HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-07-2018 Minutes Tourism Board Regular MeetingPage 1 of 7
Draft Minutes
Tourism Board
6:15 p.m. May 7, 2018
Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St.
Present: Chair Mary Catherine McKee, Mark Bateman, Matt Hughes, Tommy Stann, and
Kim Tesoro
Staff: Economic Development Planner Shannan Campbell
Guests: Gail Cooley, Sarah DeGennaro, Kate Faherty, Eileen Ferrell, and Stephanie Pryor
Item 1: Call meeting to order
Chair Mary Catherine McKee called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. Economic Development
Planner Shannan Campbell confirmed the presence of a quorum.
Item 2: Consideration of changes or adjustments to the agenda
Under new business items, Campbell added electing a vice chair.
Motion: McKee moved to approve the agenda as amended. Member Matt Hughes
seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 3: Consideration of minutes from April 2, 2018, meeting
Board Member Kim Tesoro asked how much WCHL had quoted for advertising. Campbell
answered $1,000 to $2,500 monthly, depending on the package. Campbell said there is a
possibility to work out a deal that would be $500 per month for banner advertisements. Tesoro
noted the Town of Hillsborough has a $1,500 credit with WCHL through its membership with
the Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce and wondered if the Tourism Board
could use that. Campbell noted that possibility for further inquiry, but indicated that Tourism
Program spending and Town of Hillsborough spending are entirely separate so it might not
work to do this in this way.
Motion: Tesoro moved approval of the minutes as presented. Hughes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 4: General public comment
There were no comments.
Item 5: New business items
a. Added item — election of vice chair
Campbell noted that Commissioner Kathleen Ferguson had been serving as vice chair of this
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board and had resigned so that newly appointed Commissioner Matt Hughes could continue to
serve on this board, now representing the Board of Commissioners seat.
Motion: McKee nominated Hughes to serve as vice chair. Hughes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
b. Contract Quarterly Reports- 3rd Quarter:
• Hillsborough Arts Council — Last Fridays
Treasurer Gail Cooley noted:
o The third quarter is a planning time for the council.
o The council’s website has been improved, and there is now a featured vendors
page.
o Vendor fees have remained the same.
o There is no rain location this year for Last Fridays band performances. If the band
can perform on the courthouse steps and there is no lightning, then the band
will continue to perform even if it is raining.
o The April Last Fridays event went well and was well attended.
• Burwell School Historic Site — Visitors Services
There was no one from the Burwell School to present. Tesoro requested that future
quarterly reports include expenditures.
• Orange County Historic Museum — Visitors Services
Interim Director Stephanie Pryor reported that:
o There were 817 total visitations in this quarter.
o The month with the most visitors this quarter was February because of the
museum’s participation in the Living History Day.
o The other high points were tour groups and the first Wednesday lecture series.
o The website has been redone and she has data for this quarter but no other
data with which to compare it.
o For Black History Month, there were two digital exhibits and longer posts. (She
shared a post from Women’s History Month as well.)
o Monthly newsletters are sometimes sent biweekly. The opening rate for the
electronic newsletters is 47 to 49 percent.
o There were more school group tours in the third quarter than in the second
quarter.
o The museum has increased its outreach to college students.
o There are five college interns lined up for the summer. The museum held an
open house and created a brochure for that recruitment effort.
o There was a fundraiser planned at the Hot Tin Roof.
c. Review current draft budget
Campbell reported the projections for the food and beverage tax revenue is $335,000 for
Fiscal Year 2019. Also, she would like the Tourism Board to consider sharing with the
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Tourism Development Authority and Board of Commissioners the cost of a new holiday
tree, which would be $12,000 total with lights and decorations. This money would not come
from what is set aside for grants but would be a Special Projects & Partnership line item.
The existing tree was bought in 1999, has rusted, and is generally in bad shape. She
explained that a new tree would benefit tourism, economic development, and would serve
residents.
The draft total operating budget would be $339,000. There was interest from the board in
recouping the attorneys’ fees incurred from enforcing the food and beverage tax.
d. Fiscal Year 2019 contract renewals and new contract RFP discussions
• Hillsborough Arts Council —Last Fridays
Program Coordinator Eileen Ferrell noted that she works part time for the Arts Council
and the other person who works for the council is a bookkeeper who works 10 hours a
week. Everyone else is a volunteer. Ferrell noted that the budget for the Paint it Orange
Plein Air Paint-out has increased to $1,000 to cover advertising. She said the event was a
partnership with the Orange County Arts Commission last year and the intention is for
the Hillsborough Arts Council to take over that event, but they still need some financial
sponsorships for this year.
