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Home My WebLink About2020-11-16 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission Minutes from November 16, 2020 Meeting Virtual Public Meeting, Via Zoom Commissioners Present: Matthew Petty, Chairperson, Todd Martin, Chrissy Sanderson, Reese Roberts, Katherine Kinney and Robert Rhoads Commissioners Absent: Sarah Bunch Staff: Molly Rawn, Chief Executive Officer and Hazel Hernandez, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Chairperson Petty called the meeting to order at 2:OOpm, acknowledging which commissioners were present. II. Old Business a. Commissioner Martin moved to approve the October 2020 minutes with Commissioner Kinney offering a second. The motion passed with a roll call vote. III. CEO Report a. Rawn began by introducing Jennifer Walker, our new VP of Finance. Walker introduced herself, sharing that she most recently served in the Finance Department in Aspen, Colorado and several years as the Finance Director for the City of Fort Smith. b. Rawn reported that last week the state's CARES Act Steering Committee will reallocate up to $10 million of unused city -county CARES funding to A&P's, CVB's and public event facilities. This could be very beneficial for the Fayetteville Town Center and she will keep the commission updated on this. c. The Business Interruption Grant is open today through November 25th This information is on our website. Arkansasready.com has further details and a hotline for assistance d. We have a vacancy with commissioner Roberts resignation and have received four applications. Rawn will be ensuring eligibility and distributing the applications to the commission. e. Rawn proposed the 2021 meeting schedule. The Commission will not meet in January. Schedule attached. f. Unit Updates — Experience Fayetteville i. Experience Fayetteville held a successful pop up lounge November 5th with the next one scheduled for this Wednesday November 181h. We have received funding through city council for these events. ii. The Arkansas High Country race, a cycling race, had tremendous media coverage. g. Unit Updates —Fayetteville Town Center i. Our Wi-Fi upgrade, a project involving both Edafio, our IT vendor and the city is going well. ii. The plaza resurfacing and improvement project is currently scheduled for January. iii. The staff is putting together a 5-year capital improvement plan which will be shared at the December meeting. h. Unit Updates —Clinton House Museum i. The non-profit board has increased its size with new board members and has opened up its own checking account. ii. We still have two exhibits this year and we have cancelled three other exhibits. iii. We are working on a wind down plan with a drastically reduced budget for 2021. September HMR and Finance Update i. We saw a 21% decrease from September 2019, partly due to no home football games and no Bikes, Blues and BBQ. It's the lowest month of revenue since February 2018. ii. Lodging numbers are down 47% compared to same time last year iii. Restaurant numbers are down 16% compared to same time last year iv. Overall HMR collections for 2020 are down 19% v. We are showing a net revenue gain of $5,167 for the year, which does not include Cyclocross grant funds as those are restricted. We show a $127,000 net income on our balance sheet as it does include Cyclocross funds. j. Vote: Recommendation to accept a quote from Pinnacle Roofing for a roof replacement at the Walker Stone House in the amount of $25,500. The roof was significantly damaged by hail in May. We received three quotes with one of them not being comprehensive. Pinnacle Roofing was selected as it was the most affordable. Our insurance policy will reimburse the cost of the roof. Chairperson Petty asked if there are questions and it was asked how old the current roof is. Rawn said she thought it could be as old as 20 years. i. Petty asked for a motion to authorize Rawn to enter this contract. The motion was made by Commissioner Roberts and seconded by Commissioner Kinney and was unanimously approved via a roll call vote. IV. Marketing a. Hazel Hernandez, VP of Sales and Marketing, reports that our website numbers continue to increase and online guide requests are up 4% compared to last year. b. Our site traffic by top states continues to be Arkansas at 37%, Texas at 19%, Oklahoma at 8%, Missouri at 7% with Kansas being the 51", due to advertising we've been doing in Kansas and Missouri. c. Our paid search continues to do well with our click through rate being high. This week is Lights of the Ozarks and we are adding "Lights of the Ozarks" as a paid search in both English and Spanish and incorporating it into our social media campaign. We've included food clips to encourage visitors to support our restaurants while they are visiting the lights. V. In closing, Rawn told commissioners they will receive the budget in ample time to review it and ask questions before the December meeting. Additionally, she reminded us that Lights of the Ozarks will be a virtual lighting ceremony this year, with the links to view it being posted on our social platforms very soon. She asked Commissioner Roberts to comment on the pop up lounge this week, to be held behind Bordino's. Roberts commended Chloe Bell for the work she's doing on these events and that the events are a great addition to the downtown area. VI. With no further business, Chairperson Petty adjourned the meeting at 2:30 pm Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations Advertising and Promotion Commission Approved 2021 Monthly Meeting Schedule January No meeting due to MILK Holiday February 8* * 2nd Monday, new date due to Presidents' Day Holiday. March 15 April 19 May 17 June 21 July 19 August 16 September 20 October 18 November 15 December 13* * 2nd Monday, if needed for budget