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Approved June 18, 2014 MINUTES Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting May 21, 2014 The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau met at The Franklin Hotel Hosts: Jay Patel and Jennifer Beranek Board Members Present: Penny Rich, Aaron Bachenheimer, Lee Pavao, Karen DeHart, Anthony Carey, Mike Gering, Annette Stone, Mark Sherburne, Jim Parker, Lee Storrow, and Dave Gephart Not Present: Greg Overbeck, Michelle Johnson, Debbie Hepp and Meg McGurk Staff attendance: Steve Brantley, Laurie Paolicelli, Linda Ekeland, and Tina Fuller Also attended: Tom Hickey, Dickens Sanchez, and Nancy Woody with Clean Design and Cheri Szcodronski, Director Preservation Chapel Hill Call to Order Chairman Anthony Carey welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 8:12 am. Mr. Carey introduced Jay Patel and thanked him for hosting this meeting. Mr. Patel briefly spoke about the growth in downtown Chapel Hill and plans to build residential space for graduate students. He acknowledged Jennifer Beranek, Director of Sales Chairman Carey then recognized attending staff members from Clean Design as well as Cheri Szcodronksi. Approval of Minutes Chairman Carey requested a motion to approve the April 16, 2014 minutes. Penny Rich moved and Mike Gering seconded. With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted. Mark Sherburne asked to discuss the planned exit strategy for Linda Ekeland’s retirement which he deemed urgent. Paolicelli stated that the challenge here is with the county’s policy on the hiring procedure; the Visitor Bureau cannot advertise for this position until July 1 putting us behind on the start date to September or October based on the new hire having to give notice. Anthony Carey questioned whether they (board members) could have conversations with possible candidates and questioned if there is a minimum time the ad would stay posted. Paolicelli replied yes, it is four weeks, and she anticipates that it will be 3-5 months before someone is on board Anthony Carey inquired if there were anything this board could do to move forward, stating he thought it was imperative to start this process now. Carey continued stating that we are under budget compared to surrounding counties and under staffed in sales and for the first time we get permission to have two position we’re down to zero. He stated that it takes some six months (to get someone trained). Mark Sherburne agreed, saying that he’s been looking for a Sales Director since December and it is a long hard path to hiring. Sherburne stated that his company just did a report that stated for every month without a sales person on staff there is a potential to lose $80,000.