Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-09-18 Regular MeetingCITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, September 18, 2014 — 8:00 a.m. CVB Headquarters 636 S. Main Street Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER I1. OATH OF OFFICE III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES IV. LIAISON UPDATES A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES V. SALES & MARKETING REPORT VI. OLD BUSINESS A. FY 15 CVB BUDGET B. GRAPEFEST REPORT C. TED WARE PLAZA UPDATE VII. NEW BUSINESS A. MARKETING COMMITTEE REPORT B. CHRISTMAS CAPITAL OF TEXAS DECORATIONS C. GRAPEVINE HIGH SCHOOL HOMECOMING PARADE VIII. HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES IX. ADJOURNMENT IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING AND YOU HAVE A DISABILITY THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU AT (817) 410-3185 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE MEETING. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST YOUR NEEDS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 551.001 et seq, ACTS OF THE 1993 TEXAS LEGISLATURE, THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA WAS PREPARED AND POSTED ON THIS THE 11TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER AT 5:00 P.M. Eloise Koehn Director of Finance and Administration State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met in Regular Session on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. at the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau Headquarters, 636 S. Main Street, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Joe Szymaszek Chairman Cindy Blankenship Board Member Tom Cherry Board Member Lance Marrin Board Member Jim Quinn Board Member Mark Terpening Board Member Dan Weinberger Board Member Debi Meek Alternate Board Member Constituting a quorum, with the following liaisons and staff members present: Absent: Sharron Spencer Balla Wright Shane Wilbanks Bob Farley Paul W. McCallum Michael Woody Eloise Koehn Shawna Barnes C. W. Higgins Jennifer Hibbs Council Liaison Heritage Foundation Liaison Co -Chair 29th Annual GrapeFest Economic Development Director Executive Director Assistant Executive Director Director of Finance & Administration Assistant to the Executive Director Chamber Liaison Assistant City Manager CALL TO ORDER Chairman Szymaszek called the meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Dan Weinberger, seconded by Lance Marrin to approve the minutes from the August 21, 2014 meeting prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Blankenship, Cherry, Marrin, Meek, Szymaszek, Terpening, Weinberger Nays: None Board of Directors Meeting September 18, 2014 Page 2of6 INTRODUCTION OF STAFF Paul McCallum introduced Bob Farley, Economic Development Director for the City, to the board. No action taken by the Board OATH OF OFFICE Laura Simmons administered the oath of office to Jim Quinn. No action taken by the Board LIAISON UPDATES Heritage Foundation Activities Balla Wright reported that the Grapevine Heritage Foundation Board of Directors met yesterday. They approved their FY 15 budget and reviewed the Nash Farm Master Plan. Saturday, September 27th will be the Farmhouse on the Grape Vine prairie program. Plans continue for Fall Round -Up on October 18th At the Palace Theater the art of Ruben Miranda is on display in the Lancaster Gallery. On Saturday the Grapevine Opry Show will feature the "Style Me Country" program. No action taken by the Board Chamber of Commerce Activities Chairman Szymaszek reported that the Young Entrepreneur Academy will begin next Monday. There were 32 applicants for the program which can accommodate 24. In the last two years there have been 24 DBA's filed. The Grapevine Golf Tournament is Monday, October 6th at the Grapevine Golf Course. The Chamber has begun work on the December 4th Christmas Parade. The Chamber is also soliciting names for the 2014 Community Awards; D.E. Box Citizen of the year, Business Hall of Fame, Don Ramey Community Spirit Award, Ted Willhoite Legacy Award and Chamber Member of the Year. No action taken by the Board SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Woody reported that convention sales had 58 leads with 66,000 potential room nights, 17 of the leads are for 2014. They assisted with 24 definites representing 21,000 room nights; six of the bookings are for 2014. The sales team conducted 41 sales appointments. They hosted seven site inspections including HomeVestors of America, Publicis Touchpoint Solutions, Disaster Recovery Journal Association, Honeywell Process Solutions, Morrissey & Associates, Republic Services and Stryker. Tourism sales and service produced 13 leads, 12 of which were for 2014. They assisted with ten bookings all for 2014. The number of brochures distributed in August Board of Directors Meeting September 18, 2014 Page 3 of 6 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. was 163,000 and over 10,000 tickets were sold through the Visitor Information Center. The team welcomed over 7,000 guests into the Visitor Information Center. Destination Services assisted nine groups with over 10,000 delegates with information and registration assistance. The Visitor Shuttles carried 6,222 passengers, a 21% increase for the month over last year. The ridership year-to-date is 57,772, a 14.7% increase over last year. The Convention Center booked 41 future groups representing 31,760 attendees and had $51,721 in sales for the month. The Palace Arts Center booked 13 future groups representing 2,700 attendees and had total sales for the month of $15,746. The Concourse booked seven future groups with 890 attendees and over $5,000 in sales. The Grapevine Vintage Railroad had total ridership of 6,486. The web site had 127,000 unique visitors with over 10,000 reaching us through a mobile device. For marketing there were 12 print trade insertions, 105,000 online impressions, 87 print consumer publications insertions, 84 TV and radio