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Bartlesville moves toward Oklahoma Main Street program membership

The Bartlesville City Council during the regular meeting Monday night accepted a request to issue a letter endorsing Downtown Unlimited's letter of intent to apply for Oklahoma Main Street Program, a Oklahoma Department of Commerce program focused on revitalizing communities throughout the state.

Chris Oldroyd, chair of Downtown Unlimited, an organization of downtown businesses and stake holders interested in bringing life to the downtown, presented to the council saying the Bartlesville Redevelopment Trust Authority, a city committee that oversees downtown development, has already issued a letter of support.

"A letter of intent simply indicates to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce that we as a community wish to investigate the possibility of becoming a Main Street USA program," he said. "It is not an application. So really what this does is gives us time to look into it to make sure the program is right for us before we make a commitment."

He told the council the letter of intent must be submitted by Nov. 13, 2009 and the application by January 2010.

Oldroyd told councilors he spoke to the OMSP member Ardmore's Main Street manager who is downtown development director governed by an entity similar to the BRTA,.

"I can confidently tell you that there appears to be no downside to this program for anyone involved."

He continued and said the requirements for participation in the program are very little.

"The downtown manager which I believe we are in the process of hiring would have to provide a work plan and would have to provide an annual bugdet -- things which the downtown manager should be doing as part of due diligence," said Oldroyd

He said the reason for these requirements are not so that the Department of Commerce can control community efforts but rather to insure the program's success.

"If we meet these simple requirements, then we receive access to countless in-state federally funded intitiatives and several resources including volunteer development; promotional, organizational, visioning and work plan development; design assistance, business development, confidential one on one consultation and group workshops, interior design consultation, marketing consultation and training and reinvestment reports."

Oldroyd said since the program's inception in 1986 and up to July 2009, OMSP has brought$694,883,000 in public and private reinvestment to downtowns in Oklahoma and 10,213 building rehabilitations. He said under the program, for every dollar invested into the operating costs within the communities, OMSP has seen a return of $33.26.

"I like this program and I think you guys will too," Oldroyd told the council. "I think the city will if they will look into it. It's flexible. It requires very little as far as a commitment from us beyond what we are doing though our efforts in the BRTA and it is a huge toolbox for the position of the downtown development manager which (the BRTA is) looking to fulfill currently."

City of Bartlesville Director of Community Development Lisa Beeman told the council the OMSP includes elements included in the downtown implementation plan the city accepted in September.

"We go above and beyond the basic elements that Oklahoma Main Street does," she said, saying that the city's plan is more focused toward economic development.

"They are more retail focused I think and we look a little bit more at the bigger economic development picture."

She said in the past Bartlesville was hesitant to participate in the program because it required a Main Street manager on staff, a requirement that at the time lacked funding.

"Now that we have created the BRTA and we have TIFF -- Tax Increment Financing -- money we can use that Tax Increment Financing for the funding of a Main Street manager and so now we are able to use that money coming in to pay the salary of a Main Street manager to accomplish not only the things we want to accomplish with the TIFF districts and the program plans and projects, but also to meet the goals and the objectives of the Main Street program itself. So I think it all works very well together."