03-02-16 Tourism Business Improvement District MinutesBoard of Directors Meeting
Kalispell Tourism Business Improvement District
Location: Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
3:00 pm — 5:00 pm
Minutes
Board Members Present: Janet Clark, Vanessa Nordahl, Dan Moderie, Dawn Hendrickson, Laurie Schultz, Lisa Brown
Board Members Absent: Nautam Patel
Staff Present: Diane Medler, Dawn Jackson, Vonnie Day
Visitors: Tom and Denise Lewis, Hilltop Inn; Cary Weyrauch, ABVI
Meeting was called to order by Janet Clark, Board Chair, at 3:10 PM.
1. Hear from the Public— no public comments
2. TBID Safety Awareness information sharing — email list is working well.
3. Board Action
a. Approve minutes from the February 3, 2016 meeting:
Action: Motion was made by Vanessa Nordahl to approve the minutes. Motion seconded by Dan
Moderie. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
b. TBID financial statements for January, 2016:
Action: Motion was made by Vanessa Nordahl to approve the financial statements. Motion
seconded by Dan Moderie. Discussion: none. Board approved unanimously.
c. Approval of draft budget, goals and objectives for FY2017:
Action: Motion was made by Dawn Hendrickson to approve the draft budget, goals and objectives
for FY2017. Motion seconded by Lisa Brown.
Discussion: On this draft budget the Bed Tax income projections have not been adjusted for FY17.
They are included for informational purposes. Declines in revenue due to decreased Canadian
traffic are expected to be offset by increased domestic travel and the addition of several new
properties to the TBID. Staffing now accounts for 43% of budget, up from 33% last year. Increase
was due to a jump in insurance costs. Strategies to increase revenue are being developed including
expanding Kalispell's range of non -weather impacted activities and generating referrals for meetings
and conventions. Board agreed to raise the target average of mobile and tablet usage to 15%.
Occupancy will be tracked using the Star Report. The objective for increased occupancy November —
April will be set at 2% (as measured in Star Report). Board approved unanimously.
4. Board Discussion
a. Pond Hockey — event was cancelled due to unsafe ice conditions at Foys Lake and Woodland Park.
62 teams opted to defer their registration to the 2017 tournament. 8 teams cancelled. Hockey
boards had been shipped prior to the decision to cancel. The Boards will be stored here at a cost of
$40 per month which eliminates the $2,700 return ship fee this year. A number of expenditures had
occurred in preparation for the events. TBID will spend approximately $20,000 of the $30,000
allocated. Some of the expenses won't recur next year (for example, very little marketing will be
required to solicit teams as we will open registration with 62 teams). Teams that came to Kalispell
despite the event cancellation were hosted at a gathering at Moose's. Feedback was received that
they had a great visit. January dates are being considered for 2017, either the 13 — 15 or the 20 —
22.
Spartan — 6,900 racers have registered. Total registration for last year's event was 7,000. NBC will
be filming the race again this year.
Western Class B Basketball Tournament was well -attended.
b. Governor's Conference of Tourism — April 10 —12. Meetings and the banquet will be held at the
Hilton Garden Inn with lunches at the Red Lion Hotel. CVB is coordinating sponsors and entertainers
for the busses providing transportation between the two hotels. The welcome reception will be
held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Sunday, April 10. The theme is Travels through Time. Area tours will
be offered Sunday afternoon including Glacier Park, Agri -Tourism, Native American and Historic
Downtown.
c. Wayfinding project — is being handled in two phases due to work on the Bypass. Phase 1 will be in
the ground by July. The City of Kalispell and MDT have been great to work with. The project has
been delayed for several reasons including the bypass construction and the death of the chief of the
sign department. Deferral of the remaining grand funding has been requested until the Bypass is
completed.
d. Expiring board seats —two board appointments are expiring:
Vanessa Nordahl - large property; Dawn Hendrickson — medium property
The openings will be announced to TBID members. Expiring board members are welcome to
reapply. Nominees and board officers will be voted on at the April board meeting. Laurie Otto is
replacing Laurie Schultz who has resigned her position at the Hilton Garden Inn.
e. Group, M&C updates —An RFP has been submitted for the National Science Foundation Conference
in FY2017. An RFQ was received from Spring Brook Ranch for May 2016 Yak Camp. Work continues
on the POMA Conference in June. A Montana State Parks Division Meeting is taking place in
Kalispell this week. Staff is training on the new IDSS computer software.
f. Marketing updates — an article by Laura Rote, Time Out Chicago, was published on the national Time
Out website. Her article will also appear in the spring Time Out Chicago printed publication.
Members of the International Food and Wine Travel Writers Association who visited in January
posted numerous online mentions of Kalispell. The new 44-page Kalispell visitor guide will be ready
in two weeks. 35,000 copies will be printed. The direct flight from Chicago is performing well.
Glacier Aero is working on year-round flights to Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. 2nd quarter
TBID collections are equal to 2nd quarter last year. The Star Report for January was up 3% over last
year. The Kalispell Chamber is working with Google to get all member business info updated on the
search engine. Chamber members also have the option of a reduced rate for an interior virtual tour.
The virtual tour can be linked to the business website, KalispellChamber.com and DiscoverKalispell
.com. The Google videographer will be here April 27. Information will be sent to TBID members to
assess the level of interest. Voices of Montana Tourism is working on restructuring to create a
501(c)3 with a singular focus of PR, no lobbying. TBID board agreed to provide a sponsorship to
Voice of Montana Tourism of $2,500 for 2016.
g. Workforce concerns in 2016 —TBID members are finding it difficult to recruit and retain good
employees. The situation is expected to worsen with new hotels opening. The board discussed
connecting with hospitality programs in the high schools and at the college.
h. Kalispell Hostel — Owner, Margaret Lekander, has expressed interest in joining the TBID although her
facility has fewer than 6 rooms, making her ineligible under current rules. There are currently 64
small operators in the city limits. They are supposed to be collecting bed tax, but may not be. The
board agreed to retain the current system of requiring that a property have at least 6 rooms in order
to be a member of the TBID.
Meeting adjourned at 4:57 pm.
Respectfully Submitted: Diane Medler
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Diane Medler, CVB Director, diane@discoverkalispell.com or 406-758-2808