- We're gonna go ahead and get started and follow this meeting tour. Our first item on the agenda is to
- review the meeting minutes from our last quarterly meeting in March. You'll see those in your packet.
- Are there any clarification? Questions?
- Okay. Um there's a motion in
- Mike Hamilton? Yes. Gary Brown. Next item on the agenda is just to walk through the collections for
- the end-givers tax and then our financial summary. We have a packet bill, Steve, of medical collections
- going into the month of June.
- So you can see what's been collected. And remember, these are two months in arrears of the actual business.
- So things that you're seeing in June actually reflect April business volume. So we're still a couple
- of months in arrears. But it should be a good year over your comparison now as things are starting to
- get better.
- And then again, the packet there is March, April, and May. Financial report, I want to spend time on
- the May financial. There's a June tentative in there, but that's not official yet as the month has closed.
- So just treat that as information only and an estimate. We're going to be working off the May financial.
- So collections, as you can see here to date, we're running a little bit ahead.
- of where we were prior year. Last year in the month in April, there was a zero dollar amount as the
- county did some accounting changes and I got pushed back a week, but that's been over 12 months now.
- So as we're looking year over year comparisons, which you're seeing in many in June, equates to the same
- month business volume. So if you're looking at May to May, you're seeing an increase there of about
- $20,000. And then also in the month of June, you can see that that's $60,000. Bones Well is businesses
- recovering from last year's downturn in international travel and other demand factors.
- that affected us both on the national and in the state. So I'm going to dwell and move them forward.
- I'm going to answer any questions on March, April, but I'm going to spend time on June just as kind
- of our most efficient status. You can see that we have a carryover balance on January of $5,142,379.
- Fund balance as of May the 31st is at $4,871,931.57. That's the general fund. And then we do have money
- in the capital improvement fund of $203,083.03. So we've got a healthy balance to cover. And we do have
- claims today.
- but we do have funds set aside to cover all of those. So questions on any of the financial numbers is
- presented here. All right, a motion and a second. Marsha, would you give us your roll call phone, please?
- My handle? Yes.
- Yes. Thanks. Uh, Mike's already warned me he's got a link in the board. But he's next up off of Nintendo.
- So, uh, bedazzle us, sir. I told you, I practiced it for 90 minutes and 70 minutes. So only about 70
- minutes, you guys. So I'm going to send you the best. I do want to say, I know Gene has got an excellent, um,
- convention sales report. And so I will stay away from that other than say a couple of things. And so
- I'll chime in when she gives her report. But Mike just talked about the lodging or about the numbers
- and things that you've, and if you guys look through here, there's, I've got some Smith travel stuff
- in here. There's the month of May.
- You know, we're up in pretty much every category occupancy rate, obviously, our supply, demand, revenue.
- So, you know, knock on wood until well, obviously, orientation just kicked off a couple of weeks ago.
- I've got the week of June 7th and June 13th in there showing those numbers and how they're obviously
- been drastic.
- positive impact on the community and the logic from that. Not gonna go too much into that. The end of
- this report, I've got the May short-term rental Airbnb stuff on here. We had 909 available listings
- in the month of May, 885 of them were booked. Revenue in short-term rental was up 15%, 2.4 million in
- revenue they did in the month of May.
- As I keep saying, they're doing 20 to $25 million a year in revenue and market, about a million dollars
- in in-keepers tax are collected. The very last page of this is a chart shows market by market comparison.
- And as I always state, kind of mind boggling if you look at how many units we have in Wilmington,
- comparing the rural county compared to markets of our size. You know, we have 300 more than Ann Arbor
- does. We've got just as many as South Bend. We've got way more than Fort Wayne. Anyway, I don't want
- to harp on that. You can read the numbers. Especially in the three hotel, there's no ball very well.
- But again, with some monthly and weekly data, I've got it and watch it closely. But you know, again,
- occupancy, hotel occupancy, although it's up this year, you know, still down a little bit compared to
- what it was pre-pandemic, but rate is way up. And as we stated, I think the hotels are giving up a little
- bit of occupancy at higher rates. Shore terminals continue to take more market share. The market's up
- in overall lodging overall though.
- You know, we're holding our own. Everything I'm reading about Americans and the impact of the price
- of gas on travel is growing. You know, the negativity of that is growing. We'll see what's happened
- in a month or so with the latest headlines on that. But it's just, again, a weird thing when you look
- at Indiana and where the physician in middle America
- We tend to benefit from that. We tend to benefit from the situation with Canadian travel and international
- travel, so we keep our eye on that. Really super excited about our staffing updates. We just promoted
- Sean Ballard to Director of Conventional Sales and Marketing. Our new convention self-represented, Maddie
- Quiggins, starts on Monday.
- recent graduate of the Columbus School of Business. We're very excited to have her on board. I think
- everybody in the room is up to date on the situation with Gene coming over to become a Visit Wilmington
- employee. That's fantastic. Steve rolling along. I think all know it's great. We're excited about that.
