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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVPCAgenda_2010_01_041 Promotions Committee Meeting Minutes – January 4, 2010 City Hall Present: Victoria Blatchford, Rob Peterson, Lynn Darnall, Didem Koroglu, Bob Johnson, Zeno Wicks III, Tom Jones, Jeff Weldon, Bridgit Burghardt, Al Heuton, Deb Garbers, Tom Richter and Jan Brockel. •Chairperson Blatchford called the meeting to order at 12:20 • Agenda Addition or Changes: Burghardt asked to add the year end report. The item will be listed as agenda item 8. Richter asked to add an update regarding the Swiftel Center. The item will be listed as agenda item 9. Jones motioned to approve the agenda, Peterson seconded. Motion Carries • November 30 Minutes: Wicks motioned to approve, Darnall seconded. Motion Carries. • Financials: Burghardt informed the committee the funds allocated for 2010 events have been moved to the 2010 financials. Only 2009 events show up on the 2009 financials. This changed the carryover amounts for the SDSU Student Fund, and the Tournament/Athletic Fund. Burghardt provide the committee with a list of commitments made for 2010. Blatchford added those are the events for the first quarter of 2010. Burghardt informed the committee of a bill received from the Swiftel Center for the Flo Rida concert. The funds will come out of the Swiftel Center fund. Wicks questioned regarding the Swiftel Fund, overall, do we think of this as if they loose money we pay-if they make money they keep it? Richter responded yes. The fund was set up so they can take risks on promoting a concert. Wicks added we may want to look at a system where if overall in the concert year if they make money, we don’t pay. Richter explained that the biggest loose so far is the Flo Rida Concert, with the loose being split between the Swiftel Center and the promoter. Wicks added the idea behind the fund was to promote the concert ourselves and we are willing to loose money with the risk. This was to pay for concerts. Darnall questioned if a concert is a sellout, does the Swiftel Center make money? Richter answered yes. There has only been one sellout concert. If the concerts break even, consider that a success. Darnall questioned if the concerts coming this March will be sellouts? Richter responded not yet. Hopefully they will be. Ticket sales for Jason Aldean have been tracking to sellout. Blatchford mentioned the Third B tax is up so far this year and hoping for a good December. Weldon added not to read too much into the dollars per month, as the reporting regarding the month the tax is collected is not consistent from the Dept. of Revenue. Some taxes care reported in thirty days, others not until ninety days. Jones motioned to approve, Peterson seconded. Motion Carries. •Branding Update: Brockel reported we are getting close. The taskforce has been donating their time and have made recommendations on the logo, tagline and color. North Star is working on the deliverables requested, such as website and tourism advertising. The final presentation will be in January with the brand identity guide. Lisa Svobodny has put together a presentation which documents the process from beginning to where we are today. Blatchford added that Lisa will be presenting to the City Council and Visitor Promotions Committee. We will be scheduling meeting with the council and Visitor Promotions over the next two weeks as we can not go into executive session and the brand is still confidential. The Visitor Promotions Subcommittee will have a preview on Friday. • Convention Report: Garbers explained the report breaks out the commitments. They are committed, but not due immediately. The report shows when the events will happen, and that is generally when the bills are paid for that event. The report shows $72,300 in commitments, the net balance is the funds minus all of the commitments. The Chamber is deliberating if they want to be responsible for future commitments. There is little bidding money left for 2010. If you take 2010 and 2011 out of the 2010 budget, we would have more money to work with. Weldon questioned if they get paid ahead of time, what happens if an event cancels? Garber answered it has only happened once and they sign a contract and have to return the money. Garbers mentioned that the facilities have caught onto the prepayment, and they are bidding for events. Blatchford questioned what happened in 2011, as there are not many events listed? Garbers answered they are probably in the CVB budget, most of the events from the Visitor Promotions transfer will show up after 2011. The events listed on the second page are not yet committed, but the events are coming. The CVB has not agreed to an alliance or anything for those events. They will come to someone looking for money. Blatchford questioned where the Alliance Agreement was at? Weldon answered he has a meeting on Friday in which it will be discussed. Garbers added that the estimate and the Alliance amount for State Volleyball was higher than the actual bill. The money saved has already been committed to another event. Blatchford questioned if the report was just 2009? Garbers responded yes, it is the year end report. Wicks