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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-08-15 Regular Meeting to, CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, August 15, 2002 -- 11:30 am WALLIS BUILDING ONE LIBERTY PARK PLAZA, GRAPEVINE, TEXAS AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. OATH OF OFFICE III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES IV. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT C V. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT VI. OLD BUSINESS A. BUDGET & MARKETING COMMITTEE UPDATE B. TRAIN UPDATE VII. NEW BUSINESS A. GRAPEFEST B. PENTICTON VIII. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IX. ADJOURNMENT STATE OF TEXAS (kw COUNTY OF TARRANT CITY OF GRAPEVINE MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, August 15, 2002 at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Bill Brink Board Member Philip Cloud Board Member Paul Jennings Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Tom Smith Board Member Robert Thrailkill Board Member Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Darlene Freed Council Liaison Sue Franks Grapevine Chamber Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Absent: CALL TO ORDER Don Bigbie called the meeting to order. OATH OF OFFICE Sallie Andrews administered the oath of office to Don Bigbie, Phil Cloud, Paul Slechta, and Bill Brink. Chairman Bigbie welcomed new board member, Paul Slechta, to the board. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the June 20, 2002 meeting was made by Phil Cloud and seconded by Robert Thrailkill. Motion carried. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT • Mr. McCallum reported that the Hawthorne Suites has become Homewood Suites, part of the Hilton product. • The Supper Club at Grapevine Mills has been placed on hold. Six Flags sought a grant from the city of Arlington to drive the sagging attractions market. The Arlington CVB is requesting their city to define itself as the Attractions Mecca of the Metroplex. Six Flags attendance is down 9% which they feel is because they stopped discounting ticket prices. The Board of Directors Meeting August 15, 2002 Page 2 of 4 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT cont. • Grapevine recently completed a mission to Parras de la Fuente with 19 participants including 3 students. The mission was led by Councilpersons Freed and Johnson with Bill Brink the senior Sister City Committee member. The mission included visits to the new library facility and the fire station. Parras is about to complete a building phase for the hospital. The orphanage leveraged the donation from Grapevine to $20,000 through a 3:1 match from the government and were able to complete the kitchen and dormitory. The city received a certificate recognizing the work Grapevine has done over the years. Recognizing the work of the Parras Rotary, Darlene Freed presented Alberto Verastegui with the Paul Harris Fellow award for his leadership. There will be a dedication of phase I of their Fire Station in the spring and they have asked for a delegation from Grapevine to be present. This has been a five to six year project. • A Visitor Information Center Volunteer Recognition celebration was held recently at the Texas Room in the Westwood Development. Over 40 folks were recognized. Mr. Brink leads the volunteer hours with 1,811. (lor SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos shared combined highlights from the months of June and July. The convention sales team produced 30 leads representing 15,783 potential roomnights. Three group went definite representing 2,215 roomnights. Convention Services worked with ten groups with a total of 15,035 attendees. Tourism division generated 8 leads representing 380 attendees and had 5 definites with 60 roomnights. Over 42,000 visitors were assisted through the visitor information centers and 166,700 brochures were distributed. Sales staff participated in the National Travel Forum and Meeting World. Media generated for the two months totaled $413,906. OLD BUSINESS Budget & Marketing Committee Update Mr. Cloud reported that the committee met a couple of times in June and thanked Kathee Livengood and Ev Barnes for serving on the committee. George Kakos presented the Sales and Marketing Activity Overview including highlights to; coordinate media and sales missions, cooperate with hotel partners on some group advertising projects, present a combined marketing effort, and set the goal to sell the destination. The follow-up meeting with the director of sales was a good meeting with only one property not represented. The budget will be presented to council next Wednesday. We don't anticipate any changes to the budget and realize it will be a tight year. Darlene Freed stated that the city is prepared to handle a critical time but not a crisis. (00 Many of the city revenue streams, including water fees, sales tax, parking fees at the airport, and the hotel/motel tax have been impacted however the future is bright. The Board of Directors Meeting (Iiiv August 15, 2002 Page 3 of 4 OLD BUSINESS cont. Train Update Mr. McCallum reported that the train went to a 5 day a week operation for cost savings. Ridership has grown throughout the summer and we are operating in the black. We will air-condition two coaches in the fall and then will offer 2 classes of service next year with first class being air-conditioned. The Victoria Parks Board and Council met Monday and granted a one-year extension for the group to find a home for engine 771. Regarding the engine in Roseville, there has been small but incremental progress in that arena. The Heritage Foundation Board voted to let the Grapevine CVB/Grapevine Steam Railroad take over the property around the depot. NEW BUSINESS GrapeFest Mr. Kakos shared the poster and brochure with the Board. This year's festival will be L' expanded to four full days. Admission is waived all day Thursday and Friday until 5 pm. Mr. McCallum added that the opening will include a dedication at 11 am on Thursday recognizing the flight crews, fire, police and military personnel. Friday at 11 am will be several grape elements of the festival. He requested that as many board members as possible attend these opening events. Ms. Livengood shared that Richard Blenko donated 2 glass pieces to the auction; one for the live auction and one for the Saturday night silent auction. Sister City Site Visit Penticton is located in Okanagan Valley in Canada. Several months ago the mayor suggested the need to develop a Sister City where English is the spoken language. Penticton is one of the cities under consideration. It is a fabulous place situated between 2 lakes with approximately 30,000 residents. It is comparable to Grapevine 1967 and has developed a modern wine industry. They have a huge peach festival and tourism is a big industry for them. It will probably take two years to develop a relationship if plans continue to move forward. REPORTS Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson reported that Elvis is in the building tonight for a "sold out" event. Kathrine Brink and Ken Johnson are co-chairs of the event. The next event will focus on Nash Farm. Cr' Chamber of Commerce Sue Franks reported that the Business of the Month was Cross Timbers Winery. Tonight will be the 50th Anniversary celebration for the Chamber at the Beach Club. The Board of Directors Meeting tir August 15, 2002 Page 4 of 4 REPORTS cont. Chamber of Commerce cont. Wednesday, September 11 will be a special breakfast at Stacy Furniture Community Room with Chuck Jones as the speaker. Ms. Franks offered that the Chamber members would turn out for the Thursday and Friday GrapeFest Openings. September 30 is the date for the Chamber Golf Tournament at the Grapevine course. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Barnes reported that the Hospitality program has been reinstated at Grapevine High School. There being no further business to come before the Board, Ev Barnes made a motion to adjourn seconded by Kathee Livengood. ATTEST: DATE: