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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM102611 2012 LTAC Budget Presentations November 16, 2011 9:40 am at Port Townsend Courthouse Members attending were John Austin, Bill Tenant, Joy Baisch, Amanda Lovelady, Debbie Wardrop Others attending were: Philip Morley, Christina Pivarnik, Teresa Verraes, Carol Christiansen, Kitti deLong took minutes. Agenda: Philip Brinnon Security Improvements: Joy doesn’t have all the information yet. A discussion of this topic will be held later in this meeting to discuss the next steps. No other matters were added to the Agenda. Debbie moved to accept the Agenda. Bill seconded. Passed unanimously. Minutes: Change Port Townsend Chamber to Jefferson County Chamber. Joy moved to accept the minutes as corrected. Bill seconded. Passed unanimously. Review 2012 Funding Requests-Lodging Tax/Tourism Promotion The last payment on the Balloon Hanger will be made in December. There is a difference between the amount requested and the amount available for dispersion. John discussed that people who are on this LTAC committee consists of people who also generate funds. And there are two members of the committee who receive funds. Philip requested that when it comes to discussing or advocating the merits of a proposal, that if you have any interest in it, that you not take part in that discussion. Philip stated that what is discussed should be limited to what is applicable under State Law and County Ordinance. Debbie asked how we came to the $292,500 amount available for funding. Philip stated that was a projection on what is coming in so far this year. John stated that it was a conservative projection. LTAC has done well in spite of the economic problems. Discussion about recovering back Sales Tax when Inn at Port Hadlock is sold. (It was later determined that Sales Tax is close to being current and that the sale of the Inn at Port Hadlock would not significantly change the current Lodging Tax income.) Jefferson County Historical Society: Bill Tennent JCHS was founded in 1879 and from the very beginning, the mission was Jefferson County, and not Port Townsend. With the mission of discovering, collecting, preserving and promoting the heritage of Jefferson County, the Commissioners understood that when they created the LTAC. Over the years, the Historical Society has grown to five sites: Olympic Gateway VC, Commanding Officers Home at Fort Worden, Rothschild House, Museum, and the Research Center. The Historical Society operates the Commanding Officers Home on a contract with State Parks, who would like JCHS to take that from the Parks because of the liabilities involved. Jefferson County Museum is the main place where we explore the history of Jefferson County. The Research site is the only property owned by JCHS and is in Jefferson County. Are in the process of adding 9,000 square feet to the existing 2,000 square foot building. That is now finished but will take several months to move in. That facility is attracting more and more people. This space is shared with the Genealogical Society. Each site does function as a small visitor center. JCHS does have programs county- wide. The oral history program is incredible under Ann Welch and Dorothy Banks. Some of the programs that attract people are: Summer camps that attract children from Sequim and Poulsbo; First Friday Lectures attract people from outside the county. Press releases are sent throughout the region. Have had presenters like Ivan Doig, Garth Stein, and others. The First Night event draws people from outside of the county. Last year, there were a lot of people from Kitsap County. West End Weekend is coming up on November 18-19-20, and is hosted by Kalaloch Lodge. There will be story telling, lectures, field trips. For the first time, the Hoh Tribe is participating. Schools come on field trips and the High School does have a generous donor who reimburses schools for the field trips when they cannot afford it. Last year, JCHS had 50,000 visitors. A conservative figure of the amount spent by those visitors in the County is $1.5-2.0 million. Some partnerships in which JCHS has participated include the Smithsonian Institute, which doubled visitation in September and October. Next year, JCHS is partnering with the National Trust and we will be placed on their map of “Places to Visit.” Bill requested the same amount that JCHS requested three years ago and that is a significant portion of the JCHS budget. If their request is not fully funded, will have to cut back on the number of hours that the various attractions are open. There is only one full-time employee, and the others are part time, including: an archivist; curator of collections; administrative assistant; two front desk people; and there are about 170 volunteers who help. Philip asked how this funding compares to other historical