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TDC Minutes 11/19/2024MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEETING BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSION CHAMBERS Naptes, FL - NOV. 19,2024 LET lT BE REMEMBERED the Cottier County Tourist Development Councit, in and for the County of Cottier, having conducted business herein, met on this date 9:00 a.m. in REGULAR SESSION at 33299 Tamiami Trail East, 3'd ftoor, Naptes, FL 34112 with the fottowlng members present: Commissioner Rick Locastro, Chair CLark Hitt, Vice Chair City Councit Member Darrin Patumbo Susan Becker Laura Radler Nancy Kerns City Councit Member Michaet McComas CounciI Member Bitt Kramer Edward (Ski) Otesky (excused) ALSO PRESENT: Jay Tusa, CVB, Tourism Director Sandra Rios, CVB, PR and Communications Manager Cot[een Greene, Coltier County Attorney Office, Managing Assistant CountyAttorney Buzzy Ford, CVB, Digitat and Sociat Media Coordinator Andy Mitter, Cottier County, Manager, CoastaI Management Program Amanda Townsend, Cottier County, Director, Museums Cyndy Murrieta Paradise Advertising, Vice President of Media Kristen Murphy, Paradise Advertising, Vice President, Account Strategy and Partner Devetopment Guy Ctark, Sizzte Dining, Founder Marissa Baker, Cottier County, Regionat Director, Paradise Coast Sports Complex Chris Johnson, Cotlier County, Director, Corporate Financial and Management Services James Brend[e, Downs & St. Germain, Project Director Erin Murphy, Lou Hammond Group, Senior Account Executive Enriqueta Ba[andra, Mites Partnership, Senior Proiect Manager Any person who decides to appeal a decision of the Tourist Development Council will need a record of the proceedings pertaining thereto, and therefore may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based, Neither Collier County nor the Tourist Development Council shall be responsible for providing this rccord. 1 Jay Tusa wetcomed the new Marco lstand City Councit Representative on the Councit, Darrin Palumbo. Darrin Palumbo Pleasure to be here, guys. Looking forward to serving a tittte bit quick about myself . l've lived in Marco lstand since 1998 and been on the Council Marco for the tast couple years. My background is in real estate, devetopment and finance. However, in the tast three years, I find myself part owner of Sweet Annie's lce Cream Parlor in Marco. lget a good gauge of what happens with tourism and how it affects us and supports our employees. 2. ADDENDUMTOAGENDA Jay Tusa We have 3 items to add to the agenda for Coastat Zone Management. The items are in your packet. 8D. Recom me ndation to a uthorize a budget amend ment to provide fu nd ing for re-grading of beaches damaged by Hurricanes Helene and make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. 8E. Recommendation to approve a budget amendment using Tourist Development Tax to provide fundingfor post-storm surveys, anatysis, and reporting of beach and inlet impacts from Hurricane Mitton, and emergency professionat consulting services for the purpose of bidding, construction, and post-design services for the dredging of Wiggins Pass, and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. 8F. Recommendation to award lnvitation to Bid ("lTB") No.24-8292, "Cottier county - 2024 Park Shore Renourishment," to Earth Tech Enterprises, lnc., in the amount of $3,563,530.00, authorize the Chairman to sign the attached Agreement, approve the attached budget amendments, and make a f inding that this item promotes tourism. (Project No.90067) Motion to approve additions made by Michae[ McComas Seconded by Ctark Hitt Motion passed unanimously 8-O 4. A. TDC MEETING MINUTES OCT. 15,2024 Susan Becker moved to approve the minutes from Oct. 15, 2024, with the fottowing changes: There is a question mark after my name that can be removed. On page 1O the digit 5 is missing in front and shoutd read $5,006,750. Seconded by Nancy Kerns 2 1. ROLLCALL Jay Tusa hetd the ro[[ catt. A quorum was estabtished of 8. B, TDC MEETING MINUTES OCT.23,2024 Motion was made to approve Minutes by Susan Becker Seconded by Nancy Kerns Motion passed unanimously 8-0 5. PRESENTATIONS 5A. PARADISEADVERTISING Sizzte Dining Cyndy Murrieta VP of media for Paradise Advertising, slide presentation . The dining event was hetd from September 5-25, three weeks offering three course dinners and, and tunches at prix fixe pricing. The CVB ran an advertising campaign to promote the restaurants and the event in cottier county. The campaign started the midd[e of August and ran through a[most the end of Sizzle. r There were almost 7 mittion impressions with paid sociat, paid search, a mobite campaign, emaiI marketing, streaming audio, and some streaming on Food Network, Trave[ Channel and HGTV. . Flamingo Magazine had coverage in their two popu[ar E newsletters. . Dining and travel listeners on Spotify were targeted and there was a campaign on NPR. o There were 62,529 meals served compared to 49,000 last year. Blessings in a Backpack received $62,529.00.. 1 14 restaurants in Lee and Coltier County participated. Cyndy Murrieta No. Guy Ctark, Sizzte Dining Founder, via Zoom . Mywife and I founded the event about eight years ago and then with COVID we took a break. We changed the event to be once a year and three weeks long so that it benefited the restaurants and the locats that lived here. o Sadty, on our side, there's not reatly a lot of profit in it. lt's more of a passion project. lwork from home within the restaurant industry and have this time avaitabte to run the event every year. . I started this as Naples Restaurant Week, and we onty did 1 1 ,000 dinners. . Atmost 72 restaurants out of the 114 were in Cotlier. The event has happened 8-9 years and is growing and is predominatety a Cottier event. lt started as onty Coltier and then Lee County asked to participate. Lee Cunty has never contributed .1 Motion passed unanimously 8-0 Chairman LoCastro Did Lee County pay for any of this? financiatty. (The CVB provides marketing support outside of the region for the event and for the Cotlier restaurants invotved in the project.) . The restaurants pay a fee of $1,450 to be part of Sizzte, and those funds are used for advertising. o There were 17 restaurants between 5'h Avenue and 3'd Street that participated. . The average dinner prlce was $49.00 ptus drinks and hotel stays which was tike a $4 mittion impact. Chairman LoCastro o We're trying to measure and feel good about our investment and then use those measurements to make the program even better. More restaurants particlpating, more people knowing about it, and eveMhing in between. We can put some more tracking mechanisms in ptace for next year when we do this. . Lee Countywon't be part of piggybacking on ou r progra m. lf theywanttobepartof it, possibty we write a $40,000 check and they write a $25,000 check. . Let's start tatking about how we want to do this for 2025 and how we want to utilize our money and attract more restaurants. Also, a better breakout of where the money's going is needed so that we can have a better feet for that. Obviousty, it's a successfuI program. o We can take a look at our budget and if Lee County wanted to partner with us financiatty, we might be able to restructure what restaurants are charged and even put[ more restaurants in because we're picking up part of the cost. o I think this coutd be bigger and better with a few adjustments. lt coutd reatly hetp out the restaurants on 5'h, 3'd, etc. Restaurants can choose to participate, and going to them earlier might hetp in recruiting more participants as their advertising budget might not have atready been spent. Darrin Palumbo o I was thinking that the East Naptes corridor woutd be a good marketing area. The residents are new to Ftorida and this area. They're going to come to downtown or to Marco lsland at least once or twice they might take advantage of something. That's why we do a tot of [oca[ marketing. Paradise Coast Sports Comptex Kristen Murphy, Paradise Advertising o l'd tike to present a stide show and a new video about the Paradise Coast Sports Comp[ex. Our ob.jective was to get f resh content to suppty to the sates team and the Paradise Coast Sports Comptex team bringing in sports groups. We wanted to do create specific videos related to each of the sports that we're trying to promote. Like rectangular f ietds. o The video has beautiful aeriats and stitls and is a compitation of some of the best shots. 4 Chairman LoCastro o l'm working on my final newsletter that l'tt send out [ater this week to 80,000 subscribers in the section calted Commissioner Spottight. . I woutd tike to inctude this a video tink and give a big shout out to Paradise Coast inctuding a patagraph that says, if you haven't been to Paradise Coast Sports Comptex ever or in a while, there's been a lot of changes and upgrades. That one shot is perfect. lt shows the ctose proximity of the Great Wotf Lodge to the Comptex with the trees in the background. TOURISM DIRECTOR REPORT 6A. TOURISMDIRECTORUPDATEANDTDTTAXREPORT Jay Tusa . Last week at the Board of County Commissioners meeting, the Board unanimously approved the request that this body sent to them for the emergency recovery funding of $390,000 and then the supplementaI marketing request of $5 mittion. Both were approved. . I woutd just tike to say I appreciate the BCC support for recognizing the need and atso recognizing the work that went into that presentation by the CVB staff. Thanks is atso needed to you, the TDC Councit, in tistening to eveMhing and making the recommendations you made. o The industry realty stepped up. They had some one-on-one meetings with the Commissioners, and then they were present at that meeting . lt wasn't.iust the hotels. I think that that's something we want to make ctear that it's not just about supporting the hotets, but it's about supporting the industry and the fronttine workers within our industry. o Thank you, Commissioner Locastro. You did a lot of heavy tifting with your fellow Com m issioners. Chairman LoOastro . Jay, you did an excettent job, and I reatty appreciate how you presented that. I think you made a huge difference in the flnal decision. But the issue is that we're sti[[ stiding. Our occupancy is stiding, and we need to stop it and turn it around. o I think we now have the resources to do that. And Jay, and I think I know that you and your team can make a big impact. Jay Tusa o Tax revenue for September 2024 was $2,236,835, resutting in a year-to-date totaI of $46,656,304. This is for the September report, which is actuatty August coltections. r We have one more month before we ctose out FY24 and we're anticipatingwe shoutd be somewhere right around $48 mittion for co[lections for the year. 6. Numbers are stitl waning and so definitety need to get