By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
After last week’s discussion of the Downtown Hays Development Corp.’s funding levels, Hays city commissioners voted 4-0 Thursday to retain the downtown group’s 2015 budget level of $53,655.
During budget meetings, the commission decided to budget that amount, but decided to place a “placeholder” on the funding until the funding was discussed.
At Thursday’s regular meeting, commissioners brought up concerns about communication problems that downtown merchants had with DHDC, partly due to the fact that most of the board members don’t work in the downtown area.
“I’ve heard from some merchants and individuals that the DHDC gets very little input from the people that actually work downtown and own businesses,” said Commissioner Ron Mellick. “There is a core of people that are involved in the day-to-day operations, but there are also so many that are not.”
He added some merchants didn’t even know who the DHDC executive director was and felt disenfranchised from DHDC’s activities. Recently rehired Executive Director Traci Stanford said she wants to mend relationships and educate merchants about the services DHDC offers through a “Beat the Bricks” campaign, where she and another board members visits with each downtown merchant.
Mellick and Vice Mayor Eber Phelps also brought up issues with the boundaries of the downtown area, noting people have approached city officials with different boundary definitions of the downtown area. According to Mellick, after talking with several individuals, “very few people” know the difference between the Chestnut Street District and the downtown area.
“Most people think of the downtown as Main Street from 17th to the South Main Street Bridge, and one or two blocks on each side of it.” Mellick said. “I think what DHDC’s perception of downtown is compared to what the general public think varies greatly.”
Phelps also said drawing a boundary could help with accountability issues when sales tax figures are factored. According to information handed out at last week’s work session, downtown sales tax collections make up approximately 10 percent of the city’s general sales tax collections.
“The Chestnut Street District will not change due to the fact that it is a nationally registered historic district,” Stanford said. “But we will be re-evaluating what (the DHDC) encompasses and the people we go out for.”
Concerns also were aired about the the location of the DHDC office, which is located in the Hays Welcome Center at 27th and Vine. Mellick noted the distance made some people and merchants feel a sense of disconnect from DHDC.
“A lot of these people get 15-, 30-minute breaks, and they would like to go into speak with DHDC personally and not have to call them,” he said.
Stanford mentioned that, since last week’s work session, there already have been talks about moving the DHDC office downtown.
“It was vital to be down with the leadership that is in the welcome center right now when we first started.” Stanford said. “Those relationships are still vital, but we know we need to be downtown with these merchants.”
According to Stanford, several other policy changes already have been made including plans for a a restructuring of the DHDC board. She said she was excited the DHDC was able to keep their funding and plans to keep having conversations with commissioners to help grow the downtown area.
“Nationally, statewide and locally, downtown is where all the action is,” Mayor Henry Schwaller said. “We’ve had a lot of improvements down there, and I don’t see this as a glass half empty — it’s a glass half full. Almost every week, there is an article in a national publication about what is going on in downtown Hays.”
Commissioners vote to retain the funding level by a vote of 4-0. Mayor Henry Schwaller abstained due to a conflict of interest because he had helped create the group’s marketing plan.