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824 32nd Ave., Brookings, SD 57006 | 605-692-7539 | www.swiftelcenter.com
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 @ Noon
Zoom Meeting
Present: Teri Ronning, Jeff Holm, Nick Schmeichel, Jennifer Johnson, Kyleigh Cramer, Laura Schoen
Carbonneau; Jake Meshke, City of Brookings Assistant City Manager; Tom Richter, Swiftel Center
Executive Director, Jeremy Linstad, Swiftel Center Associate Executive Director
Agenda Discussions:
Jeff called the meeting to order.
The July 29, 2020 minutes were approved.
July YTD financials were presented.
Tom presented for Kristina (Sales & Marketing report) she has been furloughed for the remainder of
the year. Some upcoming events include First Bank & Trust Training, Goat Sale, Wedding
Receptions, Pink Ladies Dart Tournament, Beatles vs Stones Concert, Mall Outlet Sale, State VB
Tournament, MG Dart Tournament. The PRCA Rodeo for November will not happen in 2020.
Tom presented for Matt (Director of F&B report) minimizing part time labor utilizing full time labor
for the events. It has been challenging for the wedding receptions because they were buffets but now
are plated meals.
Jeremy (Associate Executive Director Report) reported that we were awarded the RFP for
disinfecting city offices. The capital budget has been expensed with the cattle shows. We are being
creative with full time staff working in all areas. We are doing additional disinfecting before, during
and after events.
Tom reported:
o During the three weeks of cattle shows there were no other major city events happening so we
were able to get a good picture of the economic impact we had on hotels, restaurants and gas
stations. We are pulling the survey, sales tax and bid tax information as well as the Visit
Brookings Economic Impact formula together. There will be a City Council Study Session on
th
November 17 to present the findings. Some of the people in the Economic Study group
include Laura from Visit Brookings, Al Hueton & Kristi Larson from BEDC, Clint Johnson &
Al Kurtenbach from East Brookings Business & Industry Association, Erick from the City of
Brookings and Tom, Kristina & Andrea from Swiftel Center,
o Tom presented our COVID plan that started in March included: laid off 339 seasonal part
time people, froze two full time open positions, eliminated 401K match, no cost of living
increases for full time staff, maintenance and service contracts were canceled, fixed line items
824 32nd Ave., Brookings, SD 57006 | 605-692-7539 | www.swiftelcenter.com
were cut to bare necessities, overall expenses have been reduced by 26% from original
budget, we produced 4,000 ICAP meals, VenuWorks secured the PPP loan/grant of $268K
that covered payroll & utilities for 3 months, our city allocation was cut by 15%, Lost
Revenue as of 5/26/20 was $639K. In addition we had to implement another plan starting
September which includes: Kristina furloughed and is working as a temporary City employee,
Jenna is reduced to half time and is working half time as a temporary City employee, Jake is
reduced to 32 hours a week, other employees will be furloughed, the building will be closed
to the public for three weeks during the holiday season, salary rollbacks for Tom and Jeremy,
VenuWorks credited back their 5% commission fee, eliminated all budgeted travel and
employee training, applied for additional Cares Act Funds through the State of SD, Lost
Revenue as of 9/21/20 was $1.2 million. With these measures and the current booked events
we are anticipating a balanced budget for 12/31/2020. Full time staff have increased
workload and responsibilities to continue to operate the facility and execute the contracted
events.
o Working on bids for upcoming cattle shows in the future years.
Next meeting Wednesday November 25, 2020 at NOON.
Jeff adjourned the meeting.