- We've worked closely with Gene and the Insolicious Crew forever and we'll
- This is just going to make us communicate more and have a more smooth sales process. So Jean is taking
- that in stride and we're talking all the time and things are going great with that. I only think an
- already good situation is going to get even better. And we look forward to a continued partnership with
- the Connection Center. We are having a sales planning meeting on July 30th when Maddie will have been
- on board for a month
- Some of Sean's travel, some of all of ours, some of our travel calms down a little bit while I'll be
- around, and then she'll get on board in a month or so. We'll work out a few process, you know, we've
- got our processes pretty well worked out, but we'll fine tune some of that stuff, come up with some
- more detail in our sales plan, that type of stuff. We want to get a regular hotel meeting when we're
- inviting hotel sales managers or GMs, anybody up to a,
- at least a monthly meeting after that, we'll get that process in place. So that will be happening in
- the future. I know, again, Gene's gonna talk numbers, but really excited about the interest in what
- we said from the new expansion and the prevention center that Sean was at. I had said to you last week,
- three RFPs, I think some of those are on genes numbers, but ASA coming up later this summer, a lot of
- exciting stuff. You know, I will say, as I've recorded before, having the larger convention center does
- allow us to call on larger groups that are playing a further outbooking window.
- And most of the time so far, that has been very helpful to us in getting room blocks. We're requesting,
- if a hotel is able to do that, and we're requesting room blocks two years plus out, we've seen a good
- response to that. We did just have one that fell into our lap last week for two years out, and one of
- the hotels responded that we needed a room block that said they couldn't give a room block out that
- far out in demand. So we're gonna see that.
- getting this in the market. We still need that hotel as we all know, just because of the sales of aspect
- and what it's going to bring to the table. But we'll keep piecing it together and working with what
- we have. Like I said, Spring Hill, Hilton Garden have been examples of two that have been coming to
- the table, one coming two plus years out, which we've not been able to sub.
- Obviously, it's just a lot easier for them to do that than when it's not inside six months. It's easier
- to plan around. Yes, we count on that. So again, we keep working hard with that. And we're going to
- get a process going with the hoteliers where we're communicating more, and working with them, and bidding
- them off. That's from the start of going after these groups, and finding those windows that were really
- dead, and slow, and how can we find groups, and things like that.
- Next time we meet, we'll be looking forward to sharing more of that plan with you all and helping you
- do all that. I do have in here, we're right in the middle of our strategic plan, our new 29. I've got
- in here five broad strategic initiatives, as well as about 30 specific items that will be part of our
- body of work for the next three years. You can see that.
- I just talked about, number one priority for Visit Wilmington is going to be creating demand for that
- convention center going forward, and that will be the top of that list, and then filling it in with
- all of the center stuff. I do want to point out this attachment here, Visit Wilmington's strategic planning
- data co-analysis. You've all received this via Gmail, but there's some great, great data in there. This
- is what we think is part of our strategic plan stuff.
- Talks about IU driving 345,000 reunites a year, sports tourism to at least 10,000 hotels. I think that's
- sports from groups that we're working with. But just a lot of great stuff in here comparing us to West
- Lafayette and some of their numbers, regional convention center draw, total trips, visit nights,
- Great data that gives a great synopsis of the markets. I don't want to spend a ton of time talking about
- what you've got this. I'm happy to. It backs up a lot of what we're saying about weekday demand and
- slower times and things like that. So you can look at that and have that data. Please ask any questions
- about it. If you have those, visitor center,
- It's going very well with the visitor center. I know you're going to approve, well, I hope you approve
- some more expenditures there because it's getting time. We're really in a certain state of that money
- in July, August, September. We actually have a meeting down there this afternoon in the space.
- I've got this, again, in this handout, a layout of the building. Again, as you walk in the door.
- The new visitor center. I've switched gears. I've switched gears to new visitors. I'm looking at the
- paper, so I... Right. I did want to pass around, yeah, the visitor center. We're in the middle of designing
- displays and things like that. I'll pass these two around. These are two examples of displays. These
- are one side of display, the back side of it, and the two end caps. Our displays are called Flavor,
- History, Compete, Adventure, and Create.
- Flavor is obviously restaurants, culinary. History is very creative. It's history. Compete to sports.
- Adventure is outdoor recreation. And create is arts and culture. And then we're going to have one of
- the walls that's going to be in the university, opening down the road. So skim past these around, take
- a look at those. Not set in stone, but that's just what we're working with.
- Spring Point is working on, as you can imagine, they're working on building permits and all of that.
- We're researching lighting, furniture options, all that kind of stuff. We're going to start tearing
- up the floor here in July to put in the electrical, building those displays, working on all of everything.
- We will definitely invite you to see work in progress in the fall, but all things are pointing to, we're
- going to be on time, hopefully we keep done.
- late December or early January at the latest. So one of the questions I have is do you anticipate having
- all of your funds invested by the end of this year for the visitor center? Or is that something we need
- to consider for next year's budget? We should have all of them requested, at least requested. I think in the
- In the next meeting, we would probably request the 200-and-some that's left over. And again, anything
- that wasn't spent, I think we would pay for that or spend that in the first quarter of the 27th so we'd
- already have as a carryover of our bank account. But I can do that however you'd like. Obviously, I
- will reconcile everything with you and don't spend it on that. Thank you. Yeah.
- Like I said, I know we've got 300, 350. So we'll probably ask for the other 200, I think for the next
- quarter. What's this? And then Michael's. End of December. Now, whether we paid all the bills by then
- or not, we would know.
- We'll know a lot more here in starting in the fall if we really start spending that money that we can
- spend a lot now, spend a lot of playing dollars. AJ, the American Junior Golf Association is in town
- right now, all week playing at the foul. There are 76 boys and girls competing. There were 152 here
- through Sunday, and they cut it down to 76.
- But they're from all over the country, as well as Canada, Mexico, China, several international players.
- That's a big thing going on with sports right now. Other than that, I've just got just some pots and
- things we've been promoting leisure-wise on new trails, on retail trail, our foodie trail, our booze
- trail, burger trail.
- Brand Balloon was last Saturday. They sold 1,800 tickets. There were over 2,000 people in the park.
- Excited about the possibility of that. For the events we did down there, we had close to 2,000 from
- Ball and Tuttle. But this was paid, so now it's on free. I know they had 2,000 in the park on Friday
- night. And we're on a Juneteenth at the Jet Biscuit Show. Again, that was free.
- But the fact that Grand Balloon sold 1,800 tickets at $40 plus a piece is pretty great. That's really
- going to help them go into it. We're not planning anything. That's what we're seeing. So we're excited
- about the possibility of helping to turn those into more expensive things. The last thing I have in
- there, I don't want to talk about, not talk about yet, is some detail on our budget request when we
- get to that.
- That's all I've got. Okay. Anything else on this? Not for me, because I know, like I said, I know Gene
- is going to talk about it with some of these events. Okay. Any questions? Maybe that's a good transition.
- Yeah. Yeah. It can be in the middle. Any questions?
- A lot of information, Mike. Thank you for that. One thing I would say, gosh, I love another chart. But
- I would love to see what you've got on the books as far as hotel rooms committed for conventions moving
- forward. So I mean, past is great. We need that data.
- But I would love to see what's on the books for January 2027 through January 2029, at least, by month.
- So there's 1,000 rooms. Is it 50 rooms? Are we behind? What are we facing in the months? Where are we
- going to draw the convention numbers? And whether it's maybe it's not going to be as busy in convention.
- I think that would help this body understand more of the rhythm.
- of that connection sales. Okay. Yeah. A support is on my list to do a better job of figuring out exactly
- how how we want to do that. I want to be able to supply a couple of different types of case reports.
- One is what is what one is what is prospect and then one maybe that is total convention sports and the
- user for the market so that we can even look at fall dates when football was on there and things like that.
- So that's what we want to do in that July 30th meeting is send her out those data center that are open
- and we're working on it. I'm going to put it out there. Is that I'm going to ask again at the next meeting
- and wonder where you're going to see that we can have it for this body. What is most important to you
- is prevention rooms booked.
- I think that's a portion we're not capturing. If we have a change of the volume of the amount that is
- coming through from a non-standard event revenue, I'd love to see that as long as we get it right. But
- where we don't know is that future piecing in the month. That's really what we're looking to do is to
- see if we can see a pattern of that increasing, where maybe there's softer monocytes. For me,
- And that's where we need to step it up and do a better job. We've got a lot of times with our rules
- being generated, we've got that stuff in there, and then we follow it backwards. It's not really good to put it
- put into what actually happened to work or whether it's booked or again, if we did, if the convention
- center is doing something that we don't touch, it's not necessarily in our numbers. That's what we're
- working on is how we're going to report that stuff back and forth. Do you guys use a sales software
- now? Yes. It's all there. It's just that a lot of times they'll have a pace. Oh, it's in there.
- It's in there. I just looked at it and it looks, there's just, just all the data is not in there. So
- it's been on
- Right now, I've talked about this over the last few months, and eventually, it's been realized that
- I'm going to put that data in the middle of this, and I want to show you something that is accurate.
- I would like to contemplate it and see the sports side, the convention side, all the different things
- you're doing. Because the other thing I think we want to make sure we're watching is, obviously, convention
- center is a huge piece, a huge investment, and actually, that's good, but what kind of
- impact is that having on the other areas that there's a focus on. Is it pulling some of that? Do we
- need the repulsor of reality just so we can watch that achieve? It'll run it by what's pending,
- what's good, what's in need. It even shoots out economic impact on it. It's all generated in there.
