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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDA Board Meeting August 27 2014 doc-draft NEW HANOVER COUNTY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS August 27, 2014 PRESENT: Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, NHC Commissioners Bill Blair, Mayor – Town of Wrightsville Beach Kim Hufham, President/CEO – NHC TDA Neal Johnson – County Vacation Rental Property Frank Jones, (Hotels -150-) – Wilmington Dean Lambeth, Mayor – Town of Kure Beach Connie Majure-Rhett – Wilmington Chamber of Commerce Carl Marshburn – County Attraction Nicolas Montoya, (Hotels -150 rooms+) – Wrightsville Beach Chuck Pennington, County Bed and Breakfast LeAnn Pierce, Hotel – Carolina Beach Angela Rhodes, County Restaurant Bill Saffo, Mayor – City of Wilmington Dan Wilcox, Mayor – Town of Carolina Beach Lisa Wurtzbacher, New Hanover County Finance Officer EXCUSED: Michael Keeler, Anne Brodsky STAFF: Jeanette Foster/Administrative Services Manager, Recording Secretary Shawn Braden, Executive Vice-President of Marketing Connie Nelson, PR/Communications Director Karla Thompson, Systems Administrator Mikie Wall, VP of Sales & Services Linda Brothers, NHC Financial Analyst GUESTS: Miriah Hamrick, Lumina News Mary Baggett, Blockade Runner Resort Hotel Representative Ted Davis Clean Design Team Emilie Swearingen – Council, Town of Kure Beach Chairman Carl Marshburn called the meeting of the New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority Board to order at 5:30 p.m. in the Board Room of the Greater Wilmington Area Chamber of Commerce. ITEM #1 – EXCUSED – Michael Keeler, Anne Brodsky 1 ITEM #2 – MINUTES APPROVAL – MAY 28 and JUNE 25, 2014 [Motion made by Frank Jones, seconded by Chuck Pennington and unanimously accepted to approve the May 28 and June 25, 2014 TDA Board minutes as read.] ITEM #3 – FINANCIALS/ROT REPORT – LISA WURTZBACHER New Hanover County Finance Officer Lisa Wurtzbacher reported on the Financials/ROT for the Fiscal Year of July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014. Total expenses on the first 3% was $1,635,000 or 4% under budget. The second 3% total was $2,020,278 or 21% under budget basically. This mainly related to Carolina and Wrightsville Beach activity funds which will roll over to the next fiscal year. On convention center expenditures, actual was $285,181 or 10% under budget. Revenues –first 3% $1,824,000 or 7% over budget. Second 3% $2,097.000 or 9% over budget. Lisa advised the audit for 2013-2014 final report will be presented to the TDA Board during our October meeting. Figures presented at this time are not final (audited.) ROT Collections for Fiscal Year 2013-2014: st 1 3% shows a 6.95% increase over FY 2012-2013. nd 2 3% for Carolina Beach – 7.88% increase; Kure Beach – 9.28% increase; Wrightsville Beach – 5.42% increase. City of Wilmington – 5.70% increase; Convention Center – 10.50% increase. [Motion made by Connie Majure-Rhett, seconded by Chuck Pennington and unanimously accepted to approve the Financials/ROT report as presented.] ITEM #4 – FUNDING REQUETS – CAROLINA AND WRIGHTSVILLE BEACHES – KIM HUFHAM President/CEO Kim Hufham presented funding requests from the Towns of Carolina and Wrightsville Beaches 2 Requests: Carolina Beach  The Town of Carolina Beach respectfully requests TDA funds in the amount of $24,497.88 for expenses incurred for lifeguard salaries and benefits for January – April 2014 and funds are available. Previous requests for reimbursements for salaries and benefits have  been approved for expenditures beginning 4/29/03. [Motion made by Mayor Bill Saffo, seconded by Mayor Bill Blair and unanimously approved to accept the funding request from the Town of Carolina Beach in the amount of $24,497.88 for incurred expenses for lifeguard salaries and benefits for January – April, 2014.] Wrightsville Beach  The Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen respectfully request TDA funding in the amount of $23,000 to help support the cleaning of beach bathhouses and sanitation pick up on the oceanfront and other tourist related areas from 1/1/2014 to 6/30/2014. The reimbursement includes salaries and benefits for those hours performing tourism related cleaning within the town. Funds are available. Previous requests for public bathroom/public area cleaning for have  supported by the TDA since 2007.  The Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen respectfully request TDA funding in the amount of $132,000 to support their Ocean Rescue Program (Beach Strand Lifeguards) during January – June, 2014. Service provides comprehensive coverage for nearly four miles of beach strand and expanded manning of 13 lifeguard stations. Previous requests for reimbursements began in March, 2004.  [Motion made by Mayor Bill Saffo, seconded by Connie Majure-Rhett and unanimously approved to accept the funding request in the amount of $132,000 to support Wrightsville Beach’s Ocean Rescue Program during January – June, 2014.] 