TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN
VISITOR SERVICES BOARD
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2005
Chairman Lynne Davies convened the
meeting at 11:00 a.m. noting the following attendees:
VSB members: Lynne Davies, Chairman; Peter Bez; Kathleen Fitzgerald; Laurel Guadazno; Michael Peregon; Hersh Schwartz
Absent
VSB Member: Mick Rudd (excused absence)
Other attendees: Bill
Schneider, Acting Tourism Director; Michelle Jarusiewicz, Acting Assistant Town
Manager and Grant Administrator; Winthrop Smith, Economic Development Task
Force
Recorder: Cynthia Curran
The following are meeting minutes, in
brief:
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 7/11/05
MOTION: Move
to approve the minutes of the July 11, 2005 VSB meeting.
Motion by: Peter Bez
Seconded by: Michael
Peregon Yea 6 Nay 0
Chairman Davies reported that at a Grant
subcommittee meeting last week possible topics for a public hearing were
discussed. These included:
1.
Dollar cap for
individual grants.
2.
Cap on the number of
years a grant could be given.
3.
Establishing
requirements for a public relations plan for the event receiving the grant.
4.
Establishing a
checklist of all necessary information for a grant application.
5.
Requirement that all
grant applications be complete.
6.
Schedule a grant
assistance meeting in November or December to allow potential applicants a
chance to ask questions.
7.
Requirement that
applicants supply 9 or 10 copies of their grant application.
8.
Grants cannot fund a
fundraising event.
9.
Small grants would not
be given. Only large events would be funded.
10.
The grant money would
be divided into two groups, one for large grants and one for small grants.
11.
No grants would be
given at all. Instead the money would
be used for other things. Or perhaps the total amount of grant money would be
reduced.
Peter Bez noted that not all of these
would be the topics of discussion at the public hearing (such as requirements
for number of copies and a checklist), but were ideas for the VSB to consider.
He said the hearing would be in the beginning of September. The grant information meeting would be in
December and the deadline for grant applications would possibly be extended
until January 15th.
Michael Peregon had a question about
money that had been granted, but then not used. Lynne Davies said that in the future if there is leftover money,
it will be advertised and additional grant applications will be solicited. Michelle Jarusiewicz said that a procedure
will be established for additional funds.
Ms. Davies added that the funds could also possibly be rolled over into
the next fiscal year. Bill Schneider
and Michelle Jarusiewicz will work on a draft of the advertisement for the
Public Hearing and possible dates for it.
They will report back within the next two meetings.
Next Ms. Davies presented the goals for which
the VSB needs to establish a calendar.
1.
5 Year Plan –
September
2.
Marketing Plan –
September
3.
Branding - August
4.
Strategic Staffing –
August 22
5.
Grant Guidelines –
October to BOS
6.
Grant Awards – January
or February
7.
Grant Public Hearing –
September
8.
Grant Informational
Meeting – November or December
9.
Financial Guidelines –
December or January
10.
Procedures and
Guidelines – December
11.
Ethics Meeting -
September or October
12.
Historic Trail – open
meeting in November
13.
Contract Renewals
14.
Travel Writers
Michelle Jarusiewicz gave some
additional information on the time line for the 5-year plan. She said that the VSB should have a public
hearing on its plan before they present it to the BOS by November 1st. The BOS will vote on it by November 30th. There may still be changes before the Town
Meeting in April. Although some
decisions can’t be made until the staffing situation is resolved, some pieces
of the plan can be worked on. Bill
Schneider will begin working on the marketing plan.
Lynne Davies said that the VSB still
needs to work on branding as part of our goals and to respond to an EDTF
request. Ms. Davies said it should be a unified effort including the PBG and
the Chamber of Commerce.
Regarding the Ethics meeting, Michelle
Jarusiewicz said that the Town Counsel will probably hold a meeting, which will
be open to all boards and committees to review the subject.
Michael Peregon wondered if the Historic
Trail was something that could be in place by the next tourist season. This is unclear because it is not known what
it will entail. It was suggested that
there be an open meeting to solicit ideas.
Michelle Jarusiewicz said that the Town Meeting approved the funds, but
she has not been able to find out what the original vision for the Trail
was. She said that Keith Bergman may
have more information and she will keep searching.
Lynne Davies asked Bill Schneider to put
together information about marketing contract renewals: when they are due and
the cost. Mr. Schneider said he would
have the current costs, but they will have to be re-negotiated for the next
fiscal year. This information should
also include trade and travel shows.
Michael Peregon brought up the possible
conversion of the Boatslip to condos and the loss of revenue to the Town. Lynne Davies said there are similar problems
all over the Cape. She said that people
have tried to change the State law to allow taxation of short-term condo
rentals. This has not successful in the
past, however, there is new effort Cape-wide, to push this issue through the
State legislature, as it has now become a very big economic issue for the
Cape.
The subject of Strategic Staffing was
raised next. Lynne Davies said that it
must be looked at in the short and long term.
Bill Schneider said that the work he is doing is definitely more than a
half-time job, and could be a full-time job.
Lynne Davies said that advertising is important for tourism growth, but
professionals say that the three most important focus for enhancing tourism
should be a public relations, travel and trade shows, and having a web
presence. She said that a public
relations firm would aggressively & proactively advertise the Town through
articles contacts with travel writers, TV features, etc. She has heard of Michael Patrick
Communications, which works on the Cape.
She said that any firm chosen would have to understand the uniqueness of
Provincetown and be familiar with Gay & Lesbian tourism. Ms. Davies estimates the cost would be about
$1200. a month or $14,400. a year. The
cost of a PR firm might be deducted from staffing expenses or come out of
marketing. Ms. Davies also thought
there should be an RFP for an advertising designer who would design ads as
needed on a yearly contract basis. Bill
Schneider said that a PR firm would not replace the Tourism Office. For example, the Tourism Office would write
a press release and then the PR firm would see that it was widely
distributed.
The question was raised about using
grants to pay for certain expenses.
Michelle Jarusiewicz said that grants could not be obtained for
operational expenses. They can be
obtained for special projects like the Historic Trail.
The discussion returned to the staffing
of the Tourism Office. Right now Bill
Schneider is working there half time.
The BOS has approved the staffing until October. Lynne Davies passed out a handout entitled
“Town of Provincetown Tourism Function and Resources Tactical and
Strategic”. This listed the tasks of
the Tourism Office and the resources for doing the tasks. The VSB came up with five possible resources
for performing the tasks:
1.
Tourism Office –
full-time
2.
Administrative Assistant – half-time
3.
Public Relations Firm
– contract
4.
Grant writer – as
needed
5.
Advertising Design
Firm – contract
The VSB went through the handout and
designated who should do each task, using the above list. Lynne Davies will go over the results and
reorganize them to give a better idea of the staffing needs.
Lynne Davies said that the web
site should be up by the end of this week.
.
Michelle Jarusiewicz said that the VSB
had previously indicated that bus tours were very important and the VSB
expressed interest in hiring someone.
While she agrees they are very important, she does not agree that
someone needs to be hired separately.
Bill Schneider said that bus tours could be handled by the Tourism
Office.
Peter Bez brought up the subject of
additional public restrooms. He said
that if the firehouse was made into restrooms, it could possibly also be a
staffed information center. Michelle
Jarusiewicz said she thought that idea had been suggested before. Michael Peregon suggested turning the
building into a Laundromat with the proprietor required to provide public
restrooms. Lynne Davies said she has
heard that restaurants may be required to upgrade and expand their facilities
now that the sewer system is in place.
She also indicated that there was some discussion of selling the
property to offset Town budget crunch.
Because of all the discussions currently occurring around the Firehouse,
the VSB agreed to table the issue for a couple of months to see how thinks
shake out.
Public Statements.
Eddy Fallas, owner of Shirts’n’Stuff,
said he was concerned from previous comments that bus tours were not seen as
important per an article in the Cape Codder, which quoted the former Tourism
Director. Bill Schneider assured him
that the Tourism Offices realizes that bus tours are very important and he is
diligently working on enhancing the tour bus business. Mr. Fallas said that the cruise ship, which was
in Town recently, was a big boost to his business. He thought that the Tourism
Office should pursue hosting more cruise ships. Ms. Davies agreed and explained the past reasons why this hadn’t
been pursued and Hersh Schwartz said that in the past, the passengers on the
ships have all been bussed to Hyannis, bringing no benefit to the Town. All agreed that this has changed and that we
should be actively courting the cruise ship business. Lynne Davies assured Mr. Fallas that the VSB was committed to supporting
the tour bus and cruise ship business and would work diligently with all
concerned to make it happen.
Other Business
Bill Schneider brought up some marketing
projects that he has been working on.
He said that there is a web site which helps distribute press releases
over the Internet.
MOTION: Move to approve the amount of $125.00 to join PRNewswire.
Motion by: Peter Bez Seconded by:
Laurel Guadazno Yea 6
Nay 0
Mr.
Schneider had distributed copies of some new ads that will be used. He also suggested that for Instinct magazine
it would be better to use a larger ad with fewer insertions.
At
12:58 p.m. Peter Bez recused himself from the discussion and left the
room.
MOTION: Move to approve the amount of $300.00 for the Graphics Group for the design of recent ads.
Motion by: Lynne Davies Seconded by:
Laurel Guadazno Yea 4
Nay 1
Hersh
Schwartz said that she had reservations about trying to attract 18 - 20 year
olds to Provincetown. She felt that
with younger people there is a greater risk of drug and alcohol use and
consequently more accidents. Lynne
Davies said that the ads were aimed at young people in general, not just 18 –
20 year olds and that it was a small percentage of the ads. Kathleen Fitzgerald said that often people
form a sentimental attachment to the Town if they come when they are young and
then return because of that attachment.
Peter
Bez returned to the room.
Bill
Schneider said that a deposit was needed to reserve a booth at the Gay and
Lesbian Expo next March. He suggested
keeping the same booth as last year.
The VSB should begin to think about booth design, staffing and
transportation.
MOTION: Move to approve the amount of $5250.00 for the total fee for the Gay and Lesbian Expo and $1500.00 for the deposit now.
Motion by: Michael Peregon Seconded by:
Peter Bez Yea 6
Nay 0
Next
Mr. Schneider distributed several nature-oriented magazines that he had
received. The members were impressed
with them and Mr. Schneider will begin to negotiate with the magazines. He had
also researched advertising in the Boston Phoenix. There are three opportunities for advertising 1) a display ad; 2)
a banner ad on their web site; 3) sponsorship of their three back-to-school
concerts for college students. Because
of lack of time the discussion was tabled for now.
Winthrop
Smith who is on a subcommittee of the Economic Development Task Force presented
a list of ideas which may be relevant to the VSB. He invited members to attend a meeting the next day at 10:30 a.m.
to give feedback. He said the EDTF
would like to work with the VSB.
NEXT MEETING: Monday, August 1st - 11:00 a.m.
The
next meeting will be a one-hour meeting.
The
meeting was adjourned at 1:19 p.m..
.
.