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NOTICE OF A CALLED MEETING OF THE

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF SUNSET VALLEY, TEXAS ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2020

6:00 P.M.

Due to recent concerns regarding COVID-19, all meetings will be held virtually. You may attend the meeting with the following link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/243107573

You can also dial in using your phone: United States: +1 (571) 317-3122 Access Code: 243-107-573 Notice is hereby given that the Community and Economic Development Committee of the City of Sunset Valley, Texas will hold a Called Meeting on Wednesday the 6th day of May 2020 at 6:00 P.M. On this date, the following items will be discussed, to-wit:

1. Call to Order

2. Citizen/Public Comments

3. Approval of CED Committee meeting minutes from April 8, 2020.

4. City Council Liaison report.

5. Review financials, including monthly sales tax revenue (April distribution – February’s revenue) and Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues.

6. Discussion and possible recommendation to the City Council regarding the purchase of

promotional banners for the City.

7. Discussion of a proposal to the City Council on ways to assist Sunset Valley businesses with recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. Schedule and call next CED Committee meeting.

9. Adjourn

A quorum of the City Council may attend the meeting however, no official action by the City Council shall be taken. I certify that the above notice of meeting was posted at City Hall, 3205 Jones Road, Sunset Valley, Texas, on the 1st day of May 2020, at 6:00 PM.

Rae Gene Greenough City Secretary

COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: MAY 6, 2020

CED COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM #3 STAFF PREPARER/CONTACT INFORMATION: Matt Lingafelter, mlingafelter@sunsetvalley.org

SUBJECT: COMMITTEE MINUTES

DESCRIPTION: Approval of CED Committee meeting minutes from April 8, 2020.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Approve

SUPPORTING MATERIALS PROVIDED: YES/NO YES: MINUTES 4-08-2020

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MINUTES OF A CALLED MEETING OF THE

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF SUNSET VALLEY, TEXAS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020

6:00 P.M.

The Committee Meeting was held virtually via GoToMeeting, click below for a transcript: https://transcripts.gotomeeting.com/#/s/cf22fec7ac0b331b519e516c41b129ff9dea46be6754c1d

8ee4a009985382694

Members Present Staff Present Guests

Penny Cedel, Chair Sylvia Carrillo, City Admin. Mayor Cardona Karen Flournoy, Vice-Chair Phil Ellett, Council Liaison John Papola Roger Edmondson Ross Ponder Clayton Stice Mickie Powers

1. Call to Order

Chair Cedel called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM.

2. Citizen/Public Comments None

3. Approval of CED Committee meeting minutes from March 4, 2020. The minutes were approved on consent.

4. City Council Liaison report. Phil Ellett gave a report on sales tax projections and City Council action taken on April 7th.

5. Review monthly sales tax report (March report – January’s information). Reviewed the report and discussed future sales tax projections and the effects of COVID-19.

6. Progress report regarding the approved Marketing RFP. The Marketing RFP has been prepared for publication.

7. Discussion and possible action regarding the purchasing process to obtain marketing materials, including the design and production of promotional banners, and an update of the City’s digital map - the Committee discussed Hotel Occupancy Tax projections with greatly reduced numbers, and the effects on marketing and promotional spending for FY 19-20. Karen Flournoy made a motion for the Committee to explore reducing the cost of designing the banners and the digital map. Anezka Carmona seconded the motion.

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There was a discussion of the motion and the process for moving forward with banner design, and putting the design of the digital map on hold. The motion was amended by both Roger Edmondson and Clayton Stice to read: the Committee will form a sub-group to explore reducing the cost of designing the banners, and to develop specifications with firm cost estimates and possible designs from John Papola and Lisa Versaci to present to the City Council on April 21, 2020, and to explore placing a large promotional banner across Brodie Lane. Both the motion maker and the second approved the amendments. All voted in favor and the motion passed. The sub-group will consist of Penny, Roger and John, and work with Sylvia.

8. Discussion and possible action regarding a plan to assist Sunset Valley businesses and retailers during the COVID-19 crisis, including:

a. Facilitation of a virtual meeting with business owners, retail managers, and commercial

property management b. Share strategies that businesses and commercial property management are pursuing to

offset the effects of the crisis c. How the City and the CED Committee can assist businesses and commercial property

management, both during and after the crisis The Committee discussed various strategies the City could explore to help the retail centers. There was a discussion on the status of the retail centers in the City with the shelter-in-place orders. Staff was directed to compose a letter to send out to businesses.

9. Discussion on how the CED Committee can reach out to residents and provide community support during the COVID-19 crisis – the Chair suggested that Committee members should reach out to neighbors and offer support.

