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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVPCMinutes_2010_03_291 Promotions Committee Meeting Minutes – March 29, 2010 City Hall Present: Victoria Blatchford, Rob Peterson, Lynn Darnall, Zeno Wicks III, Tom Jones, Catherine Grandorff, Jerry Miller, Amy Einspahr, Bob Johnson, Jeff Weldon, Bridgit Burghardt, Tom Richter and Jan Brockel. •Chairperson Blatchford called the meeting to order at 12:22 • February 22 Minutes: Wicks motioned to approve, Johnson seconded. Motion Carries. • Financials: Einspahr motioned to approve, Wicks seconded. Discussion: Burghardt mentioned two events have received CEC funds. Gold Medal Gymnastics held the Club State Gymnastics meet in March, as well as a barrel racing event that will take place on May 1st at the Swiftel Center. These were both first time events. Einspahr requested to have dates included on the financials regarding the CEC fund. Burghardt will add the dates the commitment was made. Miller questioned if the AAU wrestling tournament received funding? Burghardt mentioned the event is listed on the convention report as the funds used were from the VPC to CVB transfer. Johnson added that there were no complaints during the AAU State tournament. Great customer service by the Swiftel Center staff, they made people feel like they wanted them there. Sunday the championship matches were on an elevated mat. Thanks to the generosity of businesses, each participant received a $5.00 program for free. Blatchford mentioned the Third B Tax information was included in the packet. Burghardt explained the new form included in the packet. Per the February meeting, it was requested to include a report on how the event performs compared to what was submitted on the application. Burghardt explained the first page was an executive summary, with detailed information on the pages that followed. Burghardt asked if this was the information the committee was looking for? Yes. Einspahr requested to have dates added to the report. Burghardt explained they are included in the detailed portion. Motion Carries. • Branding Update: Brockel reported we have received the final report from North Star. Lisa, Bob and Didem are meeting today to discuss the next steps regarding implementation. Blatchford added they will provide timelines and ideas so we have the highest impact for the dollars invested. Wicks questioned if the city expects us to pay for this? Blatchford answered yes, that is why we budgeted more and have been reserved in spending. We can not hire a new person on top of the CEC, so the new person would come out of the $115,000. The city can not authorize hiring a new person. The planning session will be held on April 20th, we will be discussing the Chamber contract and the City Resolution coming due. • Convention Report: Burghardt informed the committee that Garbers was out of town, but the convention report was included in the packet. Einspahr questioned if the hotels were full with wrestling? Yes. Johnson added overflow goes to the surrounding towns. Several towns coming block extra rooms and do not release them until Friday at 6, some of the hotels limit the number of rooms they can block. Jones mentioned they limit the hotel block to 10. • Budget Discussion: Burghardt informed the committee this item was put on the agenda to let the committee know the budget is due to the city on June 1. We will be discussing the budget at our upcoming meetings, after the planning session. Wicks mentioned he would like to see a list we would be discussing. The Student Association would like to see the student fund increase, not decrease, since the student population is increasing. The Student Association would like to see the amount increase from $35,000 to $50,000. Wicks questioned if anything tournaments/conventions should be negotiated by Deb. Deb does a better job at negotiation and getting a return on investment. Wicks continued that he was never under the impression the branding would be an ongoing expense. If you take $115,000 out of the budget for branding, $50,000 to the Chamber, did not think the branding would come out of the budget. Einspahr questioned who he thought would manage the brand? Wicks responded the city wanted it. Blatchford explained it is in our Resolution. Wicks mentioned the revenue stream is tied to programs. If we are going to do that, it leaves us with a small revenue stream, questioning if the remaining be given to Deb? Give the money to Deb, as a group we can focus on a promotional plan. Blatchford mentioned the marketing amount was accumulated for the implementation of the brand. The marketing/branding budget could be lower in the future; it is high now for the implementation. Miller questioned if there was 2008 dollars set aside for branding? Blatchford answered at the end of 2008. Miller mentioned that when we talk to Mr. Weldon, tell them we did not make as much as we could have because of the branding. Johnson questioned if we would have more money for tournaments? Blatchford responded yes. Blatchford mentioned some questions have been if we give the money to Deb, does the VPC need to be here? The branding person kept with the BEDC and Chamber. Wicks mentioned regarding the Student Association, how does the city view that, where does that fit in? As Students Association, have to clearly understand how much money is transferred from SDSU. Einspahr mentioned over the last 5 years, the student funds have not been used. Wicks responded it’s getting better. The third b