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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017/10/31 MASON COUNTY LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Commissioners'Chambers 411 North 5T"Street, Shelton, WA 98584 Tuesday, October 31, 2017 9:00 a.m. Members in Attendance: Chair Terri Drexler, Kelly Bergh, and Duane Wilson. Heidi McCutcheon arrived at 9:20 a.m. Absent: Shaun Tucker Chair Drexler called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. Approval of the July 27, 2017 meeting minutes Duane/Kelly moved and seconded to approve the July 271 2017 meeting minutes. Motion carried. Review of Quarterly Reports North Mason Chamber of Commerce VIC Stephanie Rowland reviewed the 3`d quarterly report from the North Mason Chamber Visitor Information Center which includes Belfair and Union. This past weekend they hosted the Halloween catapult competition which was very successful. Visitor contacts have increased both in Belfair and Union. Shelton Mason County Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information Center Heidi McCutcheon reviewed the 2nd and 3rd quarter report from the Shelton Mason County Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information Center which includes the Shelton and Hoodsport locations. Blue Collar Agency Vince Ready and April Donovan reviewed the 3rd quarter report for Blue Collar Agency for tourism development and support of festivals/small events. The lodging tax revenue is up about 6% and website traffic was up 10% compared to same period of last year. Monthly emails are effective and click-thru rates are well above industry average and Vince recommended this method to reach people be nurtured. The 41h quarter work plan is to advertise for the shoulder season, Vince noted that advertising is very expensive in December and they are repurposing content that has performed well. Transition of Tourism Contract Blue Collar Agency provided information on their proposed Transition Plan that was submitted with a budget of$7,675. This includes delivering photos and videos and organized with notes; transferring the social media credentials digital — everything that creates the footprint for the account; the hard drives is the delivery system; 2 hour go-to meeting session to help the new contractor (NEO) understand what they have been doing; account management to make this happen. Blue Collar sees this as outside of the current contract. It translates to 40 hours of labor. Cmmr. Drexler asked about uploading the information to Cloud storage; April stated they have a lot of data and video editing. John Hansen, Northwest Event Organizers (NEO) provided information on their plan to transition into the 2018 contract. They will contact Blue Collar; request external hard drives, may have a few questions. Lodging Tax Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 31, 2017 Heidi/Duane moved and seconded to authorize NEO to negotiate the transition of the Tourism Contract and make necessary contacts to be ready to implement the 2018 contract and include county oversight on conversations between the parties. Motion carried. The contract states the information belongs to the County and Blue Collar needs to return it to the County. Cmmr. Drexler stated that whatever is negotiated with NEO, that cost would come out of current contract. Duane suggested the County's attorney review the contract to see if the transition costs have to be paid. Waterfall Map The Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission (OPTC) prints a Waterfall Trail brochure and because Mason County is not a member, Mason County waterfalls have not been included in the brochure. There has been an offer to include Mason County waterfalls in the next print at a cost of$1,500 for the print assuming Mason County will become a member of OPTC. This is four-member commission. The request of LTAC is to approve $1,500 out of Lodging Tax reserve for the print of the waterfall map; OPTC membership will be paid out of the NEO 2018 contract. Heidi spoke in favor of this map. Duane expressed caution on the membership because in the past, he felt Mason County was under-represented by the OPTC. Heidi/Kelly moved and seconded to spend$1,500 from lodging tax reserves for the Olympic Peninsula waterfall brochure. Motion carried. Duane/Heidi moved and seconded to recommend to the County Commissioners to join the Olympic Peninsula tourism Commission, based on the recommendation of NEO. Motion carried. Consider Transition Plan submitted by Blue Collar Agency Continued discussion of the Transition Plan submitted by Blue Collar Agency with a budget of $7,675 to transfer the contract to Northwest Event Organizers. John Hansen, NEO, stated that everything produced belongs to the County and within 30 days of end of contract, everything is handed over to the County. NEO's plan is to save all the information gathered on the Cloud then it's just a hand off of the passwords. They do not believe a two hour meeting is necessary. The cost for two terabyte Cloud storage is $20 a month. His hope is there would be a professional smooth transition and if in the next few months NEO needs to contact Blue Collar for information, it would go well. Stephanie stated the cost also includes the videos and photos. Heidi noted that when the Chamber transferred information to Blue Collar, there was no fee or time charged, but maybe should have been. She expressed unhappiness with the $7,700 cost. Heidi requested a justification of how many hours it would take to complete the transition. The training cost can go away; use Cloud storage. LTAC Page 12 Lodging Tax Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 31, 2017 Adoption of By-Laws Currently, the LTAC has no adopted by-laws and a draft was reviewed. Heidi requested more than 3 day notice of a meeting and suggested changing to a 7 day notice in Article 5; strike"special" in Article 13; add language so the by-laws will to refer to current RCW. Heidi/Kelly moved and seconded to adopt the by-law of the Mason County By-Laws. Motion carried. Other Business— Discussion of lodging tax paid. Cmmr. Drexler encouraged NEO to develop relationships with the hotels to better understand the vacancy rates and to find ways to encourage developers to build new motels in Mason County. Public Comment- none Calendar— meet in later January to have a conversation with NEO on the contract transfer. The meeting adjourned at 11:15 a.m. LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON ATTEST: LTAC Clerk Cmmr, Terri Drexler, Chair LTAC Page 13