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HomeMy Public PortalAbout08-06-2018 Tourism Board Minutes Regular MeetingPage 1 of 6 Approved Minutes Tourism Board 6:15 p.m. August 6, 2018 Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St. Present: Chair Mary Catherine McKee, Vice Chair Matt Hughes, Tommy Stann, Billy Maupin, Mark Bateman, Libbie Hough Staff: Economic Development Planner Shannan Campbell Guests: Sarah DeGennaro, Alliance for Historic Hillsborough; Kathy Hupp, Whit’s Frozen Custard Item 1: Call meeting to order Chair Mary Catherine McKee called the meeting to order at 6:18 p.m. Item 2: Consideration of changes or adjustments to the agenda Shannan Campbell requested to add an item under New Business, to replace item a. and shift all others down a letter, with a board interview with Kathy Hupp of Whit’s Frozen Custard who is interested in becoming a Tourism Board member. Motion: McKee moved to approve the agenda with the additional item. Member Matt Hughes seconded. Vote: Unanimous Item 3: Consideration of minutes from July 9, 2018, meeting Motion: Member Billy Maupin moved approval of the minutes as presented. Member Hough seconded. Vote: Unanimous Item 4: General public comment There were no comments. Item 5: New business items a. Board Interview- Kathy Hupp of Whit’s Frozen Custard Kathy Hupp introduced herself and apologized for not having filled out the application online yet. She said that she and her husband Barry own Whit’s and they would like to become more involved with things going on in the town. She said that they have both had civic volunteer experiences. She said that it would be easier if they could share the board seat but if it has to be one or the other they could try to decide which one could come the most frequently. She indicated that they were originally from Ohio and moved here about a year and a half ago and Page 2 of 6 opened up Whit’s Custard. Member Hough asked what the desire would be for the expansion/growth in West Hillsborough in the future. Kathy Hupp said that the current construction project that will provide improved, wider sidewalks that provide connections to Riverwalk will greatly improve business in West Hillsborough and they’re excited about that project. She said also the Bellevue Mill residential construction will be beneficial. She said that Whit’s tries to be included in events going on throughout town and that they are active Chamber members. She said that she was told when they were first getting started that West Hillsborough businesses were sometimes an afterthought but she said that she thinks that there is more of an effort being made to include West Hillsborough businesses and businesses in other commercial areas as well in events and promotions. She said that they were participating in Sundays in Hillsborough. Member McKee asked what Kathy’s favorite thing about Hillsborough was. Kathy Hupp responded that her favorite thing was the sense of community and small town in Hillsborough. She indicated that they had looked at many different areas before settling here and that the community has been immensely supportive. Member Hughes asked what Kathy’s favorite place to eat in Hillsborough was, besides Whit’s. Kathy Hupp said that it would be hard to choose one place because she loves Hillsborough BBQ, Mystery, La Place, Samantha’s Papusas and many others. She said that Hillsborough has so many good restaurants even though it’s such a small place. b. Contract quarterly reports: Fourth Quarter FY18 - Hillsborough Arts Council (Last Fridays) Neil Stutzer, HAC Board President gave the presentation and indicated that Last Fridays is running more smoothly than ever, and social media response has increased unbelievably from last year. He indicated that the larger bands are having some unintended consequences. He said that larger bands bring out more people, however the Arts Council has received feedback that the music is too loud from merchants and restaurant owners and that loud music makes it hard to hear inside the businesses and can be a nuisance and the HAC is working on strategies to turn speakers and lower sound volumes. They’re also seeing more people come and set up chairs and not wander around town to do art walk, shop, and eat out for dinner. He said more conversations are being had on how Last Fridays can become more than just the music and how can HAC advertise more of the local businesses. He said that HAC is interested in partnering with more businesses to grow both Last Fridays and business customers in town. He said that the HAC did not get the OC Arts Grant for $1500 this year. They are speaking with OC Arts Commission on how to engage them next year. He said that the HAC is collecting more data as they’re able including volunteer hours, number of paid artists served, etc. Page 3 of 6 Member Hough asked if the statistics that they’re collecting would be possible to start including in the quarterly reports. She said that she’d like to see some of their targets and how they incorporate into the Tourism Board’s strategic plan. Neil said that it could probably be something that could be included in the reports for FY19 and that he’d like to get it more digestible soon. Member Maupin asked if BMI was the only music licensing that was being