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Home My WebLink About11-10-2016 Meeting Minutes 11.10.16 LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE & AUBURN TOURISM BOARD MEETING MINUTES Thursday, November 10, 2016 @ 3:00PM 25 West Main Street City Hall, Conference Room #3 – 2nd Floor LTAC BOARD MEMBERS: Nancy Backus, Andy Cho, Bob Fraser, Julie Krueger, Ronnie Roberts, Satpal Sohal ATB BOARD MEMBERS: Nancy Backus, Andy Cho, Bob Fraser, Dana Hinman, Julie Krueger, Ronnie Roberts, Satpal Sohal, Jennifer Corona, Rebecca Frisch, Chantelle Herburger, Jamelle Garcia, Tonia Jones, Gary Longley, Reggie Matto , Ashley Mohoric, Laci Qualls, Chris Wehmeyer STAFF: Dana Hinman, Doug Lein, Lorraine Chachere In Attendance: Andy Cho, Julie Krueger, Ronnie Roberts, Satpal Sohal, Rebecca Frisch, Doug Lein, Lorraine Chachere, Aman Ghag, Jonathon Shea, Jill Boltmann, Eric Christenson Not Present: Nancy Backus, Dana Hinman, Bob Fraser, Jennifer Corona, Jamelle Garcia, Tonia Jones, Gary Longley, Chantelle Herburger, Reggie Matto , Ashley Mohoric, Laci Qualls, Chris Wehmeyer AGENDA: I. Call to Order – Doug Lein II. Roll Call III GUEST SPEAKER – Police Community Liaison, Dealing with Homeless Population Officers Clapp, Williams, Martinez were sent by Chief Bill as a request to address what can local hoteliers and businesses do in the instance homeless people are bothering guests and visitors and disrupting a business establishment’s parameters e.g. coming into the breakfast room at a hotel. The City is taking steps towards multifaceted approach. The Police Department wants local business to be successful. The officers suggested: Swift and Stern Policy – Word will travel throughout the transient community about leniency or strict adherence. No Trespassing Program – Businesses are invited to become part of this program at a cost of $25 and submit a form. They will receive No Trespassing signs that must be posted. The business owner can then call 911 and have the person trespassed from the property. Training employees to relay and describe situation to 911 dispatchers is crucial to what kind of response will occur. Dispatchers will ask many questions to assess the safety for officers and the public. Aggressive behavior should be reported. Don’t inform transient that 911 was called as they might leave and it prevents the Police Officer from trespassing them and probable cause has been eliminated. FEED Program – is available to transients and homeless so there is no need to have your business victimized. Community Response Team (CRT) – These officers would train employees about the proper steps in reporting and interacting with trespassers. It was suggested that a component be added to the Hotel Service Training Workshop on November 29th. Lorraine will follow up and coordinate. IV. GUEST SPEAKER – Jill Boltmann, APEX Marketing  4th Quarter Marketing Strategy – Jill and Eric shared the radio ads, and preliminary metrics. Feedback was given by a member that the descriptive is very general and that more explicit examples of what potential visitors could do would be more descriptive. The Auburn Events were not listed on the WARM webpage, Jill will look into that. Please see addendum for presentation.  Tourism Website Update – The Contract is close to being completed after receiving more details of the website. Targeted date of completion is January 31st, 2017. Before launch, there will be a couple of opportunities for the Boards to see the wireframes and progress. A viewing will be at the December 8th LTAC and ATB meeting. ORDER OF BUSINESS V. Approve September 8 and October 13, 2016 Meeting Minutes – Satpal motioned to approve minutes, Ronnie seconded. Motion passes unanimously. It was asked whether members preferred to review the minutes prior to the meeting by being sent the attachment before the meeting in an effort to save paper and to have any corrections to be made brought to the meeting. It was requested by members to have the meeting minutes in hard copy form at the meeting. VI. Review of Budget YTD – A copy of the Budget year to date as of September 30 was circulated and explained. All three of the grants that were awarded to the Parks Department had already been distributed erroneously on April 30th by City Finance. It is understood that moving forward monies will only be distributed once the After Event paperwork is received. VII. Update on 2016 Grant Activity Aug 6 & 7 – 3on3 – Paid, $4,500 September 9 – Auburn Art Walk – Need more details, $1,400 October 14 & 15 – Geocaching – Reimbursed as of April 30th. November 5 – Veteran’s Day Parade – After Event Report due next week, funds already distributed as of April 30th. VIII. 2017 Lodging Tax Grant Applications  The 2017 Applications have been updated and a clause added that monies distributed will be contingent to receiving  Determine Process of Awarding Recipients, less funds to award. The LTAC will decide in January based on applications received.  Application Distribution will be sent to last year’s applicants and will be advertised in the Auburn Reporter as well as mentioned in the Auburn Tourism Website. IX. Hotel Concierge Directories & Hotel Service Training Workshop - The completion of the Hotel Concierge directories is still a work in process. The City will host a Customer Service Training session on Tuesday, November 29th from 12 – 2:30pm in Conference Room #3 at the Auburn Community Center. This training session is for all hotel employees who might interact with hotel guests to ensure visitors feel special and are given Auburn hospitality. Pleased guests will spread their excitement by word of mouth and online reviews. X. Possible February Event to Bring Overnight Visitors – Lorraine presented to the group a possible 5K Fun Run/Walk titled For the Love of Auburn to bring overnight visitors during the shoulder season complete with hotel packages. It was discussed and decided by both boards to focus on athletic events instead. NEW BUSINESS: LTAC & ATB Membership, New Appointments and Meeting Dates – at next meeting. XII. Adjournment – Satpal makes motion to adjourn. Julie seconds the motion. Motion passes unanimously. NEXT MEETING: DATE: Thursday, December 8, 2016 @ 3:00PM, City Hall Executive Conference Room (if the Council Chambers is ready by then, we will meet there. Please look for an update when the agenda gets sent out a week before then.)