Ferrell reviewed that in total the Arts Council is requesting $21,052.50. She noted that in
this amount, the Tourism Board has already paid $4,762.50 in FY18 for the coordination
of the Handmade Parade and $4,762.50 remains to be paid for FY19.
Tesoro asked how the paint-out draws visitors. Ferrell answered that 87 percent of the
painters came from outside Orange County and there were more than 450 visitors to
the Hillsborough Arts Council gallery for the opening night event. Most artists painted in
Hillsborough. Only a few went other places in Orange County. Ferrell said while it is a
countywide event, she feels strongly that it is beneficial to Hillsborough and should be
housed here. She encouraged the Tourism Board to give it one more year and then
consider whether it should stay in Hillsborough. Ferrell added that the Orange County
Arts Commission may want to move it after this year but the Hillsborough Arts Council
wants to keep it here. She also noted that the painters ate in local establishments,
stayed in local lodging, etc.
• Burwell School Historic Site — Visitors Services
Campbell noted this organization was asking for more than last year for operations costs
as requested by the Tourism Board for the site to stay open mid-December through
mid-January. Regarding the request from the Tourism Board for the site to stay open
during the winter holidays, Campbell said the Burwell School response was that the staff
person who generally would open the site is a graduate student who is not available
during that time but possibly someone else could be paid to keep the site open. There
are some additional funding requests for increasing garden maintenance and for paying
for a docent in the time period when the graduate student is away.
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Executive Director Kate Faherty joined the meeting at 7:13 p.m. She said the Burwell
School Historic Site would be trying to build on the Elizabeth Keckley bicentennial year.
The focus has always been on the 20 years the school was in operation on the site,
Faherty said. That focus was expanded to Keckley, and now there is a desire to expand
the focus again to include when the Collins family took shelter at the site during the Civil
War and the years that the Spurgeon family was in residence. John Sanford Spurgeon
was a scholar in dentistry. (The honors dental court at UNC-Chapel Hill is the Spurgeon
Court.) Faherty said conducting research on the persons of color and enslaved persons
who resided on site also is desired as well as creating a brochure and literature after
researching. The Burwell School Historic Site has newly donated rotating displays. The
organization also hopes to raise funds to paint the interior in FY19 as well.
Campbell shared a comparison of last year’s budget and this year’s requests.
Faherty said the site is significantly understaffed. The staff donates about 30 extra hours
a week. She said the site needs to build on the momentum of the Elizabeth Keckley
bicentennial, but everything is running on fumes. She said the volunteer base has
expanded greatly. The organization wants to prepare the site for its 200th anniversary in
2021.
• Orange County Historical Museum — Visitors Services
Board of Directors Chairman Ernest Dollar said funding from the Tourism Board has
decreased over 20 years. He noted that one of the reasons the museum’s board is
asking for more money is to offer staff a living wage and that Orange County had noted
the museum staff is not paid a living wage when the museum applied for grants from
the county.
Tesoro pointed out that Orange County’s living wage policy only applies to full-time staff
and that the museum’s staff is not full time.
Dollar said the museum is seeking help from artists to redesign exhibits. Also, hiring a
development person is important so that the museum can fund raise and become more
self-sustaining. He indicated that staff is working hard to reinvent the museum.
Dollar said as we look at tourism in Hillsborough, the museum needs financial help and
community support. He believes that in two or three years the museum will be back on
strong financial footing.
Tesoro said that the most important elements of the contract funding requests are the
development position and exhibit improvement. Pryor said new exhibits drive people to
come in. They had 500 people come for the new exhibits in the last month. Also, they
are looking for ways to reach people in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
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The board decided to determine grant awards before deciding on the se three contracts.
e. Grant scoring and awards
Campbell noted the top three scorers for grants were the Hillsborough/Orange County
Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Hillsborough Holiday Home Tour, the Hillsborough Arts
Council’s River Park Concert, and the Free Spirit Freedom/Hillsborough Arts Council’s Gospel
Festival, totaling $12,700. The next top scorer was Hog Day for $10,000, and the fifth highest
scorer was the Eno River Farmers’ Market project for $2,200.
It was noted that the score between the fourth and fifth top scorer was very close. It was noted
that Hog Day would not be eligible for a grant next year because this would be the third year of
grant funding for it.
Motion: Hughes moved to fund the top five scorers. There was no second.
