HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-08-26 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission
Minutes August 26, 2024
Fayetteville Town Center
Commissioners
Present:
Commissioners
Absent:
Staff:
Chrissy Sanderson, Chair, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative (virtual)
Mike Wiederkehr, City Council Representative
Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative
Todd Martin, Tourism & Hospitality Representative (virtual)
Katherine Kinney, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Andrew Prysby, At Large Position
N/A
Molly Rawn, CEO; Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance,
I. Chair Sanderson called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm and declared a quorum.
II. Old Business
A. Chair Sanderson presented the July minutes for approval. Commissioner
Wiederkehr made a motion to approve them with Commissioner Bunch
seconding that. The minutes were approved unanimously.
III. New Business
A. CEO Report
CEO Rawn began by recommending that VP of Marketing and Communications Sarah
King serve as the A&P’s appointed board member to TheatreSquared. Chair Sanderson
called for a motion for Sarah King to serve as the appointed member. Commissioner
Bunch asked if we needed an alternate in case King couldn’t attend a meeting. Rawn
recommended that the position would follow the attendance policy of TheatreSquared.
Commissioner Kinney made a motion that King would serve as our appointed board
member and Commissioner Wiederkehr seconded the motion which passed with
unanimous approval.
Rawn continued with an update on our Master Tourism Plan work. Commissioner Moya
is the commission’s representative working on our Master Tourism plan. Moya will join
the staff team for in person work with Coraggio team the next two days as we work on
next steps. Rawn also informed the commission that we have received some of the
survey results from the Master Plan and that she will distribute the Place Balance report
to the commission later this week and she presented a handout of our staff survey
results which Coraggio compiled. The results really speaks to our organizational
strengths with Rawn calling out some of the high points. She also acknowledges that
there are areas we can improve on. The level of satisfaction that team members have
with their job makes her proud and she is also excited to be able to work on items we
can improve on.
She then shared that the sales team secured the Ragnar trail running event. It also
submitted a large RFP for a Congress for the New Urbanism conference next Spring. It
is a regional effort for this conference as it’s a 1,500-attendee event.
The town center successfully hosted 13 events since we last met. We also have
$220,000 in unearned revenue from future town center bookings.
Sarah King and Ashley Cane have a two-day trip to Colorado this week, joined by
Brannon Pack with Ozark Foundation to meet with numerous Colorado media and
journalists to talk about NWA cycling and other attractions. We thank Outright for
arranging this. In social media, we are featuring Fayettefriends who are highlighting 5
things to do in Fayetteville. If you know of someone who would like to be featured in
Instagram reels, Rawn asked that the commission let her or Sarah King know.
The Solar panel project has been almost complete at the town center with the last piece
being to install the electric vehicle chargers. Thanks to the city team for helping us with
this project.
We are working with an architect to handle some of the exterior updates needed at the
town center, specifically some of the finishes that are worn.
Rawn listed upcoming events asking that everyone make note that Lights of the Ozarks
is now two distinct nights with the lighting night Friday, November 22nd and the parade
on Thursday, December 5th.
She then updated commissioners on their schedule for the rest of the year, with no
November meeting but we will do a December 9th meeting where we discuss and vote on
the budget.
Lastly, Rawn brought up the formation of an HMR task force to clarify some of the
ambiguity around HMR tax details. Rawn gave some examples of the ambiguity
including a soft drink and when a HMR partner adds in HMR tax and when it does not.
She also brought up the example of third-party delivery when the restaurant is in a
different city than the person ordering the food.
