Dear Mayor Robinson & Council members,
Over the past week it has come to my attention that a council person was interviewed on a local radio program. The interview included numerous items that were either incomplete, inaccurate, or uninformed. I can only assume the DIB has fallen short in educating and informing members of the City Council, and potentially the Mayor’s office, of our operations and all of the work our team does on a daily basis. To that end, we will continue to strive for better communication on DIB activities, programs, and funding.
Below are some DIB activities and clarification that may be of interest:
Ambassador Program: Our ambassador program is a crown jewel of what we do every day at the DIB. This team consists of two dedicated Ambassadors (Lori & James) who work long hours every morning, ensuring that more than 60,000 lbs of trash are removed from our sidewalks, alley ways, and on-street parking spots each year. They schedule time to pressure wash these same areas and, this past year as reported in our annual report to the CRA, they covered just over 10,000 sq ft and also removed graffiti from the district. In addition, they’re a welcome face for residents and visitors that may need help with paying to park or by providing directions to local businesses. This contract is one of the DIB’s largest budget line items and we recently switched to a locally owned, minority-owned business this past February. The annual contract is $135,000 to accomplish all of our cleaning goals.
Comments from council person on the radio regarding Parking & Micro-Mobility: “I believe that there’s an interlocal agreement that the DIB handles parking but we’ve taken parking back but I believe we still give them the money for it”
… “It looks like to me as if we have taken it back over and we’ve taken the cost of employment for those who take that who had been in the DIB but I believe we may still pay money to the DIB for it, but I’m not sure…” …
“…because of how disliked they are, but I believe in that interlocal agreement is that it’s the DIB’s responsibility to review micro mobility and such so kind of funny we are also doing that and potentially also giving them money for that as well.”
Parking: From 2007-late 2020, the DIB Managed numerous city parking lots including the Jefferson Street garage as well as numerous surface lots. On October 1, 2020, the City hired former DIB executive director Lissa Dees as its Manager of Parking Services, and the City took back all parking responsibilities from the DIB. As a result, all revenue and operations are now managed by the City. The previous contract for the Ambassador Program was a three-year agreement signed in February of 2019 and included the cleaning of the Jefferson Street parking garage and several city surface lots. The City agreed to continue paying their portion of the cleaning contract for the parking lots until the contract expired in February of 2022. Once that contract expired, the City and parking management made the decision to hire their own cleaning crew for the garage and surface lots; subsequently, the DIB no longer receives money from parking funds.
Micro-Mobility: The interlocal agreement between the DIB & CRA states in section one that “The use of such funds shall be allocated for economic development, marketing, public realm enhancements and beautification, community policing innovations and to support multi-modal enhancement of Downtown Pensacola,” The DIB was approached by City staff to collect information about the mayor & city council’s initiative of a pilot program for micro-mobility scooters. Our board directed our Executive Director, Walker Wilson, to collect information from property owners downtown and provided that information to the mayor, city council, and city staff. The DIB Executive Director surveyed downtown business and property owners on 12/8/21 & 5/23/22. The DIB is not managing or tasked with managing such a pilot program that the mayor & city council undertook. It is our responsibility to support multi-modal enhancement of Downtown Pensacola.
Comments from council person on funding of the DIB: “surprised that we also fund them and contribute to the cause of things that would have been us, but we’ve written off” …
“The City gives their portion to the CRA and then the CRA has to give their portion to the DIB” …
“When people are saying our tax dollars are paying for it, well that’s true for sure, but not under the city’s control so to speak. It’s definitely its owntaxing authority.” …
“As its own taxing authority it has its own ad valorem tax that it’s able to take and it has some kind of requirements in that of what they’re supposed to do and I have to admit a little bit surprised that we also fund them and contribute to the cause.” …
”it was actually formed at the time forblight which of course the 42 blocks of the DIB don’t particularly have that issue.”
The DIB is funded in part to keep our downtown safe, clean, and to promote the business and property owners. Currently the DIB’s revenue sources, outlined in our budget each year, is approved by the DIB board (passed 5-0 8/24/21) and voted on by the City Council (passed 6-1 with councilmember Myers in dissent on 9/15/21.) I would encourage any city council person who has questions on how DIB funds are spent to review the budget they approved and reach out to the DIB Executive Director, Walker Wilson, to answer questions either before or during
any budget review meeting to clarify the issues a council member may have.
Likewise, the DIB Ad Valorem Tax of 2 mills, confirmed in a referendum by DIB property owners in 1997 and then again in 2003, is approved by city council each year (passed 7-0 on 9/15/21). CRA Funds that we receive in the form of a check swap under a MOU approved by DIB Board and unanimously by CRA in September of 2020,
Palafox Market vendor fees (which we utilize only for Palafox Market activities), revenue from our Trash co-op program which is a net neutral program we run for about fifteen businesses on Palafox, Website participation for any business outside the DIB boundaries who would like a business page on our website, and pressure washing funds up to $6,500 per year through a LTU approved by both DIB Board and city council in 2018. Currently each year the executive director of the DIB presents to our board a future scope of work and an update on how our CRA funds are spent (approved 6/28/22 4-0). Once approved the executive director presents this to the CRA board for approval of work done and future work plan (approved 7-0 on 7/18/22).
