BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Mansfield Downtown Partnership Office
1244 Storrs Road
4:00 PM
Present: Chair: Philip Lodewick, Steve Bacon, Tom Callahan, Bruce Clouette, Gregory Haddad, Matt Hart, Frank McNabb, Betsy Paterson, Kristin Schwab, Phil Spak, Betsy Treiber
Staff: Cynthia van Zelm, Kathleen Paterson, Lee Cole-Chu
Guests: Howard Kaufman, Macon Toledano
1. Call to Order
Philip Lodewick called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm, and welcomed new Board member Gregory Haddad. He noted that Al Hawkins had resigned from the Board due to work commitments. Mr. Haddad serves on the Town Council and is the Deputy Mayor.
2. Opportunity for Public to Comment
There were no comments from the public.
3. Approval of Minutes
Betsy Treiber made a motion to approve the minutes. Steve Bacon seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.
4. Director’s Report
Cynthia van Zelm said Winter Fun Day is this Sunday. She noted that Kathleen Paterson had taken the lead in organizing Winter Fun Day with the Town Manager’s office and the Community Center. She said there will be horse drawn wagon rides, ice sculptures and the Wacky Hat Contest. If it is cold enough, there will be ice skating. Ms. van Zelm said the event is designed to be low key and fun. She is looking for volunteers to help serve the coffee and hot chocolate.
The monthly Open House is this Thursday at 5:30 pm. Ms. van Zelm said the private Discover Our Town group will hold an informational meeting after the Open House to talk about the website they have created focusing on Mansfield with the opportunity for businesses to advertise. She and Town Manager Matt Hart have worked with Clay Crawford of Discover Our Towns on assisting him with getting word out about the website, and reviewing the draft website.
5. Review and Approval of FY2008-2009 Budget
Tom Callahan said the Finance and Administration Committee had reviewed the draft FY2008-2009 budget and made a recommendation to approve it to the Board.
He said that revenues are projected to be $269,000, largely made up of the University and Town contributions. For the last two years, the Town and UConn have increased their contributions to the Partnership. There is $19,000 budgeted for membership dues. Expenses are estimated at $299,000 which means that the Partnership will need to draw down its fund balance.
Mr. Callahan noted that the Partnership did not need to tap into the Legal budget as much as it had budgeted, as much of Mr. Cole-Chu’s expenses came from the STEAP grant. This grant is almost complete. He said that Mr. Cole-Chu will need to be involved this year mainly in revisions of the development agreement with LeylandAlliance, and with relocation agreements.
Mr. Callahan said that the budget is very lean. He said the Committee was able to negotiate a lower rent with the landlord Mike Taylor.
Mr. Callahan said the budget includes the salaries for Ms. van Zelm and Ms. K. Paterson. He said the $55,000 in Professional & Technical is largely for Phil Michalowski’s work on relocation including negotiating relocation packages.
Frank McNabb asked what the directors and officers insurance covers. Ms. van Zelm said she thought it covered the Executive Director and the Board members but she would check with the insurance company (verified by phone with Sumner and Sumner).
Mr. Callahan made a motion to pass the FY2008-2009 budget. Betsy Paterson seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
6. Executive Director Evaluation in March
Mr. Lodewick said that Ms. van Zelm’s evaluation occurs in March. He said that he will get all the Board members the evaluation form; he asked them to mail it back to him in preparation for the evaluation at the March Board meeting.
7. Report from Committees
Advertising and Promotion
Ms. van Zelm gave the Advertising and Promotion Committee report in Dean Woods’ absence. She said the Committee reviewed the Storrs Center DVD and that it would be shown at the March Board meeting. She said the Committee had a lot of good ideas about where it could be shown including to the Town Council, UConn groups (Dean Woods’ would be showing it to his staff), and the public access channel. The DVD will be hosted off a UConn School of Fine Arts site with a link to the Partnership website. The file is not compatible with the Town system where the Partnership website is located. Dean Woods offered to have copies made for the Library, the Mansfield Historical Society, etc.
She said the sign regarding the coming of Storrs Center had been designed and would be placed near the Dog Lane-1 site and the kiosk.
Ms. van Zelm said she would be working with Kristin Schwab to try and replace some of the maps in the kiosk and to perhaps put the above described sign there as well.
She said that she and Ms. K. Paterson were scheduled to staff a Partnership table at a women’s and men’s basketball game at Gampel this month.
Ms. van Zelm said that Leyland President Steve Maun was scheduled to give a presentation on Storrs Center to UConn alumni who work at the State Legislature, and current interns, on Feb. 13.
Ms. van Zelm said that she and Steve Bacon would also be giving a presentation to Altrusa, as requested by Board member Janet Jones.
Finance and Administration
Mr. Callahan said a subgroup of the Finance and Administration Committee (Mr. Callahan, Mr. Hart, and Ms. van Zelm) had been working to update the development agreement between the Partnership and LeylandAlliance. They presented an outline of the objectives to the Finance Committee last week, which Mr. Callahan shared with the Board. He indicated that there may be other bilateral agreements between the Town and Leyland, and UConn and Leyland, and others as appropriate. Mr. Callahan said the smaller group was meeting weekly and would be meeting with Leyland soon. The objectives are designed to move the project to construction as soon as possible, keeping in mind that there are still some outstanding state and federal permits that need to be obtained. Mr. Callahan noted that a set of triggers and conditions will be part of the agreements. He noted that the nature of the work will be different now with a focus on the buildings, public infrastructure, and relocation – after so much time had been spent on the approvals of the MDP and the zoning changes.
Membership Development
Ms. Treiber said the January meeting was cancelled due to snow. She said the Committee will meet soon to review the revisions to the membership brochure. There are currently 304 paid members for a total of $14,645 in dues including donations. She said that 122 members had not renewed yet for the current fiscal year but that reminder letters would be going out soon.
Nominating
Mr. Lodewick said the Nominating Committee met today and would be bringing a series of suggested Bylaws to the Board in March.
He said that four members terms are up and they will be contacted to ascertain whether they want to continue on the Board. Three are appointed and one is elected.
The Bylaws and Board member elections would occur at the June Annual Meeting.
8. Executive Session – Review and discussion of commercial and financial information provided in confidence by Storrs Center Alliance
Ms. B. Paterson made a motion to review and discuss commercial and financial information as provided in confidence by Storrs Center Alliance with Partnership Attorney Lee Cole-Chu, and Howard Kaufman and Macon Toledano from LeylandAlliance/Storrs Center Alliance in attendance. Ms. Treiber seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
The Executive Session was held.
Ms. Paterson made a motion to come out of Executive Session. Ms. Treiber seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
9. Adjourn
Tom Callahan made a motion to adjourn. Betsy Treiber seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 6:10 pm.
Meeting notes taken by Cynthia van Zelm.