is tied to the food program at SDSU. The students contribute a large amount. They are getting to a place where better use of funds. Einspahr explained she was not saying we should take the money away, just would like to see it utilized. Grandorff added it is a matter of getting the word out. Everyday students have no idea, they are not aware of the fund. Wicks added the UPC is looking to vamp up programs. Wicks questioned when an event applies for funds, are they using money to make money, or is it transferring funds to a charity. Blatchford mentioned the funding is to attract out of town visitors for economic impact. Each event is important. We have to ask what is best for Brookings. Burghardt mentioned we will be discussing criteria at the planning session; this maybe something we would like review. Miller questioned who collects regarding Hobo Dough? Wicks responded the university. That money is separate. The $35,000 is tied to the food plans on campus. Einspahr mentioned former Mayor Munsterman and the Student Association had an agreement. Wicks explained they had the agreement vs. fluctuating amounts every year. Blatchford added all of those 2 are up this year. Wicks mentioned the Swiftel Fund was designed so the Swiftel Center could contract events. If they make money on some and loose on others, we pay if the concert loose money. If one makes money and one looses money, we should not have to pay for the one that lost money. Richter explained it was set up as a risk fund. The Swiftel Center could be the promoter, and risk loosing money. It has been working; we have had some good concerts. Blatchford questioned if we would like to continue the Swiftel as a risk fund? • Convention Injection to CVB: Burghardt informed the committee this item was brought up at the February meeting, questioning if the tournament fund should be transferred to the CVB? Questioned if the CVB is out of funding? Burghardt responded as far as I understand it, yes. We are now switching to facilitation services, customer service vs. rental incentives. Johnson mentioned until we know for sure if the CVB is out of funding, hold onto the funds. Einspahr questions if Garbers should go back to the city for funding? Johnson mentioned what we are doing is working. There was a lot of money spent here this weekend. Burghardt added there are still two rounds of applications that will be coming with requests for funding. Blatchford asked if Garbers is saying out of money from VPC, if Garbers came back to the city and said she need more money, how do you think they would respond? Weldon responded she will get a chance to request funds shortly. The third penny is running strong. If Garbers wants to make a supplemental request, that would be fine. She would need to address what the funds would be for, would need to show what works. A request with a full explanation would be appropriate. Blatchford mentioned waiting to make a decision until after the planning session. • Visitor Promotions Planning Session: Burghardt informed the committee she did have the informational packets. Questioned if the committee would prefer them now, or if they would like them mailed out a week before the planning session? The committee requested to have the packets distributed during the meeting. Burghardt informed the committee the agenda was based on the proposed topics brought to the committee during the February meeting. There has been discussion regarding the number of times an event can apply, Burghardt would like to point out the Stillwater example. This example sets out a three year plan, with amounts decreasing by half each year. The amount awarded is also tied to the number of hotel rooms used. • Ice Cream Discussion: Blatchford explained in 2007, drafted a letter to meet with businesses regarding giving SDSU ice cream to visitors. The hope was to get people off of the interstate and into Brookings. Blatchford has been in contact with a business that is interested in the idea. Not sure if it will go anywhere, but the business is willing to look at doing it. Could do some cross promotion with the Children’s Museum. Miller questioned if they would be open on Sunday? Blatchford responded yes. They questioned downtown business hours. Einspahr mentioned we talked with other businesses in town, trying to find anyone interested. Weldon mentioned Jackrabbit Central? Blatchford responded they are not open on Sunday, and they would have to go through costly renovations. Einspahr mentioned when we first looked at this, did we do some cost estimates? Burghardt responded yes, on items such as cones, spoons and dishes. Blatchford explained we could do a survey of whey they came to Brookings while they were waiting for the ice cream. Peterson mentioned the Admissions office offers a card for free ice cream. Maybe that is something the Children’s Museum could do. Wicks added the idea originally was a way to promote the city, to pull people off the interstate. In hopes they would get gas and lunch. It will cost money, but hope they spend money. Miller questioned if it would be SDSU ice cream? Blatchford responded yes. Einspahr mentioned it could serve as a double promotion: SDSU and SDSU ice cream. Miller added there would be lots of ways downtown could tie into it. Einspahr questioned if the marketing committee needed to get together? Blatchford questioned how to proceed if they decide to bring a store? If they say yes, the subcommittee should get together. • Einspahr motioned to adjourn, Wicks seconded. Meeting adjourned at 1:35p.