MAIN STREET MONTHLY MEETING AT ARNI’S FEB 8, 2005 6:00PM
MEETING MINUTES
In attendance were the following:
(List from Kim inserted here showing e-mail addresses)
Kim asked that each person sign in at each meeting and list their E-mail address each time.
Mayor Stock presented an update of the Washington Street Project. The City has signed all the documents. The various Utilities have signed off. One new snag has presented itself: SBC/AT&T whoever owns the phone lines has issues with the lines in the alley behind the Police Station, near what was the old Midstate business location. Also they have issues with the Bunnel Street Phone lines. Projected costs will be increased because of those issues. Re-drawings must be done and prints of those will cause a minor delay. The letting process for bids has begun. Construction was planned to begin in April. The delay might set it back a month, thus beginning in May rather than April, but that is not certain yet. Mayor Stock said enforcement of the two hour parking downtown will NOT be done because it presents the City in a bad light as if downtown shoppers were not wanted by our City.
Deb Niemesh asked when the sidewalks will be torn out. Mayor Stock said it will not be all at once, but a section at a time, alternating sections in front of the various stores. It may be one store at a time or two or three at a time. Ramps will be built for access to each store, then those will be moved to the next location of a store or three as each section is completed. Each section could be torn up for months or some for only a number of days.
Deb Niemesh asked about the burned out building and whether the owner knows how to fill it after the reins are removed?
Mayor Stock said plans are indefinite; grass was stated early on, but that seems needless since it will end up being torn out later. Parking cannot be made available because with the street torn up, access to the area would cause driving over curbs and it could not be practical, nor would it help alleviate your parking problems during the construction.
Richard Greeno and Mayor Stock had a dialogue about the parking issues. Greeno said 160 parking spots are available for the 140 people in retail stores downtown that do not have behind store parking now. Thus there are more than enough spots in the four lots. That number does not include the Court House employees.
Kim said Main Street has a committee for the clean up and minor landscaping of the parking lots to help make them a bit more presentable. The committee made a proposal that the four lots be assigned letters A, B, C and D and that stickers be issued to each of the 140 persons to mount on the back of the mirror of each of their cars designating not which space, but only which lot they are assigned for their parking. Kim asked that each of us think about humorous but helpful ways to bring attention to the violators who park in the wrong spots, possibly by notes left on windows. Cathy Graves indicated that no matter how gentle and kind a note may be persons still take offense. Deb suggested the notes would be no real help when left on windows and would just be discarded. Kim said years ago people had made films of license plates of violators and had presented the films in various ways. Greeno referred to having a new enforcement officer for parking violators.
Kim said Main Street has a Promotions committee that has talked with Dale Snoddy at Frankfort High School. Mr. Snoddy is in charge of the cable TV channel 2 advertising. He is very interested in development of ads for all the Main Street Retailers for broadcast on the cable system. Karen Miller is in charge of that project. The project will be favorable to all as a community service. The school students being involved in development of advertising and then airing it will invite the attention of their parents which will be a plus to the community. Any of us interested in this program should contact Kim real soon. Also Comcast has been contacted about advertising on their regular cable at commercial rates for the Main Street Group. The High School Ad program would be developed first with it being a means to gather ideas for the Comcast ads which might follow. The idea will be for continuous advertising on cable to make viewers who flip through channels, to take notice of all the many stores located in the downtown area. A continual display of a few seconds for each business will become quite effective over time and will be a good way to increase awareness of all the stores in the Main Street area.
Kim said two TV presentations of the same one show giving excellent coverage of the Frankfort Hot Dog Festival have already been aired and that the next will be February 20th. Many comments have come in from viewers, several from out of state requesting more information. Kim will have a VCR tape of the programming that was aired so we each can see it in the future. Pat Richardson asked Kim to request whether it could be received on DVD, digitally, and / or in the form of streaming digital media that could be posted on a web site and thus viewed by any of us by clicking a link on a web page.
