Jane Jenkins: April 20 is not a deadline for BID renewal.
So what is a deadline? That’s the question I’m still asking on several fronts. Let’s just tackle one today - April 20 – the time in which Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. hopes to present to the business improvement district board a plan for renewal.
First, we must address whether this day is even a deadline. After talking to Jane Jenkins, one gets the impression it’s not a deadline, but rather a date in which she hopes to be able to present a plan and start the process of molding and shaping it for an eventual vote.
Some property owners I’ve spoken to in various districts seem to have a different impression of this date, that it sets in concrete whether an area participates and what that participation will be.
Jane Jenkins, however, says this isn’t the case – that if an area needs more time to decide whether it wants to participate, it will be allowed that extra time – though not indefinitely.
Likewise, Jenkins says that an area agreeing to be a part of the BID renewal isn’t committing yet to how much it will be assessed or how that money will be spent.
Time, however, is ticking. The consultant, Brad Segal, was hired last year shortly before Brett Hamm stepped down as president of Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. I was told at the time by David Rainbolt, BID board chairman, and by Segal that his continuing to work on the renewal without a DOKC president would not be a problem.
Today Jane Jenkins tells me that she’s still working very hard to get caught up with all the intricacies of downtown and the BID. She adds, however, that with her experience with other BIDs she’s not worried about the timeline ahead for the downtown OKC district to be renewed. She also adds that Segal’s contract is winding down and that is a consideration for wrapping this deal up.
So, I ask, is the consultant partially driving this process? In response I hear that DOKC is well equipped to move forward and get this wrapped up.
The district, by the way, is not up for renewal until 2011. I’ve heard questions and concerns about April 20 from prominent players in three different downtown districts. Jenkins and DOKC’s director of operations, Kathy Ford-Wallis, both say they’ve not heard any such concern or question.
So to those I’ve heard from, here’s the bottom line: Jane Jenkins said, and I repeated it to her to ensure I understood, that failure by an area to agree to participate in the renewed BID by April 20 will not translate into a decision to not participate. April 20, she says, is not a deadline and there will be no votes concerning the BID renewal at that week’s business improvement district board meeting.
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