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MPEC Advisory Board Minutes - 11/28/2012 MPEC ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES November 28, 2012 MPEC Board Room The following Advisory Board members were in attendance: Darron Leiker Glenn Barham Woody Gossom Ashton Gustafson RECEIVED IN Rick Hatcher CITY CLERK'S OFFIC1 Tim Ingle The following MPEC employees were present: BY: TIME Bob Sullivan — MPEC Director Bill Dixon —MPEC Comptroller Lindsay Greer— CVB Director Katie Comello—Administrative Assistant The following Advisory Board members were absent: Pat Norris Michael Latham The meeting was called to order at 8:35 by MPEC Director Bob Sullivan. The Director asked that minutes from the June 13, 2012 meeting be approved. A motion was then made to be approved and was agreed on by all. Director's Report 4B Funding Requests—the following items are being proposed for 4B funding. Traditionally MPEC has approached the 4B Board for funding a variety of projects to improve the facilities and upgrade equipment. Previous items that have been funded include the exterior message boards, new carpeting, fountain repairs, new tables and repair to the moveable walls. The last remaining item from our previous requests is the de-humidification installation in the Coliseum. Tracking Software — Executive Direction, Bob Sullivan, turned the floor over to CVB Director, Lindsay Greer to explain in greater detail. It is iDSS, which is web based. It's a great partner system that interfaces with the hotels, leads can be searched for, special rates and incentives input, track number of leads sent and response rate. This system aids in efficiency and reports can be generated. Bob went on to discuss hotel accountability. Incentive funding - Previously this was a line item in the operating budget. This year the request is to have this funded by 4B funds and available on an as needed basis. MPEC Upgrades —The Director explained the vision of the outdoor patio area at the Kay Yeager Coliseum. Diagrams and costs were discussed at length. The area would provide a larger place for patrons to congregate and would enable the staff to contain smokers. The plan would be to add outdoor food and beverages services as well as future plans to install climate controls such as fans and heaters. The area to be constructed is under a current overhang. The plans include adding concrete and a fence. People want to see improvements; there have been none in 10 years. MPEC equipment replacement: We currently have a 10 year old scrubber that is utilized in all of the MPEC buildings. This past year alone, we spent $10,000.00 on maintenance. The MPEC also spends approximately $5000.00 per year on scissor lift rentals. We would like to purchase one. There are also old wooden tables that are becoming unusable. We would like to replace them with metal tables. Also, a request to replace gates/panels used in the JS Bridwell Ag Center that were stolen. The total cost that will be requested is $273,750.00. WildCats: Analysis handout from the past 11 seasons was discussed. There are obvious difficulties in keeping attendance up. They have one more year on their agreement. Bob looked at the effect to the facility that hockey brings, including net revenues, suite revenue, etc. There was a discussion about arena football, basketball — and indepth talk about MSU basketball. City Manager, Darron Leiker, talked about the deal we have given the Wild Cats and the incentives already provided to them. Mayor Glenn Barham asked if we have tried shuttling to and from SAFB as well as brought up ATM issues and asked if losing Larry Sanner has hurt the Wild Cats. City Councilman, Rick Hatcher also talked about ATM issues during HHH. Darron suggested we look into utilizing the City's Credit Union to provide ATM's Upcoming Event Report: A handout was provided, and discussed. Ticket sales are down. There have been dates lost due to tour re-routing. There are still strong dates on hold. The Exhibit Hall and Ag Center are holding strong. A discussion followed regarding graduations, concession during events and revenue provided. City Hotels: The Howard Johnson has been renamed "The Grand Hotel" and will operate as an independent hotel property without a national affiliation. Negative issues continue. Negotiations have stopped for a complete renovation program for the facility with some level of City financial support. Limited services hotels are doing great. Donor wall: A list of donors has been obtained through City records. There are 22 names of individual, foundation and corporate donations. The plan is for a smoked glass and brass display to be in the Exhibit Hall lobby wall. The Director turned the floor over to Lindsay Greer, CVB Director, to give the Convention and Visitors Bureau Report. • Won/Lost Bids: Handout was discussed. Multiple lost bids were again due to lack of local support. CVB also decided to not bid on some conferences that requested to have their entire event under one roof, because of the condition of the Howard Johnson (The Grand Hotel) • Sports Alliance: New Extreme Sport Launch was discussed. Pride in the Falls recent presentation was discussed—regarding growing current events. There are upgrades needed at some facilities. A new form was presented to track hotel usage—due to the difficulty tracking sports as they do not utilize host hotels, this new form will help to add insight to hotel usage. • Economic Impact Report: This report was done by Dr. Martinez at MSU and included local sports usage. A handout was provided. • Social Media: Huge forum right now—ticket giveaways, tracking visibility, able to place ads, the number of"likes" have increased. Pintrest also has a huge following. There will be a new intern starting; she will be helping with marketing analysis. The Director asked if there were any items of concern from the board members: Judge Woody Gossom —hotel issues were of only concern. Tim Ingle—Downtown Destination, he mentioned a guy from Colorado that talked about fine tuning a city at a meeting he recently attended, and it perked his interest. City Manager, Darron Leiker, Mayor Glenn Barham, Councilman, Rick Hatcher and Ashton Gustafson had no concerns. The Director called the meeting to a close. The 2013 meeting schedule is still being worked out and notification will be sent upon completion. The meeting was adjourned cL; 9:50.