HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-03-27 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission
Minutes March 27, 2023
Fayetteville Town Center
Commissioners Chair Todd Martin, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Present: Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at -large
Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative
Sonia Harvey, City Council Representative *virtual attendance
Katherine Kinney, Tourism & Hospitality Representative *virtual attendance
Elvis Moya, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Chrissy Sanderson, Tourism & Hospitality Representative
Commissioners N/A
Absent:
Staff: Molly Rawn, CEO; Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance; Sarah King, VP of Marketing
Chair Martin called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm.
Old Business
A. Chair Martin asked commissioners to review the February 27th minutes and
asked if there were any additions or revisions. Hearing none, he declared the
minutes were approved as presented.
III. New Business
A. CEO Report.
Rawn opened with stating that 57 restaurants participated in Restaurant Week and
Sarah King would have more details about this successful project. On the
Operations side, we've engaged with Flintlock Lab, a local architect firm, to develop
plans on reconfigured bathrooms and office space at Experience Fayetteville. We
will be bringing plans and next steps to the commission in the coming months for
consideration.
Visitors Center Update: We've seen a 79% increase in attendance from the same
period in 2022, with more than half of the visitors coming in on Saturdays.
Additionally, 15 Fayetteville Ale Trail Passports were completed and handed in
during February.
The town center lease was passed via consent agenda with the city council last
week. The town center has held 10 events since we last met and in quarter one,
we've recorded $27,456 in alcohol sales which is tremendous growth in this income
category.
Kelly Rich, our Director of Downtown Initiatives, is in Boston presenting at a
Placemaking conference this week. The downtown coalition has been gathering
input from local stakeholders on their visions for downtown and the next meeting is
April 3 at Trailside Yoga.
2023 is the 1011 anniversary of the Ale Trail and you'll see more about this
anniversary throughout the year.
Rawn gave a cycling event update and outlined several cycling events we'd be
seeing in Fayetteville in the next few weeks.
She closed the update by sharing that HMR totals for February, representing
January's activity are $356,842.
B. Financial Report. Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance
Walker stated that February financials are in the commission agenda packets
and that as of February, our target for both revenue and expenditures is 17% of
the overall budget. Our revenue hit 14% while expenses hit 12%. Our HMR tax
receipts YTD are $738,524 and our YTD operating net income is $113,984.
Walker stated that this was an improvement over January's numbers and she
sees no reason that we won't continue to see growth in a positive manner. She
said unearned revenue amount is $139,408. With no questions, she concluded
the report.
C. Marketing Report. Sarah King, VP of Marketing and Communications
King began by showing off the new, robust web calendar that allows sorting by type
of event and allows you to add to your calendar plus many more features such as
"kid friendly, pet friendly." etc. The commissioners were very interested in the
features and King thanked Jerrika Longueville, Content Developer, for all her work.
King asked Ashley Cane, Director of Brand Strategy, to talk about the Cities of the
SEC "Visit the SEC" Passport which just launched and will be on our website soon.
Cane mentioned that one of the stops on the passport is the Visitors Center.
King talked about Fayetteville Restaurant Week which was a pilot with less than a
90 day launch from when King came on board. With 57 restaurants involved, that
represented about 8% of F&B businesses in Fayetteville with very favorable
feedback coming back from the restaurants such as "it was like having two Friday
nights of sales in one week." King ended by showing a picture from Meiji Japanese
Cuisine and Sushi's restaurant showing their extra long sales tape for the week.
Mike Sells presented more statistics about Fayetteville Restaurant Week. It was a
very successful multi -channel approach. 40% of the web traffic was from NWA but
not Fayetteville. 35% of all web traffic from the time Restaurant Week launched was
to the Restaurant Week page.
From a public relations standpoint, we had several media outlets feature the event
with 27 media events.
Commissioner Moya asked if we wanted to consider a "summer sips" promotion for
this summer and CEO Rawn said we'd be passing along that idea to the marketing
team.
D. Vote. Commissioner Appointment.
One of the four tourism industry commissioner positions is up for appointment and
one eligible application was received.
Commissioner Bunch made a motion that we approve Commissioner Kinney's
application and send it to the city council for re -appointment and Commissioner
Sanderson seconded it and it was approved unanimously.
E. Vote. 2022 Financial Audit Engagement with BKD, LLP.
In presenting this item, VP of Finance pointed out that BKD, LLP has changed its
name to Forvis. The 2022 Financial Audit Engagement letter for Forvis was
presented. Commissioner Bunch made a motion to authorize CEO Rawn to
execute an engagement letter with Forvis for 2022 audit services estimated at
$25,000 which was seconded by Commissioner Sanderson. With no further
discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
F. Vote. Smithsonian Folk Life Festival Sponsorship.
Staff is seeking authority to commit $20,000 to serve as a sponsor in this year's
Smithsonian Folk Life Festival which features the Ozarks.
The Smithsonian Folk Life Festival Sponsorship was presented, with the theme The
Ozarks: Faces and Facets of a Region. Rawn is working with Arkansas Tourism
and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival organizers to ensure Arkansas is well
represented. This is a large, well -attended festival and we have confirmation that
Arkansas State Tourism will serve as a sponsor. Rawn said that she understands
that a $20,000 sponsorship will allow the sponsorship benefits allocated at the
$25,000 level. The commission asked if Vanny could possibly make the drive and
Rawn said that was an option to be discussed with the team but that she would not
want the vote to be tied to include Vanny traveling in case that was not an option.
Commissioner Moya made the motion to make a $20,000 commitment to sponsor
the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington DC and Commissioner Prsyby
seconded it and it passed unanimously.
G. Vote. Production services for First Thursday Festival.
Staff is seeking authority to sign an agreement with FORGE Production for the
production services of the First Thursday Festival. The cost of the agreement is
$31,200.
Forge Production has done a good job for us in the past and is the only vendor who
was able to reliably include a mobile hydraulic function for the festival to continue
to increase the production value of this event. A motion was made by
Commissioner Bunch and seconded by Commissioner Harvey to authorize the CEO
to sign an agreement with Forge Production for $31,200. The motion passed
unanimously.
With the agenda items complete, CEO Rawn reported back about monument signage and
that she had a representative from the city of Fayetteville's planning department who
would like to meet with us and asked if Commissioner Moya would also attend this meeting.
Commissioner Bunch noted that signage was discussed on a master planning department
meeting and that an E Fay Jones inspired sign was discussed at that time.
Commissioner Sanderson asked for an update on TheatreSquared and CEO Rawn gave an
update, recapping the email she sent after she and Commissioner Moya attended the
TheatreSquared board meeting. She stated that she had suggested to TheatreSquared's
board of directors they may want to come back to an A&P Commission meeting in May so
the 2023 funding request could be considered as it was currently not in the 2023 budget.
Rawn suggested May as sometimes a budget revision is considered in June.
Commission Moya asked about how to be a sponsor for First Thursday and Tyler Wilson
said he would reach out to Commissioner Moya with the sponsorship packet. It was further
discussed that perhaps August's First Thursday could have a tie in with schools, including
the U of A' s involvement.
With no further items to discuss, Chair Martin requested a motion to adjourn with
Commissioner Sanderson making the motion and Commissioner Prysby seconding it. The
motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 3 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville
