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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-19-2019 �XpLORE 041/,,o* Auburn Tourism Board Meeting � Thursday, September 19, 2019 42* Council Chambers EXPLOREAUBURN.COM MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER a. The meeting was called to order at 10:03 am by Chairman Roberts. b. Board Members present:Chair Ron Roberts; Edgar Vidal;Malia Dale, Kacie Bray,Julie Kruger;Lacey Katz c. Board Members Excused Absence: Vice Chair Rachael McAlister;Phil Hernandez d. Staff Present: Tanya Carter, Economic Development Officer. II. APPROVE August MEETING MINUTES 1. Board Member Lacey Katz motioned to approve the July meeting minutes. Board Member Dale seconded the motion. III. GUEST ATTENDEE a. Officer Carter indicated City Attorney Steve Gross will attend next meeting but that Assistant Attorney Ruth was available to answer any questions on further agenda items. IV. OLD/ONGOING BUSINESS a. Tourism Updates (Hotels, Membership...) i. Member Katz summarized the 3 on 3 tournament — in pictures and indicated$10k was raised for Slick Watts Foundation. ii. Also on the latest Fieldhouse developments - she provided renderings, pictures & details on the interior & types of courts as well as projected opening is now 4/2020. iii. Officer Carter updated that 2nd round interviews were imminent for a new Tourism Coordinator candidate. Chair Roberts asked if the Board would be consulted. Officer Carter indicated Officer McAllister was on the panel in the 15t round. iv. Officer Roberts gave a hotel visit summary&findings he and Officer Carter had. Officer Roberts indicated many of our hotels would like to get more involved. He also indicated there is an opportunity to engage hotels more with the ATB. He also indicated more support in shoulder season is needed and that Fieldhouse will be very welcome to fill hotels. v. Officer Roberts brought up that the minutes from August were incomplete on the Seattle Sports Commission in that the Board voted for Officer Carter to represent Auburn on the SSC but the minutes didn't reflect that. Officer Bray also questioned the missing information. Officer Carter indicated the recommendation was passed onto the decision makers and the decision was made in another direction at the City level. Officer Bray questioned If that meant the Board recommendations were able to be vetoed in the By- Laws. Assistant Attorney Ruth indicated that Board votes are advisory only. Officer Carter indicated that she recalled the request was not made verbally. Officer Roberts then asked that in the next meeting 2 items be discussed: why a different decision was made on who should represent Auburn at the SSC & if, based on the different decision, the Board could recommend differently on spending the money to join. Assistant Attorney Ruth recommended that the request for clarification on why Board wishes weren't acted on were made & what was actually said in the meeting minutes. Officer Carter indicated she would review the clip in the minutes from the SSC and provide at the next meeting or in an email as well. Officer Bray requested that the SSC issue be reviewed at the next meeting. Officer Carter finally provided a brief summary of what happened at the SSC meeting that Officer Lein attended in September. vi. July financials were provided by Officer Carter. Officer Carter and Officer Roberts also clarified that the budget & allocation overview are being revamped to be more transparent & more actual to assist the Board in planning& decision making. b. 2019 Marketing Plan Monthly Update i. Officer Carter provided an update in general on current projects. Officer Vidal provided an Auburn-Emerald Downs partnership update&indicated the promotion was going well. Officer Bray suggested bringing Coasters to 3 No Networking events for businesses to take. Officer Carter suggested that the Concierge Directories may need more investigation on whether they are still effective at hotels. She indicated that there are a lot of different collateral that contain the same information& Tourism is looking at better ways of streamlining. Officer Bray indicated that the Chamber has a Tourism Directory that could be a better solution to hotels. Officer Carter suggested an offline discussion& then bringing it back to the board. Officer Dale indicated Concierge directories don't get used but the Maps do. ii. Officer Carter indicated an AAFF update could happen next meeting or via email update due to Officer Lein not being present& him having managed the Film Festival Director hire. Officer Carter shared that there are about 60-70 films already submitted. Officer Roberts indicated concern for the Festival timeline since there isn't a Director yet. Officer Bray reminded the group that there were timeline deliverables for the Festival that had already been passed. Both Officers reiterated frustration with late timing of Festival start& asked for information on why the delay? Officer Carter indicated it was due to no Director being hired but that Officer Lein was managing it so she didn't have any further details. Officer Roberts suggested to table the Festival until next year. Officer Bray asked Officer Krueger her opinion as being an event expert. She indicated