societies. Bill replied there are no others like this one in Puget Sound region to compare to. More people visit JCHS facilities than attend Centrum all year or than attend Wooden Boat Festival. Philip asked about other sources of income. Bill replied that membership dues are ahead of last year, donations are down from last year, but JCHS kicked off the annual fund raising drive in June last year, and did not start that until September of this year, so the membership income may improve. Gateway VC – Bill Roney While on vacation passing through Idaho, Bill noticed that state is supporting tourism, in spite of money problems. Idaho was clean, inviting and you got the things you needed. Entering Washington, State Parks are closed, proper signage is lacking, and phone messages are out-dated. Here, Gateway is open, we are enthusiastic, and we provide the services people need year around. We are a shining light in how to do hospitality. Have seen 9,000 visitors and supply 240 publications that tout the region, and have over 1,000 volunteers hours. Service on site includes printed materials that we distribute through cooperative mailings. Regional services extend to providing promotional materials across the Peninsula and to Island, Kitsap and Skagit Counties. Have a FaceBook site that is maintained by staff and have a program that includes a High School student who helps maintain this FaceBook sight for us as an opportunity for experience. Also maintain pages for entries on Port Ludlow and Port Hadlock on olympicpeninsula.com, as well. Our programs promote Jefferson County in the best way. We are clean, inviting, and provide these services on a daily basis. We are funded only by Jefferson County LTAC funds. There are no other sources of funding. Without LTAC funding, we could not function at the level that we do now. The Visitor Center is one of the things that we are doing right. We do a survey every year to find out what we are doing right and one of those things is to watch nature. Everyone who participates in the survey is actually physically in the VC. They still want face-to-face personal contact that is received at the VC. This is a very efficient way to promote Jefferson County. Question: History of Gateway VC? GVC existed in Port Hadlock originally as a chamber site, and in 2000 or 2001, the building was moved under a site agreement with Pope Industries for a 99 year, no-cost lease on the present property. Then the County moved the manufactured building on site. This site provides important rest room facilities. Everyone who comes here leaves with the feeling that they will come back. Question: Other sources of funding? GVC does sell candy bars and books. This is not enough to operate a facility like this. As far as regional possibilities for funding, have applied for some grants. Sequim did contribute a nominal amount. That support was insignificant. Question: Appears to be a difference in numbers between JCHS Budget and GVC Budget? Bill doesn’t apply the quarterly LTAC funding until he has served at least one month of the time being funded. GVC cannot bill for services not provided yet. Electricity and mailing and other similar expenses do not show up in JCHS budget. $55,516 is accurate. Bill applied for the same amount received three years ago and has not increased the request. Jefferson County Chamber: Teresa Verraes Are in the second year of the merger and was reminded by Fred Obee about previous plans to run the Chamber and move into 2012. This is a new playing field for us and with new partners in the Tri-area and Port Ludlow. Have over 400 members and have a strategy plan that is serving us well. We have a lot to learn from our businesses as far as their transaction with visitors. Jefferson County Chamber has created a platform of Young Professionals with 225 members and are working a lot with the changes that are going on in the community. Have proposed a year-long campaign focusing on Hadlock Days in coordination with the Culinary Tour, etc. Website is up and running and are expanding it now and it will be interactive. Also have proposed funds to construct a video and to upgrade visitor kiosks. Each needs to be up-dated and lit. Teresa really values and appreciates partnerships with LTAC partners and are eager to do more work together. Question: Where is the Port Hadlock kiosk? Teresa has not seen it because it apparently isn’t visible from the road. Question: East Jefferson county website, www.eastjeffersoncounty.com, Bill couldn’t find it. Teresa answered that it is up. Question: How do you propose integrating what you are doing compared to what OPTC and TCC are doing? Are we starting to get a splintering of programs? Teresa answered that they are just learning what to do. Are proposing a reach that is closer to home with a focus on this and with tourism closer. Bed nights? Yes, a lot of people are