HomeMy WebLinkAboutM021120Tourism Coordina ng Council – Jefferson County
Minutes of the Mee ng of the Coordina ng Council
February 11, 2020 (DRAFT)
The December 2019 mee ng of the Tourism Coordina ng Council (TCC) for Jefferson County, was
called to order at 10:02 am by TCC Chair Roney, noting membership to reach a quorum was
present with Council members Diana Smeland, Aaron Terada, Joy Baisch, Marsha Massey, Crys e
Kisler and Bill Roney in a endance.
Partners Present: Commissioner Greg Brotherton, Brian Cullin, Ryan Tippets
TCC Marke ng Coordinator present: Steve Shively
Consent Agenda Approval of December, TCC minutes and current TCC Financials was approved by
consent. (No quorum for TCC mee ng in January. Resul ng in no business being conducted.)
CALL TO ORDER
CONSENT AGENDA
JeffCo. Highlights - Commissioner Greg Brotherton provided JeffCo. BoCC (Board of County
Commissioners) highlights including:
Marsha provided TCC with a briefing of recent OPTC (Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission)
ac vi es. They include:
COMMISSIONERS
REPORT
OPTC REPORT
Pope Resources is selling to Rayonier Inc. Rayonier’s tradi on of recrea onal access has
been by – fee based – permit. This differs from current Pope Resources management of
recrea on lands. Implica ons to Gateway Visitor Center, Port Ludlow signage, Olympic
Discovery Trail and other tracts throughout JeffCo. is yet to be understood.
●
Appeal to County regarding defini on of single-family short-term rentals, being brought by
Port Ludlow Associates. Goal of year-end breaking out short term rentals.
●
SSB 6592 tourism promo on area (TPA) funding discussed by Greg, Marsha and Steve.
Watching to see if defini ons of TPA’s are expanded so as to reach rural areas like ours.
●
Commercial shoo ng range hearing yesterday. Comments s ll open. Moving towards new
indoor shoo ng range as lone permi ed coded opera on.
●
Dosewallips sewer treatment sta on is ongoing. Study shows that commercial sewer
capacity currently has roughly 25% of poten al connec ons.
●
Looking for be er loca on for Brinnon community recycling center. Outside of Doeswallips
State Park.
●
Addi onal electrical campgrounds at Upper Oak Bay campground being installed. Four
addi onal electrified sites brings total to eight.
●
Greg clarified that a recent news report regarding the – closed – Chimacum Park as a
poten al spot for transi onal housing is in error. It’s loca on to the Chimacum Schools
prevents it from being used for this purpose. However Bayside Housing or others could
consider development of any of three, appropriately zoned, lots behind Chimacum Park as
development for affordable workforce and/or transi onal housing.
●
Partners moving to quarterly “working session” mee ngs, with the eight remaining
monthly mee ngs being the, tradi onal, larger public mee ngs. (Note, Bill and Steve
represent TCC on OPTC).
●
OPTC secured Grays Harbor County back on the LOOP. Great to have Grays harbor tourism
back at the tourism partnership table.
●
NW Travel and Life – spring issue – will feature issue on how to “Disconnect on the
Olympic Peninsula”. Stay tuned!
●
eNews WTA (WA Tourism Alliance), has Olympic Discovery Trail men on upcoming.●
The annual Travel Planner is in final review. Printed and ready by early March.●
Upda ng Waterfall Trail brochure and web with the four County partners.●
WTA has an economic summit in Wenatchee April 3, 9:00-3:30 – Marsha will be among ●
New Business
Marke ng Report
Steve provided a TCC YTD briefing of marke ng accomplishments, including:
Area Updates:
Port Ludlow – Diana shared several Port Ludlow ini a ves, including:
Gateway VIC – Bill noted:
OPTC REPORT
(Cont.)
New Business
TCC MARKETING
COORDINATORS
REPORT
AREA UPDATES
the many presenters speaking.
Annual brochure program to 200 VIC’s and AAA’s. + Travel Planner insert program
underway. Bill notes that the JeffCo. Travel Planner will be again included in that
distribu on.
●
The state’s annual Dean Runyan reporting of Travel Impacts is being put out for RFP for a,
poten al, new vendor for economic tourism informa on. Specs call for a minimum three-
year look-back u lizing any new vendors analysis so that the historic Dean Runyan and
Associates findings can be compared to new repor ng.
●
Greg and Bill updated TCC that JeffCo. proposes rolling the annual professional services
agreements with Steve Shively into a – more standardized – 5-year agreement. This
provides for con nuity of services and s ll enables updates as required. JeffCo. County
Administrator desires a TCC affirma on for this direc on. ACTION that TCC affirm the
crea on of a 5-year professional services agreement with our current marke ng
contractor was moved by Bill, Seconded by Diana, and approved by TCC “with
enthusiasm!”. Steve thanked TCC for the ongoing vote of confidence
●
Over tourism watch included demand impacts, aka “Too Much Love”, at Crystal Mountain
forcing management to limit weekend and holiday skiers to advance purchase only.
