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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-19 Tourism Commission MinutesTOURISM COMMISSION RIVERSIDE, MISSOURI Monday, March 19, 2012 6:00 p.m. The Tourism Commission for the City of Riverside, Missouri, met in the Board of Aldermen Conference Room at City Hall, 2950 NW Vivion Road, Riverside, Missouri on March 19, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Answering roll call was Dirk van der Linde, Jerry Pietsch, Jason Rule and Alderman Aaron Thatcher. Also present was Meredith Hauck, Director of Community Relations (recorder). Deana Winter was absent. Motion to approve Commissioner van der Linde moved to approve the minutes. Commissioner minutes of February 9, Pietsch seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 2011 Tourism Fund Update Hauck provided the Commission with a copy of the FY12 budget. Motion to approve Midwest All Truck Nationals missed the grant deadline as a result of the $10,400 for the Midwest lead organizer being in the hospital. They are requesting $10,400 for the All Truck Nationals 2012 event. Commissioner Pietsch moved to approve $10,400 in grant funding for the Midwest All Truck Nationals 2012 event. Commissioner van der Linde seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Motion to approve Hauck explained that the Commission had previously heard the details of $5,000 for the Girls on this request. The event will be on May 19 in the Horizons area and expects the Run 5K to draw 2,000 people to the community. Alderman Thatcher added that he attended the race in Riverside in 2011 and he thought it was a great event to have in our community. Chair Rule moved to approve $5,000 from the marketing budget for this event. Commissioner Pietsch seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Tourism Commission The Tourism Commission Funding Guidelines were last updated in 2012. Funding Guidelines Hauck provided the commission with a draft copy that updated the previous Review language to be in line with the current process where Board of Aldermen approval is no longer required for funding requests. The Commission spent time discussing changes to the 45% cap on grant requests. Hauck explained that the current language allows the Commission to approve 45% of the projected budget. After analyzing the final reports, Hauck found that the Tourism grants actually covered more like 55 -60% of the actual budget. Hauck suggested revising the langue to say that ongoing events can be approved for up to 45% of the previous year's revenue and one - time /first -time events can be approved for up to 45% of the projected budget. The Commission decided that they would like to move forward with an arrangement where events could be eligible for grants up to 25% of the projected budget, but if approved, the Commission would match $1 for every $3 raised from other sponsors up to a total amount of 45% of the projected budget. Hauck will revise the language in the Commission Funding Guidelines and bring back to the April Tourism meeting for approval. Other Business Chair Rule provided a draft of the letter that will be sent on behalf of the Tourism Commission to the Riverfest Development Corporation. A copy of that letter is included in the minutes. Adjournment — 7:23 p.m. Commission was adjourned. Holly Phillips Riverside Riverfest Development Corporation 2950 NW Vivion Road Riverside, MO 64150 Riverside Riverfest Committee: On Monday, February 13, the Tourism Commission approved $44,347.50 for the 2012 Riverside Riverfest. We feel this event is one of our community's defining festivals and are excited to once again be able to help sponsor it. One of the challenges we have imposed on ourselves is to ensure we are getting the greatest "bang for our buck" from tourism dollars. On events we fund, we break them down into their respective components to ensure that each component is contributing the maximum benefit to the overall event. We are very critical even of our own sponsored events such as Blast. For example, we have changed major elements of Blast in an attempt to make it as successful as possible. This year we have chosen to move in a completely different direction and sponsor three smaller events during the summer. bring this up because I want to make it clear that our intentions are to be good stewards of tourism dollars and we attempt to make honest assessments of each event and its components. Riverfest is one of our major annual sponsorships. Each year when we review the grant for Riverfest we struggle with the amount of funding we provide versus the draw in attendance for this two -day event. Riverfest is the highest "$ per attendee" event we fund. Some components of this event are very successful and provide a tremendous draw and garner goodwill and positive word of mouth from attendees. Some examples include the inflatables, headliner entertainment, and Saturday night fireworks. Other elements of the two -day event do not appear to provide a good return on dollars spent. Some examples include Friday night activities and fireworks (compared to Saturday), parade and other Saturday morning /afternoon events with low attendance. We would like to see Riverfest expand on its top 2 or 3 draws and become an event that sets itself apart from all other events in the northland. We believe a greater focus on doing a few things exceptionally well vs. doing many things in an average manner would be a greater draw and provide an even greater opportunity to present our city in a positive light. As we discussed with Riverfest committee members last year, we are interested in seeing this event become a greater tourism draw to Riverside. Although we have discussed a number of suggestions on how Riverfest could do this, we know that the decision on how the event moves forward is ultimately up to the Committee. However, as Riverfest 's largest sponsor, we will take a closer look at how well the event aligns with our goals during the 2013 grant process and strongly encourage the Riverfest Committee to consider how the event can be a better tourism draw in the coming years. We propose the Riverfest Committee takes an honest assessment of the overall event and seek ways to improve attendance vs. dollars spent. The Tourism Commission remains a strong supporter of Riverfest and we would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Committee to provide additional feedback on the event. Respectfully, Jason Rule, Chair On behalf of the Riverside Tourism Commission