skipping to town and not staying overnight. She thinks that is a market that can not afford to be miss. Statistics show that people are staying closer to home and being careful of their gas and money. Question about the web page and coordination: Is an integrated presence is positive. Teresa answered that eastjeffersoncounty.com is a tourism website. It is a separate entity and will link to everything. There isn’t a great variation in how they look. Discussion about the fact that there are a lot of Jefferson Counties in the US and we need to determine how to differentiate ours. Teresa has over 85 events per year, many of which happen in Port Hadlock and Port Ludlow consistently. With good, strong, healthy businesses in the community, we have a lot to offer visitors. Businesses want to be a part of tourism promotion. Port Hadlock and Port Ludlow Chambers used to be stand-alone entities and now are combined. Teresa stated that the combination has increased influence and has more access to resources. Mainstreet Program: Mari Mullen & Dominic Svornich Concert on the Dock- Dominic felt that it could be restructured so it could be cost effective. Teresa has helped to promote via social media. Did not have the budget to do more. Have moved it, and now serve local beverages, has drawn more and more people, provided jobs for people, is for families and all ages. Also brought 2,700 people to the event this year. Are looking at moving it back a week for improved weather. Feels that it would be a great kick-off for a fun weekend in Port Townsend. Are considering having more food vendors. Have made a lot of changes that will help to keep it a self-supporting event. There were a number of people who attended from outside Port Townsend and the County. Want to bring in more vendors who are interested in setting up during the concert. Are hoping through external marketing to look at ways for this to be a launching thing for a weekend in Port Townsend and the County. There also is a lot of opportunity to mention in advertising other things that are happening. Also think it was popular because it was free. Businesses around the concert did well. There are very few all-ages, free music events. There is really a lot of opportunity for young talented bands. We plan to showcase new, hot talent. Question: What is the capacity? Park is about 100. Pope Marine is about 100 people. Highest attendance was about 450 people. Debbie stated that LTAC funds are specifically geared to bringing people in from outside the county. Dominic stated they plan to do that in a couple of different ways. May try to get a couple of more well-known acts. Targeted marketing is going toward those people who want to attend music events and see arts exhibits. Question: Is this something that you have made an appeal to City LTAC funds to do? Answer was no. Question: Are you going to do that? Mari answered that PT LTAC can offer support with marketing but they will not specifically underwrite an event. Questions: Do you use sponsors to help pay for the band expenses? Answer was that it is now about a break-even event and they would make a little money on it but want to improve that and will be really organized about how we go about getting sponsors. Philip stated that the State’s requirement is that City and County have separate funding streams. We have to look at how this helps Jefferson County. How do you see this event helping to improve visitors in Jefferson County. Dominic answered that there are a lot of ways to include components of other events that are happening, such as at Olympic Music Festival and Port Ludlow if it can bring people to the County. Question: Philip asked about the various websites. Mari answered that Mainstreet needs to maintain its own website to announce events, and that the Historic District is their main focus. They really want to cross pollinate with the Chamber and through Facebook. Have gained a lot of members after Concerts on the Dock. If we did Seattle promotions, we could devise a way though a drawing to find out where those visitors are originating. You could use volunteers to survey people at the event. Hotel people could tell you where visitors originated. North Hood Canal – Joy Baisch Their request this year is for $53,500, which is the same as their request for last year. Have received some additional funding from the US Forest Service Challenge grant of $15,915. Have extended our market reach, do coordinate with TCC and South Hood Canal and have a sister office in Hoodsport. Have put this budget together as in the last six-seven years, and have broken it down in Chamber marketing area support. That community support helped nonprofit groups put on those events. That is the $1,000 in the community support. The insurance issue is something we provide as an umbrella for these events. Our promotional expenses of $1,600 covers signage, mailing, advertising and we are doing mixers and Chamber events that we use the $500 for. We contribute to the Culinary Loop project, Waterfall Trails brochure, and Native Tribes Paddle Expedition. Brinnon and Quilcene are unique in that we have one of the highest visitor’s numbers because we have a lot of people coming up the canal. The US Forest Service in Hoodsport had 27,000 people in 2010. The East Side of Jefferson County was 22,000. Forest Service and State DOT have done traffic impact counts that show that 1.6 million people traveled up the Canal last year and those are the numbers that go by both Brinnon and Quilcene VC’s. USFS this year have asked for a change from last year. We signed an agreement with them in March, finalizing in May, to do the VC in Quilcene. At the same time, there were negotiations going on at the Forest Service regional office, which resulted in a Challenge Grant in a cost-share grant. According to State Park figures, Dosewallips State Park had 469,000 visitors. That counts the shell fishers, hikers, day-use campers, overnight campers and family reunions. We pull those that are looking for lodging. Brinnon VC is critical since the Motel is no longer in existence. When the motel went out of business, we lost $71,500 in income. In 2007, LTAC lost $7,650 income without the motel. That is how important a lodging can be. Question about OPTC. We maximize dollars wherever we can. Most of our money goes for labor. Currently we have enough people, most are working part time for minimum wage (three people) and one is working part time for $12/hour. The Area Marketing Support of $4,800 is part of work on waterfall trails and we work with OPTC and with TCC whenever we can. Question: When did the motel go out of business? End of 2009. Debbie asked if there was hope for the motel to go back into business? Philip stated there are major challenges for that to be re-opened. Question: Are there other funding opportunities? Joy stated there are some opportunities with mixers and events but it is a small opportunity. Have excess from what we have received in the past so will tap into that to update the kiosk. It is interactive, covered and is very friendly for visitors. Philip asked about the funding request, which covers $44,000 from LTAC, though NHC has asked for $53,000. Joy stated that there was a problem with receiving money during the first quarter. That money did not arrive until March and had to be paid for salaries for January, February and March. That difference is to try to reimburse the Chamber, which loaned money to cover those costs. Tourism Coordinating Council: Kitti deLong and Diane Schostak Two very important partnerships for the TCC are with Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission (OPTC) and Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau (OPVB). The OPTC programs include: An Olympic Peninsula marketing program; Lead sharing from advertisements and the collective website; Producing the industry educational conference and lodging business support, Olympic Peninsula Tourism Summit; Producing an annual Travel Planner covering all partner entities including the Olympic National Park, and it also includes the complete lodging lists for each entity. The Travel Planners are sent out to all prospective visitors who inquire about the Olympic Peninsula, and are also distributed through VCB’s and chambers in Western Washington. OPTC’s primary targets for advertising and promotions in this economy are Puget Sound region, Southern Vancouver Island, and Portland areas; OPTC is also a conduit for communications for issues affecting all partner entities and Olympic National Park such as legislative issues, ferry and bridge challenges, etc. The list of accomplishments that the TCC partnership with OPTC has brought includes: Assisted Media Articles: $3,251,809 Estimated Value ATMS- paid by OPTC: $8,824,437 Estimated Value Unassisted Articles: $447,098 Estimated Value In addition to articles, OPTC also is directly responsible for: Design and Development of the Partner Website: Olympicpeninsula.org; Developing a Marketing Campaign for Victoria, BC., which was determined to be a relatively untapped and close, viable and valuable market: Production and Distribution of 87,125 Olympic Peninsula Travel Planners; Co-op Advertising through WA State Tourism Office, with 6,000 hits last Dec. Unfortunately, the State Tourism Office was disbanded by the Legislature due to lack of funds. OPTC then contributed to the formation of an independent replacement coalition called Washington Tourism Association (WTA) and is a founding member; Support for the Olympic Discovery Trail Web Project; Development and Production of Tourism Summit; Olympic Culinary Loop Campaign through Seattle Dining; Olympic Waterfall Trail Campaign and brochure; In addition, International Marketing is done in partnership with