mr. True said we should just see who applies and evaluate after they come in. Mr. Osur said we may have to go to council to get clarification on what exactly they want. He asked Mr. True how we get the message out and if two ads in each paper suffices and Mr. True said that’s hard and it’s up to CCLC. He would find it hard to accept that MC isn’t aware after telling her she needed to apply during the meeting we previously had. It’s her responsibility to find out. REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION DECEMBER 5, 2018 Mr. Ball said we can speculate all day. We need to see who has applied before we decide anything. Mr. Cunniffe said it is important to prepare for the what ifs and it’s important to stick with what we have now. Booth sizes are generally 10 to 20 ft based on the size of the market so how much space received, is based on judgement by the CCLC board. intended subjectivity. Ms. Strickland would like to see no political or religious booths and said they can apply for the nonprofit booth only. She said, if you do one, everybody wants in. It was too overwhelming, and they were all over the market. She fought with them every Saturday because they were so rambunctious. The other booths were so frustrated with them also. Mr. True said this is another situation of picking your battles. These free speech issues can’t apply, and he doesn’t think this language is appropriate nor should it be in the application. Next year it won’t be such a big deal, but the following year, 2020, would be. The only point he is making, it can be smaller or wherever you want to put them. Tell them, this is your space, stay there. It’s less controlled if you don’t give them a booth. You could say, to promote Colorado grown and produced, please respect and enjoy the environment. You don’t want your language to be discriminatory. Rules like applying on time, are enforceable. Offensive groups can be enforceable as well because the Supreme Court supports that. Let’s get the data, see who applies and then tell everyone they have to stay in their booth. Mr. Ball said he would be more than happy to help Ms. Strickland with formatting, etc. and will help her clean up the language on the application. Mr. True said he is ok with the changes that have been made. Ms. Strickland said we should include a note about the scoresheet that we are now judging on to let them know it’s competitive and to give it their best shot. She also said the deadline for payment of sales tax is November 20th, which will also be included in the application. Ms. Strickland said the Science Center wants to return again, but they are having some financial issues. She absolutely loved them. They are requesting that the city help pay for half of their cost. Mr. Cunniffe is on their board and he says no, they need to find someone to sponsor them. That’s a dangerous road. Ms. Strickland mentioned the meeting at the Redstone Inn on the 7th of January and would like some volunteers to go with her. Mr. Ball volunteered. Mr. Ball said we should be charging a fee to apply. Maybe the next year. MOTION: Mr. Cunniffe moved to charge an application fee for 2020, Mr. Ball seconded. 5-1, motion carried. Mr. Dinsmoor thinks this is a bad idea. Ms. Henning mentioned Crave Food Systems application for the market this next year. Mr. Ball said he thinks it’s a great idea and a super low cost. It’s white label and not an ad for them. It’s an experiment and a one-year commitment so let’s give it a try. MOTION: Mr. Ball motioned to approve the application, Ms. Wang seconded. 4-1, motion carried. 1 abstained. REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION DECEMBER 5, 2018 Mr. Isaacson said that ACES hasn’t been a part of the agricultural board so last year we decided to let them be present, but they won’t be a voting participant. Last year was to find out their needs and concerns. They can sway us one way or another and they stay up on CCLC, city desires, etc. He’s going to encourage Jason and Aspen Tree to make their sign a bit bigger. We want to level the playing field. We are headed in the right direction. The board agreed. Ms. Henning let the board know the dates for judging the vendors will be January 16th and 23rd. Ms. Tanaka will be gone on the 16th. Mr. Osur said he will be gone for both meetings. Mr. Cunniffe motioned to adjourn, Ms. Raj seconded. All in favor, motion carried. ______________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk