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HomeMy Public PortalAbout02-06-2017 Minutes Tourism Board Regular MeetingPage 1 of 4  MINUTES TOURISM BOARD Monday, February 6, 2017 6:15p.m., Hillsborough Visitors Center         Present: Matt Hughes, Kathleen Ferguson, Libbie Hough, Kim Tesoro, Vice Chair Mary Catherine McKee, Mark Bateman, Kate Carroll Staff: Shannan Campbell (Town of Hillsborough) Other: Sarah DeGennaro (Alliance for Historic Hillsborough), Kate Faherty (Burwell School), Candace Midgett (OC Museum) I. Call Meeting to Order Vice Chair McKee called the meeting to order at 6:18 p.m. II. Agenda Adoption Motion: Member Hough moved to adopt the agenda with Item V. Monthly Reports moved to Item VII and the rest of the items shifted numerically. She explained that the speakers for Quarterly Reports were trying to attend other meetings after this one. Second: Member Ferguson seconded. Vote: Unanimous. III. Consideration of Minutes of January 23, 2017, Regular Meeting Motion: Member Ferguson moved to table the approval of the minutes until the March meeting. Second: Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous. IV. General Public Comment There were none. V. New Business Items a. Applicant Interviews—Vacant Restaurant Seat i. Tommy Stann of Hillsborough BBQ Mr. Stann told the board he’d like to be an active participant and explained that he’d like to work with the Board to determine how we can get more weekday visitors to Town. He said that he has a lot of ideas. ii. Chad Gaster of La Place (previously interviewed) Page 2 of 4  Member Bateman abstained from the vote as he indicated that he has a long-standing relationship with one of the applicants. Member Hughes abstained from the vote as he was not present for the meeting in which applicant Gaster interviewed. Vice Chair McKee said that they would both be assets to the Tourism Board. Board members agreed and discussed the merits of both applicants. Motion: Member Hough moved to recommend that Tommy Stann be appointed to the restaurant seat on the Tourism Board. Second: Member Tesoro seconded. Vote: Unanimous. b. Quarterly Reports: i. Hillsborough Arts Council- Last Fridays: No one was present to give the report. Ms. Campbell went over the report provided from the Arts Council for the Board Members. She explained that their representative must have had something come up last minute that they were not able to be there to present. Members generated questions for Ms. Campbell to pass to the Arts Council to answer at the next meeting. There was a question about the increased cost of bands and how that could be reduced without loss of quality and diversity in musical selections. Member Bateman expressed concerns that the Arts Council was not getting as good of a price as he gets for the same bands at his establishment. There was discussion on why this might be and requested feedback from the Arts Council. There was discussion of talking with the county about what the rules and requirements would be for serving alcohol on the Courthouse Lawn area if that is something that Arts Council is considering during Last Fridays. Ms. Campbell indicated that the County DEAPR office has regulations for this in parks but that the Courthouse Lawn is handled by the County AMS office so she and the Arts Council would have to work that out. ii. Orange County Museum Operations/Visitor Services: Executive Director Candace Midgett Ms. Midgett gave the highlights of the report to the board. In answering a question from Member Hough, she answered how the art at Fairview Community Center is connected to what’s going on at the museum. She expressed interest in gathering the stories of longtime Fairview residents for inclusion as part of Orange County history at the museum. Page 3 of 4  iii. Burwell School Operations/Visitor Services: Executive Director Kate Faherty Ms. Faherty reported that a lot of school groups (and subsequently parents, teachers, and chaperones) had visited the site in the last quarter. She reviewed the highlights of her report. She said that people come through to learn more about Thomas Day and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley in addition to the history of the Burwell School. The museum offers a Girl Scout patch program as well. She reviewed several events that have taken place and those planned for the spring. She announced that 2018 will be the 200th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Keckley. A committee is planning events and programs related to that. Exterior renovations and maintenance are taking place to be prepared for that bicentennial event and also to keep the site looking good for visitors. There was brief discussion about the money allocated for the reproduction of the Keckley dress and having that money for the exhibit spent before the end of the fiscal year in June. iv. Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Visitors Services/Hillsborough Visitors Center Operations: Executive Director Sarah DeGennaro Ms. DeGennaro gave the financial report. She said that the Spirits Tours generated $3,000 but the profit is split with Orange Community Players for their participation. The depreciation information might be moved in future reports (covers things like the depreciation of the printer and other equipment). The money under Visitors Services was for the interpretive signs. Member Ferguson encouraged the Alliance to consider having regular, on-going ‘ghost tours’ like other towns have. She explained that it could be a good way to raise funds and that people like to do tours like this. c. Misc. Budget Amendments & Adjustments Ms. Campbell explained that there were some additional things that herself, the Town finance office, and Town Budget officer needed to work through before they could get this item finalized. She apologized for the item not being ready for a vote yet. Motion: Member Tesoro moved to table this until Ms. Campbell is ready to present it. Second: Member Ferguson seconded. Vote: Unanimous. d. Alliance for Historic Hillsborough: Workplan Presentation Ms. DeGennaro explained that as part of the organizational growth of the Alliance that they had put together a one-year workplan. The Alliance is working on three- and five-year plans for long-term strategies. e. Review of Draft FY 18 Budget Ms. Campbell pointed out the projected income from the food and beverage tax is slightly higher based on projections from FY17. Grants and special projects/partnerships will have their own line Page 4 of 4  items in the budget as well as their own account numbers, which is part of what the board will see at the next meeting for budget adjustments for this year. She explained that the proposed budget is largely unchanged for FY18 with the additional projected revenues going mainly toward the Visitors Center since the contract currently requires 60% of the revenues to be diverted to that. The remainder will be added to Grants, Special Projects/Partnerships, and potentially Contracts as is requested to be discussed further on the agenda. f. Renewing/Initiating Contracts for FY18 i. FY 17 Arts Council -$11,460.00 ii. FY 17 Burwell School -$20,727.00 iii. FY 17 OC Museum -$9,995.00 Ms. Campbell asked the board for their thoughts on contracts for FY18. She explained that the Board can request to keep the budgeted amounts the same for FY18 or have the organizations do a budget increase justification if they feel that they need more monies in FY18 to complete the contractual obligations. She offered to gather feedback from the organizations as well. Members requested feedback and a financial forecast for FY18 from the organizations. Ms. Campbell said that she would report back her findings at the next meeting. Member Ferguson left at 7:30 p.m. for another meeting. g. Tourism Plan Goals Discussion (time permitting) Ms. Campbell asked members to bring an overall goal to the next meeting. She said she would email out a ‘homework’ assignment to start thinking about goals since the meeting was running long. VI. Monthly Reports a. Alliance Director’s Report b. Visitor’s Center Communications Report Ms. DeGennaro gave an overview and highlights of the Alliance’s activities and Visitors Center activities. VII. Old Business Items a. Nominations and Voting: Chair and Vice Chair Positions for 2017 Ms. Campbell reviewed that at the last meeting it was discussed that Member Myers would like to step down as Chair. He said that he would be willing to serve as Vice Chair and Member McKee is willing to serve as Chair, but there was limited attendance at the last meeting so this item was Page 5 of 5  tabled. Ms. Campbell asked if anyone else wanted to serve as Chair or Vice Chair. There were no volunteers. Motion: Member Hough moved to elect Member McKee as Chair and Member Myers as Vice Chair. Second: Member Carroll seconded. Vote: Unanimous. VIII. Staff/Board Comments and Discussion Items a. Grant cycle opens next month (March) Ms. Campbell explained that she had compiled comments and recommendations from the last grant cycle and would be incorporating those into the grant documents. She said that the documents would be in the packets for next month with the opportunity for any comments before grants open the second week of March. IX. Adjourn Motion: Vice Chair McKee moved to adjourn at 7:52 p.m. Second: Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous.