HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-05-20 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission
Minutes May 20, 2024
Fayetteville Town Center
Commissioners
Present:
Commissioners
Absent:
Staff:
Todd Martin, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Mike Wiederkehr, City Council Representative
Katherine Kinney, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative
Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at-large
Chair Chrissy Sanderson
Molly Rawn, CEO Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance,
I. Commissioner Martin, standing in for Chair Sanderson, called the meeting to order at
2:00 pm and declared a quorum.
II. Old Business
A. Commissioner Martin presented the April minutes for approval with
Commissioner Wiederkehr making a motion which Commissioner Moya
seconded to approve the minutes as presented.
III. New Business
A. CEO Report
Rawn began by sharing that Experience Fayetteville and Tina Archer Cope
received recognition as a Patriotic Employer, through the Employer Support of
the Guard and Reserve, a program of the United States Office of the Secretary
of Defense. Our staff member, Sergeant Dell Hall nominated our organization.
Thanks to both Tina and Dell for this honor.
Rawn just returned from Chicago with Arkansas Tourism for a new partnership.
We took a small group of Arkansas tourist professionals to Chicago and met with
approximately 100 professionals in the tourism field learn about Arkansas
tourism.
Congrats to Megan Oswald who was formally Event Services Coordinator II, she
is now our Event Manager with the town center. We are appreciative of Madison
Hurley who assumed a position at the library.
Rawn stated that HMR collections are down which could be partially correlated to
the city rolling out a new online collections and reporting system that became
mandatory to use in April which has led to some of our HMR partners reporting
late.
Overall, our HMR revenue is down 5%. We certainly hope with such a busy April
with so many events such as the solar eclipse, UA track and more, our June
HMR revenue will reflect that.
The decrease in HMR is one of the reasons we are bringing a budget revision to
you today; we do not expect to bring another budget revision to you this year but
are prepared to do so if needed.
Commissioner Moya asked about comparison from the 2023 Joe Martin stage
race in late April to same time this year. Rawn said she’d have that information
in a few weeks allowing her to make that comparison.
Our sales team has been very busy prospecting new business and Tina Archer
Cope just returned from Sports ETA with 40 appointments. Julie Pennington did
a great job with the ARNIGP conference, hosted at the Town Center with
participants staying at both the Graduate and Staybridge.
Our Marketing team has been very busy, just finishing up a video shoot with
Outright. April was busy with 494 events on the Experience Fayetteville
calendar.
The new landing page for arkansasrazorbacks.com is now live and we will start
tracking its metrics.
The town center hosted 27 events since last meeting including two weeks of
Fayetteville High School for AP testing.
AC Day, our marketing coordinator for the town center has developed a “zero
waste” digital stamp that clients can put on their marketing materials to cross
promote our sustainability work.
Rawn reported on the Strawberry Festival which was a huge success. She gave
a big thank you to Kelly, Chloe and Ellen for creating such a great event and
involving so many organizations. Rawn thanked the commission for allowing us
to invest in a downtown coalition. Commissioner Martin said DFC has really
knocked it out of the park with two large events, i.e. Oktoberfest and Strawberry
Festival. It was asked if an attendance count was available and Rawn said no,
there was not an estimate yet. Commissioner Moya stated that he thought
merchandise would be a good addition next year.
Commissioner Martin asked if we could elaborate on the online HMR payment
system the city of Fayetteville has implemented. VP of Finance Walker said that
at the time of reporting, one third of the HMR partners had not filed. When those
businesses are factored in, we should not see such a dramatic decrease with
collections.
Rawn said that we appreciate being able to work with the finance team at the city
and will be talking with Sarah King to see how we can communicate information
about the new online system to our HMR partners.
B. Financial Report
VP Walker stated that the April financials were in the agenda packets. The
target budget for both expenses and revenue for April is 33%. With total revenue
YTD at $1,723,302 we are 5% below our target.
Total expenses are $1,881,570 or 30%, we are 3% under budget.
HMR tax collections are 11% below the seasonally adjusted budget, we
anticipate that this number will rebound as businesses become adept to the new
online reporting system the city of Fayetteville has introduced.