I’m no stranger to the fact that there are individuals elected and non-elected that believe the DIB has accomplished its original goal of removing blight from our downtown and question the current role the DIB has for the district. It has always been my stance that as long as the DIB exists and property owners (including myself) are paying the extra 2 millage points every year, that I would strive to make the DIB the best it possibly could be.
Many once thriving downtowns, including Pensacola, had a thriving community only to see changes take place and buildings get boarded up for decades. During times of great economic progress it’s easy to think you will always remain on top. I don’t believe we should ever take our community and its recent success for granted. The DIB is here to ensure Downtown Pensacola remains a safe, clean, and thriving area to benefit our entire community.
The property owners within the DIB pay the 2 mills for the DIB to exist and see daily benefits in what the DIB does.
Some of the expenses that we all benefit from include:
• Pensacola Police for Additional Officers for a safer downtown ($60,000)
• Ambassador Program for a cleaner downtown ($135,000)
• Dedicated funds to promote economic development for a more vibrant downtown ($70,000)
• Friends of Downtown to bring First City Light Festival for a festive downtown ($75,000)
• Marketing DIB businesses for stronger businesses downtown ($50,000)
In addition, the success of the Palafox Market every Saturday morning over the past 15 years (which is self-funded and managed by DIB staff) generates $160,000 annually and the DIB is able to bring added benefits to MLK Plaza including the addition of two public restroom facilities in partnership with the city of Pensacola.
Those that may attack the DIB or believe it makes sense to eliminate the DIB should understand that all of these added benefits that the property owners in the district pay every year would stop. The City could redirect funds from your existing budgets and hire additional staff to try and replicate these services which is not your current focus. If the DIB ended tomorrow, it would be a matter of days before our community felt the impact the cleaning
ambassadors have in keeping downtown beautiful. The CRA would lose the $100,000 revenue they gain from the DIB TIF we don’t recoup each year under the new MOU signed in 2020.
Comments from council person on the radio: Mayor’s power to select DIB members “Is pretty powerful for one person and out of control for the rest of us really and truly”
It’s true that the Mayor nominates members for the DIB Board that “shall be an owner of realty within the Downtown Improvement Board District, subject to ad valorem taxation or a lessee thereof required by lease to pay taxes thereon.” Each of those members are then presented to the City Council for approval. There were 2 nominations of members brought before the City Council on 7/16/22, 1 nomination on 9/23/21, 2 nominations on 6/11/20, and all were unanimously approved.
The removal of any DIB Board member is left to that of city council stated in our bylaws that “A member of the Board may be removed for fraud, dishonesty or other good cause upon the vote of City Council.”
Comments from council members & public on Friends of Downtown: “We have received many questions and concerns about the organization and funding of Friends of Downtown.”
Friends of Downtown is a 501(c)(3) organization created by former executive director Ron Butlin and a couple of other downtown business owners, non-DIB Board members, in 2015. Its purpose was to create a way to solicit funds from public & private entities to bring First City Lights Festival (Christmas Lights) to the community. This board is typically chaired by the executive director of DIB and has three other board members. They work independently of the DIB Board and the only relationship to the DIB is that our board donates $75,000 towards the
lights in partnership with the City of Pensacola (contributes $50,000), FPL (contributes $10,000), several FPL subcontractors who do work in downtown (collectively contribute $10,000), and Studer Family of Companies (contributes $8,000). Each of these organizations contribute to Friends of Downtown for their First City Light Festival event. This organization was also created to give downtown the opportunity to apply for a Foo Foo
Festival Grant which they do each year. From time to time, DIB may contribute to Friends of Downtown to support their Foo Foo Festival project if their board comes to us and asks for additional funding. Friends also hosts a Repast Dinner in partnership with UWF Historic Trust. This event is a ticketed event for the public to attend and take a step back in time to get a glimpse of Pensacola’s past with a focus on its culinary history. Friends of Downtown has no paid staff and operates as a volunteer board separate of the DIB. Each event has been shown
to increase visitation, “heads in beds” and provide an economic boost for downtown businesses.
It’s not lost on me that much of the recent conversation has centered around downtown restrooms. As the board chair, I have been working on downtown restrooms for the past 2 years. During a visit to Phoenix, Arizona over the Christmas holiday, I identified a public restroom design that I thought would be a good fit for Pensacola. I met with the DIB and the City and in February it was presented to our board, passed unanimously and was featured in a
PNJ article on 2/23/22. Since the DIB’s initial steps of approaching the City with a plan to build public restrooms in downtown Pensacola we have coordinated with city staff and worked out a payment plan with city council (approved unanimously on 7/12/22). Our initial payment for restrooms of $89,454 is being paid 8/15/22 with the monthly agreed upon installments starting in September. While recent events may underscore the hard work of the DIB, history and facts
should not be left out of the conversation.
Our team at the DIB are dedicated to fulfilling our mission to enhance the district’s quality of life and economic success by creating a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable environment. We look forward to our continued efforts in partnership with the City of Pensacola, CRA, and the downtown property owners to make this a community for all to enjoy.
Respectively,
Michael Carro
Chairman
Downtown Improvement Board
