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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 05/22/2014 Special Meeting Lodging Tax Advisory Committee May 22, 2014 Start Time 4:00 pm Centennial North & South Conference Rooms Committee Members Present: Chair Bill Boyce, David Kwok, Tim Higgins, Barbara Smith Others present: Ben Wolters, Julie Pulliam, Michelle Wilmot, Ryan Hart, Paula Barry, Mary Kae Repp from Genesis Marketing Chair Boyce called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm, Introductions were done. Chair asked for any additions to the agenda, none were offered. Approval of Minutes Minutes for April 17, 2014 will be approved at the next meeting in June. Budget Update — Paula Barry Started 2014 with $193,663 in fund balance, revenues are expected to come in over budget by about $12,000 should the expenditures be exactly like the are budgeted this moment Finance are anticipating increasing that fund balance by $30,000 by the end of the year. Meaning ending the year at nearly $224,000. Boyce stated that is a very good report. Seattle Southside Budget to Marketing — Ben Wolters Wolters will speak to the next two items are related to how the budget is shown on the Finance spreadsheet. We need to update this based on direction from this Committee almost 9 months ago the idea at that time was to hold back $60,000 that would go to Seattle Southside, in our conversation over the last months it is clear to Wolters that it is significantly more that we would have for the balance of this year to seek any additional support or service from Seattle Southside. Wolters said he has been somewhat remiss in perusing, partly because he has not polled all the hoteliers, there seems to be some interest in having some presence on the Seattle Southside website for some of our hotels. This is an issue for Marriot TownSuites because of their location to Tukwila. In Wolters mind he might come back to the Committee with something in the neighborhood of $10,000 if that. That would be to have some presence on Seattle Southside's website. Wolters has a point of reference City of Des Moines just joined Seattle Southside and their total contribution is about$17,000 and they get everything. With that being said and looking at the allocations on Wolters would propose this Committee would reallocate a substantial portion of the $60,000 to some other category, possibly the fund balance or some of the categories there or a new category the Committee would come up with. Boyce asked if Wolters felt certain he could reduce it by $50,000 or does there need to be a conversation first before the Committee acts. Barbara Smith asked if the Committee could have the conversation as a group and ask those questions of what we are going to get from Seattle Southside. Wolters stated, yes he will come back to the Committee with something. It is not going to be $60,000. Wolters could not come back $60,000, but with what he is hearing from the hoteliers he could not justify $60,000. Wolters feels $20,000 would be a lot. Right now Wolters could recommend to the Committee to reallocate $40,000. Wolters feels what he is asking of Seattle Southside is not worth more than something less than $20,000. Seattle Southside still works with ShoWare center and promotes ShoWare on their website. Boyce asked Wolters to get the facts and gather the information and come back to the regular June meeting. Wolters stated he will bring back the information to the next regular Committee meeting in June. Second Wolters spoke about some budget housekeeping. Our contract with Arnett Muldrow and Genesis Marketing was from 2013 however neither firm has invoiced us. As a result we Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 22, 2014 Page: 2 had a bit of miss communication with Finance instead of holding those in reserve they were rolled over into the fund balance of $193,963. The total amount we have is $35,000, $20,000 for Arnett Muldrow and $15, 000 for Genesis Marketing. For budget purpose Wolters would propose is within this the Committee acknowledges and re-allocate off of this updated 2014. Wolters would like to put it as already obligated or Contracted Branding Activities and we adjust this budget to reflect that, Wolters stated he doesn't believe that will require additional Council action because Council already approved it in the prior budget, so it has already been approve it is just how do we account for it here. Bill Boyce asked how did we miss that again. Wolters stated his understanding is Finance asks us for the background in the Committee minutes as to show what is requested. We provided that but Finance felt the minutes we provided was not sufficiently direct and looked at the minutes and found a more direct section and clear but by that time the budgets have already been closed and in the swell of everything that has been going on it just got missed. Boyce responded he understands these things happen and he is ok with it but going forward how will we make sure it will not happen again. Wolters asked Barry is there something we can do to make sure this we are communicating clearly so we don't have an email that keeps going over so many