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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.1a 11-23-2021 CGCVB Minutes COTTAGE GROVE CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU MINUTES CITY HALL - COUNCIL CHAMBERS November 23, 2021 A meeting of the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau was held on the 23rd day of November, 2021, at 7:30 a.m. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. by Chair Steve Dennis. ROLL CALL Assistant Mann called the roll: Members Present: Steve Dennis, Chair - Here Laurie Levine, Director - Here Justin Olsen, Vice Chair - Here Roshan Patel, Director - Here Christine Costello, Board Member - Here Members Absent: None Staff Present: Jennifer Levitt, City Administrator Julie Prior-Miller, Marketing and Communication Specialist Jaime Mann, Assistant to the City Administrator Dennis Neitz, General Manager, River Oaks Golf Course Brad Muckenhirn, Recreation/Ice Arena Supervisor Others Present: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3.1 Approval of Meeting Minutes CGCVB 07-27-2021 Approval of the July 27, 2021, Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau Meeting Minutes. Vice Chair Olsen made a motion to approve the July 27, 2021 Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau Meeting Minutes. The motion was seconded by Director Levine. The motion passed unanimously (4-to-0). BUSINESS ITEMS 4.1 Explore Minnesota Recovery Grant Program Julie Prior-Miller, Marketing and Communication Specialist, spoke about the Explore Minnesota Recovery Grant Program, a partnership with Explore Minnesota. The purpose of this grant was to aid the immediate recovery of the tourism industry due to the pandemic. The program fully funded 49 applicants, and we were one of them; we asked for $10,000, and we were awarded $10,000. Our Visitors Guide will be done in 2022, and the grant is really based on marketing initiatives, so we wanted to raise our brand awareness of Discover Cottage Grove and the Convention and Visitors Bureau in general. This grant does not require any matching funds from us. Proposed expenses for the Visitors Guide creation were submitted for reimbursement; those included numerous costs: Production of photos & videos; Ad creation; Graphic design; Social media management; Visitors Guide production; Stock photography; Digital publishing platform. City of Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau November 23, 2021 Page 2 of 7 A mini progress report for Explore Minnesota will be due to them in mid-April, explaining how funds are being used and if it’s to our benefit. A full report will be sent to them and to the Convention and Visitors Bureau Board; that report is due in August. As we’re a new Convention and Visitors Bureau, we wanted to take advantage of any opportunities coming our way. Recommendation: Accept grant award of $10,000 from the Explore Minnesota FY2022 Recovery Grant Program. Chair Dennis stated we were very fortunate to receive that grant; obviously, we’ll put that to use very well and it was very much needed. He asked if anyone had comments. Vice Chair Olsen stated he appreciated receiving the excellent news on the grant and the hard work that went into securing it. He wondered if we had benchmarked any other Convention and Visitors Bureaus around the state regarding how they have been using these types of funds. Specialist Prior-Miller stated this was available and the timeframe to use it is until June 30, 2022; she believes everyone will be using their funds from now until then. We had discussion with a few other Convention and Visitors Bureau representatives at a conference we attended and building some relationships, they are also using this for marketing initiatives. Some are adding it to events that they’d like to start doing and start promoting in their community, as a way to market themselves and their city. Vice Chair Olsen stated as we’re so new, we’re sort of building up our infrastructure including our website and other tools; he wondered if that was something other Convention and Visitors Bureaus were targeting with this funding or if they had something that we hadn’t even thought of. Specialist Prior-Miller stated she’ll be doing research and speaking with them regarding how some of them are spending their funds after they’ve become established Convention and Visitors Bureaus; many of them are putting funds to getting larger events coming their way so they can market their city in different ways. Vice Chair Olsen made a motion to accept the grant award of $10,000 from the Explore Minnesota FY2022 Recovery Grant Program. The motion was seconded by Director Patel. The motion passed unanimously (4-0). 4.2 Affiliate Welcome Center Program Specialist Prior-Miller stated this is another partnership with Explore Minnesota. This is really an exchange of in-kind services; no monetary exchange occurs between the two parties. The Welcome Center Program will give us marketing and publication materials on their behalf; in turn, they will take our marketing and publication materials and advertise it on their website and different state publications. In looking at this opportunity, what they’re looking for in a Welcome Center is really a highly-trafficked area within our city where their materials can be distributed. We’d originally talked to Parks and Recreation months ago about what our most highly-trafficked volume was in the city; we determined that’s probably the Ice Rink, as there are lots of different visitors with tournaments taking place there. So, we put some facts together on monthly visitors at the Ice Rink, and that information was submitted to Explore Minnesota. They approved our math and the Welcome Center here, if we’d like to have it in exchange for in-kind services with them. Recommendation: Approve the Memorandum of Understanding laid out by Explore Minnesota for the Cottage Grove Ice Rink to become an Affiliate Welcome Center. Director Patel made a motion to approve the Memorandum of Understanding laid out by Explore Minnesota for the Cottage Grove Ice Rink to become an Affiliate Welcome Center. The motion was seconded by Director Levine. The motion passed unanimously (4-0). 4.3 Q2 and Q3 Lodging Tax Revenues Jaime Mann, Assistant to the City Administrator, stated on May 1, 2020, we started collecting a 3% Lodging Tax on all facilities classified as a hotel, motel, rooming house, tourist court, or resort. The funds are collected quarterly and used to fund the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau. The tax due dates are: April 1, July 1, October 1, and January 1, for each previous quarter. City of Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau November 23, 2021 Page 3 of 7 Reporting Data: Per Minnesota Statute 13.495, data, other than basic taxpayer identification data, collected from taxpayers under a Lodging Tax ordinance are nonpublic. Moving forward, we can no longer release the names of the hotels or lodging facilities as it relates to Lodging Tax revenue. 2nd Quarter, 2021: Lodging Tax collections were $15,075, and $1,000 from an Explore Minnesota Tourism Crisis Marketing Grant, which was used to supplement lost dollars from the COVID pandemic. This total exceeded our conservative projected revenue by $5,017. 3rd Quarter, 2021: Lodging Tax collections were $19,680. This total exceeded our conservative projected revenue by $8,622. Assistant Mann stated Lodging Tax revenues are trending upward, and we expect that to continue in the 4th Quarter of 2021. At the end of the third quarter, we’ve already exceeded our total projected revenues for 2021. Vice Chair Olsen stated we’re heading into the fourth quarter, which is hockey season; generally, our Ice Arena gets a lot of tournament activity. He asked if there were any big tournaments on the horizon, which might help contribute to keeping our hotels in town full. If so, he asked if the hotels had been made aware of those events so they could identify specific dates where they might want to run specials or do more advertising. He hoped we were creating some synergy between the business owners and the city to keep everybody in the loop for the fourth quarter and most likely the first quarter of 2022. He suspected hoteliers would appreciate information on any upcoming events so they could staff appropriately. He asked Director Patel to offer some insight on that. Director Patel stated they were aware of the events that are coming in, and they’re selling out on the weekends. He likes the synergy idea because that’s a missing link. It’s basically word of mouth that helps keep them filled. He felt the fourth quarter of 2021 and first quarter of 2022 would be a little bit slower because it’s winter; the weekdays are especially hard to fill rooms, but the weekends are full. The second and third quarters they were sold out every day, so it will be interesting. Vice Chair Olsen stated we have our own staff members, but we also have the Athletic Association and their Board, so it might be wise to get all of the various stakeholders at the table to make sure that there are no knowledge gaps and we’re creating synergy. It’s especially important during the fourth quarter because of the various holidays, which is when tournaments often happen. Chair Dennis stated it’s important to hear that because he’s received feedback from various restauranteurs or businesses that are impacted when large groups of people come into town; they’re just not being advised, so some are basically getting crushed when there are 250 extra sandwiches that have to be made that day and they didn’t know that ahead of time. This has been discussed in the past; this is something that we would really like to see happen for our business community, so the Convention and Visitors Bureau is the perfect pathway. Director Levine stated paying attention to all of the large events going on around us is also important; in January, the Greater Stillwater chapter is hosting a world snow sculpture, so they’ve asked all the other Washington County Chambers within 30 miles of them to prepare their businesses, lodging and restaurants, because they will be packed January 18- January 23. So, we need to prepare so that we represent our communities well during that time. Vice Chair Olsen stated he thought the lesson here is we want to make sure that we keep our business owners aware of what might be coming, what’s on the calendar now, to ensure adequate staffing and that they have enough products on hand. Those are opportunities to either really impress your customer or disappoint your customer. When you disappoint the customer, they’re going to find somebody else who can meet their needs. We want to be a destination so that they can actually discover Cottage Grove. It’s convenient for people to stay in Cottage Grove and travel to and from Stillwater, so that’s a great opportunity for us. We need to make sure our business owners know we’re looking out for them. 4.4 2022 Budget Approval Assistant Mann stated our draft budget for 2022 was submitted to the City Council and serves as a placeholder until we submit our final budget. The Convention and Visitors Bureau started at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, so we had to adjust our revenue projections to account for the downturn in the lodging industry. Our pre-COVID projections had annual Lodging Tax revenue between $66,000 and $71,000, using a 60-to-65% occupancy rate. For 2021, our revenue projections used a bit more moderate, 40-to-45% occupancy rate, estimating $44,232 in Lodging Tax revenue. She reviewed quarterly results for 2021; the first quarter revenue was lower than projected, while the second and third quarters were both higher than projected. This illustrates that we still do not have a reliable history base to use or projections until we have about two or three years of post-COVID numbers. City of Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau November 23, 2021 Page 4 of 7 Revenue: $66,348-Lodging Tax Revenue, using a 60% occupancy rate $10,000-Explore Minnesota FY2022 Recovery Grant Program Total Revenue: $76,348 Expenses: Marketing: $24,000-Online and Social Media $ 7,008-Publications (Have Fun Biking/Let’s Play Hockey) $ 3,720-Collateral Development and Printing $12,732-Other Types (May change due to printing cost of the Visitors Guide) $47,460 Operations: $ 1,280-Day-to-Day Expenses $ 390-Membership to MACVB $ 375-Staff Attend Annual Conference for MACB $15,756-Contractual Services to City to Operate CGCVB $17,801 Other: $ 3,204-Reimburse EDA Trust Fund for start-up costs of CGCVB $ 2,750-Reimburse City of Cottage Grove for start-up costs of CGCVB $ 5,954 TOTALS: Revenue Projection: $76,348 Total Expenses: $74,532 Net Income: $ 1,815.60 Recommendation: Approve the 2022 Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau budget. Vice Chair Olsen made a motion to approve the 2022 Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau Budget. The motion was seconded by Director Levine. The motion passed unanimously (4-to-0). 4.5 Annual Report Assistant Mann stated according to the bylaws of the CGCVB, each year we’re required to submit our Annual Report to the City Council no later than December 1. This report outlines the activities of the CGCVB for the previous year. Quarter 4 Lodging Tax Payments are not due until after the conclusion of Quarter 4, which is 30 days past January 1. So, being unable to include Quarter 4 revenue and expenses, we will not be able to provide a comprehensive look at the overall budget and activities for the year. We’re proposing an amendment to Resolution 2020-094, which would change Section 9; basically, we’re looking to change the date of the Annual Report being due to the City Council from December 1 to Quarter 2 of the following year. Recommendation: Approve the Resolution amending Resolution 2020-094 and stating that the Bureau shall provide a written Annual Report to the City Council no later than Quarter 2 of each year. The report shall outline the previous year’s activities of the Bureau. Chair Dennis stated he thought it was reasonable that we have time to perform all of our accounting standards before we provide a report to the Council. He didn’t see any challenge with this, but would open it up for any other discussion. Director Patel made a motion to approve the Resolution amending Resolution 2020-094 and stating that the Bureau shall provide a written Annual Report to the City Council no later than Quarter 2 of each year. The report shall outline the previous year’s activities of the Bureau. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Olsen. The motion passed unanimously (4-to-0). 4.6 Visitors Guide Specialist Prior-Miller stated at our last meeting in July, it was recommended and approved that we include ads in our Visitor Guide publication to help offset the printing cost. She explained what had been done since that time: City of Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau November 23, 2021 Page 5 of 7 • Spoke with businesses and asked them to advertise with us • Researched what other local ad prices were and where we wanted to set our prices to structure our ad size • If businesses had financial limits, we still wanted them to be able to advertise with us, our lowest-sized ad is 1/8 of a page at $95 • Followed standards, including higher costs for ad placement in the inside front and back covers • Flyers sent out to 200 businesses, along with an introductory letter on CGCVB letterhead, explaining that we’re newly established, what we do and what we offer. It stated we’re looking to produce this Visitors Guide in 2022. • Currently, we’ve sold nine total ads to: Afton Alps, Boondocks, Dennis Brothers Liquor, Dodge Nature Center, Furber Farm, Hound Around Resort, Hy-Vee, River Oaks Golf & Event Center, and the VFW • We’re hoping to gain a few more, as we believe they’re on the fence, so we extended our deadline to December 1 • Some advertisers were excited to work with us, but because this is our first print run, they were hesitant to move forward because they weren’t sure about website traffic and we aren’t able to show historical data • Ads vary in size and will account for approximately four pages in the Visitors Guide • The ads will generate revenue of approximately $3,600 Printing Bids • We reached out to three printers to receive bids for the Visitors Guide, including bids to mail the Visitors Guide to Cottage Grove residents • Each printer advised us that due to supply-chain issues with paper companies, they’re limited on amounts of stock they receive, so bids are moving quickly as is the allocation • They were asked to provide estimates for 32 pages, with maps, introductory information for Cottage Grove, and having activities arranged by season; we felt we’d have ample space with 32 pages plus the four-page cover • They will be full color, with bleeds, fold/stitch/trim binding, and an aqueous coating for the cover, which gives it a softer feeling • They were asked to provide estimates for quantities of 2,500 and 5,000, and we also asked one printer to provide an additional estimate based on printing 15,500 and another for printing 18,000 guides should we want to move forward with mailing these guides to Cottage Grove residents, as was discussed at the July 27 meeting • Bid quotes: GDI: 2,500=$4,060 LaCrosse Graphics: 2,500=$4,417.01 Ideal Printers: 2,500=$4,597 5,000=$6,041 5,000=$5,813.10 5,000=$6,183 15,500=$12,360* 18,000=$13,896* *Does NOT include postage Working Draft • Regarding the design, we’d spoken about having seasonal categories. Keep in mind everything is a working draft until it’s submitted to the printer, as we have ads coming in and we’re adjusting for space and content, so things are fluid and moving. Specialist Prior-Miller likes to place ads in the guide where it makes sense, as opposed to two pages of ads all clumped together in one section. • She displayed a Halloween working layout; she kept to high quality, engaging photos, and she noted in creating this, she reached out to a number of local businesses and got permission to use their photos in the guide. • Specialist Prior-Miller displayed a Holiday working draft, and felt the Holiday Train photo was a good choice for the main photo. She just wanted to give an idea of what we’re working with; it’s important that these images are eye catching so they’ll want to also read the content. Recommendation: 1) Consideration of approving securing a bid under contract and spending authorization up to $7,000 and for the printing of 2,500 Visitors Guides due to fluctuations in the market and supply chain issues of paper prices. 2) Consideration of approval of calling a Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 7:30 a.m. to review and provide final feedback for revisions of the 2022 Visitors Guide. Chair Dennis stated he thought we were moving in a nice direction with the images and the layout; he thought it looked very professional and good with the high-resolution photos and layout. No one else had questions or feedback they wished to give on this item. Director Levine made a motion to approve up to $7,000 and for the printing of the Visitors Guides. The motion was seconded by Director Patel. The motion passed unanimously (4-to-0). City of Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau November 23, 2021 Page 6 of 7 Vice Chair Olsen made a motion to approve calling a Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 7:30 