Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/23/1991BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS .INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA AGENDA SPECIAL MEETING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1991 9:00 A.M. - COUNTY COMMISSION CHAMBER COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING 1840 25TH STREET VERO BEACH, FLORIDA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Richard N. Bird, Chairman James E. Chandler, County Administrator Gary C. Wheeler, Vice Chairman Margaret C. Bowman Charles P. Vitunac, County Attorney Carolyn K. Eggert Don C. Scurlock, Jr. Jeffrey K. Barton, Clerk to the Board 9:00 A. M. CALL TO ORDER Joint Meeting of Board of County Commissioners and Indian River County Tourist Development Council - Re: The Role of the Chamber of Commerce as "County Tourist Bureau" I ANYONE WHO MAY WISH TO APPEAL ANY DECISION WHICH MAY BE MADE AT THIS MEETING WILL NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE WHICH INCLUDES THE TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL WILL BE BASED. i SEP 23 1991 Monday, September 23, 1991 The Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County, Florida, met in Joint Session with the Indian River County Tourist Development Council at the County Commission Chambers, 1840 25th Street, Vero Beach, Florida, on Monday, September 23, 1991, at 9:00 o'clock A. M. Present for BCC were Richard N. Bird, Chairman; Gary C. Wheeler, Vice Chairman; Carolyn K. Eggert, Margaret C. Bowman and Don C. Scurlock, Jr. Present for IRCTDC were Gary C. Wheeler, Chairman; Richard Bireley, Jr., Robert M. Tenbus, Kevin Doty, Paul Kelley. Absent were John Morrison, Sam Pascal, Kevin D. Crowe, George Bunnell. Also present were James E. Chandler, County Administrator; Charles P. Vitunac, County Attorney; and Patricia Held, Deputy Clerk. The Chairman called the meeting to order and welcomed representatives of the various groups in the audience. Commissioner Eggert explained the reason for the joint meeting was to discuss specifications and/or criteria for applications for tourist funds. She felt we need a set of rules everyone can understand and follow. Commissioner Eggert did not originally intend to discuss whether the Chamber of Commerce was our appointed Tourist Bureau, but the suggestion was added •that possibly the Bureau could preview applications for consideration by the Tourist Council. Commissioner Eggert felt the important issue for discussion was for all parties -to understand the rules of the game, what the law requires, and to set criteria for applying for tourist money. Commissioner Scurlock felt the program needed a formal review process for currently funded activities as well as reviewing new applications for participation by various groups.- commissioner roups:Commissioner Eggert agreed. She did not want the groups to assume they would receive funds year after year, although there are annual Vero Beach and Indian River County events that encourage tourism. To foster tourism we need to advertise outside the community to attract tourists to use our hotels, restaurants and other facilities. This would not include those activities which are community events that do not attract tourists, such as our 4th SEP" 2 3 1991 SEP 2 3 1991 of July Parade or our Labor Day Parade. She further clarified that she could not think of any organization, be it sports, music, arts, hotels, that should be excluded. It is a matter of what they have to do in order to be eligible for tourist funds. Commissioner Scurlock stated another consideration is the best use of the dollars. Florida Statutes set out the criteria. Chairman Bird suggested our legal department could set the stage for discussion. Assistant County Attorney Will Collins advised that the statute basically sets up a tourist development council as an advisory council to make recommendations to the county governing body for the effective operations of special projects or for the uses of tourist development tax revenue and such other duties as the County Commission gives them. He listed the authorized uses of revenue as essentially four purposes: First, acquiring, constructing, extending, et Cetera, one or more publicly owned and operated convention centers, sports stadiums, sports arenas, coliseums, or auditoriums within the boundaries of the county or taxing district in which the tax is levied. Second, promote and advertise tourism in the State of Florida and nationally and internationally. ' Third, funding convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations in the county. (The'County Commission has made the decision not to create an internal department of tourism but has entered into a contract with the Chamber of Commerce to act as its official Tourist Bureau and has set out in that contract certain authorized uses of the revenue and certain unauthorized uses, to establish some priorities of the expenditures. Fourth, finance beach improvement, maintenance, renourishment, restoration and erosion control, including shoreline protection, enhancement, cleanup, or restoration of inland lakes and rivers to which there is public access. Attorney Collins noted that when the tourist tax was first passed there was a two-year program which had to be set out before it was put to referendum and at that time 85 percent of the revenues were projected to be used for county beach parks acquisition and 15 percent was for tourism promotion. Commissioner Scurlock asked for confirmation that the funds cannot be used to fund the activity itself but rather for advertising the event. Attorney Collins thought there is some play in the word "Promote" and the reasoning is that if you do not have some event going on to promote or to draw the people, then you are not going 2 M M M to bring the tourists. He thought some of the expenses of some events have been underwritten and have been considered part of the promotion of that event. The Tourist Development Council has always taken the position that the entities who sponsor these events must have some means of sustaining themselves and tourist tax money should not be used to carry the operational and overhead expenses of community groups; that the money should be used to bring people into the community to spend money at the hotels, motels, restaurants and other facilities and services that are paying the taxes, essentially. Commissioner Scurlock thought that is a wide interpretation. He felt the cost of the event should be covered by the entity in the community conducting the activity, and the tourist tax revenues should help with the costs for advertising and promoting the event. Commissioner Eggert felt the funds would be spread further if we were doing just promotion in the sense of advertising. Attorney Collins stated that would be a very bright line test and it would be easy to apply. The Tourist Development Council's view is that some of these events create an ambience within the town that brings the people here and the events themselves are promotion to attract tourists. Chairman Bird felt some associations find it difficult to. generate all the funds necessary to underwrite a really successful production which will then bring people here. He agreed with Commissioner Eggert if we are not spreading the word to adjoining counties and other areas, then we are missing the boat on the advertising side of it. Mr. Bireley noted the Board had gotten to the core of the problem. He described it as a "Catch 22" situation in that the advertising promotion is very important, but many of these events would not even happen if it were not for funding bringing in the bands, bringing in* the fireworks, bringing in the concert and herein lies the problem. He explained that OMB Director Joe Baird and Assistant Attorney Will Collins try to hold the invoices for these events to the letter of the law as much as they can, but he thought if we go by the strict letter of the law we could lose many of these events because these activities bring people from Melbourne, from Georgia, or wherever, into the county, especially after we have established these events, possibly, on an annual _ basis. Mr. Bireley mentioned annual events in other counties which attract people from all over the southeast and he cannot believe _ that those counties do not fund a lot of these events with tourist tax dollars. He gave the example of the 14th Avenue Bourbon Street event with the expensive Preservation Hall Jazz Band which was 3 SEP 2 3 1991 JU I `o *0 Ps 2 BOOK PAGE funded because it was the major attraction of that activity. We have not had any problem with the municipal requests such as the parks and the parking lot that the City requested for Memorial Island. We do not have a problem with the Chamber of Commerce with their requests in supporting these projects. We had some special request at the last budget session from Save Our Shores with their study and, of course, beach restoration is authorized under the statute. Our problem is these events. He felt it would help to have groups in classifications. There are occasions when a request comes in and that request should have gone through the City or the Arts Council or one of the other main classifications. He suggested a solution might be to establish that so many dollars would be for bricks and mortar or for long-term activities. He felt the Chamber acts as our promotion and advertising umbrella with the role of promoting everything that is tourist related; they have been so designated by the County as our Tourist Bureau. They have no role in allocating dollars for these activities. Mr. Bireley stated that the Tourist Development Council knows that promotional dollars can be allocated for attracting tourists but they are not sure if the broad word "promotion" includes supporting the event itself. Commissioner Scurlock presented a situation where an entity would present an idea for a canoe race and they demonstrate the ability to pull it off; that would be the first test. The next test would be whether under the law they meet criteria one through four; and in this case, they do. The next step would be to request specific dollars and Commissioner Scurlock asked whether it would be an acceptable approach to insist that a percentage of the allocated dollars be used strictly for promotional activities, brochures, printing and so forth and a smaller portion could be applied to a band or some professional person, a referee, what have you. Commissioner Eggert agreed it is an approach, but when an event has to totally depend on tourist dollars to function, then that is too much support from tourist tax dollars. Commissioner Eggert asked what the money was used for in the bicycle race. OMB Director Baird responded that was used totally for advertising and brochures. For the Bourbon Street event we paid for the band and some of the costs affiliated with the stage and setup costs Commissioner Wheeler reported that information obtained regarding the bicycle race and the summer festival showed that there were no hotel or motel vacancies during those weekends and during the bicycle weekend the campgrounds were also used. He 4 agreed with Mr. Bireley that there was a misunderstanding that the Chamber of Commerce would control these dollars. He explained that his original plan in requesting the Commission to form the Tourist Bureau is based on the fact that the statute outlined the parameters in which we can do that; that bureau, through the Chamber, would have access to tourism throughout the state, the county and the world; and that we save money by not establishing a separate bureau. The intent was not for them to dictate who gets money. The tourist committee members are representatives of the businesses that actually collect and raise the tourist taxes and if they could actually sit down with the various groups who are interested in creating tourism, they have a much keener understanding and knowledge about what brings people in and what works and what does not work. There is also a coordinating factor, and if the calendars are coordinated into one and if everyone is talking to each other, the dollars go a little bit farther. Chairman Bird asked what would be the role of the Tourist Development Council under that plan. Commissioner Wheeler explained that the Tourist Development Council would consider whatever concerns the County and the City governments. For instance, when Save Our Shores comes in for funds for a specific project on restoration, that would come directly to the Tourist Development Council. We would have different divisions that would deal with the Council, and Tourism, as such, would be one of those divisions. Anybody that disagreed with the Chamber's Tourist Board could certainly appeal to the County's Tourist Development Council and, likewise, as they do now, they could also appeal to the Commission. Chairman Bird asked for clarification on -who would be coming directly to the Indian River County Tourist Development Council and who would be funnelled through the Chamber of Commerce Tourist Bureau. Commissioner Eggert felt part of the problem in the past was the fact that there was so much discussion at Tourist Development Council meetings that there was a desire to have a kind of private review of the various requests so that some of the problems could be shaken out before it goes to the public council hearing, and her understanding was that the only things that would not come through this channel would be county.and municipality. _ Mr. Bireley saw a need for a group to screen applicants, using more definite guidelines. He felt the screening committee should almost be a subcommittee of the Tourist Development Council. It should not come under the Chamber of Commerce nor under the arts; it should be one representative from each of all of these groups. 5 SEP ? 199 BOOK, U SEP 23 1991 ' POOK 84 They would present several events to the Tourist Development Council and the Council would allocate whatever dollars to be spent for those events. He felt that would eliminate the most difficult problem. Commissioner Eggert emphasized that would not eliminate a public hearing, and Mr. Bireley agreed and had no problem with that. - Commissioner Wheeler perceived the Chamber of Commerce Tourist Bureau as doing just what Mr. Bireley outlined. Mr. Bireley stressed that his point is to avoid labeling it Chamber of Commerce, because he said that is where we get into political matches. Commissioner Scurlock recapped that what he is trying to do is give everyone an opportunity to talk to a broad-based committee that will take a fair look at a plan and recommend it. Mr. Bireley-concu'r'red.' Commissioner' Eggert agreed with the outline. She also expressed regret that there have been problems with getting the varied groups to agree and guessed that the answer may be having very strict criteria which would eliminate some of that problem. Commissioner Scurlock asked if everyone agreed that the initial screening committee should be a broad-based group of individuals with no assumption that they are connected with anybody. Commissioner Eggert did not agree with the second part. She had no problem with it coming out of, for example, the Chamber of Commerce, as long as it is a broad-based group. The membership is open to discussion. Commission Scurlock commented then the Commission decides on the members and the Chamber of Commerce is only administering it. Mr. Bireley reminded him the Chamber is also an applicant. Commissioner Scurlock felt they would be left out of the process and apply directly to the Commission. Commissioner Wheeler suggested the Chamber would apply to the County Tourism Bureau, not Indian River County Tourist Development Council. Commissioner Scurlock asked whether the following procedure would work: We designate the Chamber of Commerce as our Tourist Bureau; each year the County Commission appropriates some of the funds for them to operate; then this Tourist Bureau screens the requests for the remaining funds. Mr. Tenbus thought the Indian River County Tourist Development Council was set up to screen these requests before they come here N. to the County Commission for approval and asked if that Council is ducking its job. Commissioner wheeler said the Council is not ducking its job and explained the Tourist Bureau was created three years ago to promote tourism and to screen tourist activities to provide coordination. Commissioner Scurlock asked if we should disband that group now. Commissioner wheeler said no and explained that somehow in the process things evolved to where we ended up dealing with the Tourist Bureau and with the Chamber of Commerce as one entity, and with the Arts Council as one entity. Then some of the individual groups under the Chamber have come in individually and some groups