11.15.2025 - DDA Meetings
Facebook Comments:
- MK - The November 11th DDA meeting was canceled this month. The DDA captures $400,000 a year in taxes, yet there is nothing to discuss about developing the community again?? There have been 5 meetings canceled this year out of 11 so far. Can someone please explain to me why we have a DDA director not interested in having meetings? Peter Weise, I know you are not on the DDA board, but you oversee Dennis. I'd like to know why half of the meetings this year have been canceled? Saying nobody shows up is BS, because I've been on that board, and people frequently attend. I'd ask him myself, but we all know how that would turn out.
- JW - Its time the dda actually spends money promoting the downtown, not just wages, maintaining parks and parking lots. 400K capture and they spend $500 on advertising, via some brochures at rest areas. Even the concerts aren't dda money, that money is donated by the rotary.
- Me:
- 1. About the canceled meetings
I asked about that and a couple other members that I'm waiting to hear back from. Dennis checked in directly with the DDA board and their unanimous preference was not to hold a meeting when there are no real action items, instead of meeting just to say we met. Smaller, non-urgent items are getting pushed to the next month.
Years ago a DDA committee rewrote the bylaws so that there has to be at least one meeting “scheduled” each month, but not necessarily held if there is nothing to act on. That wording was intentional so the board could cancel when there is no business, while still having a regular schedule on the calendar. By state law they must have 2 informational meetings a year. Both of which have been done for this year.
That said, I get why it feels bad from the outside when you hear “meeting canceled” over and over. Even if the board is fine with it, it easily comes across like there is nothing happening. I think we need to do a better job explaining why a meeting is canceled and what work is still going on behind the scenes.
- 2. Music on Main and who pays for it
For Music on Main, Rotary is the one footing most of the bill. That is a choice they (Rotary) made as part of their support for downtown. Because Rotary covers that, the DDA has not had to spend much on that specific concert series.
The DDA still has a line in the budget for advertising and promotions. That can support events and marketing when needed. On top of that, staff lean on free or low cost tools like social media, the city website, and donated ad space. When Rotary or other sponsors step up, it lets the DDA keep more of its limited dollars for things like infrastructure and maintenance instead of paying for every part of every event.
- 3. “Four hundred thousand on wages and parking lots”
The DDA capture is about four hundred thousand dollars a year in property taxes, with a little extra from interest and small fees. Roughly a third of that covers staff time for people who actually do DDA work in the district, like downtown maintenance, DDA administration, and portions of the city manager and finance staff when they are working on DDA items. The rest goes to things like garbage service in the district, repairs and maintenance, utilities, leases and rentals, facade grants, and building up savings for larger projects.
In the last decade the DDA helped pay for things like the pocket park, the walk through park, repaving the north DDA parking lot, rebuilding the rear decks behind businesses, dumpster enclosures, additional facade grants, and the Merlin enclosure, along with the ongoing operating costs. Right now they are also rebuilding the fund balance so there is money available when the next big project is ready instead of scraping by year to year.
Board members are unpaid volunteers. Staff are not getting extra pay when a meeting does or does not happen. You can absolutely disagree with how money is being used or which projects should come next, but it is not accurate to say it all goes to wages and parking lots.
If anyone wants to see the numbers directly, the DDA section of the city budget and the annual TIF report are both on the city website. If you have specific questions and actually want details, I am happy to dig into them, even if we still disagree on what to do.
https://cityofcoopersville.com/departments/downtown-development-authority/