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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-12-11 KCVB MinutesKenai Convention Visitor Bureau Kenai, AK Regular Meeting Monday, December 11 2006 Meeting called to order at 5:40 p.m. on December 11, 2006, in the Kenai CVB boardroom. Roll call was taken and the following members were: Present: Marion Nelson, Robin West, Sharon Brower, David Edwards Smith, Jacquie Steckel, Ray Ortiz, Robert Fulton, Barry Eldridge Absent: Sasha Lindgren, Fred Braun, Ron Malston Excused: Sasha Lindgren, Fred Braun, Ron Malston The following visitors were present: Mya Renken, KCVB Executive Director APPROVAL OF AGENDA Agenda approved without objection. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 30, 2006 Minutes approved without objection. PERSONS SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD No persons scheduled to be heard. FINANCIAL REPORT —Ron Malston, Secretary /Treasurer Report presented by Mya Renken (Ron Malston absent). Discussion. Oilers reached the maximum pull -tab limit of $1 million and cannot benefit further without incurring fines. The agreement between the Oilers KCVB was changed in order to abide by state gaming regulations; the agreement now states that the Oilers will get up to 60% of the revenue, and KCVB will get the remainder. Once the Oilers hit the maximum, KCVB will get 100% of the remainder. This year the "extra money" is approximately $5000; use of this money has not yet been determined. Money will be received in January. Inventory has been completed. KCVB is carrying $8000 items on consignment; working to bring items onto retail in order to receive more profits. Cassandra's official last day is the 29` All employees will be working through the 22 Harold and Mya will be working the week of the 26 and other employees will be paid for the time off (27' 29 Retail purchasing was reduced after July (not nearly as much is sold after July). Evaluation of what sells and what does not is ongoing. Question what retail items we may be able to create based on from the show for additional retail items (i.e. art pictures put onto T- shirts for kids); items are under consideration. Other Discussion. Barry Eldridge introduced he has been appointed by the Mayor to serve as the council representative on the Board. Barry owns the Eldridge Haven B &B in Kenai and is a KCVB member. UNFINISHED BUSINESS (1) Nominations from the floor for KCVB Board of Directors Discussion. Sasha, Ron, Sharon, and Jacquie will be staying on the board. June Steinbeck has been asked; she has taken a position on another hoard. Ron Rannie's wife was asked she will think about it; she is not opposed to the idea but has some things to sort out. Russ Harding and his wife are not able to serve. Diana Lofstedt will not be staying on the board. The board is allowed to have up to 13 members. Hal Smalley has not decided as of yet. Not sure yet on Julie Wheeler. Other Discussion. Lydia Hayes lunch tomorrow 11 Mya has questions to be passed on to Lydia. (2) February 19, 2007 Strategic Planning session Discussion. Questions is KCVB staff expected to participate in strategic planning questionnaire and /or attend, and can for the meeting for the strategic planning group consider using up to first two hours of strategic planning group be used for City Council Members and KCVB board and Chamber board for discussion (meeting set for Feb. 19); KCVB staff will be completing questionnaire. Suggested that the Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Barry attend from the council. NEW BUSINESS (1) KCVB representative for Old Town Kenai KEDS Discussion. Mya currently directs the subcommittee on Tourism in KEDS. Question is whether or not board should have a representative regarding Old Town issues. Action: Mya or someone else on KCVB's staff will serve as a representative. (2) KCVB representative for KEDS Action Team Marion Nelson will serve as representative. (3) 2007 Operating Budget discussion Discussion. Draft does not include $70K that KCVB will be asking city for. Concern raised that city will look to cut funding because of new 501(c)3 organization. Other hope is that it can be used as an opportunity for new funding, especially for museum operations, exhibits, collections, etc. since it will allow pursuit of more grants and other funding sources. Received $65K from city in 2006, which is less than 1/3 of the budget, plus $4000 for pop -ups that can be used by City or Chamber. Request in budget for Collections Care (care for city assets). Question about participation from our members and about the Clarion handling advertisements for the guide; some members who have signed up have not had contact from the Clarion; this is a concern. Some associations are selling ads to organizations (i.e. B&Bs) that are not KCVB members. City already pays utility hills. KCVB staff has been responsible for lawn care landscaping, even though city is responsible for it (according to contract). There may be other changes that may add some revenue to KCVB's budget. Question about $4000 Traditionally, KCVB has only distributed to other Visitor Centers and the Alaska Public Information Center in Tok. The $4000 is to pay to distribute guides (visitor guides and rack cards) all over Anchorage. Mya would prefer to split the cost of distribution with the Clarion. The plan is to try to get them to split cost; if not, will try to do the best we can this year and work for better next year. Money would have to be taken away from other portion of budget if it is used. Motion. Marion Nelson moves that KCVB will attempt to get the Clarion to share cost of distribution in Anchorage; if they will, then we will move forward with paying half the cost; if not, we will distribute guides through the normal channels (which are free) and put in the budget for next year (2008) instead. Sharon Brower seconded; motion approved without objection. (4) Public Policy Proposals: (a) 50 hp motors on Kenai River (h) Designate Kenai River as impaired Discussion. Some members want KCVB to take a position on both issues. Noted that other associations speak for guides and since we represent the community as a whole we should stay out of the fight and not take a position. Question what of KCVB's members are guides? Information not available; it is known that 30% are in Kenai and 25% are in Soldotna. Action. KCVB is directed to not make a public policy statement or take a position on the proposals (without objection). (5) KCVB logo Discussion. Chamber has taken KCVB logo, changed it, and is using their "own version" of the logo. They want to have a similar look to KCVB. We have taken our logo and used it to create similar ones in the past (i.e. the Saturday Market). The City uses a similar logo; KCVB has been using its logo for 10 years. The understanding has been that all three groups would have similar logos to create a branding identity. Mya researched registering a trademark; we would have to defend the logo if it was trademarked. Kevin (the creator) claims he has rights to the logo. Comment (David) the Chamber should have at least had a discussion with KCVB since it is the original user of the logo. KCVB has used the idea of branding with the three KCVB web sites (visitkenai.com, artskenai.com, sportfishingkenai.com). More communication would have been helpful; the issue needs to be brought up at the next joint meeting. Chris Jenness was told by the Chamber that he could make changes to the logo; he created an advertisement using both KCVB's and the Chamber's logo but since they were both so similar, the ad made use of a different logo from the Chamber. This information about the ad preceded the joint meeting. The "Kenai" part of the logo has apparently been at the airport for several years. Motion. Marion moved to establish a paper trail that shows the basis for our current logo has been in place for X of years as per city signage and other communication on record on file, and do what we need to do to trademark it and establish it "once and for all" as belonging to the City of Kenai and may be used by the city, KCVB and the Chamber. David seconded. Motion passed without objection; Ray abstained. Other discussion. Discussion regarding the Kenai River. REPORTS Arts Con niittee Marion Nelson presented report. Discussion of the annual schedule, discussion of policies procedures re: submission dates for artists exhibitors for the next year (October 30 2007 September 1 2008). Anyone who wants to put a show in (5 opportunities to do this) will be scheduled in- between shows already set (i.e. summer show, current photography show, etc.). Committee has some examples of policies procedures from other organizations and will use to craft a plan for this organization. Want to mail out to approximately 150 artists and will have available for other potential exhibitors and others who are interested. There have been good discussions in the committee meetings thanks to all who have participated. Question what is the date on the Captain Cook? It was originally scheduled for February; it will now be between May 25 June 7. We retain final control over what will be displayed. Information re: a humanities grant is due on January 27. We may be eligible to get funds that will allow us to create a brochure that can be used as part of the exhibit. Executive Director December 18"', KCVB will have a Christmas Party going away party for Cassandra. Linda received an e -mail from Jane saying she and Karen will not be able to attend sent to chamber board. December 19' KCVB will have an open house. Mya will be out the afternoon of the 19' and the 20 21'. On the 22 1 d at 2:00 pm the KCVB staff will complete the December service project at Heritage Place: the Christmas dinner is at 2:00 pm and staff will be family" for those who do not have families. KVCC will close for the trip. Attended ATIA's marketing committee strategic planning retreat. Received a lot of research they did a cluster analysis (survey of people who visited Alaska and asked questions of what they liked, what they did, etc.) and found what groups of people liked to do. The survey provided information about what people do and do not like, and will help us to do a better job of targeting advertising. Mya has a copy of the report we can also get the raw data. The report is for the state. Different categories are created and their likes and dislikes are compiled, i.e. "culture lovers," "hiking and fishing," "adventure type," etc. Clint at Hallo Bay out of Homer is going to a show in England in first part of February a lot of media go to it sponsored by a major newspaper in London. Want to get at least 100 books if we can work out shipping to get with them so that they can be put in the hands of travel writers so they will be more intelligent about what they write about Alaska. The Marlows Birding show in London, can't get a booth, but they hosted someone at their facility so they were able to go with them International market is a really good market not as large as domestic market but have a lot of time to spend, stay in B &B's cabins. Doing holiday schedule for Thanksgiving have two days off Thursday Friday then scheduling around a holiday to be open for Christmas Comes to Kenai asking board for permission to have as holidays the Wednesday before and Thursday (Thanksgiving) off so that they can be discussed with staff and they are ok with it. Action: Motion to approve by Brower, seconded by Ortiz, passed 6 -0. Question regarding domains that have been registered —will they be pointed towards visitkenai.com? (they are) Question re: Christmas bonus position clarified that everyone gets time off in lieu of a Christmas bonus, and the staff is ok with that. Comment performed a Google search for "Bed and Breakfast, Kenai Alaska" and did not see visitkenai.com come up during the first 8 pages of the search; in lieu of "accommodations" we should have "bed and breakfast, hotels, motels" this is a problem with "downsizing" the directory (reducing the of subcategories). Concern about bus trips; one trip stops every week at Kenai landing; stops for a 45- minute restroom stop. 3 tour busses came in this year two charters, one of Premiere Alaska Tours they will have 3 tours on Kenai Peninsula this year. Comment on report congrats on getting 501(c)3 organization! Received money for the art show, incl. $2500 from Tesoro. EXECUTIVE SESSION Board did not go into Executive Session. BOARD COMMENTS Comment it was interesting going to joint meeting with KCVB and Chamber it would be educational if we could continue to meet with them. Comment regarding river issues; most volatile issue is subsistence issue. In January, there will be a subcommittee that will try to form a consensus on how to implement methods, means, etc. for subsistence priority. The decision on whether or not there is a subsistence priority has already been made. Even if consensus is not reached, the process will move forward. Regional Advisory Council will make decision on proposals in March, Federal Subsistence Board will implement in May. There are various proposals available right now, some general ones that will have to be refined. Merry Christmas! ADJOURNMENT Adjourned without objection at 7:30 p.m.