3 ITEM #5 - DISTRICT U: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) Chairman Carl Marshburn opened this item by stating that discussions have been taking place in reference to finding funding options for inlet dredging. The county identified that currently the funds collected in District U were not able to be used due to the fact that there are no beaches to be renourished in the unincorporated areas. The county approached Representative Davis concerning the possibility of using the funds instead for inlet dredging projects. Representative Ted Davis introduced House Bill 1059 to change the usage from beach renourishment in District U to inlet dredging. When HB 1059 returned from committee, it came back entirely different. The TDA Board is not being asked today to decide the percentages or splits on this money, but are being asked to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with New Hanover County on how this bill affects the TDA Board and how to administer it. This bill has freed up these dollars for usage for tourism related activities and the Memorandum of Understanding identifies what that will be. Representative Davis explained that when the use of these funds was first discussed there was a meeting with all the stakeholders to talk about this potential legislation. He then went back to Raleigh and filed HB 1059 as it was agreed upon. Unbeknown to him, the House finance committee had previously approved guidelines for the use of occupancy tax that have to be followed in order for legislation to be met. HB 1059 on its original form was totally out of compliance with those guidelines. When Representative Davis found out what had to be done to meet those guidelines, he came back to Wilmington and once again had a meeting with all of the stakeholders. The changes to bring the legislation into compliance were presented and he asked everyone in the room if they wanted him to go back to the legislature with the changes necessary to get this passed. The group agreed to move forward with the changes. Representative Davis stated that he does not want anyone to have the impression that we technically went to get one thing and all of a sudden we come back with something else. Everyone was in the know on what was going on. Representative Davis advised that Kim Hufham was present at the meeting to represent the TDA Board along with Carolina, Kure and Wrightsville Beaches, the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County. Kim Hufham, President/CEO, advised she had been asked by Representative Davis to poll the Board after the meeting to make sure the language change met with their approval. Lisa Wurtzbacher shared history of the ROT with the TDA Board She stated that nd we are talking about the 2 3%. The second 3% was also to be used for beach nourishment projects in the unincorporated area; however, we did not have any federally authorized projects in the unincorporated area. Those funds have continued to accumulate to currently over $1,000,000. In the meantime, Carolina Beach Inlet had lost its federal funding in 2005 and between 2005 and 2013 they were able to shuffle funds and get it dredged. In 2013, had to match by the state 4 putting in 50% of the funding and the government put in 50%. As New Hanover County was searching for how to pay that 50% match, they began looking at the unincorporated area as it did not have a designated use right now. Those funds could be put to good use if we could get the legislation changed. Discussed this with Representative Davis and after it was passed, tried to come up with a Memorandum of Understanding and guidelines as the legislation is quite broad. If we look at what st House Bill 1059 does, the collections in District U before July 1, 2014 will be used for tourism activities. The amount collected was one million and seventy-two thousand dollars. That money has been transferred to the TDA account. Collections after July 1, 2014 will be remitted to the TDA as well but two-thirds of that will be used for tourism and promotions and one-third for tourism-related expenditures in in the District. As we just saw when we approved the beach towns’ request, is very broad and what we were specifically trying to accomplish was to get funding for inlet dredging. That is how the MOU came into play. The MOU does several things – (1) It says activities means inlet maintenance, specifically Carolina Beach and Mason Inlet. We have some wording in there where the County Commissioners would have the ability to override that. For instance, if Masonboro Inlet were to lose Federal funding, they could be eligible for these funds. There is also wording in there that would state Federal matching funds to be able to get these District U funds and really try to match some other dollars with that. We know that Mason Inlet doesn’t currently have state or Federal funds so we have that wording in there. The MOU also talks about the county overseeing the inlet maintenance which it currently does. The county would request these funds from the TDA in the same manner as the beach towns request their tourism-related activities funding. Representative Davis said he asked for this to be done because when we were having discussions, there were some concerns that down the road someone might ask what was the intent of this and what were these funds to be used for. “One of the things I found out in those guidelines I was referring to in the legislation, per those guidelines, you cannot specify that Room Occupancy Tax be used for inlet dredging. You can only use if for beach renourishment or tourism promotion. What it is, you can use 50% for tourism promotion and 50% for beach renourishment. The other option was the 1/3 to tourism-related activities and 2/3 to tourism promotion, which is what HB 1059 allows. As Lisa stated, the 1/3 is to be used for tourism related activities which is extremely broad and is at the discretion of the TDA Board to determine if it fits the guidelines. Representative Davis stated that he does not think there is anyone who would challenge the TDA or county legally if the funds are being used for Carolina Beach Inlet or Mason’s Inlet or Masonboro Inlet as a tourism related activity. He feels the MOU would be good because of addressing concerns that different people have; people coming down the road asking why this was done. Lisa stated that guidelines to further detail how the funds will be used have been drafted by the county and have been sent out to the parties involved. To date there has been no consensus on these. The intent tonight was to approve the Memoradum of Understanding. At the next meeting, after having had time to brainstorm & meet 5 with the group, the guidelines would be presented to the the TDA Board for approval. Frank Jones wanted to know how that would work by approving the MOU contingent on coming up with some guidelines everyone could agree upon. LeAnn Pierce wanted to know also how you could approve something without having something to go on. Lisa stated that the main purpose of getting the MOU approved is #1, the TDA has the funds and #2, think we can all agree we wanted the funds to be used for inlet maintenance dredging. The guidelines will be very different and completely detailed so there is no question as we move forward. Nicholas Montoya said he did not know for a fact that he is 100% for the inlet dredging. Said to be honest and fair he might be slow on the uptake on the polling of the Board. He is not 100% comfortable. Says we need to be educated about the question then we can make a vote. He is not sure from his prospective that it is understood. In the broad understanding of what the tourism activity would be, if that does not fall into place then it would not be a part in his opinion. LeAnne asked if there was a time line issue with dredging. She wanted to know if the MOU has to be done now because dredging has to be done now or is it just trying to get through the process. She said approving the MOU before knowing what the guidelines are is like putting the cart before the horse in her opinion. Mayor Wilcox said that as he reads the memo, the MOU gives the intent. The guidelines give the specifics. He said however he has issues with some of the specifics on guidelines with Carolina Beach. Mayor Blair said that as far as the MOU, he thinks everyone gets the intent but when you read the e-mail asking if you support the MOU with the guidelines, to me the two documents are linked. There are a lot of issues on distribution of funds. The MOU is an easy read, but when you try to link it into the guidelines, etc. we have not had a discussion on what we think is fair. This needs some discussion. Representative Ted Davis again stated that the MOU is something he wants done to make a clarification of what the legislation is about. That isall the MOU does. It specifies clearly that the intent of this legislation is that tourism related activities do not mean beach renourishment. That is why the MOU is important so that everybody here already knows what is going on. Another part of that legislation addresses how the funds will be distributed. Commissioner Jonathan Barfield stated he wished this discussion had been addressed at Carolina Beach a few weeks ago with the three beaches, three commissioners, Representative Ted Davis and others. He said that would have been 6 a great venue for everyone to voice their concerns then with three of the commissioners sitting there. Conversation needs to be transparent and open for everyone in his opinion. The mayors of the 3 beach towns voiced their opinions that in the earlier meeting, guidelines would be established. There are some issues to be worked out and think they can be worked out. Other issues followed on the meeting a few weeks ago and what was not brought out, etc., on guidelines. Frank Jones asked if the issue dealt with specific inlets, could certain wording be taken out and just put “inlets” or do you have to have a name there? Some discussion was brought out on sand from dredging being contaminated and not able to be used for beach renourishment. Was consensus of all mayors that the dredged sand is safe for renourishment. Mayor Wilcox stated that there needs to be consideration to the second part of this discussion concerning the guidelines and on giving serious precedent on the big picture with the money. People are asking questions which need answers and a contingency plan would be to have further discussion with all of the parties involved including the County Commissioners. Representative Ted Davis stated that his concern is with the legislation and making sure that the funds are used as the bill was originally intended when submitted. The county, TDA and beach towns can work out the details of the guidelines. The MOU to make sure that that once again the questions that he heard from the beach communities worrying about the future and that the TDA would honor the original intent. That is why he thinks the MOU is so important. [Commissioner Jonathan Barfield made a motion, seconded by Angela Rhodes to approve the MOU without the guidelines.] After further discussion on the guidelines it was resolved that a meeting would be held with all parties to discuss and establish the guidelines. These will be presented at the October TDA Board meeting to discuss and approve and then be approved by the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners. Mayor Saffo made a statement regarding there should be some kind of matching funds to make sure this works so it will be fair for everybody. How matching funds are dealt with is very important. Said he respected Representative Davis, appreciates all he has done and will support him. Frank inquired where the money would go if the bill was pulled. President/CEO Kim Hufham advised if the bill were to be pulled for any reason, the funds would revert back to their original usage for beach renourishment in District U. 7 Representative Ted Davis again stated that you cannot mention inlet dredging in the legislation, but we all know that was what the intent was. As he stated earlier, 100% of the fund will be used for inlet dredging. A lot of things went into play to get this thing done and that is why it is very important that it be done. There is currently over a million dollars in the pot right now that can be used. Please remember this was set up in a situation if a dollar for dollar match was needed. He heard from Carolina, Kure and Wrightsville Beaches, but mainly from Carolina and Kure saying they didn’t have the money to do the dollar for dollar match. Now the Commissioners can use that for something. You can do that, like for Wrightsville Beach because of their situation. You can say they don’t have to have a dollar for dollar match to give them some help. That’s the TDA’s decision. It is in the legislation. The legislation does lend the County Commissioners to their discretion to do things other than what is in there. Nicholas Montoya had a few remarks to make including that each Board member has different intents on the Board. He indicated the Board is here to manage the occupancy tax dollars and works very hard to get these dollars here. Said he disagrees these monies should go to inlet dredging. Chairman Carl Marshburn called for the vote on the motion to approve the Memorandum of Understanding with New Hanover County as presented. A vote of 10 ayes approved the motion. There were three nays (Frank Jones, Nicholas Montoya and Mayor Bill Blair.) ITEM #6– MARKETING PLAN PRESENTATION – 2014-2015 The following are brief highlights of the Marketing Plan Presentation presentation given by various staff as well as Clean Design. A complete breakdown can be found in Exhibit Book XI. Kim Hufham, President/CEO indicated the main objective of the 2014-2015 Marketing Plan is to Evolve and Collaborate. Kim presented the State of Tourism:  2013 Tourism Expenditures of $477.68 million or 3.8% increase.  New Hanover County tourism generated $41.84 million in local/state taxes.  More than5,460 employed in travel and tourism related jobs - $105.41 million in payroll.  Each NHC resident’s taxes were offset $196.00.  Maintained #8 ranking among NC’s 100 counties.  #2 ranking among coastal counties. st ROT Collections for 1 3% Fiscal Year 2013-2014 up 6.95% over same period of nd time for last year; 2 3% Fiscal Year 2013-2014 for Carolina Beach up 7.88%; 8 Kure Beach up 9.28% and Wrightsville Beach up 5.42%. City of Wilmington up 5.70%; Convention Center District up 10.50%. Total ROT collections for 2013-2014 - $9,402,598 was a first for us in total collections for the past fiscal year. Kim reviewed challenges for the coming year to include:  Beach Renourishment and Inlet Dredging.  Rent by owners and AirBnB.  Budget.  Film incentives.  Industry participation. Comparison on CVB Budgets ranged from $32,000,000 for Myrtle Beach to $1.4 million for Brunswick County wit Wilmington and Beaches at $2.06 million. Kim discussed the legislation issues which we will definitely try to stay on top of to include such issues as school calendar law; rent by owner and ROT remittance – Airbnb; film incentives; NCTFSD privatization; beach renourishment and inlet dredging funding; sales tax on entertainment and fracking. Advocacy is very important:  To strengthen relationships with elected officials.  Closely monitor issues at state and local levels.  Participate in conversation with long-term sustainable funding options for beach renourishment and inlet dredging.  Maintain a seat at the table with local economic development groups.  CVB electronic annual report. Shawn Braden, Executive VP of Marketing discussed Marketing Analysis and Insights. She core marketing objectives which includes mobile and website, a series of new trip ideas and press releases on website as well as marketing objectives (social media and marketing operations.) Under key performance indicators for Wilmington (July 2013-June 2014) key performance indicators included 680,146 visits; 2,743,419 page views; 5.14 minutes average on site; 4,541 email signups and 10,159 guide signups. Top states for website traffic included North Carolina with 39%; Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and New York. These all ranged from4% to 10%. Shawn went into the top referring domains for Wilmington for FY July 2013-June 2014 with Google.com being the highest at 364,000. The highest for top downstream exit inquires was inquiries to lodging, attractions, events and restaurants with 211,704. 