purchased. Neil indicated yes. Member Maupin said that the fee seemed high based on the artists. There was a discussion on the legality and transferability of music licenses and the companies that provide them. He indicated that HAC was no longer going to do a rain date location because it was too challenging to get the location and to mobilize volunteers. - Orange County Historical Museum (Visitor Services & Programming) Executive Director, Stephanie Pryor gave her presentation and explained that visitation was down a little in May/June but the museum still had over 1,000 visitors in the fourth quarter. She said that there were over 300 volunteer hours contributed and volunteers moved displays cases and organized collections materials. She explained that Jeanne at Spiral Studios donated her old jewelry cases to the museum which was an awesome donation, because now all their cases will match. She said that the biggest social media post reached over 6,000 people, which was great for museum visibility. She explained that for website analytics that Google gives drastically different numbers than GoDaddy, so those are provided. She said that the museum is working on getting more students through the doors through the school system and improving their database system for genealogy. She said the typewriters and authors exhibit brought in a lot of people and donations for the museum, and the Hot Tin Roof fundraiser was great. She also said that the museum had hired the development position that the Tourism Board had helped to fund and that the new hire was named Debarah Wilson. She explained that she would be helping the museum to grow it’s Friends program as well as research grant opportunities and hold fundraisers. - Burwell School Historic Site (Visitor Services & Programming) Executive Director, Kate Faherty, said that this has been a very busy quarter due to the Elizabeth Keckley bi-centennial year. She explained who Elizabeth Keckley was and her historical significance and ties to the Burwell School. She said that the Burwell School is the only one telling her unique story and that the Elizabeth Keckley exhibit at Burwell has had a huge amount of visitors. She said that the Tourism Board should come and see the Keckley dress reproduction that is on display and explained that tourism funds paid to have that dress reproduced for the site and that the original is at the Smithsonian. Member Hough said that some previous members that were receiving emails may now be having those bounce back due to security features on email servers. She said that she Page 4 of 6 periodically checks MailChimp, which she uses for newsletters, to see what emails are bouncing. Campbell thanked the organizations for their fourth quarter presentations and indicated that she thought it was beneficial for herself and the Tourism Board to hear each quarter what kind of exhibits and activities the sites are featuring and what sorts of challenges and opportunities all of the partners are facing in carrying out their roles welcoming visitors to our community. c. Tourism Program Brand Guidelines Campbell said that she had worked with Matt Novik at the Visitors Center as well as the website/logo development company on putting together this document that clearly illustrates the logo variations, colors, fonts, taglines, and photography to be used to brand/advertise the Hillsborough for tourism purposes. She said that this document was put together for entities the tourism program works with collaboratively for marketing and branding such as the Orange County Visitors Bureau, Chapel Hill and Durham Magazine, INDY, so that all marketing would be cohesive across the board and published pieces not designed directly by the tourism program would still be representative of the brand that the program was trying to build. She indicated that she and Sarah DeGennaro met with the Orange County Visitors Bureau staff and Hillsborough stakeholders to give them a short tour of the downtown area and discuss some of the initiatives of the Strategic Tourism Plan as well as shared the Brand Guidelines document. She said that if anyone has any feedback on this document, she’d like to hear it, particularly on taglines and tagline ideas. She said that taglines were flexible and could be added or deleted with use. Campbell also mentioned that the new Official Hillsborough Visitors Maps were printed and distributed to all map locations. Work on the matching Visitors and Relocation Guide will need to be resumed and the subcommittee will need to start meeting again. She indicated that the subcommittee could use another member, but that could be an item for the next meeting. Member Hough volunteered to join the collateral materials subcommittee. Campbell asked if anyone else was interested in serving on this committee and there were no additional volunteers. Motion: Member McKee motioned to appoint Member Hough to the subcommittee. Member Hughes seconded. Vote: Unanimous. Campbell also mentioned that some tourism funds would be spent this fiscal year on updating photography. She said that there was a need for d. Delinquent Food & Beverage Tax Report and Update Campbell indicated that she wanted to update the tourism board on some outstanding food and beverage taxes cases in the event that they go