Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCH-OCVB minutes 071603Minutes Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board July 16, 2003 The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board met at the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau, 501 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill on July 16, 2003. Board Members Present: Creston Woods Anne Loeb Moses Carey Bill Crowther Lawrence Walters Kevin Callaghan Lee Pavao Rick Strunk Board Members Absent: Nancy Davis Frances Dancy Pat Evans Sam Hobgood Staff Present: Joe Blake Betty Davis Guests: Dianne Reid CALL TO ORDER Chair Creston Woods called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Mr. Woods opened the board meeting by welcoming all attendees, recognizing Mr. Lee Pavao and Mr. Rick Strunk as newly appointed Board Members to the Visitors Bureau Board and Ms. Dianne Reid as a guest. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Woods asked for approval of the minutes of the April 16, 2003, meeting as presented. Mr. Lee Pavao made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Mr. Rick Strunk seconded the motion. With all Board Members in agreement, the motion was carried unanimously. COMMITTEE REPORTS Budget and Finance Mr. Joe Blake presented to the Board the 2003-2004 budget approved by the Orange County Commissioners for the Visitors Bureau. He reviewed specific line items noting some areas were decreased in anticipation of a decrease in total occupancy tax receipts. Mr. Blake anticipated having a FY 2002-2003 year-end financial to present at the August meeting. Mr. Blake announced that the Chapel Hill Town Council had approved the FY 2003-2004 Grant for 15% of the total income received by the town from occupancy tax receipts to the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau for fiscal year 2003-2004. Marketing Mr. Lawrence Walters, Marketing Chair, reported that the “Happenings, Calendar of Events” was distributed to all locations the last week of June. Mr. Walters also reported the “Great Summer Getaway” special promotional was successful with advertisements appearing in AAA World magazine, AAA GO magazine and Our State magazine along with ads running through the summer months in various newspapers. Approximately 12,000 summer promotional brochures were distributed. To date, the “Great Summer Getaway” promotion had received great response from potential visitors. Mr. Walters announced that the Visitors Bureau monthly electronic newsletter was released on July 15th. Mr. Walters reported that a request for proposal had been released for printing of the updated version of the Official Orange County Visitors Guide. It was anticipated that the “new” Visitors Guide would be available the last of August. The staff was now working on the “Wonderful Whimsical Winter” promotional brochure for printing and distribution in late September or early October. DIRECTOR’S REPORT Mr. Blake announced that the Bureau received three Destination Marketing Achievement awards at the NC Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus on June 5th at the annual meeting in Charlotte. A Platinum Award for best “Destination Marketing Initiative” for the Wonderful Whimsical Winter promotion. A second Platinum Award for best “Trade Print Advertising” for an ad in the Meeting Professionals International Membership Directory. A Gold Award for best “Consumer Print Advertising” for the Great Summer Getaways Promotion. Mr. Blake reported that the occupancy for the first five months of this year was up but the average daily rate (ADR) was down. For June Orange County occupancy was 70.20% with $97.34 ADR vs. occupancy of 68.7% and ADR of $104.2 of last year. Mr. Blake reported that the Visitors Center served 334 visitors in June. For July month to date the Visitors Center had always attracted and served 206 visitors to Chapel Hill/Orange County. Mr. Blake reported the North Carolina Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus will hold its bi-monthly meeting at the Sheraton Chapel Hill on August 7th & 8th. Mr. Blake serves as president of the organization for this year. Mr. Blake reported that he and Mr. Woods had talked with representatives from the Town of Chapel Hill regarding street signage directing visitors to the Visitors Center was in the works. Updates on street signage will be provided as information becomes available. Mr. Blake reported that he completed his duties as a representative of the Visitors Bureau Board on the Chapel Hill Street Fair Review Committee. He stated that the committee had presented its findings and recommendations regarding street festivals to the Chapel Hill Town Council. (The committee voted to continue the two street fairs in Chapel Hill in a 14 to 2 vote.) Mr. Blake stated that as additional information becomes available he would share it with Board Members. The Visitors Bureau provided editorial information for an article that will appear in Meeting Professional Magazine in the fall issue that would “pitch” Chapel Hill as a popular university town destination. The magazine has a readership of about 200,000. OLD BUSINESS Mr. Woods led a discussion on the OWASA Water Conversation Ordinance. After discussion by Board Members it was determined that the Lodging Association was not opposed to the “green” program but was opposed to the regulation set forth by the ordinance. A deadline on the adoption of the OWASA ordinance is not known at this time. Mr. Woods presented the slate of recommended officers proposed by the nominations committee. The slate included Mr. Walters as chair, Mr. Callaghan as vice chair, Mr. Carey as budget and finance chair, and Mr. Strunk as marketing chair. Mr. Pavao made a motion to accept the nominations as presented. Mr. Woods seconded the motion. With all Board Members being in agreement the slate of officers were accepted as presented. Ms. Dianne Reid, Economic Development Director, updated Board Members on the Orange County Agricultural Heritage Festival and the Festival of The Moon to be held at the Blackwood Farm in September. On Friday, September 19th, the grounds will be open to Orange County students in grades kindergarten through the fourth grade. On Saturday, September 20 the festival will be open to the public from 10:00am till 6:00pm. NEW BUSINESS A brief discussion was held regarding the meeting pattern for Board meetings in 2003-2004. All were in agreement to continue the meetings on the third Wednesday of every other month starting in August 2003. Staff would arrange for meeting sites and present to the Board at the August meeting. Mr. Lawrence Walters, Marketing Chair, and Mr. Blake presented a preliminary overview of the 2003-2004 Marketing Plan. All Board Members received a copy of the Marketing Plan. Mr. Walters made a motion for approval of the Marketing Plan as presented. Mr. Strunk seconded. With all Board members in favor, the motion passed. Other Matters of the Board and Announcements No other matters or announcements were presented to the Board for consideration. ADJOURNMENT With all business of the Board completed, Mr. Lee Pavao made the motion to adjourn the meeting with a second to the motion by Mr. Bill Crowther. With all Board Members in favor, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 a.m. ________________________________ _________________________________ Minutes Drafted by: Minutes Accepted by: Joseph Blake, Executive Director Creston Woods, Chairman ________________________________ _________________________________ Date Date