Board of Director s Meeting Tuesday, December 8, 2015, Noon-3:00 PM University of Montana University Center, Room 331, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula MT. 59812 Board Attendance: Flathead County Robert Carette, President Chase Averill Glacier County Keith Schauf Lake County Missoula County Shannon Brilz Gabe Millar, Secretary/Treasurer Ravalli County Joan Prather Sanders County Trudy Berge Jen Kreiner At Large Ramona Holt Victoria Lee Ex-Officio Dylan Boyle Leslee Smith (Non-voting) Barb Neilan Board Members Absent: Flathead County Katrin Spinetta proxy to Joan Prather Lincoln County Randy McIntyre proxy to Robert Carette Tracy McIntyre proxy to Victoria Lee Mineral County Rosie Schreckendgust (leave of absence) At Large Luke Walrath proxy to Gabe Millar Glacier Country Office: Racene Friede, Executive Director Nicole Gonzales, Marketing Assistance Kristi McNeal, Office Manager (medical leave) Dottie Olofson, Special Projects Tia Troy, PR and Communication Manager Glacier Country Board Meeting (Open to the public) Robert called the meeting to order at 12:00 pm. Brown Bag Roundtable Discussion/Presentation (Lunch provided for Board and Staff) Table Topic/Training: Debbie Picard Group Tour and FIT 12:50 pm to 1:04 pm Break Business meeting was called to order at 1:04 pm by Robert Carette. He called for introductions of board and staff prior to requesting the audience introduce themselves. 1 P age
Public in attendance - Curtis Spindler, Mimi Gustafson, Brenda Peterson, Johna Wilcox, Greg Fortin, Teri Maloughrey, Bruce Haller, Jim and Erika McGowan. Pledge of Allegiance (voluntary) Approval of the Minutes Robert Carette called for a motion for the approval of October 13, 2015 Board Meeting at Z5 Ranch in Arlee. Ramona Holt made a motion with a second from Gabe Millar. Financial Report/Discussion Gabe Millar presented the financials as of October 31, 2015 for both public and private accounts. Jen Kreiner made a motion to accept the financials as presented with a second by Shannon Brilz. Financials approved as presented. Board Member Spotlight Joan Prather Policy Review/Code of Ethics See attached Policy Comments: none Public Comment Two minutes per person: Greg Fortin wanted reach out to Glacier Country on behalf of West Glacier and Columbia Falls that would like to see more interest steered in their direction as well as the shoulder season. Executive Director, Staff and Marketing Report/Discussion: Racene Friede, Executive Director, reminded those in attendance that detailed reports are available in the board packet and provided a highlight of the following information. She congratulated Carole Johnson on her new position as District Ranger! Racene brought up Linked in s profile page and unless you are an employee you should be listed as a volunteer and list your skills. The Governor s Conference on Travel and Tourism will be April 10-12 Kalispell. They have wonderful tours planned. It is also the last weekend at Whitefish Mountain Resort who will be offering huge discounts. Travel guide sent off for set up and it made budget. Our Warren Miller sponsorship for all of their shows this year is almost done. Racene has one more show this week. All have been good and met with good response with Warren Miller who are already planning next year. 2 P age
We are having a good year as our inquiries are up 15%, webpage traffic is up 11% and tablet traffic is up 4%. Social Media is down due to last year being a banner year. Publicity Tia Troy stated that for the budget year of 14/15 was at $2.17m. Which was up 2/3 in editorial value with nearly 210 million in circulation. Major highlights were media events to four key markets, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle Advertorials copy print and digital Wrote Travel guide copy and photos Social media presentations Launched blog newsletter Media pitches and support Coming up have IFWTWA press trip with MToT Winter media visits from overseas May 2016 influencer trip Visit Glacier Park website relaunch B2B workshops will be in Missoula and Whitefish in March 2016 Tourism Sales Debbie Picard has a full schedule of tourism/trade shows coming up starting in January. IMEX will have a Montana Booth B2B workshop November in Kalispell Newsletters B2B blog bimonthly B2B social on Linked in, and twitter, #realamericachat; one million impressions @REALAMERICACHAT FAMS -- ABA, NTA, Select Traveler, GoWest, RMI international tour operator in May, meeting planner in September ABA, January NTA February Select Traveler February GoWest in February RMI May Board Discussion/Vote Robert Carette asked for approval of the 2014/990 Form o Ramona Holt would like to commend the office for a good job and made the motion for approval with a 2 nd by Gabe Millar no further discussion 3 P age
Retreat agenda (discussion) Board voted to make into a full two day event over three days allowing for travel before and after Day one: Bed tax 101 and team building exercise that is a member/partner appreciation function Day two: Barbara Wold - board roles and responsibilities, community of practice, team building and the power of partnerships Day three: Laura Munson, writing effectively Board Discussion/Vote: Nominations: State of Nominations: Presented by Gabe Amy Overstreet from Glacier County, Brian Morton from Lake County and Rick Sinclair from Lake County. Gabe recommends bringing them on. He asked for questions or discussions. o Approved with a 1 st by Jen Kreiner with a 2 nd by Shannon Brilz Officer realignment (vote) Gabe Millar will be moved to second vice president position with Victoria Lee taking over as Secretary/Treasurer. o 1 st by Keith Schauf, and Shannon Brilz 2 nd 4--At large positions will be discussed in future Travel Guide Cover Contest: Only 9 had the resolution that met the criteria: Brand, visual, iconic, beautiful, unique, identifiable, Western Montana, quality 1. Raft in the north fork of Flathead River 2. Lake McDonald 3. Lake McDonald wharf 4. Mountain goats with mountains and lake 5. Stars, aurora borealis 6. McDonald Lake 7. Many Glacier 8. Wildflowers in forest 9. Lake St. Mary The board reviewed each photo and narrowed it to the top 3. From those top five, three were selected to be voted on by our social media audience. They were #1, #4 and #5. This will go live 8 a.m. December 9, 2015 and will end at 5 p.m. December 23, 2015. Nomination committee by Gabe still have few open spots; one came in yesterday, too late to act on until next meeting. Ramona Holt said she had nothing to report on the VIC committee 4 P age
Committee assignments: hand outs Victoria Lee will chair the nominations committee Gabe Millar will chair the marketing committee Ramona Holt will chair the VIC committee Ramona Holt will chair the audit/ad hoc committee 1:50 to 2pm Break Board Discussion Old or new business/tabled items (none) Information exchange Robert adjourned the meeting at 3PM and invited everyone to our Christmas Social in the room next door. 3PM 4:30 PM Holiday Social (Room 332) Next Board Meeting, Tuesday March 8, 2016 at Red Lion Hotel in Polson, Montana. Minutes approved as presented on and signed by: (Presiding Officer at Meeting) 5 P age