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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-08-22 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission Minutes August 22, 2022 Fayetteville Town Center Commissioners Todd Martin, Chair, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Present: *Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Chrissy Sanderson, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at -large Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative *Mark Kinion, City Council Representative * denotes virtual attendance Commissioners n/a Absent: Staff: Molly Rawn, CEO; Ashley Cane, Marketing Manager Chair Martin called the meeting to order at 2:02 pm. Old Business A. Chair Martin asked commissioners to review the July minutes and asked if there were any additions or revisions. Hearing no additions or revisions, he stated that the minutes stood approved. III. New Business A. CEO Report. An executive overview of the previous month's activity, issues and opportunities facing the organization. Complete memo attached. Rawn opened up with updates from our Sales team. We had a visitor from Laos who visited us via the Global Ties program, he was learning about eco and agri- tourism. He stayed at Mt. Sequoyah and had a great visit. Several of the team attended the Destinations International conference in Toronto where we partnered with other A&Ps across the state to offer a private reception for a reception with Canadian travel writers. This event was well received, and we continue to follow up with them. Hospitality in a Heartbeat, a sales program, has resumed with the first event tomorrow at Staybridge Suites. This is an event held every other month at a lodging partner and allows us to both share and get information from our partners. We recently purchased an a-trike from a Fayetteville cycling store, Pedago. Staff will be able to use this for work meetings and events and we'll be able to use it in some of the ways we use Vanny. Rawn noted that attendance numbers in the Visitors Center was a little lower in July compared to June although Saturday numbers continue to be quite high. She also noted that we are gearing up for two First Thursdays in September as the weather forced the August event to be postponed. The Town Center held two events since our last meeting as much of that time new carpet was being installed. Updates to the Green Room are also currently underway. Rawn gave a shout out to our Facilities Supervisor, Miletus Callahan- Barile, who recently completed a course to assist him in the upkeep and maintenance of the Peace Fountain. In presenting HRM, Rawn stated that we are doing well. The Average Daily Rate was up 9% over July 2021 and 23% higher than last year's year to date. B. Financial Report. Molly Rawn, CEO Rawn gave the report in VP of Finance Walker's absence and noted that July financial statements were included in the packet. Our target budget for July is 58% for revenue and expenses and we are right on target with expenses and are 4% above our expected revenue for HMR. We are under budget by 4% for the town center but Rawn is not concerned about that as we are looking at a strong 4th quarter and we've kept expenses low. Our operating net. income is $455, 211. With no questions from the commission, we moved to the marketing report. C. Marketing Report. Ashley Cane, Marketing Manager Ashley Cane started with stating that the Art Court opened last Friday and she shared the items we did to promote that. We'll eventually be taking over the social media for Art Court. Rawn mentioned that she's driven by several times since Friday and it's always had people there playing, dancing and enjoying the experience. Cane stated that there's also an Al experience with the Art Court with art that overlays the court. She then talked about First Thursday and the many tools that the marketing team uses to promote it. Rawn also discussed items we looked at doing for next year's First Thursday including light pole banners the week of First Thursday on the town center plaza and perhaps a texting service. Cane then talked about the partnership with Arkie Travels, an influencer we are working with who will be coming in this weekend. Cane talked about the work we are doing to promote the October World Cup OZCX event and showed the hype video. Mike Sells with Sells Agency then talked about the Ale Trail website and that it will be the Ale Trail's 10th anniversary next year. Sells showed the growth of the website's sessions, with a tremendous 423% growth in Illinois. Commissioner Prysby asked if the Ale Trail website could be the source of promoting the new breweries as he mentioned that the Fayetteville Flyer doesn't promote breweries as they used to, they now focus more on restaurants. Sells then discussed our July website traffic sessions and pointed out the higher percentage of growth in Illinois and it was noted that Tina Archer Cope, our VP of Sales has been working with motorcycling influencers and others in the greater Illinois area. Sells also pointed out a significant increase in downloads of the Visitors Guide — digital use of this guide continues to grow. He ended with information on the traffic on the First Thursday page and pointed out its growth. Chair Martin asked if we could have more sponsorships for First Thursday and Rawn stated that she thought getting the sponsorship packet out to potential sponsors earlier than we do, perhaps before October of this year for businesses planning their budget next year, would be helpful in doing