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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM031312 TCC Draft Minutes, 3-13-12 Port Ludlow Resort 9:20 am Members attending were: Bill Roney, Joy Baisch, Carol Christiansen, Allison Willing, Nathan LaPlante Unexcused: Amanda, Chuck Russell Others: John Austin, Christina Pivarnik Staff: Kitti deLong Minutes, 11-8-11 Carol moved to approve the Minutes as presented. Bill seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Financial Report, 2-14-2012 March Invoices: OPTC Joint Marketing Contract (From end of Feb) $6,238.64 Includes: OPVB Admin Germany Mission Harbor Magazine Travel Guides Free monthly Subscription Travel Planner Postage Misc. OPTC Joint Marketing Contract 1,469.76 (From March, was received too late to add to March Financial Report) Includes: OPVB Admin Travel Writer’s Conference Immediate Image SCVB dues Travel Guides Free monthly Subscription Travel 50 & Beyond SCVB Germany Mission Travel Planner Postage Coordinator’s Services plus expenses $ 755.50 _______________________ March Total $8,439.20 Kitti will send a revised Financial Statement that includes the OPTC Invoice of $1,469. Carol moved to approve the Financial Report as amended. Nathan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Additions There were no additions. Commissioner’s Update – John Austin John stated that the Commissioners have voted to support the “Extension of Wilderness” bill. Joy stated that North Hood Canal Chamber and individual land owners are against it because of the negative effect it has on private land owners. This would not be a benefit to the County because it would destroy the ability of the schools to get forest tax. Discussion. At this time, it was determined that no decision will be made to support or not support this matter. More information will be requested. Bill made a motion to table this matter. Allison seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Port Townsend Marketing – Christina In two weeks, Victorian Heritage Festival will be happening. Downtown construction is going on. Partnering with the Main Street Program, Christina has printed 6,000 Loyalty Stamp Cards to encourage people to visit and shop downtown during the construction. There is a new festival in the creation stage right now, and the theme will be ”Steam Punk,” which will include industrial/Victorian era. Comes with costumes, weaponry, odd & weird science. Port Townsend is the perfect place for this to happen. This will be scheduled for the second or third weekend in June. Christina would like to see it morph into part of the Victorian Festival, and would like to move it from June to March or early April. Christina is getting ready to do her quarterly newsletter to travel writers. The “Travel and Words” conference is at the end of April. OPTC will co-host a Networking Mixer. More information will be sent via email. PDA: Was created by the City Council about a year ago to promote the Life-Long Learning Center at Fort Worden. There have been a number of public meetings. If the PDA were to take over, all the present employees would be re-hired. Their benefits would transfer. Kate Burke has done a phenomenal job at Fort Worden. Has been working with Dave Robison to work out core elements, including how Fort Worden is going to make its money. Legislative Update – Christina for Diane More than half of the unencumbered LTAC tax comes from Fort Worden. David Timmons fought the threatening change very hard. After the amendment to reinstate the LTAC tax, it did pass the Senate. Christina received from Dave Robison a handout of FAQ’s re: the PDA and distributed that. John added that the State would keep the wild areas. Commissioners Update – John Austin John was in Washington, DC, when he heard the news that Norm Dicks is not going to run again. John feels that will be a great loss. This would be a good time to write to Norm if you have anything to say about the Dosewallips Road project. John saw the President two times and he is interested in putting millions of dollars into National Roads. If you are for this, send a letter. On the Dose Road, the EIS is done, is about $4.5 million is need to re-do that road and would be important to include in this. At the County level, BOCC had final hearing on the adult business ordinance. John stated that they are required to not ban but to regulate that type of business. Sometime within the week, BOCC will be making a decision to hire the Director for Community Development job. There are two candidates. John stated that going to Washington, DC, was interesting. There were a lot of varieties of opinions about things. Hotel-Motel Lodging Tax Income: Considering that we have lost the Inn at Port Hadlock, we are not doing that badly. In General Sales Tax Receipts, we are close to the same as last year for the same period. Letter re: Budget Reconsideration for LTAC Funding