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Tourist Development Council Board Meeting
Minutes – April 1, 2008
Ocean Center Board Room

Approval of Minutes of January 1, 2008: Motion to approve the minutes was made by Jim Bazemore and seconded by Lori Campbell Baker. 

Financial Report: Donna DePeyster, Volusia County Finance Department, reviewed the Quarterly Financial Report (refer to pages 7-12 in Agenda Packet), which was distributed to the TDC Board Members.  In this package you have the financial report for the quarter ending December 31, 2007.  This is the first quarter of the fiscal year 2007-08.  We began the fiscal year with a $4.7M fund balance, our revenues so far for the three month period ending December 31^st is $1.4M.  Our operating expenditures are approximately $1.2M, our non operating expenditures which is primarily debt (we had the first debt service payment for the fiscal year – it was December 1^st and that one usually includes principle, which is why it looks so large) is $3.3M for an ending fund balance of $1.6M.  At the bottom of the report you will notice how we accumulate that fund balance of $1.6M of which $395K is being set aside for the next bond payment due in June.  The funds that are available for operations for the Ocean Center is $1.2M. 

Jim Maniak, Ocean Center Finance Officer, proceeded to give the parking garage report for the five month period from October 1^st, 2007 through February 29^th, 2008.  Revenues were $701K, expenses were approximately $480K.  There are several negative balances on the expenditure side of the report, which are obligations to the Volusia Redevelopment Parking Corporation (VRPC) per our agreement with them to pick up some of their closing expenses.  We didn’t budget those specifically for this current year, however it was part of our obligation.  There will probably be several more so those expenses are not done.  There is another line item in the negative (-$12,962.58 materials for maintenance), we have budgeted some of that money in other line items and as we see how the money is being used we will adjust that in our new year’s budget, but the money is budgeted.  Part of the money is in the Florida Door Maintenance item and the other is in Contracted Services.  We have a positive net cash flow of $196K.  Up to this point this has been our slower period and it starts picking up as we get into March, April, May, June.  Sharon Hughes asked if we had hired the two additional employees we said we would be hiring at our last meeting.  The garage has three budgeted county positions; we have one that’s been hired and two other positions available.  We are in the process of interviewing for one of the positions however that has not turned out as well as we expected.  We will be re-advertising for that position.  At this time two of the positions are unfilled.  The expenses for the payroll have been budgeted in for the extra positions.  Gilly Aguiar wanted to know how many employees we needed and could we use contract labor vs. county employee positions?  Jim responded that we only have three county positions and the rest of the employees are contracted. 

Rick Hamilton gave the report on the TDT collections.  Through January’s collections, Rick is pleased to announce, we are 1.46% ahead for this fiscal year.  

Motion to approve the financial report was made by Sharon Hughes and seconded by Lori Campbell Baker.  

Status Report on Expansion: Rick Hamilton, Ocean Center Director gave the status report on the expansion; he apologized for the inconvenience of coming through the loading dock which is the new main entrance to the facility (because it’s the only one we have left at this time).  There is construction going on around the entire building.  In the south concourse they are in the process of doing the finishing work and the painting, which is up/down the entire length of Auditorium.  The only thing we lack on dry-in is the big construction pop-up, which is our atrium entrance.  They have to coat that with a flame resistant material before they enclose it and they are in the process of doing that now and then we’ll be totally enclosed. 

Carpet for that area is due in the first part of May.  They started pouring the terrazzo in the lobby areas and the outside connector concourse today.  The exhibit hall portion is completely done as far as the walls, ceiling treatments and fireproofing. They are currently putting the electrical floor boxes in, we lack about another month in getting the plumbing and the electricity in the floor, then we will pour the concrete floor.  We then start on the wood trim and all the finish work we have to do and then we will be complete.  It is an amazing thing to watch after working on this project for all of these years, that it’s coming together and changing dramatically daily.  They have started the drywall in the connector concourse and since it is dried in we are moving right ahead and it is gorgeous.  

Mr. Bazemore wanted to know when he would be able to have another tour.  Hopefully, we will be able to schedule one by the next meeting so that we can take you out and let you see the progress.  We’re waiting on scaffolding to be taken down, it is still quite difficult to walk through with welding and other construction projects happening overhead even with hard hats on you have to watch your step.   