10. Schedule and call next CED Committee meeting – May 6th at 6 PM, virtual meeting.

11. Adjourn – Chair Cedel adjourned the meeting at 8:00 PM

Penny Cedel Chair

MINUTES APPROVED ON _______________________.

COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: MAY 6, 2020

CED COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM #5 STAFF PREPARER/CONTACT INFORMATION: Matt Lingafelter, mlingafelter@sunsetvalley.org SUBJECT: REPORTS - FINANCIALS

DESCRIPTION: Review financials, including monthly sales tax revenue (April distribution – February’s revenue) and Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues

BACKGROUND: The monthly sales tax report for the month for April, with February sales tax revenue information, is attached. It is worth noting that sales tax received in February 2020 was down nearly 12% from February 2019. Since the start of 2020, the City has not engaged in any marketing activities or promotional campaigns (the last campaign and shopping advertisements were Holiday Season 2019). Also, the attached sales tax report is pre-COVID-19 information. The City will not begin to receive real time data for sales tax affected by the pandemic until May 8th when the City will receive March sales tax revenue, and then again on June 12th when we will receive April sales tax revenue. Please click here to see ‘worst case scenario’ sales tax projections for the remainder of the fiscal year. As of May 1st, all retail shops and restaurants can open in Sunset Valley, but at a limited capacity (25% occupancy). Click here to see the current retail status.

A report for Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues will be provided at the meeting. After speaking with the management at the Holiday Inn, it is clear the City will have greatly reduced HOT Fund revenues for this quarter, as the hotel has had zero % occupancy due to the pandemic.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS PROVIDED: YES/NO YES: SALES TAX REPORT 04-2020

APRIL 2020Note: this report does not include Crime Control District Revenues

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 $ % $ YTD %OCT 410,769$ 438,777$ 479,737$ 485,100$ 493,183$ 463,808$ 491,236$ 465,420$ (25,816)$ -5.3% (25,816)$ -5.3%NOV 418,953$ 460,774$ 489,261$ 497,492$ 509,333$ 533,899$ 489,434$ 495,228$ 5,794$ 1.2% (20,022)$ -2.0%DEC 463,848$ 461,349$ 506,341$ 495,764$ 459,870$ 440,419$ 540,146$ 517,793$ (22,353)$ -4.1% (42,375)$ -2.8%JAN 384,121$ 477,613$ 549,517$ 519,779$ 535,108$ 536,750$ 496,433$ 525,321$ 28,888$ 5.8% (13,487)$ -0.7%FEB 594,757$ 669,859$ 668,782$ 715,822$ 659,119$ 684,587$ 652,244$ 679,963$ 27,719$ 4.2% 14,232$ 0.5%

MAR 421,473$ 385,006$ 428,522$ 443,134$ 452,440$ 451,270$ 444,118$ 462,568$ 18,450$ 4.2% 32,682$ 1.0%APR 392,906$ 403,225$ 442,133$ 409,074$ 447,500$ 442,078$ 438,610$ 387,192$ (51,417)$ -11.7% (18,736)$ -0.5%MAY 480,231$ 490,398$ 503,245$ 531,559$ 513,096$ 549,709$ 504,872$ JUN 444,022$ 503,422$ 544,803$ 462,500$ 478,966$ 501,082$ 512,957$ JUL 447,959$ 484,955$ 463,154$ 482,707$ 503,723$ 533,027$ 491,551$

AUG 468,883$ 492,323$ 573,336$ 571,622$ 553,650$ 523,730$ 518,181$ SEP 472,277$ 475,941$ 503,341$ 462,349$ 491,445$ 493,832$ 497,138$

YEAR 5,400,199$ 5,743,641$ 6,152,171$ 6,076,902$ 6,097,434$ 6,154,191$ 6,076,919$ YoY Change 6.4% 7.1% -1.2% 0.3% 0.9% -1.3%

Sunset Valley Sales Tax Allocation Summary

Change: FY 2018/2019Year-to-DateMonthFISCAL YEAR

$250

$300

$350

$400

$450

$500

$550

$600

$650

$700

$750

OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP

Thou

sand

s

SV: Sales Tax Allocation 2013 2014 2015

2016 2017 2018

2019 2020

COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: MAY 6, 2020

CED COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM #6 STAFF PREPARER/CONTACT INFORMATION: Matt Lingafelter, mlingafelter@sunsetvalley.org SUBJECT: MARKETING/PURCHASES

DESCRIPTION: Discussion and possible recommendation to the City Council regarding the purchase of promotional banners for the City.

