2018-08-29 Minutes
NEW HANOVER COUNTY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
August 29, 2018
PRESENT: Joe Benson, Mayor – Town of Carolina Beach
Bill Blair, Mayor – Town of Wrightsville Beach
Jason Bryant – Vacation Rental Properties
Natalie English, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce
Kim Hufham, President/CEO – NHC TDA
Nicolas Montoya, Hotel Manager/Owner – (150+ rooms)
Chuck Pennington, County Bed and Breakfast
Daniel Perkins, Hotel Manager – (150+ rooms)
LeAnne Pierce, Hotel – Carolina Beach
Angela Rhodes, County Restaurant
Bill Saffo, Mayor – City of Wilmington
Lisa Wurtzbacher – New Hanover County Finance Officer
EXCUSED: Commissioner Pat Kusek, Anne Brodsky, Mayor Craig
Bloszinsky
STAFF: Jeanette Foster, Administrative Services Manager/Recording
Secretary
Linda Brothers, Financial Analyst, New Hanover County
Connie Nelson, Communications/PR Director
Karla Thompson, Technology/Systems Manager
John Sneed, VP Sales
Shawn Braden, VP Marketing
GUESTS: Ad agencies – Clean Design and French West Vaughn
Sam Black – Blockade Runner Resort
Bill Bagget – Blockade Runner Resort
Chairman Nicolas Montoya called the meeting of the New Hanover County Tourism
Development Authority Board of Directors to order at 5:40 p.m. in the Merrick
Conference Room at the Hotel Ballast.
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ITEM #1 – EXCUSED – NICOLAS MONTOYA
Commissioner Pat Kusek, Anne Brodsky, Mayor Craig Bloszinsky.
ITEM #2 – APPROVAL OF BOARD MINUTES FOR MAY 30 AND JUNE 13,
2018 – NICOLAS MONTOYA
\[Motion made by Mayor Bill Saffo, seconded by Daniel Perkins and
unanimously accepted to approve the May 30 and June 13, 2018 TDA Board
minutes as read.\]
ITEM #3 – FINANCIALS/ROT REPORT – LISA WURTZBACHER
New Hanover County Finance Officer Lisa Wurtzbacher gave two reports. The
first report is for July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018. In the over/under revenue category
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for 1 and 2 3%, we were $350,000 over on collected revenue. In expenses, 1 3%
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was under $222,913; 2 3% was $1,645,240 and Convention Center was $24,496.00.
There was a total of $142,000 increase in fund balance which is a great position to be
in.
For Fiscal Year 2018-2019, not much to report for first month of July as all
revenues reporting in 2018; total expenditures of $396,669.00 which represented 6%
spent due to tradeshow expenses paid ahead of time, etc.
ROT collections for FY 17-18 – outside the Convention Center district, all
jurisdictions had an increase except for the City of Wilmington. As a whole,
however, we are slightly up with Embassy Suites now open.
BUDGET AMENDMENT: BA#2019-001 is to appropriate the Purchase Order
rollover for Audit Services and the Strategic Destination Plan and account for the
payments against the FY in which they are paid. New budget amount for
contracted services is $70,788 (original was $64,000 with amendment of $6,788
making a total of $70,788.)
{Motion made by Chuck Pennington; seconded by Mayor Joe Benson
and unanimously approved to accept the budget amendment as read.}. Amendment
located in Budget Amendment notebook.
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Lisa mentioned that the audit work for FY 17-18 will begin on sight September 17.
She also noted want to begin compliance work on room occupancy taxes next
month. Increasing number of people are setting up accounts on-line.
ITEM #4 – EXPENDITURE REQUESTS – CAROLINA AND KURE BEACHES –
KIM HUFHAM
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President/CEO Kim Hufham presented funding requests from the Towns of
Carolina and Kure Beaches.
CAROLINA BEACH:
The Town of Carolina Beach respectfully requests TDA funding in the
amount of $87,600.00 as a donation to the Pleasure Island Chamber of
Commerce for expenses incurred providing family entertainment for all ages
including fireworks on Thursday nights, movies on Sunday nights and
annual events such as the Carolina Beach Music Festival and Seafood Blues
and Jazz Festival (FY 2016-2017). (2008)
The Town of Carolina Beach respectfully requests TDA funding in the
amount of $78,266.07 for the Carolina Beach Life Guard Team providing
ocean rescue and other services during the period of September 1, 2017 –
March 31, 2018. (2003)
The Town of Carolina Beach respectfully requests TDA funds in the amount
of $29,696.39 for the Boardwalk Makeover (now known as the Carolina
Beach Downtown Initiative (CBDI/PIRA) for family entertainment for all
ages during the period of January, 2017 through December 20, 2017. This
includes family nights music and magic shows on Tuesday nights and music
for Thursday family nights before the fireworks. (2008)
The Town of Carolina Beach respectfully requests TDA funds in the amount
of $11,568.82 incurred by the Town of Carolina Beach Parks and Recreation
Department providing family entertainment for all ages at the Carolina
Beach Boardwalk as well as Christmas by the Sea (June, 2017 – January
2018.) (2008)
The total requested amount of TDA funds is $207,131.28. Funds are
available and are requested upon approval by the TDA Board.
\[Motion made by Mayor Bill Blair, seconded by Mayor Joe Benson
and unanimously accepted to approve the Town of Carolina Beach’s TDA funding
request in the amount of $207,131.28.\]
KURE BEACH:
The Town of Kure Beach respectfully requests funding for expenditures that
were incurred for maintenance and improvements to the Ocean Front Park
Pavilion for the upcoming 2018 tourist season. This has become a favorite
destination for tourists visiting Kure Beach. It is the location for many
tourist-related activities including Boogie in the Park concert series, weekly
markets, programs for children and educational programs. The location of
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the pavilion (which can also be used for private events) in proximity to the
ocean is part of the draw, but also leads to a variety of maintenance issues.
The expenditures total $22,343.00 and are for electrical repairs, playground
improvements and concrete repairs and are supported by documentation
which was attached to this request. (2013)
The total requested amount of TDA funds is $22,343.00. Funds are available
and requested upon approval by the TDA Board.
\[Motion made by Mayor Joe Benson, seconded by Chuck Pennington
and unanimously accepted to approve the Town of Kure Beach’s TDA
funding requests in the amount of $22,343.00.\]
ITEM #5- PROGRAM OF WORK PRESENTATION – KIM HUFHAM
President/CEO Kim Hufham presented the Program of Work for 2018-2019. (Copy
located in Exhibit Book XIII) A full presentation to be given to our constituents on
September 12, 2018. Presentation began with the State of Tourism:
2017 tourism expenditures of $578.22 million which equals a 4.32% increase.
NHC generated $51.58 million in local State taxes.
More than 6,320 employed in travel and tourism related jobs equaling 141.3
million dollars in payroll.
Each NHC resident’s taxes were offset by $226.98.
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Maintained 8 ranking among NC’s 100 counties; #2 ranking among coastal
counties.
Kim discussed 2017-2018 ROT collections being up 3.52% with current year
(January-June) up 3.73%.
Legislative Issues:
School calendar law
Occupancy taxes
Short term rentals
Visit NC marketing funding
Beach renourishment and inlet dredging funding
Off-shore drilling
Film grants
Environmental issues
Advocacy Issues Continuation:
Support Advocacy issues identified in Strategic Destination Plan
State and local relationships
Long-term sustainable funding for beach renourishment
TDA relevancy and local tourism advocate
Stronger TDA presence
Seat at the table with Economic Development
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Challenges Mirror Advocacy Issues:
Beach renourishment and inlet dredging
Off-shore drilling
Short term rentals
Marketing
Crime
Industry participation
Infrastructure
Environmental issues
National trends
Kim went into detail on marketing pertaining to perception, brand strategies,
inquiries (FY 17-18 – 344,586 total inquiries), 17-18 engagement metrics, travel
intent indicators, media outreach results, total social subscribers (154,155), FY
2018-2019 new marketing strategies and tactics, coverage highlights and public
relations/communications.
FY 18-19 group sales results, strategies and tactics discussed consisting of group
sales, convention sales, sports sales and services.
ITEM #6 – CVB REVIEW STRATEGIC PLAN SCHEMATIC – DCG
CONSULTANTS – DON ANDERSON AND GARY SHERWIN
Don Anderson with DCG presented the Strategic Plan Schematic. Don shared some
of the big issues that need to be considered for new initiatives. The Strategic Plan is
for the destination as a whole. The TDA, as the owner of this plan, once approved,
gives the green light to the TDA management team to go forward to consider or
enhance new things for FY 19 and beyond. Don said they have conducted strategic
planning over the last 3 or 4 months. The management team has taken some of the
results and included in the current plan. The Plan will be fully implemented
starting FY 2019/20 and ongoing for the next several years.
Don stated it will be important that the TDA Board reflect on the 20 initiatives in
the plan. The Board’s input on the initiatives is vital. The plan has been built on a
three-year perspective and is a “rolling plan”. If there are things we are not able to
do in one year, can certainly continue it on as well as add some new things that the
plan is considering as we go forward. The whole intent is that the plan ties into our
marketing and operational plan on a regular basis. Want to make sure we do not
discount things that we should be doing as we move forward.
Don presented the one-page draft Strategic Plan Schematic. The results of the
Destination NEXT survey, staff and industry interviews were reviewed and the
results used to identify the major challenges.
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Gary Sherwin indicated his role is to give some perspective as to what CVB’s are
doing at this time, how some of the best practices can be enhanced. He indicated
that the philosophy behind the Strategic Plan includes three parts: 1) Listening to
each of the TDA Board members; 2) Infusing the plan with the best practices; 3)
Looking at the plan through a different frame work.
Gary stated the Strategic Plan is customer-centric. Need to look at what is
important to the customer.
Don indicated as the plan moves forward in future years, it will become blended.
The result is the opportunity to drive more visitors to the area. This plan is to
articulate and spell out those key issues. It is not designed to solve all of the
problems.
The three-year Strategic Destination Plan Schematic FY 2019-2021 identifies 7
challenges and Don and Gary discussed each of these in detail. Verified with the
Board, these are the ones we need to look at to attract new visitors.
Discussions took place on these challenges as well as the rest of the draft and what
needs to take place for economic growth and quality of place with branded visitor
experiences through productive partnerships and working together. Need budget to
help bring this to fruition. Definitely need a larger voice to bring visitors to the area
during the off-peak period. Need to be selling Wilmington and beaches together.
Talked about purpose and direction from the TDA. The Board owns the strategic
plan. Question as to how the plan is to be activated. Has to be front and center and
approved and addressed in order to move forward and go after new visitors.
Don and Gary discussed 10 initiatives that address the challenges. Will take time
and money over next several years. TDA needs to seriously consider these
initiatives. This is a road map for the CVB management team to implement. Once
TDA approves the plan, where do we go from here. Next steps would be to have
plan approved followed by a TDA retreat to go through the 20 priority initiatives
(on schematic) to determine which ones are important and settle on the top 6 for
2019/20. TDA input is essential.
Discussion by TDA members followed. Chairman Nicolas Montoya thanked Don
and Gary for their time and hard work. This is to energize the TDA Board on what
we need to work on. Need to rethink and consider carefully to move forward on the
Plan. Nicolas said he would like to take the next Board meeting and change it into a
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4 to 5 hour retreat (November 1); have open discussions specifically about how we
want to address and prioritize the 7 points. After this, outline these so the Executive
Committee and TDA Board, along with the CVB Management can get on with the
tasks at hand.
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President/CEO Kim Hufham mentioned that in addition to the retreat, we could
have our TDA meeting first to present our FY 17-18 audit presentation followed by
our retreat.
Board members asked when a vote would be taken on the Strategic Destination Plan
Schematic. Mayor Bill Blair stated he had some concerns and would like more time
to review before voting on approval. It was noted by Nicolas that nothing should
change until we have a good understanding, but with that understanding we can be
more sophisticated and require those approaches to actually consent and do better.
We are here collectively representing the visitor. We don’t often think that way.
Nicolas said that is what he likes about the process. It requires more thought.
We’ve worked hard to get to this point. This body is also meant to take this on and
it is our responsibility to move forward as well.
After further discussion, it was the consensus of the Board to further review the
Plan Schematic before voting for approval. A date will be identified after further
review.
ITEM #7 – OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS
N/A
ITEM #8 – CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS – NICOLAS MONTOYA
Called for adjournment
As there was no further business, meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
Next meeting – Thursday, November 1, 2018
______________________________ __________________________
Kim Hufham, President/CEO Daniel Perkins, Secretary
Minutes located in TDA Board Minutes Book XIII
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