Port of Seattle and Seattle VCB. Last year, OPTC took part in a mission to China by sending the Executive Director as representative for the Peninsula. This year, OPTC also took part in another China mission by using a representative who was already scheduled to take part in the mission. OPTC also contributed to the Chetzemoka Launch Event. Diane Schostak supported TCC’s work. She said that there is a wonderful spectrum of ways that we serve our visitors and help them stay longer and explore more. What you are hearing from TCC today is the meat of what the tourism tax is for, raising awareness. This is the heavy lifting of tourism marketing and what we do. This is the heart and soul of what we do. OPTC is $120,000 program. TCC is a big part of what we do and is an important stake-holder a core funding partner. Question re: Culinary Loop advertising: How many people did that actually bring? Seventeen businesses took part in the Culinary Loop Adventure. Seattle Dining is really the only place we have to measure results. We had six new people sign up last week. It is really small for people who are going around doing the trivia contest. There is a lot happening now that the wonderful Graham Kerr is doing promotions for us, visiting farm stands, the Jefferson Co. hospital restaurant, etc. He has worked on three blogs and two articles for us. It is a very hard thing to measure. Yesterday had a couple of walkers and all they could ask about was the edible Seattle blog from Graham Kerr. Another important part of our promotional work is with British Columbia. We have been seeing more BC license plates, which has moved up to number two for the number of visitors. West Jefferson County/Kalaloch VC – Diane Schostak Marcia Bingham wrote the proposal and Diane is presenting it. Diane has worked with the Park Service and wrote the proposal years ago. This year’s proposal is almost the same amount as the proposal from years ago. Last year, the federally- required cost-of-living increase was not included in the proposal for the VC person. The Kalaloch VC is housed in a nice little building, there is plenty of signage, and it is positioned just a mile or so before you get to Kalaloch Lodge, which slows people down. Visitors get a personal touch from Birdie James, who is a stakeholder and she gets the importance of tourism to the economy. She is technically a Park Service person. We had to reduce the hours of the visitor center by several days a month last year because of the decrease in funding. We are seeing the cost of living in there this year. We did not request funds last year for the Rain Forest Map because the printing was done late in the year in the year before. It does need to be printed this year. There is an amount for printing and for distribution. This is a great map, gets reviewed every year for accuracy, and includes all the campgrounds and lodgings. There is a lot of partnership with the Forks Chamber. Question about the numbers for the Forks Chamber? Diane stated that she listed the Chamber numbers only for information, that these LTAC funds are only a pass- through, and there is no retention of LTAC funds by the Forks Chamber so these funds do not affect the Forks Chamber budget. Question about why the prior year’s expenditures are not listed? Philip would like to see an itemized accounting for wages and any costs for brochures and mailing and all those things that are not in the proposal this year. That will be expected in future years. Quilcene Historical Museum – Mari Philips Had a great summer even with the poor weather. Had over 1,000 visitors from 13 states, 69 cities and 5 foreign countries. Celebrated the Museum’s 20 year birthday in April with 135 people in attendance, and the School celebrated its 100 th anniversary with 212 visitors. All motels and B&B’s were full for both of those events. Have revamped displays and made a couple of new ones: People in Uniform (all people in the display are local), and a family outreach program that is going on with 18 out of 22 seniors that have been earmarked for oral history from Brinnon, Coyle, Quilcene and Leland. Are experiencing some well problems while doing landscaping, after 22 years of service. Have a lot of pipes filled with stuff that clearly is not supposed to be there. One new faucet was ruined in only three months. A sand filter was never installed in the well, and that would have stopped a lot of problems. Are talking to the PUD about hooking up. Getting the line to the Museum will be expensive. Worthington Park: Are going through permitting process for a stage. Bob Canterbury will be doing the totem carving. Has found a lot of funding for us and has formed his own committee. He’s going to be a 501c3. All profits from all the events will go to the Museum to buy the property. An amphitheater is planned and could go anywhere. The property has a barn, pond, 