HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-07-28 - Minutes -Fayetteville A&P Commission Meeting Minutes
July 28 - Fayetteville Town Center - 2:00 p.m.
Present: Chair Elvis Moya, Sterling Hamilton, Mike Wiederkehr, Sarah Bunch,
Chrissy Sanderson (virtual), Elliot Hunt
Absent: Katherine Kinney
Staff: Ryan Hauck, CEO
I. Call to Order
Chair Moya called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.
ll. Approval of Minutes
Motion: Sanderson I Second: Hunt I Vote: Passed via roll call
III. Reports
A. CEO Report - Ryan Hauck
- Events: 507 events listed on June's calendar
- Branding: New downtown banners installed; Woo Pig Sooie banners to be
installed before Razorback football season.
- Restaurant Week: 75+ participating restaurants; anecdotal positive feedback;
detailed report in August.
- Sales & Tourism: Assisted in 8 June events, including Hazel Valley Rally and
Advantage 5v5 Soccer Tournament; gained 137 Linkedln followers (total 5,142);
Visitors Center traffic down 38% YoY.
- Town Center: Hosted multiple events including Dream Big Charity Gala;
ballroom airwalls replacement will close venue for much of August
- Staffing: Hired Steve Harrelson as Tourism Services Coordinator, staffing the
Visitors Center
- Shared openings and one closure in local restaurant scene.
- Lodging: Hotel occupancy down; HMR and sales tax collections up.
B. Financial Report - VP Jennifer Walker
- YTD through June: Revenue at 50% of budget (on target); expenses at 45%
(under budget)
- HMR collections: $2,563,566; net income: $338,489; cash/investments: $5.2M;
unearned revenue: $240K.
- Walker Stone House listed at $1.1 M; Walker to research fair market value per
Chair Moya's request.
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C. 2024 Audit Report - Cynthia Burns, CPA, Forvis Mazars
- Clean audit; no material weaknesses; consistent with prior years.
- Only notable change: new liability to City for solar panels ($20Klyear; savings
not yet equal to payment).
- Commended staff for timely materials despite staffing changes.
D. Marketing Report - VP of Marketing and Communications Sarah King & Anne
Davis, Outright
- Preview of Visitors Guide cover featuring Mt. Sequoyah overlook.
- Restaurant Week marketing included influencer partnerships and regional
media coverage.
- Commissioner feedback: Hunt suggested avoiding Sunday start; Sanderson
reported strong reservations and many suggested two -week format, a lot of
positive feedback.
- King to send survey to participants.
1V. Old Business
A. Favoriteville Festival Fund - CEO Hauck
- Decision postponed for CEO review.
- Next meeting: review application and vote on reallocating certain percentage of
funds from Community Incentive Fund to Favoriteville Festival Fund.
V. New Business
A. Updating Bank Account Authorized Signers - VP Jennifer Walker
Add CEO Ryan Hauck to three First Security accounts and one Arvest account.
Motion: Bunch I Second: Wiederkehr I Vote: Passed unanimously via roll call
B. Changes to Bylaws - VP Jennifer Walker
- Amendments include CEO transition policy and Arkansas FOIA updates.
Bylaws amended to reflect we will be compliant with Arkansas Code Annotated
25-19-106 (e) (6) and 25-19-106 (f-h) addressing Freedom of Information Act
updates, specifically that we will be able to continue remote attendance for
commissioners by making the public Zoom meeting link available.
- Action: Vote scheduled for August meeting.
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C. Community Incentive Fund Approval Process - Hauck
- Reviewed draft application; discussed commissioner role with leanings toward
commissioners reviewing funding decisions.
- Clinton House Museum potential 2026 funding to be discussed next meeting
with data on attendance, budget, and past investments. Clinton House Museum
will be asked to present.
D. Walker Stone House Lease - Walker
- Folk School leadership leaving and are proposing that Ozark Folkways take
over programming.
- Lease expired Feb. 2025; unclear if extension was signed but intent to renew
lease to February 2026 understood.
- Commission requests from staff: fair market value from 2-3 estimates,
comparable lease rates, past/projected maintenance costs, lease status
confirmation from attorney. It was determined that the commission would like
further clarity on the option of having a lease to offer Ozark Folkways.
- General consensus to explore shorter lease terms and increased monetary
return.
VI. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 3:47 p.m. by Chair Moya; meet -and -greet with city team
followed in Town Center lobby.
Minutes prepared by: Amy Stockton, Experience Fayetteville
Memo lP�r
To: Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commissioners
From: Ryan Hauck, CEO
Date: August 15, 2025
Re: Visitor Guide Increase In Cost
Information:
This line item in total was budgeted at $120k. However, the two costs came in well
under budget with design at $46k and printing at $28k. Because of this, we were able
to add a couple more important pages regarding mountain biking into the guide along
with a commemorative map. These two additions let us feature the top outdoor
recreation activity in NW AR and also allows us to insert a unique feature that will set
our guide above others. These additions increased the cost of printing to $36k, still
keeping our total budget well under the original $120k. The marketing team and I felt it
was well worth the small cost increase. However, because of the urgency to get this to
the printer, EF had to approve this additional cost before the August commission
meeting, otherwise it would have delayed printing an additional 2-112 months.
N.