Door County Tourism Zone Commission : Meeting Minutes

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March 18, 2010 Door County Tourism Zone Commission Meeting - Minutes

DOOR COUNTY TOURISM ZONE COMMISSION
& Executive Committee
MINUTES OF MARCH 18, 2010
Jacksonport Town Hall

ACTION ITEMS by the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
Nelson moved and LeClair seconded to approve the agenda as submitted. Motion passed unanimously.

Nelson moved to accept the February 18, 2010, minutes as submitted; LeClair seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Nelson moved to approve the Kerber Rose reports and payables as submitted; LeClair seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Tice moved to approve the Kerber Rose engagement letter as presented. LeClair seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Nelson moved to adjourn; LeClair seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Committee Members Present by Roll Call: Vice-Chair Chuck Tice Tom Benzshawel, Mary Boston, Pauline Cyrus, Sandy D�Amico (9:10), Nancy Goss, Jeff Larson (9:35), Little Bit LeClair, Bryan Nelson, Tom Olsen, Carol Stayton (9:20),

Excused: Diane Jacobson, Debra Jeanquart, Bob Kufrin, Dick Skare, Bill Weddig

Absent: Richard Briggs, Andy Coulson, Paul Flottman, Dave Holtz, Mike Johnson, Jennifer Laughlin, Nora Zacek

Also Present: Jack Moneypenny, Jon Jarosh, Mary Denis/DCVB; Dianne Lensert/Kerber Rose; Kathy Kirkland/Administrative Assistant

Audience: Frank Forkert, Liberty Grove

Call to Order
Vice-Chair Tice called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m., noting that there was not a quorum of the Commission, but there was a quorum of the Executive Committee to conduct necessary business.

Approval of the Agenda
Nelson moved and LeClair seconded to approve the agenda as submitted. All ayes.

Acceptance of Minutes of February 18
Nelson moved to accept the February 18, 2010, minutes as submitted; LeClair seconded. All ayes.

Tice noted the Finance Committee minutes of February 22, 2010. As there were no questions, Tice placed the Finance Committee minutes on file.

New Members
Tice stated that because the Village of Egg Harbor�s revenues in 2009 fell below the $300,000 threshold, the Village had to reduce its commissioners to one. Sarah Sawyer has stepped down as Egg Harbor�s commission; Sandy D�Amico will continue.

Administrative Assistant�s Report
Kirkland noted that Maple Grove Motel has paid the entire amount due to date, including legal fees. There will be a modicum of legal fees as the case is cleared off the books; when we have a quorum, the Commission can decide whether to pass those along to her. The private investigators initially contacted by the TZC, Langan Investigators, charges $80/hour (whether working or traveling) plus expenses; however, the company now has a local ex-police officer in Door County, which will cut down on travel time. Kirkland suggested using them when we have a list of several properties that are suspected of renting/have yard signs and having the PI make the rounds to check for compliance.

The Resolution to change the Bylaws so that the Annual Meeting did not have to be a fixed date has passed by two-thirds of the municipalities. The municipalities that have not yet sent in a signed agreement are Gardner, Gibraltar, Village of Forestville, Nasewaupee, City of Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island. She has sent a draft of a PowerPoint presentation to Kufrin and Moneypenny; some figures have to be plugged in after the audit is complete. Moneypenny questioned whether or not we need a full presentation if the meeting will be part of our normal June 17 meeting. Kirkland noted that we�re obliged to send the audit, the management level, and a report from The Zone, so there should be something written. She�ll be e-mailing as many as possible, as last year.

Kirkland noted that she has been using one of Kerber Rose�s stand-by printers for the past week, The Zone�s has died. Considering the change of Chair in June, what level of copier should we buy for the office? The Finance Committee will be meeting within the next week or two and will begin discussion on it; it was not a budgeted item. If anyone has a good source or recommendation, let her know.

The Door County firefighters have sent out a press release regarding new Wisconsin laws for carbon monoxide detectors in lodging facilities. She sent it to all the municipalities, the commissioners, and all the permit holders/agents by e-mail. It will also be published in the paper.

Report by the Door County Visitor Bureau on Marketing Efforts
Moneypenny reported on the upcoming May 8�16 National Tourism Week. Kirkland sent out an e-mail with the Resolution draft asking for proclamation from all Door communities to show countywide support for the event. The DCVB is working on generic banner program so that tourists see the message throughout the county. Each municipality with go through permitting and have the banners up for that one week. The DCVB will take them back, change the dates for next year; he wants it to be the start of an annual celebration. On May 13, the DCVB is hosting a tourism breakfast, 8:15, program 8:30, Stone Harbor. The Wisconsin Secretary of Tourism is confirmed as speaker, and there may be another speaker. Anyone who wants their Board invited individually, forward names and e-mail addresses to Moneypenny (Kirkland will send a reminder e-mail about this). After breakfast, open house at new lobby. Friday and Saturday will be an open house for the public. He is waiting for each municipality to return their Resolutions recognizing the week (Kirkland had e-mailed his version to all municipalities). Lobby renovations are out for bid. The refurbish basically involves moving a wall and redecorating. It will be done the week before National Tourism Week.

Nelson appreciated the work toward recognizing National Tourism Week. Tice suggested that The Zone itself sign a proclamation; Kirkland will send Moneypenny�s draft to all Commissioners and it�ll go on the April agenda.

The DCVB is currently developing a piece that�s a Tourism Story; there are still residents who don�t understand room tax and how it�s used. The booklet will discuss tourism as quality-of-life issue and how it benefits residents. It will show a �pie� and how the money has been used. If your municipality is working on something of interest using room tax money, let him know. The booklet will also mention CMF, CTA, and volunteerism, listing all the business associations. It will be in every resident�s mailbox on Monday or Tuesday of National Tourism Week. They�ll tie that into an online survey (10 questions) about how the brochure was or wasn�t helpful.

