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