Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission Full Commission Meeting 10:00 AM – 10:35 AM June 17, 2021 PRESENT: Rebecca Blakenbaker, Valencia Jones, Arlene Gould, Payne Williams, Jill Leo, Abe Ackel, Ronnie Williams, Sharon Gahagan, John Richmond, Vanner Erikson GUEST PRESENT: Carrie Hough, Secretary; Jessica Broadway, CPA; Hannah Richardson, Natchitoches Times; Amy Lee, CRNHA; Hannah Wenninger, Mayor’s designee CALL TO ORDER: Payne Williams called the meeting to order. The commission review the minutes from the June 17, 2021 Full Commission Meeting. Motion to accept the minutes from the June 17, 2021 Full Commission Meeting was made by Arlene Gould and 2nd by Valencia Jones. All approved, motion passes. FINANCIAL STATEMENT: Jessica Broadway, discussion on the financial statement as of May 31, 2021. Our balance as of May 31, 2021 is $216,476.81. Check register for May is $86,947.00. Motion to approve the May 31, 2021 financial statement made by Sharon Gahagan and 2nd by Arlene Gould. All approved, motion passes. OLD BUSINESS: Sharon Gahagan gave a report on the Master Plan. Almost all of the trees suffered severe damage from the winter storms. Every tree has been cataloged by the assessment made after they were all aerated and fertilized by an arborist. She has a call into the National Arborist Association to see if there is any grant possibility and to the State Forestry Commission. In one of the City ordinances there is a live oak protection requirement, this will help us when applying for any grants for the trees. NEW BUSINESS: Vanner Erikson discussed the slate of new officers for 2021-2022. The proposed officers: Jill Leo, Chairwoman; Payne William, Treasurer; Rebecca Blakenbaker, Vice Chair. Sharon Gahagan made a motion to approve the proposed slate of officers for the 2021-2022 year, the motion was 2nd by Valencia Jones. All approved, motion passes. -Rebecca Blakenbaker gave praise to Van Erikson for serving the commission for the past several years as chair of the NHDDC. She thanked him for his work throughout all of the changes and the pandemic. Payne Williams discussed the 2021-2022 budget. Payne stated that with COVID19 a majority of the events were not able to take place. We are going to have a carryover amount for the next budget. The executive committee’s ideas is to go forward with a similar budget as we have done in the past. Rebecca Blakenbaker made a motion to approve the proposed 2021-2022 budget, the motion was 2nd by Payne Williams. All approved, motion passes. Payne Williams gave a report for Van Erikson for NSU. Freshman Connection has a couple more sessions this summer. Enrollment is aligned with last year’s numbers. There will be a lot of summer camps taking place on campus. They are gearing up for the fall. They will have a new interim President starting on July 1 st, Dr. Marcus Jones. The retirement ceremony for Dr. Maggio will be next Wednesday at Orville Hanchey at 3:30 pm. Rebecca Blakenbaker gave a report for the CRNHA & NPS. Carrie asked for Rebecca to give a report, the NPS released the economic impact numbers for 2020. They are down a little due to COVID, Cane River Creole National Historical Park they had 17,400 park visitors spending estimated $1,000,000 in mobile gateway regions. These expenditures supported a total of 15 jobs, $398,000 in labor income, $727,000 in value added, and $1.3 million in economic output in mobile gateway surrounding the park. Due to COVID19 they are 50% less than in previous years. The CRNHA and NPS are partnering on the Depot Project. They had wrapped up a coffee and conversation event last Saturday and it was well attended, there will be another one on August 21. There is a Juneteenth Celebration this Friday at First Baptist on North Street, they will provide some activities along with other community supporters. Grand Ecore is back open, hours will be Wednesday – Saturday from 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm. The docent walking tour summer schedule is just one tour Wednesday – Saturday at 10 am in the Historic District. Hot Yoga on June 19th at Oakland at 2pm. Fall Festival will be at Oakland Plantation on October 23 from 10 am – 3pm, free and open to the public. The Go Natchitoches App, in May had an additional 270 downloads, which means our new promotion is working well. Amy Lee showed the new promotional materials to put out around Parc Natchitoches and through downtown and throughout the city. Jill Leo thanked Amy Lee for her hard work on the ap