TOWN
OF PROVINCETOWN
VISITOR
SERVICES BOARD
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2005
Chairman Lynne Davies convened the
meeting at 10:02 AM noting the following attendees:
VSB members: Lynne Davies, Chairman; Peter Bez, Vice Chairman; Laurel Guadazno; Hersh Schwartz; Mick Rudd;
Absent VSB member: Kathleen Fitzgerald; Michael Peregon (excused absences)
Other attendees: Bill Schneider, Administrative Director of Tourism
Recorder: David Gardner
The following are meeting minutes, in
brief:
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the November 15, 2005 VSB meeting as written.
Motion by: Hersh Schwartz Seconded by: Laurel Guadazno Yea 4 Nay 0
Abstain 1 (PB)
TOURISM DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Mr.
Schneider provided an overview of the Informational Forum conducted yesterday
by the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.
The
December issue of Curve Magazine, featuring a
story about Provincetown, was distributed.
The story was much more pro-Provincetown than originally proposed.
Mr.
Schneider was also recently interviewed by Stephen Desroches from In Newsweekly
regarding the decrease in Provincetown tourism and tourism spending.
FY07 BUDGET REVIEW
The VSB discussed the draft Five
Year Financial Plan and made the following recommended changes:
Executive Summary: Remove last sentence of first paragraph and last sentence of second
paragraph of Executive Summary.
The financial allocation for the
Beautification Committee is used for projects such as trees, landscaping,
benches at the Beautification Committee’s discretion. In the past the, the Beautification allocation was under the VSB budget that was approved by the ATM. Last April the Beautification budget was pulled from the VSB budget
presented at the ATM. Such tourism
funds are being spent without VSB oversight (which is against the VSB’s
enabling mission) and allows any unused dollars to return to the general fund,
which was not the intent of the ATMs vote to move the VSB’s budget to an article
to allow funds to roll over year to year.
This money is intended for projects which beautify Provincetown for
visitors and residents alike.
Beautification efforts are also supported by the Municipal Projects
Budget category. Peter Bez suggested the VSB remove the Beautification
Budget category (2.0% or $8,500) as a separate category and insert it as a line
item within the Municipal Budget category for beautification to insure greater
control over how those funds are spent.
The Board agreed.
Discussion of Executive
Summary and Introduction Inclusions:
Recommend removing paragraph two
except for the first sentence, in addition to all of paragraph three and four
for the Introduction.
Lynne Davies said that as part of
the budget review process, the VSB should look at its mission and goals. The VSB should list big picture
items:
·
The VSB should
continue to define the VSB mission and goals within the summary to further
define “who we are.”
·
Discuss the
VSB’s Goals and the EDC goals and how
the VSB envisions VSB and EDC interaction and roles.
·
Peter Bez
expressed concern regarding condo conversions and the VSB should clarify the
concern regarding condo conversions as it effects the conversion of commercial
properties to residential.
Bill Schneider reminded the VSB
that the budget portion of the plan needs to be submitted to the Town Manager
by next Tuesday, November 29, 2005.
Lynne Davies stated that
requirements for mini grants and full grants should be the same. Bill Schneider will provide copy of both
agreements for the VSB to review.
The VSB discussed its policy
regarding disbursement of funds to grant recipients for expenses incurred prior
to the event. In the past, some
recipients of full grants have received funds in advance for expenses up to 50%
of total grant. Chairman Davies is concerned that the policy has not been
made official in the past and it was only provided to those grant recipients
that knew about it. Whatever the VSB
decides on this previous action should be published so all recipients have the
information. The VSB will revisit this
policy at their next meeting.
Chairman Davies suggested the VSB
look at target markets to ensure that each of those markets were addressed in
the plan, and Ms. Davies requested Mr. Schneider address Second Homeowners as a
target market and the impact they have on tourism and tourism spending both
negatively and positively.
The VSB strategic meeting was
scheduled for Thursday, December 8, 2005 at 10:00 AM in the Judge Welsh
Conference Room. Representatives from
the PBG, Chamber of Commerce, Cape Air, Bay State Cruises Company and Boston
Harbor Cruises will also be invited to attend.
Should the VSB develop a Cultural
Calendar? Chairman Davies expressed her
concern about who speaks for the “Arts” community. The VSB recognizes that the “arts” are an important part of our
culture and tourism market, but there
is not a single entity to work with on promoting the arts. A separate meeting will be scheduled for
this discussion.
Municipal: Beautification Maintenance. Town Hall lawn should not
be funded from VSB, but should come from the town’s infrastructure paid through
the general fund. VSB maintenance funds
should be used for parks maintenance that impact visitors and tourism. Mick Rudd suggested Bill Schneider discuss
with DPW Deputy Director regarding the appropriateness of funds spent for
maintenance within the public areas to ensure a nexus to tourism and to seek an
explanation of line items under this section to specify how this money is being
spent and which public areas are being maintained. Mr. Schneider will report back to the VSB.
Mick Rudd presented a letter from the Provincetown Public
Library Board of Trustees regarding a part-time Custodial Service funding
request to consider. The proposal would
provide part-time on-call custodial service to the Library in the amount of
$5,304 for FY 2007. The Library
maintains public rest rooms used by visitors and shoppers throughout the east
end. Many retail tenants refer
customers to the Library for use of the public bathrooms. While the Library has a full-time custodian
assigned, the level of maintenance required to maintain the restrooms was
underestimated and distracts from the overall maintenance of the 15,000 square
foot building. This is a one-time
request for FY07.
Lynne Davies suggested VSB consider
reducing the line item for Beautification Maintenance from the Municipal
Category from $14,560 to $14,256 to transfer $304 to fund the Library Trustee’s
request, and transfer $5,000 from the Grants proposed budget to fund the
remainder of the Library Trustee’s request.
This will leave the Grants budget the same as last year.
MOTION: Move to approve funding for the Grants category of the FY07 budget at $100,000.
Motion by: Peter Bez, Seconded by: Laurel
Guadazno, Yea 5 Nay 0 Abstain 0
MOTION: Move to approve funding for the Coodination Support category of the FY07 Budget at $75,000.
Motion by: Peter Bez, Seconded by: Laurel
Guadazno Yea 5 Nay 0 Abstain 0
MOTION: Move to approve funding for the Marketing category of the
FY07 Budget at $206,806.
Motion by: Peter Bez, Seconded by: Laurel Guadazno, Yea 5 Nay 0
Abstain 0
MOTION: Move to approve funding for the Municipal (DPW) category of
the FY07 Budget at $47,430 as follows:
DPW
·
Additional Barrel Pickups
$9,360 ( same parameters as in the past)
·
3rd Barrel Pick-ups
$3,640 ( same parameters as in the past)
·
Extended Restroom Hours $6,370 ( same parameters as in the past)
·
Beautification Maintenance $14,256 with defined tasks
Beautification
$8,500 (VSB will Beautification
Committee input)
Provincetown
Public Library $5,304 (FY07
On-call custodial services) 1 year only
Motion by: Lynne Davies, Seconded by: Laurel Guadazno, Yea 5 Nay 0
Abstain 0
The meeting was adjourned at
12:10 PM.