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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-02-11 - MinutesADVERTISING AND PROMOTION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING February 11, 2013 Wommissioners Present: Ching Mong, Bob Davis, and Matt Petty. Matt Behrend was present but his nomination had not been ratified by the City Council. Commissioner Absent: Bill Lyle, Maudie Schmitt, and Justin Tennant Staff Present: Marilyn Heifner, Sandra Bennett, Matt Clement CALL TO ORDER Ching Mong called the regular monthly meeting of the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission to order on February11, 2013, at 2:05 p.m. A quorum was not present. REPORTS MINUTES Minutes will be approved at the next meeting. Two revisions noted. FINANCIAL REPORTS HMR Revenue - Marilyn reported that January revenue was $211,138, a 2.52% increase over 2012. Financial Reports for 2012 were reviewed by Keith Glass. He emphasized that the Town Center, CVB, and Clinton House couldn't pay for themselves alone. He said in the external audit, it would probably be pointed out that there is a limited amount of control of the accounts. • Delinquent Tax Collection Efforts - City Attorney Kit Williams reported that the City Prosecutor collected $2,630.40 in January. Eighteen of the businesses listed are closed. Three cases are closed. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS Clinton House Museum - Museum website has seen unprecedented traffic this month. Promotion of the website and in social media reached an average of 157,955 per week and just short of 6000 users. CVB - Fourteen hundred fifty two Insider guides were mailed out during the month. Staff booked 21 meetings with an economic impact of $6,184,918. Visitor center sales were down 46.6% and visitors were down 10.5%. A new line of clothes, Molly Jogger, was introduced into the store. Plans are progressing for First Thursday on March 7. Thirteen nominations were received for our new Hospitality Hero program. Pins and certificates were distributed to nominees. TOWN CENTER - Collections in January were $32,722.31, a 7% increase in collections. Sales were down slightly as were executed contracts. The shut off valve in the fountain is not working correctly. Weekday events are growing and Lynn is managing the contracts for a better revenue stream. AD AGENCY REPORT Mike Sells reported that the experiencefayetteville.com website is deep in the development stage. Content is going in. Design of the site should make it easier and faster to make changes, which will provide a steady stream of information. It should be ready to review in 4 weeks. i4rew Finkbeiner reported on the Insider Guide. 2013 pagination is finished and he is going out for printing bids. He and Marilyn had a meeting with Matt Mihalevich regarding the Zcard for Trails now that the on street bike paths are up. Petty asked that a Broadway show schedule be included in the Insider Guide. OLDBUSINESS •SURVEY Petty asked for a survey of citizens. He said the fees for a survey are incidental to issuing bonds. Davis said a survey has been conducted and A & P needs to find out who did the survey and what the results of the survey were. Petty said that a poll was conducted, not a survey. He said the A & P needs to go to the voters and give them all of the information. A survey is needed to craft a proposal which would pass. He presented a sampling of the results a survey but could not reveal the specifics of the survey. Davis said he was not sure the A & P and the city needed to spend $20,000 on a special survey that the election results would be the survey results. Connie Edmonston, director of parks, said the Parks HMR tax currently funded the general operation of the parks ($1.8 million yearly). They have accumulated $4.5 million toward a regional park. The city currently has 39,000 acres in parks. In 2013, $700,000 was going to the improvement of Lake Fayetteville. They estimated that it would take $450,000 annually to fund the operations for a regional park programs. Davis asked to get a copy of the parks budget. Mong said the maintenance was a silent issue which needed to be considered. Edmonston said she would provide a maintenance budget. Davis thanked Heffner for getting the proposal off the ground and endeavor to getting South Pass off the ground since it has been talked about since 1998. He said this is a wonderful opportunity for our City, 41the Mayor and the A & P. Edmondson said parks could adapt to the AMP needs. Petty agreed with Davis that this was a good starting point for discussion. Heifner should work with the Mayor and parks to come up with a proposal. Davis said, "We don't want to offer more dollars than the city will offer for bonds." Mong said participation would confirm our partnership with the city. no quorum, it wouldn't be voted on today. Petty said he came prepared to make a motion to give $600,000 to the Walton Arts Center today, but since there is no quorum, it wouldn't be voted on today. Peter Lane, CEO of Walton Arts Center, said the bonding capacity of the A & P was larger than WAC thought. He asked about the additional $2 million and what plan would there be for the additional amount over $600,000? He said design fees are critical and $600,000 would get them started. He asked if there would be additional opportunity for WAC to come back for the additional money. He said the A & P contribution would kick start their fundraising. Davis said he couldn't speak for the commission, but that the WAC could come every year and ask for money as they have in the past, but it wouldn't mean they would get it. oretty stated that the A & P Commission could not bind future Commission's hands. Lane said he recognized the past and asked if the A & P could give a statement through a resolution that the A & P is committed and has the intent to fund the $2 million as an expression of support. Davis said the A & P couldn't guarantee the $8.6 million but will put to the voters $6.5 million and that should be confirmation of the project. Betty said the City and the A & P are fully committed to the project. The city put $27 million into the property, bonded $6.5 million and the A & P is prepared to put %6.5 million in again. NEW BUSINESS DMAP- Matt Clement presented another section for the accreditation report for DMAI. Accreditation documents will be submitted in April. ATTORNEY FOR A & P COMMISSION Petty said 4 times in the last year the A & P Commission conducted routine business that needed legal help. The City Attorney recommended that the Commission hire its own attorney. He recommended that we hire an attorney at a negotiated hourly rate with a firm to perform the most basic administrative services that we need. He suggested that we put out an RFQ for legal services and that a Committee of the Whole serve as the selection committee. research questions are presented. Davis said he was not opposed to having an attorney on retainer. Petty says that not having an attorney creates delays in the process. Davis said time gives staff time to research questions are presented. Kit Williams said an attorney could see problems before the Commission and provide advice and offer opinions early on rather than after the fact. When the Commission collects $2.5 million in taxes yearly, it Sta small thing to pay to insure that everything is working as smoothly and legal as possible especially ith a bond issue. Heifner clarified that the A & P Commission could not issue bonds and had no bonding authority. It is the City that issues bonds, the city owns the entity when the bonds are paid. Petty replied that "A & P Commissions are expressly authorized by state statute to issue our own bonds and to hire an attorney to construct those bond agreements. I understand that it has been the convention to have the city do that on our behalf. I'm not arguing to change that convention but it is 100% legal for the Commission to incur those expenses and manage the process." (*See note from Dennis Hunt) FUNDING REQUEST FROM ROTARY CLUB Chuck Culver, Larry Long, Scott Berna, and Jason Shirer (representing Fayetteville Rotary presented a request for a $25,000 in A & P funding to match a Rotary contribution to add seating, awnings, and state of the art scoreboard for new softball field at Lady Dawg Yard complex at Asbell Park on Lewis Avenue. Mong pointed out that generally funding requests are brought to the commission in April and October. Commissioner Petty brought the request. Davis indicated that he had people talking to him about funding requests and if this was granted outside the April and October periods, they would be coming next month and not during the appropriate time. Clliams said time is essential because the project is under construction. He said C5,000 Rotary will match the 5,000 and asked if the proposal could be considered. Mong said there was not a quorum present and asked them to wait until April so that the Commission could consider then. Petty said the best course was for the Chair to call a special meeting with 3 days' notice. Davis said this was not an urgent matter. He said he knew what would happen if the Commission shows • favoritism. He said if the Commission does not follow a set structure, we are in trouble in the future. Mong said at this time, he didn't want to commit to setting a special meeting. If other commissioners are interested in calling a special meeting, they should contact him. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Marilyn Heifner Executive Director Fayetteville A & P Commission E L J