this. Rawn also stated that we have met our sponsorship goal for this year. D. Vote. Office lease for Fayetteville Town Center staff. Authorizing the CEO to begin lease negotiations with the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce for office space. Memo attached. Rawn introduced this topic by stating that when we re -designed FTC to make Salon A and B, we lost our office space for staff and we moved the staff into 5 W. Mountain. Our lease ends in spring of 2023 but we have a mutually beneficial option to terminate our lease early. We could obtain office space at the Chamber for slightly less rent. Rawn knew that we didn't have time to get a lease in front of the commission for this meeting but wanted to know if she had the authority to enter a lease. Commissioner Sanderson asked if we wanted to do more than a three-year lease. Chair Martin asked that we look at the viability of Walker Stone House; he asked if we could look at rough numbers for moving to the Walker Stone House so we could consider it compared to moving to the chamber offices. Chair Martin invited a motion that the commission authorize the CEO to pursue a lease agreement with the Chamber of Commerce for office space and bring a lease to the September meeting while also asking staff to look at the option of retrofitting the Walker Stone House. Commissioner Kinney made the motion and Commissioner Sanderson and others made the second. Chair Martin called for a vote and it was approved unanimously. E. Vote. Parking Gate Equipment for Fayetteville Town Center parking deck. Staff recommends approving a quote for $35, 459 from IPS Group for equipment, installation and software. Memo attached. Rawn opened this item and stated that per the lease we were responsible for repairing or replacing the entrance to the parking deck and while the city is responsible for daily maintenance, it is not responsible for the infrastructure. Martin stated that we budgeted 33K for revenue which would approximately be the cost of the proposed equipment. We are also proposing to increase the price for all day parking. Rawn pointed out that the proposed system allowed for dynamic pricing if we wanted to utilize that feature. Commissioner Kinney moved that we accept the $35,459 quote from IPS Group for equipment, installation and software for the new gateless parking system and raise daily parking rates in the Town Center deck from $4 to $6 and it was seconded by Commissioner Sanderson. Chair Martin asked if there was further discussion. With no further discussion, the motion passed unanimously. F. Discussion. Fayetteville Town Center's participation in the city of Fayetteville's Energy Savings Performance Contract with Johnson Controls Inc. More information will be made available when received from city staff. Rawn introduced this item by stating that the city had discussed this project at the city council meeting. She introduced Peter Nierengarten, the Environmental Director to talk about the energy project they are doing with Johnson Controls, Inc. Nierengarten stated that the city council approved a project of $4.5 million dollars on 50 buildings with the omission of the Fayetteville Town Center and also the Fayetteville Public Library. Currently the town center has 60 days to be able to join the overall project. The total price of all the projects, including project design, management and equipment is $4.4 million dollars. The question before the commission is: is the group interested in participating if agreeable terms can be created. Three different types of projects are listed on the sheet Nierengarten provided: a weatherization project, replacement of an HVAC system and placing the solar panels on the roof. The total cost of this project is $735,000. The city has some remaining funds from a project that could be put towards this project, which would decrease the project cost to $625,000. Nierengarten projected that savings of $25,000 to $50,000 a year could be realized. Rawn pointed out that we would need to do a roof repair before we considered this project. Chair Martin asked to see the documented savings and Nierengarten and Chris McNamara, also with the city, said that documentation could be provided. Commissioner Kinney asked Tyler Wilson, General Manager of the town center if he received RFP's asking what eco-friendly practices the town center initiated and Wilson said he did. This topic was discussed with several questions raised. CEO Rawn asked if she could ask a clarifying question: Did commission members see the $625,000 as a capital expense and we'd be choosing it over other capital expenses. She also asked if the city would be willing to allow us to pay this out over 20 years, making this more of a revenue neutral item, was the commission interested in getting more information about the project? Several commissioners indicated they would be. With no more discussion on this topic, Chair Martin asked if there were any other discussion items and Commissioner Kinion stated that he and Commissioner Bunch would be working on the city's budget and would be learning more about what might be possible. Rawn stated that she would be meeting with Chief of Staff Susan Norton and Mayor Jordan in September to re- negotiate the town center's lease and this would allow more discussion on this topic. G. Chair Martin called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Kinney made the motion with Commissioner Prysby seconding it. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30pm. Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville