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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTDC Minutes 09 09 2014~1'. LUCIE COIJN'Tl( T'OURISI° DEVELOPMENT' COUNCIL MEEI°ING Wednesday, September 09, 2014 0 1:30 P.M. MINUTES Members present: Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky, Chairman. Commissioner Rufus Alexander, City of Fort Pierce Marilyn Minix, Roadrunner Travel Resort Teresa Arronson, St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce Vice-Mayor Linda Bartz, City of Port St. Lucie Chris Egan, Vistana's Beach Club - Sheraton PGA Members absent: Paul Taglieri, St. Lucie Mets Clive Daem, Dockside Inn Michelle MacNichol, Perfect Drive Golf Villas Staff present: Kathryn Barbieri, St. Lucie County Attorney Charlotte Bireley, St. Lucie County Tourism & Venues Darius McPhall, St. Lucie County Tourism & Venues Also present: Zach Shew, Treasure Coast Sport Commission Rick Hatcher, Treasure Coast Sport Commission Dawn Grigsby, Sheration PGA and Vistana's Beach Club Karen Costelllo, Sheration PGA and Vistana's Beach Club Ann Satterlee, Sunrise Theatre Laura Diederick, Smithsonian Dean Kubitschek, City Marina Erick Gill, St Lucie County Joseph Kuzma, No limit 3d production Kelsie Stickles, Holiday Inn Express Millie Feliciano, Holiday Inn Express PSL Leyla Karacan Holiday Inn Express PSL Francesca Tyler, Hilton Garden Inn PSL Cathy Matos, Homewood Suites PSL Emily McHugh, SBDC@ IRSC Rich Nalbandian, Treasure Coast Sport Commission 1. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner Dzadovsky called the meeting to order at 1:35 PM. 2. ROLL CALL: Darius McPhall called roll. 3. SELF INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Attending guests identified themselves. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes from July 09, 2014 were approved. Tourist Development Council Meeting 0 September 9, 2014 5. PUBLIC COMMENT: No public comments. 6. FINANCIAL REPORT & WEB REPORT: Charlotte Bireley reported that June 2014 revenue was up 12% compared to June 2013. Charlotte Bireley gave the report on the revenue for year to date is up 18% from last year. Charlotte Bireley reported that the year to date totals for June bed tax revenue has already surpassed what was projected for the entire year revenue. Commissioner Dzadovsky cautioned the public that while the bed tax numbers were over budget, the funds have already been earmarked for future and capital projects. Charlotte Bireley also reported that July 2014 revenue was up 23% compared to July 2013. The year to date totals including July revenue puts us up 19% from last year. Charlotte explained that the net income is in the red due to the greater majority of our yearly expenditures that came out in the month of July (i.e webcams, promotional advertising). She further highlighted that the expense vs. revenue report for the month of June was down in comparison to the expenses and revenues during this time last year, but in the month of July were up to large expenditures being deducted. Charlotte provided the TDC with a report on the increased activity of the St. Lucie County Tourism web site for the months of July and August. Both months are up compared to the months of previous years. 7. Presentation from Treasure Coast Sports Commission Executive Director: Rick Hatcher gave a brief overview of the Treasure Coast Sports Commission highlighting the mission statement, vision, and marketing plans for the upcoming year. Mr. Hatcher also gave information on his background and prior experience before being named the new executive director of the Treasure Coast Sports Commission. Rick ended his presentation with 2014-2015 forecast for events that are being brought to the County as a result of the TCSC. 8. Web Cam Update: Page 2 of 4 Tourist Development Council Meeting 0 September 9, 2014 Charlotte Bireley gave a status update on all three of the web cams. First giving the location and a view of actual footage of 2 of the functional cameras live and then a status update on the third camera that is currently being installed. Marilyn Minix proposed the question could the cameras be moved to view events that would be taking place in the area of the camera shoot range. Charlotte stated that the camera would be repositioned to catch events that would be going on in the area of the cameras. Dean Kubitschek gave information on the installation process of the third camera due to its location of being right on the Jetty's edge. Commissioner Alexander also proposed a question on how would the lighting on the cameras be adjusted to account for night viewing. Kubitschek assured that they would have to make adjustments based on the actual camera placement. 9. 2015 Proposed Marketing ~ Public Relations Plan: Charlotte Bireley and Erick Gill presented the 2015 marketing plan by first giving an overview of the vision and mission statement of the TDC. Charlotte presented that the TDC had obtained its marketing objective for the year by increasing the tourist tax revenue by 5% and increasing the number of website visits by 10%. Charlotte highlighted that according to the revenue and website data we had surpassed those objectives and have a steady upward increase trend. Commissioner Dzadovsky proposed to increase our tourist tax revenue objective to 10% due to increased positive efforts. Charlotte Bireley accepted the challenge to increase our revenue 10% over the 2014 numbers. Charlotte also spoke about the strategy to promote and market during tourism's off season in an effort to continuously drive the industry. Erick Gill then introduced a new public relations database system (Cision) that the TDC will be utilizing that will allow the tourism marketing plan to target specific groups. Charlotte then give an overview of public relations and content calendar that will be used to promote St. Lucie County Tourism. Charlotte showed a conceptual ad that will be used going forth in the 2014-2015 campaign. She concluded the marketing plan with footage of the boating and fishing commercial that will be promoted in the Central Florida Region in comparison to the past efforts from previous years where it had been ran in the Central Florida and the Miami markets. 10. Other Business: Page 3 of 4 Tourist Development Council Meeting 0 September 9, 2014 Commissioner Dzadovsky proposed the potential of bringing the USS Ingham to our County port. Commissioner highlighted the positive economic impacts that the vessel would have on tourism. Commissioner Dzadovsky stated that he vessel currently brings in $625,000 in tourism just with visits alone with no marketing plan. The vessel also brings 15,000 visitors to the area. He also pointed out that the vessel is currently being ran by 4 people, 2 of which are volunteers. The vessel would cost $60,000 to $80,000 to have it brought to the county's port. In addition, the vessel could be used for naval training missions. 11. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 3:10 PM. Page 4 of 4