a.m. to review and provide final feedback for revisions of the 2022 Visitors Guide. The motion was seconded by Director Patel. The motion passed unanimously (4-to-0). OTHER BUSINESS 5.1 CGCVB Comments Director Levine said that so far the Visitors Guide is looking amazing so told Specialist Prior-Miller she’s doing a great job. Director Patel stated he forgot about this, so asked if there was still space for the hotel in the Visitors Guide; Specialist Prior-Miller stated that yes, there was, and she’d be happy to speak with him after the meeting today. Vice Chair Olsen stated he had a housekeeping issue regarding the agenda; he thought it would be advisable to approve the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, perhaps after Roll Call, as today we were working off of two separate documents, which was a bit confusing. Vice Chair Olsen stated it’s pretty exciting to engage in this process; we’re creating something, and he likes the idea that the staff is really working with more-established Convention and Visitors Bureaus to gain some insight on what they might be doing and how. We’re trying to ensure that this Convention and Visitors Bureau is all about Cottage Grove; even though we benchmark what others are doing, we’re still creating our own content. As we’re looking at creating printed copies that we’re going to send out, let’s remember to make sure the photos used reflect the diversity of our community. Vice Chair Olsen stated anything we can do to engage our local businesses in this process and gain their insight and partnership will be valuable. Going forward, it might be worthwhile to invite businesses to sit in on a meeting, or create an opportunity where we do some work with the restaurants, the hoteliers, etc. We want to make sure that they’re aware that we’re here, we’re working on their behalf, and we really want them to have a seat at the table to help us out. He’s really excited to see that Dennis from the River Oaks Golf Course is here today because River Oaks is a magnificent facility. This is an opportunity to present River Oaks in a different light to some people who wouldn’t otherwise go to River Oaks. Chair Dennis stated at our next meeting in January, it would be interesting to see some performance measurements regarding views of our website. It would be helpful moving forward to see how much more awareness we’ve created. Chair Dennis stated we currently have two openings for this particular commission; we’re looking for two great individuals who would like to join our Board and be a part of this with us. He stated Director Levine and the Chamber were kind enough to put this information out on their page, and he’s quite sure we also have information on the City’s website. If you know of anyone or have an interest, please don’t hesitate to contact us; we’d love to add to our commission so it can be full. Chair Dennis noted Vice Chair Olsen mentioned we have a special guest here today, Dennis Neitz. He asked Mr. Neitz if he felt the need to add anything to what he’s about to say, or improve it, he’s certainly welcome to speak. He echoed the great amenity we have at River Oaks; it’s a place that can be enjoyed by the community year round. It’s a community- owned business so when we support it, we support ourselves. Right now, there are several unique opportunities there: There was a pop-up dinner last Friday night, and the food was exceptional, the service was good, and it’s an opportunity to have folks stay here in the community to dine. There’s also event space available for holiday gatherings, reunions, business meetings, and weddings. It’s very competitively priced and we have all the line items of support, including food, beverages, and audio-video capabilities. There will be a Santa Breakfast on Sunday morning, December 12, and reservations are required for that; visit riveroaksmunigolf.com, or call 651-438-2121. Chair Dennis stated as we get into the week of Thanksgiving, Black Friday will have big shopping sales. He asked residents to remember to shop local; there are benefits when we do that, as .68 out of every $1 stays right here in the community. It’s a chance to build our local economy one sale at a time and keep Cottage Grove strong, which falls into the very heart of what we’re doing here. 5.2 Response to Previous CGCVB Comments - None. Chair Dennis stated the next CGCVB Meeting will be a Special Meeting held on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 7:30 a.m., in the Council Chambers. City of Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau November 23, 2021 Page 7 of 7 ADJOURNMENT Director Patel made a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Olsen. Motion passed unanimously (4-to-0 vote). The meeting adjourned at 8:18 a.m. Respectfully submitted, _______________________________________ Jaime Mann, Assistant to the City Administrator /jag