Photo by Jon Lewis.
The death knell has sounded for the downtown Redding Business Improvement District, following a 4-1 vote by the Redding City Council on Tuesday to disband it.
Members of the soon-to-be-idle Downtown Redding Business Association—the merchants who have been administering the roughly $35,000 collected each year from 300 businesses in the district—warned the council it was making a mistake.
“Forcing out a group trying to make improvements is not a good message,” said Vint Stevenson, president of the DRBA. David Gerard, the group’s vice president, asked the council to step back and consider the DRBA’s accomplishments over the past 18 years. “I’m still baffled how we got here,” Gerard said.
Councilwoman Kristen Schreder, who launched a campaign to disband the Business Improvement District (BID) in early March, sought to clear up the confusion. “It’s all about accountability,” she said. The DRBA “has not taken responsibility. Transparency and accountability are key to BID members.”
Specifically, Schreder said she heard complaints from business owners within the BID and began her own investigation which revealed incomplete record-keeping and poor communication with BID members on matters of DRBA elections, meetings, agendas and minutes.
A meeting with DRBA officers to address her concerns only made things worse, she said. When the DRBA retained Redding attorney Walt McNeill, the friction increased. At the council’s March 17 meeting, McNeill presented the council with a letter suggesting the BID assessments may be in violation of Proposition 26, the 2010 California law that requires a two-thirds majority vote to impose any fees or taxes.
The council then met in closed session on March 17 to discuss the potential threat of litigation, a move that prompted protests from the DRBA that the council had violated California’s open-meeting laws. McNeill reiterated that allegation on Tuesday, telling the council that a “credible witness” informed him that the council voted behind closed doors to disband the BID.
Mayor Francie Sullivan said there was a “huge difference” between directing staff to have a matter placed on the agenda—for a full discussion in public—and taking a vote while in closed session.
“If Mr. McNeill feels there was a Brown Act violation, he should go to the district attorney,” Councilwoman Missy McArthur suggested.
Created in 1997 at the request of downtown merchants, the BID provided the city with the means to assess some 300 merchants to fund various marketing and promotional efforts. A consultant selected by the DRBA established the district using language from two different laws. The resulting “hybrid” puts the city at risk, City Manager Kurt Starman said, and he advocated dissolving the BID and re-establishing it if all the parties involved were interested.
Voting to disband the BID would amount to throwing away $35,000, McNeill said, and the chances of forming a new assessment district range between slim and none. “It just won’t happen,” he said.
Councilman Gary Cadd cast the lone dissenting vote after his motion to direct staff to work with the DRBA failed due to the lack of a second. Recalling that the council spent a year dealing with the public access TV channel before voting to transfer the station to a new operator, Cadd expressed the concern that the council was proceeding too quickly with the BID.
“I think we’re moving too fast. So much that they do is good; disbanding them is a mistake,” Cadd said.
The matter will return to the council on May 19 for a second reading of the ordinance.
In other action Tuesday, the council:
Tourism Promotion
Voted 5-0 to award a second five-year contract to the Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association for tourism marketing and operation of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The public-private partnership has proven to be a cost-effective way to promote Redding and the region and help fill the city’s 3,000 hotel rooms, Deputy City Manager Greg Clark said.
Under terms of the contract, Shasta Cascade will receive $936,549 in the 2015-16 fiscal year, and following years will be based on that amount plus 25 percent of any increase in the hotel bed tax proceeds the city receives. The Shasta Cascade, which markets the area through www.visitredding.com, also receives funding from an association of Redding hoteliers that charges a 2 percent assessment on room rates.
City Attorney
Voted 5-0 to promote Assistant City Attorney Barry DeWalt to the position of City Attorney.
Starman said DeWalt emerged as the top candidate from the five finalists interviewed by the council. He replaces Rick Duvernay, who retired in April after serving as city attorney for 10 years. DeWalt will earn a salary of $155,000 a year with a $2,500 raise after his first six months and again the end of his first year.
A Shasta County native and graduate of Enterprise High School, UCLA and McGeorge School of Law, DeWalt has worked in the city attorney’s office since 2003. His previous experience includes stints with the Shasta County Counsel’s office, the California District Attorneys Association and the U.S. Navy as a staff judge advocate.
Top Cop, Firefighter
Presented proclamations to Redding police officer Paul Slagle and Redding fire engineer Allen Gunderson. Both men were respectively honored as the Redding Exchange Club’s 2014 Police Officer and Firefighter of the year.
Jon Lewis is a freelance writer living in Redding. He has more than 30 years experience writing for newspapers and magazines. Contact him at jonpaullewis@gmail.com.
