HomeMy Public PortalAbout11-06-2017 Minutes Tourism Board Regular MeetingPage 1 of 6
Draft Minutes
Tourism Board
6:15 p.m. Nov. 6, 2017
Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St.
Present: Chairperson Mary Catherine McKee, Vice Chairperson Erik Myers, Kathleen Ferguson,
Matt Hughes, Kim Tesoro, and Tommy Stann
Absent: Libbie Hough
Staff: Economic Development Planner Shannan Campbell
Guests: Sarah DeGennaro, Alliance for Historic Hillsborough
Item 1: Call meeting to order
Chairperson McKee called the meeting to order at 6:20 p.m.
Item 2: Consideration of changes or adjustments to the agenda
Motion: Board Member Kathleen Ferguson moved to approve the agenda as presented.
Second: Board Member Kim Tesoro seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 3: Consideration of minutes from Oct. 2, 2017, meeting
Motion: Ms. Ferguson moved approval of the minutes as presented.
Second: Ms. Tesoro seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 4: General comment
There were no comments.
Item 5: Monthly reports
a. Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Director’s Report:
Executive Director Sarah DeGennaro reported that:
• 349 visitors were counted at the Visitors Center in September.
• Volunteer work days continue to take place for building the Occaneechi Indian Village
replica, and board members are welcome to volunteer.
• The Alliance participated in the Mountains-to-Sea Trail event with a table at the Farmers
Market Pavilion and a hike. The Alliance also coordinated a colonial roads hike with
Trading Path Association Founder Tom Magnuson for that day. Both tours were popular.
• The Alliance held a fundraiser on Sept. 23 called the King Street Swap, and it was fun.
• She had attended the annual conferences of both the North Carolina Center for
Nonprofits and Preservation North Carolina.
• The Alliance continues to work with the Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of
Commerce on the Holiday Home Tour and Hometown Holiday Festival. The Alliance will
be organizing pictures with Santa the day of the Holiday Parade.
• Volunteers served 63 hours in September.
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• The Alliance received 27 hours of community service help.
• Michael Verville, program director for the Alliance, attended the annual conference of
the American Association of State and Local History in Austin, Texas.
• The Alliance’s communication staff member has resigned, and Ms. DeGennaro and Ms.
Campbell have split the social media and marketing responsibilities until that position is
filled.
b. Visitors Center Communications Report:
Ms. Campbell reported that there was a lot of response on Facebook from Halloween ads and
that there was a great turnout of people for Halloween weekend. She highlighted other social
media and marketing publicity pushes for October.
c. Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Report:
Ms. Campbell reported that the Visitors Bureau met at UNC Hospital in Hillsborough. Jeff
Strickler, vice president of the Hillsborough hospital and vice chairman of the Visitors Bureau,
gave a great presentation showcasing the hospital. There was also a presentation on getting
discount rates for long-term hotel stays from the owner of MedStay. The Visitors Bureau will
hold a follow-up meeting at the end of the month to get the full report on the market potential
for an additional sports complex or convention facility in Orange County.
d. Tourism Board Staff and Food and Beverage Tax Revenues Report:
Ms. Campbell reported that:
• The Alliance did a great job helping with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail event on Sept. 9 and
she really appreciated all of their help coordinating tours and doing a table.
• The estimated attendance at the Hillsborough Hog Day and Hog Day Car Show was
2,000 to 3,000. Ms. Campbell worked with the Visitors Center staff to advertise on
Carolina Parent’s website. She took photographs for future social media use.
• The September Last Fridays event was well attended.
• The final YepRoc 20 organization meeting had taken place.
• She had assisted the Orange County Sustainability staff in interviewing for a
transportation demand manager position.
• Whit’s Frozen Custard held a grand opening event.
• She had decorated the Tourism Board’s hog statue for Hog Day.
• The food and beverage tax revenue was up about 3 percent in July. The revenue totals
for Fiscal Year 2017 was $347,192.28. The growth over the previous year was a little
over 9 percent, which was very strong.
Item 6: New business items
a. FY18 First Quarter Reports
• Burwell School Historic Site — Ms. Campbell reported that Executive Director Kate
Faherty had a conflict this evening so Ms. Campbell would give the report. Ms. Campbell
said the Burwell School Historic Site had extended hours for two Last Fridays. The
historic site held a jazz concert and a “Mary Had A Little Lamb” performance in
September. The site held a history tea and has been adding events to the Visitors Center
calendar pretty regularly. The Burwell School Historic Site staff is working on its
Facebook page and getting it verified so that it will show up on Facebook search results
better.
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• Hillsborough Arts Council’s Last Fridays Event — Arts Council Last Fridays Vice Chair,
Phil Cooley said that this past year was the best year to date. The year 2017 had two
experiments for Last Fridays. The Arts Council increased the fee for vendors at Last
Fridays and substantially increased how much it paid the bands. In June, the Arts Council
had the largest turnout ever for a Last Fridays event, Mr. Cooley said. He said there
were fewer vendors per event, but the total number of unique vendors was higher.
Many vendors did not buy space at all six events to get the discounted rate. He said we
don’t have a good way to estimate attendance at this time, but the 2017 attendance
was dramatically above 2016. There are estimates from 1,500 to 3,000 for the
attendance at the August event by itself. Arts Council Treasurer Gail Cooley said the
range in attendance is in part because the Arts Council made estimates, but the police
gave higher estimates than what the Arts Council did. Member Ferguson said she thinks
3,000 was about right. Ms. Cooley said the Arts Council plans to survey the Tourism
Board in addition to vendors, the Arts Council’s listserv and select others to get
feedback for planning for next year. She said that they will hopefully have an online
survey available for feedback.
• Orange County Historical Museum — Director Candace Midgett reported that the
museum had held workshops during Last Fridays. In July, the museum staff partnered
with the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough to participate in Picnic in the Park. In August,
the museum was on the tour for the Newcomers Club of Greater Chapel Hill, NC. On
Aug. 10, the museum participated in a teacher’s tea with other organizations. There was
consensus that it was a good event and that it interested teachers in available field trip
outings in town. On Aug. 12, the museum hosted a family reunion with many attendees
who took an interest in the museum. The museum also held a tea for fans of the
Outlanders book and TV series which was very well attended. On Sept. 17, the museum
held a Constitution Day event. On Sept. 22, the museum held its annual meeting for
members and gave a “state of the museum” report. On Sept. 28, the museum began
teaching classes in Spanish and English with kids from different schools. Regarding
special projects, the museum is expanding an exhibit that opened July 4 and is
continuing to chair a bicentennial committee. Numbers of visitors at the museum are
lower than in the last few years. Ms. Midgett said the Churton Street sidewalk
improvements had a negative effect on the museum visitation. The museum is using
social media, flyers and personal invitations for teachers to get the word out. The
museum hosted a Day of the Dead event the previous week, and there was interest in
making that an annual event because it was so well attended.
• Alliance for Historic Hillsborough — Executive Director Sarah DeGennaro reviewed the
financial information for the first quarter and budget adjustments that needed to be
made. The lease for the Dickson House (used as the Visitors Center) is renegotiated for
another three years with the County.
b. Revised scope of work and contingency language for Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Visitors
Center contract amendment
Ms. Campbell reviewed that the contract now clearly states revenue the Visitors Center collects
over the budgeted amount will be returned to the Tourism Board at the end of the fiscal year
and it more clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of the Alliance to include work they’re
doing at the visitors center and remove work that isn’t being done and/or doesn’t need to be
done.
Motion: Member Ferguson moved to approve the contract amendment as presented.
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Second: Vice Chairperson Erik Myers seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
c. Alliance invoice for FY17 contract budget overpayments
Ms. Campbell reviewed that amount was $21,115.36 which was the total amount remitted to
the Alliance of $208,315.36 minus the budgeted amount to run the visitors center of
$187,200.00.
Motion: Board Member Matt Hughes moved approval of the invoice.
Second: Ms. Ferguson seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
d. Standardization of quarterly reports discussion
• Board expectations on format and presentation method
Ms. Campbell said she gets a lot of questions about the format and presentation
method from the organizations. Member Ferguson said she likes having the folks attend
the meeting to have a dialogue. Board members did not have specific requests or
specifications for the written report and did not want to stipulate that all presentations
have to include a PowerPoint-style slideshow, but did say that they’d like a report and
in-person presentation.
• Frequency of reports from the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough
Board members said they like receiving monthly reports from the Alliance Executive
Director as well as quarterly financials.
e. Review/adopt 2018 Meeting Calendar
The board discussed the amended dates for January, July, and September and updated the
meeting schedule.
Motion: Vice Chairperson Myers moved to approve the meeting calendar as amended.
Second: Member Ferguson seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
f. Discussion regarding revising the grant scoring
Ms. Campbell reviewed that past discussion has included whole versus half numbers and objective
versus subjective standards.
The following recommendations/desires were expressed by board members:
- There was an interest in scoring individually outside the meeting to avoid board members
feeling rushed to score. These scores would still be shared and discussed in a public meeting,
according to public records law.
- There was interest in having organizations make a presentation and then discussing the
presentation with the presenter before doing final scoring.
- There was discussion regarding allowing organizations to make verbal changes to the grant
application based on the dialogue with the Tourism Board. It was noted that there needs to be a
formal way to include those verbal changes in the application. It was decided there would be a
special meeting to hear the presentations and that grant applications could be tweaked within a
short amount of time, based on the dialogue, and resubmitted under a final deadline.
- There was agreement to score on a scale of 1 to 5 with no half numbers.
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- It was noted that the application needs to include a question that asks how the proposal meets
the goals of the Tourism Board’s plan.