BACKGROUND: On March 30, 2020, the City Council approved the following funding request from the CED Committee:

Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Fund Request

• Banners/Hardware - $10,000 • Design/Graphics for Banner - $15,000 • Digital Map Update (online and print)- $5,000

At the April 8th CED Committee meeting, the Committee discussed promotional banners and the digital map update, in light of the pandemic and the recent budgetary actions taken by the Mayor and the Council. The Committee decided to move forward with the banner design, and place the update of the digital map on hold. A motion was made, amended, and then passed by the Committee that read:

The CED Committee will form a sub-group to explore reducing the cost of designing the banners, and to develop specifications with firm cost estimates and possible designs from John Papola and Lisa Versaci to present to the City Council on April 21, 2020, and to explore placing a large promotional banner across Brodie Lane.

In the last few weeks, the Committee has exchanged ideas about the banners via email.

From Roger Edmondson:

I think the idea of signs that tell people that the trail system maintenance is supported by our retailers is solid. My entry for a slogan is Sunset Valley, a More Natural Way to Shop.

The most we should do right now is the place advertising (banners) we have agreed on recommending… Forget about branding and just get some effective call to action banners up… We should be as cost efficient as possible to make the Council decision as easy as possible. Let the marketing firm tackle branding and messaging.

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From John Papola:

Rushing into copy and taglines without an audience research-based creative strategy could be counter-productive. There’s no reason to believe that taglines we make up will actually be effective without audience research and testing. And given that we’re talking about outdoor advertising for drivers, expecting people to read the copy is a stretch. My recommendation for the committee is to seek simple design bids for the banners with the focus on maximum legibility and place branding. Make sure people can read “SUNSET VALLEY SHOPPING”. Frankly, just adopt the simple call to action “Shop in Sunset Valley”. It’s straight forward, tells people they’re here and what we want them to do, and it doesn’t try to be too cute or create potential confusion. It also doesn’t add lots of words that will shrink the font size and reduce legibility. I’ve done a little banner mockup as an example. We should be able to get a REAL designer to beat this quick hack job of mine.

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From Lisa Versaci:

I am of the strong belief that slogans are ad copy and what we need right now is place branding and nothing more. No ad copy should be generated without A/B testing and a solid brand position. Let’s establish our city first, market it second.

Maybe a section or even separate banner to flank the post and pair with the “Sunset Valley Banner” so it can be changed depending on the event or season. The city logo lock-up remains the same for “sunset valley” but the other side of the post can change to the following ideas:

SHOP ————— Sunset Valley (The stores)

EAT! (Or Dine) —————- Sunset Valley (Near the restaurants or to be used during food festival events)

PLAY ————— Sunset Valley (Toney Burger area and Urban Trails)

WELCOME —————- Sunset Valley (City Hall and ERW)

CELEBRATE —————— Sunset Valley

(Celebrate the holiday season - a celebrate Easter themed sign and a Christmas holiday banner, maybe Fourth of July?)

STORE NAME —————— Sunset Valley (If a store requested some help with visibility)

Other Committee members that supported the proposed banners were Mickie Powers, Sandi Williams, Anezka Carmona, and Clayton Stice. Mayor Cardona also offered support.

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APPLICABLE CODE SECTIONS: City of Sunset Valley Financial Policies

SUPPORTING MATERIALS PROVIDED: YES/NO

COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: MAY 6, 2020

CED COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM #7 STAFF PREPARER/CONTACT INFORMATION: Matt Lingafelter, mlingafelter@sunsetvalley.org SUBJECT: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

DESCRIPTION: Discussion of a proposal to the City Council on ways to assist Sunset Valley businesses with recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUNSET VALLEY COVID-19 DASHBOARD

CURRENT SUNSET VALLEY RETAIL STATUS

Please see attached comments and ideas from Committee Members. Chair Cedel has asked members to come to the meeting prepared to discuss and elaborate on the ideas.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS PROVIDED: YES/NO

Retail Stimulation Ideas

Penny Hi, Here are some very rough ideas for stimulation of our retail areas Visit a collection of stores and receive a gift card. Work with Credit Card companies to see if we could implement a “ double bonus point offer” during a certain period for shopping at certain stores. HOT funds would be used to buy the additional points A collection of events, highly publicized, entertainment , kids games etc spread out over 3 months Building on the theme of “safe Sunset Valley” expand to include “clean and safe “ and install hand sanitizing stations in the retail areas Series of events at City Hall, music, lectures etc with transportation to the shopping centers Prize for best “You Tube “ video showing shopping in Sunset Valley Set up a station for departures for “Hill Country Wine Tours” hopefully people will stop and shop either prior to or after their tour Target specific market segments with an appropriate message using social media Establish a central physical spot within one of the shopping centers that can be used as meeting point to listen to entertainment etc Relax the lighting restrictions for the retail areas Hire a third party to set up a “valet service “ for delivery of merchandise from various stores to your automobile Just some rough and in some cases of the wall type thoughts The key requirement is that we get a marketing company onboard asap so that the take ides and help us implement Thanks Phil

