County Staff Present: Adam Thomas, Marti Spewock, Randy Oliver, Debra Burden. PR Firm Present: Kathy Fordham, Ashten Ross

Transcription

1 Commissioner Ronald E. Kitchen, Jr. Councilwoman Linda Bega Frank Peters Vice-Chairman Michael Mancke Dr. Paresh Desai Gene McGee Vice Mayor Mike Gudis Karlene Feliciano Daryl Seaton Council Members Present: Chairman Ronald E. Kitchen Vice Chair Michael Mancke Vice Mayor Mike Gudis Councilwoman Linda Bega Gene McGee Frank Peters Dr. Paresh Desai Karlene Feliciano Daryl Seaton County Staff Present: Adam Thomas, Marti Spewock, Randy Oliver, Debra Burden PR Firm Present: Kathy Fordham, Ashten Ross Public in Attendance: Mary Morgan, Steve Lamb, Ken Brown, Art Jones, Meredith Bleakley, Michael Birns, Carol Kimbrough, Mike Bates, Dave Burnell, Jeff Buchco, Fred Clark, Janis Huegel Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am followed by the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Marti Spewock called the roll. There were nine members present for a quorum. Approval of Agenda A motion was made to adopt the agenda as presented: Result: Unanimous Mover: Mike Gudis Seconder: Michael Mancke Ayes: Desai, Kitchen, Bega, McGee, Mancke, Gudis, Peters, Feliciano, Seaton OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Mary Morgan, A Crystal River Kayak Company, encourages the board to recommend to the BoCC to increase the bed tax from 3 to 5 percent to bring us up to the level of neighboring counties. We have a lot of projects in town; proposed aquarium, proposed museum, and additional trade show attendance (DEMA being one of them). Art Jones, One Rake At A Time, Crystal River, brought TDC up to date on happenings in the area. A group from Tallahassee came down to mirror the one rake at a time program. They were provided a tour of all the aspects of the project. The next clean-up is scheduled for Monday, December 5 th from 1-3 at Hunter Springs Park. Calls have been coming in from the associated press and they will be doing a nationwide story on the algae problem in FL and other parts of the country, focusing on Crystal River for video footage. This is another nation-wide story Page 1

2 that could attract more tourists to the destination. A boost in the bed tax would be beneficial for new programs (aquarium, museum, etc.). Michael Burns supports the bed tax increase. We ve become a side trip destination form Orlando and Tampa and he would like to get them to extend their stays, even by just one night. We need more to keep them here and the additional bed tax would help that by funding a manatee museum, aquarium, welcome center, etc. Carol Kimbrough, Secretary for the Executive Board of the County-wide Chamber of Commerce, Crystal River, and provided that the Chamber is in full support of hoteliers and bed tax collectors in going for the additional two percent tax. This would enhance the tourism effort for the entire county and provide much needed jobs. Ken Brown, citizen of Crystal River and councilmember for the City of Crystal River. He is not in attendance as a voice of the council, but as an independent voice of a single member of the council. however, he is comfortable saying that the council does support the increase in the bed tax. Eco tourism is a desirable and significant part of the county s economy and feels it will continue to grow. Mr. Brown spoke of the other activities within the county that do not include manatees, such as bike trails, hiking, kayaking, etc. He supports the proposed increase. These additional funds can be used to provide more information to tourists and we can expand the options for their visits. Surrounding counties have already discovered this and they already collect a higher tax. We need to be competitive and get the word out. Jeff Buchco, Operations and Sales Support, HDG Hotels Corporation, is in full support of increasing the bed tax from 3 to 5 %. Without fail, there has been positive impact across the board from this type of increase. Steve Lamb, CR, VP Save Crystal River, urges the board to increase the bed tax to 5%. Tourism in FL is exploding and we have something very unique and we need to tout it. Would like more than 5% and would like the County to lobby in Tallahassee to go to 7%. Hunter Springs is as blue as ever before. Citrus County is the lowest bed tax County of all their hotel locations. Steve Lamb, resident and VP of Save Crystal River, urges the Board to increase the bed tax from 3-5%. This is a critical time for Citrus County with tourism in Florida just exploding. We have something unique and we need to tout it. He feels that 5% is not enough and we need to get outside the box and should go for 7%. Save Crystal River has completed their dredging project and started planting cages. The water is as blue as it s ever been. Fred Clark, involved citizen, would like to see the County go to 5% on the bed tax. There is a topic he learned in Leadership Citrus that he doesn t see mentioned. Does anyone know the type of estuary that Crystal River and all the way over to Daytona, sits in? We are in the middle of a transitional estuary. Two areas come together to form a transitional estuary which is home to twice the number of birds, fish, flora, and fauna. National Geo has been to Citrus County and spent time studying our estuary. We are unique in that we are the only transitional estuary between here and the dub-tropic temperate zone that exists in a green environment. This is an opportunity to add to our ammunition belt. Chairman Kitchen thanked the public for their input and commented that the board would move through some routine business rather quickly and then will have a discussion on the TDT tax. The way the process will work is the TDC is an advisory board to the County commissioners. The commissioners rely on this board to give them Page 2

3 their recommendations on tourism in Citrus County and entrusts them to carry out that mission and manage the budget that the Board approves. We will have discussion and carry the results back to the Board of County Commissioners and ask the board if they want to put on their agenda, if applicable, for a future public hearing. It will be at the pleasure of the board to move forward or not. ACTION ITEMS Approval of Minutes A motion was made to approve the minutes of the October 12, 2016 meeting. Result: Unanimous Mover: Karlene Feliciano Seconder: Mike Gudis Ayes: Gudis, Peters, Desai, Kitchen, Bega, McGee, Mancke, Feliciano, Seaton NEW BUSINESS Flip My Florida Yard with Chad Crawford: Adam Thomas provided the board with back-up on this advertising campaign and asked the board if this was something they would like to move forward with. There are three components to this campaign: 1) Flip my Florida Yard, 2) How to do Florida, 3) Outsider Club series (youth series) and 4) a commercial placement package with additional partnership. Documentation was provided with all the details. Adam feels this is a good proposal to consider. Michael Mancke feels that any exposure we get is positive and if we find the money we should do it. The total value is $66,500 with the cost to the VCB at $49,000. We can shape this campaign to what we need; one segment, two segments, etc. Gene McGee asked for a reminder on what our budget number is and what have we spent to date. Chairman Kitchen commented that, for discussion purposes, we have $169,000. Adam provided that we have $156,700 left in the Special Projects budget. We have already spent $189,000 for the Shoulder Season Campaign with Evok. The true-up from this year will replenish the account. Mike Gudis asked the amount that was carried forward from last year? Since the final accounting is not complete, Adam could not provide that number. Chairman Kitchen said the money will be there once the true up is complete. Karlene Feliciano asked about the costs for Bass2Billfish and Flats Class that is also on the agenda. Flats Class is $40,000 ($5,000 increase) and Bass2Billfish is $22,500. Chairman Kitchen asked if there is there value in this campaign and does the board want to move forward with it. Michael Mancke says yes. Frank Peters asked who would own the rights to this and can we use this for promotional advertising. Mr. Peters is thinking about the general public reaction to something like this and feels the hook on water quality and preservation is a great part of the campaign. If we can use the video from this, he would be more comfortable. Page 3

4 Chairman Kitchen looks at this as television advertising and it would draw a large audience. Kathy Fordham, Evok Advertising, commented that Evok can push this material through all social media channels also. Approval of Marketing Campaign A motion was made to approve the entire Flip My Florida Yard campaign at $49,000 and request Board of County Commissioner approval. Discussion: Gene McGee commented that if we were restricted on money, this would be the third project that he would consider. He will support it, but he is behind fishing, manatees, etc., but not as comfortable with this. Chairman Kitchen feels that same way. Randy Oliver provided that this would have to go back to the BoCC due to the size of the contract. Michael Mancke loves fishing but in the marketing mix scenario we need everyone on board. He feels that this expands our allure to visitors. Chad has a great audience and people follow him. The money is sitting there doing nothing for us and we can use it for marketing. These funds are for non-reoccurring projects. Result: Unanimous Mover: Michael Mancke Seconder: Daryl Seaton Ayes: Gudis, Peters, Desai, Kitchen, Bega, McGee, Mancke, Feliciano, Seaton Increase in TDT to 4 and 5%: Adam Thomas feels that now is the time to increase this tax and invest in our number one industry in this County. We are lacking funds to be competitive in the market place. We can t afford to do nothing. We need to take a leadership role as the TDC board and increase the tourist development tax At minimum, we need 4%. Mike Gudis commented that each penny is to be used for certain things and he feels we should go for the 5 percent. He does not consider this a tax, but a user fee to tourists and does not apply to residents. We are outdated if we don t remain competitive. Chairman Kitchen believes that we are at an economic disadvantage if we don t keep up with surrounding counties. At minimum, he would support going to the 4 th penny, with the majority used for marketing. He likes to move with incremental changes. He suggested going for four and if successful, then move to five. If we don t have a specific project in mind for capital expenditure, we need to be careful. It is very obvious to him that the west side is in total support, but we haven t heard from the east side either way. We have to be in a position that was well thought out. Every project mentioned was for Crystal River, even though our intention is to bring in the other cities, Homosassa, Inverness and Floral City. How do you respond to that? He s looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks. Mike Gudis feels that a great by-product of all the promotions would be that a business could possibly open an office here as a result of a positive experience. We need this money to be more visible. Page 4

5 Karlene Feliciano is totally in favor of this, and has been for years. If we only put the fourth penny forward, would it be another four years for the fifth? She would like to go for 5 percent and move toward a sports complex with the 5 th penny. Chairman Kitchen clarified that that it s not what he s in favor of or not but wants to make sure all eyes are open to the different components. Approval of Increased TDT A motion was made to recommend to the BoCC a proposed 2% increase to the Tourist Development Tax Board Discussion: Daryl Seaton feels that the East Side/West Side issue is like Orlando and Disney World; without Disney World there wouldn t be an Orlando as we know it today. Without Crystal River and the Springs and fishing, there wouldn t be much in this County to market and we wouldn t have the visitors and everything that they bring. He believes that a high tide floats all boats and this is the best thing to do. We have a lot of projects on the table that people are talking about and he doesn t feel that this is the time to discuss any of them, but having the ability to discuss them in the future and find the right project, wherever it s located, we have the ability to do that. In the meantime, we can use the money for marketing which we really need to increase our visitor numbers. Things are not going to be this rosy all the time, we are in a good place and we need to invest to keep us there. He is very much in favor of this. Chairman Kitchen commented that he will support whatever this board moves forward with and if the industry supports it. This movement will die without their support. If this is the consensus of the County, he has no trouble supporting it. Mike Gudis does not know anyone that ever checks on what the bed tax is when they make reservations for accommodations. It is not foremost in the minds of visitors. Michael Mancke feels that the more money we have to promote the destination then everyone will benefit. This gives us more opportunity to expand on both sides of the County and draws more attention to the many aspects of the county on all sides. This would also provide more opportunity to businesses to participate and be more engaged. Dr. Desai feels that the same amount of work goes into collecting three percent or five percent. We cannot hold back because of the political climate; everything changes. He feels that the East Side/West Side has always been a problem but out of approximately 1,100 rooms in the County, 90% are on the west side. Since 1945, all hotels have been built on the west side which indicates that tourism is mostly on the west side. The Courthouse and the legal system are on the east side so you cannot compare the two. The mission of the TDC is to bring heads to beds so you can t compare the different sides of the county since there are more accommodations on the west side. This is a business decision and we need to consider where we will get the best return. Gene McGee wanted to sum it and comment that it is a fee, not a tax. A tax is money collected from someone and then spent on something disparate. This is a fee collected and we are constrained on how we spend it. We have to spend it on bringing more tourists here or increasing the visitor experience. He likes to call it a visitor contribution. We should proud of what we have and we should charge for it. This is our best shot at economic development, and we ve seen that the EDC has struggled with the direction of the County and how to lure other Page 5

6 business here. Economic development in its simplest sense, the reason that we do it, is so there is more commercial businesses established here, who pay more taxes, so our residents pay less. If we don t raise this tax, there is a good chance that property taxes could be raised. The raising of the visitor contribution, he refuses to call it a tax, is our best bet for economic development. He was originally on only going to four cents, but the fact of the matter is, we could spend all five cents 5 on tourism marketing exactly as we do now effectively. If we go to five cents now, we can begin to marshal our resources for major projects. The opposition to this is either political or not necessarily informed. We need to go to five percent and do exactly what we re doing. It is a little premature to consider projects; however, our next step after raising it to five percent 5% is to find out what we can do with it. It s a no brainer. Naysayers need to be addressed. We need to show how it benefits all sides and assets of the county. Some of it could be used for educational materials to show exactly how it will be used, like the new website which highlights the entire county. Chairman Kitchen likes to be the devil s advocate. For the record, he agrees with Mr. McGee, without tourists the property tax would be roughly 20% higher ($177/resident, provides 4,000 jobs, and provides close to $11 Million in sales tax from tourism). If the recommendation is to take to the board and propose using all 5% on marketing since we don t have a project right now, in the future, if we find a project, we will be reducing our promotional budget to fund that, unless we continue to grow. Linda Bega supports the 2% increase. We ve developed an excellent marketing program and we need to continue to enhance on it. She would like to see more focus on mid-week tourism. We are in the early stages but need to start a list of all the projects that could be funded if approved. Frank Peters, he s the east side. There is support for this on the east side, even though he can t speak for Inverness, and he thinks we can wisely monitor and use the funds available if we went to 5%. He has sat on the board for five years and loves the facts and figures provided to support this increase. We need to educate that part of the electorate that feels we are raising taxes on them, because it is absolutely not the case. We need to show them all the benefits received. Public Input: Fred Clarke lives in the East side of the county and his wife has a business in Inverness. Both are in support of the increase to 5% and feel the board should spend it anyway they feel is necessary. When people come to the county, they migrate to Inverness for shopping or dining and become repeat customers. He noticed that every hotel/motel/rv has a brochure rack that is loaded with ads that send visitors to Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, and South FL. They should be filling the racks with local business advertising, or at least a percentage. Meredith Bleakley was very excited that the Board was finally moving this proposal to the Board. The VCB does a great job asking for people from both sides of the county to show up for meetings, workshops, etc., however, the west side shows up more than the east side. They have been given equal opportunity to show up and they don t. With the new funding, she would like to strong recommend that we reinvigorate the kiosk idea. Putting them in Inverness and FL City would help to connect the county. She would also like to see a big chunk dedicated to hospitality and front line training. She feels that the manatee museum is the most logical project that could be targeted for the 5 th penny. She also would love to see a sports complex, but would like a private company to manage it. Page 6

