The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2008-07-14 - Minutes•ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING July 14, 2008 Commissioners Present: Dan Coody, Neal Crawford, Bob Davis, Tim Freeman, Pat Gazzola, and Maudie Schmitt. Commissioners Absent: Robert Rhoads Staff Present: Sandra Bennett, Allyson Twiggs Dyer and Marilyn Heifner I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Pat Gazzola called the regular monthly meeting of the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission to order on July 14 at the Fayetteville Town Center at 2:00 p.m. Once Upon Dickson book Ethel Simpson and Tony Wappel, authors of Once Upon Dickson made an official presentation from them and UA Special Collections of their book which advertising and promotion commission funds helped with. Visitor Guide Profiles Marilyn Heifner and Allyson Dyer presented profiles of talent featured in new Visitor Guide. Selected • were Maudie Schmitt, Brian Pugh, Brian Crowne, Charles Banks Wilson and Coach Daryl Patton. II. REPORTS MINUTES Moved by Schmitt, second by Coody to approve the minutes of the May 12 regular meeting. HMR COLLECTIONS Marilyn presented HMR collections for May and June. May collections were up 5.60% and June collections were up 9.49%. Year to date collections were up 7.05% Total collections of HMR tax in May (April sales) were $175,064, and in June (May sales) were $194,447. Year to date collections are $1,058,686. FINANCIAL REPORT Keith Glass presented financial statements. Cashwise, the Commission is up $45,000. Expenditures are on line with the budget. Revenue is up. January to May financials show the financial pbsition as very stable and very solid. CITY ATTORNEY City Attorney Kit Williams reported that the City Prosecutor's office had issued 16 active criminal summons or failure to appear warrants in twenty-three active HMR collection cases. Collections in • June were $5,629.72. CLINTON HOUSE MUSEUM REPORT Marilyn reported that the 501 c3 documentation was being completed by the UA Legal Clinic. Marilyn will meet with them in the next month. VISITOR BUREAU Allyson Twiggs Dyer reported that attendance was up at events during the coaches clinic. The USSSA world slow pitch tournament was in town with 50 teams (a shortfall of the 80 teams expected). Premier Baseball Tournament will be held in July. This is the third tournament for Ryan and he has developed a good relationship with the promoter. Solar Splash will move closer to graduation next year and they had great press coverage this year. BBBBQ has a new website up. The Visitor Center has a 25% increase in visitor count in May and increased revenue in May and June. TOWN CENTER Sandra Bennett reported Town Center increased sales and collections over last year same time. YTD shows increase in all areas except completed events. This is because of the loss of a weekly Decision Point meeting held at the Town Center. Operational items which have required repair include retiling the men's restroom, continued work on • the Peach Fountain, and a repair call from Lithonia Lighting on facility lighting. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT Marilyn reported that inquiry responses are up 20%. She worked with the Wall St. Journal for an article on Hillary and with Newspapers in Education on their teacher planner. Fayetteville and the Butterfield Sesquicentennial ride will be featured in True West magazine in September. She reported that the application for exemption from ad valorem taxes for the CVB building was approved by the Washington Co. Assessor. Holiday Hoops has decided to discontinue their tournament in conjunction with Lights of the Ozarks. AGENCY REPORT Mike Sells was present to represent the Agency. Jade reported on the Visitor Guide, fall sports and broadcasters plan and continuation of ads. Gazzola said that ARSN would be a good placement for Fayetteville this year given the new football coach and the hype associated with the team. Jade reported that Connecting NWA magazine was looking to do Fayetteville for a possible cover shot. Leigh reported on web stats. • OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS Wavfinding and Signage Mike Johnson, UA Physical Plant administrator, reported on their contract with Cloud Gersham to do transportation study (parking on Dickson, signage, etc.). They are now in the final draft of construction documents and are looking to do a phased approach. UA has 80 stakeholders and has spent about $152,000. He presented an opportunity for the A & P Commission and the city to join the UA for signage design ($35,000 each plus reimbursable travel expenses). This would allow Cloud Gersham to come and do a change order to the contract with the UA and the design cost ($36,000) would represent about 20% of the cost. Commissioner Davis requested to find out if we can legally do this. Fayetteville Fine Arts Festival Sonja Davis Guiterrez, Dede Peters, and Daniel Keely presented a proposal asking for $10,000 from the A & P Commission to make up difference in funding. Upon being asked why they went to the City Council asking for funding and not to us, they responded that they thought they had tapped out the A & P funds. They said they did not go to the City Council. Alderman Jordan brought it up and they just heard it through the rumor mill. The total cost of the festival is $150,000 including paid staff and in-kind donations. They have pared • down the festival this year. Maudie Schmitt asked if they planned on being self-supporting. They replied that, "Yes, FDP is synonymous with the festival. As a non-profit venture they hoped to take a percentage of the artist sales. However, they wanted to make it worthy first and then ask for a percentage. Booth fees are $150 + electrical. Dede Peters said they wanted to establish themselves as a cultural artist community, south of Crystal Bridges). Tim Freeman asked where they are advertising. They will have an artist catalog, NPR radio interviews and Citiscaoes. They hoped to get a newspaper sponsor. Dan Coody said he has trouble giving a group money when they didn't ask for it, but he wanted to develop an artist community. Neal Crawford said he had two concerns: 1) the thing that makes Fayetteville unique is that it is "funky" i.e. bike races on Mother's Day; 2) from the business end, FDP has significant dollars in this deal. He was hesitant about tying up public dollars when we deny others who have come asking for money through the proper channels. He challenged them to delve into the community for funding. Dan Coody asked that the A & P match a contribution from the city of $5,000. Gazzola said the A & P is independent from the City Council and it was disappointing to him the way this came about. • Coody moved, Freeman second to give the Fine Arts Festival $5,000 if the city matches. For — Coody, Freeman. Against — Crawford, Schmitt. Gazzola voted against. Motion failed. Coody moved to give $2,500 if the City matches the amount. For — 3 Against — 2. Motion carried • OTHER BUSINESS Slow Dancing at the WAC Maudie Schmitt presented a proposal from Walton Arts Center to give funds for Slow Dancing to be presented October and November for 4 weeks. The presentation will be in only 4 sites in North America. They are requesting $20,000. Commissioners requested that the item be put on the agenda in August. Wayfinding and Signage Coody asked about the $36,000 for wayfinding and signage. Would the A & P be interested in matching? Commissioners asked that the item be put on the August agenda. Allyson will research other cities that have done signage and present in August. Respectfully submitted, Marilyn Heifner Executive Director • 0