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Home My WebLink About2003-08-21 Regular Meeting tirCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, August 21, 2003 -- 11:30 am WALLIS BUILDING ONE LIBERTY PARK PLAZA, GRAPEVINE, TEXAS AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT IV. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT ,,, V. OLD BUSINESS A. SISTER CITY REPORT B. DIRECTOR OF SALES POSITION C. RAILROAD UPDATE (LOCOMOTIVE 771 & DIESEL) VI. NEW BUSINESS A. BUDGET REPORT B. GRANTS-IN-AID REQUEST C. GRAPEFEST VII. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIII. ADJOURNMENT C STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OF TARRANT �r CITY OF GRAPEVINE MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, August 21, 2003 at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Bill Bretches Board Member Bill Brink Board Member Philip Cloud Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Tom Smith Board Member Steve Stinson Board Member Darlene Freed Council Liaison Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Ronny Nordling Grapevine Chamber CALL TO ORDER Don Bigbie called the meeting to order. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the July 17th meeting was made by Bill Brink and seconded by Tom Smith. Motion carried. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT Mr. McCallum reported that the first phase of the Hyatt renovation is underway. The front door will shift and there will be a Starbucks Coffee Bar, new restrooms and a new lobby bar. Papayas will have a new name. There will be two new board rooms and two meeting rooms. Completion date is January 2004. Robert Thrailkill is relocating to Miami and Cliff Reynolds will take over as general manager of the Hilton. He comes here from the Hawaiian Hilton Village. Mr. McCallum encouraged the board to attend the reception for Robert and Cliff on July 28th. On Main Street, Merry's Christmas and Clowns and Napoli's Italian Restaurant will be going into the drug store building. Main Street Bread Baking company has expanded into the former B&B Frame shop and are putting in a French restaurant. In the food court at Grapevine Mills, Steak Escape is planned to open October 1. Tuesday night the City Council approved the moving of the west festival boundary to include Barton Street. Three years ago the bureau was approached by some of the merchants about being included in the festival footprint, however there were concerns from the fire department. This year the Historic Downtown Merchant Association was 100% behind bringing Barton Street into the festival. Staff looked again at the safety and operational issues and the proposal was brought up to Council. The Board of Directors Meeting August 21, 2003 Page 2 of 4 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos shared highlights from the month of July. The convention sales division produced 16 leads representing 10,025 potential roomnights and assisted in closing 4 groups representing 5,018 roomnights. Staff participated in 4 site inspections. Seven groups representing 9,585 delegates received convention services during the month. Tourism division published two leads representing 140 attendees and 70 roomnights and assisted with two definites representing 80 roomnights. July saw 23,256 visitors assisted through the Visitor Information Centers and 150,294 brochures distributed. The Convention Center booked 28 events during the month representing 9,352 attendees. The Grapevine Vintage Railroad had 5,725 passengers compared to 4,616 in July 2002. The train web site had 8,232 visits and the CVB web site had 4,255 a new monthly high for both websites. Communications had $123,734 in print and $15,545 in electronic media coverage. GrapeFest was named "Best Fest" in the recent issue of D Magazine. The bureau received two awards at Texas Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau; one for the New Vintage Coop Program with the wineries and one for the Main Street Days campaign. (iw Special GrapeFest rates have been received from the hotels and have been placed on the website and distributed to tour operators within the 5-hour drive market. Javier has two tour groups in over GrapeFest; one for two nights and one for one night for a total of 66 roomnights. Internet sales are ahead of last year and we are seeing purchases from outside the metroplex, which will hopefully equate to guest room sales. In addition, there are over 300 out of town vendors at the festival. There are both a tourism and convention sales fam planned over GrapeFest. OLD BUSINESS Sister City Report Mr. McCallum reported that 28 people participated in the Parras Sister City Mission on August 7 - 11, 2003. The program went extremely well and included a dedication of a plaque for the Night Watchman statue that was presented to the city in 2000. An economic development summit was held in their city hall with an emphasis on small business and tourism economic development. We will meet with them on discovery of what their tourism product is. Some of their possibilities include caves, mountains, Indian petroglifs, the oldest winery in the Americas, resort, and their location. The group also made visits to the fire department, Red Cross, the hospital, and orphanage. At the fire department Mayor Tate participated in the laying of the first block for their building. To the Red Cross the group presented two fully equipped EMT bags. To the hospital the group delivered softgoods. The goal of the orphanage is to build a high school so that they can keep the girls with them until they are 18. They cannot open the school until they are certified and they cannot be certified until they have all the equipment in place. They are in need of ten thousand dollars to obtain matching grants that will give them sufficient funds to purchase the needed equipment. A group from Parras will participate in GrapeFest and they are bringing with them wine barrels to be auctioned. (hw The Board of Directors Meeting August 21, 2003 Page 3 of 4 OLD BUSINESS cont. Director of Sales Position Update Mr. McCallum reported that two weeks ago the director of sales position was offered and the candidate declined because there were not enough dollars. We have some other good candidates and we are still in the hunt. Railroad Update On locomotive 771 from Victoria, we met with 3 moving companies and they are working on proposals to relocate the locomotive to Grapevine. The diesel engine we have purchased is enroute to Grapevine. NEW BUSINESS Budget Report Mr. Kakos reported that the city manager has held a budget hearing with the mayor and council on this past Monday. Next will be a public hearing and then the budget goes before council for approval in September. For the CVB the total budget is over six million with $933,587 in sales, advertising and promotions. The bureau will be supplementing our direct sales efforts with print advertising in the new budget year. Grants-In-Aid Request Mr. Bigbie presented the Grants-in-Aid request from the Grapevine High School Ex Students Association for$2,500. The Grapevine Homecoming Parade has grown over the years and is well attended. Kathee Livengood made a motion to grant the request, Ev Barnes seconded and motion carried. GrapeFest GrapeFest will be four days with Thursday and Friday before 5 p.m. free admission. Thursday's opening at 11 a.m. will be a small ceremony and complimentary lunch for uniformed personnel. Friday will be the media event with emphasis on the Top 100 Festivals. There will be representatives from four of the other Top 100 Festivals. Mr. McCallum recapped the many GrapeFest activities and the board members' participation in the festival. REPORTS Heritage Foundation Ms. Stinson reported that the Foundation held its annual meeting last night. The Evening with Elvis was successful and the Foundation is getting ready for GrapeFest. (lime Chamber of Commerce Mr. Nordling reported that they have gathered travel tips for their members who are traveling to the festival exchange with Foley in November. The Chamber is doing business profiles and will post them on the internet. There is a ribbon cutting and mixer at Cross Timbers Winery tonight. The Board of Directors Meeting August 21, 2003 Page 4 of 4 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Phil Cloud made a motion to adjourn seconded by Ev Barnes. ATTEST: DATE: Cv