HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-10-17 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission
Minutes October 17, 2022
Fayetteville Town Center
Commissioners Todd Martin, Chair, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Present: Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at -large
Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative
Mark Kinion, City Council Representative
Chrissy Sanderson, Tourism & Hospitality Representative * Virtual attendance
Katherine Kinney, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Staff: Molly Rawn, CEO; Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance
Chair Martin called the meeting to order at 2:02 pm.
Old Business
A. Chair Martin asked commissioners to review the September 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's Report. Molly Rawn, CEO
CEO Rawn presented a report starting with a look ahead to November when the full
budget would be presented for possible approval. In November we may also consider
a contract with a consulting firm to work with the town center on a business model.
The Experience Fayetteville Sales team played a great role in Touge Con 2022, a car
show, which was a partnership with the town center, Experience Fayetteville and the
Graduate. It was a very successful event. Additionally, through working with city of
Fayetteville colleagues, we have secured a couple of conferences and meetings and
have also been working on several leads with our city colleagues.
Our entire team did an outstanding job with the World Cup event this last weekend with
preliminary data showing a great event. We plan to have more information for the
commission at the November meeting about this event.
Rawn stated that sales and attendance are going well in the Visitors Center and this
year is the first year we've participated in Welcoming Week and were pleased to do so.
In Community Engagement, we just closed out our First Thursday season and are
pleased to have had a full and successful season. Rawn also gave an update on Trick
or Treat in the Ramble, which is a city led initiative with Experience Fayetteville
assisting. Commissioner Moya asked how vendors could participate and Rawn said
she was unclear how the city may involve vendors, but we could certainly pass that
information along. Rawn continued with an update on the town center parking garage,
stating that by the end of October, the parking garage equipment install would be
complete.
Furthermore, she stated that fall events at the town center were being booked with not
many open dates in October and November. The town center's office move is going
well and should be completed next week. Also, we've presented the city with a new
lease agreement for the town center, and we feel it outlines a more equitable
arrangement for the town center and we look forward to hearing back from the city on
this. The city's Sustainability Director is asking for an extension on the solar array
project for the town center so that we can know the status of the proposed lease which
would have a bearing on the solar array project. Rawn will keep the commission
updated on this. In presenting HMR data, Lodging collections are up 24% from prior
month and 34% from September 2021. This does not include data on the last month of
September which is when we would have typically held Bikes Blues and BBQ as this
report represents August activity. Rawn will have information on September for the
next meeting. Overall, we see an 18% increase compared to the same period in 2021.
B. Financial Report. Jennifer Walker, VP Finance
VP of Finance Jennifer Walker stated that HMR tax collections are at $3,347,781, year
to date, which is above the seasonally adjusted budget expectations by 9%. Our
projections for both revenue and expenditures are at 75% and we are over the revenue
projection at 82% and under the expenditure projection at 66%. Our operating net
income is $790,738 and Fayetteville Town Center is slated to beat their budget goals
by the end of the year when the town center's unearned revenue that is currently on the
balance sheet is included.
Chair Martin asked if VP Walker could see any trends when looking at prior year
patterns with revenue. Walker said she is seeing very steady growth and nothing
out of the ordinary with the exception of the Cyclo-Cross World Championships and
the Garth Brooks concert in April. Commissioner Moya asked if we received any
listing of new restaurants, hotels so that we could determine what factors might be
influencing HMR increases. Rawn said that we could share this information with the
commission on a quarterly or monthly basis and she would talk with Devin Howland,
the city of Fayetteville's Director of Economic Vitality about this data
2023 Budget Preview
VP Walker showed a budget preview which factored in items such as inflation and tax
revenue growth and consumer spending habits. Regarding HMR taxes, we are
estimating $4.96 million with $4.2 million from restaurants and $744,000 from lodging.
Short term rentals are included in the lodging numbers and currently short-term rentals
are 20% of the lodging total.
CEO Rawn discussed the new initiatives portion of the budget preview which include
two new positions, Director of Downtown Initiatives, and a Social Media Coordinator.
We also plan to produce a Tourism Master Plan and a Town Center strategic plan. Our
media buy strategy will include investing in research of visitor profiles. The budget
preview also includes a focus on capital investments. Our capital reserve balance is
$1,600,000 and we are proposing $755,000 investments in the town center and a rough
estimate of $155,000 for a back -office remodel project at Experience Fayetteville.
Walker reminded the commission that we do contribute to the capital improvement line
item each year.
Commissioner Moya asked if the commission could see a breakdown of the current
personnel positions and the proposed positions. Rawn said we could distribute an
organizational chart with the budget.
C. Marketing Report.
CEO Rawn gave this update which included town center ads and also our consumer
and leisure newsletter which shows outstanding open and click through rates. Rawn
also showed our monthly sessions on the website by states and stated that Illinois
continues to be a top state. She also spoke about the Visitors Guide in 2023 and that it
would most likely be a digital version.
D. TheatreSquared Presentation. Martin Miller, Executive Director
Martin Miller, Executive Director, with TheatreSquared joined the commission meeting
to give an update on TheatreSquared. Miller opened with a presentation showing
reviews and information about the theatre which opened its new building in August of
2019. Miller noted that he was glad to be talking and giving the commission an update
on the building fund as requested as almost all of commissioners were not on the
commission when the building pledge was made in 2017. TheatreSquared is one of
two producing professional theaters in Arkansas and is the largest one in the state.
TheatreSquared creates each show from the ground up, hiring the director, casting the
actors, building the set and more. It has almost 100 employees who do this in
Fayetteville for shows only shown in Fayetteville with the exception of when a show
traveled from Fayetteville to New York.