Shortfalls: John stated that we need to have an LTAC meeting. Should be some additional Lodging Tax. Is about $7,000 that has accumulated, and can be used as the LTAC Committee sees fit. Discussion about whether the West End contract had been signed and returned yet. Joy stated that she had had an email two weeks ago that that had been done. John will check. BOCC is going to try to have the Mineral Extraction Fees bill reintroduced using a Striker Amendment, which allows you to reintroduce a bill with completely different writing as long as the title is exactly the same. Discussion about how sales tax is determined, whether at the point of sale are at the point of delivery, and how that will effect the Mineral Extraction Fee. Public Health: At one point, there was going to be significant cuts to public health and then was reinstated by the Legislature, and then is now up in the air again. WTA – Christina for Diane Tourism Summit will be held on April 5. Christina would like as many people as possible to attend. Roger Dow from the USTA in Washington, DC, and a representative from Brand USA will be presenters. There are about 190 registrations so far and WTA is trying to get to a minimum of 500. WTA did get 30 registrations in one day recently. There will be a reception the night before at the Museum of Flight. Four or five of the tribes have come in as sponsors and are offsetting the price so that it is only $15 per person. WTA Long Term Funding: How are we going to get the money to operate? There will be a presentation on this topic. The marketing committee chaired by George Sharp will make a presentation as well on how we will go forward with Washington State and how we will brand ourselves. Membership has been doing a lot. Last week, a new Membership Director was hired and is making 20-30 calls a day. That is all going in a positive direction. Washington State Ferries Meeting: WSF held a small marketing summit last week. People attended from all the regions in the areas where the ferries land. There is $150,000 to share for promotion to increase new ridership. Tonight, there is a Ferry’s meeting between Port Townsend and Whidbey about what happens when the second ferry comes on line this summer and how the reservations system will work. It appears there will be 80% reservations and will leave 20% open. Christina thinks it is great that WSF is really starting to listen to the communities and get their input. Washington State Ferries is creating a magazine that will be on the ferries (Compass), but it’s on the expensive side. Christina said the City is planning to support the Leader as a local business with an ad in the Getaway Guide and probably won’t place one in the WSF magazine. Christina confirmed with Scott Wilson at the Leader that there is only one Getaway Guide being printed this year instead of two. The Getaway Guide goes on the ferries and in key VICs. The closing date for Getaway Guide ads is March 23. Budget Shortfalls – Joy Joy had an email discussion with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez, who concluded that our position on the Capital Reserve, in regard to distributing some of that reserve to cover the Budget Shortfall, agrees with our position. We have asked for a reconsideration of the Budget Shortfall situation and there has been no response. Philip Morley is the one who told Joy to talk to the Prosecuting Attorney’s office regarding this matter. The TCC has decided that since we have not received an answer from BOCC or Philip Morley that we will request that each TCC Partner sign that same letter, then resubmit it. Discussion. It was agreed that all Members present would sign the letter and it will be resubmitted. Summer Events and Activities: Is there anything that we can coordinate or take part in? Nathan stated they were doing four trips with Expeditions, NW, per month, which includes golf tours. Carol stated they were hosting an outdoor music performance on July 21 on the Worthington property. Mrs. Worthington has signed an agreement for three performances per year. Linger Longer Productions is handling the marketing. Joy announced they are doing birding in North Hood Canal. Nathan stated that “Festival by the Bay” will be July 27 and 28. Joy suggested that you email anything you have to Kitti and she will forward that information to the appropriate parties. Joy announced that they are going to do a FAM tour for visitor center personnel on Tuesday, April 24 and it will go from county line to county line. Joy stated she would do a second tour for the TCC Members and friends. Joy reminded us that the annual LTAC Report is due March 31. Adventure Map – Bill Bill thinks he will be able to pick up the finished map tomorrow. The next meeting will be at 10:00 am at Brinnon Gardens. There is a problem with the phone system there, so everyone will need to attend the next meeting in person. Meeting ended at 11:30 am.