to the Town Board. She said that the Town Page 5 of 6 Board has the ability to reduce and/or forgive late penalties. She indicated that the tax is collected in one month and then remitted on the 25th of the following month and there is a $2 a day penalty for every day that the tax is late. This is to prevent business owners from collecting the tax and then using those public funds to float any of their business expenses. Ideally, the tax funds would be kept separate from business operation funds and would be readily available to be paid on the 25th of the following month, but things do happen and small business owners get busy and these payments sometimes come in late. A letter goes out from the Town after about a week reminding business owners that the tax, or a tax form indicating no sales, is due. She indicated that Kelsey’s Restaurant is currently on a payment plan and is approximately $2600 delinquent in taxes and late fees. The hope is that the payment plan will bring them back to zero balance. Also, Matthew’s Chocolates has delinquency resulting from non-payment of taxes in January as well as a late payment in June. Item 6: Old business items a. Visitors Center Fund Balance Explanation and Proposed Project List Campbell indicated that the Visitors Center has incurred a fund balance due to over payment of food and beverage tax funds over the years. As the board will recall, the contract was modified so that those overpaid funds now return to the Tourism Board for their use at the end of the fiscal year, however there were years where there was an overage in which the Alliance did not have clear direction as to what to do with those funds so they’ve been sitting, and the most prudent thing to do is to spend those funds in support of the Visitors Center and Tourism Program and/or remit those funds back to the Tourism Board. Campbell said that she had worked with Sarah DeGennaro on putting together projects. Sarah DeGennaro said that some of the projects have already been implemented such as adding rocking chairs to the front porch and investing in a sandwich board sign to make sure visitors know the site is open. Some of the proposed projects include landscaping improvements, painting of the interior of the Alexander Dickson House (waiting on quotes to come in), permanent Hillsborough history exhibit, creating a photo opportunity on Visitors Center grounds, additional visitor kiosks at Visitors Center and Calvin Street. Member Hough asked how easy the kiosks are to update. Campbell said that they are fairly easy to update but have associated costs. You can make minor updates with vinyl cover-ups, but if you need to do a full update you would have the sign company update the panel inside the plexiglass. Campbell asked for board members to let herself or Ms. DeGennaro know if they have any feedback on the projects. She said that any leftover funds would come back to Tourism Board for their use. Item 7: Staff and board comments, discussion items and monthly reports a. Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Director and Programs Report The Alliance on June 5th held a meeting with Music Maker Foundation on a potential partnership for the Margaret Lane Cemetery day of remembrance. This will be a recognition event for the African American community and a history of the community. Garden Tour will be Page 6 of 6 upcoming in May 2019 as well. New brand is being used to add merchandise to the Visitors Center gift shop. Planning for July 4th Picnic in the Park. Annie Newton is the new Alliance program coordinator. Alliance gave 36 tours Hillsborough History walking tours in June. The gift shop also got NC fried chicken & BBQ maps for sale. Member McKee said that there is an NC beer map also, if the Alliance is interested in selling that one also. b. Visitors Center Communications Report Website numbers were way up for June, new user visits: 7,382 which is up +1,154. We have +73 followings on Facebook up to 8,160. The Visitors Center had 450 visitors from 19 different states and 1 foreign country. Campbell said that website numbers have been really good since the blog section was added. She said that Matt from the Visitors Center had some improvements the website contractor would be making soon to the blog section. There are also some other minor tweaks and suggestions for SEO optimization and ease of use that both she, visitors center staff, and the website company have developed that will be implemented in the next month or so as part of on-going website maintenance. c. Tourism Board Staff and Food and Beverage Tax Revenues Report and updates from Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau. F&B tax revenues for April and May are not currently available due to the Town’s finance department being overloaded with year-end closeout and also moving from their existing building to the new building on Corbin Street across from Town Hall. Campbell said she would have these numbers and year-end comparisons for FY17 and FY18 at the next meeting. Campbell said that the Orange County Visitors Bureau is exploring an update to their branding and marketing messages and will be having some feedback sessions in the upcoming weeks. Item 8: Adjourn Motion: McKee moved to adjourn at 7:32 p.m. Hughes seconded. Vote: Unanimous