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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014/08/21 MASON COUNTY LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMM117EE Meeting Minutes Commissioners'Chambers 411 North S'H Street, Shelton, WA 98584 Thursday August 21, 2014 11:00 a.m. Members in Attendance: Chair Terri Jeffreys, Bonnie Knight, Duane Wilson, Stephanie Rowland, Angela Rabe|os, Kelly Bergh, Shaun Tucker and Darin Barry. Absent: Julie Gray 1. Chair Jeffreys called the meeting to order at 11:04a.m. Public Comment: Rachel Hansen stated that she will be happy to provide information or answer any questions if necessary. 2. Approval of Minutes: Approval of the July 29, 3014 minutes RowUand/Berghmmoned and seconded to approve the July 29/ 2014 minutes as revised. Motion carried. 3. Consideration of Letter of protest from the North Mason Chamber ofCommerce — Stephanie Rowland read her letter of protest regarding scoring of the RFPs. Shaun Tucker joined the group at11:O7a.m. Duane stated that he is not sure what the options are. Darin stated that it's methodology and not the scores. Angela stated that the scoring system is diverse. Cmmr. Jeffreys stated she would like to come up with an action item pertaining to the letter ufprotest. She stated we either continue on or re-evaluate how the scoring was done or remove the scores nfDarin Barry. She stated we need to move toward action. Bonnie Knight is concerned about throwing out just one parsons vote. She stated that those numbers any not usually binding at the meeting. Duane stated that it was obviously skewed. Stephanie reiterated that her letter is asking to remove the skewed votes. Darhn/Ange|ammoved and seconded to allow the scores to stand and move om with the meeting. Bonnie Knight stated she has a problem with just throwing out scores of one parson. Chair Jeffreys confirmed that the top three would change if Darin's scores are thrown out. Agendas are subject to change,please contact the Commissioners'office for the most recent version. Shaun Tucker stated it's obvious what Darin was doing. He asked if Darin has had a chance to speak to his scoring. Darin's score sheets were submitted after the July 29 meeting. Stephanie stated this is awkward. She is concerned that this process has not been respected. She said she heard Darin say he wanted to get his top three in. Bonnie Knight commented that we have to respect the opinions of others so she does not want to see others votes thrown out even if people don't agree. She is concerned about disrespecting a member of this committee. Shaun said he feels that Darin is disrespecting the committee. He reiterated that is his personal opinion. Darin stated that he read the proposals and he spent time determining his scores. Chair Jeffreys reminded everyone there is a motion on the table. Angela stated that Julie Gray's letter is not in favor of throwing out Darin's scores either. She stated that the scoring system that was used is not good. She added that each person has a different perception when it comes to scoring. Shaun stated Darin is not following the way to score. Angela reiterated that everyone has a different way to score. Kelly stated she is confused about what to do next. Shaun added there should be diversity although blatant swaying of the vote is not respecting the process. He said if they all aren't scoring the same way then the process is tainted. Bonnie added that she has been through a lot of these and everyone should come to a consensus. Chair Jeffreys reiterated the motion on the table. She called for a vote of all in favor of the motion of keeping the scores and moving forward. Motion failed. Angela/Bonnie moved and seconded to come to consensus regarding to top three candidates. Shaun worries that if we keep talking about this it will just go round and round. He states we should just go around the room and share the top three choices and come to an agreement. Darin feels this committee spends all this time discussing things when their website isn't even prepared or accurate. Agendas are subject to change,please contact the Commissioners'office for the most recent version. Bonnie stated that we need to stay focused as we don't have much time to work this out. She added they need to resolve this problem legally. She asked if they can vote again. Shaun stated he doesn't understand the motion. Angela said they need to go around the room and ask everyone who their top three are and then have a discussion. She said it's basically scoring as a group and making a decision on the top three to interview as group. Shaun stated it seems like we already discussed all of this. It seems like the vote should be to either keep or throw out the votes that are in question. Duane said this seems silly since this is what was intended in the first place. Bonnie said she doesn't believe we can reach consensus and they need to just vote on the top three. Darin suggested Shaun add a friendly amendment to the motion. Shaun feels this is opening a can of worms. He reiterated what Julie said abut this committee having a bad reputation for changing things along the way. Angela/Bonnie moved andseconded to come to