●
Local Foods group is working towards Earth Day campaign for reduc on of single use
plas cs from food & hospitality systems. This couples well with Commissioner
Brotherton’s “Blue is Recycling – Red is Garbage” informa onal waste reduc on videos
which TCC viewed.
●
Current Olympia Legisla ve watch includes SB6174 concerning a bill to discard the
Discover Pass for WA State Parks and forest lands and SSB 6592 tourism promo on area
(TPA).
●
Social media campaigns include ac ve winter campaign partnered with Olympic Na onal
Park Trips, lis ng Olympic Peninsula among top-5 des na ons to visit when the snow is
falling.
●
Addi on of men’s semi-pro Northern Peninsula FC (Football – transla on “soccer” – Club)
to area will bring local and visi ng fans from around western Washington to the teams
home field of Memorial Stadium, to cheer and spend. The 10 game season starts April 25.
●
Extensive Print ads for winter and spring underway ●
Chris na Pivarnik has been contracted to provide marke ng support. She will be
represen ng the Inn at “Go West” in March.
●
Celebrate this Valen ne’s weekend at the Fireside, featuring an enhanced farm-to-table
menu with special dinner-for-two op ons and a four-course tas ng menu.
●
Chili Night’s Wednesdays in February. Three course dinner for $24 with an op onal
beverage pairing $15. March’s theme is Southern Po’Boys.
●
Last Winter series at the Port Ludlow Golf Course: Saturday, February 29th, 2020●
Port Ludlow “Six Pack” Scramble: March 21, 2020. 10am Shotgun start. ●
First “Winemaker Dinner” of the year featuring Port Townsend’s Propolis Brewing. Friday,
March 27. Tickets are available at
●
Port Ludlow Performing Arts concert on March 28 featuring the High Kings is sold out!●
Quilcene –Brian shared highlights including:
Brinnon – Joy once again shared that Dosewallips State Park remains packed with visitors. Over
300K in a endance YTD; their cabins are prime a rac ons.
Fort Flager & Marrowstone Is. – Aaron share news including:
Tri-Area, Chimacum area highlights were shared by Crys e. Including:
PT / Chamber Marke ng – Ryan reported:
Adjournment - There being no further business the TCC mee ng was adjourned at 12:04 PM
Next mee ng of TCC is Tuesday March 10, 2020 – 10:00 AM at the Inn at Port Ludlow.
AREA UPDATES
(Con nuted)
Remodeling underway at VIC. Replacing carpet, possible new flooring. ●
Upda ng of museum displays, thanks to the talented pros at Jefferson County Historical
Society.
●
Spring’s drying will bring a much needed refurbishment to the VIC parking lot.●
Brian reported - Labor Day remains the goal for full opera onal permi ng, including
Overnight accommoda on op ons in the Mansion.
●
They’ve booked the back cover of every issue of Fjord magazine for 2020. Current issue
will highlight the Gravel-Unravel mountain bike race. June 27.
●
Registra on has opened for both Gravel Unravel and Oyster Race●
Victorian Heritage Fes val will link the Worthington Mansion with the Port Townsend
event March 21-22 thanks to some new partnerships with the events leadership
●
Brian is interested in exploring a South county lodging – “concierge” service for groups
traveling to Quilcene / Brinnon events. Reference encouraged Brian to touch base with
Lissy Andros of Forks Chamber to be er understand what she offers for Twilight Fest.
●
Road to Elk Horn parking lot refurbished. Con nued recommending mile-5 access back
country 12-mile bridge. Power pole installa on is ongoing.
●
Rocky Brooke – hosts approximately four cars average mid-week and 30-40 car loads each
weekend
●
Fort Flagler construc on including siding. New porch and windows out to bid as part of
historic preserva on capital project. An cipated these units will remain closed to rentals
through Labor Day 2020.
●
Lots of trees down due to recent storms.●
S ll ac vely recrui ng volunteers, especially for seasonal opera ons of Museum●
The historic Hospital is now part of on-line reserva on system. Expanding mee ng space
for up to 100
●
Flooding in Chimacum valley mee ngs. Great mee ng by Salmon Coali on and
others mee ng kudos.
•
Beaver popula on management is an ongoing discussion point related to flooding. •
A flock of 30+ Trumpeter Swans have been seen returning to Short’s property.
Suppor ng call to look at new economic models, e.g. birding
•
Chimacum schools – enrollment down impacts on larger school landscape.
Finnriver providing enterprise development, gardens, food truck.
•
Many area proper es For Sale. Need for enterprising thoughts and investors. •
Their Valen ne – Burlesque Show is Sold Out. •
Other events include Black history month feature on Feb. 20. •
April Earth Day events are in the works•
Finnriver is working with Corporate Events to create a menu of op ons. These will
be added to their website for connec ons and inspira on.
•
2nd weekend of Red Wine, Cider and Chocolate Tour●
March 6-15 Key City Players stage produc on●
March 21-22 a renewed Victorian Fes val invites all to discover historic Port Townsend.●
AREA UPDATES
(Con nuted)
ADJORN