15 - Laserfiche WebLink

The PDA Board believes this approach achieves a balance among all stakeholders and, importantly, can be delivered by the PDA this year. Additionally, holding the Weekend on Main events on the first weekend of each month will allow the PDA to bring back the beloved Concerts in the Park on Friday evenings during the non-street closure weekends. The Board's recommendation also affords PDA the time to develop and test programming to gauge whether the frequency of the closures could/should be increased in future years. This approach is outlined in Attachment 1. Notably, the PDA's current organizational capacity is quite limited due to the impacts of COVID over the past two years, which has severely reduced revenues (due to inability to hold events) such that available funds and staffing are slim. To successfully implement the programming desired during this year's Weekend on Main street closures, the PDA is requesting financial assistance from the City in support of the event series. Expenses As noted, the Weekend on Main program is not without cost to the City. In 2020 and 2021 , the City contracted with a vendor to set-up and remove the barricades each weekend, while using staff to manage signage and related traffic circulation measures. Additionally, the City incurs indirect costs for police and traffic engineering staffing, downtown cleaning, and event oversight; these are absorbed as part of ongoing departmental operations. The 2022 Weekend on Main six street closures are expected to generate direct expenses of approximately $118,000 to physically block the streets: contracting with a vendor for barricade rentals and placement/removal to close and re-open Main Street each of the weekends ($104,000) and staff overtime for placement/removal of signage and traffic circulation measures ($14,000); these costs have been included in the current fiscal year budget of the Operations Services Department. Should the event series be extended through the end of the year, the direct expenses would be approximately $170,000 ($152,000 to block/re-open the streets and $18,000 in staff overtime). Alternatively, instead of contracting with a vendor City staff could be used to close and re-open the streets; this would significantly reduce the cost to an outside vendor but would increase the overtime staffing costs. It is anticipated this approach would cost approximately $50,000 for six weekend events (and approximately $64,000 for eight weekend events). This option is feasible with the recommended once per month frequency; should the frequency be increased, the City would need to contract with an outside vendor. Depending on the overall Council's direction, staff will use the least costly option available. Given that PDA's revenues are severely reduced due to COVID impacts, a City sponsorship of the 2022 event series of $100,000 would substantially assist the PDA in delivering this enhanced programming. Event sponsorship of the Weekend on Main series of $100,000 is proposed to come from the Business Support Fund allocated by the Council in 2020, which has approximately $1 .35 million (of the total $3 million) available. Page 4 of 6