7 Ken Brown, Crystal River, thinks that 2% is great. He would like to suggest that when we get it, don t spend it right away. He feels that some should be held for specific projects and growth of infrastructure. Jeff Buchco feels that when Crystal River hotels are doing well, other county hotels are also doing well. There are a lot of overnighters in the scuba diving market. With these additional funds, he would like to see staff attend the DEMA shows and combine all the participants from the county into one big booth. Mike Burns commented that the diving market is coming to the forefront in Crystal River again and dive operators could possibly use Lake Linda for a training center. Encourages the 5% increase and would like to see the museum/aquarium benefit. He also feels that the TDC should look at redirecting some of the focus to domestic marketing and less international; he sees a shift coming. Carol Kimbrough, Crystal River, provided that the proponents understand the risk to this decision and are in favor of the proposed increase in tourist tax. Art Jones, Crystal River, commented that when the aquarium project started, they raised $50,000 independently. It shows the tourism market is here and it makes sense to have more things here. By raising the user fee, it spreads success all over the county. Randy Oliver asks that the board make very clear, from the onset, what the increase will be used for. If you raise it to 5% and it is used for marketing, you will be hard pressed later to pull the marketing back one cent for Capital, if that s your intent to do so. You will then be taking away from the marketing effort. You need to set the expectation up front. Having said that, one cent can bond roughly $5Million dollars based on the current revenue. The fourth cent requires a simple majority (3 votes) and the fifth cent requires a super majority (4 out of 5 votes). This would come to the board on December 20 th. The normal process would be to bring the request to the board on 1/10/17 and get permission to advertise, and then they would hold the public hearing on 1/24/17. As he recalls, it goes into effect 60 days from the 1 st of the month once passed, so it would become effective April 1 st. Chairman Kitchen will have Mr. Oliver put the item under his area on the agenda. At that time, on 12/20, we need the people to show up to push it through. We will need a super majority to pass this increase. Gene McGee was initially at 4 and thought of different projects to consider. Mr. Oliver mentioned a trust fund using the last penny, but in reality, we are very limited as to what we can do with this money. State statute restricts how we can spend this money on tourism and indicates certain specific structures; we are very limited. We went to go to five cents, we want to collect that money, and we want to decide on the best way to spend it whether it s tourism marketing or capital investment. I don t want to handicap us. He thinks the BoCC should determine how it is disseminated. Chairman Kitchen is not going to the board to fight for something he doesn t believe in. Linda Bega commented that the State mandates that we are able to use the 4 th and 5 th cent for marketing, but it s the 6 th cent that is for assets and or structures. Randy Oliver provided that if you read the statute for the 6 th cent, the first part of it speaks totally to sports arenas and things of that nature and then, at the end of it, they tacked on marketing. The practical part of this is, if you elect to do a capital project(s) at some point, we would move that Page 7

8 project to one of the first two cents because that is where it can be funded and we would move the marketing from the first two cents to the latter cents to make it comply with the statute (bookkeeping). Chairman Kitchen asked for a Roll Call Vote: Roll Call Result: Unanimous Mover: Daryl; Seaton Seconder: Karlene Feliciano Ayes: Gudis, Peters, Desai, Kitchen, Bega, McGee, Mancke, Feliciano, Seaton UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bass2Billfish Discussion: This campaign showcases both sides of the county by highlighting the Tsala Apopka Chain lakes and Lake Henderson in Inverness. Michael Mancke would like to move forward with this program. This is a tourism oriented fishing show and the scope is beyond just fishing. Randy Oliver asked how time sensitive it was. Adam commented that it is flexible. Approval of Marketing Campaign A motion was made to approve the Bass to Billfish campaign at $22,500 from Special Projects Funds. Board discussion: Gene McGee likes it because it s fishing and includes both sides of the county; also the reach of this show is unbelievable: Bass2Billfish s Facebook reaches 155,000 followers; Twitter 32,000; Instagram 54,000 and 3.6 Million followers on UTube. The website has 315,000 unique visitors on a monthly basis. Peter Miller s Facebook reaches 56,000 followers, Twitter 4,800; Instagram 39,000; and 640,000 followers on UTube. His website has 309,000 visitors. Great statistics. Frank Peters has never seen any of these. How long do they run? Can Adam download to the board members an example of what they have produced; any photography, stream line videos, etc. that are available. Result: Unanimous Mover: Michael Mancke Seconder: Karlene Feliciano Ayes: Gudis, Peters, Desai, Kitchen, Bega, McGee, Mancke, Feliciano, Seaton Flats Class Campaign Results AT provided the board with the results of the Flats Class campaign and asked the board to renew the campaign again this year at $40,000. He feels this is a really great investment. Page 8

