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Tourist Development Council Board Meeting
Minutes – July 10, 2007
Ocean Center Board Room

Call to Order:
Chairman Frank Bruno called the meeting to order at 9:07 a.m.

Approval of Minutes of April 3, 2007:
Motion to approve the minutes was made by Lori Campbell Baker and seconded by Cassandra Reynolds.

Quarterly Financial Report:
Jim Maniak, Ocean Center’s Finance Director, reviewed the Quarterly Financial Report, which was distributed to the TDC Board Members. On the summary statement the beginning fund balance was budgeted at $4.342M. So far the current YTD, since October 1st, for the amount of resort tax is $4.124M, a year ago that same number was $3.917M, which gives us an increase of $200,000+. Total revenues are up by $168,000 over last year at this same time. In looking at the operating expenditures, we have $2.322M (just a note, the county allocates certain expenses to each of the operating departments), last year at this time, we had not allocated the amount of property and liability insurance, that wasn’t done until April. This year they did it in March, so you will see under “Other Services & Charges” as compared to the previous year a $142,000 increase which was allocated to the Self-Insurance Program. Under Non-Operating Expenditures, we are current on all of our debt service payments. A Transfer to Construction line item has been added to this report. The $494,540 is the amount of money budgeted at the beginning of the year that is left over monies from the resort tax that will be allocated to the construction of the expansion of the Ocean Center. As of the end of this quarter, we have an ending fund balance of $2,995M, as compared to last year’s $3,851M. The $900,000 difference is due to the $400,000 in the beginning balance and the $500,000 in the Transfer to Construction Fund.

Motion to approve the quarterly financial report was made by Gilly Aguiar and seconded by Sharon Hughes.

Chairman Frank Bruno added that it was good to see all the TDC Board Members at this meeting, we now have representation from the entire board. It’s taken the County Council a long time to put all of the appointments in place but that has now been accomplished and Chairman Bruno expressed his appreciation.

Also included in this agenda packet is the balance sheet and expense of revenue statement for the parking garage for the period ending December 31st, 2006, with a comparison to 2005. The parking garage is on a calendar year vs. the fiscal year the County operates under. The VRPC Board has already approved changing the parking garage to a fiscal year to coincide with the County. This is an audited report done by Martin & Associates, who have been the auditor for the parking garage authority for a number of years. This balance sheet gives you an idea of the different accounts there are for the garage; cash, receivables, pre-paid insurance, the garage has its own liability insurance, property insurance that has to be recorded, etc. Jim Maniak proceeded to review the financial statement with the TDC Board Members. Gilly Aguiar suggested the line item for staffing should be more specific. Rick Hamilton informed Gilly that in the past Ocean Center employees have worked in the garage and the Ocean Center account has been charged with those costs being recovered at a later date. As of October 1st that will change, to where all employee costs associated with the garage will be charged to the garage account. Gilly asked the question, “What did the $1.9M Advances from County of Volusia consist of?” Rick was going to get the breakdown of what it cost for employees vs. capital improvements for the TDC Board Members. Rick made the comment to the Board that Jim Maniak, Donna DePeyster and Doug Martin w/Martin & Associates have done a terrific job in getting the financials for the garage in order. It’s been a very difficult undertaking to obtain the records from the previous management company to know exactly where all the dollars were at what time. We have a completed audited report now and are starting anew and keeping all of those records that should have been maintained for the past several years. Rick will be providing the breakdown of the advances from the Ocean Center fund to the garage. Parking revenues were a little bit down in 2006 from 2005 by about $58K. As of February 5th, the County Council approved a rate increase at the parking garage and we are starting to see an impact. As you can see from the listing of different program expenditures, there are increases because the level of customer service and the level of upkeep the County wants to maintain involve money (i.e., increased staffing; security in garage, employees directing traffic, repairs, upkeep, etc.). From a revenue stand point, in looking at the numbers from the beginning of the fiscal year (begins January 1st) through June, the total revenue is $200K ahead of last year at this same time. The goal, if expenditures can be kept down, is for the parking garage to fund itself.

The cameras have not been installed yet, all of the equipment has been bid and the staff reviewed the new equipment last week with Florida Door Control. The staff will be traveling to St. Augustine and Jacksonville to view the same operation and equipment to make sure everyone is comfortable with what is being purchased. If that goes as planned, a purchase order will be issued to start installation. The equipment will take 6-8 weeks for delivery and another 6-8 weeks for installation. The cost of the cameras, equipment, re-striping and resealing the expansion joints in the garage will be close to $1.1M.

Status Report on Expansion:
The expansion process is moving quite rapidly from day to day. For example, in approximately a two hour span of Rick leaving to attend a meeting yesterday with Mr. Dinneen & Mr. Greeson, they had done half of the connector concourse, they directed the steel both vertical and horizontal, and probably by the time we get back to the office today that connector concourse will be completed with the steel directions. Rick reviewed the Status Report on the Expansion Progress (page 15); the south parking lot, which was Phase I, is 100% complete. Phase II was all of the underground work where nobody thought anything was happening, you saw a pile of dirt move from one location to another location and that was about all the excitement that was there during that time. The Phase II work is 90% complete, the remaining 10% is in the truck loading dock area. As soon as the construction progresses and they get scaffolding out of the way that remaining 10% will be completed. Phase III is the Physical Structure, the exciting part you see coming out of the ground. Concrete Columns: 95% complete, the only ones remaining to be poured (actually being poured today) are above the loading dock from the mezzanine level to the roof and should be completed by the end of this week. Concrete Decks: all of the second level has been poured and complete; all of the mezzanine level has been poured and complete. Concrete Slab on Grade: that’s the ground floor where you walk on off the sidewalk outside to the interior, they start pouring this Friday, they begin on the corner of Auditorium and A1A and start pouring to the west. They’re expecting that to be completed within the next 3 weeks. Steel Erection: 35% complete, with completion date of September 1st of all steel beams in the air. Mechanical Systems: that’s heating, air conditioning, fire alarms, etc. is 20% complete and as we get the scaffolding out of the way that will start moving rapidly. Electrical and Plumbing Systems are both 15% complete. On the northeast corner of the facility where the north loading dock is located, you will see a large concrete block wall and a roof decking system going in, that’s our kitchen expansion and it’s approximately 50% complete. Within the next 3-4 weeks, people will be coming in with aluminum framing and start putting glass along Auditorium Ave. (that’s our curtain wall that goes the distance of Auditorium). There are also going to be concrete panels that will be laying flat on the ground that they are pouring in place, once they are poured they will start standing them up vertically to wall in the facility. We’re supposed to be entirely dried in by the end of September of this year, so it’s moving very rapidly. Then we get into the inside, which the public doesn’t see, but it starts moving slowly again when we start doing the finish work. We are still on schedule, we’re hoping for exhibit hall completion sometime in June, as we promised the public, with final build out of all the construction, renovations, all meeting room finishes, etc. by mid-September 2008. Rick is hopeful that we get partial certificate of occupancy for the exhibit hall portion in June and meeting rooms and everything else will be done in September. We are still very much on budget and have not gotten into our contingency dollars, however we are extremely close. Keeping the budget intact is one of the ongoing tasks between the Owners Rep, Ocean Center Management, Matt Greeson and his office and the County Finance Department. We are also doing everything we can to keep the project on time because time delays are money. The renovations are being priced and currently the preliminary pricing for ballrooms and all existing meeting rooms are actually coming in under budget. The A1A remodeling is being designed by the architects and will be presented to the Board Members when they are complete.

Frank Bruno had a question regarding the County Council tour of the facility. He requested a tour for the TDC Board Members as well. The tour is tentatively scheduled for July 30th at noon and Rick Hamilton was going to have Sharon Angelastri send out invitations to each of the Board Members once the date is confirmed.

Bookings Report:
Lori Hunter presented this report (refer to Marketing Activities Report - page 16). In keeping with the format that Rick Hamilton started at the last TDC Meeting, Lori began with the recap at the top of the page; the first item designates the number of events that were contracted during the last fiscal period, which should have been 8 (there was an error on the report that listed 9 events). These contracted events are only those that have associated room nights with them. The number of attendees for these events was 5,000; tradeshows attended by the Ocean Center Staff was 5; the projected area income from these events is approximately $3,750M and the anticipated TDT income is $35,640. Following the recap, you will find a list of events contracted this quarter, which include conventions & meeting as well as public events. The Ocean Center Tradeshow & Travel Schedule is also included in this report. The Ocean Center Sales Staff attended the following tradeshows: Meetings Market in Tampa on 5/22/07 attended by Joey Yelvington; Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association (HCEA) 6/9-12/07 in Philadelphia, PA attended by Lori Hunter and Tim Buckley; Springtime in the Park 6/14/07 in Washington, DC attended by Lori Hunter; DMAI Sales Academy for training in destination marketing 6/25-27/07 in Rosemont, IL attended by Joey Yelvington and the National Association of Consumer Shows (NACS) 6/27-29/07 in Milwaukee, WI attended by Joey Yelvington and Lori Hunter. Upcoming tradeshows we will be attending is the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE) 7/18-21/07 and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) 8/11-14/07. There have been two familiarization tours scheduled during this time period: Katherine Brown a writer with Small Market Meetings (coordinated through the CVB) and we also participated in the Surf & Turf FAM with the CVB 5/20-22/07. Other promotional activities include: Rick Hamilton (Ocean Center), Sharon Mock (CVB) and Ed Quigley (Hilton) traveled to Washington, DC to meet with the Hilton’s National Marketing Staff to discuss sales strategies for the new Ocean Center expansion. Copies of the new Ocean Center Marketing Brochure were passed out. A copy of the Press Release announcing the winner of the insert program business reply card is also included in this report. The reply card was part of our insertion program where meeting planners could sign up for free meeting space. The drawing was done and the winner was the Florida Fire Chief’s Association. Since winning, they have gone ahead and signed a 3 year contract with the Ocean Center for January 2009, 2010 & 2011 with a 3 year option. The Booking Report shows everything the Ocean Center has contracted on the books through the end of September, 2009. Cassandra Reynolds asked how productive the conferences and networking events we participate in are for us? Can we track the business? Rick answered, that we can track the leads but it’s difficult because we may make a presentation at a tradeshow that we may get a lead from that we follow for 2, 3 or 4 years that may come to fruition or may not. It is very difficult to ascertain which contact brought you the piece of business. We are being sought after currently and everyone likes the new destination. We have been holding back on the actual bookings until we have a definite date from the contractor (which we have now), and that’s the reason Florida Fire Chief’s is moving forward. Lori, the CVB and hoteliers are involved in another piece of business that will come in prior to Florida Fire Chiefs called Spirit Team, which is another huge piece of business for this community. Spirit Team will come in right after New Years, which is an ideal time because it’s generally a slow time. Percentage wise, Rick guessed and said about 20% of what we put out there we get back in bookings. The Ocean Center Sales Staff tracks leads, bookings, lost business, etc. Chuck Bray has requested receiving the Agenda Packet, including the budget information, at least 1-2 weeks prior to the meeting.

Update From Partners:

• Hotel/Motel Partners – No Report
• DBACVB – They are working on their marketing plan for next year and will be working with the Ocean Center to put together an integrated plan so that when people read it they’ll be able to look at the activities at the Ocean Center combined with the activities with the CVB. They are also doing some meeting planner focus groups in Chicago at the end of the month.
• Ad Authority – No Report

Old Business:

No old business to report.

New Business:

No new business to report.

Public Participation:

Immediately following this meeting is the Volusia Tourism Consortium Organizational Meeting. This meeting will begin at 10:00am.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:57 a.m.

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