At Thursday night's meeting of the Garden City Village Board, the trustees and mayor unanimously approved the engagement of Lloyd Zuckerberg as a consultant to the proposed Business Improvement District.

The matter of whether or not the engagement of this consultant would tie the village into having to establish a BID was raised early in the meeting by resident Dorothy Episcopia. Episcopia questioned whether hiring this consultant represented a commitment to establishing a BID or whether, "this is a type of consultant position that we have had before in the village, where they are simply giving input and you are accepting or rejecting it and acting as you see fit?"

Mayor Harold Hecken explained that there is a two step proposal by the consultant. The first step, he said, it to take a look at where the village is currently and where the village would like its business district to be. The second step, according to Hecken, would be to establish the mechanism for putting the BID together.

In answer to concerns raised about the establishment of the BID, Hecken appointed a special committee, chaired by Trustee John Mauk, that would study what the role of a BID would be in the village and whether or not the village should hire a consultant. Trustee Bruce Torino, who himself had many questions about the process, was also appointed to this special committee.

In presenting application for the engagement of the consultant, Mauk spoke about the history of the BID idea in Garden City. He noted that the Business Planning Coalition, an advisory board established to help in efforts to revitalize Garden City's downtown area, first raised the idea of forming a BID in 1997. A BID is a mechanism that enables municipalities to renovate and restore vitality to their business districts, by allowing them to tax themselves to fund the necessary costs of enhancing the existing services.

The Garden City Chamber of Commerce, explained Mauk, earlier this year, formed their own committee to advance the idea of bringing in a consultant to assist with the process of possibly establishing a BID. Mauk noted that his committee had several meetings with the proposed consultant and the chamber to discuss what they saw as being the role of a BID, the scope of services expected in a BID, and whether or not a plan such as this would be appropriate for the Village of Garden City. Among other things, said Mauk, the chamber saw the primary focus of a BID being to assist with the promotion and marketing of Garden City's business community. Mauk then quoted the Chamber of Commerce's October Business Bulletin which states, "The chamber believes that the establishment of a BID is essential to the revitalization of the central business district."

Mauk went on to explain the role that a BID might play in Garden City. "It establishes something whereby members of the business community themselves would decide on a focus of things they might need to improve the operation of the business community and attract more people to some of the retail establishments, hopefully maybe attract more tenants thereby to some of the vacant office space."

According to Mauk, the consultant that they have proposed to engage, has established some very successful BIDs, including the Grand Central Terminal BID, the 32nd Street BID, and the Bryant Park BID. In addition, said Mauk, Lloyd Zuckerberg and his partners, Central Business Partners, have also had experience in communities similar to Garden City.

The consultant, said Mauk, has been very candid with their committee, telling them, among other things that "A BID is not a panacea. It's not going to solve all your problems, it is really a tool in your toolbox. It may be something that will be useful." According to Mauk, the consultant also informed them that the success of a BID eventually is dependant, to a great degree, on the capability and experience of the person who is eventually selected to manage the BID.

In hiring a consultant, the village is not committing itself to establishing a BID. The consultant will try to find the parameters of a BID for Garden City, discuss with some of the tenants and landowners whose businesses would be included in the BID what their focus is, what they would like to accomplish, and ask those tenants and landowners if they would want to participate in a BID. The consultants would then draft up a BID program, develop a draft budget for a BID, and compile a document on the BID. Before doing anything else, the consultant would then have to go before the board for further approval.

In answer to a question by Trustee Robert Lewis, Mauk explained that the timeline for the initial phase of the establishment would be approximately seven months. Then, said Mauk, if the village decides to go forward with the establishment of a BID, the total timeline would be 1 1/2 years.

Lewis then questioned whether or not the representatives from the chamber were satisfied with the consultant. Ross Mongiardo, chairman of the chamber's BID committee stated that they were "thrilled" with the plan. Mongiardo then noted that the establishment of a BID would be good, not only for the business community, but for the residents as well, because it will improve the village as a whole to have a thriving business community.

Episcopia then questioned the cost of the consultant to set up this BID. Mauk explained that because they are doing it in a two-step process, the payment will also be split. The total cost of establishing the BID will be $40,000. Because the village is not guaranteeing that they will go forward with the BID, $27,500 of this amount will be for the first portion of the project, the rest being due if the village goes forward. Mauk later noted that this amount would be reimbursed by the BID if they do go forward with it.

Former Mayor Frank Tauches thanked the BID subcommittee for their efforts and stated that his only wish was that he had commenced and succeeded in at least doing the groundwork to establish a BID while he was in office so the village could be much further along at this point. "I think that if we had one at this point we would be much further along with the right mix on Franklin Avenue and on Seventh Street. While we are seeing some very significant progress, largely because of the investment of our village but also largely because of the commitment of the chamber of commerce and some very specific commercial property owners," said Tauches. "I think that potentially what the first stage will show is that a BID will be a great help and it will be something that enables us to move forward progressively and with all respect to the residential area and keeping that intact as well."

After the proposal to engage the consultant was unanimously approved by the board, the mayor then directed the subcommittee to act in an oversight role for this study.