under the Arts Council have come in individually instead of making requests, as they properly should, under the umbrella of the Chamber or Arts. Then Indian River County Tourist Development Council was making decisions when they did not have the collective expertise to deal with these individual groups. Commissioner Scurlock thought that would not be a broad-based group if you just have a bunch of technical professional people. Commissioner Wheeler stressed the difficulty in trying to follow an agenda and making detailed decisions without the benefit of a workshop to work out those details. Chairman Bird offered the following procedure: The Tourist Development Council would be given the total amount of dollars that is generated from this taxation. The various agencies and groups would be categorized into, for example, arts, tourism, and would make their requests through these subcategories. Commissioner Eggert felt they may not choose that route, and Mr. Bireley agreed that has been the problem. Commissioner Eggert felt the reason Commissioner wheeler asked the Chamber of Commerce to suggest how an overall committee would work is because an -agency outside the county government has the ability to sit down and talk things over in a way that you really cannot do when you are in open public hearing. They then would bring these requests to the Council for open public hearing with reasons either for denial or approval and all this would have been shaken out by the groups working together. Commissioner Scurlock said the public process means you shake it out in public. Assistant County Attorney Collins advised that if the Chamber of Commerce is making a recommendation on how to spend public money, they are in the sunshine. He further advised that there is another use for the tourist tax revenues: In counties of less than 7 BOOKS": r.uL 8 d t: 500,000 population the funds may be used to acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair, improve, maintain, operate, or promote one or more museums, zoological parks, fishing piers or nature centers which are publicly owned and operated, or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations and open to the public. This authorized use has more to do with facilities and their operation and maintenance, which is something other than promoting and aiding tourism. He further explained how, under a procedure with subcategories, requests would go to the Chamber, or the Bureau, or the Council, or the Commission, depending on what the request was specifically for. Mr. Bireley suggested leaving it with the.Tourist Development Council. He felt the need for more meetings and possibly some workshops because he realized that categorizing requests and deciding where the monies would be best spent may not work because the whole thing could shift from year to year. He felt that the biggest help will be setting out the criteria so that an applicant has it spelled out. Kevin Doty agreed the starting point is the legislative directions contained in the statute which he felt were clearly written. He believed the screening process brings us dangerously close to sponsorship or production, and the Legislature did not intend for the County to actively engage in production or sponsorship of these events. The Legislature intended for the County to facilitate, get it advertised, get it out there. We want to avoid the proliferation of a bureaucracy wherein a group makes a presentation at one meeting, then another meeting, then another meeting. If the County Commission directs Attorney Collins and OMB Director Baird to outline strict guidelines, then we can define what the monies will be spent for within the parameters of the five areas of the statute, and the Tourist Development Council can further define the guidelines for our purposes. Mr. Doty felt sure the Tourist Development Council in conjunction with the County Commission can fill the need without creating more bureaucracy. County Attorney Vitunac advised the Commission needs to decide what they mean by "promote." He thought as a legal matter it is not quite as restrictive as some have said. He thought it means more than advertising and probably less than total sponsorship and that it is whatever the Board finds, as a policy matter, promotes tourism. Discussion ensued regarding what might be covered under "promote." Chairman Bird suggested hearing from the public. Eugene Marks, 331 North Grove Isle Circle, came before the 8 Board and told of his background in the St. Augustine Community Chorus. That group received funds from the tourist development council based on matching funds. He agreed the tourist council should be a broad-based group, independent of the Chamber of Commerce. Jim Merrill, General Manager of Guest Quarters Hotel, 3500 Ocean Drive, came before the Board and stated he was pleased with our fine community but felt we have an awareness problem and we need to aggressively pursue the marketing of our community. He felt that print advertising and the media should be utilized because if we do not aggressively pursue tourists, other communities will get our share. He mentioned that only about 10 percent of the tourist tax fund was spent actually on media marketing advertising, and this year, $150,000 of it is being used for parking lots and parks. His concern is that money is being used to promote events but not for advertising the events, and continued to stress the importance of marketing to build awareness of our fine community. He believed there.are two issues, and he personally felt a majority of the funds that are collected from the bed tax from our hotels and motels should be used for activities pursuing bringing people back into this community to spend more money so that tax can continue. Ralph Sexton, Post Office Box 2187, a citizen of Indian River County, agreed with Mr. Merrill's contribution to the discussion. Mr. Sexton stated his observation over the past six months is that the Tourist Development Council is an impartial group and felt they should meet more often, meet with the various groups and should make the decisions of allocation of funds. Jean Marks, Grove Isle, thought Mr. Merrill, being young and healthy, wants to grow and move ahead, but -she felt there are people who do not want to grow too fast and perhaps more thought should be given to that aspect. Commissioner Scurlock commented that the whole purpose of the bed tax was to promote reasonable growth. J. B. Norton, representing the Chamber of Commerce, came before the Board and reported that while St. John's tourist tax revenue in 1990 was $1,147,987 and Orange County received $42,000,000, Indian River at $359,043 was down 4 percent from 1989. He stated that whatever the Commission decides, the Chamber will cooperate fully. Mr. Norton.noted that a full year report is due - in a week, and he felt they have covered a large territory very well with the small amount that was available, but the bottom line is heads on beds, and to be able to spread the word about Vero Beach and Indian River County will take a greater amount of money. Mr. Norton discussed the number of"visitors to Indian River County 7 SEP 2 3 1rul SEP 2 3 1991 ROOK 84 PAI;c .. iZ and the amounts of money spent advertising pointing out that no advertising was done in nearby St. Lucie, Martin or Brevard counties because that does not accomplish anything. He mentioned the various areas in which advertising was done. He specifically said proper advertising would be to advertise a bicycle race or summer festival occurring in Vero Beach and Indian River County at a- specific date and that our hotels are giving a good rate for this particular event; that is promotion and advertising and tourism. Paying for a band or inviting people to enter an event is fine, but we need to advertise outside of the area, inviting people to use our hotels and put heads on beds. He hoped that when the Commission sets the guidelines and policy they remember these items. Commissioner Scurlock said, if the figures are correct that we have had a reduction in tourist tax dollars, then we apparently have been a little shy'on the outside promotion. Chairman _Bird thanked Mr. Norton for the professional presentation and appreciated his pledge of cooperation. ON MOTION by Commissioner Eggert, SECONDED by Commissioner Wheeler, the Board unanimously directed Assistant County Attorney Collins and OMB Director Baird to present a list of criteria to the Tourist Development Council, to be further developed by them; directed the Tourist. Development Council to review applicants, said review to include coordination of county events; directed the Tourist Development Council to review the membership of the Council to adequately include arts and sports representation on the Tourist Development Council; all to be accomplished by December 15, 1991. Linder discussion, Commissioner Bowman suggested publicizing the criteria and the time frame for applications and the need for submitting a budget with the application. Commissioner Eggert suggested that in January an article be written in the paper, or a little ad, saying these applications are available. Commissioner Bowman also liked the idea of matching funds, or perhaps good faith money, and Commissioner Wheeler agreed. Commissioner Scurlock reiterated the Council would be meeting more frequently. He also suggested a transition period to coincide with the County's annual budget so that if someone did not qualify 10 for tourist tax monies they would still have an opportunity to apply directly to the County Commission. After some discussion, Commissioner Eggert clarified that the criteria from Attorney Collins and Director Baird should be specific and clear policy, as a starting point, to be reviewed by the Council and presented to the Commission; and to have it on the agenda in the second week of December. THE CHAIRMAN CALLED FOR THE QUESTION. It was voted on and carried unanimously. Commissioner Eggert led discussion regarding the proposed contract and Attorney Collins explained the contract was tabled by the Tourist Development Council at their last meeting. Mr. Bireley explained the Council felt this Special Meeting should come first. Attorney Collins said there was a recommendation for a specific term rather than the original open-ended agreement, with the term to coincide with the County's fiscal year. It would be a one-year term and each year the contract would have an exhibit attached with the budget for the Tourist Bureau for the upcoming year. Chairman Wheeler acknowledged there was a quorum of Tourist Development Council members present. ON MOTION by Mr. Bireley, SECONDED by Mr. Doty, the Council unanimously (5-0) approved the First Amendment to Agreement Designating the Chamber of Commerce as the Official County Tourist Bureau. ON MOTION by Commissioner Eggert, SECONDED by Commissioner Wheeler, the Board unanimously approved the First Amendment to the Agreement Designating the Chamber of Commerce as, the Official County Tourist Bureau, as recommended by the Tourist Development Council. There being no further business, on Motion duly made, seconded and carried, the Board adjourned at 10:35 o'clock A. M. ATTEST: Clerk 11 Chairman 9:