it was extremely late& suggested retooling it to just 1 day due to the delay. She also mentioned that 1 day would prevent a lot of hotel stay nights. Officer Roberts, Bray & Krueger said obtaining sponsors this late isn't possible. Officer Carter offered to get an update from Officer Lein & communicate the ATB concerns to him asap. Officers Bray, Roberts& Krueger indicated that it wasn't an issue they felt was with Officer Carter, but with upper management. Officer Roberts questioned if obtaining a license with the new Director was an issue or if the contracting process was slow. Officer Krueger said a Professional Services contract was easy to execute. Officer Roberts expressed empathy with the film producers that no information was getting to them about their submissions. Officer Bray asked if the Board said they didn't want dollars allocated, if LTAC would need to be communicated with. Officer Roberts indicated that not using funds that LTAC had approved wasn't necessary. Officer Katz requested a response from Officer Lein in writing to receive an update. Officer Carter indicated a special meeting could also be called& the Board asked Officer Ruth who said it is possible to call the meeting according to the rules. Officer Roberts & Krueger said the Film director should be asked if a revised timeline could be provided. Officer Bray said it didn't matter since Officer Lein doesn't heed recommendations of the Board. Officer Krueger requested to know what the film submission deadline is. Officer Bray&Roberts said the whole situation feels bad since they recommend how to handle & it doesn't happen. iii. Officer Katz asked what the Tourism Summit situation is. Officer Carter indicated that Officer Lein pushed it out to Q1 2020. She indicated it would allow for a better presentation of what the 2020 plan is. Officer Katz asked to push to February due to holidays. Officer Bray suggested and February after the Film festival. iv. Spotlight Ad drafts will be presented to the Board next meeting per Officer Carter. She indicated the City is working to define what Authentic Auburn means which would be the basis of the campaign. v. The Explore Auburn website does have a MICE page that is now complete — however Officer Carter indicated that a further discussion is needed internal at the City to determine RFP process when requests are made of event planners. She indicated she would discuss with Officer Lein. Officer Dale commented the RFP should be structured in a way that the Tourism Coordinator should send the RFP out to the vendors. Officer Carter asked If anyone had RFP reference sites—Officer Dale confirmed Cvent& Lanyon were standards to review. V. NEW BUSINESS a. Officer Katz asked when she could make a new tourism project suggestion. Officer Ruth indicated it should be in new business. Officer Carter suggested to get the overall strategy confirmed and then introduce new ideas. Officer Roberts suggested that Officer Bray present which was agreed on. She passed a picture around of a window display in a vacant storefront in the Outlet Collection. Officer Bray also indicated the Sound Transit plaza could be used. Officer Roberts confirmed we should put it on the agenda for next meeting. b. Officer Carter indicated the 2020 strategic plan needs to be developed. She showed a copy of the 2019 word document plan. She suggested to start planning at the next ATB meeting & add another 90 minutes to discuss. Officer Bray indicated she can't attend but its fine to move ahead. Officer Roberts, Katz & Krueger confirmed interest& Officer Carter confirmed there would likely be more meetings& this was just the opening discussion. Officer Bray indicated it may be difficult due to staff not being hired yet & not having metrics. Officer Carter indicated the first meeting would be used for starting the discussion. Officer Krueger indicated lining up the strategies/budget initially is very needed. c. Officer Carter presented 2 documents on the Rules of Procedure (current document&proposed new line item).She indicated the only proposed change was related to the hotels & tourism assets wanting to get more involved. She asked City Attorney how to do this&he said the best way would be to add point#9 which states the public can attend meetings&allow time for public comment—after item discussion by the board but before a vote takes place. She suggested to review& vote at next meeting. Office Katz& Krueger like the idea. Officer Bray indicated a consideration should be made that the ATB is just advisory so if a comment was made by the public & not moved on, it could be viewed negatively by the public since the ATB doesn't have ultimate decision making on the issues discussed. Officer Krueger indicated that the goal of the Rules change was to get more tourism involvement which was important & Office Katz agreed. Office Roberts indicated that historically there were more hotels involved& that's the underlying desire. Officer Roberts confirmed the Board will table until next meeting. VI. NEXT MEETING a. Next ATB Meeting: Thursday, October 17th at 10AM in ouncil Chambers VII. AROUND THE TABLE VIII. ADJOURNMENT—Chair Roberts adjourned the meeting a 1:28am& Officer seconded. RON ROBERTS,CHAIR TANYA CA' ER CONOMIC DE 'Ls'MENT OFFI R