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HomeMy Public PortalAbout10-05-2020 Minutes Tourism Board Regular Meeting Hillsborough Economic Development Planner Shannan Campbell 101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-296-9477 | shannan.campbell@hillsboroughnc.gov www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov www.visithillsboroughnc.com | @HillsboroughNC Tourism Board Minutes | 1 of 5 Minutes Tourism Board (Remote) 5:30 p.m. Oct. 5, 2020 Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel Present: Chair Matt Hughes, Mark Bateman, Barney Caton, Barry Hupp, Kim Tesoro and Cathleen Turner Staff: Economic Development Planner Shannan Campbell Guests: Sarah Parris 1. Call to order Chair Matt Hughes called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. and noted there was a quorum. 2. Agenda changes and approval There were no changes. Motion: Member Mark Bateman moved to approve the agenda as presented. Member Cathleen Turner seconded. Vote: 4-0 3. Minutes review and approval Minutes from the Aug. 3, 2020, and Sept. 8, 2020, meetings. Motion: Member Barney Caton moved to approve the minutes from both meetings. Bateman seconded. Vote: 4-0 Member Kim Tesoro joined the meeting at 5:36 p.m. 4. Presentations A. At-large board member interviews 1. Nic Beery He was not available. 2. Alyse Polly Polly said she works in economic development and loves the Town of Hillsborough. She has lived in Hillsborough for three and a half years and in Carrboro for 10 years before that. She has two children in elementary school. She works at CREATE, an economic development center at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Riverwalk greenway is one of her favorite spots in town. 3. Bill Whitmore Tourism Board Minutes | 2 of 5 Whitmore has lived in Hillsborough since 2009. He previously lived in Chapel Hill. He has volunteered with the Hillsborough Arts Council and helped manage the council’s Last Fridays events. He has enjoyed engaging with Hillsborough. 5. Discussion items/action items A. COVID-19 Construct Subcommittee: Amendment to FY21 contract (revised) Campbell said this specifically addresses the current fiscal year. A force majeure clause is for future contracts and will be discussed as a separate item. Tesoro would have liked to have seen some limitation requiring contract partners to come before the board before significantly detouring from the plan in the contract. Board members felt that all provide an educational component. Sarah Parris, executive director of the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough which operates the Hillsborough Visitors Center, said the Visitors Center is seeing about 25% of the visitors that it had before the pandemic and cannot resume school programming. Also, the Visitors Center relies heavily on volunteers, who tend to be older and are not volunteering during the pandemic. Tesoro said she is not in favor of asking how contract partners spent money after the fact. Bateman agreed. Campbell said she thinks Item 4 in the addendum addresses Tesoro’s concerns. When asked for suggestions, Tesoro said the Tourism Board should be talking more about the adjustment for this fiscal year rather than receiving quarterly reports about what partners have done. The contract partners are not able to fulfill their contracts as they are. Turner said in looking at items 1 and 2 in the addendum, the Tourism Board is asking the partners for their modifications. If it is not clear enough, she suggested that the board have contract partners submit additional information with this signed document. Tesoro said we are living in a time when you have to be creative but the creativity needs to link back to the purpose. Maybe the money should go into a media campaign to attract people to Hillsborough. She thinks everyone should have equal responsibility in coming forward. Campbell said it is not unreasonable to ask the contract partners to modify their scopes of work for the rest of this fiscal year. Hughes suggested pairing the addendum and an amended scope of work. Caton suggested adding updated modified Scope of Work to Item 2. Barry Hupp joined the meeting at 5:49 p.m. Motion: Tesoro moved to amend Item 2 in the amendment to include requiring a modified Scope of Work for the remainder of FY21 and to request that the contract partners submit additional modified scopes of work if needed as COVID-19 progresses. Caton seconded. Vote: 6-0 B. COVID-19 Contract Subcommittee: FY21/22 contract policy addition suggestion (draft) Tourism Board Minutes | 3 of 5 Campbell said the plan is to add this force majeure proposed contract language into next year’s contracts. Turner said most contracts have this language. Caton pointed out a typo, which Campbell noted. Motion: Turner moved to approve the contract policy addition. Caton seconded. Vote: 6-0 C. Term of Barry Hupp expiring Hupp said he is willing to serve but would not mind giving someone else the chance to serve. Campbell said she did not have applications from people ready to fill Hupp’s seat. Motion: Hughes moved to recommend that the Board of Commissioners reappoint Hupp to another term. Turner seconded. Vote: 6-0 D. The Colonial Inn sidewalk cost-share request Campbell explained that The Colonial Inn’s porch extends into the public right of way where a