 |
AUBURN’S HISTORIC & CULTURAL SITES COMMISSION
Meeting minutes from July 11, 2005
Present: M. Vanek, B. M. Lewis, T. Hussey, J. Bryant, J. McCormick, P. Wisbey, S. Craner, M. Alberici
and J. Kline
Excused/Absent: P. Copes Johnson, E. McHugh, T. Bridenbecker, K. Walker, D. Lamb, D. Dempsey, S. Tucker and Rev. Carter
I. Approval of the Minutes
M. Alberici asked for approval of the June minutes. P. Wisbey wanted to add to the minutes the discussion we had re: running out of money for fulfillment in the ’04 – ’05 budget, and that moving forward, J. Kline would create a financial report so that the members could see where things stand as we move through the budget cycle. Also, the group present at the June meeting had agreed to fulfill requests that had come in, even though we were over the budgeted amount, and that the Tourism Office will do their best to keep the Commission apprised of the situation. P. Wisbey made a motion to accept the minutes with the addendum, seconded by J. Bryant. All were in favor and the motion carried.
Committee Reports
II. Planning & Development Committee
D. Lamb was not at the meeting, and the site directors had not met. P. Wisbey said it rained for their Garden Party event, so attendance was down. Their annual attendance numbers are also down from last year. M. Vanek said that was Randall Travel Marketing’s spring prediction that attraction attendance was going to see a decrease this year since people just want to relax while they’re on vacation. P. Wisbey said, last year was an all-time high at the Seward House, so that also plays a role. But, P. Wisbey, said their school tour numbers have remained very high.
T. Hussey said things are slowly moving forward with the Schine Theater renovation, but there is no time table in place yet. They have sold about 200 tickets for the Adams Piano Series. The Contiguglia twins will be performing in October. There will only be 500 tickets available. M. Alberici said the Chapel event, “Tunes for Tiffany” went well at Highland. They did make a profit, and had good coverage in the paper. They are undecided whether or not to make it an annual event. It does help with finances during the off historic home-tour years.
III. Marketing Committee
M. Vanek said, as for leads from ads, in June 1735 inquiries were fulfilled, with 13,862 inquiries year-to-date. The PrePrint Publishing insert continues to be a huge producer, with 5163 leads. Last year, inquiries totaled only 8,846, so they have taken a huge jump this year. M. Vanek said she is waiving half of their monthly admin. fee to make up for the overage in fulfillment. This totals $3600. J. Kline passed out copies of the draft of the ’05 - ’06 Advertising Schedule. M. Vanek briefly reviewed the Marketing Committee’s choices. Since PrePrint Publishing was such a huge producer, we cannot afford to take the ad out again, but the Tourism Office is, so at least people will be getting the travel guide, which the sites are included in.
M. Vanek said there are invoices for ads that ran in the last budget year that still need to be paid. They are on the bottom of the schedule. We will continue to participate in the Meredith buy- Better Homes & Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, etc. since that has done so well every year. The Commission will again partner in the Tourism Office’s ad in the Finger Lakes Travel Guide, which saves the Commission a lot of money.
M. Vanek said the good news is two of the pedestrian signs have been installed. There is one at Hoopes Park, and another at Falcon Park. They look very nice. M. Vanek said she did write a letter to the City Manager on behalf of the Commission after the last meeting, so that obviously got the ball rolling. M. Vanek said we will keep you posted on the progress as the others are installed. We may have to switch the Wegmans sign location since it’s not city property, and there may also be a glitch with installing the sign near the gazebo across from City Hall.
IV. Community Outreach Committee
M. Alberici said E. McHugh isn’t here, hopefully at the next meeting we will hear her summary of the Passport to History program. Then she should schedule her presentation to City Council. M. Alberici said she has ordered 500 fans with all of the sites listed on the front to give-away at Tourism Night at Falcon Park on July 19th. Councilor Dempsey is splitting the cost with the Commission, and he will be listed on the fans as well. M. Vanek said set-up for Tourism Night is from 4 – 6PM. We have 13 exhibitors, there will be performances, demonstrations and give-aways. One of the items is a MacKenzie-Childs painted baseball bat. M. Alberici said if anyone would like to help staff the booth, she would appreciate it, and if the sites have literature to pass out please drop it by the Tourism Office
before the 19th.