consensus regarding o top three candidates. Motion carried. ® ® Shaun commented he is not a fan of changing the process right in the middle. The group discussed how to come up with the top three. Heidi McCutcheon suggested that everyone pick top three and then average out the top three. She stated that the scores would still be based on the criteria set forth. The committee agreed. The committee was asked to circle their top three in order to come to the top three based on their scores. DW: NW Event Organizers, Shelton Chamber, S3 ST: NW Event Organizers, Shelton Chamber, Blue collar KB: NW Event Organizers, Blue Collar and S3 AR: No Vote SR: No Vote BK: Shelton Chamber, Pivot &Levy and S3 JG: NW Event Organizers, Shelton Chamber, KMAS (Angela read Julie's scores) DB: NW Event Organizers, Pivot& Levy, S3 Top three based on scores are: NW Event Organizers, Joint Chambers, S3 Discussion: A discussion took place to agree on the top three candidates, Agendas are subject to change,please contact the Commissioners'office for the most recent version. After further discussion, there is a consensus that the top three proposals are: NW Event Organizers, Joint Chamber &Blue Collar. The LTAC committee has agreed on the top three and everyone is in support of the candidates to be interviewed. Duane told Darin that once someone is hired, that company will be in charge of all the web based changes that Darin wants made. 4. Consideration of changes to the Explore Hood Canal website proposed by Darin Barry: Darin stated they have already spent $2.2 million and this needs to be done a different way. Duane states he agrees although this committee is not responsible for doing this because they are not experts on website design. Stephanie stated they are starting to make changes. Shaun Tucker asked what the responsibilities of the committee are with respect to implementing changes to website. Chair Jeffreys said that in statute this committee's job is to make recommendations of how the money should be spent. It is hoped this committee would partner with the people utilizing the LTAC money. She added that there is $19,457 dollars left this year in the LTAC fund. Terri has asked Heidi if there is room in the existing budget to shift things around. Heidi confirmed that they have and are continuing the process of updating the website. They have added Mail Chimp. They have installed Google Analytics. She looked at Door County.com and it is a beautiful website although their budget is $3.6 million as compared to their $160,000 budget. She said they have Facebook and do several posts daily. She added that they don't own the festivals and she can't take over other people's events as that would be stepping on toes. Cmmr. Jeffreys stated that out of the twelve items, eight items have been completed or are in the process. This conversation can be continued at a later date. Darin/Bonnie moved and seconded a motion to stop spending money and time at meetings on anything other than fixing the website& making the content perfect before moving forward. Kelly stated that she disagrees with the motion. She feels they can work with the current web person to get started under the current budget. Shaun stated he is more comfortable hiring someone to do this. He would like to focus on getting the right company to fix these things. Agendas are subject to change,please contact the Commissioners'office for the most recent version. Stephanie agrees that things can always improve but reiterated that their website is not broken. It is a work in progress. She suggests that people remain positive in public instead of sending out emails stating that things are broken. Bonnie has a problem with Darin's motion at this time as there are too many things coming up and they need to focus on completing other tasks. Darin reiterated the importance of this. He says we need to finish this foundation before spending more money. He added they spend alot money on things that don't make sense. Chair Jeffreys reiterated the motion on the table and called for a vote. Motion Failed. Chair Jeffreys asked is someone would volunteer to do reference checks. Shaun volunteered to check Blue Collar. Shaun stated that he realizes that Darin is trying to make things better. He also asked to receive an update on how things are moving along and being updated regarding the list that Darin submitted. Stephanie stated they do a quarterly report. Kelly offered to do reference checks on Joint Chambers. Angela stated she will do reference checks on NW Event Organizers. Bonnie stated they should all ask same questions. Shaun asked how to check to make sure people pay lodging tax. Chair Jeffreys answered the Department of Revenue. She stated if there are questions about businesses not in compliance, a list can be sent to her and she will forward to the Department of Revenue. Shaun, Angela and Kelly will get together to decide what to ask for reference checks. 5. Next Meeting Date: Sept 11, 2014. 6. Adjourn 12:40 p.m. LODGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON ATTEST: n AC Clerk Cmmr, Terri,�ff[eys, Chair Agendas are subject to change,please contact the Commissioners' office for the most recent version.