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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-11 - Minutes• ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING March 11, 2013 Commissioners Present: Bill Lyle, Ching Mong, Matthew Petty, Maudie Schmitt and Justin Tennant. Matt Behrend was present but his nomination had not been ratified by the City Council. Commissioner Absent: Bob Davis Staff Present: Marilyn Heifner, Sandra Bennett CALL TO ORDER Ching Mong called the regular monthly meeting of the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission to order on March 11, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. REVIEW OF APPLICANTS FOR AT LARGE AND INDUSTRY POSITION EXPIRING 3/31/13 Six nominations were received for the Industry position: Michael Andrews (Fresco Cafe & Pub), Serena Hattabaugh (Candlewood Suites), Jim Huson (Doe's Eat Place), Shellie Morrison (The Event Group), Hannah Withers (Little Bread Co.), and Denise Youngblood (Mojo's Pies). Ten nominations were received for the At Large position: Roger Barrett (Nightbird Books), • Terry Coberly (retired), Bobby Ferrell (retired), Julie McQuade Heyes (Fayetteville Underground), Eric Howerton (WhyteSpyder, Inc), Lewis B "Bucky" Jones (retired), Steven Kay (attorney), David Russell (First Security Bank), Terri Trotter (Walton Arts Center), and William H. (Bill) Waite (Dickson Street Liquor). After discussion of "state law" vs "city nominating committee policies and procedures", Schmitt moved to table the discussion of appointment of nominees for vacant positions until the April meeting, second by Petty. Motion carried. Commission decided state law should be followed regarding applicants which does not set term limits. Therefore, Schmitt and Davis will be allowed to submit applications if they wish to serve another term. REPORTS MINUTES Moved to approve the minutes of the January meeting and February meeting by Mong, second by Tennant. Motion carried. FINANCIAL REPORTS HMR Revenue - Marilyn reported that February revenue was $187,562, a 5.20% increase over February, 2012. Year to date increase is 3.77%, $398.700. • Jerri Kuburich, new account manager for the A & P Commission was introduced. She reviewed the Financial Reports for January, 2013. • Delinquent Tax Collection Efforts - City Attorney Kit Williams reported that the City Prosecutor collected $3,024.456 in February. Tax cases increased from 23 to 27. Ten cases were for failure to submit proper monthly forms. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS Because of the potential length of the meeting, departmental reports were not presented orally, but were included in the agenda packet. AD AGENCY REPORT Drew Finkbeiner said the concentration of the agency time was on the Insider Guide. They have completed the Trip Advisor page and it will go live on Wednesday of this week. OLD BUSINESS SURVEY Petty said the survey was passed by the City Council and invited the A & P Commission to participate in the process. Lyle asked what would be the use of the survey. Petty said the city would solicit quotes and would go with the lowest bidder. The survey would tell us what we want to learn and the company would develop open ended questions. Examples of the questions would be 1) What is your perception of the regional park plan? 2) What do you think of the WAC expansion? Itmould provide public input for the ballot questions. • Schmitt said she thought there was a lot of emphasis on the bond issue paring up with the regional park. She thought we might be trying to do too many things at once with the bond issue. Lyle asked if the Commissioners would be able to approve the questions prior to the execution of the survey. Petty said the time line would be 1) city would allocate funding, 2) city would develop a request for proposals, 3) City staff, WAC, A & P, Parks would develop questions. Lyle moved to approve the A & P Commission participating in the cost of half of a survey, not to exceed $10,000, second by Tennant. Motion carried. WALTON ARTS CENTER FUNDING REQUEST Petty moved to give the Walton Arts Center $600,000 with conditions, second by Lyle. Conditions include Walton Arts Center providing a statement of commitment, signed by an authorized employee of the Walton Arts Center with the authority to obligate the organization, agreeing to the following: Walton Arts Center will: 1. Provide an annual audit, conducted by an independent outside auditor, each year during the project, and for any others years prior to or after, as requested; and 2. Provide quarterly reports of the use of the provided funds until the funds have . been spent; and • 3. Continue with a capital campaign - quiet and public phases - working to secure the remaining funds needed to complete the expansion as described in the proposal; and 4. Spend the provided funds exclusively on the design, pre -construction, and construction costs of the expansion of the Walton Arts Center's Fayetteville facility; and 5. Not spend the funds on programming costs, administration or otherwise. Schmitt said she was concerned about giving the WAC $600,000 - that is setting a new precedent of an upper amount from the A & P Commission to projects. Peter Lane, WAC, said they hope to get $2 million from the A & P Commission over the next several years to kick start construction costs. Schmitt asked what happens to the $600,000 if the bond issue does not pass. Lane said the WAC was incurring costs today finishing the schematic work, etc. This is a piece of the fundraising puzzle. Mong said he was concerned about the larger amount and where that may lead. Lane said twenty years ago the City made an investment and created a $1 million operating budget which is $10 million now. Jeff Shomberg, chairman of the WAC Board, said he was confident that the WAC could run the center at a 96% capacity after the • remodeling. Petty said the concern was not justified. He would be willing to entertain any request anytime. Funding the design was spot onto promote tourism. Return was proven and demonstrable. The design is the cornerstone to the project, fundraising, etc. Motion carried. Mong had to leave the meeting to go to a doctor's appointment. Schmitt took over to Chair the meeting. BOND ISSUE Petty moved to submit the bond proposal as presented by Executive Director Marilyn Heifner to the City Council. Specifically, the proposal is to use $6.5 million of the proceeds of the issuance of a bond for the construction of the Fayetteville Walton Arts Center expansion and $3.258 million for the construction of a regional park. Furthermore, the Commission respectfully recommends the City evaluate its capacity to issue bonds for the construction of the regional park, backed by the "parks HMR penny" and to plan a capital campaign for raising money from private sources for the remainder of the park which cannot be paid for by public sources. Second by Lyle. Petty said the A & P Commission needs to determine if the regional park is a priority and respectfully request that the city look at it. We think this is so important that we're willing • to commit $3.25 million to the regional park. • Tennant said there are no two more important economic drivers than the Walton Arts Center and the regional park. We need to move it forward and let the rest of the process work for generations of long term value. Terri Trotter explained the public input campaign that WAC is conducting with shareholders. Tennant indicated a desire to move this proposal forward to the city council to begin discussion knowing that in the end, the people will decide. Schmitt asked about diluting the WAC expansion with the regional park and would that be a problem. Petty shared a survey indicating that the WAC proposal would be strengthened by the regional park proposal. Motion carried. ATTORNEY FOR THE COMMISSION Moved by Petty, second by Lyle to hire an attorney for the A & P Commission. The attorney would review big items before the Commission, review the agenda before each meeting and catch potential problems prior to A & P discussion. Motion carried. Marilyn presented a proposed RFQ to advertise for an attorney. The Commission will review applicants at the next meeting and come up with a short list to interview. • FUNDING REQUEST FROM ROTARY CLUB Because of the timeliness of the request and construction deadlines, Petty moved to give a $25,000 match (with Rotary) to construct bleachers and awnings for Ladyback softball field. Second by Tennant. Motion carried. NEW BUSINESS DMAP The remaining sections of the DMAP accreditation documents will be presented to the Commission at their next meeting. Then those will be submitted to DMAI. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Marilyn Heifner Executive Director Fayetteville A & P Commission 0