insertions and 1,204,000 online advertising impressions. Public relations print value was $881,000, electronic was $46,000 for a total of $927,000. No action taken by the Board OLD BUSINESS FY 15 CVB Budget Eloise Koehn reported that the FY 15 Budget was approved by Council on September 10 and will take effect on October 1. Two additional positions were approved in the budget process, a market research manager and a railroad management trainee. The overall budget is $22.7 million including $2.2 million in hotel occupancy tax as a result of the 1% tax increase approved by Council in July. The incentives fund has been separated from the operating fund so that designated hotel tax monies will be used to incentivize and compete for group and convention business. On the expense side the budget is constant with last year's numbers. Capital projects and permanent capital maintenance dollars were removed to present a balanced budget without impacting the sales promotion and marketing dollars. No action taken by the Board. GrapeFest Report Mr. Wilbanks reported on the 29th Annual GrapeFest. The Pre -Festival events included wine and food pairing dinners, the Italian CarFest, the GrapeFest Golf Classic and the Texas Wine Tribute. Key events of the festival included the Mayor's Brunch, The Board of Directors Meeting September 18, 2014 Page 4 of 6 OLD BUSINESS cont. GrapeFest Report cont. GrapeFest Tennis Classic and the People Choice Wine Tasting Classic which had a record 43 wineries represented with 154 wines. Other key events included the Champagne Cork Shoot, GrapeStomp and KidsWorld. All three sister Cities were represented with over 70 delegates. New events included the Washington Wine Experience with wine from four regions of the state of Washington and the Italian Wine Experience with wines from Italy. Sloan & Williams Winery held their grand opening during the festival. The marketing team produced 166,938 pieces of collateral. There were several radio and TV ads. During the festival week there were 129,256 visits to the website. Mr. Wilbanks expressed his and Paula's appreciation for being the co-chairs of the festival and their appreciation of the CVB staff for the 28th Annual GrapeFest which had an attendance of 266,170. No action taken by the Board. Ted Ware Plaza Update Mr. McCallum reported that the Historical Society is working hard on the Ice House museum. The Grand Opening is scheduled for November 15, 2014. Last Sunday they closed the Cotton Belt Depot museum and are in the process of transferring their artifacts into the Ice House. This will complete the Ted R. Ware Plaza. There is a video security system in place and the historic neon sign is in the process of restoration. Uplightling has been added to the Plaza area. No action taken by the Board. NEW BUSINESS Marketing Committee Report Chainman Szymaszek thanked Jim Quinn, Mark Terpening, Tom Cherry and Sharron Spencer for their participation on the marketing committee. To date there have been two of the three meetings. The objective of the first meeting with 18 people in attendance was to review the current plan and gather input from our industry partners. The second meeting had 27 people in attendance and staff presented the first draft of the 2015 Marketing Plan for the committee to review. The draft version was emailed to all partners. The third and final meeting will be Tuesday, September 23rd and the committee will review the final draft. At the next board meeting Barry Lewis will present the final draft to the board for review and approval. No action taken by the Board. Board of Directors Meeting September 18, 2014 Page 5 of 6 NEW BUSINESS cont. Christmas Capital of Texas Decorations Mr. McCallum reviewed the Christmas decorations planned for the six facades of the CVB Headquarters building. David Klempin and Lisa Dalton developed a plan appropriate for each facade. The project went out for bids and Linda Baker Designs was selected and approved at Tuesday's council meeting. He shared the sketches for each of the facades with the board. No action taken by the Board. Grapevine High School Homecoming Parade Mr. McCallum shared that the Grapevine High School Ex -Students Association has approached the CVB for a grant for the Grapevine High School Parade. The bureau has supported the parade for many years in the amount of $2,500. Staff recommends approval. A motion by Tom Cherry, seconded by Cindy Blankenship to approve a grant in the amount of $2,500 to the Grapevine High School Ex -Students Association for the Grapevine High School Homecoming Parade prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Blankenship, Cherry, Marrin, Quinn, Szymaszek, Terpening, Weinberger Nays: None HOTELS / ATTRACTIONS ACTIVITIES • Michael Brumels at the Hampton Inn and Suites was named the General Manager of the year for Moody Hotels. • Gaylord Texan has completed their rooms renovation project, well ahead of schedule. • Great Wolf Lodge has opened their new Howlers Peak Ropes Course. • Hilton DFW Lakes has completed the renovation of the Texas Grande Ballroom. • Mac's on Main is scheduled to open September 27. • Grapevine wineries did well at Peoples Choice with four wineries winning seven medals. • Umbra Winery received council approval last Tuesday night. • Interior work has begun on the Wallis in preparation for Messina Hof Winery. • Presented the new brochure for Fall events. No action taken by the Board. Board of Directors Meeting September 18, 2014 Page 6 of 6 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board a motion by Tom Cherry, seconded by Dan Weinberger to adjourn the meeting at 9:18 a.m. prevailed by the following vote: Ayes: Blankenship, Cherry, Marrin, Quinn, Szymaszek, Terpening, Weinberger Nays: None PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE GRAPEVINE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS ON THIS THE 16th DAY OF OCTOBER, 2014. ATTEST: APPROVED: �r Ym airman Eloise Koehn Director of Finance & Administration