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RMSI Board Meeting NotesFriday, March 15, 2013Richmond Main Street

Present: Cindy Haden, Arnie Kasendorf, Charlene Smith, Xavier Abrams, Billy Ward

Absent: Maria Alegria, Adonna OSulivan, Xavier Abrams, JoEl Schultz

Staff in attendance: Amanda Elliott

Agenda: Opening and OverviewMeeting called to order at 12:15pm by Cindy Haden

Review & Approval of Minutes and Agenda: Minutes from February were accepted with some

grammatical and stylistic changes from Charlene. Minutes were accepted with Charlenes edits.Charlene noted that our minutes are public. Amanda stated that board meeting dates, minutes andagendas are published on the website.

There were not enough members in attendance for a quorum. Charlene inquired about the rulesfor board member absences. Amanda referenced the By-laws which state that more than 3consecutive unexcused absences by a member can be terms for dismissal. Charlene remarkedthat Maria Alegria has been absent for more than 3 consecutive meetings. Amanda noted thatMaria had sent an email notice to herself and Cindy saying that she wanted to remain on theboard but could not attend meetings for the next few months due to family commitments. Cindyremarked that currently Maria should be considered an inactive member. Cindy asked Amanda to

send a letter to Maria to inform her of her inactive status. Amanda will send a letter to Mariaregarding her status on the board. Charlene stated, and the board agreed that Maria will need tocontact the board chair or executive committee to update her status to let us know if and whenshe would like to become active.

Charlene asked if a final decision had been made by the City of Richmond regarding JanetJohnson and Virgil Weekes serving on the board. Amanda responded that according to the Cityattorney, they are unable to serve as board members. Cindy is still checking into whether there issome other interpretation of the law that will allow them to serve on the board. In the meantime,they will continue to serve on committees as Advisory Board Members.

Administrative Update:Financials :Amanda is working to complete the 2103 budget which will be emailed to the board forapproval.

Staff : No update

Fundraising Update: No update

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Committee Updates:The board reviewed notes and the 2013 Strategic Workplan from the retreat to go over the tasksand team members.

Several tasks need to be followed up on: Economic Restructuring Fundraising plan; Incubation project.

o Charlene will create and agenda for the March 18 with notes from the Workplanand add Virgil to the team.

Promotions /Design Design tasks will go on the Promotions Workplan. Amandasuggested we form a sub-committee to design the marketing plan and package. Cindysaid we should include a marketing professional to help pull the package together.

o She will follow up with Amanda with the contact information for Elizabeth(Wordfixer).

o Amanda has been contacted by a student from CORO. CORO fellows helporganizations carryout special projects very similar to Americorps fellows. Thefellow will work for six weeks to complete a project for the organization.Amanda would like to hire the CORO fellow to help us complete the Bannerproject. They require a 3,500 stipend. The board thinks its a good idea. We willuse some of the former designs from the previous project from the UC designstudent to help inform the project. Charlene agrees that this will be a greatbranding opportunity and help us to define our district. Cindy suggested that wetalk with Judy Morgan to find out about the Homefront Festival banners in termsof cost and installation. We might also think of having seasonal banners. It wasrecommended by Cathy at LISC to change them out seasonally.

o TV Commercial, Cindy says Elizabeth can help with that task.o We will keep Music on the Main in the evening July and August at the Marina

and Macdonald Avenue lot. This will allow us to promote the Spirit & Soulwhich will take place in September. Amanda says the promotions committeewants Spirit & Soul as our signature event downtown. We should meet with the

East Bay Center to figure out how we can partner on events. They are stillinterested in having a Street fair and we should talk about how our events cancompliment each other.

o Representatives from Off-the-Grid Food Trucks came downtown to tour thedistrict. They are interested in the possibility of having 2-3 trucks in the districtonce a week. They did not like the Marina/Macdonald location. They would liketo locate the trucks on 12 th Street right outside of the SSA building. Arnie askedif there is enough space for them to be there. Billy stated that it will not be asvisible and we will need to have signs on Macdonald Ave. to promote them. Weare considering combining an event with the Farmers Market on Wednesdays. Itwill be difficult to support two weekly events downtown until we build a critical

mass of people. It will work better to have a combined event with the FarmersMarket to build an audience for Off the Grid. They may also bring more peopleto the district if they have popular trucks.

o Billy introduced a program with the Raiders to sell tickets and raise money forRMSI. RMSI would receive $20.00 for each $60.00 (lower level) or $40.00(upper level) ticket we sell. Tickets are generally $80.00 $100.00. Theorganization that Billy works with the Take Wings Foundation sold tickets lastyear and held a Tailgating party at the event that was very successful. RMSIwont be able to host an additional event at the game but we are interested in

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selling tickets as a fundraiser. Billy also mentioned that we can get Raiders tocome down to Music on the Main and help to promote the event and sell tickets.

Clean and Safe Securing new cleaning and maintenance company.o We are looking at hiring either Safety 1 st or Block-by-Block. We expect to have

the company in place by the end of April. We should connect with the newBART representative to get representation from BART on the Clean and Safecommittee.

Other business:Amanda met with the Opportunity Fund to learn about their Micro-Loans programs. They offersmall loans to start-up businesses. We will promote the fund to our businesses downtown.Amanda had a meeting with Denim Exchange to learn more about why she is consideringclosing the business. She has some issues with funding and the property owner. The businessowner will be meeting with the Market Square Mall property owner to see if some of the issueswith the building can be resolved. The property owner Tyann Sorrell want to remain in thedistrict.

Amanda says we need to connect with the property owners to get stats on all the properties in the

district to help to market them to potential business owners. Arnie asked about the CatholicCharities building that is being renovated on Harbour Way. Were not sure if Catholic Charitiesis buying or leasing the building. Carla DeShon is also renovating her building next to theMilens building. There might be a WIC store moving into the space. This should bring morefoot-traffic downtown. We still need to work on getting Grandpas Salvage in compliance.RMSI should also find out when the BART garage will open, it might help bring more peopledowntown. We need to find out if there is any opportunity for additional parking downtown atBART.

Next Board Meeting: May 17, 2013 Richmond Main Street