TRI-COUNTY LODGING ASSOCIATION Thursday, March 20, 2014

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1 TRI-COUNTY LODGING ASSOCIATION Thursday, March 20, 2014 The Tri-County Lodging Association met at 9:00 a.m. at Camdenton Area Chamber of Commerce offices, Camdenton, Missouri. TCLA Board Members Present: Dean Chininis Fred Dehner Sheryl Elia Bill Johnson Larry Jones Mark Krantz Sherry Shippee Michael Spriggs Lance Utley Sue Westenhaver Don Welch Commissioner Brian Duncan TCLA Board Members Absent: Commissioner Kris Franken John Peters Also present were Jim Divincen, Tim Jacobsen, Lagina Fitzpatrick, Jim Moody, Chris Moody, Marjorie Beenders, Bruce Vanderveld, Dexter Whitney, Marcus Sykora, Amy Hernandez, Alderman John Olivarri, Diane Stinnett, Maggie Shaffer, Christopher Ash, Angie Thessen, Dan Lennon, Bud Simmons, Karie Maasen, and Rebecca Green. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Sue Westenhaver called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m. INTRODUCTIONS Introductions were made by all meeting attendees. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Sue Westenhaver requested that the topic of FLW Regional Tournament be moved up on the meeting agenda to the section of Funding Requests. Sheryl Elia made a motion to approve the Agenda with the suggested change. Lance Utley seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon. PUBLIC COMMENTS Tim Jacobsen and Michelle Cook with the Eagle Days event briefly spoke to the Board to thank TCLA for their sponsorship of this great event in January. MINUTES Don Welch made a motion to approve the January 23, 2014, TCLA Board meeting minutes. Mark Krantz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 1

2 BILLS COMMITTEE REPORT Mark Krantz made a motion to approve Bill #224. Don Welch seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon. FINANCIAL REPORT Jim Divincen reported that lodging tax collections were approximately 5.9% up from November 2012 and November Mr. Divincen reported that lodging tax collections were down for the month of December % from December 2012 and that year-todate collections were down approximately one-half percent compared to the first seven months of FY2013. FUNDING REQUESTS 1. Marcus Sykora made a brief presentation to the Board requesting support to host an FLW Outdoors BFL Regional Fishing Tournament at Lake of the Ozarks. Mr. Sykora explained the history of the tournament, the procedures for participating in a regional BFL tournament and the cost associated with hosting the tournament. The tournament would take place in October 2015, on a mutually agreed upon date between the parties and the host fee would be $5, The FLW organization also requires 5 hotel rooms for 5 nights to be included. Mr. Sycora understood that the proper paperwork would need to be completed for this request, but is seeking approval to pursue this tournament. Bill Johnson made a motion to support the effort and commit to provide the host fee of $5, and five (5) rooms for five (5) nights out of the FY16 TCLA Budget with the option of discussing hosting this tournament in future years. Sheryl Elia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon. 2. The 2 nd Annual Patriot Guard Patriots All Motorcycle Rally scheduled for June 27 th and 28 th, 2014, at Lake of the Ozarks requested funds in the amount of $2, to assist with advertising and promotion of this event. Angie Thessen and Maj. Christopher Ash, event coordinators, appeared before the Board to give the history and the plans for the upcoming event. Advertising options were discussed including utilizing the CVB for a postcard mailing to members of the Patriot Guard, radio, television and billboards. The Board thanked the event coordinators for their time and will advise them of their decision in the near future. 3. Amy Hernandez, event coordinator for the Forget Me Not Ball, submitted a funding request in the amount of $2, to assist in advertising and promotion of this event. Ms. Hernandez explained the history of the event, plans for the upcoming event and indicated there were areas within the production that need assistance. The Board thanked Ms. Hernandez for her time and will further discuss this event and funding later in the meeting. 2

3 LEGISLATIVE REPORT Chris Moody provided information to the TCLA Board about current happenings at the State level with regard to current legislation and upcoming elections, adding that several local candidates are not currently facing opponents. A brief discussion occurred about recent meetings with several CVB Directors and Missouri Division of Tourism representatives. The Board agreed to discuss this matter further when Jim Moody arrived at the meeting. Also during this portion of the meeting Miller County Commissioner Brian Duncan addressed the Board with information regarding a survey created by the Missouri Department of Transportation regarding transportation improvement needs. Commissioner Duncan encouraged the Board and attendees to visit the Dept. of Transportation s website to complete the survey to make certaint the Lake of the Ozarks is well represented. P. R. FIRM UPDATE Michael Spriggs made a motion that the Public Relations/Budget Committee schedule a meeting to open and review the PR bids received in response to the PR RFP for FY15. Bill Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon. Marjorie Beenders with The Beenders-Walker Group gave a report on public relations activities on behalf of TCLA, covering the past few months. Highlighted in this report were activities with journalists, media visits and upcoming FAM tours with several journalists including Jeff Lampe with Heartland Outdoors, Dale Bowman with the Chicago Sun Times and several members of the Midwest Travel Writers Association will visit on a postconference tour. EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT REPORT Jim Divincen reported to the Board several activities and meetings attended over the past month. Mr. Divincen spoke about recenting meetings with staff from Lake Media, water quality source tracking results, Capitol Days For Tourism visits, Liverpool Legends postconcert update and an update on a general sales tax initiative. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS AND REPORTS Group Sales Lagina Fitzpatrick, Director of Sales, summarized the monthly group sales report included in Board packets. The Board held a discussion during this portion of the meeting about bid fees involved when enticing groups to host their event/meeting at Lake of the Ozarks. Often times groups need financial commitments sooner than procedure allows so the Board discussed the option of giving authority to Ms. Fitzpatrick to utilize funds for this purpose. Michael Spriggs made a motion that the TCLA Director of Sales has the ability to commit funds up to $5, for bid fees associated with group/event business. The funds will be in the TCLA Budget line item Special Events Reserve with the total funds available for FY15 in the amount of $20, Fred Dehner will second the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon. 3