questioned if it seemed logical to put the money all in one place? If the goal is to make money, should it all be in one place. Our job is to make money, should we be analyzing everything we spend? Blatchford answered the committee is moving towards that. We look at the return on investment; events show development and a need for funding. Heuton added we may need to visit with the City on how to set up and escrow account in order to bid years out. Wicks questioned if it is city or Chamber money? Heuton answered the 2010 budget was approved by the city, but the city may decide not to give money, at which point the commitments become the Chambers responsibility. Blatchford added the Visitor Promotions money is committed by the CVB. Wicks questioned if the CVB should be reporting to the Visitor Promotions Committee to look at everything the city spends money on. Have the same mission, to bring people to town and spend money. The city is investing in generating money; logical one group of people has say. Blatchford mentioned when this group first started, the committee was under the CVB. Blatchford questioned if the economic impact is for 2009, or for all years? Garbers answered $5,801,120 all year events from 2009-2014. Koroglu questioned if the 2011 events are listed on the CVB report. Weldon questioned if the report shows only Visitor Promotions commitments for events? Garbers responded yes. 2 • Election of 2010 Officers: Wicks motioned to reelect Victoria Blatchford for Chair, Darnall seconded. Blatchford elected by acclamation. Wicks nominated Darnall for Vice-Chair, Jones seconded. Darnall elected by acclamation. • Year End Report Discussion: Burghardt presented the committee with a draft year end report. Just recently learned that this year the Visitor Promotions Committee is required to do a formal report due on February 15th, and the report must be formally adopted by the committee. Burghardt gave an overview of the executive report and the documents attached. Blatchford suggested adding information from 2008 and show how we have improved over last year. This should be done for conventions and tournaments as well as the application section. Koroglu suggested narrowing down the section on branding. It is an important part and a major project for the year, however there is a lot of information there. Blatchford suggested adding the frequently asked question page compiled when started the branding project. That would answer additional questions if they had any. Burghardt will make the suggested changes and bring the report back to the committee at the January 25 meeting. Weldon questioned if the Visitor Promotions Committee would be the ones implementing in the brand with Jan’s help? Blatchford answered yes. Weldon added North Star will have suggestions? Blatchford mentioned they will have a promotional program and regarding staff that is a decision for Al. Weldon questioned how much of the 2010 budget was for marketing. Blatchford answered $115,000. With the other carryover, this is less than 50% of the carryover. Weldon added marketing will be expensive. • Swiftel Center Update: Richter offered to bring the most updated information to the next meeting. The project is on the January 26th City Council agenda. Richter added he has been talking to different groups about the project, and there have been a lot of great questions. After January, hopefully the council will be closer to a decision. January 26 will be an open forum. Weldon added it will provide an opportunity for public input, an informal public hearing. Weldon continued there are a number of big picture issues, including the intergovernmental building and storm drainage. Requests for PAC 2 and the Swiftel Center hinge on the Airport issue. Hopefully there will be a decision from the FAA soon. Regarding the Airport, required to have one public hearing, but can only talk about the environmental assessment. There will probably be more public hearings. The cheapest option for the airport is $14 million and the most expensive is $35 million. Richter asked if there is any timeframe or timeline. Weldon answered it can not remain the way it is. At a minimum, the runway will have to be realigned. Heuton questioned if the $14 million is just the city share? Weldon responded no, that is the total cost. Richter questioned if decide on the $14 million solution and only have to pay 10%, the city still has to take the total amount as debt? Weldon answered yes. If the hospital decides to take on new debt, that goes against the city’s debt limitation as well. Richter added the library and the 1st payment for the Swiftel Center will be done in 2013. Weldon mentioned they added more debt with the Innovation Campus. Blatchford questioned what the total debt capacity for the city is? Weldon explained $44 million and we are at about half that. Wicks added if make recommendations from the committee, he would like to hear from economic development. Can not make recommendations and write letters of support. Blatchford requested to have Richter come back with an update. The item will be added to the February agenda. • Wicks III motioned to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 1:20p.