Meeting Notice

Agenda:

Public Statements

There were none.

Staffing Tourism Department

Rob Tosner gave a background on prior and present staffing in the Tourism Office. He indicated that the Town Manager, Sharon Lynn is leaving the position for Assistant Tourism Director open. Lisa B. said that she is completing the responsibilities of the Assistant in addition to the duties of the Tourism Director until the summer of 2008. She detailed some of the procedures for the Assistant Tourism Director indicating that the duties of the financial management are time consuming. Lisa B. asked for input from the Board to address the priorities of initiatives from the tourism office. She has been quite busy with the physical set up of the office since it had moved from Town Hall to the Freeman Street building and then moved back to Town Hall in Meeting Room A - causing disruption of the work flow.

She has also met with Chuck Anzalone for the upcoming advertising calendar. There is a trade schedule and a whole travel schedule to be redone by January – just some of the immediate operating issues. Also she said that we have a backlog of meeting minutes, etc. She will continue to interface with David G. on training.

Rob asked about lead follow-up – a role formerly completed by the assistant. Lisa requested a long enough time to prepare the 2009 grants, etc. (there are no grant applications yet.)

Lisa B. is actively soliciting volunteers to help in the office. Rob suggested asking the Chamber of Commerce (CoC) and the Provincetown Business Guild (PBG) for some volunteer help. Rob would like Lisa to review unused grant money that was promised but not used. Steve Roderick and Joy McNulty have projects that need funding.

Lisa has an upcoming budget meeting on Monday - Rob inquired about hiring an assistant? Answer: Since the ‘09 budget has not been approved as yet - we’ll see.

Lisa B. plans to provide Director’s reports - starting in January. The Board will get a quarterly recap for the end of 2007 and then a monthly report. She inquired about the Board’s preference for meeting days and times. Lisa and Rob will work on the schedule. Should anyone wish to call Lisa, her extension is 536.

Walking Trail

Lisa B. has made a presentation of the project to the Historical Commission. Taylor Polites, member of the Historical Commission, joined the meeting table. Lisa read Bill Schneider’s last memo regarding the Town Meeting Article allocating funding for the project. A list of sites on the walking trail was presented in the project package. Also included was research that Bill had done on Deerfield, MA. Discussion by the Board regarding a handout for tourists - a one page guide which would include easy walking sites from the center of Town, i.e., Town Hall, Public Library, Pilgrim Memorial Monument, UU Church, etc.

Taylor P. had some interaction on this and he appreciates Lisa’s amount of work. The Historical Commission is willing to work with the VSB and help to make this a reality as this has been on the radar for some time. Laurel is the point person and she feels they did not want a redo of the previous walking trails but something modest and inexpensive for people coming in who could get a map at the CoC and do a walking trail – mainly of the buildings mentioned in the previous paragraph. Laurel said that the Economic Development Council (EDC) wanted to take this money and do something grander but something simple would be preferable without spending a lot of money.

Michael Peregon had an idea - what if we got a stencil that would be just on the street – for identifying dwellings. Rob asked – so how do we move this forward? Laurel will head up the subcommittee and Taylor will nominate people to serve on the subcommittee.

Margaret Murphy from the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) has expressed interest in the project. Possible cost would be about $1K to print 3,000 3-column colored maps of the trail.

Five Year Financial Plan

Rob says that the ferry service paid money and that money will be used for manning the restrooms. We’re spending substantial sums to staff bathrooms. Lisa said that after spending part of last summer down in one of the trap sheds – she knows that the public restrooms are heavily used and there are maintenance issues. Hersh felt – perhaps in July and August the restrooms could be fully manned. Discussion by the Board regarding staffing, website project, VSB mission and status of 2008 Grants.

Tourism Office Website

Management Information Systems (MIS) is an in-house service that maintains the Town’s website. Rob wondered if we can put in a request for MIS to update the VSB website? Lisa will follow up. The Tourism Office has received complaints about the website that it’s not always working and not always available. The Chair would like to see the Winter Guide on the site by January. Dan Hoyt said that all the guides are done through April and he has all the information so – for example - if you’re coming on Feb. 17^th you know what is open. Michelle Haynes said that Michael Valenti took beautiful images of Town – loads of great pictures. He had put them on a disc and had given one to Bill Schneider. He can be reached at 508/487-1526 to request a duplicate.

Second Homeowner mailing

Rob feels that the Winter Guide rack card should be mailed and wants to set a date for sending out a calendar of events and a letter. Laurel also feels that they should identify the links, etc. The only thing that might impact the project timeline is Chuck’s return – around the end of December. Discussion regarding the details of the photocopying and the mailing. The assessor’s office will have the address list for a 2^nd homeowner mailing.

Michael P. discussion regarding gift bags at the trade shows - Lisa is completing the inventory and right now we have enough bags on hand. Michael P. also mentioned that there is now a sign on Route 6 in the vicinity of Snail Road that gives the mileage to Bishop, California.

NO PLACE FOR HATE: communication strategy

The PBG and CoC requested a meeting with the Acting Police Chief to discuss the bad press that we had gotten over the summer. So now we have to defend ourselves against these stories……… hate incidents are not up and we’re trying to straighten out the image we’ve received. Rob said it was a very productive meeting.

Approval of Minutes

Motion: Approve the minutes of the November 6^th meeting.

Motion: Laurel Guadazno Seconded: Hersh Schwartz Vote: 4-0-0.

Motion: Approve the minutes of the November 14^th meeting.

Motion: Laurel Guadazno Seconded: Hersh Schwartz Vote: 4-0-0.

The November 28^th meeting didn’t have a quorum.

Old Business

Patrick Eleey designed the plan for the Waterfront Park. The Board wants this done as soon as possible. Hersh wants to talk to Candace Nagel about the dog park and the opening this spring. They’re looking into having a high end decking material – Trex. Michael P. mentioned that Robert B. Our is still working on the dog park’s proposed location.

Michael P. wondered if we advertise the fact that our parking is free in Town for the winter – from November 1^st on.

Michelle H. would like to schedule a meeting with Lisa in the near future to discuss the trade shows. Michelle directed Lisa to put together a letter of request with trip details then send it to her and Sebastian White of Jet Blue.

New Business

2008 Grants - Rob thinks the unused grant money should become available to everyone.

The meeting adjourned at 12:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Evelyn Gaudiano

E. Rogers Gaudiano

Approved by_________________________ on _________2007

Rob Tosner, Chair