Lori Campbell Baker asked about the timetable for completion of the project.  The expansion project will be completed in September 2008, with the overall project including the renovation of the existing facility, completed at the end of December 2008 (we have a huge piece of business booked the first week of January 2009).  To meet this timeframe the contractors and sub-contractors have a little bit of concern.  We were successful in pursuing a $3M Echo Grant.  That grant was awarded and has been approved by the Council.  For the first time in the history of the Echo Program they had surplus dollars and instead of paying us out $1M dollars per year for three years they agreed to give us the $3M all at one time.  That in essence saved us $200K on interest charges because we were going to have to borrow the additional $2M over a two year term to pay it back.  The $3M Echo Grant enables us to do the façade along A1A and make it look like the façade on Auditorium, so we have two new faces which we are very excited about. 

In 2003 Mr. Bruno and I talked to various people within the county, and it was decided we wanted this facility to have something to offer to everyone.  The name of the Echo Program is the Cultural Information Center for Volusia County.  In this center, there will be 55,000 sq. ft. of public space that will be open to the public at all times.  It will have exhibit space for cultural attraction displays, for the opening we plan on doing the speedway archive photos.  Those displays will change periodically.  Gary Libby and the museum staff have agreed to rotate artwork in the facility so that there is something available for tourists, as well as Volusia County Citizens.  There will be an information desk located at the connector lobby intersection in the escalator area that will be manned on a daily basis and every time the facility is open for an event.  This will be similar to a concierge desk for our citizens, tourists and patrons to be able to get information about the entire Volusia County area. 

Back to Lori’s question about our timetable for finishing this project; we had to come up with a scheme in order to be finished by December 31^st.  The contractors, myself, staff, etc. spent several meetings talking about how we could accomplish this.  What you are going to see sometime in the summer (prior to September) is the steel work start on A1A that will enclose what is currently there.  After the steel work, you will see the framing, concrete work and the glass coming in.  We are not going to demolish or raise what is there until the exterior skin is finished on the new, which cuts our time down by about six months and allows us to be finished by the end of December.  When you see the skeleton going in out there we are still going to be operating, we are still going to be honoring our contracts inside the facility but the construction is going to be happening on the exterior of the new façade on A1A.   That façade will then become the main entrance into the Cultural Information Center and into our Ballroom. 

The Conference Center is now going to be Ballroom A,B & C vs. Atlantic Room A,B,C,D & E.  There will now be three sections; the Lobby is going to be expanded it will go toward A1A and we are adding about 1,400 sq ft.  In the past, this pre-function area has been extremely small.  In addition to that we have screening, similar to an arbor look that goes out to where the tramway is with columns and screen mesh to block the sunlight during the daytime and shade that area so the indoor pre-function area now has an outdoor pre-function area to expand it out towards the street.  It’s going to very, very nice and will be a great entrance off of A1A for our visitors into the Ballroom and Cultural Information Center.  I keep pointing to Mr. Bruno because he had a great deal to do with it, along with the Ocean Center Staff and other members.  It’s been a huge project and we’re proud that we’ve received the grant. 

We had ninety-six applicants for arts in public places.  The committee has reviewed and had the first cut of those.  There’s a $400K budget for arts in public places again, that will be in this public space for everyone to view.  This is in addition to the cultural attraction displays.  Of the ninety six applicants, the minimum submitted by each applicant were five works, some of them were submitting 20-30 works.  It’s a huge process to go through and narrow those down.  It’s going to be very impressive for people to come in and see this new facility.  The finishes are equivalent to the Hilton (or better) and it is very nicely done.

Lori Campbell Baker had three quick questions 1). Was the Echo Grant being funded by citizen’s taxes?  2). Who would be paying for the concierge desk to be staffed? 3). Signage?  Answers:  1). The Echo Grant is the only portion of this project that is funded by citizen’s taxes.  The cost of the project has gone from $76M (not paid for by citizen’s taxes) to $79M, which includes the $3M Echo Grant funds that were paid for by citizen’s taxes.  Frank Bruno brought up the fact that the $3M is not new money but was the money that was in the West Volusia Partnership Center that they did away with.  The money was put back in and that is the reason we were able to utilize those funds for this addition.  2). Staffing of the concierge desk will probably be paid for by the Ad Authorities and the Ocean Center.  Rick will be discussing with Sharon Mock when she gets back in town.  3). Digital Signage is throughout the interior of the facility, there is nothing on the exterior.  This facility has never had entrances to all of the different areas on the interior.  You’ve always come in either through the east entrance (Conference Center) or the west entrance (Arena). 

