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ST. LUCIE COUNTY
TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
St. Lucie County Administration Building
2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce
3rd Floor Conference Room
12:30pm
PLEASE NOTE LOCATION & TIME OF MEETING
1. Call to Order ....................................................................................................... Commissioner Dzadovsky
2. Roll Call .............................................................................................................................. Tayler Hardison
3. Self-Introductions ............................................................................................... Commissioner Dzadovsky
4. Approval of Minutes from May11, 2016 ............................................................ Commissioner Dzadovsky
5. Public Comment… .............................................................................. ……… Commissioner Dzadovsky
6. Financial & Web Report ....................................................................................................Charlotte Bireley
a. April 2016 Revenue and P & L Report
b. April 2016 Monthly Expenses vs. Revenue Comp Report
c. May 2016 Website Activity Report
d. May Social Media Activity Report – Tayler Hardison
7. 2017 Proposed Budget ....................................................................................................... Charlotte Bireley
8. Other Business .................................................................................................... Commissioner Dzadovsky
9. Adjournment ....................................................................................................... Commissioner Dzadovsky
VISION STATEMENT
By 2017, the St. Lucie County Tourist Development Council will provide a greater impact in promoting
St. Lucie as a top Florida destination for Eco/Adventure/Agri Tourism; amateur/professional sports; and
other known assets, allowing for increased overnight stays.
ST. LUCIE COUNTY
TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 ◊ 12:30 P.M.
MINUTES
Members present: Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky
Vice-Mayor Linda Bartz, City of Port St. Lucie
Marilyn Minix, Road Runner Travel Resort
Terissa Aronson, St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce
Chris Egan, Vistana’s Beach Club – Sheraton PGA
Michelle MacNichol, Perfect Drive Vacation Rentals
Clive Daem, Dockside Inn
Paul Taglieri, St. Lucie Mets
Members absent: Commissioner Rufus Alexander, City of Fort Pierce
Staff present: Katherine Barbieri, St. Lucie County Attorney
Charlotte Bireley, St. Lucie County Tourism
Tayler Hardison, St. Lucie County Tourism
Mark Satterlee, Deputy County Administrator
Also present: Cathy Gibson, Motorized Kayak Adventures
Chris Higgins, Di Michelli’s Catering
Jill Hanson, Residence Inn by Marriot
Rick Hatcher, Treasure Coast Sports Commission
1. CALL TO ORDER: Commission Chris Dzadovsky called the meeting to order at
12:35PM.
2. ROLL CALL: Tayler Hardison called roll.
3. GUESTS INTRODUCED THEMSELVES:
Guests introduced themselves.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes from April 13, 2016 were approved.
5. PUBLIC COMMENT:
No public comments.
6. Financial & Web Report:
Charlotte Bireley stated that we collected $579,292 in overall revenue for March, which
is 6% up from March of last year, which also was a record breaking year. She reported
that year to date we are up 8.3% from last year. On the March P&L our portion of bed
tax revenue was $115,858 so we are well over budget with all expenses in line. She
Tourist Development Council Meeting ◊ May 11, 2016
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explained that in March, large invoices from Promotional entertainment (from
familiarization tours) and Promotional advertising came in for payment.
Charlotte explained that Year to date tourism is only 20% under the total goal. She went
over the total revenues and expenses for the month and there were no questions.
Charlotte went over the website visits summary. She said that April visits were over
13,000 more than last year’s numbers and that page views were up and the bounce rate
was down.
Terissa Aronson asked Charlotte a question about advertising in New York during the
Mets season. Charlotte replied and described the full page in the Mets monthly
“yearbook”.
Social Media Activity Update
Tayler Hardison gave the social media activity update. She reported that Facebook likes
have increased to 13,585 with no campaigns set in place for the month. She reported
that Instagram follows had increased to 517 in total which is a significant rise. Twitter
mentions were 24 for March and Visit St. Lucie made a total of 16,000 impressions.-
meaning that 16,000 users saw Visit St. Lucie content. The council requested a table or
key explaining each piece in the report for the next meeting.
7. 2017 Proposed Budget
Charlotte gave a brief breakdown of how the tourist tax is allocated. She then said that
in 2013 the council requested a Reserves Policy to be enacted so that 3-4 months of
the average tourist tax revenue to always be in our reserves. This year, we have an
estimated revenue of $550,000.
She reported that we are not changing our annual tax revenue for 2017 per the budget
department’s recommendation. She went over the highlights of what is changing in
the budget including: a decrease in contract services and printing, an increase in
personnel for the new eco-tourism position, and an increase in funding to TCSC. She
also explained how she will be proposing the purchase of dedicated tourism vehicle
for distribution, marketing, press trips and tours. She also proposed an increase in
the promotional entertainment budget for more familiarization tours.
Charlotte explained that the Budget department is saying that the fund balance forward
brings our total budget to 1 million dollars for next year. Charlotte explained that the
budget for the visitor study was higher than what we budgeted the $40,000 cost will
be paid 50% in this year’s budget and the remaining $20,000 in next year’s budget.
Michelle asked about the balance forward and Charlotte explained that the extra funds
we generated above the budgeted revenue (right now it’s an estimate) and that the
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fund balance forward number may change as OMB finishes their audit and analysis
of spending trends.
Terissa asked about the return on investment for those line items and Charlotte said for
promotional advertising and promotional entertainment she can show from last year
at the next TDC meeting.
Chris Egan recommended that we increase our budget and Teresa and Michelle
agreed. Chris Egan made the motion for Charlotte to ask OMB for an increase to
$600,000 from $550,000. None opposed. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dzadovsky proposed tabling the 2017 budget until the June TDC
meeting when Charlotte brings the ROI and review of actuals. Chris Egan made a
motion to table 2017’s budget for the next TDC meeting. Terissa and Michelle
seconded. None opposed. Motion passed.
8. 2017 Fishing Commercial
Charlotte presented the fishing commercial for the upcoming fishing campaign for the
summer, targeting males in central and south Florida. The group proposed making a
minor change in the voiceover.
9. 1st Quarter E-Blast Commercial
Tayler Hardison presented the results for the e-blast sent out in March to the tourism
database. This email consisted of information on St. Lucie County spring festivals,
the New York Spring Training and hotel booking deals. Tayler explained that the
database consisted of over 40,000 emails and of those only 81% were successfully
delivered. She explained that there were 3,358 unique opens and 5,513 total opens
of the email. Out of the 3,358 unique opens 284 people clicks on a link in the email,
with the “Free Travel Guide” link having the highest number of clicks. She also
highlighted that the most amount of clicks took place at 3:00 pm with the most mount
of opens at 6:00pm. She concluded with the geographical results in that the USA had
91.6% of the opens with Canada, UK, France, and Australia to follow. Based off the
results she described the next steps they will be taking to ensure better results for the
following e-blast including change of colors, subject line and A/B testing.
10. County Tourism Manager Review
Commissioner Dzadovsky introduced the item to consider a discussion regarding
Charlotte Bireley’s current title and salary. Commissioner Dzadovsky asked the
council to recommend changing Ms. Bireley’s title from County Tourism Manager to
Chief Tourism Officer to give more credibility to her title when dealing with the public
and other entities that she interacts with regularly. Additionally, Dzadovsky stated that
the TDC was spending 100s if not 1000s of dollars on outside agencies. Since 2010
and under Charlotte’s management, most of these services have been handled in-
house creating a savings for the TDC. Ms. Bireley also has the important
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responsibility for working closely with partners, especially the local municipalities,
keeping City Mayors, councils and commissions informed through formal
presentations and more.
Mark Satterlee explained that Ms. Bireley also serves on the County’s economic
development team.
Commissioner Dzadovsky stated that compared to the salaries of the tourism
department heads in Martin County and Indian River County, Ms. Bireley’s salary is
much lower and St. Lucie County is a much larger entity to promote.
Terissa Aronson added that since working with Charlotte in the last few years, the
interaction with the Chamber and the County tourism office has increased as well as
the visibility of each.
Paul Taglieri made a motion to increase Ms. Bireley’s salary by 9% or to a comparable
rate of the salary of Martin County’s tourism manager. Clive Daem seconded. Motion
passed unanimously.
Mark Satterlee stated that he would speak with the County’s Office of Budget and
Management department to explore the idea of reducing the TDC’s annual funding to
the County’s general fund (G&A) to help compensate Ms. Bireley’s increase.
Chris Egan added that Ms. Bireley is a pleasure to work with, communicates well and is
well respected in the community.
11. Other Business
Commissioner gave a brief summary of the recent MOU signed with the Mets to explore
the expansion of the stadium and extend the contract with the County for 25 more
years.
Charlotte Bireley announced the upcoming Tourism Showcase on Wednesday, May 25
from 5:30pm-7:30pm at the Havert L. Fenn Center.
12. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 1:49 PM.
TDC Apr. 2016 Variance
P & L Report Actual Budget Budget
Bed Tax Revenue 57,049$ 49,500$ 15%
Carry Forward 32,667$ 32,667$ 0%
Interest 42$ 42$ 0%
Total Revenue 89,758$ 82,209$ 9%
Direct Expenses
Salaries 11,137$ 9,161$ 22%
Benefits 5,047$ 3,570$ 41%
Other Contract Services 600$ 5,417$ -89%
Software Support -$ 2,333$ -100%
Travel 464$ 583$ -21%
Communications -$ 83$ -100%
Postage 847$ 1,000$ -15%
Printing -$ 2,333$ -100%
Promotional Activities -$ 333$ -100%
Promotional Entertainment 2,378$ 1,250$ 90%
Office Supplies 150$ 83$ 80%
Dues -$ 333$ -100%
Aid 24,000$ 24,000$ 0%
G & A 5,156$ 5,156$ 0%
Materials Center 175$ 83$ 110%
Promotional Advertising 5,340$ 16,667$ -68%
Tax Collector 1,128$ 1,218$ -7%
Total Direct Expenses 56,421$ 73,605$ -23%
Net Income 33,337$ 37%
TDC Year to Date 2016 YTD as of
4/30/2016 Annual Variance
P & L Report Actuals Budget Budget
Bed Tax Revenue 498,866$ 550,000$ -9%
Carry Forward 228,669$ 392,000$ -42%
Interest 294$ 500$ -41%
Total Revenue 727,829$ 942,500$ -23%
Direct Expenses
Salaries 61,062$ 109,934$ -44%
Benefits 24,910$ 42,834$ -42%
Other Contract Services 2,620$ 65,000$ -96%
Software Support 23,269$ 28,000$ -17%
Travel 2,367$ 7,000$ -66%
Communications 201$ 1,000$ -80%
Postage 7,603$ 12,000$ -37%
Printing 22,994$ 28,000$ -18%
Promotional Activities 3,786$ 4,000$ -5%
Promotional Entertainment 9,291$ 15,000$ -38%
Office Supplies 374$ 1,000$ -63%
Dues 2,908$ 4,000$ -27%
Aid 148,000$ 175,000$ -15%
G & A 36,092$ 61,868$ -42%
Materials Center 206$ 1,000$ -79%
Promotional Advertising 77,240$ 200,000$ -61%
Tax Collector 8,436$ 14,616$ -42%
Total Direct Expenses 431,359$ 770,252$ -44%
Net income 296,470$ 41%
REVENUE VS. EXPENSE COMPARISON REPORT
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A B C D E F G H I J K L
FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016
Revenue/Expenses Revenue/Expenses Revenue/Expenses Revenue/Expenses
Oct 29,907/64,915 Oct 37,747/59,908 Oct 36,505/26,241 Oct 38,190/68,910
Nov 31,030/21,990 Nov 38,322/33,206 Nov 40,217/69,602 Nov 45,677/35,981
Dec 38,317/41,879 Dec 43,340/35,143 Dec 50,417/38,845 Dec 60,421/37,675
Jan 53,040/114,083 Jan 65,220/99,342 Jan 74,046/104,150 Jan 84,832/66,124
Feb 63,715/44,793 Feb 92,615/54,995 Feb 97,234/43,806 Feb 96,839/91,967
Mar 78,681/74,028 Mar 122,457/58,448 Mar 109,221/51,665 Mar 115,858/58,382
Apr 47,873/43,389 Apr 51,043/22,700 Apr 59,760/47,839 Apr 57,049/56,421
May 36,763/39,537 May 39,488/17,578 May 45,070/44,247 May
Jun 36,026/42,975 Jun 40,300/38,109 Jun 42,301/45,680 Jun
Jul 37,501/42,929 Jul 46,119/90,391 Jul 46,827/40,112 Jul
Aug 33,897/17,838 Aug 38,691/25,846 Aug 44,255/25,105 Aug
Sep 31,214/34,978 Sep 26,413/31,450 Sep 34,153/46,309 Sep
TOTAL 517,694/583,715 TOTAL 602,981/567,117 TOTAL 680,005/583,614 TOTAL 441,817/359,039
TDC Website Visitor Summary
www.visitstluciefla.com
2014 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
Visits 12,183 14,343 14,114 9,642 8,990 12,628 10,378 8,963 7,578 7,459 7,514 10,570 124,362
Pageviews 33,558 37,766 37,652 24,667 22,694 30,011 26,661 22,454 18,808 17,756 20,954 25,658 318,639
Bounce Rate 54%56%56%56%57%60%58%59%59%60%61%61%58%
Avg Time 2:33 2:01 2:03 2:03 1:58 1:43 2:02 1:57 1:58 1:52 1:53 2:01 2.00
New Visits 83%85%83%82%82%84%81%80%82%83%83%84%83%
2015 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
Visits 14,865 15,849 18,593 10,851 10,572 18,151 11,410 11,793 10,472 11,492 10,711 11,821 156,580
Pageviews 36,667 37,505 42,836 25,700 24,525 33,831 27,491 26,869 24,112 26,482 25,124 28,690 359,832
Bounce Rate 59%61%64%63%63%73%59%60%57%57%57%56%61%
Avg Time 1:59 1:48 1:41 1:44 1:46 1:17 1:54 1:50 1:52 1:52 1:59 1:56 1:48
New Visits 83%84%86%84%83%85%73%70%65%62%65%65%75%
2016 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
Visits 15,433 14,475 15,109 13,008 13,391 71,416
Pageviews 37,689 35,205 36,253 30,731 31,847 171,725
Bounce Rate 55%55%57%56%55%56%
Avg Time 1:59 1:57 1:47 1:55 2:08 1:57
New Visits 69%68%68%64%60%66%
Social Media Activity
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 16-Apr May-16 Jun-16 Jul-16 Aug-16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16 Totals
Facebook
Page Likes Total 13,147 13,457 13,585 13,706 --
Reach 21,575 70,283 42,443 53,155 187,456
Engagement 13,370 21,571 12,581 9,916 57,438
Instagram
Posts 22 27 15 13 77
Engagement 583 1,701 1,937 557 4778
New Followers 252 177 88 93 610
Twitter
Tweets 43 49 51 44 187
Mentions 31 20 24 38 113
New Followers 172 182 169 63 541
Impressions 6,583 22,800 16,000 29,000 74,383
Profile Visits 1,145 2,170 1,664 1,376 6,355
Reach/Impressions Number of how many people viewed our posts
Enagagement Likes/favorites, comments and/or shares
New Follower A new user that can see all Visit St. Lucie posts on their feed
Tweet A status posted on Twitter via text, photo or video in 140 characters
Mention Someone tagged @VisitStLucie in their own post
Page Likes Someone on Facebook has liked the Visit St. Lucie page