660 feet of Little Quilcene River front. This is a very exciting project. Have been giving tours for the last six weeks. Many people have viewed the property. Have received two $125,000 donations for the purchase of the property and have a pledge for $35,000. All of the surrounding communities are enthusiastic about this project. River Walk: Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt have an option agreement on the property that includes the Little Quilcene River Bridge. When that is finalized, that property will be gifted to the Museum and will become the gateway into Quilcene. That is where kiosks will be. Are talking about some kind of cover over the bridge. Have Hood Canal Salmon and Jefferson Land Trust working with these. Order of importance is: first, donations; second, public water; third, public restrooms. Question: That is for the existing museum water system? Answer was yes. Are hoping to solve the Museum’s water problems. Worthington Park would become a late-comer. The water line must come from across Hiway 101. The Village Store is re-opening and there is a hookup from that but we would have to go from James Worthington’s property to the store. Question: Of the $20,000 that you have requested, what portion of that is for the water issue? Answer was $9,500. Question: For the $5,000 materials and labor, that is just materials and people in Quilcene who will do the dirt/ditch work? Mari answered that some of the well has caved in, which is supposed to be 36 feet and is now about 20 feet deep. Only solution is to drill it deeper, encase it, and put in a sand filter. 11:35 A short recess was taken for lunch. After discussion, the following awards were made for 2012 LTAC Funding: Jefferson County Historical Museum $51,900 Gateway Visitor Center 56,120 Jefferson County Chamber 12,455 Mainstreet Program 0 North Hood Canal Chamber 44,790 Tourism Coordinating Council of Jeff Co 86,000 West Jefferson County 23,320 Quilcene Historical Museum 8,460 Balloon Hanger Payment 9,446 Total: $292,491 (9) Bill moved to accept these figures for LTAC Funding Awards. Amanda seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Commentary: There is no additional specificity for JCHS or Gateway VC. Debbie commented that Bill Tennent and Bill Roney did a great job making presentations. Jefferson County Chamber is limited to the same funding as last year and these funds must be used for: 1. Support for marketing outside the county of events, including Festival by the Bay and Hadlock Days; 2. Upgrading the website to complete that project; and 3. To revitalize the kiosks in Port Ludlow and Port Hadlock. It was determined that Mainstreet Program did not meet the criteria for LTAC funding from unincorporated Jefferson County. West Jefferson County received the same amount as last year primarily for Birdie’s Salary. Quilcene Historical Museum was given “priority 5” items minus the Lake Leland Book. North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center: It was decided to cut out local activities. Funded first the VC’s because that is where we have the first contact with most of the visitors. We cannot afford to loose any numbers as far as visitors and we can not afford to not service the Parks. The VC’s are most true to LTAC funding. NHCC got most of what was needed for the VC but did not get what was needed for the Chamber. VI. Other Business Brinnon Visitor Center Security Improvements: Doors are a security issue for women because you cannot see through them before you enter the building. Philip asked for a motion of recommendation to authorize Philip to work with North Hood Canal Chamber on what would be necessary for security enhancements for that facility. Philip can then report that authorization to the BOCC as part of the fourth quarter and drawing on 2011 budget to accomplish the repair, using good judgment. Debbie made that motion. Bill seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Miscellaneous Bill Tennent stated that when he arrived here nine years ago, and started writing the quarterly reports, they were getting paid for work they had already done and did not get paid for work they had not done. About two years ago, Karen Bednarski stated that JCHS was getting paid for the upcoming quarter. Philip asked if that meant there is a discrepancy now in that there is a quarter of funding missing. Discussion. Philip stated that he will review the Ordinances and RCW’s before signing the contracts. Schedule Next Meeting For discussion at the next meeting, organization of LTAC vs. TCC, do they need to be two organizations? Philip is interested in discussing more coordination between entities. He also is interested to see how the websites work, also how to use Social Network and use the paradigm of how advertising is changing. A meeting will be set for February or early March, 2012. Meeting ended at 2:15 pm.