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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Corpus Christi Convention & Visitor Bureau - 07/19/1994 it S (41 °Pi CCACVB BO•'D DF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1994 3PM CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU, 2ND FLOOR BOARD ROOM I. Call to Order The meeting was opened at 3:17PM by Keith Arnold. IL Roll Call Directors attending: Al Jones (Chairman), presiding Marco Arredondo, Rosario Carrizo, David Coggins, Ralph Ehrlich, Cathy Harrison, Rex Kinnison, Lillian Murray, Bill Pruet and Erich Wendl. Absent: Ricardo Sanchez, Jean Thus and Gene Urban. Attending Staff: Keith Arnold, Mary Etta Brundidge, Suzy Hanson, Marilyn Pierce, Susan Pratt, Dana Stephens and Dottie Sylvester. uest : John Bell, Fred Dolts (MDL), Paul Fleck (Chamber of Commerce), Mo Morehead (MDL), Jim Steinberg (Corpus Christi Caller Times) and Kay Wolf(Area Council Chairman). Prior to the Chairman's arrival, Keith Arnold made several introductions to the Board. Mr. Arnold introduced Susan Pratt who will be assuming the Executive Assistant position on July 28th. He added that Ms. Pratt has had good experience in the communications field as well as being an Executive Assistant. Approximately 30% of her time will be spent in the Communications Department. . . Mr. Arnold introduced the Bureau's new Information Systems Manager, Suzy Hanson. Ms. Hanson is now a full-time employee of the CVB and is their overall computer person. Lastly, he introduced the Area Council's new Chairperson, Kay Wolf who is head of the Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce. III. Motion to approve Minutes of June 23, 1994 Board of Directors Meeting A motion was made by Lillian Murray and seconded by Ralph Ehrlich to approve the above minutes as written. All were in favor. SCANNED Ia CTIPCS CURI l i ARIA COAVI Vnun&Vi•l roR,BCRFec ... ." I201 Sluare11v1 PO Box 2664.COMICS C Ili l',11 1 i Y• M4052664 LSA • NC5601 • Iagonn-oeeANu: ) • FVA ;il-n$2.4:;e 2 IV. Consolidation Discussion Chairman Jones updated the Board on the above issue. It was reaffirmed that the Chamber of Commerce, on their second vote, were in favor of the consolidation. With consolidation as the unanimous choke among all three organizations, the next step will be to present the consolidation plans to City Council the early part of August. Currently the Interim Board of Directors for the consolidation are working on putting all the details together, i.e. contracts. They will need to go to City Council, the Port and the County Commissioners with a merger agreement and slate of directors. It was added that an Alliance Board meeting is scheduled for Friday morning, July 22nd, beginning at 8AM in the CVB's Board room. At this point, Chairman Jones asked John Bell to comment on the consolidation as Mr. Bell is the attorney for the consolidation. Mr. Bell stated that the transition to consolidation would involve a two part process. The first part would involve developing a contract with the City. It was pointed out the CVB would be the least affected contract. Although the name of the organization would change, it's function would not. The second part of the changeover process would involve the three organizations signing a final closing agreement. It was asked if there would be any changes in terms of the money received by the Bureau. The response was that there would be "a couple of changes". It was emphasized that Bed Tar is driven by State law. It was also asked if the CVB envisioned any changes to their operating budget. The response was "no" — that they were told to "go ahead as normal". Mary Etta Brundidge noted that there would need to be three sets of financials and one consolidated financial that would add all the other financials together. V. CCACVB Financial Report Mr. Arnold noted that the above report had been couriered to Board members prior to today's meeting. As the Bureau is in good financial status, they will be able to prepay some of their 1994/95 expenses which they are "very excited about". The Bureau's audit will start on time with Flusche, Van Beveren & Kilgore within the next week. The audit will cover fiscal year '93. A question arose as to whether insurance costs will continue to increase due to the Lexington. The response was that the Bureau was uncertain about that but felt insurance "probably won't get higher". It was pointed out that the Bureau does not have that financial obligation with the Columbus Fleet. Their connection to the Las Carabelas is that the CVB Board ratifys their Board members, budget and bylaws. The CVB Board has no managerial oversight of the three ships. VL Departmental Reports (ATTACHMENT A) As of June 30th, the CVB has reached 88% of the goal set for room nights which is double the goal that was set for the prior fiscal year. They are within 6,000 room nights of 41110 V 3 reaching their goal for the year. The Communications Department will be receiving a portion of two employees' time which has freed up the budget to hire a full-time computer person. Motorcoach continues to be strong. Maupintour has stated that they want to bring six tours to the Corpus Christi area. The big motorcoach tour shows will start in 60 days. For the first time, the Bureau has received calls from motorcoach personnel to make sure they will be at the shows rather than the Bureau having to initiate the calls. The Fall advertising insert will be placed in newspapers on September 11th (the weekend after Labor Day). The insert will be circulated in newspapers covering Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin and San Antonio. On Friday, July 29th, Spencer Christian will be broadcasting the weather live from the Lexington for "Good Morning America". During the broadcast the Nina will be caught on camera. The Visitor Information Centers have sent out approximately 40,000 pieces of bulk mall over the past six months which has saved the Bureau over$8,000 in cost from what they would have paid a fulfillment service. The Bureau's newsletter in August will be their Annual Report. It was emphasized that there was a "significant number of room nights booked in 1994 for 1995". Chairman Jones asked Mr. Arnold to elaborate on the Gulf of Mexico Symposium. It was noted that the Symposium grows every year it is put on. The one to be held in Corpus Christi beginning March 29, 1995 for four days will be the third Symposium and will bring in approximately 2500 people. Among those expected are the Vice President of the United States, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, significant officials from Mexico, noted scientists and research vessels. Study tracts will address beach debris, wetlands, habitat degradation, etc. The Symposium will bring in school children and have contests for them as well. VII. Presentations to the Board Although today's meeting was not the last Board meeting for the CCACVB Board of Directors per the CVB's attorney John Bell, presentations were made to a couple of long term Board members. Mr. Arnold added that he hoped these members would continue to stay close to the new consolidation effort and that they would perhaps serve on committees of the consolidation. Plaques were presented to Lillian Murray who has been a member of the CVB Board since 1991 and Erich Wendt. Mr. Wendt has served on the CVB Board since 1989. Chairman Jones was presented with an eagle award for his service as Chairman of the CCACVB Board of Directors during the past two years. 4 Ms. Murray presented a gift to Dottie Sylvester on beha{f of the Board of Directors as today would be Ms. Sylvester's last meeting with the Board. VIII. Old Business Chairman Jones noted that the Bureau had sent out a ballot on a proposal for casino gaming. The Board was unanimous in their support for the gaming issue. Mr. Arnold stated that "this community needs to take revenue producing enterprises into consideration" as the gaming industry is growing quickly. He added that "the pie is growing significantly". He felt gaming was a "good add-on" to a resort destination. It was stressed that whatever is done with legislation on a local level needs to be planned beforehand. Final legislation has not yet been crafted. Cathy Harrison invited the Board to a General Meeting of the Coastal Bend Restaurant Association which will be held Thursday, July 21st at the Republic of Texas Bar & Grill. The topic for the meeting will be casino gaming. Chairman Jones clarified to the Board that the position they accepted was put forth by the Chamber of Commerce. Rex Kinnison agreed with Mr. Arnold's opinion on the casino gaming issue — "now is the time to look at it and study it, have an opportunity to shape the legislation. If done right it could be an attraction this community could use." The Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a legislative weekend on August 26 and 27th. The lieutenant Governor and his speaker will both be in attendance. IX. New Business Keith Arnold pointed out the Bureau's new line of advertisements which had been placed around the conference table for the Board's perusal. The ads use standard Texas type sayings with a Corpus Christi twist. New colors have been used as well as new borders so that the ads will coordinate with the CVB's new publications coming out in September. The ads will be placed in motorcoach directories as well as in an Affordable Meetings directory. A direct mail piece will be going out to 1500 corporate meeting planners in Texas. The piece is primarily a prospecting vehicle (ATTACHMENT B). A question arose as to what type of response was expected from the direct mail piece. It was explained that this type mailing would be a first for the Bureau targeting meeting planners. The piece encourages people to fill it out and return it in order to receive something free. It has not yet been determined what will be given out for responding. If there are not a lot of responses a mug may be given out, if there are a lot of responses perhaps a pen may be supplied. Mr. Ehrlich asked the Bureau to please monitor how many pieces were sent out, how many people responded and how many of those meeting planners booked with Corpus Christi. The Bureau recently did a "quick update"poll of 22 hotel properties, 12 restaurants and Padre Staples Mall to check on the status of their May, June and July business. They found out that the hotels were up 4% over last year, restaurants had a flat to slight rise w 5 although it was noted that a lot of new restaurants had opened in town within the last year, and Padre Staples Mall was up 5.64%from last year. Additionally, the Bureau added that the Airport was up 5.5%. The intercept study questionnaire given out on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today was brought to the Board's attention (ATTACHMENT C). The questionnaire was supplied to visitors leaving the Texas State Aquarium, Columbus Fleet and Lexington as part of the research project which was approved by the Board at an earlier Board meeting. The questionnaire was handed out by volunteers and Sparklers at the Columbus Fleet and also supplied to beach properties. The Bureau estimated that they will receive about 1,000 completed questionnaires the results of which will be back in about 21-30 days. The off season intercept study will be done sometime in the Fall. It was suggested that it be handled the last part of September or first week in October. The conversion study on inquiries that have come in for the year will begin in about a month. Motorcoach tour operators who have not used Corpus Christi will be sent a questionnaire as to why they haven't chosen to use the City. The Pay For Performance and Compensation Study has begun. Jim Connolley of Cornerstone Management Services spent about a week at the Bureau collecting information and interviewing staff. Currently the Bureau is collecting imperative data for Mr. Connolley from other CVBs that are of the same size as the CCACVB. Chairman Jones asked Mr. Kinnison, Sports District Chairman, to give an update on their planned feasibility study. Mr. Kinnison stated that they are scheduled to review proposals for a feasibility study this Friday. The study will cover the building of a multi-purpose arena in the convention center area, the building of a multi-purpose sports center which could also be used for festivals, and recreational youth improvements. The latter would center on the possibility of upgrading existing facilities and putting recreational facilities in areas not currently being served. The next meeting of the Sports District will be held on August 3rd or 4th. Money will then be raised to get the above study done. X. Adjournment to Closed Session At 3:55PM the Board adjourned to go into Executive Session. Dottie Sylvester Recording Secretary