- We have a great tool that we have to maximize the use of it. And we were just talking this morning about
- having our rep from Greg and spending three minutes with us.
- making sure that we are using it in the best way that we can. So we'll work on that. We will have it
- for you. So I can't wait for the September. It's going to be something, I tell you. I can't wait for
- the September to be 47K. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Jeannie? I'm already going to take in notes and
- not read things to send. Oh, yeah.
- I will say too that the program that we use to capture reservations has a field where you can enter
- room nights as requested by the planner through the RSC process. Getting the accurate follow-up on the
- pickup reports and all the information thereafter is different entirely, but I can always add the field
- that has what they're requested, I suppose. That's like the planner's best guess, typically it's based
- on history. It gives us something to go by until we get to that point. And you know, there's how accurate
- those are. Your report is two sided, I do suspect this time,
- And so you can see on the front, just a recap of the year date and then July through October, the bottom
- of the page that we have yet to experience one new year with IE School of Medicine, Tennessee, a TG
- for three days coming up next month. At the top, you'll see that it says draft and that's only because
- June 26th is not completed although
- the January through June of 2025 numbers are for the full month of June last year. I just don't have
- all that yet, but we'll see what's in the system right now. And then we'll get at the numbers I will
- say to you that I was looking through this trying to figure out what's really different on the first
- half of this year, University Labs, and I've, it has changed since the beginning of the pandemic, but ways
- They're not big, they're not admittedly, from a total and generated for you all, but they are in sales
- dollars overall for us and at full retail for weddings. And the big weddings of two, three hundred people
- have just come down, down, down in size in the six, seven, six or eight over the course of a total of
- a year. We have had one this year so far, one wedding, and it was about
- So that business has really changed. And it's, as I said, it's a fact that our total sales numbers,
- but not really much of anything in the way of hotel projections. If people are still getting married
- most times, they're staying somewhere. They're not doing it on their wedding summer. They're going to
- have to sell.
- Let's get it over to those 20, 27, 15, 16, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17,
- 17, 17, 17, 17,
- The Tourism Association has never been here before, and so they were here once. Now everybody wants
- a part of that trip. It was so fun. We had a great time. Just getting them acquainted with the space,
- and we went over to them.
- So that he could visualize what was going to be where he was out and all of the kind of thoughts or
- anything that we have to work with right now. So they are going to be here in touch. And then as we
- go into the third quarter,
- In July, I wanted to point out that the Early Intervention Conference is going from a plan of attendance
- where it would be 500, but it's going up to 600. They need space because they're finding out enough
- space to get as big as they think that they can. And then moving on into the third quarter,
- The first quarter letter, the Asphalt Pavement Association of Haiti is very interested in being here
- for their winter conference in December. 600 for three days, that just came through from Champagne.
- We have a site visit set up with them for the July meeting.
- First, they've been archived to us. We can get that with them. It looks good. And then looking ahead
- into 2028, the Indiana Dental Association, look at this. Thank you, Shani. But also the International
- Talent and Gown Association. These are people from all over
- It feels different, and they say it's going to, and then you're in here, and you can absolutely imagine.
- But it's been just terrific to be here.
- director of the Indian Tourism Association went up the temporary ladder up to the second level right
- in front of me. She was the first one who went up and she got off to the top of it for it but I'm not
- even going to get up because she's trying to look at me. It's just like... There's nothing like it.
- It's just really feeling like I'm in the backstage chance.
- What do you mean by serious? I'm looking for a comment.
- Yeah, there you go. That's awesome.
- All right. Okay, great. Well, I will. So, Gene had mentioned the three big conferences that were here
- at the beginning of June, and they were all very excited about the construction and seeing the activity. And so,
- Well, it has been fabulous, actually. They've worked around the groups coming in. They've moved to whatever
- we need, the parking spaces. The customers are interested in seeing the activity and talking about it.
- Yes. I don't know if you put a document up or something, but I've lost camera. There's not a document.
- Yeah, the camera is not on. I can't see. We can't see the meeting.
- We'll just, we'll keep talking. I'll record it. I don't think that goes to, Oh, maybe now that he says
- that from the meeting. Well, all right. So anyway, they've all been excited about the construction.
- We had a Kirkwood meeting last week and there were about a hundred people there and five who I didn't
- know all brought up the convention center at different points of time with like wanting to make downtown
- an exciting place and leave people down there. And so even some of them are starting to make plans of
- what they want to do when it opens. So it's very visible and they're pretty excited about it. So, um,
- They're also impressed that it's on schedule and moving and and that it's really happening. So yeah,
- I know. So the just on behalf of downtown Bloomington, Inc.
- Cindy is joining us today. She's been our treasurer. She did the first bond on the first building and
- got involved with the project. And Joan's snap has been our controllers for the beginning. So I was
- kind of to them when I worked for them. All right. Yeah. Yeah. So good solid history with a good team
- here at the convention center. And, you know, we just want to do what it takes to make it successful. And
- You know, we've been through, you know, when the railroad went, the live train behind us, and you'd
- go to the chains that, you know, bought the land to the west so we could have more parking. And the
- train would come by five times a day and shake the building. And the, you know, 911, we thought the
- world was going to fall apart. Then it was the dot-com bubble. Then it was the mortgage crisis. And
- then it was COVID. And so anyway, it's been great having
- strong partnerships with the Commission of Visitors Commission and the county. 14,000 events. We opened
- in five years before we had a hotel with the first one. Just as an example, we're already starting to
- get this interest. When a host hotel opens, it'll explode. It was almost overnight whenever
- that opened. So anyway, I just wanted to go down memory lane a little bit as we look forward to the
- next steps with this project. And we're excited about it. And capital improvement board members are
- here as well. John Weikart and Jeff Underwood, July 1 is the transition time. And I take transition
- is the theme with the last 35 years. So this is like that next step.
- We're transitioning different financials and we've hired an office manager also. So they'll get started
- with getting all that stuff set up as well. So we're super excited about that. Yeah, for me, I'm not
- scared about the community engagement or the commencement center and what that would entail for this
- town. I'm not scared of that. I'm scared.
- that at the outside of the community, too, everybody wanted to come from G or I. So this is the reason
- why we built this facility, or wanted to build this facility for so long. So it's great seeing the site
- come from all areas. Yeah. Can I just do a quick comment? Yeah. So just in my background in banking,
- the most exciting part for me is
- here in all the businesses that are looking to invest, reinvest, expand, and contemplate in the future,
- given the fact that the Expanded Prevention Center is finally reality, that return on investment for
- the community and helping businesses do more business abroad. So that's exciting. That's something we
- don't necessarily always capture. And it's like this subterranean talks about the economic impact
- It goes outside of just hotel revenue or just convinced the center has been appointed. It goes to the
- whole community, small businesses. Yeah. So thank you. It's exciting when they bring that up. We're
- considering buying more equipment or hiring more people or expanding our facility because of the potential
- business from the Hispanic Convention Center. So it's good for Bob.
- Oh, I like the food too. Any other questions, comments, or solutions? Excited. We haven't had a hard
- head tour. I have my own hard head tour. We're trying to get one set for 9.30 on July 9. So if that
- time works, the asphalt paving association people want to come then. So that'd be a good day.
- Okay, that sounds great. Can we do plan on, in the early fall, when we get the time is right to actually
- market for that tourism. It's a movie. We're talking about that. Well, just two weeks ago, we talked
- to her about that. It's safe for a couple of companies in town.
- All right. If there's nothing else on the reports, next thing on our agenda is claims approval for this
- current year. So we have several claims that are put before us today. It'll come out this year's budget.
- We've got five before us today.
- and just move forward with those. Quick, Talisha, could I have you press the camera button up in the
- top right so we can turn the camera back on? All right, there we are. Okay, good job. Okay, thank you.
- Thanks. All right, the first claim we have before us today is for
- Um, so second quarter, uh, operating funds for, uh, the Clinton and Vistras Bureau of Monroe County
- or visit Bloomington. This is in the amount of $557,333 and 33 cents. These are for the normal operating
- expenses that we're budgeted. Actually, that should say third quarter.
- The invoice says they're included. Okay. So any questions or comments on this point? Motion and a second.
- Marsha, would you move us to a roll call? Yes.
- The next claim is before us today. It's for downtown Bloomington, Inc. for convention services from
- the third quarter of 2026, the amount of $148,025. Questions or comments on the claim? Motion and a
- second. Marsha, is there a roll call vote, please?
- Yes. Serbie Brown, Trent Sites. Next claim that's before us today is for says first quarter professional,
- second quarter. Second quarter. Second quarter professional means
- Marsha Roach, and $147.50. Questions or comments on the client? Second. Marsha, would you be the first
- to roll the roll, please? Yes.
- Next playing in this before is out of the Capital Improvement Fund. This is for the kitchen unit replacement.
- This is for this existing building, and that is the amount of $21,500. Oh man, I'm sending Felicia in for this.
- their advice. Yes. And the kitchen thanks you in advance of your vote. It had gotten to 91 in the kitchen
- for a couple of days. And it takes like six months to get those air handlers in. So they have been without
- air conditioning for a while. So they say thank you. The second person to move us to a vote vote vote 20.
- Herbie Graham, president. Last thing that's before us is for third quarter, this fair center build out
- expenses. So we've come out of the general fund and for the downtown this room center expenses that
- Mike was talking about, just to start construction of that area. The dollar amount requested is $350,000.
- Which is a total of 400,000. This is for your construction.
- motion and a second motion for you. The next item on our agenda is CBC and CID operating agreement.
