CHOC Visitors Bureau minutes 061919

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For Approval August 21 , 2019 Chapel Hill/ Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting June 19, 2019 The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau met at The Carolina Club , 104 Ridge Rd . , Chapel Hill , NC 27517 Board Members Present : Kayla Dempsey, Anthony Carey, Annette Stone , Andrew Strickland , Tanya Moore , Penny Rich , Mark Bell , Tim Hoke, Lydia Lavelle Not Present : Jeff Strickler, Racheal Schaevitz/ Pam Hemminger, Rosemary Waldorf, Mark Sherburne, David Brooks, Libby Hough , Shannan Campbell Staff attendance : Marlene Barbera , Allison Chambers Also present : Anna Murphy, Expedia ; Sarah DeGenero, Alliance for Historic Hillsborough ; Heidi Werner Dawson , Director of Sales, Carolina Inn Call to Order Chair Anthony Carey called the meeting to order at 8 : 10 am . Chair Carey reported that Executive Director, Laurie Paolicelli would not be joining us this morning as she is attending the PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference in Philadelphia with Communications Director, Patty Griffin . He will co - lead the meeting today with Director of Sales, Marlene Barbera . Introductions were given by all . Welcome by Host Chair Carey offered a history of the Carolina Club, whose membership is open to alumni and the general public . Approval of Minutes Chair Carey requested a motion to approve the May 15 , 2019 minutes . Mark Bell so moved and Andrew Strickland seconded the motion . With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted . Finance Report The Board of County Commissioners approved the 2019 - 20 Operating Budget at the June 18, 2019 meeting and that budget, of course includes the budget of the Visitors Bureau . Budgeted revenues are increased 2 % while the Arts Commission expenditures is seeing a 15 % increase from Occupancy Tax collections . The Arts Commission is forming a non - profit arm that will be set up as a 5010 , or non - profit, so it can raise money for the support of its programs . We are under contract with Clean Design to promote tourism in Orange County for the budget year . The budget reflects an 11 % increase in the county' s Administrative Fee charged to the bureau . Commissioner Rich reported that there are individuals interested in buying the building that houses the bureau and the bureau would need to find new space . This could be in the next coming year . She also talked about the possibility of a partnership with the new UNC Visitor Center that will be located on the 100 block of E . Franklin St . Guest Presentation Anna Murphy, Expedia Market Manager, spoke to the board about her work with hotels from the Triangle to Fayetteville helping them understand how they can use Expedia ' s tools to sell their hotel rooms . She hopes that some of the information she will share will be helpful to the board in their fields on a day to day basis . Expedia is the place that many people turn to when searching flights and hotels, but they are also the parent company of such online services as Hotels . com , hotwire . com , orbitz . com and many other online travel search engines that make up Expedia Data . They