The balance sheet for April shows $4.8 million dollars in cash and investments
and the unearned revenue for the town center is $318,000 for 2024 events.
C. Vote. Budget Revision
CEO Rawn began with noting some key changes in the budget revision:
• Reduced revenue by 1.9%
• Reduced expenses by 2.25% ($139,740)
• Eliminated $60,000 towards visitors guide printing,
• Reduced incentives and support toward small group visitors,
• Reduced spending on promotional items, additionally we are waiting an
additional year to upgrade laptops.
• Reduced deficit by $19,155.
VP Walker presented the numbers of revised revenue of $6,046,855 and
expenses of $6,056,732 and deficit of $9,877. The capital budget number of
$971,000 has not been modified.
Conversations and questions about budget cuts were discussed including
reduced funds for incentives and support for small groups visitors. Rawn feels
comfortable with the amount our team has to incentivize and work with groups.
Additionally, you will see a small increase in event funding – we did hear that
First Thursday and Lights of the Ozarks is important to this group and we want to
ensure we’re continuing to produce great events. Rawn suggested to VP Walker
that we change “Other Revenue” to the specific revenue types, i.e. City of
Fayetteville, etc. when presenting the budget. It was also clarified that the two
other voting budget items today, AV and Ovens, are indeed included in the
revised budget the commission is seeing today.
With Commission Martin clarifying that there were no more questions,
Commissioner Wiederkehr moved to adopt the revised 2024 budget with
Commissioner Kinney seconding this motion. It was approved unanimously via a
roll call vote.
D. Vote. Exterior AV Upgrade at the FTC.
This is part of updating the infrastructure at FTC. In February we replaced the
projectors. This is phase 2 and will integrate the central system with the outdoor
system and enhance our Wi Fi options. We received 3 quotes and recommend
Commercial Audio Systems as they are familiar with the Creston system.
We have added a 10% contingency to the quote for the requested amount of
$53,788. Commissioner Moya asked if it was an option at some point to have
speakers provide music on the square. It was stated that this is the first and
necessary step we need to take to consider the upgrades in the future that would
allow outdoor music.
Rawn noted that a larger conversation with either the city’s parks or public works
would be helpful to determine and develop a good partnership in providing music
to the outdoor spaces.
With no more discussion, Commissioner Martin asked for a motion.
Commissioner Kinney made a motion to authorize the CEO to approve a quote
from Commercial Audio Systems to allocate up to $53,788 for this project. The
motion was seconded by Commissioner Prysby, and it passed unanimously via a
roll call vote.
E. Vote. Oven Purchase at Fayetteville Town Center.
The current ovens are at the end of life and cannot be repaired. We obtained
quotes and are recommending accepting a quote from Markham Restaurant
Supply due to the comprehensive warranty and the compatibility with the existing
kitchen set up.
The amount of $23,422 has been allocated to cover the quote of $20,367 and a
15% contingency to cover unforeseen expenses related to the installation.
This amount is included in the revised budget. Commissioner Kinney made a
motion to accept the quote for the replacement ovens at the stated price and
authorize the CEO to allocate funds up to $23,422. Commissioner Moya
seconded this and it was approved unanimously.
F. Vote. Employee Handbook Additions
The entire handbook has been sent to the commission for approval, but it is our
intent to review and vote on two new policies. If the commission would like to
talk about other items in the handbook we can certainly pull those out for
discussion.
The most time sensitive policy is military leave which our current handbook does
not include and we have a team member who will need to take this type of leave
before we meet again.
The second policy is a Leave Without Pay Policy which is based on the state of
Arkansas’ LWOP policy, from the Office of Personnel Management. This is a
new policy and Rawn covered some of the high points.
Commissioner Martin asked if there were any questions or discussion and with
none, he asked for a motion to approve the handbook changes and additions.
Commissioner Wiederkehr made the motion with Commissioner Prysby
seconding it. It passed with a unanimous vote.
G. As a closing note, Rawn wanted to add that we are pleased to present our 2023
annual report. Each commissioner received a paper copy and the electronic
version will be on our website.
With no further business, Wiederkehr and Moya adjourned the meeting at 3:01.
Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville