02-24-21 Tourism Business Improvement District MinutesBoard of Directors Meeting
Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
3:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: Board of Directors in person at Kalispell Chamber
Guests – online access via Zoom
Board Members Present: Emily Schroeder, Robert Hall, Dawn Hendrickson
Via Zoom: Zac Ford, Britta Joy, Bryce Baker and Noelle Barr
Board Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Diane Medler, Dawn Jackson, Vonnie Day, Lorraine Clarno
Guests: Jeff Mow, Superintendent Glacier National Park (Zoom)
MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm by Chair Emily Schroeder.
1. Hear from the Public – none
2. Discussion with Jeff Mow, Superintendent of Glacier National Park about Summer 2021.
• The summer of 2021 is going to be challenging with a confluence of COVID impacts, a record
number of visitors and widespread road construction.
• Park is about 100 housing units short due to COVID requirements that seasonal employees have
their own bedrooms.
• Due to lower staffing level, services offered will be prioritized and some will be eliminated. For
example, not all campgrounds will be open.
• A new visitor demographic is utilizing the park – those not accustomed to being in the wild
which can require more staffing.
• Road construction will take place on Highway 2 from Hungry Horse to Nyack through a MDOT
project. GNP is doing construction on the Camas Road, which will be closed at times.
Construction is also occurring on Highway 89 and Many Glacier.
• Park leadership plans to up their game on traffic management.
• Park is assessing a system of ticketed entry for the GTTS corridor June1 – Labor Day for this year.
Goals:
o provide certainty on entering the park.
o reduce peak demand at the west entrance.
o enhance awareness of crowding issues.
o intercept visitors with information before they reach the road construction areas.
• Visitors who have reservation for lodging or activities in the park don’t need a ticket.
• Tickets can be purchased online at recreation.gov. 80% of tickets per day will be released 30
days prior to reservation dates, remaining 20% will be released 2 days ahead. (These
percentages are approximate and may be adjusted if the program moves forward.)
• Existing pass holders will need to purchase a ticket for entry to the park.
• Park hopes to have information points before travelers reach park entrance, with cell service /
wifi so they can make a reservation if space is available. Info about activities outside the park
will also be available.
• Jeff is gathering feedback in order to know how to proceed with ticketed entry.
Board comments about the ticketed entry system:
• Short notice of ticketed entry system for this summer season. There’s no way to reach everyone
before they arrive for their park visit.
• Suggested extending the booking window so visitors can book further out than 30 days.
• Communicate with visitors via AM radio station in park vicinity.
3. Board Action
a) Approval of minutes from January 27, 2021
Motion was made by Britta Joy to approve the minutes. Motion was seconded by Zac Ford.
Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
b) Approval of TBID financial statements for January, 2021
Motion was made by Noelle Barr to approve the financials. Motion was seconded by Robert
Hall. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
c) Approval of projected revenue for FY22
Motion was made by Britta Joy to set projected revenue for FY22 at $525K. Britta accepted an
amendment by Bryce to rollover estimated $100K reserves for board approval which will put
the budget at $625K, however only $525K will come from collections.
Motion was seconded by Noelle Barr. Discussion: state is projecting $160K in bed tax, may be
closer to $140K. Chamber was approved for PPP funding, approx. $50K will be applied to TBID
wages. Estimated rollover from FY21 is $100K.
d) Scoring and approval of grant applications – In addition to the MHSA AA State Wrestling
Tournament, two more grant applications were submitted after the agenda was distributed:
MHSA AA State Wrestling Tournament, March 5 – 6: requested $2,994 ($1,500 for law
enforcement and $1,494 for rooms for officials). Projected room nights: 300
Montana State AAU Folkstyle Wrestling Tournament, March 19 – 21: requested $2,000 toward
event costs. Projected room nights: 1,500
Kalispell PBR, June 4: requested $2,500 for marketing and social media advertising plus $2,500
in-kind promotional support.
Motion was made by Noelle Barr to approve all three grant requests. Motion was seconded by
Britta Joy. Discussion: $4,795 remains in the grant budget for FY21. The three requests total
$7,494 which is $2,699 over the amount budgeted for event grants. All three appear to meet
grant requirements for events new to Kalispell, occurring during the shoulder season and
yielding significant room nights.
Board instructed grant payments to be handled in the following ways:
1. MHSA AA State Wrestling – pay hotels directly, pay FHS for law enforcement post event.
2. Montana State AAU Folkstyle Wrestling – pay venue fees to the fairgrounds directly.
3. Kalispell PBR – ask for a breakdown of expenditures prior to issuing a check.
Board discussed establishing a blanket policy of paying grant funds to vendors directly.
Additional guidelines for paying out and documenting grant funds for the FY22 grant cycle will
be discussed at a future board meeting.
4. Board Discussion
a) Event and grant updates
Follow-up discussions were held with Blacktail Mountain Operations Manager Jessie Wood and
Ali with the Lakeside-Somers Chamber regarding Montana Alpine Race School’s cancellation of
the USSA Qualifying Race in January. They indicated that USSA has tight stipulations for events
and required that Flathead County Health Department designate a COVID Coordinator for the
event. Race organizers were concerned that their COVID safety plan still had not been approved
by the coordinator one week prior to the event so decided to postpone and possibly cancel the
event. Jessie Wood stated that Blacktail’s position has always been that if the county is not
supportive, they’re not going to hold the event. $2,000 of the $4,000 event grant that had been
approved for the event was disbursed. Funds were used to purchase safety and timing
equipment that can be used for future races and will allow Blacktail to host more races of this
type. It appears unlikely that MARS will be able to reschedule the event this season due to ski
conditions ending. Board agreed that if MARS is able to hold the USSA Qualifier later this year
and requests the remaining $2,000 in grant funds, it will be dealt with at that time.
b) Marketing and operational updates
• Car rentals will be in short supply again this year due to supply chain issues.
• New carrier and flight announce: Jet Blue flight to NY-JFK.
• Alaska Airlines may not be offering its Portland direct flight this summer.
c) Group, M&C updates
Dawn will distribute an updated list of upcoming meetings and events.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:15pm.
Respectfully submitted: Diane Medler
For further information, please contact:
diane@discoverkalispell.com or 406-758-2808