4 2015 HOG Rally Event The Board discussed the topic of bidding on the HOG Rally event for the year Larry Jones made a motion to allocate $10, out of the FY16 TCLA Budget to cover bid fees associated with this event. Don Welch seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon. Special Events- Michael Spriggs, Chair No report was given at this time. Fishing Tournament Committee Sheryl Elia, Chair The Board discussed a recent meeting among several community members/entities with representatives from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources about future improvements that could potentially be made the Public Beach areas #1 and #2. Advertising/Budget/Public Relations Fred Dehner, Co-Chair, Dean Chininis, Co- Chair Jim Divincen explained that currently $20, had been appropriated for advertising on the St. Louis Cardinals network during games, with the ads to begin July 1 st. Employee Performance Review No report was given at this time. Web Site Committee Report Bill Johnson, Chair Bill Johnson noted that a website report was provided in all packets. He added that the new target date for the unveiling of the Funlake.com website was March Local PR Committee Bill Johnson, Chair Mr. Johnson expressed his appreciation to Jim Divincen and Tim Jacobsen for all that is being done to educate the public about what TCLA and CVB do for tourism at Lake of the Ozarks. Mr. Johnson indicated he would like to see any articles published as part of the public relations campaign sent to the lodging owners/managers to help them understand what their lodging taxes do for the Lake of the Ozarks. Mr. Johnson suggested that the Camden Large properties market that TCLA funds are utilized for their fireworks displays during the summer season. CVB Update and Report Tim Jacobsen reported that the CVB staff was busy this time of year with travel and sport shows, getting ready for the CVB Annual Dinner, Harbor Hop, selling Liverpool Legends tickets and making plans for hosting events at the Missouri Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus Annual Convention being held at the Lake of the Ozarks in June. OLD BUSINESS Inquiry Update An inquiry report was provided in the Board packets for review. Through 12/31/13, print inquiries are down 29% and Funlake.com inquiries are down 7.7%. January 24, 2014 Meeting with DNR Jim Divincen already spoke about this upcoming meeting in his Executive Director report. He will report back to the Board the outcome of 4

5 this meeting to discuss improvements to the area s State parks. Other Old Business None at this time. New Business Division of Tourism Meeting Jim Divincen reported that members of the LOTO Golf Council would soon be meeting with the Division of Tourism regarding the decreased funding available through the Cooperative Marketing Program. Mr. Divincen would report to the Board the outcome of this meeting. FY13 Audit Copies of the TCLA and Business District final audit reports were provided to all Advisory Board members. Lodging Tax Collections The Board held a discussion about ideas that might assist with the collection of lodging tax from vacation rentals advertising online. The Board agreed that a letter drafted from the TCLA attorney, Marc Ellinger, and being sent to area realtors, title companies and condominium association managers would be a great avenue to share that lodging tax is mandatory on overnight rentals. CTM Proposal The Convention & Visitor Bureau received a proposal from CTM, a distribution company that would allow the Vacation Guide to be placed in St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. This proposal could be funded from the TCLA Budget Line Item for postage. Michael Spriggs made a motion to transfer $10,000 from the FY14 TCLA Budget Line Item Postage and create a new line item titled Distribution to cover the CTM fees. Sheryl Elia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously when voted upon Other Old Business. At this time (1:06 p.m.) Michael Spriggs made a motion to enter into closed session pursuant to RSMo. Section (11), specifically pertaining to competitive bidding processes. Lance Utley seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken with votes cast as follows: Dean Chininis Yes Sheryl Elia Yes Bill Johnson Yes Sherry Shippee - Yes Michael Spriggs Yes Don Welch Yes Sue Westenhaver Yes The motion passed unanimously. Sue Westenhaver then made a motion for all non-board members to be excused, with the exception of Jim Divincen, Rebecca Green and Bruce Vanderveld. Sheryl Elia seconded the motion and the motion passed with all voting in the affirmative. 5

6 At 1:38 p.m. Michael Spriggs made a motion to re-open the regular meeting of the Board of Directors of Tri-County Lodging Association. Lance Utley seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken with votes cast as follows: Dean Chininis Yes Sheryl Elia Yes Bill Johnson Yes Larry Jones Yes Sherry Shippee - Yes Michael Spriggs Yes Don Welch Yes Sue Westenhaver Yes The Board of Directors for Tri-County Lodging Association resumed their regular meeting. NEW BUSINESS The next TCLA Board meeting will be held on February 20, 2014, in Miller County. There being no further business to bring before the Board, Lance Utley made a motion to adjourn. Don Welch seconded the motion. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 1:40 p.m. 6