Now you will be able to enter this facility at any place, walk through our Cultural Information Center and there are electronic displays throughout the facility that will tell you were you need to go.  The front will be identified as the Volusia County Cultural Information Center.  Until we finish construction the entrance will be through the north door and through the portals depending on the event.   The main entrance is on Auditorium (across from the Peabody Auditorium); there is a huge canopy along with the atrium lobby that signifies that it’s the main entrance.  There are signs all the way around the facility that direct people where to go.  There will be four actual entrances; two entrances on A1A – one in the center for the Cultural Information Center and the Ballroom and one on the southeast corner; there are storefront door entrances all the way down Auditorium until you get to the main entrance, there are doors coming in from that entrance to the concourse then you go around the facility to the west parking lot and that whole area is a glass curtain wall with storefront doors; come back up Earl Street to the east and you have the current entrance into the Arena, which is now another huge bank of doors that comes into the connector concourse and on the west side of that there also glass storefront doors that go directly into the Exhibit Hall.  When there are no events in the building, all of the entrances will be open to the public, except for the west entrance to the Exhibit Hall.  The hours will be Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:00pm, plus whenever we have an event in the building. 

The biggest challenge that we have left is the huge extended roof that comes out on the Auditorium side of the building that shades that glass wall from the sunlight.  They are preparing to pour that currently, if you drive down Auditorium you will see all of these wooden boxes up and down Auditorium.  The first pour is scheduled for the end of next week, the following week will be another pour and then they are going to lift those concrete panels up and place them on the columns outside and weld them in place.  Each one of those concrete panels weigh 32 tons (64,000 lbs. per piece), the cranes that lift them are in excess of 200,000 lbs. a piece.  You are going to see a closure on Auditorium for approximately 1 ½ -2 weeks and these huge timbers will be brought in and actually cover Auditorium to keep the cranes from crushing the concrete and the utilities beneath.  The panels are so heavy that the cranes, instead of the booms being out at an angle will be perpendicular, to transfer the weight directly down.  They are going to lift the panels 38 feet and then they are going to crawl the crane forward with the panel and drop it down about 6 inches to set it in place.  It’s going to be an exciting 2 weeks! 

Marketing and Sales Report: Lori Hunter presented this report.  Refer to the Marketing Activities Report – page 16.  Sixteen contracts were executed for the first quarter of 2008, of those contracts there are two that Lori brought attention to.  The first is the Global Wave Ventures, which is a new surf expo for the Ocean Center.  This company has a highly successful show in California and they decided they wanted to duplicate that on the east coast and they thought Daytona Beach was an excellent choice.  They have opened offices in Jacksonville and they’re actually opening the show this year in one of our local hotels.  They will be moving to the Ocean Center in 2009 and hope to make this their home.  Lori also talked about Florida Onsite Wastewater Assn.  They had been with us for several years and their board of directors decided that they wanted to try a different location in Florida so they left us in 2006, went to Orlando and we’re happy to say they are pleased to be back in Daytona Beach.  This conference brings between 1,500-2,000pp.  

The Ocean Center Tradeshow & Travel Schedule is also included in this report.  The Ocean Center Sales Staff attended the following tradeshows:  Florida Firefighter’s Association was held in Jacksonville, FL, January 25-26, 2008 and was attended by Lori Hunter and Rick Hamilton.  Lori and Rick actually went to Jacksonville to welcome this group; it’s one of the first clients (January 28-31, 2009) that will be using our new Exhibit Hall, as well as the rest of the entire building.  The Daytona Beach show sold out and they wanted to know if we had more space.  The Ocean Center is providing this group with more exhibit space than ever before and the fact they sold out was remarkable. 

RCMA (Religious Conference Management Association) was held in Orlando, FL - February 5-8, 2008.  Joey Yelvington attended this convention for religious meeting planners with representatives from DBACVB, Hilton, Wyndham Ocean Walk, Plaza Resort & Spa and Daytona Beach Resort and Conference Center.  There were 1,411 meeting planners in attendance.  The Ocean Center and the CVB did a joint luncheon during which we did a 10 minute presentation to everyone that was in attendance.  On the exhibit floor 82 planners came by the booth, 10 RFP’s were received and 17 planners discussed dates and requested additional information.  All follow up has been completed.  Prior to the convention we had a FAM trip in which seventeen meeting planners attended (report shows fourteen attended), we took them on a hard hat tour of the construction site and the CVB took them on various tours of hotels and attractions. 

IFA (International Franchise Association) was held in Orlando, FL - February 9-12, 2008.  Joey Yelvington (Ocean Center) attended this show, as well as Kathy Masterson from the Plaza Resort & Spa.  Over 3,000 franchise owners were in attendance.  Approximately 30 planners stopped by the booth with eleven requesting additional information. 

ACME (Association for Convention Marketing Executives) was held in Washington, DC - February 5-6, 2008.  Lori Hunter and Tara Hamburger (CVB) attended this conference, which provided educational sessions and networking opportunities with peers from other Convention Centers and CVBs. 

Destination Showcase was also held in Washington, DC on February 7, 2008 and again, Lori and Tara (CVB) attended this show.  During the tradeshow, twenty nine meeting planners came by the booth, with four planners leaving RFP’s.  Follow up was completed with mailings of brochures and marketing kits.  Since the follow-up we have scheduled two site visits from that show; the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation and the International Gem and Jewelry Show. 

Upcoming tradeshows the Ocean Center will participate in:  ASAE SPRINGTIME EXPO in Washington, DC on April 3, 2008.  Joey Yelvington and Sally Gardiner (CVB) will be exhibiting at this annual tradeshow attended by over 2,300 qualified meeting professionals from the greater Washington DC area.  HEALTH CARE EXHIBIT MANAGERS in Salt Lake City, UT – June 21-24, 2008.  Tim Buckley will be attending the annual convention for meeting planners in the medical and healthcare fields.  NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMER SHOWS in San Diego, CA – June 25-27, 2008.  Joey Yelvington will be attending this tradeshow for producers of consumer shows.

Other promotional efforts:  We are continuing our commitment to our direct mail campaign.  We had ordered a mailing list from IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events), and out of that mailing list we targeted 373 planners that had a need for 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space or better.  We have also sent our third piece of the Desk Top Construction Site out to existing and potential clients along with photos and a newsletter updating the progress of the expansion.  Both of these particular mailings are Ocean Center’s.  Our marketing company is working on other mailings that have the other brochure with the two hotels.  Two of these mailings have gone out for a total of 7,500 pieces; we are lacking one more mailing of 2,500 pieces that goes out to RCMA and other organizations. 

Rick Hamilton will be experimenting with the inclusion of different types of reports for the next couple of meetings to get feedback from the board members of what kind of data you are really interested in.  We are firmly into our data base development now and the report that you are seeing on group statistics is attached and showing estimated attendances, number of hours they will be in the building, etc.  The booking report has been replaced with a report that has been generated by the data base, which literally shows all the conventions, meeting, banquets, etc. from now as far out as we have them booked.  Gilly Aguiar requested that the estimated attendance be added to this report (booking report), as well as any new reports we generate.  Not only does this data base generate these reports it also feeds the information to the electronic signage, generates event work orders, etc.  Chuck Bray requested a report that would show economic impact generated from the events booked at the Ocean Center.  We will be using the IACVB’s (International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau) formula for economic impact.  

Update from Partners: Hotel/Motel Partners
Bob Davis reported that the Hospitality Consortium was formed under the direction of Dave Byron.  They’ve formed several committees; one of which is the Conventions & Meetings Committee which is doing a great job.  They also have the Airport Committee and as of March 25th they had a Sports Committee meeting which was very well attended with community wide participation (30+ people). 

CVB/Ad Authority

• Lori Campbell-Baker wanted to remind everyone that they were celebrating Tourism Week in May and there is a tourism consortium panel discussion planned on Tuesday, May 13^th at the Daytona Beach Resort & Conference Center @ 7:45am.  A free continental breakfast will be included and all they need is for attendees to RSVP so they can plan the catering. 

• SE Volusia reported things are going great, with new ad programs and numbers up.

• Sharon Hughes reported West Volusia is quite busy with spillover from Seminole County and Orlando for a pretty good quarter.

Old Business: No old business to report. 

New Business: No new business to report. 

Public Participation: No public participation. In the future after public participation, Chairman Bruno will be going around the table asking for Member comments and then the Chair’s comments. 

Member comments:

Tom Staed – informative meeting, progress is exciting!  Frank Bruno thanked Tom Staed for his help with the hotel motel association to tax themselves that extra penny, which is going to pay off now.  Tom Staed commented that everyone in this whole town has been 100% supportive.

Gilly Aguiar – just wonderful, has been a long struggle and commented that when Frank Bruno came aboard it made a difference.  There was a revolving board for the first 4 years and to have the group stay solid and get moving has really made a big difference.  Gilly Aguiar wanted to know about the RFP across the street and if anyone had any information on what was happening?  Rick Hamilton and Rick Karl attended a meeting regarding the RFP last week.  Rick Hamilton reported that the city is moving forward with the RFP for development, which will include the area from our new south parking lot, essentially skipping over the Peabody, the old Corbin building, the Hilton lot, Hog Heaven and the parking lot adjacent to it.  They are hoping to get some retail, another parking facility and other activities in that area.  It was also discussed about the boardwalk and pier and some other things in the area and they’re in the process of working on that to stimulate that development again.  Walkovers up/down A1A were also discussed at the meeting.  Gilly Aguiar stressed the importance of walkovers.  Rick Karl added that the communication between the county and city(s) is great

Chuck Bray – great to see it all happen!

Sharon Hughes – extremely exciting and so happy and pleased about the visitor’s center.  She feels like it will really begin to pull the whole county together. 

Lori Campbell Baker – asked if anyone had seen an article in the paper a couple of weeks ago about a property that was on the river looking for zoning. They plugged it as something that would provide rooms for the Ocean Center.  She wanted to know if anyone had talked to Rick Hamilton about the property?  Rick Hamilton has not spoken to anyone about it.  The property location is north of Seabreeze next to the Diplomatic Towers.  Lori Campbell Baker also requested a copy of the parking study that was completed a couple of years ago.  The City of Daytona is getting ready to do a new parking study.

Jim Bazemore – we’ve been plowing this field for many years!!  Sure glad to see we are going to get a harvest! 

Chair’s Comments:Chairman Bruno commented that there are really neat things happening, with the county staff working on the grand opening details (Staff: Jim Dinneen, Frank Bruno, Dave Byron & Staff & Rick Hamilton).  Rick Hamilton explained that we are essentially doing three grand openings.  One will be for the general public, secondly we will be hosting a meeting planner/industry reception with entertainment and finally the gala grand opening black tie event with entertainment (probably on a Saturday night).  Chairman Bruno will be making an appointment with the three ad authority boards.  He feels that it’s very important for the three ad authorities to be a part of the grand opening and hopefully he can suggest to all three boards, based on population, a request for funding for the grand opening.  We will have other sponsorships but he feels it needs to start with our ad authorities.

Immediately following this meeting is the Volusia Tourism Consortium Workshop.  Chairman Bruno wanted to inform the board that Cassandra Reynolds called to say she had injured herself, otherwise she would have been in attendance.  Frank Bruno thanked the board members because it has been everybody’s efforts to be here at all of these meetings.  The only one that has not been attending, who has an open invitation, is Dennis Mulder.  Part of the set-up of this Tourist Development Council is the largest populated city be a part of this.  He has indicated to his board that we have not been having these meetings because we have not had a quorum.  Since I’ve been here almost everybody has been to every one of these meetings.  Chairman Bruno will be getting with the city to see if they would like to send someone in his place to represent Deltona.

Rick Hamilton expressed our best wishes to Tom Staed for a quick recovery of his daughter Blaine who was seriously injured in a skiing accident. 

Meeting was adjourned at 10:06am.  

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