9 Shawn said there had been a huge line shift to media with 68% online, with inquires increasing from 237,068 for FY 2012-2013 to 254,123 for 2013-2014. This is an increase of 7%. Online inquiries by medium increased to 62% for E-specials or 158,582. Print highest inquiries up 62%. Social media results shows a total of 61,253 fans with 91.3% of fans being from outside of immediate area.; Twitter showing total of 8,020 followers as of June 30, 2014. Brand strategy was presented by Clean Design. Scott went over strategic tool sets to include Brand, competition, connections and audience with today’s perception versus tomorrow’s potential. Difference between the brands means one destination and four unique settings that offer unlimited vacation choices. Wilmington and Beaches, historic river district and island beaches “see where the water takes you.” “Go with the flow” and see where the water takes you. Different ads were shown from the downtown area, the river district and the island beaches to show what all areas have to offer with so many different choices of things to do. Shawn Braden gave a review of the FY 2014-2015 New Marketing Strategies….how do we get there? Emphasis on media, social media, earned media, technology partnerships. Dealing with partnerships, will partner with the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County on open design competition to create a mural/visual photo-op that captures visitor experience in market. Develop network App with the City of Wilmington and Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. Collaborate with a local public school teacher on tourism project for middle school students. In addition, lots of videos. “Be amongst it.” Let the visitor see how to know where the water takes you. Kim Hufham, President/CEO talked about PR coverage. Highlights for 2013-2014 included 44 press trips, 2,711 traditional medial, 1,170 social media (Twitter); free editorial and earned media and 1m524 non-media assists. Kim went over Public Relations/Communications 2014-2015 highlights to include supporting the Marketing Department initiatives; media outreach; themes for the next FY and local awareness of tourism. For year-end group sales summary and insights. Targeted groups included associations, corporate, educational, fraternal, government, military, religious, reunions, social, sports, tour/travel with the scope of the market being state, regional and national. Top market segments include sports, association, corporate and social. 10 Group Sales Lost Business down by 10%. Attractions show an overall increase of 4.2%. Objectives for group sales show new objectives and strategies:  More aggressive follow-up system.  Direct sales campaign to group tour operators.  Target groups with potential bookings November – March.  More efficient tracking, booking, services and opportunities.  Participate in AAA of the Carolinas College of Knowledge.  For services: Orchestrate industry presentation for the North Carolina Call Center in Raleigh and more efficient tracing, booking, services and opportunities. Kim indicated Marketing Plan books available for pickup at the end of the meeting. Frank Jones asked if a quarterly meeting could be held with hoteliers to give website updates as well as industry presentation. This will be set up. ITEM #7 – PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS – KIM HUFHAM President/CEO Kim Hufham discussed events: Annual presentation to the NHC Board of Commissioners to take place on  th Monday, September 15 at 4 p.m. Industry presentation of the marketing plan for 2014-2015 will take place on  th Wednesday, September 17 at 9 a.m. at the New Hanover County Government Center. The NCTFSD Mid-Year marketing update will take place on Thursday,  th September 18 at 10 a.m. at the Downtown Courtyard by Marriott. th The Fiscal Year 2013-2014 Audit will be presented at the October 29 TDA  Board meeting. th Our next Board meeting will take place on October 29.  ITEM #8 – OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS Frank Jones asked about the movie industry; about how big this industry is to the state and what is going to happen with tax incentive. Connie Nelson advised that Johnny Griffin has no information on this at this time. The CVB is monitoring this to the best of our abilities for the impact it will have on our area and tourism. Commissioner Barfield commented that we should be aware that a diversity of people should be included in our ads. ITEM #9 – CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS – CARL MARSHBURN 11 Chairman Marshburn stated that tourism is doing well and the CVB had a good year. Adjourn at 7:15 p.m. Next Meeting Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 ______________________________ __________________________ Kim Hufham, President/CEO Chuck Pennington, Secretary Minutes located in TDA Board Minutes Book XII Next Meeting: October29, 2014 12