Door County Tourism Zone Commission : Meeting Minutes

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February 21, 2008 Door County Tourism Zone Commission Meeting

DOOR COUNTY TAX ZONE COMMISSION
MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 21, 2008 MEETING

Commissioners present: Patty Bissen-Taylor, Andy Coulson, Nancy Goss, Bob Kufrin, Craig Neddersen, Bryan Nelson, Carol Stayton, Chuck Tice, and Bill Weddig.

Also present: Bill Vande Castle (legal counsel), Diane Lensert (Commission accountant), Jack Moneypenny, Bill Casey, Paige Funkhauser, Jon Jarosh and John Lowry.

Chairperson, Kufrin, called the meeting to order at 9:08 a.m. He called role to verify that a quorum was present. He also suggested that the Commission begin thinking about whom to nominate to fill the open �at-large� position vacated by Jim Sarkis in December.

Weddig moved and Tice seconded to approve the minutes of the January 17th meeting as submitted. The motion carried unanimously.

DCVB Reporting
Moneypenny was given the floor. He opened by explaining that he can live with reimbursement from the commission as opposed to disbursement. He would eventually like us to move to disbursement because it represents a level of trust on the part of the commission toward the Visitor Bureau. But he doesn�t want the TZC to waste further meeting time on that debate. Moneypenny handed out hard copies of his �Marketing vs. Budget� report in QuickBooks format, as the Commission had requested at the last meeting. He asked if we need quarterly or a monthly progress reports. The consensus of the Commission is that it needs only quarterly reports. He informed us that he will report to us May 15th regarding the nuts and bolts of changing the DCVB budget cycle from its current August 1 through July 31 fiscal year to a calendar fiscal year. He also mentioned that, in October, he will present to us the Visitor Bureau�s 3 year strategic plan.

Moneypenny is very excited to announce the hiring of a new office manager, Bob Kaczmarowski, who is a CPA and who will oversee the DCVB�s budgeting and accounting as well as day to day office operations. Stayton asked Moneypenny if the Badger Sports sponsorship proposal is still alive. He answered, YES. But he eventually wants Mike Harlan to present his proposal to the DCVB and TZC in person. He mentioned that he is also interviewing 3 candidates for the Membership Director position. Moneypenny then yielded the floor to Jon Jarosh to present the marketing report.

Jarosh handed out hard copies of reprints of the latest articles that have appeared in publications since the last such report. He mentioned that today begins the latest Geiger press familiarization tour in the County. In response to a question from Stayton about the volume of paper, Jarosh explained that he brings hard copies because that is the industry standard. It is done this way to protect copyrights (which would not be as secure if posted on the web). He pointed out that Geiger has added 3 media weekends (in May-Lighthouse Walk, June-arts focused tour and July-food focused tour) in order to meet the number of journalists originally promised in their contract. Moneypenny added that Geiger set these up at no additional charge in order to meet their contractual commitment. Jarosh also handed out the list of writers and their publications on the ongoing tour and their itinerary. In response to questions from Kufrin, Jarosh explained how the success of Geiger�s tours is being measured. He also mentioned that eBrains internet activity is being measured by an outside entity. Moneypenny stated that, when they created the Packer weekend promotion last month, they had Geiger put together and distribute a Press Release which went to 680 outlets and that eBrains also distributed the release to its email lists. Tice asked if the DCVB gathers info from visitors regarding why they came to Door County as opposed to other tourist areas. Coulson asked how we can be sure of the validity of website metrics when a lot of hits and even click-thrus might be done by bots or spiders. Jarosh answered that we can only look at the big picture of trends but that they also look at how many pages are viewed by a visitor because spiders and bots bounce through websites in ways that real people don�t.

TZC Budget
Neddersen and Nelson presented the TZC budget. They briefly discussed how they came up with the income figures for the months for which we don�t have actuals. They also pointed out that there are some line items that should go down in coming years because in this first full year we are setting up an office, paying for software development and some other non-repeating expenses. Coulson moved and Stayton seconded to adopt the budget as presented. Motion carried unanimously.

Bylaws
Tice presented his modifications to the Bylaws. He explained that his draft is not entirely in conformity with the intergovernmental agreement. Kufrin reminded us that we need to recommend the approval of by-laws to our communities and, at the same time, advise them as to what changes need to be made to the intergovernmental agreement. Tice agreed that he recommends taking both at once to the municipalities. Kufrin outlined a timetable in which we eventually get these documents to the municipalities in May. Tice hoped that we could get some kind of notice to the municipalities within the next 30 days so that they can work with us on these changes. Kufrin responded that most of the governments look to us for guidance on this. Nelson asked Vande Castle about emailing each other � in this case: can he email Tice with suggestions on changes to his by-laws. Vande Castle answered that, in this case, such emails are no problem. It is when multiple email exchanges take place that they constitute a �walking quorum.� Tice moved and Neddersen seconded to approve the draft Bylaws as presented. Tice answered a few questions regarding specific points in the draft. Motion carried unanimously. The timetable for getting this to the municipalities was discussed again. Attorney Vande Castle suggested that, rather than send each the whole draft, we send out a summary of changes so that it can be understood quickly and easily. Tice volunteered to work on the changes to the Intergovernmental agreement.

Kerber Rose Reports
Lensert presented the accounting, permitting and payables reports. Through the end of December, Kerber-Rose was unable to account for $391.00 � fortunately the error is to the positive side. Software: Justin Borkovetz has the system up and running and permit holders can actually begin reporting online. Everything will be fully functional within a few days when the ACH money transfer system is in place with Associated Bank. There was a brief discussion on when to cut off accounting and reporting because, for instance, monies from 2007 are still dribbling in. Kufrin mentioned that the cut-off will be determined by our auditors. Nelson moved and Tice seconded to accept the reports and approve the payables as presented. Motion carried unanimously.

Administrative Assistant Search
A number of applicants� resumes are in hand. Goss and Coulson will work with Kufrin on interviews. They will shoot for mid-March interviews.

Audit
Kufrin asked if anyone would like to meet with auditors and come up with a recommendation at our April meeting. Weddig voice concern over that timetable because of our need to have a completed audit by our annual meeting. Kufrin answered that both proposing firms (Virchow Krause and Schenk) know the timetable. Nelson questioned why we can�t make a decision today since several of the Commissioners have worked with one or both firms. Nelson moved and Goss seconded to select Schenk as our auditor for a 2 year term. Motion carried unanimously.

Annual Meeting Committee
Weddig and Coulson met and worked with the requirements of the Intergovernmental agreement. They offered that the Auditorium and the Landmark are the candidates for the venue. They also decided that the meeting should be held on either a Wednesday evening or a Saturday morning. The Auditorium has a $250.00 base price and a $250.00 equipment charge. The Landmark offered to give us a non-profit rate of $100.00 plus catering. Nelson moved and Goss seconded to hold the annual meeting at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 27th at the Landmark. Motion carried unanimously with Bissen-Taylor abstaining.

Closed Session
Kufrin asked if there was a desire to go into closed session in order to discuss issues involving Sturgeon Bay. Tice moved and Stayton seconded to go into closed session. Kufrin stated the appropriate recitals and the motion carried unanimously by roll call vote. The Commission entered into closed session. Tice moved and Coulson seconded to return to open session. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote and the Commission returned to open session.

Kufrin moved and Tice seconded to go back into closed session to discuss enforcement action. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote and the Commission moved into closed session. Nelson moved and Stayton seconded to go back into open session. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote and the Commission moved back into open session.

The quorum was lost and the meeting was adjourned at 12:18 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Bryan Nelson, Secretary

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