Miller said that TheatreSquared does bring people into town, even during the pandemic
they had people from 50 states and 19 countries streaming their shows. Miller stated
that half of the ticket holders come from out-of-town zip codes.
The $200,000 yearly pledge received from the commission helped meet a challenge
grant from the Walton Family Foundation of $9 million dollars to build this $31.5 million
dollar theatre. Other funders were the city of Fayetteville at $3.1 million and a grant
from the state of Arkansas for $2.9 million. The A&P's pledge is $200,000 a year for 15
years, or $3 million dollars. The pledge is used to pay back the construction loan made
by Arvest Bank. Miller stated that this was somewhat similar to the Walton Arts Center
bond issue in 2013 which resulted in a bond payment that the A&P is making for part of
the Walton Arts Center renovation. Martin then showed the A&P Commission minutes
from the A&P's April 2017 meeting where the commissioners unanimously approved
the pledge to TheatreSquared which satisfied both their lender and the Walton Family
Foundation and allowed construction to begin not long afterwards.
TheatreSquared opened in August 2019. The building is fulfilling a vision of bringing
community theatre to Northwest Arkansas; it is winning architectural awards and is
serving as a meeting place for the community even when there is not a show.
Miller then stated that attendance at TheatreSquared is currently at 60% of pre -
pandemic levels, which is similar for arts and music events across the nation. In
response to this, TheatreSquared has an American Rescue Plan Act grant application
in front of the city of Fayetteville now to assist in needs created by this current decline
in ticket sales.
Chair Martin asked for a refresher on the 2014 bond which funded the Walton Arts
Center at approximately $440,000 a year which the A&P pays each year and VP of
Finance Walker gave a brief refresher on that project.
Commissioner Kinney asked if the commission could get more insight into the financial
status of TheatreSquared and what Miller's plans were to increase attendance. Miller
stated that one of the things they did during the pandemic was to keep their staff
employed to keep the specialized talent in the area and with the company.
TheatreSquared has ended both of the last two years in the black and they are seeing
a slight uptick in attendance at the fall shows compared to the spring shows.
Chair Martin stated that per a vote by the commission last year, all amounts given by
the A&P over $50,000 would require a vote by the commission and could involve more
discussion and consideration by the commission. Chair Martin asked for additional
financial information, specifically for the last two years. He also asked for financial
information about the cafe operating in the TheatreSquared. It was stated that as
TheatreSquared is a not for profit, it is exempt from the 2% HMR tax on food and
beverage items prepared in its cafe.
Chair Martin stated he appreciated that TheatreSquared did not lay off team.
Commissioner Moya asked if he would be able to share a zip code analysis with the
team to see what sort of marketing opportunities could be present and Miller said he
could. Chair Martin asked for additional financial information to be send before the
November A&P meeting when the commission will be voting to approve the $200,000
payment. Additionally, Chair Martin asked Miller about the possibility of the A&P
Commission having a seat on TheatreSquared board of directors, following the concept
of the city of Fayetteville having a city appointment seat on the Walton Arts Center
board.
CEO Rawn asked a clarifying question concerning the $200,000 pledge in both this and
next year's budget and Chair Martin said he intended to keep the pledge in both this
year and next year's budget. Additionally, it was stated that Mr. Miller could attend
virtually or in person or could send a designee to answer questions about financial
statements.
Concerning the request to ask the TheatreSquared board of directors to allocate a seat
for the A&P Commission, Commissioner Bunch said she would like us to discuss this
with the city's attorney as we are comparing similarities between the city appointed seat
on the Walton Arts Center. CEO Rawn stated that other A&P Commissions in the state
had seats on similar organizations in their respective cities. Chair Martin clarified that
Miller could certainly tell his board of directors that the seat on the board was a request
from Chair Martin. After discussion, it was decided that the commission would consult
the city attorney about this request of a board seat and connect back with Mr. Miller to
confirm if the commission wanted Mr. Miller to bring this request to his board of
directors.
E. Executive Session
The commission thanked Mr. Miller for his time and moved on to the next item of
business which was to vote to go into Executive Session to discuss the employment of
the CEO for an annual performance review. Commissioner Kinney made a motion to
go into executive session for this matter and it was seconded by both Commissioner
Prysby and Commissioner Moya.
After the executive session, Commissioner Kinney made a motion to approve the
CEO's employment for another year, noting that the commission was very pleased with
Rawn's performance, and to schedule another evaluation in a year. This was
seconded by Commissioner Kinion and was approved unanimously.
F. Welcome Signage . Commissioner Moya and CEO Rawn.
The final agenda item was a discussion on welcome signage for the city of Fayetteville.
This agenda item was led by Commissioner Moya. CEO Rawn showed examples of
signs such as monuments and also examples of an SEC city's welcoming sign. CEO
Rawn suggested that we form a working committee to discuss this project and the
commissioners were interested in doing so. CEO Rawn asked Vince to clarify how a
subcommittee could meet and Vince did state that subcommittees containing more than
one commissioner did need to publish when it would be meeting.
Commissioner Kinion made a motion for a subcommittee of three to form to study
signage options for city entry points and to bring those recommendations back to the
commission. It was seconded by Commissioner Kinney and was approved
unanimously. CEO Rawn asked that commissioners inform her if they wanted to serve
on this subcommittee and stated that she assumed Commissioner Moya would serve
on it and that she'd want both a member of Sells Agency and Experience Fayetteville's
marketing staff to join the subcommittee's meetings.
G. Adjourn
Chair Martin requested a motion to adjourn the meeting and a motion was made by
Commissioner Kinion and seconded by Commissioner Bunch and approved
unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 4:38 pm.
Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville