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MPEC Board 09/21/2005 MPEC Corporation Board Minutes Taken September 21, 2005 —__ Page 1 RECEIVED IN Wichita Falls, Texas CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Multi-Purpose Events Center Date (')- _ I -6 Co September 21, 2005 By P i Time ar. MPEC Corporation Board Meeting The MPEC Board of the Multi-Purpose Events Center of Wichita Falls, Texas, met on September 21, 2005 in the Board Room of the Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall at 8:00 A.M., with the following members present: Board Members Kay Yeager, Chairman Staff Bill Altman -Vice Chairman Robert J. Sullivan - Executive Director Jim Berzina Nancy Todd - Recorder Woody Gossom Pat Norriss Mike Castles Benay Ayers Item I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 8:10 A.M by Kay Yeager. Item II. Approval of Minutes of August 17, 2005 Board Meeting. Mike Castles made a motion to accept the minutes of the August 17, 2005 MPEC Board Meeting. A second was made by Benay Ayers. The motion passed. Item III. Correspondence Received Bob Sullivan presented the following information: 1. MPEC and the CVB received notification from the City of Wichita Falls Finance Department that the 2005- 2006 Budget requests have been approved. 2. Correspondence was received from Falls Distributing expressing thanks to the staff in regard to the Ranch Round-Up Event. 3. Vicki Carr, the MPEC Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall Sales manager has submitted her resignation, due to the illness of her mother. 4. Venues Today. According to an article in a recent journal, a new wave of construction is taking place regarding equestrian events. We find that this type of event usually brings in a greater economic impact to the community than standard conventions. Item IV. Director's Report • July Financial Report Coliseum-We received $6,000 from a high school graduation that took place in May. We also received a deposit for the wrestling event in September. Bob stated that he has had very positive feed- back regarding the new acoustical treatment in the Coliseum. He also reported that three of our Beer Sellers were ticketed during the WWE Wrestling event in September. Kay Yeager suggested that we conduct some sort of pre-event training to help prevent this happening again. J. S. Bridwell - Events in July included two barrel races and a team roping. Exhibit Hall- July is always a slower month for activities in the Exhibit Hall, although, we did have a number of smaller events. • Future Events The Hockey Camp, that was scheduled in July, was cancelled, due to lack of interest. Bob has spoken with the Wildcats management regarding their organization conducting a camp next summer. We would have to put down ice for that two-week period, but we could also utilize it for public skating and events that would help increase interest in hockey. This would be a time when normal activities are slow. We would need to compare operational cost versus income from the activities that we schedule. This could also aid the Wildcats by making our facility available to them during their summer recruiting. MPEC Corporation Board Minutes Taken September 21,2005 Page 2 The Wildcats have reported that their sponsorship is down, mostly due to economic reasons. Bob feels they need to get kids more interested in individual players, which would also create more excitement for them to attend the hockey games. He feels it is important to put a "personality" to the team and get more of the players into the schools. Bob will be meeting with Rick Brodsky, and will report back to the Board the outcome of that meeting. • CVB Report The events at J. S. Bridwell have increased considerably, under the leadership of Mike Baxter, a CVB Sales Manager. The Hotel issue regarding service is an on-going discussion between the CVB and hotel manage- ment. More services were offered at this year's Hotter n' Hell event, including a CVB Information Table which provided information regarding restaurants, City attractions, and general information. Also, the entertainment that was made available at this year's event seemed to be well received by all. • Update on Finance Director Vacancy So far, to date, one application and one resume have been turned into Personnel for this position. Bob spoke with Jim Dockery, in the City Finance Department, to see if anyone in his office could help with August financials and other needs. Bob stated that he has asked Benay Ayers and Jim Dockery to serve on a panel for interviews, when the time comes. • Discussion on the Casual Labor Issues for MPEC Events We had a stage call for 80 hands for the WWE Wrestling event. Personnel called before the event to let us know that they were 40 short in providing the number needed. We were able to get 21 from Oklahoma City and 20 from an area temporary agency. Bob has spoken to both Matt Benoit and Darron Leiker regarding MPEC being able to take care of its staffing needs. This would enable us to train people for the specific roles they would fill, according to the standards we expect them to meet, in that particular position. They would also be required to conform to the City Personnel standards and regulations when being hired. Bob explained that stagehands are a specialized group and he would like to be allowed to contract with a non-union stagehand service, We presently use Paul Tull Riggers from Oklahoma City for our rigging needs, which has worked out well. Jim Berzina stated that he had changed his past opinion concerning the pool. He feels it does not need to be as large as we have had it in the past, and it needs to be more specialized. Item V. Old Business • FY 2006 Operating Budget Update (This item was discussed in Item III). • Robert J. Schlegel vs. City of Wichita Falls and Multi-Purpose Events Center Corporation case number 161,856-A update Ron Pool, our legal representative, has provided the requested information to Mr. Schlegel's Attorney. • Review and approval of equipment purchases with funding provided by Wichita County Extension Horse Committee The Horse Committee has given MPEC $11,000 to use for the J. S. Bridwell Center. Their only requirement is that the expended item can be used in some way by equine-related events. Bob supplied a wish list of needs which the staff has compiled. Benay Ayers made a motion that Bob Sullivan and Terry Shaw be allowed to use the donated money to obtain the wish list items. Pat Norriss seconded the motion. The motion passed. • Ratification of Executive Director's relocation expense Bob provided the Board with an itemized list of expenses for his relocation. Woody Gossom made a motion that the$26,500.68 be ratified as expenses for the relocation of Bob Sullivan. The motion was seconded by Benay Ayers. The motion passed. Item VI. New Business • Event Report Bob Sullivan informed the Board that negotiations are in process for a number of artists through the end of this year and the beginning of 2006. Because of the recent hurricanes, some re-routing is being done, and we may have opportunities to pick up other concerts this year. The Harlem Globetrotters will be here in February, and tickets are now on sale. Sesame Street Live will be here in 2006, and tickets will go on sale in December. Bob is in negotiations with Disney on Ice for next August, trying to get them on a regular rotation for the coliseum. He is also holding a June date for Champions on Ice and talking with Stars on Ice. He is in discussion with a group who want to have a gymnastic event, and trying to find a promoter for said event. Bob is in the process of gelfing an event for the Exhibit Hall which would be a Family Tejano Music production. -Communication is on- going for a Christian music group for Memorial Auditorium. r ' w Y MPEC Corporation Board Minutes Taken September 21, 2005 Page 4 • Corporate Signage Update Wichita Falls Ford and the Texas Ford Dealers had contacted us that they were not renewing their signs in the coliseum. Bob contacted Jose Pozos, and after that visit, they have decided to re-instate their contract. Mr. Pozos has also stated interest in sponsorship of events. • Web Site Update We are in the process of updating the web sites. We are including a process that will enable us to use e-mail to market events. December is our target date for the implementation of the new site. • Suites We still have one suite available for lease. Special baskets were made for each suite holder, which included their suite hockey tickets, and were personally delivered. We are currently looking at current suite menus and making updates. Free popcorn is now available in the suite area for all suite holders. • Highway Sign Our highway sign is still out of operation. Image is looking into what repairs are needed. The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 A.M. PASSED AND APPROVED t s tt` day of atta2A, 2005. Kay Yea r- C ,`rperson ATTEST: C /VtL4.1GCU ' Fancy Tod), Recorder