months. Barry said she will be sitting on the Committee and will be better able to ask the questions as we are moving forward. Barry said she had chatted with Barbara about some costs that were supposed to roll forward and Barry thought that those did. With Barry sitting on the Committee she will be able to follow up much sooner. Barry has another suggestion that the Committee go over the budget prior to the next budget year. Boyce asked if the October meeting we could look at the budge for Lodging Tax. Wolters stated this Committee normally do a committee meets on the budget in September. Lodging Tax Funding Request — Ben Wolters Wolters would like to ask for a $1000 sponsorship for the CAMPS Manufacturing Conference, June 18, 2014. Wolters is looking for opportunities to start using the Brand to establish use for purposes of Trade Mark. In hopes this will also help to grow business in Kent. Boyce feels we need to always look at what will be our return. We need to know are we going to get something out of this. Wolters stated he is putting $1000 out of City Marketing Budget. Barbara Smith moved the Committee approve the request for $1000 to sponsor the CAMPS Manufacturing Conference with the understanding this is an investment in the future to bring businesses to Kent. Bill Boyce seconded. Motion passes Money will be coming from unallocated. Wolters will give a report on June 19t" meeting, Will share a sponsorship sheet for the committee. Mary Kae shared a possibility of developing a handout that would land on a specific landing page so we could encourage them to go to our website on a special page associated with the trade show or event. Then we could track the activity and we could see how many people went to the landing page and how many pushed further into the sight. This could possible help with getting people to learn more about Kent than just the visual awareness of the Brand. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 22, 2014 Page: 3 Brandinq & Marketing- Mary Kay Regg Ben Wolters stated he had a discussion about wanting to see an example of something more comprehensive of a marketing strategy beyond this initial step of building a website that has already been budgeted for and is already underway. So in response to that Mary Kae and Genesis Marketing has been asked to come up with a proposal of what that might look like. That is what she will be talking about. This is to give the Committee a sense of what could be a more comprehensive campaign not to be all inclusive there are other things that have been discussed that could be part of it as well, it is just to give a sense of how all the pieces could be put together. Barbara Smith asked would like to understand what was at the meeting with Tripp. Was the discussion to have Tripp help with the launch? Smith feels the launch needs to happen first and have a plan and a timeline before we jump in to do some additional marketing because that could have additional impact. Smith is hesitant on pushing forward before first understanding when, where and how is the launch happening. Wolters stated he and Michelle Wilmot had a very conceptual conversation, Tripp was sharing some of his idea that came from some of their other clients. He commented on how it might apply here in Kent. The challenge is what is a launch? There are elements here in what Genesis is suggesting that are components of a launch. The Council President's idea of it is a giant community party. How do we figure out that, we don't have a ready answer on that? Smith feels like we are hanging in limbo without a path forward. We may want to shift funding differently. KDP is struggling because we want to go forward. Smith stated we need to get some of us together and figure out what we are going to do and when. Wolters agreed. He was hoping we could get folks to start coming together and the conversation will be well informed by hearing what some of the options are that Genesis Marketing is laying out. We don't even know what it could be. Parties, Banners, TV and a more robust social media presence, these are all components. What Wolters summates, Smith is looking for what is the grand plan, for the City it's - we are looking for a way to bring everyone together on this. The City on its' own is not going to do it. It has to be done in partnership. Michelle Wilmot added the conversation which happened when Tripp was here, we talked about the need to have a summit with some of the key players in the room including KDP, ShoWare, Chamber, the City, and any of the Hoteliers who would like to participate. The decision was about building this plan what Tripp proposed sending us a proposal on how he could facilitate something like that and I have not seen a proposal come yet. Given we all have a lot on our plates it would be nice to have that facilitated. Get some help how do we coordinate, how do we not step on each other's toes and how do we move forward. We have already done one thing with Airway using the Logo on their coasters, we want to sponsor the use of the Brand & Logo at the CAMPS Manufacturing Conference, and the banners are a great idea. The pieces are happening regardless of an official launch. Wilmot