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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-10-10 Tourism Business Improvement District Minutes Tourism Business Improvement District Minutes February 10, 2010, Noon City Building, Bozeman Montana Present: Daryl Schliem (Executive Director) , Cyndy Andrus, VP Marketing Board Members: Andrew Ash, Lynn Bendz (sec), Tim Kuhlman, Mark Jones (chairman), Carl Solvie, Advisory Board Members: Dan Rust , Melanie Stocks City Commission Liaison: Chris Mehl Mercury CSC: Maclaren Latta & Caitlin Magbee Public: McKenzie Treinen (Residence Inn) , Larry Lambert & Justin Futral (Bozeman Super 8) Mark Jones opened the meeting by having a round robin of introductions. There was no public comment. Comments or changes to the last meeting minutes were opened. No changes and a motion to approve by Lynn Bendz, seconded by Andrew Ash, all voice approved. Maclaren Latta and Caitlin Magbee representing Mercury Advertising Company gave a 45 minutes presentation on a marketing plan for the BTBID. They are the advertising agency for the Montana Office of Tourism and the Bozeman Convention and Visitors Bureau, and as such, they had many ideas for both short term and long term goals. One idea for a spring campaign involved a type of co-advertising with the Montana Travel Bureau for a some specific events occurring in Bozeman. This would be advertised in major newspapers throughout the state and would cost less than $15,000. Carl Solvie made a motion to do just that, but the motion died for lack of a second. Mark Jones then asked for more input, and the ladies from Mercury CSC said that they would like to meet with us again next Tuesday and present an exact plan with costs and advertising layout. We all agreed that was a good idea and will meet at noon at the Bozeman Chamber Building. During public comment, Larry Lambert said that he thought a good use of our resources would be to rent billboards at surrounding gateway communities to direct the traveler to Bozeman--the place to be for fun and good value. He had a price sheet on billboard rates from Lamar Advertising. Mark Jones asked for the report from the subcommittee which was meeting with the city attorney about changing the motel tax from $1 to a percent of room rentals. There was no report, as the meeting was postponed. However, during the last week we have become aware that other communities with local bed tax districts have also investigated whether it’s possible to have a percentage tax rather than a flat fee. Their investigations have revealed that the answer is “no”. The legislative bill requires that the fees not be based on a ratio or proportion or percentage. Larry Lambert then spoke and said we could accomplish the spirit of the proposal by having a tiered tax rate based upon the motel’s individual ADR (average daily rental $). He thought this would be legal. This will be seen when Lynn Bendz, Steve Sparks, and Daryl Schism meet with the city attorney, hopefully within the week. Daryl Schism reported that his office staff for the Chamber of Commerce would do the bookkeeping duties for our TBID. Since this is a brand new endeavor and we have no idea how much time and effort will be required, Daryl said that he would not charge us during the first year. That would give him the experience to propose a workable budget for our second year in 2011. We all thought this was a great idea and very generous. Motion to adjourn at 1:30pm by Carl Solvie. Seconded by Andrew Ash, all voice approved.