Good day all. As I have commented on a couple of occasions recently, we need large signs yesterday on Brodie Lane and the access road telling people what is open. There might even be two signs-one for restaurants and one for other establishments. If the signs could have sliding panels that we can add or subtract business names, it would be helpful to say the least. I noticed the red Robin gave up on doing curbside, judging from the fact that their tables are gone from out front now. I feel like the signs should be on both sides of Brodie and visible from the direction of the flow of traffic. We do not know officially when things will open up again. From what I gather they will open up in stages and if El Virus � increases things will shut back down. I feel like we should’ve had these signs up a month ago but I know budgetary matters have taken priority. Somebody has put up dinky little 24” signs in desperation that say “we’re open Austin”. These are barely noticeable as you drive-by. If the sign actually delineated what was open, people might be more inclined to turn in if they have a particular need that could be satisfied. In the future when we open up, I’m sure there will be health safety rules that have to be handled and our new signs might say something about health and safety standards are followed here. I noticed the community impact had a list of places that were open, including restaurants, and hardly any of ours were mentioned. As I remember perhaps only Docs. We might even take out an ad (not a dinky one)Immediately, listing our restaurants and businesses in the next issue. Also in the past when we’ve done some research We found that the radio audience in Austin was a fruitful method for getting ourselves in the public eye. Although not as many people are in their cars at this time, they do get sick of television while they’re working in home and probably have the radios on so I would think it would behoove us to have something on the radio – again immediately. I don’t believe we have ever gone so long without some kind of a promo of ourselves happening and we need it now more than ever. I’ll keep my ancient thinking cap on. Mickie Hi, Please forgive "the reply-all" for I'd like to share a resource. On Tuesday, I attended an economic update and forecast by the local economist and investor Angelos Angelou. The slide presentation is attached and the recording is below.

Zoom Recording: Angelos Angelou Covid-19 Economic Update Password: 1A$&ykIl

Please let me bullet point some of my key takeaways:

• In March 2020, retail Sales declined 8.7%. Previous record was a decline of 3.8% in November 2008

• Retail Sales will likely decline by 20% in 2020, increase by 15% in 2021 • It is estimated that retail real estate will have an increased vacancy, whereas most other

types of real estate will do just fine. See slide below for visual representation.

Other key takeaways:

• Texas and all Texas metro areas will be significantly impacted by Covid-19. In addition, Texas will endure major bankruptcies in the oil & gas industry. Expect a 20% drop in GSP

• The Global economy is slowing to -3% to -4% growth • Fed & Treasury will take more stimulus action to support the US economy

And onto the task of our committee, as I articulate this, the challenge facing Sunset Valley: city revenue is falling. What got us into this situation? City revenue isn't broadly diversified and mainly consists of sales tax on retail stores. How can we prevent it from happening again? Given that we focused almost exclusively on sales tax, Sunset Valley has limited options in a crisis such as this. We need to work toward our future now and invest in diverse revenue streams. Possible revenue streams include:

• retail sales tax • property tax

o Most residents don't want to pay this, but it's an option. • invest in future revenue streams for when the world is open again and humming along in

2021 and 2022: o Create an event space that can be leased out and will be a local destination

Splash pad, park, & event space in the Uplands o connect nature trails

It's vital that we make progress with the economic and marketing plan for Sunset Valley. I read this article from a brilliant writer. It speaks of retail, real estate and the American city. Many points seem appropriate to the work of CED, but I didn’t want to forward something else to the committee without running it by you. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/how-pandemic-will-change-face-retail/610738/ Best wishes, Ross **Begin the process to develop long-term relations with the management companies & ownders to be able to sway the idea of getting higher end businesses into our spaces … (Means increased sales & increased revenue stream to our coffers) **Develop areas within SV shopping that families can relax & enjoy themselves while portions of the family shop **Have special events w/in SV (e.g. dinner at one restaurant & wine tasting at another place- make an evening of it...) **Have signage on 290 & 71 say "Sunset Valley"- not just Brodie La **Holiday decorations on trees in center of Brodie & a special lighting of the trees w something special... choral group, hot chocolate. etc. For all the ideas we need to move forward with the RFP and hiring a new marketing firm- we as city volunteers or employees can't cover all the pieces! Penny