Kim said that consistency in meeting days and times is important so that attendance can grow at each of these Main Street meetings. Future meetings will always be on the second Tuesday of each month, and will be at Arni’s. 6pm has been the time of the first two meetings this being the second. The time of the next meeting may vary since the National Main Street Organization is having a meeting in Frankfort that very day and we may have one combined meeting. The National group makes a community assessment and presents an educational meeting with a power point presentation regarding their National Trust organization and its activities. A luncheon on Tuesday March 8th was requested by the national organization, and Kim has requested they move it to our 6pm evening meeting. It may become necessary for Kim to miss the next meeting because of conflicting Main Street events and she wants a volunteer to run the meeting in her absence. Nobody volunteered so Kim said she may just appoint somebody it the need arises.
Deb requested the minutes of the meetings be E-mailed to each person whose E-mail address has been given Kim. She also suggested each person could contribute to what over time could become an electronic newsletter. Kim agreed.
Deb asked about whether it was known who would be moving into the new Hinshaw Building replacing the two burned down buildings next to Greeno’s store? Mayor Stock said it was not known yet who the tenant would be.
Greeno said even that little bit of construction has disrupted his business more than you could believe. He said you all have no idea how much the future construction on Washington Street is going to disrupt each of your businesses.
Cathy Graves asked Kim if the Main Street organization could have secret shoppers visit requesting retailers then complete a questionnaire reflecting their perceptions of the retail store. Kim said that would be a mystery shopper unknown to the retailer, unannounced at the time of the visit. Kim has the first mystery shopper already selected and is a person from out of town. Ellis will present a $25 gift certificate to Main Street to reward the mystery shopper for the appraisal. She commented that every retailer should want to know the shoppers perceptions and that directly asking shoppers often does not bring candid answers, and that even friends will not be honest about appraisals and perceptions of advertisements and sales, remodeling and the like, perhaps not wanting to hurt feelings or cause misunderstandings. Thus, the mystery shopper and an anonymous letter may be just the proper way to get the information in an honest and objective manner. Kim said the out of town mystery shopper is also a retailer herself. (We can surmise it is a woman most likely unknown to us.) Retailers wanting Main Street to provide such a service are invited to contact Kim. Only a mystery shopper will be able to deliver the brutal honest truth without offending anybody personally. Every retailer should want to know and should seek to know their shopper’s opinions and perceptions about their store.
Greeno asked about the prior year advertising magazine/newspaper insert discussed last month and whether it will be repeated again this year. Kim answered it will not be repeated with the Times as last year. If done at all she explained, the magazine must remain totally under our own control and not be left to The Times to control. Not to criticize and lambaste The Times, but last year they had many mistakes even after three hours time on the part of Kim and Fred Carter working with Times personnel to correct the errors in the proof. Still the errors made it into print and publication. Weiner, Weener, Wiener, Winer, and the like as various ways of misspelling the Hot Dog appeared on every page, and not by design, but by errors uncorrected. Duplication of some coverage occurred. Kim said a meeting this Friday will deal with those advertising issues regarding any magazine in the future.
Kim asked that we each pick out topics and turn them in for the future meeting agenda.
Dave questioned whether anybody had received bogus mail such as he had. He showed the group a bogus mail received suggesting he submit an enclosed State form for Corporations, along with a $75 check to cover the fee. The bogus offer was presented by what the state says is a company that does not exist. It was a scam to beware of. The actual fee to the State is only $30, not $75 so beware. The actual form can be found on the Internet.
Richard Greeno reported he came onto another scam on E-bay / Paypal. Kim said such scams as virus and spies are the sorts of items Pat Richardson teaches computer users how to defend themselves against. Kim suggested that perhaps a future meeting could have such a presentation by Pat Richardson of Computer Systems on how to remove spies and virus and how to protect ones own computer from further infections and problems. Questions were asked as to whether if they do not open suspect E-mail if one is safe from infection. Richardson said no, that infection no longer depends upon a computer user’s conduct, but just being on-line exposes one to infection and infestation. However he said every person can be taught how to protect themselves from such dangers.
Kim Paid for the meals again as she did last month. Kid did specify that next time each will pay for their own meal(s).
The meeting adjourned.