feels we need to sit and have a here is where we are at and come to an agreement where it might not feel all package. Mary Kae state using Ellensburg as an example most likely it will be going to be a multi-year rolling together process. But it very much needs to be meeting with everyone at the table and creating a list of what everyone has planned for the next 6 months. Then tourism doesn't really have a plan how will it blend with any of the activities or support them. The Branding was decided on being an agreed upon look how is everyone going to mold that together. What needs to be purchased (like the signs downtown) and where is the money coming from Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 22, 2014 Page: 4 and when is it going to go up. All that kind of stuff can happen at multiple meetings and needs to happen. Much of the Google ad words, direction for online campaigns, maybe even the UTube commercials would be directed toward the decisions that would be made in those meetings. Depending on how quickly you can move, it doesn't have to wait. We still have cool things we could market in Kent we still have ways we can did we get heads in bed? Did we raise tax dollars? Did we bring people to the market? This is really just a look from your last meeting. We have submitted a proposal to enhance the LA portion of the website where asked for some video money and some long video money and this group also asked what else could be coming. This group wanted to know what was coming and have an idea of what the plan would look like. This is a map of what Genesis envisions it getting off the ground once the website is built. Mary Kae believes this is what the committee is looking for. Nothing set in stone, no matter what is going on this is going to start July 1. It is really just a map to know what is coming your way so that every meeting you come to you don't have a different set of funds that are needing to be approves. Mary Kae stated it is up to you, if you want me to since I am part of the team and will be very entrenched creating this portion of it, I would be able to also facilitate that Launch meeting as a partner on this team as part of my responsibility if that would be helpful. If you wanted to schedule the meeting, in fact we could have a few of them. Barbara Smith feels we need to sit down and then we can do it, we just need to all get in the same room. Bill Boyce would like to be part of the meetings, he was not aware or the other one, but going forward make sure Bill is included. Wilmot stated Tripp was just in town and we did a debrief with him. Mary Kae stated that is normal for them to do. Mary Kae handed out a PowerPoint to go through. One thing that is not there is an image of the website. We are still struggling with how to bring the multiple colors to life and make them classy and rich. Michelle and Mary Kae have chosen 4 images that are not on line that we have redone how the website is laid out, with the pictures are full screen side to side and the color in the logo doesn't come to life till the very bottom of the page. That is just an update on the website. What you are looking at when you go on line is not representing what we will on line next week or so. Whenever you tell us what you like there. First when talking with Michelle gave Mary Kae the idea that she needed to slow down and re- explain what the committee approved to do. The Committee approved to do what was on Raleigh and LA's sight. Those sites showed some stars and local people. It features what is cool and fund to do in those areas. That was something the Committee asked for and when it was sitting on the website Michelle was not clear about what it was so Mary Kae wanted to come to the meeting today and walk the Committee through on how it works and re-check in with the Committee to make sure that is something the Committee still wants. Mary Kae explained it is a feature that gives people an opportunity to take a look at what is cool to do in Kent and some fun things they may want to do that identify with their personality. It is a combination of both the Raleigh and LA websites. This is where the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 22, 2014 Page: 5 website will be headed, with floating white text on the top for links and a really big picture that takes up the whole screen. These identify yourself image will set down at the bottom with the bigger picture and then the icons will be at the top. When you scroll over the icons they will open up to match with the picture at the bottom. The icons have a social media feel to it, they are not social media. Decision happened about the different components of the website. Individual conversations are needed between Mary Kae and Committee Members. Good of the order — Nothing Assignments for next meeting — Wilmot to bring back more detailed proposal from Genesis Next Meeting Date — June 5, 2014 (Committee will meet every other month on the 3rd Thursday of the month 4 pm.) Next regular meeting will be 6/19/14 Adiournment - Th eeting was adjourned by Committee Member David Kwok at 6:00 pm Submitted by Julie Pulliam, Lodging Tax Secretary i'Approved at the meeting of June 5, 2014