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Niwot LID approves NBA marketing plan for 2019

With most of its business for 2018 concluded, the Niwot LID advisory committee turned its gaze to 2019 at its regular monthly meeting on Nov. 13.

Up first was newly-elected LID treasurer Bruce Rabeler with details about his recent meeting with liaison Mark Ruzzin and officials from the Boulder County finance department. Starting next year, the county will be implementing new rules concerning procurement, which may mean changes to current LID funding processes.

Among the most significant changes is to the competitive bid threshold, which fell to $5,000 from $25,000. In other words, Boulder County will require written quotes from three separate vendors for any purchase of $5,000 or more. Purchases over $25,000 will have to go through the county’s formal Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

There will also be stricter documentation requirements for funding requests, but they shouldn’t prove too burdensome, according to former LID treasurer Harris Faberman.

“Now I think there’s a bit more scrutiny,” he said. “But I don’t see any pushback as long as the treasurer doesn’t allow overfunding of any approved pay request.”

This led to a “thorough” discussion about allocations and LID funding priorities for the coming year, and the committee agreed to hold a more formal examination of the 2019 budget at the January meeting.

And not a moment too soon. Up next was Niwot Economic Development Director Catherine McHale, who asked for $20,700 from next year’s allocation to fund the first half of the Niwot Business Association’s 2019 marketing plan.

“We can start spending on February 1st instead of April 1st,” NBA President Tony Santelli said, explaining the advance request. “This gives us two more months of runway. It’s a smart way to run a business. Why would you give up a third of the year?”

There were “no major surprises” in McHale’s 2019 proposal, though she projects an 8.6 percent increase in total costs for the year, to $41,399 from $38,740 in 2018, primarily due to higher advertising and additional design costs.

McHale plans new copy and photos for the ongoing Big/Small ad campaign, which will again appear in local and regional publications, and in social media campaigns. She also hopes to launch new ancillary materials, such as a maps, flyers, t-shirts and videos. The NBA’s latest such effort (Niwot, Colorado — Small town. Big Heart video) has received more than 17,000 views as of mid-November.

McHale’s request was approved unanimously, though two members abstained.

The meeting closed with a personnel announcement. Member Jay Champion has tendered his resignation from the board due to a job change, effective at the end of the month. That will leave the board with two vacancies as of Feb. 28, 2019, when Carrie Wise’s second full term expires. Those slots will be filled by the county commissioners sometime in early 2019.

The final LID Advisory Committee meeting of 2018 will be held on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Niwot Fire Station.

 

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