Denis reported on the statistics; the web is up 59% over last year. Moneypenny noted that web visitors are up 106,000 Jan/Feb this year over 2009. An e-card was sent for Nature of Romance; e-cards will be sent four times this year. Postcard saying we have a promotion, then the lodgings send out personalized packets about their own packages. She has been busy with group business; 25 inquiries in one month, so it has increased tremendously. They had a �fam� tour for bank travel, had 36 appointments, and many said they�d make Door County a priority for 2011. The member newsletters compile list of advertising, impressions. There will be a marketing seminar on March 23rd at 9 a.m. at Peninsula School of Art that will feature a brochure showing where the dollars are going. There continues to be more information on social networking activity.

The website will be redesigned by the end of the month; it will be beta tested for two weeks in April and go �live� during National Tourism Week. The communities and businesspeople will see a preview. The navigation hasn�t changed, just the look. The ads for Nature of Romance are centered on a romantic getaway, B&Bs, with an advertorial storyline throughout the ads. Festival of Blossoms angle will be family oriented. They�re slowly building a repertoire of ads, niche markets so they�ll have a lot to run. They�ve recently did an arts ad with Abe Cohn from Potter�s Wheel working.

Jarosh reported on communications and PR. The winter �fam� tour included 12 journalists who stayed from Southern Door through Sister Bay; they didn�t get to the Island. There are four more tours coming up: May, June, September, October. �Explore the Door� is getting a makeover with a new look and feel; it will launch with redesigned website. The videos will have shorter segments.

HGTV has put its entire episode featuring Door County online. That show has the value of about $1.1 million in publicity value. Tice asked about the upcoming Lombardi film. Jarosh has heard about it but has not talked with producers. Lombardi did have connections in Door County. Kirkland asked about �Feed the Fish�; Jarosh hasn�t heard about a distribution deal.

Discussion on the Current Comparatible Occupancy Numbers for 2009
Lensert noted the new format that now has apples-to-apples. The shaded section at the bottom will be comparative; adding a 2010 lates column and by community. The colored section will be month-by-month so that the individual municipalities can see variances. The updated adjustments will be run twice a year, as usual.

The auditors are coming next Tuesday. Bay Lake Systems is working on the online ACH, which will be ready later this week for late payments. It will also send an automated e-mail back to the permit holders for confirmation to give an opportunity for people to review and fix if they�ve entered it wrong. If anyone responds, it�ll be an Innline address that will be forwarded to the TZC e-mail. Being able to change passwords is getting close; the new login will force the user to change the password and pick their own. If they have a future problem, they can contact us and we can reset it so they can change it again. There have been requests for bank account information to be stored with just the last four digits showing so the user doesn�t have to reenter information every month.

Nelson noted the handwritten information on DCVB payouts. Lensert said it wasn�t meant to be included as handwritten; however, it shows payouts to DCVB from collections and the approved budget amount through December 2009�a quick overview.

Nelson moved to approve the Kerber Rose reports and payables as submitted; LeClair seconded. All ayes.

Moneypenny said the DCVB received its audit, and it was a good audit. The commissioners will see it a couple months. The only two highlights of the management letter were �excess journal entries� (parallel budgets, broken into other entries) and that they don�t have enough people doing financial jobs; however, internally, but it is broken up nicely. He�s pleased with the audit.

Kerber Rose Engagement Letter
Lensert said the new engagement letter is the same as the prior engagement letters. Tice commended them on the outstanding job they�re doing. Tice moved to approve the engagement letter as presented. LeClair seconded. All ayes.

Status of Annual Meeting Bylaws
The Annual Meeting will be at the regular Zone June 17 meeting. Nelson felt we need a report but didn�t know how much we need. Tice asked that when the Monthly Reporting acknowledgement is sent out through Bay Lake, can we add a question whether or not will attend annual meeting? Lensert said there aren�t many reporting this time of year. Kirkland will do it as an e-mail as the time gets closer.

CLOSED SESSION
Lacking a quorum, there was no closed session.

New Business for April
Benzshawel asked for an agenda item to discuss the Community Marketing Fund money; should the CMF be considered beyond the three years? Tice would like a discussion on the frequency and time of Commission meetings; Stayton, for one, would benefit if the meeting could be started at 9:30.

We should also do the Tourism Zone�s own version of a Proclamation for Tourism Week. The office�s printer problems will be addressed. The Nominating Committee should have a list of candidates; the vote is in June.

Nelson asked about Bob�s letter on the Resolution passed by Sister Bay stating its intent to remain part of The Zone beyond 12/31/11. It would be great if most if not all town/village/city boards would consider preempting the deadline by doing the same. Moneypenny said the DCVB will be start building strategic conversation in July/August and it�s finished by October, so they need to know early if the room tax will continue. Benzshawel noted and Tice read from the Intergovernmental Agreement that each municipality must give a six-month notification if they�re opting out, so we�ll know by June 2011. Tice felt it would be beneficial for a small group of commissioners to divide up the municipalities and pitch the idea of early intent. Nelson asked it be added to the April agenda to ask the Executive Committee to split up those duties. Goss already has it on the Liberty Grove agenda. LeClair reports every month; she will report on it and get them talking about it. She felt each Commissioner should be responsible for their own municipality. Every Commissioner should get a copy of Sister Bay�s letter to his or her own clerk/administrator.

Next Month�s Meeting
The April meeting will be Thursday, April 15, at Union�s Town Hall, 9 a.m.

Adjournment
Nelson moved to adjourn; LeClair seconded. All ayes. The meeting adjourned at 10:20 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathy Kirkland
Administrative Assistant

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