9 Approval of Marketing Campaign A motion was made to contract with Flats Class for another campaign at $40,000 taken from Special Projects Fund Result: Unanimous Mover: Karlene Feliciano Seconder: Dr. Desai Ayes: Gudis, Peters, Desai, Kitchen, Bega, McGee, Mancke, Feliciano, Seaton DIRECTORS REPORT / MEDIA REPORT Destination Update: Don Anderson and Jack Wert, DCG Consulting, will provide a draft of their findings and would like to hold workshops December 7 th through December 8 th. If the board is not available, individual calls can be made to the board members. They would like results provided at the 12/14 meeting. September STR report showed a 25% growth in Occupancy; 4.5% in ADR. YTD shows a 5% increase in Occupancy and 5.5% in ADR. We had a third consecutive year of revenue growth at almost 14% which is almost $118,000 over last year. Total collected for 15/16 was almost $975,000. We are very close to the $1 Million mark. If the two percent passes, we will surely hit that goal. Our reserve continues to grow. Media Report: Press trips for November: Connor Power, Irish Independent; Simon Calder, London Independent; Matthew Meltzer, Thrillist (referred by Evok); David Appell, New York Post (Gosh PR); and Paul Henderson, Daily Mirror. Citrus Being Social: we are at 89,000 Facebook likes and we are showing a steady growth. Instagram followers = 1,650 and Twitter followers = 1,430. Chairman Kitchen mentioned the promotion that we are planning at the airport and asked about the status? What is the schedule for that? Evok provided that the storyboard is being finalized and there are two videos, above and below water that will rotate on the screen. OTHER BUSINESS BY COUNCIL MEMBERS City of Inverness Linda Bega commented that it was festival season and updated the board on the weekend activities (Grand Prix is expecting a huge draw). The Cooterfest was a great success with water shows, bands, etc. The Veterans Day parade had a huge turnout and it was very successful. The streets were lined with people on both sides. City of Crystal River Mike Gudis commented that their Christmas Parade was coming up the first Saturday in December. The boardwalk at Three Sisters will be open starting Thursday, the 17 th, and passes are available at $50 for up to 6 people. The boardwalk will be breaking ground next month. Page 9

10 Dr. Desai questioned why do we have an east and west side? He feels that it is a hindrance to getting things done. Chairman Kitchen commented that, in his opinion, it is usually the west side coming forward most of the time with projects and ideas for tourism. If you have an area in the county that is active with ideas and such, they are going to get most of the attention. Every area should be coming forward with this type of information and requests. Gene McGee feels that education is key. The educated individuals on the east side are in favor of increasing the tourist tax because they understand. This is the third component of what we are tasked to do and what I accept as our mission: 1) market to bring tourists here, 2) enhance the visitor experience, and 3) make our community understand and be supportive of the direction that we are taking. It is incumbent on the TDC board to educate the east side that all projects benefit the entire county. Chairman Kitchen provided an example: the energy complex in Citrus County is on West side, but everyone benefits within the County. It is the same as tourism, no matter what is being held, everyone benefits from visitors. Mike Gudis feels that our real mission is to make sure people in the industry on all sides of the county advertise what is going on in their areas and other parts of the county. Michael Mancke feels that we are no different from other counties in Florida; it s a combination of ignorance and bliss and the lack of understanding in how you make the market bigger by destination marketing. Frank Peters always stresses to people that they need to get their message out to the boards and it is their responsibility to promote their area first. He will take his agenda packet and make sure it gets to the Merchants Association, the Heritage Council, the Garden Club, and Floral City Matters to show them the impact of the user fee increase. He does not see it as a division. Chairman Kitchen also provided a copy of the packet to the new commissioners. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Meredith Bleakley is proud of the board today. The Crystal River Escape Room s ribbon cutting is tomorrow. Invitations will be sent out soon. Grinchmas at Heritage Village is this weekend. Heritage Village turns into Whoville and there will be snow! They are in desperate need of sponsors and volunteers. They are hoping for 8,000 attendees this year. Saturday, Craig Morgan will be at Rock Crusher Canyon. Parmalee was there a couple weeks ago and sold over 700 tickets. Mary Morgan, Crystal River, commented that in light of what was said earlier, she would like to see someone with financial clout write a guest editorial calling it a user fee, not a tax, and without it the citizens would be paying a lot more in their taxes every year.. ADJOURNMENT: Chairman Kitchen called for adjournment at 10:57 am. The next meeting is Wednesday, December 14 th at 9:00 am in the same location. Page 10