our marketing efforts underway. September 2024 occupancy dropped 11.3o/o year over year to 36.90/0. This dectine reflects a 4.9% increase in avaitable room nights due to post Hurricane lan recovery and new property openings, and a 7o/o drop in occupied room nights partty due to Hurricane He[ene's tandfatt in Ftorida's Big bend area on September 26th. Average Daity Rate decreased 9.7o/o \e over year, which resutted in Revenue Per Avaitabte Room of $70.19, a decrease of 19.9% from $92.00 in September of 2023. Direct spending by visitors and total economic impact of tourism in September decreased by 10% and 10.10l0, respectively. The total economic impact of tourism tor Fy24 was 3.95 bittion, which was 9.80/o higher than 3.6 bittion in FY23. Bit[ Kramer r ln our City CounciI workshop, we were tatking about Code Enforcement and the f ines that we're attowed to levy on Airbnb's not paying occupancy tax which is $250. And $500. There is a provision in the State law that if harm is irreparabte, we can fine up to $5,000. We are going to explore that. CONSENT AGENDA None 8. NEWBUSINESS Marissa Baker, RegionaI Manager, Paradise Coast Sports Complex 8A. Recommendation to approve the expenditure of TDT Promotion funds to support the upcoming 2025 Tournament Success Group events up to $18,000. and make a f inding that these expenditures promote tourism. Susan Becker made the motion to approve Ctark Hitt seconded Motion passed unanimously 8-O Chris Johnson, Director, Corporate Financial and Management Services 8B. Recommendation to approve a request for TDT Funding, in an amount not to exceed $103,800. for the tuture phases of the Paradise Coast Sports Complex to be conducted by Hunden Partners, and make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. Bi[[ Kramer made the motion to recommend Susan Becker seconded Motion passed 5-2 with Michael Mcoomas and Clark Hill opposing a a 7 6 Andrew Mitter, Manager, CoastaI Management Program 8C. Recommendation to approve a Work Order with Humiston & Moore Engineersto provide professional engineering services for State required Annual Monitoring of Cottier County Beaches and lntets tor 2025 under Contract No. 18-7432- CZ for time and materiat not to exceed $158,597. And make a finding that this item promotes tourism (Fund 1105, Project No. 90536). Susan Becker made the motion to recommend Bi[[ Kramer seconded Motion passed unanimously 8-O 8D. Recommendation to authorize a budget amendment to provide funding for re-grading of beaches damaged by Hurricanes Hetene and make a finding that this expenditure promotes tourism. Susan Becker made the motion to recommend Bit[ Kramer seconded Motion passed unanimously 8-0 8E. Recommendation to approve a budget amendment using Tourist Development Tax to provide f unding for post-storm surveys, analysis, and reporting of beach and intet impacts from Hurricane Mitton, and emergency professionat consutting services for the purpose of bidding, construction, and post-design services for the dredging of Wiggins Pass, and make a finding that these expenditures promote tourism. Ctark Hitt made the motion to recommend Susan Becker seconded Motion passed unanimously 8-O 8F. Recommendation to award lnvitation to Bid ('lTB") No.24-8292, "Cottier County - 2024 Park Shore Renourishment," to Earth Tech Enterprises, lnc., in the amount of $3,563,530.00, authorize the Chairman to sign the attached Agreement, approve the attached budget amendments, and make a findingthat this item promotes tourism. (Project No, 90067) Ctark Hitt made the motion to recommend Nancy Kerns seconded Motion passed unanimously 8-0 OLD BUSINESS N one 9 7 10. TEN MINUTE BREAK Re.iected 11. MARKETING PARTNER REPORTS 11A. Marketing Partner Reports James Brendte, Project Director, Downs & St. Germain, Project Directorvia Zoom Stide presentation with printed data in Board's packet Erin Murphy, Senior Account Executive, Lou Hammond Group via Zoom Stide presentation with printed data in Board's packet Enriqueta Batandra, Senior Project Manager, Miles Partnership via Zoom Stide presentation with printed data in Board's packet Amanda Townsend, Director, Collier County Museums Stide presentation with printed data in Board's packet 12.TOURISM STAFF REPORTS Printed data in Board's packet 13. COUNCIL MEMBER DISCUSSION Michaet McComas o Wilson Sporting Goods is opening a pop-up store on the corner of 5'h Ave. and 3'd St. in Naptes. lt's the precursor to them deciding to open a permanent store in Naptes. Darrin Palumbo o Thanks for having me. Great first meeting and I [ook forward to the Christmas season in the area. The trottey did not pass. Susan Becker . Tha nk you to the staff for the new format that contains info rmation at the top of each of these recommendations. l'm realty happy with Sizzte but wonder if we can continue to give our monies without evidence of what is contributing to the tourist tax question. o l'd like to invite you at[ to the 3'd St. 47th annual Christmas cetebration and tighting of the tree, Nov. 25th. 14.NEXT MEETING DATE 14. A. Next meeting date, Dec.17,2O24 15. ADJOURN There being no further business for the good of The County, the Tourist Development Council meeting was adjourned at 1 1:23 a.m. 8 COLLIER COUNTY TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Rick LoCastro la- t7 -l,L{ These minutes were approved by the Committee or Chairperson (choose one) as prese or amende o