- This is a draft which is included in your packet regarding
- Operation moving forward. The reason for this document is a couple of reasons. We have an agreement
- with EPIs, Operating Convention Center, Operation Week. They also have an agreement with the county
- in order to retrieve the funds that they could earn as part of the operating
- A service would pay them, they would have to pay the county. So the service would bring in the county,
- bring in the CDC. We're looking in here, and part of this document is to simplify that to allow the
- DBI or the Convention Center management company to work directly with the Capital Improvement Board.
- And at the same time, talk to them about what, is there some overlap being
- statutes that point to who's supposed to do what with the convention center. In our initial convention
- measures commission, it points to us being the operator and, in particular, the marketer in the sales
- department. So this document helps to clarify all parties as to who will be responsible for what and
- allow us to collaborate effectively.
- So if you've had a chance to look through this document, there's a lot of whereas's and witnesses and
- so forth in that nature. But as you're looking through that, you can see the abbreviations that indicate
- the CBC. And if you're looking on page two, you can see one, two, three, four, five, six, sixth whereas
- down, it talks about moving obligation
- for the promotion of the Convention Center to the CVC, including the primary obligation for the promotion
- from the Convention Center Management Company. It also talks in this document about the CIP being an
- oversight and operator of the payment and the operations of the building. The next large amount
- Some of these others have to do with accounting, but if you go to article three, point number one, A,
- it talks about a timeline, starting on January 1st, from a budget cycle or earlier, by later library
- and the CDC shall become primarily responsible for the promotion, marketing, and sales of the convention center.
- We should be in line with the terms of the sectional agreement of exhibit one. Those were the previous
- documents. It talks about the shift of responsibility for promotion and sales moving to visit Boylington,
- which would mean that would be something that would be funded through visit Boylington. So we're looking
- at budgets moving into our next item.
- We're actually looking at the full convention of sales, promotion, marketing, package, within business.
- Does that make sense? Were there other parts of this agreement that you had questions or concerns with?
- They don't have any populations for society since they were saved.
- So, oftentimes, um,
- And for those that are already in the hotel industry, I'll go down this road and you'll understand that
- I'll probably not confuse you even more. But in a hotel term, oftentimes there's an owner who owns the
- facility. And that really the ownership of the property, although there's some legalese that says that
- the building belongs to the city while it's still under bond, it is really a capital improvement
- acts as that owner agent, but who is responsible for the operation of the building, the day-to-day operation
- of the building, and then owns that property. So the CA, John could probably go talking about that,
- but they act as the owner's agent, in effect, that would oversee that, make sure that the buildings
- were created, danger done, property and staff,
- service driven. The convention center management company acts as that operational one. So looking at
- it from a sales perspective, that's really the day-to-day operations of the management company. And then
- and also making sure that events are carried off well and so forth like that from an operational standpoint.
- The sales beats in promotion and marketing, taking the sales and putting it with the marketing
- and promotional items, which is Visit Bloomington, is what this outruns as well, too. So it outlines
- that. And a lot of hotels are moving into a commercial office or you may have that moving
- which is a company where they combine the technology, revenue, management, distribution, marketing,
- it's all under one umbrella. Cambridge has that. I'm not sure who says that. But they have one chief
- commercial officer that, in effect, looks like visibility fills that niche to where they're understanding
- the marketing, the promotion,
- The sales as far as out of market can be a marketing service. It fills the box. So that's what the soundboard
- is. So the CDC is helping in that. It's the financial backing to this development and promotion of the
- facility. That's part of it. And then we're also funding some kind
- a day-to-day or per cycle. And you'll see that equation as capital S go forward. Last year, we had to
- offer opportunities. We'll be finding something. So to be honest, I think he was asked to apologize,
- go back. He's had to do that once.
- It's probably helpful for all of us if I had to do this. So at the end of the day, there's a good reason
- to have always worked together, but we do not see that changing. It is an energy is probably a position
- that's probably important. So there's a whole realignment because it takes that whole sales from a share
- and makes that more complete sale as a team, it knew that. Gotta have a sales team that knows the overall
- strategy of build a box and bring themselves to the supermarket. And so having that real short-term
- ordinance will make this much better than a larger facility. I felt great in this facility, the way it is,
- but it's a larger facility structure organization. And Gina's still located here so that she can share
- those details as an inside salesperson with our event stack. Because that's a pretty seamless communication
- right now. Before the customers sign the contract, she gets those details. So it saves a lot of problems
- way down the road. And they actually have their event
- Yeah, I will comment on the way you're to come visit Wilmington. It's a center that works together.
- It's an album, and that's interesting. I think I'm just not about to get into the structure behind the
- changes. So when you decide I've had my thought, I want to do something else. Or Mike, I'm out bad,
- and they'll call me to go spin some records or something.
- who oversteps in those other roles, and maybe if there's not as good of a partnership as you guys have
- been, I think it's rare in other markets that I've been in to have the good relationship that you guys
- have. So I'd like to thank you guys for the cooperation that you've done. It's not all these things.
- It makes everything much more fun. So thank you guys for everything you've been putting in there.
- We have a couple members from the Capital Improvement Board sitting over there, and I summarize what
- this document is reasonably well served. You know, it was admirable. You know, I'm not going to say,
- excuse me, Jim Whitlatch is on remotely, the attorney from Capital Improvement Board. So if you have
- any questions about the document itself, Jim is certainly available. Jeff Underwood is our controller.
- the best question about budget when you move into that part of this has been a remarkable exercise.
- You were involved in those first meetings that we had, we've worked our way through lots of things that's
- been alphabet soup, trying to figure a lot of this out, cd, cd, c, i, b, c, c, m, c, a, p, i, trying
- to figure out how long it works together. And for me to oversimplify, we're primarily looking at that
- reassigning the contractants with the county to the CIB. So the relationship moves from Memorial County
- to the capital and through the board with all of you. And including the CCMC who's been involved in
- these conversations. I think it's just been admirable the way we've all worked our way through this.
- And then secondly, to Mike's point, I think it was important to all of us that we recognize the separation
- of duties, if you will,
- you know, the promotion, the marketing and the sales, where does that belong versus where is the operation
- and management of the convention center belong? And I think this document succeeds in doing that. I
- want to thank Jean for her help and cooperation as we worked our way through this and Mike and Sean
- as well. So I followed Cindy out and said, Cindy, how's everything going? Okay. And she said, yes, everything
- seems to be going very well. So I congratulate
- like for having sunrise work will be the nicest resummarize what this is all about. And it's certainly
- exercising the vocabulary and working things through. If you have questions, if you have any, we'll
- ask you some questions. Yeah, so we would need to have the motion approval. And if it is accepted, I
- would sign them.
- and then shoot it back out. I like that. So, the river. Okay. My handbook? Yes. Very good. Next item
- on you, Janet.
- And so, as far as to start off, and by the way, this is one of the things that I'm sure. A couple of
- words, please. A couple of things that we're looking at in this worksheet, put down some
- I didn't put it in colors because I tried to print this in color, but apparently... You can imagine
- colors in these areas, but it does have an inverse forecast and that's half the forecast line towards
- the bottom. And then also sort of surplus deficit in the anticipatory overtones.
- If you're looking at columns, I'm starting to call out numbers, but looking from where those are, the
- carryover budget going into this year was $5,544,244. At the end of this year, we're anticipating carryover
- balance, or I'm sorry, that would be the end of this year
- that we are anticipating for the balance. But we are looking at the carryover balance in the proposed
- budget. You can see that one. I've put in a couple of different options just for your perspective. We
- did a 10% increase in both this one and to the CCMC. You can see what those dollars are.
- traditional, they've been at three to five, sometimes 10%. Wanted to give you some perspective there.
- Last year, we raised this by 17% in anticipation of an opening. That's that next set of columns. We
- raised the CCMC by 37% last year. So you did the same thing, but this would be that number.
- When we have in the next column, it's the proposed budget for 2027. That's what we're gonna be asking
- for today. So we are looking at a 24% increase for visit Wilmington to include the additional marketing
- promotion and sales. In addition to the other things that is important for that. But the largest portion
- of that is the sales.
- Mike has presented to you with his budget. So if there are questions on where that books funds would
- go for that two, five minute or we can certainly talk through that. But that would represent a 24% increase
- versus one of us. So now, women anticipate 134% increase.
- It says that in unusual circumstances, we have been saving for this for a couple of years in the anticipation
- of the growth of the connection. So building that, doing some of the infrastructure things, in advance
- of that, being able to fund some of the construction. This would be spending, we're anticipating this
- in late 2019,
- over the course of the next seven years. The other number that increases is in the CCMC budget. That
- would rise, we're proposing 136%, which is what it is this year. So it would move from 592,000 to augment
- the current operational expenses. So 1,397,000
- $1,423. That would probably say for the next few years, or somewhere down that. In our last meeting,
- we approved and agreed to a budget. I've also allocated that there, and that number is $1,593,819.
- So with this budget, if approved, we would be expending, all things are expended, $6,237,732 in 2027,
- and only collect estimated $1.4 billion in need to purchase, which would generate a deficit to our carryover balance.
- of a little over 1.8 million dollars a year to draw down that carryover to about 3.7. I don't know about
- you guys, but I can't just think about next year. I'm looking at what it will be in the next few years.
- So put in carryover balances are estimated over the next few years. This is at no new hotels are open.
- There's no unusual increase in tax income created through the increase in tax. But really looking at
- around a 3% increase. I have forecasted upwards to visit Bloomington and the Convention Center management
- company for the next couple of years. And then in 2030, probably some people are wondering why there's
- a negative effect
- And that what we're hopeful that the dollar on the stage being generated in the center would be high
- enough to where the intersection being pulled back in order to not necessarily subsidize the day-to-day
- operations. The sales generated by the sales marketing
- That's true. But we found that number up, and some of it we're able to look at it from the one from
- the strategy. So that's what some of those numbers are. This year, we're going to have this penicillin
- numbers for the next meeting. And this is to show that we're not going to necessarily have a bike ride
- in year two, and then have to come
- And so the proposed budget for 2027 is we're not increasing the commissioners expense, not increasing fees,
- We will still retain or claim or retain a capital improvement fund. That will probably be mostly for
- banks that are outside of the convention building. It's a center building on the community. So we're
- spending a lot of that. And then, again, as I mentioned, it's a plumbing center.
- for the Convention Center. So both of them, I think, Talysha had handed out the budget for 2027 for
- her operating budget. And with that, she's included space travel revenue, service revenue, and innkeepers
- tax revenue as her income streams and the expenses that are outlined.
- And I have control groups in the room, which is offering all of those numbers and records to them. Questions
- or concerns? Would you like to say how long that will take?
- questions or thoughts on that gesture or anything you wanted to add. And then the next item is the outline
- for the requested amount for this point. So this is a 2017 proposed budget.
- It's got categories at the top here, salaries. It's got visitor center operations. It's got other operations
- marketing. And then where that goes out to, you can see that chunk on the back side of that page. But
- it's a two-sided.
- in some rough calculations on what the direct cost per prevention center sales is due to salaries. It's
- about $611,000 to $630,000 as far as direct costs and then there's some others that are related but
- not necessarily as direct as some others.
- So it's substantial now in this budget for convention center. Mark and I'll say it all the time. Questions
- for consumers on the different kind of visit buildings and budget.
- All right. So that being said, if there are no questions, then I would discuss as a recommendation
- in motion for Mike Campbell for the proposed budget for 2027 as output is $2,994,000. Commissioners
- expense 200,000 fees, professional fees for 2,500. The Convention Center Management Company slash
- capital improvement forward operating costs of $1,397,423. For the capital improvement fund, that line
- item, $50,000. And then the recommendation to fund the convention center alternates from $1,593,000
- $819, and considered the last one. That would mean a total expenditure of $6,237,742. That's the motion.
- Is there a second
- Nothing. Any other questions or concerns? One of the questions. Marsha, would you like us to go fight?
- Yes, Pamela. Yes. Debbie Brown. Okay. Fight. So one other thing to note on this. There is no money set
- aside for the downtown Bloomington. Ms. Ripson in the 2027 budget.
- So if money is not spent before that time operation, we will have to wait for a couple of months to
- go back in front of the county council and get that evidence that all shows expenditure. So that's it.
- No. All right. I think that's the budget. That's the agreement. Let's see. Next cycle of this is that
- big business. Big business.
- I just wanted to catch up quickly on where we are with the hotel RFP process.
- We have responses that are due next Tuesday, the deadline for responses. I will tell you that we have
- had multiple responses to the first part, which is signifying intent to submit a proposal. In fact,
- we've actually had more than we had last time. But that doesn't lend anybody to doing it. So we'll see
- what happens next Tuesday. We have a special meeting Wednesday to hear from JSL, our owner's rep,
- on who responded. We will then set up interviews with respondents for a meeting on July 8th. We will
- turn those interviews and that information over to our hotel evaluation group, which includes as advisors
- to that group, Mike Campbell and Mike McAfee, if they're available, help us with that. With the intent
- being that on July 15th, that our regular meeting would have a recommendation back from the evaluation group,
- on what we should take on the proposals for the hotel. So I just wanted to catch you up on that.
- Thank you. To make sure we're aware of what's happening with the total situation. City Council, local
- government, all this year,
- City administration, city staff have been advised that they don't want to close it. Because to close
- it, they want to get done with the property sources, the staff, and the problem that they need resources.
- So they're recommending against it. The city council decided to create an ordinance to close it anyway.
- I just wanted to point to you all that when it comes to tourism
- visitors, and bendies, DDI, and my relationship with DDI, and even making, looking to become more attracted
- to people, moving here, and professionalism is like that. I think that having a close crew with them,
- again, that was properly supported, had the money to put together, we created a shade, we worked together,
- we had a long-term plan in place,
- I think to everybody who's open to the idea of that, it's just people who are saying we're not ready
- to do that right now. Don't just throw it out. Don't just close it, put it in the trinity. That's the
- current state of the thing. We're kind of hearing that that would be where we go. And then in the future,
- when we could close it and then turn it into a new attraction, an extra mall, that is deadline.
- So, huge tour is a draw, a huge commitment for our team. First one, I'll say. Okay, maybe. Yeah, there
- are all this for public comment. Saying the very good. Maybe it's adjourned.