Discussion: Tesoro wanted more discussion about the Hillsborough Arts Council having two
grant applications. Cooley said last year was the first year the River Park Concert
came under the Arts Council and it was previously put on by another
organization. The second grant application is a project of Free Spirit Freedom,
with the Arts Council assisting them since they’re not their own 501(c)3. Cooley
said it would be the last year of funding for the River Park Concert. She does not
see any reason that it would not continue as it is working to become a
sustainable event.
A board member said he liked the idea of the farmers market’s tours but wishes the project
would impact more people and draw more tourists to town. There were concerns that it
wouldn’t be the best bang for the buck.
Board members considered and discussed the options.
Motion: Hughes amended his motion to fund the top four scorers. Tesoro seconded.
Vote: Unanimous.
f. Finalize draft budget for Fiscal Year 2019
Tesoro suggested funding the museum at $19,700, the Burwell School with $24,135 and the
Arts Council at $21,052.50.
There was discussion about not sponsoring the Arts Council’s Plein Air event. Some board
members expressed concern for funding the Burwell School less than last year while asking its
staff to keep the site open during the winter holidays. Campbell noted the funding increases
last year were supposed to cover Keckley bi-centennial events in FY18.
There was discussion about pulling money from the fund balance, putting a cap on the increase
requests for next year, and letting the contractors know that the amount could decrease next
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year.
The board decided the contract amounts would be $20,000 for the Hillsborough Arts Council
contract, $28,000 for the Burwell School Historic Site contract, and $30,000 for the Orange
County Historical Museum contract. The board also decided to transfer funds from the fund
balance in order to make up the difference in available revenues and the expenditures that
they wanted for FY19.
The board expressed interest in setting a goal to keep in reserve one quarter of the cost of
contracts, Visitors Center expenses for a quarter, and the entirety of what was given in grants
for the fiscal year. The board also discussed interest in setting a policy of how much to save for
the reserve fund when there is extra tax revenue unspent or returned to the board at the end
of the fiscal year. Campbell was directed to learn what the Town of Hillsborough’s policy if it is
different than the amount required by LGC.
Motion: McKee moved to set the contract amount for the Hillsborough Arts Council at
$20,000 for the next fiscal year; leaving the Plein Air Event Advertising unfunded
and deducting $52.50 from the Art Walk advertising line item. Hughes seconded.
Vote: 4-1. Mark Bateman voted no because he thinks the amount for the Arts Council
is too high.
Motion: McKee moved to approve $28,000 for the Burwell School Historic Site contract
for Fiscal Year 2019; leaving the gardens unfunded and reducing the amount for
site operations. It was suggested that the Burwell School get sponsorship(s) for
garden maintenance and beautification. Hughes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous.
Motion: McKee moved to approve $30,000 for the Orange County Historical Museum
contract for Fiscal Year 2019; reducing the amount for the Museum Assistant
position, removing the funding for the Museum Assistant position, and removing
funding for Utilities. It was suggested that the museum use its own funding or
fundraise for these expenses. Hughes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous.
Motion: Tesoro moved that funds be transferred from the reserve fund to help cover the
increase in contract amounts for the FY19 budget. Bateman seconded.
Vote: Unanimous.
Item 6: Old business items
a. Set public hearing for Fiscal Year 2019 budget
Motion: Tesoro moved to set the public hearing for 6:15 p.m. June 4, 2018. Hughes
seconded.
Vote: Unanimous.
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Item 7: Staff and board comments, discussion items and monthly reports
a. Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Director and Programs Report and Visitors Center
Communications Report
Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Director Sarah DeGennaro reported that:
• She is working on the program policy by which the Occaneechi Indian Village replica will
operate.
• The Alliance is continuing to work on a book of Orange County historical architecture.
• The Visitors Centers is now certified as a dementia friendly facility.
• She took a cultural resources course.
• In March, walking tours started every Saturday. Those have been popular and will run
through September.
• A special group came March 16.
• There were 60 volunteer hours in March.
• There is a new tour booklet with the new branding.
• The Visitors Center had 349 visitors in March.
b. Tourism Board Staff and Food and Beverage Tax Revenues Report and updates from Chapel
Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau.
Campbell reported there were several egg hunts in March as well as the Friends of the
Orange County Library book sale and food truck. She went to the conference organized by
Visit NC where she was able to network with other tourism professionals throughout NC .
Board members said the grant scoring software worked well. There was interest in using it
for contract applications. There was interest in tweaking the scoring so that it is more about
the project than about how the application was filled out.
Item 8: Adjourn
Motion: McKee moved to adjourn at 9:36 p.m. Hughes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous