HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 02/11/2003 - JointI HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Joint
Council Meeting of the City of Corpus Christi of February 11, 2003, which were approved by the
City Council on March 4, 2003.
WITNESSETH MY HAND AND SEAL, this 4th day of March 2003.
Armando Chapa
City Secretary
SEAL
MINUTES
JOINT MEETING OF THE
CORPUS CHRISTI CITY COUNCIL AND
CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS
City Hall - Sixth Floor Conference Room
February 11, 2003 - 12:00 p.m.
PRESENT
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Samuel L. Neal Jr.
Mayor Pro Tem John Longoria
Javier Colmenero
Brent Chesney(Arrived at 12:15 p.m.)
Henry Garrett (Arrived at 12:40 p.m.)
Bill Kelly
Rex A. Kinnison
Jesse Noyola
Mark Scott
City Staff
Acting City Manager George Noe
Acting City Attorney Jay Reining
City Secretary Armando Chapa
ABSENT
CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
Bert Quintanilla, Chairman
Vangie Chapa
Tomas Duran
Cristina Garza
Bill Goin
Bill Morgan
Govind Nadkarni
Jody Patel
Lillian Riojas
Tom Schmid
Dan Viola
CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
Victor Gonzalez
Brad Lomax
Dave Prewitt
Linda Routh
John Trice
Mayor Neal called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. City Secretary Chapa checked the
roll and verified that there were quorums of both the Council and the Convention and Visitors
Bureau (CVB) Board of Directors.
CVB Chairman Bert Quintanilla called on Mr. Wayne Bennett, CEO of the CVB to
present the Fourth Quarter report and the 2002 Year End Review. Mr. Bennett reported that this
year marked the CVB's fifteenth anniversary. During the fourth quarter, several events of note
took place, including the grand opening of the renovated airport, the November election, and the
negotiations with the Ryans to bring minor league baseball to Corpus Christi. Mr. Bennett stated
that the city's partnership with the Ryans will probably prove to be beneficial on many fronts.
He reported that 2002 ended as a strong year. Mr. Bennett reviewed data comparing 2001 and
2002 hotel occupancy rates and concluded that Corpus Christi had outpaced most of its
competitors in 2002. For the first half of FY 2003, Mr. Bennett referred to a handout detailing
future conventions and bookings for 2004 in the arena and convention center. He said the
numbers reflect the success of the CVB's marketing campaign. Mr. Bennett said that for the first
six months of FY 2003, the CVB was below its convention sales goals, but would be working
toward meeting those goals. He also briefly discussed the board retreat. Topics discussed during
the board retreat included working with the arena and convention center expansion contractors to
ensure that they are informed of each others progress. The board also determined that they
needed to strengthen their marketing campaign. Finally, the board discussed reaching out to the
hospitality worker to keep them informed of the changes taking place downtown. Since they are
front-line workers and deal directly with the public, it is important to keep them informed.
Mayor Neal commented that the Port of Corpus Christi has been very aggressive in building a
relationship with Toyota and he suggested that future marketing plans should include Toyota.
Mr. Bennett introduced Bill Pettus, who provided the quarterly marketing report. The
highlights included in an insert published in Texas Travel in April will also be included in
newspapers all over Texas. He also noted that Texas Monthly ran a 10 -page "editorial"
regarding Corpus Christi visitors and tourism in April 2002 which was so successful that it is
going to run again this April. Mr. Pettus then mentioned some convention publications that were
funded by $100,000 that the Council had approved for them this fiscal year to market
conventions. He felt the additional funding would greatly help in promoting the city as a
convention destination. Next, Mr. Pettus discussed their spring program. In the past, the CVB
had created inserts that were published and distributed during one particular weekend that had
proven to be very effective. However, the marketing committee thought that this approach might
be too risky. Focusing on one weekend could be disastrous if the CVB picked the wrong
weekend - for example, if war was declared that particular weekend and tourism came to halt.
Instead, the marketing campaign would focus on local newspapers with more shorter deadlines
that would allow a quicker response. Finally, in response to a prior inquiry by Council Member
Kinnison, Mr. Pettus discussed the CVB's relationship with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
and its accountability in that regard. He said that the CVB had made great strides in the last six
months, especially in the last quarter, to improve the relationship.
Mr. Quintanilla introduced Joe Cisneros, President of the Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, who provided an update on the Hispanic Chamber's Northern Mexico marketing
campaign. Their research indicated that Corpus Christi is considered a family vacation
destination. Their campaign focused on identifying peak travel times when Mexicans come to
the United States (e.g. Christmas, back to school shopping) and then advertising during that time.
Mr. Cisneros said that they advertised in a social magazine called Sierra Madre which catered to
a upper -middle class Mexican demographic. They also advertised in Texas y Turismo, the
number one publication that is distributed as an insert in El Norte magazine. He said that the
Hispanic Chamber was striving to understand the Mexican market.
Mr. Quintanilla then introduced Carol Dunton with the CVB to provide information on
the Public Relations Activity report. Ms. Dunton reported that the city had received free
advertisement in the last quarter through national television exposure. Corpus Christi is going to
be featured in HGTV's Dream Drives show on March 15 and the show has approximately 80
million viewers per episode. The Travel Channel will be airing a program called Spring Break
Destinations 2003 that will include a segment on Corpus Christi. It will air on various dates in
March and April, with an approximate viewership of 67 million viewers per episode. The Food
Network's $40 a Day program will be doing a feature on Corpus Christi and their viewership is
approximately 77 million viewers per episode. Finally, the Fine Living Network is airing a
program called Found in American which will include a brief segment focusing on the U.S.S.
Lexington and their viewership is approximately 30 million viewers.
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.