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HomeMy Public PortalAbout06-06-2016 Minutes Tourism Board Regular MeetingPage 1 of 7 TOURISM BOARD June 6, 2016 Town Barn 6:30pm MINUTES Present: Steven Burke, Kate Carroll, Kathleen Ferguson, Sean Garrett, Libbie Hough, Vice Chair Mary Catherine McKee, Chair Erik Myers, Kim Tesoro, Carolyn Twesten Staff: Shannan Campbell (Town of Hillsborough), Sarah DeGennaro (Alliance for Historic Hillsborough) I. Call Meeting to Order Chair Myers called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. II. Agenda Adoption Member Burke requested adding on rules/discussion for special partnership funding. Motion: Member Burke moved to adopt the agenda as amended. Second: Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous Member Hough proposed moving monthly reports later in the meeting. Motion: Member Hough made a motion to move the monthly reports to after Old Business items. Second: Vice Chair McKee seconded. Vote: Unanimous Motion: Member Ferguson moved to adopt the agenda as amended. Second: Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous III. Consideration of minutes of May 2, 2016, Regular Meeting Ms. Campbell pointed out a typo that she had fixed. Member Burke suggested a change to page 6, third paragraph. Member Hough suggested adding “Orange County Board of County Commissioners” on page 2. Motion: Member Ferguson moved approval of the minutes with changes. Second: Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous IV. General Public Comment Page | 2 There was no one to speak. V. New Business Items a. RFP Responses Review and Discussion i. Arts Council- Last Fridays Member Hough wants to make sure that as a marketing team, we set a clear expectation of the role of the Alliance. Ms. Campbell agreed and added that the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough and the Alliance as contracted by the Tourism Board as the Visitor Center Staff are not the same thing. She said that referring to ‘the Alliance’ is misleading. She said that The Alliance is a non-profit preservation organization not a marketing firm, however the Hillsborough Visitors Center does have marketing dollars and can assist with marketing tourism related events. Member Burke pointed out the three response proposals total added up to more than what’s allotted in the draft budget. There was discussion about flexibility in funding for these proposals. There was agreement to look at all three. Ms. Campbell pointed out there is the option to negotiate as well as move money around the draft budget line items. Motion: Member Burke moved that the Arts Council application and sum are acceptable, pending further budget discussion. Second: Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous ii. Historic Hillsborough Commission- Burwell School Historic Site Motion: Member Hough moved that the Historic Hillsborough Commission application is provisionally acceptable, pending further budget discussion. Second: Member Ferguson seconded. Vote: Unanimous iii. Historical Foundation of Hillsborough- Orange County Museum Member Burke pointed out that he would like sums of money and the proposed budget in the proposal tied to the specific projects and tasks in the proposal. Member Ferguson said we can require that specificity next year. Chair Myers said he’d like to see the budget more specific as it was for the Burwell School and the Arts Council. He said that it more clearly articulates that the contract/proposal is for visitor services/operations. Page | 3 Member Burke said that he would like the proposal name to reflect that also so that it’s clear that the Tourism Board is paying for the facility to be open and free to the public during the hours outlined. Motion: Member Hough moved that the Orange County Museum application is provisionally acceptable, pending further budget discussion. Member Burke requested to add to the motion that the Orange County Museum revise their proposed budget with similar specificity and format to the Burwell school and indicate in their proposal that the proposed work is for visitor services/operations. Member Hough agreed to the revised motion. Second: Member Ferguson seconded. Vote: Unanimous The board recognized that $42,182 was being requested (total of the three proposal budgets) and that $33,000 was budgeted in the draft budget. The board then discussed how to address the $9,182 overage. Board members agreed that next year this board will let the applicants know how much money the board has budgeted for such proposals and decided that since the RFPs did not have a maximum budget for each proposal to fully fund them all. Motion: Member Ferguson motioned to re-allocate the $9,000 from the proposed Holiday Decorations item and move the additional $172 needed from unassigned Special Projects and Partnerships item to line items for each of the three proposals in the draft budget, leaving $6,318 in Special Projects and Partnerships. Second: Chair Myers seconded. Vote: Unanimous b. FY 2017 Tourism Board Budget i. Public Hearing Chair Myers opened the public hearing. Kate Faherty, executive director of the Burwell School Historic Site, thanked the board for approval of the proposal for visitor services/operations and explained that one figure was this year’s budget and the other number was the proposed budget. She expressed appreciation for the new RFP and contracting process. Bartow Culp, Hillsborough resident for about 6 years, said he wanted to thank this board for approving the Historic Hillsborough Commission proposal. Neil Stutzer thanked the board for the work on the grant and RFP/contracting process. He said the Arts Councils has been discussing Page | 4 expanding to West Hillsborough and there has been recognition that there’s opportunity to expand to other areas of Hillsborough, too. What needs to be resolved is transportation not just for events but to get people around in general. Robin Jacobs, chair of the finance committee for the Burwell School, said she appreciates the changes in procedure. She asked that the applicants be included in the process if the board considers changes to the procedure for next year. Gail Cooley, Hillsborough Arts Council, thanked the board for its work and emphasized that everyone wants to work together and appreciates the board going forward gently. Chair Myers closed the public hearing. ii. Discussion Member Burke noted that the speakers all remarked that this board is working to improve. Member Burke emphasized greater efficiency and the Tourism Board has particular responsibility for partnership and to engage. Chair Myers said he has an idea for moving people around town for Last Fridays that he is willing to discuss offline. Ms. Campbell went through the budget in general and said the budget is right around $312,000 for projected Food and Beverage Tax this year. Economists are expecting a slowdown in 2017. She pointed out rollover monies for the logo and Web site projects that brought the total budget amounts up to a little over $333,000. She noted other slight changes in the budget compared with last year. There was brief discussion on how the line items are laid out in the budget and how it is confusing based on the new funding structure that the Board created. Member Hough explained that this was a finance budget that was organized for record keeping and that it wasn’t a communications budget that had been cleaned up for consumption by the general public. Ms. Campbell concurred explaining that the way that the Town Finance department has the accounts set up is necessary for accounting purposes but is confusing for a lay person just looking it over. Member Burke expressed discomfort with creating the illusion that there are two budgets. Page | 5 Chair Myers advised that the board could explain it when someone asks. Member Ferguson noted that she needed to slip out for another meeting at 7:46 p.m. Member Burke asked if we approve this very tight budget, can we be assured that we can use fund balance if needed. Ms. Campbell said that dipping into fund balance is not ideal, but that if it really had to be done with no other option then there is some available. She said that ideally the revenues and expenditures will match very closely at year end of FY 17. Motion: Member Hough moved to approve the FY2017 budget. Second: Member Burke seconded. Vote: Unanimous c. FY 2016 Audit Contract Motion: Member Hough moved approval of the FY 2016 audit contract. Second: Member Carroll seconded. Vote: Unanimous d. FY 2016 Budget Amendments Motion: Vice Chair McKee moved to approve the amendments. Second: Member Caroll seconded. Vote: Unanimous e. FY 2016 Q3 & Q4 Staff Support Invoices Motion: Member Hough moved approval. Second: Member Carroll seconded. Vote: Unanimous f. Board Membership - Reappointments - Term Expirations Motion: Member Hough moved to reappoint Erik Myers as chair. Second: Vice Chair McKee seconded. Vote: Unanimous Member Burke announced that he would seek another term on the board and that his ‘at large’ seat would be vacant. Ms. Campbell reviewed which terms are expiring soon and let members know that she would be asking whether or not individuals were willing to serve again. She said that she would advertise Mr. Burke’s vacancy on the board and have applicants for the next meeting. Page | 6 g. Discussion: Requirements for Special Projects/Partnerships Funding Member Burke said that this funding type was to be for requests that are urgent or totally unexpected. He said that it was not laid out to secure funds for things not funded during the grant process. He expressed concern that this funding type would become a sort of grant work-around that would devalue the grant process. Chair Myers agreed but said some of the requests may become urgent and he would hate to see funding for those projects immediately taken off the table. Others agreed. It was agreed to put this as a discussion item at the beginning of the new business items at the next meeting. The Board discussed and decided to hold any Special Project/Partnership funding requests to the August meeting. VI. Monthly Reports a. Alliance Director’s Report and Alliance Presentation Ms. DeGennaro said there was nothing unusual in the monthly reports. She noted on the director’s report that Orange County has taken plants out around the visitor’s center building in preparation for some work and to remove moisture that was building up. Penny Rand has been raising money to replace plantings when the work is done. Ms. DeGennaro gave a brief presentation on the Alliance which included reviewing the new mission statement, vision statement and logo of the Alliance. b. Visitor’s Center Communications Report c. Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitor’s Bureau Update Ms. Campbell said that the Visitor’s Bureau had Bernie Mann of Our State magazine speak about current trends in NC Tourism. Also, the bureau is researching ways to respond to HB2 and how their marketing firm can still express to people that our area is a friendly and inclusive place. She said that Helen Hernandez from NATJA came to town and met with both Chapel Hill and Hillsborough Officials for dinner and to work out additional conference details. VII. Old Business Items a. Tourism Logo Review Ms. Campbell displayed the most recent round of logos from the graphic designer. Page | 7 There was general discussion and recognition among the board members that there isn’t consensus regarding the logo and that the designs previewed to date were not what the board was looking for in a tourism logo. Motion: Member Hough moved to cut ties with the current designer and work with a new designer who is local. Second: Member Burke seconded. Vote: Unanimous VIII. Staff/Board Comments and Discussion Items Various board members expressed a hardship with the next meeting date on July 5th. Ms. Campbell said that she would send out a doodle poll to find a date and time that worked better for everyone so that the board would have a quorum to meet. Ms. Campbell said that the Tourism Plan would be an item on the next agenda and that the board should be thinking about that on the horizon and setting a date for a kick-off meeting to get that project under way. IX. Adjourn Motion: Chair Myers moved to adjourn at 8:47 p.m. Second: Member Burke seconded. Vote: Unanimous