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Home My WebLink AboutTDA Board Meeting March 30 2022 NEW HANOVER COUNTY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS March 30, 2022 PRESENT: Craig Bloszinsky, Mayor – Town of Kure Beach Mary Baggett- Wrightsville Beach Hotel Kim Hufham, President/CEO – NHC TDA Nicole Jones, Wilmington Hotel (150-) Deb Hays, Commissioner – New Hanover County Chuck Pennington, NHC Bed & Breakfast Lynn Barbee, Mayor – Carolina Beach Bill Saffo, Mayor – City of Wilmington Angela Rhodes-NHC restaurants Ken Dull- Wrightsville Beach Tom Ullring, Carolina Beach Hotel EXCUSED: Hap Fatzinger, NHC Attractions Natalie English, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce Jason Bryant, NHC Rentals STAFF: Kim Little, Administrative Services Manager/Recording Secretary Linda Brothers, Senior Financial Analyst, NHC Connie Nelson, Communications/PR Director Karla Thompson, Technology/Systems Manager Shawn Braden, VP Marketing John Sneed, VP Sales GUESTS: Sue Bullock- Wrightsville Beach MAC representative Donna Girardot- NHC Airport Authority, Chairman Jeff Bourk- NHC Airport Authority, Director Bob Campbell- NHC Airport Authority, Finance Director Erin McNally- NHC Airport Authority, Marketing & PR Manager Vice- Chairman Nicole Jones called the meeting of the New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority Board of Directors to order at 5:00pm. The meeting was held in the River Room at the offices of the CVB. 1 ITEM #1 – EXCUSED – Jason Bryant, Natalie English, Hap Fatzinger ITEM #2 – APPROVAL OF BOARD MINUTES FOR JANUARY 26, 2022 – Nicole Jones. \[Motion made by Chuck Pennington, seconded by Lynne Barbee and unanimously accepted to approve the January 26, 2022, TDA Board minutes as read.\] ITEM #3- NEW AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP PRESENTATION- Jeffery Bourk, ILM Airport. This initiative is to grow Wilmington’s airport by conducting a search for a low- cost airline carrier to offer new routes to our residents and attract businesses, increase group travels. The funding would help market in the new cities that would be serviced by the new low-cost airline carrier. The airport is requesting a commitment by the NHC TDA in the amount of $125,00 for each new service routes. This partnership would become a part of the Wilmington International Airport incentive package in attracting new airline service. It is estimated that 2 new routes may designated soon. Discussion was held concerning the new air service and partnership with the ILM Airport moving forward. A motion was made by Deb Hays and seconded by Tom Ullring to approve the $125,000 per new air service route to be offered as part of Wilmington International Airport incentive package. The dollars committed would come from the NHC TDA fund balance. A budget amendment will be presented for approval upon securing the new air service. The motion was carried unanimously. ITEM #4- FINANCIALS/ROT REPORT – LINDA BROTHERS Linda presented the ROT collections report. Overall, Linda reports the NHCTDA is continuing to do well and both Wilmington and the beaches collections are up. Lynn Barbee mentioned it was encouraging to see the increase in the ROT funds. He asked if the reasons for the huge increases from past years is because there are more visitors coming or due to higher rates. Discussion was held concerning this and seems the increases could be attributed to the higher costs of labor, supply chain delays and other shortages due to the pandemic as well as an increase of visitors. Employers are having to significantly increase wages to keep 2 employees. The hospitality industry still hasn’t recovered from the shortage of workers because of the pandemic. FY2022/2023 Audit Contract- RFP was sent out for the upcoming fiscal year. The new contract has increased in cost and the amount will be adjusted in the FY 22/23 budget \[Motion made by Mary Baggett, seconded by Tom Ullring and unanimously accepted to approve of the audit contract with Cherry Bekaert, as read.\] \[Complete report can be found in Exhibit Book XIII.\] ITEM #5 – EXPENDITURES REQUESTS- KIM HUFHAM KURE BEACH: Town of Kure Beach respectfully requests funding for expenditures for lifeguard services for the summer of 2021. The requested funds include expenditures for two budget years, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. The expenses to reimbursed are calculated as follows: Total Lifeguard Expenses Incurred FY2020/2021 $264,011.03 Less: Lifeguard Expenses Included on 1/25/21 TDA Request $140,322.21 __________ FY2020/2021 Remaining To Be Reimbursed $123,688.82 FY2020/2021 Lifeguard Expenses Incurred From 7/1/21-12/31/21 $136,723.26 __________ Amount Of This Request $260,412.08 ========= This program is directly related to tourism as it acts to protect vacationers and visitors harm as they swim and enjoy the beach strand in the incorporated Town limits of Kure Beach. Visitors are attracted to the beaches that offer lifeguard services, particularly those with young children 3 \[Motion made by Tom Ullring, seconded by Chuck Pennington and unanimously accepted to approve Kure Beach funding requests, as read.\] WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH:  The Wrightsville Beach Board of Alderman respectfully request TDA funding in the amount of $52,000 to complete a visitor survey to collect and analyze visitor data. The purpose is to use the information collected to enhance travel & tourism and the merit of the visitor survey is to enhance the area as a travel destination. The visitor survey will be conducted during the period between October 2022 through April 2023. Breakdown for the requests: $40,000 for the UNCW Portion of the project $12,000 for the staff of the Visitor’s Center Total amount of the requests: $52,000 \[Motion made by Tom Ullring, seconded by Chuck Pennington and unanimously accepted to approve the Wrightsville Beach funding requests, as read.\] ITEM #6– TDA BOARD GOVERNANCE SESSION-  Facilitator- Don Anderson/DCG Consultancy- Don presented four key points to the purpose of board governance session:  To provide a cursory overview of Destination Organization  To review effective Destination Organization Board roles, priorities.  To agree on future effective Destination Board member engagement.  To prepare a specific Board action plan to assist in the future. There needs to be strategic focus of a Destination Organization to include drive visitor demand, enhance the visitor experience and communicate relevancy & viability. It was recommended the NHC TDA task force committees could be established to address these areas Deb Hays questioned the purpose and need for the task force committees and asked Kim Hufham to clarify what the point was. Kim stressed that it was to promote more involvement in the NHC TDA board in advocacy at the state level as well as to add their 4 expertise in areas that the board members excel in on a professional level. The long-term vision is to develop a Tourism Master plan. Mary Baggett and Deb Hays suggested to go to meeting monthly. Lynn Barbee liked the idea and suggested more informal work sessions He said that his board has work sessions where they are free to dive into topics a little deeper without holding up the official board meetings. The work sessions could focus on the areas needing NHC TDA Board focus. Kim Hufham will come up with a calendar for the work sessions and report back to the NHC TDA Board. The first work session will be held in April 2022. ITEM #7- CVB UPDATE and PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS- Kim Hufham Kim gave an overview of the happenings at the CVB in the recent weeks.  New Visitors Guides have been delivered  Annual Presentations to City of Wilmington- March 1  FY 22/23 Strategic Planning has begun  Hosting Meeting Planner FAM- April 5-7  Global Meetings Industry Day- April 7  Visit365 Conference  NC Travel & Tourism Coalition  NCTIA Board Meeting  SEATECH Showcase  Leadership Wilmington  Sports Marketing Strategy  Interviews:  Greater Wilmington Business Journal  WWAY  National Tourism Week- May 1-7, 2022  Travel Rally Breakfast  Keynote: Dr. Adam Jones- UNCW  Workforce Development Panel  Tourism Star Award  Jane Peterson Tourism Pioneer Award Kim Hufham announced that this would be Chuck Pennington last “official” meeting. He has submitted his resignation from the board, once again. He has sold The Verandas, as of May 11, 2022. 5 \[Copies of all the presentations can be found in the Exhibit Book XIII\] ITEM #8– CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS- NICOLE JONES ITEM #9- PUBLIC COMMENTS- Mary Baggett stated The Blockade Runner Beach Resort is home to the Carolina Cup, one of the largest and most competitive SUP races in the world. This year’s event, April 27 – May 1, will attract some of the top professional paddlers in the world, as well as amateur and elite racers from practically every state in the nation. th Craig Bloszinsky invited everyone to the 75 Kure Beach Anniversary celebration on April 29- May 1, 2022. There will be a street fair and big band bash. ITEM #9– ELECTIONS OF OFFICERS Chairman- Nicole Jones Vice- Chairman – Angela Rhodes Treasurer- Lisa Wurtzbacher Secretary- Vacant \[Motion made by Ken Dull, seconded by Chuck Pennington unanimously accepted to approve the slate of officers presented.\] As there was no further business the meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m. Next Meeting Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 ______________________________ __________________________ Kim Hufham, President/CEO Angela Rhodes, Secretary Minutes located in TDA Board Minutes Book XIIII 6