CHOC Visitors Bureau minutes 011619

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For Approval February 20, 2019 MINUTES Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting January 16, 2018 The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau met at Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S . Elliott Rd . , Chapel Hill 27514 Board Members Present : Kayla Dempsey, Lydia Lavelle, Anthony Carey, Chair, Tim Hoke, Jeff Stickler, Rosemary Waldorf, Annette Stone, Elinor Landess, Lee Storrow, Rachel Schaevitz, David Brooks, Libby Hough , Penny Rich , Mark Bell, Mark Sherburne, Matt Gladdick Not Present : Andrew Strickland , Tanya Moore, Shannan Campbell Staff attendance : Laurie Paolicelli, Marlene Barbera, Allison Chambers, Katie Murray Also present : Joel Sheer, Sheer Associates, Inc . Call to Order Chair Anthony Carey called the meeting to order at 8 : 05 am . Introductions were given by all . Host Welcome Extraordinary Ventures is experiencing a staff shift and they were not available to welcome the board and offer a tour. Chair Anthony gave the board background on the operations of the facility and their mission . Approval of Minutes Chair Carey requested a motion to approve the November 14, 2018 minutes . Mark Bell so moved and Penny Rich seconded . With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted . Chair Carey asked Matt Gladdick, the new Executive Director of the Downtown Partnership, to introduce himself. Mr. Gladdick stated that he lived in Chapel Hill while attending graduate school at UNC from 2008-2011 and has most recently worked for the City of Durham . He will be meeting with stakeholders to better understand the needs of the downtown community . They will look at what the town and county are already doing and decide the best uses for their resources . Finance Report Penny Rich reported that the budget is on target for this point in the fiscal year. The November occupancy tax was up 17% over last year. Chair Carey and Mark Sherburne both attributed this increase over November 2017 to the number of home footballs and basketball games in November 2018 plus there were several events held, such as the Black Alumni Reunion , The Visitors Bureau is a sponsor of the Black Alumni Reunion . Airbnb paid approximately $ 8, 000 in occupancy tax for the month of November 2018 . The bureau ended their contract with FleishmanHillard as of December 1, 2018 as they found that working with an agency that was not local did not get the results they needed and at a higher price . The bureau will work with Clean Design through a 90 day contract until the end of February. In the meantime an RFP will go out and more interviews will be held in order to select our next agency . The new agency will start in March . The bureau is drawing down $ 180, 000 from available fund balance to put toward the advertising budget and promotions . Lydia Lavelle shared that a new LGBT affinity group has formed a UNC and suggested they may have meetings that we might sponsor in the future . Laurie Paolicelli agreed that that, like sponsorship of BAR, is aligned with our goals .