V. Other Business
There was no one present to report on the sites dinner. M Alberici said J. Kline drafted letters to Commission members whose terms had- or were about to- expire. M. Weitekamp has moved, and S. Marteney and P. Anderegg have stepped down due to other commitments. J. McCormick, B. M. Lewis and P. Johnson want to stay on board. That means there is three openings on the Commission that need to be filled. M. Alberici has been in touch with L. Leary from the Auburn Enlarged School District, and she is interested. She will continue to talk with her about it, but that still leaves two openings. M. Alberici said she prefers to submit all of the recommended names to the Mayor at one time to eliminate confusion.
D. Lamb wasn’t there to report on Common Threads. T. Hussey said Cheryl Longyear is looking for a venue to show a community quilt exhibit, if anyone is interested, and Joe & Kathy DeForest will be showing their quilts at the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce in December.
M. Alberici said the draft of the ’05 - ’06 Budget is the packets. Income from the City has stayed the same at $50,000, and with the cuts in Matching Funds from I Love NY we anticipated receiving $2,000 for our ’06 application. So, total income is $52,000. Since we did go over in fulfillment, as M. Vanek discussed, we made some cuts in the ad schedule. J. Kline said brochure distribution was cut $500 from last year, since Patterson Info. Center and the NYS Fair will be dropped. They don’t go through many brochures there (Patterson), and they aren’t good about calling for more.
J. Kline said the Membership line remains the same at $1800, and $5,700 has been allotted for whatever collaborative project the sites come up with for ’06. Since there is a balance left for Passport to History we did not put a line item in for ’05 – ’06. The Fulfillment line was increased $2,500 since inquiries have greatly increased. M. Vanek said she understands that the Commission may want to investigate another option for fulfillment, and J. Kline gave the site directors some resources to explore at the last Budget meeting. There maybe a company that can do it for less, but the Tourism Office cannot. M. Vanek said the tracking mechanisms and reporting procedures that our office provides the Commission is of high quality and will be hard to find elsewhere, but she is fine with whatever the
Commission members decide. M. Vanek said if another company is chosen for fulfillment, to keep in mind they will also need to answer calls on the Commission’s 800 line, the e-mails and all of the Internet requests.
J. Bryant said the City should be told of our successes and thought maybe there is an additional revenue stream that could be utilized for fulfillment. We are victims of our own success here. M. Alberici said she would make Councilor Dempsey aware of the situation, and perhaps schedule a meeting with the City Manager.
J. Kline said, back to the budget, and again M. Vanek has generously donated the Office’s admin. fee for the remaining months of this year ($3,600), so that budget line was cut in half. M. Vanek said please see J. Kline monthly report of what was done on the Commission’s behalf, and we will continue to provide these reports so the members understand what we do for them.
J. Kline said, the Web Maintenance line remains the same at $500, and PR was cut to $1,100 from $2,000. (This is a catch-all line for promotional items, i.e. the fans, etc.) J. Kline said, finally, we will need another run of brochures next year, so we budgeted $5,000 for the design and printing of that. M. Vanek had discussed the Advertising Schedule previously, so no need to repeat that information. S. Craner made a motion to adopt the budget as submitted, seconded by T. Hussey. All were in favor and the motion carried.
S. Craner said the Downtowner Shuttle is up and running. The spray paint has been cleaned from the exterior ads, and they have new sandwich boards signs, instead of the banners, for added promotion. Please take schedules with you to your sites, and they will have the racks for brochures any day now for the Commission brochure, and others that will be displayed. S. Craner said the City has scheduled concerts at State Street pavilion at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays through mid August. M. Alberici said the Chapel’s Wednesday lunch concert series is going well. Performances start at Noon. P. Wisbey said the Seward House has scheduled occasional lectures, also on Wednesdays at Noon, throughout the summer.
M. Vanek said we will have a representative at Finger Lakes showcases at the Fast Ferry port in Toronto on July 19th. Attendees will be AAA reps. and the press. Out travel guide will be distributed, which the sites are included in. The ferry’s marketing rep. visited our area during July 4th weekend to better understand/package Rochester and the surrounding areas.
With no other business to discuss, the Commission adjourned at 4:45PM. The Commission’s next meeting will held September 13th at 3:30PM, 3rd Floor City Hall. The site directors should plan to meet prior to the meeting.
Recorded by Jesse Kline
| |