She would like this task force to put together a policy document that will help restaurants
by answering FAQs. This task force will bring back a policy document to the commission
to review. Rawn named the following individuals to the task force:
Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance, Experience Fayetteville
Tyler Wilson, Executive Director, Fayetteville Town Center
Chrissy Sanderson, Owner of Mockingbird Kitchen and chair of the A&P Commission
Suzanne Billings, owner of Noble Graze
*Devin Howland
*Vince Chadick
State Representative Denise Garner
*or another representative from their respective offices
Rawn stated that the purpose of this would be to help simplify the HMR process for those
who are collecting and reporting the tax. Commissioner Martin said that he would be in
favor of not acting on forming this task force until September as there are some
additional issues around HMR other than the policies, such as the electronic payment
methods. Commissioner Wiederkehr suggested that we could assemble the task force
and Commissioner Martin would be able to convey additional concerns to the task force.
Commissioner Kinney Katherine made a motion to move forward with the formation of
the HMR Task Force and Commissioner Bunch seconded it. The motion passed 5-2
with Commissioners Moya and Martin voting no.
B. Financial Report
VP Walker stated that the July financials were in the agenda packets. The targeted
percentage for revenue and expenses is 58% and we are at 57% for revenue and 52%
for expenses.
HMR tax collections YTD are $2,922,497 and July collections are only 0.6% under the
seasonally adjusted budget. Collections are recovering as expected.
The Fayetteville Town Center shows 1% below budget but if you factor in unearned
revenue, they are on budget. CEO Rawn outlined the increase in HMR.
With no questions for VP Walker, the agenda moved on.
C. Vote. Construction contract with Ellingson Contracting for Experience Fayetteville
Renovation.
The commission entered into an agreement with Flintlock, and architectural firm, and one
of the numerous updates we will gain from this will be a public restroom which will benefit
many.
Rawn also listed other benefits such as appropriate sized offices, a large work space for
collaboration and staff working and a break room, which does not currently exist. The
original budgeted item was $432,000 and this came in higher at $541,000 after value
engineering. Staff is recommending we omit the budgeted $100,000 contribution to
capital reserves and expend those funds on this project.
It was stated and agreed that while the public bathrooms we propose could be open 24/7,
we are not ready operationally for that but certainly having public restrooms for events like
First Thursdays and other downtown events will be helpful.
Architect Alli Quinlin spoke about the project and highlighted some of the features and
said she would be able to answer any questions.
Rawn stated that the project scope should be approximately 120 days and David
Ellingson stated he thought that would be appropriate for the task.
Rawn stated that we were prepared to work remotely with the town center allowing us to
use the Pennington Room for a remote landing space for the staff. Commissioner Martin
asked if we could clarify if the Visitors Center would be open during construction. Rawn
stated that we would certainly look at options to serve our visitors and community with
utilizing Vanny or other spaces.
Chair Moya asked if we could consider delaying this project until after the holiday season.
David Ellingson stated that subcontractor quotes are valid for a certain amount of time,
and he estimated that price increases could certainly occur which we would want to factor
in.
Commissioner Moya stated that seeing the forward-facing activations that would be
occurring while the renovations were occurring would be helpful during this time and other
commissioners agreed. With no other questions or comments, Chair Sanderson
requested a motion from the commission to approve the contract with Ellingson
Contracting. Commissioner Kinney made the motion with Commissioner Martin
seconding it and it was unanimously approved via roll call vote. Rawn said she would
send the commission more details on staging Vanny during the office closure.
D. Vote. Contract renewal with the City of Fayetteville for Collection of HMR Taxes.
The contract with the city on the collection of HRM taxes has expired and needs to be
renewed. This contract allows for the city to collect the tax and the 2024 budgetary
impact is $100,000. Commissioner Martin expressed concerns with the new electronic
payment system and that he is not comfortable signing a five-year contract.
He would be more comfortable signing something that is for a limited time frame but
would prefer to be able to holistically address the issues around the procedural changes
we would like the contract to address. CEO Rawn said that would be acceptable and
Commissioner Moya suggested we could solicit feedback from HMR partners to address
their collection concerns. CEO Rawn said that was a good idea for the task force.
We carried this agenda item over to the next meeting.
With nothing else, the meeting was adjourned at 3:23 pm
Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville