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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM111309 Draft, LTAC Minute, 11-13-09 Members attending were Bill Tennent, Amanda Lovelady, Joy Baisch, Miriam Villiard, and John Austin. Also attending were Philip Morley and Kitti deLong. Minutes were taken by Kitti deLong. John announced that he needed to leave at 11:00 am for a medical appointment and that Phil will assume the gavel at that time. Expected LTAC income this year is $325,537, which is over the amount that we can award. We will need to discuss how we can cut back or determine whether we will want to dig into our reserve. That issue will be decided after we hear the presentations. At the last meeting, it was decided that, because of the estimated LTAC income this year, to make the total awarded for 2010 the amount the same as 2009. Minutes: Correction on page two, top line, change to: “Promotional activities can not be designed to only draw attendance from within Jefferson County, but must draw tourism from outside the County. Joy moved to accept the minutes as corrected, Bill seconded. Passed unanimously. Presentations: Jefferson County Historical Society: Bill Tennent requested the same amount for the Historical Society that was received last year, considering the economy. Gateway Visitor Center: Bill Roney requested, considering the economy, the same amount for the Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center as was received last year. Discussion about the fact that tourism is down worldwide about 20%. Bill stated that during the Bridge closure, 80% of visitors to Gateway VC were from Jefferson County while, when the Bridge is open, 90%+ of visitors to Gateway are from outside of Jefferson County. Port Hadlock Tri-Area Chamber of Commerce: Susan Whitmire presented, stated that $6,000 was included for admin support, that there is no one to do daily work. Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce: Kathy Sharp presented, stated the Chamber’s focus shifted last year to support community events. When asked how it would impact the chamber budget if the request were not fully funded, Kathy stated they would have to ask the Board to make decisions about cuts. She said that website and admin are totally in place and several of their community events tie into the Culinary Loop project. North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce: Joy Baisch presented. Last year, North Hood Canal opened another Visitor’s Center in Brinnon. They had 400 people per day, and were the only public bathrooms for many, many miles during the bridge closure. As for the Visitor Center on Forest Service land, the VC is required by the rules of Homeland Security to have two people on premises at all times in order to have the VC open. The Forest Service budget has been cut and North Hood Canal has to pay the salary of the second person and that wage is determined by the Forest Service. The increase in their budget request is for Pad Map changes which have turned out to be more than anticipated, and more than originally budgeted. Hadlock Days Association: Viva Davis did not appear. This matter was moved to the end of the calendar. Tourism Coordinating Council: Kitti deLong presented. TCC requested an increase to cover the anticipated amount needed to take part in contributing to the special National Geographic issue that will be produced about the Olympic Peninsula, with production expected to begin during 2010. West End via Forks Chamber of Commerce: Diane Schostak presented for Anna Matsche. The main budget items are the West End Map, and the salary of the one person at the Kalaloch Visitor Center. Each year, about 30,000 maps are printed and sent out. The amount of salary is what is required by the Forest Service. Quilcene Historical Museum: Mari Philips presented. Each budget item is listed with a number between 1- 5 to show order of priority. Utilities are their biggest expense and have doubled in the last year. Hadlock Days Association: Viva Davis did not appear. After a short break, business continued. Discussion to determine the total amount to be awarded, which was $310,000 in 2009. During a discussion at a previous meeting, it was determined that LTAC would try to award a similar amount to what was awarded in 2009. There was lengthy discussion about each request and it was decided that LTAC group would inform requesting entities why their full request might not have been awarded. Bill Tennent moved to make the following awards, based on the above discussions: Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce: $5,600 1. Olympic Peninsula Gateway VC: $58,050 2. Jefferson County Historical Society: $54,573 3. North Hood Canal CC and VC: $47,000 4. Hadlock Days Association: $1,000 5. Tourism Coordinating Council: $86,000 6. Port Hadlock, Tri-Area CC: $7,650 7. Quilcene Historical Museum: $9,000 8. West End: $24,164 9. Joy Baisch seconded. Motion passed unanimously. It was determined that if the 2009 LTAC revenue comes in higher than currently anticipated, the 2010 proposed budget will be revised. Joy made a motion that 2010 revenues should be budgeted to equal 2009 actual revenues. Amanda seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Discussion about having a meeting in mid-February to redesign the reporting form. Kitti will contact Leslie to make arrangements for that meeting. Following are the amounts awarded with comments from the discussion during awards considerations: Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce: $5,600 This year, the focus shifted to supporting community events so that the Chamber does not have to do any community events themselves. Also, the PL Chamber is drawing on local tourism rather than drawing from off the Peninsula. One criteria of high priority is to “promote Jefferson County and/or events, activities, and places in the County to potential tourists from outside Jefferson County.” It was generally agreed that LTAC wants to support the Port Ludlow Chamber but can not support a Chamber that is focused on community enrichment. Olympic Gateway Visitor Center: $58,050 Gateway VC requested the same amount as last year and was awarded the same amount as last year. Jefferson County Historical Society(JCHS): $54,573 JCHS requested the same amount as last year and was awarded the same amount as last year. It was agreed that JCHS provided very good service for the funds awarded. North Hood Canal CC and VC: $47,000 Due to the rules of the Forest Service and Homeland Security Rules, North Hood Canal is required to have two people on premises in order to have the Visitor Center open. The Forest Service budget has been reduced and the Visitor Center has to provide the extra person. There was an increase in the budget request to cover Pad Map changes, one of the most widely used tourist brochures. North Hood Canal was awarded the amount requested. Hadlock Days Association: $1,000 It is recommended that Hadlock Days partner with other entities so that they do not cover the same ground twice. Suggestions are: 1. Partner with Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission on the website that all the tourism entities on the Peninsula contribute to. Hadlock Days Assoc. would be able to submit their event information and have free listings and would not need to have a separate website; 2. Take part in the Olympic Peninsula Travel Planner that is widely distributed across the US and Internationally through all VC’s and Chambers on the Peninsula; 3. Take part in promotions through the Tourism Coordinating Council (TCC) of Jefferson County, the cost of which would be event ticket giveaway’s via TCC’s radio promotions, etc; 4. Reduce reliance on print ads, which, at present, have a low return. Tourism Coordinating Council: $86,000 Total request was reduced based on the unknown timing of the special National Geographic issue that will focus on the Olympic Peninsula. It was decided that $10,000 would be made available in a special supplemental funding if that special production takes place in 2010. The extra amount of this year’s funding will be used to redo the Pad Map brochure, which is going to cost more than originally estimated to update. Port Hadlock/Tri-Area Chamber of Commerce: $7,650 While LTAC is trying to make awards at similar levels to last year’s awards, PH CC’s award was increased slightly. The areas where it is considered necessary to reduce proposed expenditures are administration and website. Expenditures for administration are specifically prohibited under current LTAC RCW’s. It is recommended that involvement with Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission (OPTC) and the Tourism Coordinating Council (TCC) of Jefferson County would be extremely beneficial, would allow the PH Chamber to accomplish many of its goals without covering the same ground twice. It was felt that having a separate website from the group site on OPTC was unnecessary and covered the same ground twice with LTAC dollars. The development of the OPTC website for each of the 11 partners on the peninsula was voted on and those goals were established in 2007 and has been initially completed. Quilcene Historical Museum: $9,000 LTAC could not award the full amount requested, but needed to award the same amount as was awarded last year based on estimated LTAC income this year. The LTAC members greatly appreciated the list of budget items listed in priority from high to low that greatly helped with the difficult decision making in awarding budget amounts. West End via Forks Chamber of Commerce: $24,164 The West End has the same requirements has North Hood Canal in that due to the rules of the Forest Service and Homeland Security Rules, Kalaloch Visitor Center is required to have two people on premises in order to have the Visitor Center open. The Forest Service budget has been reduced and the Visitor Center has to provide the extra person. The amount of the salary for the person provided at the Kalaloch VC is the wage required by the Forest Service. Meeting ended at 3:00 pm.