MANSFIELD DOWNTOWN PARTNERSHIP
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Mansfield Downtown Partnership Offices
Tuesday, June 4, 2002
MINUTES
Present: Philip Barry, Martin Berliner, Tom Callahan, Dale Dreyfuss, Wendy Halle, Philip Lodewick, Betsy Paterson, Dave Pepin, John Petersen, Steve Rogers, Betsy Treiber, David Woods
Staff: M. Hart, G. Padick, C. van Zelm
Philip Lodewick called the meeting to order at 4:20 p.m.
A One-Year Birthday Celebration with cake was held prior to the meeting.
Helen Koehn noted that the Board received a number of recommended changes to the Bylaws from Alan Ward and requested that they be considered as the Board revises its Bylaws.
Ms. Koehn also requested that the public be informed of committee meetings.
Philip Lodewick said the Nominating Committee would continue to work on suggested recommendations (to the Board) for Bylaws changes in July. He said other comments have been received in addition to Mr. Ward’s.
Cynthia van Zelm said that she would be putting together a Partnership Calendar, which will list committee meetings. Ms. van Zelm will get the Calendar out to interested parties.
A change was proposed on page 3 of the Minutes. It should say Mr. McDermott said it would need to be determined how "many" not "may" requests…
With the change, Phil Barry made a motion to approve the minutes. John Petersen seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously.
Betsy Paterson said the Town Council unanimously approved designating the Mansfield Downtown Partnership as Mansfield’s municipal development agency and authorized the Partnership to proceed with preparation of a municipal development plan.
Tom Callahan noted that the motion also indicated that the Town Council would not give final approval to any plans or proposals of the municipal development agency until the Town Council reviews revised Bylaws for the Partnership.
Ms. Paterson read the motion.
Philip Lodewick said the Nominating Committee met to begin revising changes to the Bylaws. The changes will then be recommended to the full Board. He said the Nominating Committee would continue its review in July.
Ms. van Zelm reviewed the preliminary recommendations.
The Board then addressed the two Bylaws changes that were previously sent to the Board for consideration. John Petersen made a motion, seconded by Betsy Paterson to 1) change the composition of the Board to up to 15 members; and 2) change the term of the current Board members to end September 30, 2002. The motion passed unanimously.
The change in the term date was sought to allow the Partnership to develop a membership base that would vote on the new Board of Directors, and complete its organizational process.
Mr. Lodewick noted that the expansion of the Board change was to allow for increased representation from the community on the Board.
Nominating – see above re: discussion on Bylaws
Membership Development – Ms. Treiber reported that the Membership Development and Finance and Administration Committee had met jointly to put together proposals on membership guidelines, fees and benefits. The two committees plan to meet jointly and monthly for the immediate future.
Mr. Barry said the two committees are also working on revisions to the Bylaws dealing with membership issues, which will be forwarded onto the Nominating Committee.
Mr. Barry talked about the importance of membership dues to the organization. He said that the business community plays a significant role in the efforts of the Partnership and they need to be brought into the fundraising efforts of the Partnership.
Mr. Barry also proposed that the Finance and Administration Committee Chair be part of the Executive Committee as many of the issues discussed would fall into the Finance and Administration Committee’s jurisdiction.
Mr. Berliner noted the $500,000 that the Town received from the Small Town Economic Assistance Program for downtown improvements. He said that he and others would be meeting with representatives from the Department of Economic and Community Development to review and discuss how the money will be used. Mr. Barry thanked Greg Padick for the good work he had done in putting together the letter of inquiry for the grant.
Mr. Berliner said Cynthia van Zelm is working on an application to the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development program, which may pay for work completed on the planning efforts for the downtown.
Ms. van Zelm gave an update on the first meeting of the Advertising and Promotion Committee. She said the Committee was working on the Partnership logo and promotional material. The Committee brainstormed ideas including researching whether the Farmer’s Market could be held downtown; developing promotion of downtown businesses through coupons in the fall for students, residents and visitors; and development of a comprehensive brochure about Mansfield.
In Mike Gergler's absence, Cynthia van Zelm gave an update on the first meeting of the Business Development and Retention Committee. She said the Committee brainstormed several ideas with the immediate goal being to develop a database of businesses downtown.
In Steve Bacon’s absence, Cynthia van Zelm gave an update on the Planning and Design Committee’s work. She said the Committee continues to meet monthly, sharing ideas. The Committee’s homework was to go out and take pictures of design elements from communities that have done a good job with downtown design.
There was some discussion about the role of the Planning and Design Committee with the development of the Municipal Development Plan. There were also some questions on the timing of bringing a developer or developers into the process. Mr. Lodewick said that the process and timing for the development of the Municipal Development Plan including the developer piece would be mapped out. In general, the process for both Planning and Design Committee recommendations and the timeline will go through the Committee process first and then be reviewed by the full Board.
Mr. Petersen made a motion to adjourn. Ms. Paterson seconded. The motion was approved unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 5:05.
Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia van Zelm
Executive Director, Mansfield Downtown Partnership