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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1.b.2014-01-15 CSE Special Meeting Minutes DRAFTTOV/CSE Minutes January 15, 2014 Page 1 of 6 MINUTES: Town of Vail: COMMISSION ON SPECIAL EVENTS MEETING Vail Town Council Chambers Wednesday, January 15, 2014 @ 8:30 a.m. CSE Members Present: Jeff Andrews Bobby Bank Amy Cassidy Barry Davis Rayla Kundolf Nicole Whitaker CSE Member Absent: Mark Gordon (appointed in December, not sworn in to date) Town of Vail Staff Present: Kelli McDonald, Economic Development Manager Sybill Navas, CSE Coordinator Others Present: Laura Waniuk, Event Liaison Contractor Margaret Rogers, Vail Town Council Tracy Flower, Executive Director - Vail Symposium Rob LeVine, Treasurer – Vail Symposium Carl Colby, Executive Director - Vail Global Energy Forum Steve Tucker – Living Well Peggy Wolfe - Highline Meeting Materials may be viewed at: http://www.vailgov.com/WebLink8/Browse.aspx?startid=34151&row=1&dbid=0 CSE Acting Vice-Chair, Barry Davis, called the meeting to order at 8:31 a.m. • Administrative Items a. Acting Town Clerk, Tammy Nagel, swore in CSE Members who were appointed by the Town Council on December 17, 2013. Jeff Andrews, Bobby Bank, Rayla Kundolf and Nicole Whitaker were each appointed to a two year term, expiring on December 31, 2015. Mark Gordon, who was unable to be present at this meeting, was appointed to the unexpired term vacated by Dave Chapin, which expires on December 31, 2014. b. Election of CSE Chair and Vice Chair, each to serve a two year term, ending December 31, 2015. TOV/CSE Minutes January 15, 2014 Page 2 of 6 c. Nomination and motion process explained by Sybill Navas. Kundolf nominated Bank to be CSE Chair. There was no second. Cassidy nominated Davis to be CSE Chair, seconded by Bank.  Motion to elect Barry Davis as Chair of the CSE for a term to expire on December 31, 2015. M/S/P: Andrews/Bank/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0. Whitaker nominated Kundolf to be CSE Vice-Chair. Andrews seconded the nomination.  Motion to elect Rayla Kundolf as Vice-Chair of the CSE for a term to expire on December 31, 2015. M/S/P: Whitaker/Andrews/Andrews-Whitaker-Kundolf in favor/Cassidy-Bank- Davis against. The vote was tied 3-3, and therefore the motion failed.  Motion to elect Bobby Bank as Vice chair for CSE for a term to expire on December 31, 2015. Kundolf withdrew her name from the running. M/S/P: Cassidy/Davis/Unanimous The vote passed 6-0. d. Approval of the Minutes of the CSE Meeting of December 4, 2013  Motion to approve the Minutes of the meetings of December 4, 2013, as presented. M/S/P: Kundolf/Bank/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0. e. Approval of Meeting Schedule for 2014  Motion to approve the CSE Meeting Schedule for 2014. M/S/P: Cassidy/Andrews/Unanimous The motion passed 6-0. • Highline: Vail America Days Update Peggy from Highline Sports, the current producer of Vail America Days Parade and fireworks came to discuss the budgetary challenges of producing the event in 2014. Highline has received $70,000 in funding for the event. This year the Highline is only responsible for fireworks and the parade, which is different from last year. Peggy stated that the insurance for the parade is cost prohibitive for Highline to produce the event and be able to generate revenue. Insurance costs quoted by Peggy were $15,000 In addition, she stated that the fireworks could cost up to $35,000. Their concern is being able to produce a world class event, with the funding given. After a budget review, they don’t want to compromise on quality. They approached the CSE at this time because they are not convinced they can adequately produce the event with these major expenses and may pull their name from the bid. They wanted to give enough time to the CSE in case the event has to go back out for RFP to another vendor. TOV/CSE Minutes January 15, 2014 Page 3 of 6 The most expensive line items on their budget are insurance and fireworks. Insurance costs are the same or more as last year. The length of the parade and no barricades along the road are driving up the cost of insurance. The cost of fireworks is a moving target, depending on the type, close proximity. Cost estimation is approximately $2,000 per minute. If you pack more fireworks into the show; it was condensed to make it more impactful. There is room for adjusting the budget and the last two years were approximately $35,000. Town was going to review and see if the town will pick up the insurance cost to offset the costs. Previous producer was able to integrate costs into their overall annual insurance budget for all their events. Events are insured by the producer. Town of Vail uses a different insurance provider specifically for municipalities. Vail America Days is a Town event in which a producer is asked to run. Town insurance might be able to cover it. Rayla discussed a modification factor in insurance; track it over a 3-5 year period. Check with Lori to see who the company was that was insured. Check event permit. The Town could contract the fireworks producer directly instead. Highline wants to make sure they have the right coverage. Limits and liability. If they can find the extra $15,000 and the fireworks are $35,000, that’s a significant amount of the funding of the event. See what we can do from the town internally first prior to presenting to Town Council. The event is cut back by (two) days, but that doesn’t change the insurance costs. The cost of the parade is significant due to staffing, etc. Last year it was difficult to find a major sponsor for the event that could offset the cost. Where is Highline with sponsorships for this event? They have not started searching for sponsorships, they don’t plan an event based on sponsorship dollars if they haven’t gotten them. They reconsidered producing the event based on budget. Funding allocations weren’t final until Dec 4. Last year the CSE funded $75,000 (with fireworks), this year the request is $70,000 plus potentially an additional $15,000 for insurance. Does Highline does want to produce the event Under the condition they don’t lose revenue on the event. Last year they had no sponsorship, and the event quality level cost more. Answer the question - If this is the total funding, then this is what Highline can produce. Last year Highline did not know until March that they were producing the event. Add to February agenda for more discussion. • Review applications and recommend funding allocations for 2014 Special Event Funding submitted in response to the RFP for the Tier IV Category: Life Long Learning Qualifying applications were received from the following entities: TOV/CSE Minutes January 15, 2014 Page 4 of 6 a. Vail Symposium: January-March 2014 Request: $50,000 Winter program features 13 different events requested for funding, fundraising events are omitted. The events cover hot topics, living at your peak, unlimited adventure, ground-breaking medical research, skiers, and producer for the show Deadliest Catch, pushing limits and pushing boundaries. The events provide diverse info on the topics, and offer Q&A with interesting speakers. Jeff Andrews asked about funding from last year, from other supporters. About 17% comes from ticket sales and 83% comes from sponsorship, in- kind. The events in the past have a local attendee population, around 70%. CSE asked how they would market outside the local area. Currently they rely on the Vail Daily for marketing, their budget is almost zero. They work with the front range to extend the reach for audience. CSE asked if they had PR services. All marketing done in house, get the word out as far as possible. Last year they had coverage on the Stem Cell program with the online Colorado WSJ. They have had PR services donated in-kind. Suggestion by CSE to reach out to some of the sponsors for PR or marketing to expand their reach. They work with destination lodging to support the programs, they can contact and email out targeted guests whom are already coming to town. Their polling exercise results showed – 85-90% are local, 10-15% outside. Living Well program – had come to Vail for the program only – 30%. Their current staff fluctuates from 2-3 people based on needs. What does the symposium offer that you can’t get on TV? Face to face interaction, dinners and discussions. Well-known people. Many events take place in the first quarter, there are two programming seasons. Winter/Summer. b. Vail Global Energy Forum: February 28 – March 2, 2014 Request: $10,000 This event draws national and global attention. Other premiere mountain communities produce similar events. The event appeals to public and provides scholarships to 90-100 students. Announcements go out to universities and colleges where professors select attendees. The event uses Vail community branding on all materials and signage. The event concept is to make it about one idea, in this case energy, which is a significant issue for Colorado. The event is aligned with educational institutions, Precourt University for energy research and Stanford helps create agenda and supports the event. The event was mostly local the first year. It has expanded a bit further to Denver. This year the governor is attending, energy professionals and environmental defense fund representatives. Prominent business TOV/CSE Minutes January 15, 2014 Page 5 of 6 professionals will have a panel and Q&A. This is not a trade event; attendees can mix with speakers and panelists. It’s meant to be a dialogue. It’s an open exchange. The CSE asked: Is there a way to transition this event to Vail? The answer was it depends on the type of events going on simultaneously. Producer will work on transitioning the location of the event to Vail for 2015. The event is self sells the entire region – not just the one city. They would like to have more sessions in town. This is a great networking opportunity for attendees. There is also a lot of impact on Vail lodging, events, transportation and shopping. Currently the largest contributing entity is Vail Resorts. c. DiscoverWell: Vail Living Well Summit: September 11-13, 2014 Request: $35,000 Steve Tucker addressed the group; he represents Living Well and serves as their marketing and branding consultant from NYC. John and Jamie, the founders were unable to attend. The event is trying to become more consumer based. This will be the 3rd annual event with around 100 speakers. The event focuses on evidence based programming and serves as a spotlight innovation and technology. They are actively looking for someone or a company to launch a product or service at the event. The event serves as a great client business development atmosphere, by leveraging the meetings within the setting. Work with different vendors to spread the event around Vail. This year the subject matter focuses on corporations and corporation well-being along with traditional consumer programming. Total available funding: $75,000 a. Vail Symposium: January-March 2014 • Request: $50,000 • Recommended $37,500 b. Vail Global Energy Forum: February 28-March 2, 2014 • Request: $10,000 • Recommended - $7,500 c. DiscoverWell: Vail Living Well Summit: September 11-13, 2014 • Request: $35,000 • Recommended $30,000 Total funds allocated: $90,000 (including Starting Hearts for $15,000)  Motion to approve funding in the amount of $37,500 to the Vail Symposium, a Tier IV-2 event. M/S/P: Kundolf/Bank/Unanimous- The motion passed 6-0  Motion to approve funding in the amount of $30,000 to the Vail Living Well TOV/CSE Minutes January 15, 2014 Page 6 of 6 Summit, a Tier IV-2 event. M/S/P: Kundolf/Bank/Unanimous- The motion passed 6-0  Motion to approve funding in the amount of $7,500 to the Vail Global Energy Forum, a Tier IV- event. M/S/P: Kundolf/Bank/Unanimous- The motion passed 6-0 • New Business and Community Input: There was none.  Motion to adjourn @ 10:17 a.m. M/S/P: Kundolf/Davis/Unanimous- The motion passed 6-0 Next Regular CSE Meeting: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 @ 8:30 a.m. Vail Town Council Chamber