TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN
VISITOR SERVICES BOARD
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2005
Chairman Lynne Davies convened the
meeting at 11:32 AM noting the following attendees:
VSB members: Lynne Davies, Chairman, Peter Bez; Mick Rudd; Hersh Schwartz
Absent
VSB Members: Laurel Guadazno, Michael Peregon, Kathleen Fitzgerald (excused
absences)
Other attendee: Bill
Schneider, Acting Tourism Director; Michelle Jarusiewicz, Acting Assistant Town
Manager and Grant Administrator
Recorder: Cynthia Curran
The following are meeting minutes, in
brief:
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES
MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the August 30, 2005 VSB
Grant Guidelines public hearing as written.
Motion by: Hersh Schwartz Seconded by: Peter Bez
Yea 4 Nay 0
MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the September 20, 2005 VSB
10:00 AM meeting as written.
Motion by: Peter Bez
Seconded by: Hersh Schwartz
Yea 4 Nay 0
The
minutes from the 9/20 evening public hearing and the 9/27 meeting could not be
approved, because there was not a quorum of those who had attended them.
BUDGET
UPDATE
Lynne
Davies distributed balance sheets for FY2005.
Some FY2005 grants were mistakenly paid out of 2006 and this will have
to be corrected. Ms. Davies would like
Bill Schneider to work with Alex Heilala, Town Accountant, to make sure the
balances are correct. Mr. Schneider
said that the Tourism Office needed a new computer printer. The VSB asked Mr. Schneider to obtain a new
one. Funding for the printer will be
from FY2005 Coordination & Support budget.
Ms. Davies and Mr. Schneider will meet with Alex Heilala to discuss some
questions about the FY2006 Budget regarding the payroll for the bathroom staff
and other budgetary matters to ensure the Finance Dept and the VSB are in agreement
with budget details. Ms. Davies went
over some more points regarding the budget and asked the members to look it
over.
TRADE
SHOW BOOTH UPDATE
Some
of the samples for the trade show booth had not arrived, so it was decided to
table this item until the next meeting.
SHOPPING
BAGS
Bill
Schneider said the cost for each bag would be 74 cents when ordering 5000. The new mock up had not arrived so this item
will also be taken up at the next meeting.
OTHER
BUSINESS
Michelle
Jarusiewicz said she is trying to arrange a date for the Conflict of Interest
workshop with the Town Counsel. October
18th is the tentative date for the workshop. Ms. Jarusiewicz said that specific questions
could be sent to the Town Counsel ahead of time.
BRANDING
Lynne
Davies asked Ms. Jarusiewicz if the branding process could be done in steps to
negate the formal RFP process in order to save time. Ms. Jarusiewicz said that if there was a possibility that the
amount spent in total would require an RFP, then one would be needed. She said that the RFP wouldn’t have to be
advertised, but there could be phone requests.
Ms. Davies said that she would like to have four potential facilitators
come and make presentations.
Peter
Bez said that he still wasn’t sure how working on branding would further the
mission of the board. He said that he
asked Robin Haueter that question after he spoke to the Board, but did not get
an answer. Bill Schneider said that some
of the process that was described by Mr. Haueter has already been done. Mick Rudd said that branding was a way to
look at the larger picture and see how Provincetown compares to other
destinations. He said it was a way to
make sure all sectors of the Town are represented by the VSB and to broaden its
base of support. Ms. Davies said the
process would show the Board’s desire for inclusiveness. She said it shouldn’t necessarily be called
branding, but would be a discussion with various stakeholders about how
Provincetown is perceived, what it represents, and how the Town should be
advertised. Ms. Davies asked Bill
Schneider to contact four potential facilitators to start the process for
choosing one. Ms. Davies said the
meetings would, of course, be open to the public, but that there would be a
limited number of invitees working with the facilitator. The public would have opportunities to voice
their thoughts at various points in the facilitated process. She asked Mr. Schneider and Mr. Rudd to work
together on this project.
TOURISM
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Bill
Schneider said that he will meet with Chuck Anzalone about the VSB’s
advertising commitments for the coming year.
He suggested that Mr. Anzalone come to the next VSB meeting to discuss
marketing strategy. Michelle
Jarusiewicz was asked if Peter Bez could attend since because there would be no
discussion about money.
Mr.
Schneider has talked to the Town Manager about a welcoming party for the
Bulgarian students next year. The Town
will host the party in the spring.
Mr.
Schneider has been working with the Library Director on finding a way to
display the Lipton Cup in the new library.
A new case with a burglar alarm must be built. The library is looking for funds to build the case and set up the
initial security system. They will then
be responsible for the yearly fee. The
cup must also be cleaned and moved to the library with a police escort. They would like to have a ceremony once it
is installed. Mr. Schneider has also
been talking with the Town Manager and Stephen Borkowski of the Art
Commission. The VSB would like to
support this project and asked Mr. Schneider to return with definitive figures
on how much money is needed.
Mr.
Schneider said he has had further discussions with the Pink Planet T.V. program
about filming during Fantasia Fair.
They still want to come then, even though it is not a Gay and Lesbian
event. The Board did not want to
support their coming at this time, but would consider giving production
assistance in the future.
The
contract for Panorama magazine is due for renewal. The Board had agreed to renew with a
1/4-page ad. Panorama said that they
would extend the duration of the contract for two weeks for free if the VSB
would renew with a half-page ad. This
would be at a reduced rate. This past
year the VSB’s ad has been next to an ad for Bay State Cruises. There has been a half page advertorial above
them. The board was concerned that if
they went to a half-page ad, there would be no advertorial and it would not
really be an advantage. Right now there
is no guarantee of having an advertorial with either a half-page or
quarter-page ad.
MOTION: Move to authorize Bill Schneider to negotiate best possible
solution to guarantee the advertorial,
Motion by: Lynne Davies Seconded by:
Peter Bez Yea 4 Nay 0
Although
the VSB decided not to attend the IGLTA Trade Show in Montreal this year, there
is still the opportunity to distribute brochures there. The VSB will partner with the PBG and the C
of C to pay the fee of $225.00. The VSB
will send its calendar of events card.
Bill
Schneider spoke with the Family Week group about having a carnival here that
week. They were in favor of the idea.
The Board discussed where the money gained from the carnival would
go. Since the VSB is no longer involved
with the Waterfront Park, the public bathrooms were proposed as the
recipient. Peter Bez thought that
perhaps the receipts should just go to the general fund to generate good will
for the VSB. Mick Rudd thought that
since both residents and tourists use the public restrooms, this would also be
viewed very positively. Michelle
Jarusiewicz thought that the Board needed more information on how complicated
it would be to run this event. She
thought that it might be more work than the Board expects. Mr. Schneider said that the concession
company runs everything. He would have
to investigate costs for police, insurance and any other expenses. There must be an article on the November
warrant to set up a revolving account for this. Ms. Jarusiewicz said that the article must be in this week. The account would be to increase public
restrooms for the benefit of tourists and residents. Hersh Schwartz suggested that perhaps another event such as an
ice cream fest could be developed for Family Week.
STOREFRONT
INITIATIVE
Lynne
Davies said that the VSB would like to organize a project to decorate empty
storefront windows and paint the wooden coverings some stores put up during the
winter. She thought that the public
schools, PAAM and FAWC could be contacted to ask the students to do paintings
to be displayed. The VSB could pay for
the supplies for the paintings. Due to
lack of time the project would be kept simple this year. The PBG and the Chamber of Commerce would be
asked to send out an email blast to store owners to tell them about the plan
and find out when they are closing.
Bill Schneider was asked to contact the schools and to compose the email
to be sent out.
MOTION: Move to authorize Bill Schneider to compose an email to be
distributed by the PBG and the Chamber of Commerce informing stores that the
VSB will supply vacant stores with artwork by students from the schools and the
major art organizations in town to display in their storefronts while they are
closed.
Motion by: Mick Rudd
Seconded by: Lynne
Davies Yea 4 Nay 0
MOTION: Move to authorize up to $600 for the art supplies for the
Storefront Initiative project.
Motion by: Lynne Davies Seconded by:
Peter Bez Yea 4 Nay 0
Hersh
Schwartz said she will talk to the hardware stores to see if they will donate
art supplies for the project.
HOLIDAY
LIGHTING PROJECT
Last
year a “Holiday Lights” project was approved and phase one was begun. The vendor, Downtown Decorations, never
completed the project. The vendor says
that they did not have access to the Town Hall tower and so could not put up
all the lights. There are also problems
with the work that they did. After
discussing the situation and various options, a motion was presented.
MOTION: Move to have the vendor fix the existing decorations and
reimburse the town for the work which was paid for, but wasn’t done.
Motion by: Peter Bez
Seconded by: Mick
Rudd Yea 4 Nay 0
Mick
Rudd suggested that perhaps the DPW could look at the decorations to see what
needs to be done. Bill Schneider said
that the DPW does not have the people to do this now, so a third party or
volunteers would have to do it. The
discussion was tabled for the moment.
PR
FIRM RFP UPDATE
Lynne
Davies asked for comments about the draft RFP.
Some suggestions were made.
MOTION: Move to amend the language in the RFP as suggested.
Motion by: Peter Bez
Seconded by: Hersh
Schwartz Yea 4 Nay 0
MOTION: Move to advertise the amended RFP as soon as possible.
Motion by: Lynne Davies Seconded by:
Peter Bez Yea 4 Nay 0
PROPOSED
GUIDELINES – FY07 GRANT PROGRAM
Lynne
Davies distributed two proposed drafts for a new grant application and went
over them. There will also be guideline
instructions which will explain what information is needed. It was suggested that Bill Schneider review
the applications and return those which were not complete. Michelle Jarusiewicz said that the onus
should not be on the staff to review the applications. There may be too many and it would also be
very complicated if they accepted an application as complete and it was
not. Ms. Jarusiewicz said there should
be a policy of what to do with incomplete applications. They might be told to resubmit at a future
date or given a set amount of time to complete the application. It must be clear ahead of time what the
rules are. Lynne Davies and Bill
Schneider will work on the applications.
Ms. Davies said that an additional question for the application might
be: If you had the same event last
year, please describe what went well and what went badly? Ms. Davies said that she will have a draft
for the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:47 PM.