public sidewalk would normally be located. The inn is not ADA accessible in the front. For anyone using the sidewalk on this side of West King Street, once the person reaches The Colonial Inn, there is no safe way to get past it. As part of the approval for the inn, the developer is required to build a sidewalk that meets Americans with Disabilities Act requirements in front of the porch. It requires regrading, tying into the existing sidewalk, and creating a gradual ramp. Campbell reviewed that the developers met with the Board of Commissioners last week to request financial assistance. It is a $35,000 project and the developers are out of money to spend on this construction. The Hillsborough Board of Commissioners agreed to spend $10,000 and noted the developers could ask the Tourism Board and Tourism Development Authority for financial support. The sidewalk will belong to the town after it is constructed. The plans have been approved. The developers are asking the Tourism Board and Tourism Development Authority to commit $10,000 each. Tesoro said it is hard for the Tourism Development Authority to find projects that are directly related to overnight stays. She was wondering if it would make sense for the Tourism Development Authority to commit more. Bateman said he is on both boards. He said we have all built buildings and overspent. He does not think Tourism Board should pay for the sidewalk. He added that the Tourism Development Authority might be better suited. Tesoro said once the inn is open, some money will go back to the Tourism Board in the form of Food and Beverage tax revenue but Occupancy Tax is likely to be a larger generator of revenue. She agrees the Tourism Development Authority might be in a better situation to contribute to the sidewalk cost. Tourism Board Minutes | 4 of 5 Campbell recognized that Elise Tyler, The Colonial Inn’s general manager, had joined the meeting and let the board know. Bateman said he would rather the Tourism Development Authority contribute to the sidewalk than the Tourism Board. He does not understand why the Board of Commissioners decided to financially contribute. He had to pay $5,000 for a ramp in front of his business at the end of construction. Hughes said as a commissioner, he was thinking the Board of Commissioners should pay for all of it because it was built before public rights of way existed and he would have rather seen this money come from the town’s general fund. Turner agreed with Hughes and added that building an accessible sidewalk in front of the inn would be similar to the sidewalk improvements the town made along Churton Street. Campbell confirmed that the inn’s development team cannot receive a permanent certificate of occupancy until the sidewalk is built. When asked, Campbell said the approximate fund balance for the Tourism Development Authority is $172,586, which is about 182% of the annual operating budget. The Tourism Board’s fund balance is approximately $265,000 but that is only 75% of the board’s annual operating budget. She indicated that the fund balance numbers are estimates and that the audits contain the final numbers at the end of each fiscal year. Hughes suggested a motion to request to the Tourism Development Authority that they allocate the $20,000. Motion: Turner made the motion. Bateman seconded. Vote: 6-0 6. Discussion items A. At-large appointment recommendation The board decided to delay the vote until the November meeting. Motion: Bateman moved to table this item. Turner seconded. Vote: 6-0 7. Monthly reports and comments A. Alliance for Historic Hillsborough Director and Alliance Programs reports; Visitors Center Communications Report; Tourism Staff Report and Orange County Visitors Bureau Updates Campbell shared her screen with FY20 prepared food and beverage tax revenue information. She reported that the Orange County Visitors Bureau had created a Welcome Back to Hillsborough slideshow video and the bureau is continuing a local advertising campaign. Parris added that the Hillsborough Visitors Center would be opening the following day, Sept. 9. It would be open Wednesday through Sunday. One group of visitors at a time would be allowed to enter the building. B. Tourism Board and staff comments and updates Tourism Board Minutes | 5 of 5 Campbell reported that: • July revenue was down by $3,000. She had expected it to be lower. She is concerned that revenue will drop when patrons find it too cold to dine outdoors. • There has been a great response to the “Find Your Calm” video advertising Hillsborough. • The Orange County Historical Museum, the Burwell School Historic Site and the Hillsborough Visitors Center have reopened. • Merchants hosted a fall sidewalk sale Sunday, Sept. 27. • She has bought half-page ads to encourage people to shop and dine in Hillsborough. • The Orange County Visitors Bureau released a video last week with elected officials encouraging people to go out safely. • The grant project that this board funded, Art on the Hill, has been moved from July 2021 to July 2022. She will work out whether that means the organizers do not need the grant in this fiscal year. Parris added that Caton is partnering with the Visitors Center on a spooky ghost walk Oct. 24 and 25. Tickets will be sold. 8. Adjournment Motion: Hughes adjourned the meeting at 7:15 p.m. Vote: 6-0.