Item 7: Old business items
a. Handmade Parade funding request
Ms. Campbell reviewed that at the last meeting, it was established that all the Tourism Board
funds for this fiscal year are allocated. The board wanted to know what amount of unexpected
extra revenue would be returned from the Alliance for overpayment of Visitors Center
operations, and the Board had decided that it would evaluate at this meeting where the extra
revenue could be spent or whether all of it was to be saved. Ms. Campbell said she had learned
from the Finance Department that the extra food and beverage tax revenues would count
toward revenues for this year and then what is not spent would go into the fund balance when
the current fiscal year ends.
The board had talked about funding half of the parade in this fiscal year and half in next year.
Member Ferguson said she wants to make sure the event happens.
It was noted that the Hillsborough Arts Council had asked the Tourism Board for a total of
$9,525 for the Handmade Parade.
Ms. Campbell reviewed that for this year, any money allocated would be from special project
and partnership funding which is a maximum of $4,999.99.
Vice Chairperson Myers said he would feel comfortable if it was within the contract with the
Arts Council for FY19. He added that it would make sense to have one contract with the Arts
Council for multiple types of events/programs instead of dispensing funds in multiple ways for
one organization.
There was discussion of what it would mean to restrict organizations that have a contract with
the Tourism Board from applying for grants from the Tourism Board. As an example, there was
discussion that although the Burwell School Historic Site and the Hillsborough Arts Council have
contracts with the Tourism Board that they should still be able to apply for grants for one-time
projects or start-up funds for a new events, etc. Whereas the Handmade Parade is a regular
activity of the Hillsborough Arts Council, taking place every other year.
Motion: Vice Chairperson Myers moved to fund the Hillsborough Arts Council’s Handmade
Parade in the amount of $4,762.50 via Special Project and Partnership Funding for FY18,
using the monies received back from the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough and a budget
amendment for the allocation, and then to move this item to a contract with the Arts
Council for FY19 during budget season for the remaining amount of funded needed in
next fiscal year.
Second: Ms. Tesoro seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
b. Tourism Plan comments received
Ms. Campbell shared a general comment she had received that advised the dislike of the phrase “hip
and happening” for Hillsborough events because the phrase is outdated and makes it sound like
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something really is not hip or happening. There was interest in having more discussion about a new
phrase or tagline as the current ‘It’s just a stone’s throw to a charming, southern getaway on the banks
of the Eno River’ is too long to incorporate in most advertising. Ms. Campbell said other suggestions
were to get Hillsborough materials to the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau more regularly and
to mitigate traffic downtown by encouraging commuters to use alternate routes such as US70.
Item 8: Staff/board comments and discussion items
• Request for Proposal — Ms. Campbell shared that the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea
Trail had asked for proposals for holding a conference in February or March of both
2019 and 2020. Ms. Campbell shared what she had submitted in order for Hillsborough
to be considered.
• Website — Ms. Campbell reported that visithillsboroughnc.com has been updated with
the new logo and the background has been changed from white to black/chalkboard to
match the lower portion.
• Alcohol sales at events — Ms. Tesoro informed the board that the Hillsborough/Orange
County Chamber of Commerce would like the support of the Tourism Board in asking
the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners to change the policy regarding alcohol sales at
events. Ms. Tesoro said the practice of requiring beer vendors to set up beer gardens at
events is not particularly helpful because it separates family members and is not
competitive with the way other places organize outdoor events. Hillsborough Police
Chief Duane Hampton was not able to attend the Board of Commissioners meeting at
which the board received a letter from the chamber regarding this. Ms. Tesoro thinks
the Tourism Board should write a letter in support of the chamber’s view on this matter.
Ms. Campbell reviewed that River Park, the courthouse lawn and the Visitors Center
lawn are all county property. She explained that Hillsborough Police has requested beer
gardens be put into place at all events. The beer garden concept was problematic at Hog
Day for parents who wanted to be able to buy a beverage and walk over to the bounce
house area to keep an eye on their kids. Vice Chairperson Myers said his business set up
a sizable beer garden at the YepRoc concert, and yet there was a ton of people with
their own alcoholic beverages all over the lawn that had BYOB. He could see people
drinking beer, wine and even liquor on the lawn while he had to turn away a teen child
trying to stay with a parent in the beer garden. Vice Chairperson Myers said the state
does not have a standard that requires beer gardens. Ms. Campbell said the Board of
Commissioners tabled the discussion until Chief Hampton could be present and asked
Ms. Campbell to report what surroundings areas are doing. Vice Chairperson Myers
suggested looking at Boone, Blowing Rock, and Washington. Chairperson McKee advised
Ms. Campbell to find places that are holding similar events. Vice Chairman Myers noted
that at CenterFest Arts Festival in Durham, people buy beer from vendors and walk
around downtown. Ms. Tesoro and Vice Chairman Myers pointed out that at restaurants
on North Churton Street, parents can sit with their children while consuming an
alcoholic beverage and yet the rules are different right across the street on these lawns.
The Board expressed interest in a letter going to the Town Board of Commissioners.
Item 9: Adjourn
Chairperson McKee adjourned the meeting at 8:04 p.m.