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Approved April 15, 2015 <br />MINUTES <br />Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting <br />March 18, 2015 <br />The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau met at <br />Residence Inn Chapel Hill <br />Board Members Present: Anthony Carey, Lee Storrow, Debbie Hepp, Rosemary Waldorf, Jill McCullough, Karen DeHart, <br />Aaron Bachenheimer, Lee Pavao, Michelle Johnson, Nitin Khanna, Mike Gering, Penny Rich, Annette Stone, Meg McGurk <br />Not Present: Libbie Hough, Mark Sherburne <br /> Staff attendance: Steve Brantley, Laurie Paolicelli, Marlene Barbera, Martha Shannon and Tina Fuller <br />Also present: Stephanie Perri, Tom Hickey with Clean Design <br />Call to Order <br />Chairman Anthony Carey called the meeting to order at 8:07 a.m. <br />Approval of Minutes <br />Mr. Carey requested a motion to approve the January 21, 2015 minutes. Lee Pavao so moved and Penny Rich seconded. <br />With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted. <br />Welcome from Host <br />General manager Andrew Strickland welcomed the group and gave a brief update on the Residence Inn. Mr. Strickland <br />stated that the hotel sees a strong weekend business from city wide events, as well as mid-week from consulting groups; <br />averaging about a 4 night stay overall. Future plans include a 6-12 month renovation and bringing in local restaurants for <br />the managers reception. <br />Public Art Discussion <br />Martha Shannon opened the discussion with a brief history of the proposed public art project, noting that the project <br />was originally approved in 2009 where the site was originally planned for the front of the public library in Hillsborough. <br />Shannon referred board members to a handout packet she provided. Shannon continued, stating that the site had to be <br />moved due to historic district zoning ordinances. Since then, the area behind the new courthouse has been designated <br />as the new placement location. Ms. Shannon explained that funding in the past was provided through the County’s <br />general fund as a capital investment line item. However the capital investment threshold has changed where this type of <br />project would not be eligible. She was instructed to bring this proposal for funding before this board last fiscal year, <br />which she did. Shannon went on to explain that hotel/motel tax is already funding art programs such as the “call for art <br />for the North Carolina Emergency operations Center building in Raleigh” and their “call for 30th anniversary poster <br />design”. Ms. Shannon stated that the arts commission has never been a fund raising board but perhaps they could raise <br />funds from small grants however they do not foresee raising the full $25,000. She noted that the $25,000 request would <br />be from Orange County’s collection of hotel/motel tax and not from any one municipality. The floor opened for <br />discussion. <br />Mike Gering commented that he thought there would be a policy on funding public art presented first. <br />Laurie Paolicelli commented that she recalls discussion about the manager moving the OCAC under the Visitors Bureau <br />budget… <br />Mr. Gering stated he remembers proposing that a policy be drafted.