The downtown Business Improvement District has collected $686,000 in fees through April 9, and is owed another $226,000, said Gordon Stalans, head of the district's finance committee, during a meeting of the full board on Wednesday.
The new director of the Business Improvement District, Steve Brookes, will work with a member of River City Company staff to get in touch with owners of the 63 properties that have outstanding fees due, Stalans said.
"It's better that they do that instead of the board being involved in that process," he said.
The fees were due along with property taxes on Feb. 29, and the district will follow the city's policies on penalties and interest, which started March 1, Stalans said. The four nonprofit organizations that have requested exemption from Business Improvement District fees won't be charged penalties and interest while the board sorts out how to resolve those requests, he added.
A planned meeting of the board's finance committee to discuss those exemption requests was postponed because of the coronavirus crisis, and it has not been rescheduled. Though the finance committee would like to meet in person to talk about the issue, that may not be possible, said board chair Steve Hunt.
"Our hope is that everyone could be together and thoroughly discuss the applications," he said.
The board also voted to select Block By Block, which already deploys downtown ambassadors in 120 U.S. cities, to provide district services in Chattanooga's Business Improvement District. Brookes, who moved this week to Chattanooga to lead the district, was previously an employee of Block By Block.
"They really spent time walking the district and being in downtown Chattanooga and understanding what is needed," Brookes said.
The board also voted to change the public name of the Business Improvement District to the Downtown Chattanooga Alliance, which Hunt called a "kinder, gentler, friendlier name."
"It better reflects our intention to engage with anyone and everyone who comes into the district," he said.