The Main Street Advisory Board created a Vice-Chair position to allow the board to continue moving forward with a meeting in cases where the Chair, Brandi Bollinger, is absent.
Members discussed asking the current Main Street Manager Jay "Meash" Meashey or City Manager Jim Wieprecht to fill in; however, Sharon Tillman of the Promotions Committee expressed the importance of the Vice-Chair being a committee member and not a City employee. "I think it speaks to the integrity of this body and the work that we do as a grassroots effort for our Vice-Chair to be a Board member," she said.
Bollinger suggested rotating the position between the committee members, which was a well-received suggestion. She explained that by rotating the position, it is less of a burden on one person and allows everyone a chance to experience the job. Members discussed creating a sign up through the Fiscal Year where they will be responsible for the Vice-Chair duties once every fifth month. The duties of the Vice-Chair are still to be determined.
The Board also discussed expanding the boundary of businesses included in the Main Street district. Currently, they operate with a jagged boundary line created in 2002 when they originally applied to the Department of Housing and Community Development to create their Main Street district. The expansion would add the NAPA Auto Parts store and A&W Country Meats to the district. Bringing the Post Office into the district was also discussed.
Tillman requested to "square the map off" more, which could potentially add some residences to the district. "We could include more opportunities in the future should someone wish to add a business. Or we can just make the map less jagged," she said.
Adding in residences to smooth the map out could cause issues, according to Meashey. "This is hypothetical, but if the Council decided to impose a historical building restriction on the Main Street district, that could be a problem for any residence included in the district," he pointed out.
The Board’s next step is to ask City Council for authorization to ask the Department of Community Development for the boundary expansion.
The creation of a future publication like the old Taneytown Record was explored. Members debated the merits of a newsletter, journal and magazine. Tillman stated, "It needs to be for the people and about the people, not about the City of Taneytown or the City government." Stephanie Stephenson of the Clean, Green & Safe Committee agreed, saying that the publication should be at least partly about what’s happening on Main Street since the Board would likely be paying for it. She described a publication where her committee could share the work of its volunteers, upcoming events, and business advertisements.
After much debate, they decided to further delve into the costs and logistics of publishing a newsletter before jumping right into publication.
