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LUTC MINS 08-09-2011 LTAC Summary August 9, 2011 Page 1 City of Federal Way Lodging Tax Advisory Committee August 9, 2011 8:00 a.m. City Hall Hylebos Conference Room SUMMARY In Attendance: Councilmember Jack Dovey, Joann Piquette, Mike Dunwiddie, and Emma Bulalacao-Brooks Absent: Daniel Yim, Rose Ehl, and Ryan Miller Guests: John Hatcher, World Championship of Sand Sculpture; Margaret Nelson, Citizen, and Rick, Clarion Hotel Staff Present: Community and Economic Development Director Patrick Doherty and Administrative Assistant II Tina Piety 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Dovey called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. He added Agenda item H, Postcards. 2. PUBLIC COMMENT Ms. Nelson proposed the city consider providing postcards that highlight Federal Way. She thought of this when she discovered postcards of Port Angeles that highlight that city’s events, arts, and service organizations. Federal Way has a lot of features (mountains, beaches, historic cabins, etc.) and events (Sand Sculpture, 4th of July, Farmer’s Market, etc.) that could be used for postcards. She proposed the city (maybe in conjunction with the chamber) provided postcards to hotels to distribute free to their guests. She also proposed that electronic postcards be made available. Postcards can be a way to market Federal Way and encourage visits and maybe even businesses to locate here. They could show Federal Way as a desirable place to live and work. 3. COMMITTEE BUSINESS A. Committee Member Dunwiddie moved (and it was seconded) to approve the minutes of May 18, 2011. The motion passed unanimously. B. Introduction of New Member – New Committee Member Daniel Yim was not present. C. Review of Budget and Revenue – Director Doherty provided the Committee with a handout of the current budget. He added a column of 2011 projected. He noted that revenues are 22 to 23% higher than originally projected. If this trend continues, there may be approximately $100,000 cary forward to the 2012 budget, as opposed to the currently projected $204. D. Update on Recent and Upcoming Events – The Sand Sculpting Tournament of Champions starts next week, August 18th and runs until September 5th. Participation at the 2011 SheROX Federal Way Triathlon (held July 9-10) was way down from last time. Director Doherty noted that they had taken a year off, LTAC Summary August 9, 2011 Page 2 changed the format, moved the event to July, and there are more similar events in the region, all of which may have contributed to the lower participation. Chair Dovey suggested considering holding a series of running events as they are popular. Director Doherty presented a draft of the Han Woo-Ri poster. Han Woo-Ri will be held September 16th to 18th. Sponsorship is down and they will not have any talent from Korea. They will have talent from California and Vancouver B.C., in addition to local talent. E. TEG Application Packets – Director Doherty commented because LTAC added $5,000 to the Tourism Enhancement Grants (TEG) for capital, or non-event items, the application needs to be updated. Committee Member Dunwiddie commented that the scoring matrix also needs to be updated for non-event items. Chair Dovey asked Director Doherty and Committee Member Dunwiddie to work on these updates. Council Member Burbidge requested that the application and matrix be more specific as to what is allowed for a TEG. F. Sand Sculpting Tournament Update – Mr. Hatcher gave an overview of their status. Unfortunately, they have not done as well with sponsorships. They have had difficulties reaching some and have not had the big sponsors they had last year. They have a calendar of events and a visual from last year on their website. They will have special days: senior day, youth day, American Cancer Day, etc. Posters have been distributed and displayed. TV ads will start this week. They have participates signed up for the hand-to-hand competition. Currently, they have 21 single participants, 8 doubles, and 4 non-competitive. G. Expansion of Committee – Chair Dovey commented that representatives of Clarion Hotels and Wild Waves have expressed interest on being on the LTAC. He asked the Committee to consider expanding their number by two. Committee Member Piquette moved (and it was seconded) to request the City Council to expand the membership of the LTAC by two. There was no discussion. The motion passed unanimously. Chair Dovey will take this motion to the City Council. Committee Member Piquette stated that she feels disconnected meeting only quarterly and asked the Committee to consider meeting more often. Committee Member Piquette moved (and it was seconded) that the LTAC meet every other month starting October 2011, with the option to meet more often if needed. There was no discussion. The motion passed unanimously. H. Postcards – Committee Member Piquette asked what had happened to the postcards the city had a number of years ago. Director Doherty responded that about eight to nine years ago the city did experiment with providing city postcards. A contest was held for photos and some five to six postcards were printed. However, we had problems distributing them. Companies with postcard racks were unwilling to display postcards from another entity. The city purchased display holders would give them out at no cost, but most of the hotels and city parks stated they had no place for the holders and would not take them. They were available at City Hall and the King County Aquatic Center did take the display holders and postcards and they did well. It was suggested the city create electronic postcards that could be downloaded from the city’s and chamber’s visitors’ websites. Director Doherty commented that electronic postcards could be developed right-away and LTAC has the funds in their budget. Chair Dovey requested a draft be available for the October meeting. 4. NEXT MEETING DATE October 25, 2011, 8:00 a.m., Hylebos Conference Room 5. ADJOURN Chair Dovey adjourned the meeting at 9:10 p.m.