GENOA TOWN ADVISORY BOARD Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2014 MEMBERS PRESENT Chair Dave Whitgob, Vice Chair Brian Williams, Member Greg Pace, Member Trent Tholen and Member Nancy Aten. Also present: Philip Ritger, Town Manager CALL TO ORDER Chair Whitgob called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. PLEDGE TO ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Dan Aynesworth APPROVAL OF AGENDA Vice Chair Williams moved to approve the agenda. Requesting that the items under the Administrative Agenda take Items 5, 6, & 7 before we do Items 3 and 4. Motion seconded by Member Pace and passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CORRESPONDENCE Town Manager Report Verbal report from Philip Ritger i. 10 th Annual Reno-Tahoe Odyssey Relay Run passed through town last Saturday, May 31 between the hours of 1am and 3am. I will assume the event was successful and more importantly no issues related to the event were reported to the office. ii. The Summer Concert on the Green series kicks off this coming Sunday, June 8 at 5pm featuring Notch 8 (Americana & Rockabilly). The series continues through out the summer (2 nd Sunday of each Month) with Stardust Cowboys (Cowboy Swing) on July 13, Quake City Jug Band (American Blues & Jazz) on August 10 and Tepid Club of Cool (Big Band) on September 14. iii. The Genoa Volunteer Appreciation dinner is scheduled for this Sunday, June 8 at 3:30pm as an outdoor gathering in the Town Park. The town is preparing the main course (pulled pork sliders) and as is customary in Genoa everyone is invited to bring their favorite side to share. Bring lawn chairs / blanket and stick around immediately after the meal for the summer concert. iv. The pony express ride, which is traveling west to east this year from San Francisco to Saint Joseph Missouri. The ride is expected to arrive in Genoa around 11:00am on Thursday, June 12. v. GVFD Sesquicentennial Celebration is Saturday, June 14 from 10am to 10pm. There will be living history presentations at Mormon Station SP plus a parade, cattle drive and barbeque dinner and dancing (Old West Trio). Tickets for the Dinner and Dance are on sale in the Town Office (and here tonight for anyone who is interested). Page 1
vi. Genoa Americana Celebration, July 4 from 10am to 6pm, in Mormon Station SP. A children s parade kicks off the event at 10am followed by 5 Traditional American music bands from 11am-4pm and culminating with the Carson City Symphony at 4:30-6pm. vii. The recruitment process has begun to fill the Office Assistant II position. It is anticipated that the selected candidate will be in place by mid July. viii. Kris Wilkison has agreed to assist in the office on most Tuesday & Thursday as an on call employee until the position is filled. She has also offered to stay on after the position has been filled to assist with the training. CONSENT CALENDAR FOR POSSIBLE ACTION 2. Discussion to approve the Comptroller s Report/Budget performance Report for May 2014 with public comment prior to Board Action. Member Williams moved to approve consent calendar. Motion seconded by Chair Whitgob and passed unanimously. ADMINISTRATIVE AGENDA 5. Discussion regarding an update on the Genoa Cowboy Festival with public comment prior to Board Action. Mr. Ritger provided profit and loss information for the last two events. This year s event was successful in terms of both budget and performance in comparison with previous years. Mr. felt that the event is not a sustainable event yet for the Town of Genoa and the underlying business model needs to be examined and possibly reengineered as we look into moving forward. The steering committee met last week to review the event and they made recommendations based on performer, vendor and customer feedback which will need to be factored back into any future event planning. As an example of that, it was mentioned that the attendance at the morning performances in educational workshops is low and that the event may benefit by having the program start no earlier than noon each day. Essentially, shorten the day, and eliminate the morning events. Also the Cowboy Festival is a unique event to both the Town of Genoa and the Carson Valley with value to the entertainers, visitors, and local valley businesses. This valley needs to be better leveraged by the steering committee in the form of corporate and title sponsorships in order to make this event profitable to not only the area businesses but also to the Town of Genoa. Total income for this year s event was $129,000 with a total expense of approximately $123,000. This compared to last year s event with $163,000 income and a total expense of $168,000, with a loss of $5,000. Member Pace had a question regarding the food booth revenue going from $9,000 last year to $1,600 this year. (5.1) Mr. Ritger stated that his was due to the revenues from the dinners last year. The expenses were higher than the revenues for last year s event. Member Williams asked about financials for all of the previous year s events. Mr. Ritger could not confirm the numbers for the first three years. Carson Valley Arts Council and the Town of Genoa participated together in the first year the proceeds reported were reported to be Page 2
$50,000 which they split equally. That year the Carson Valley Arts Council funding into the event $15,000 and Douglas County put in $15,000 as well. Member Williams stated that we received $5,700 this year from Douglas County. Chair Whitgob s comment was that the good news is that the Cowboy Festival is an event that is starting to enjoy more notoriety. It s an event that the attendees are totally satisfied with and the community is also supporting the event as well. And there are ancillary benefits to this event for the community at large. We are creating some revenue opportunities outside of the Town of Genoa which is part of our guiding principles of what we should do especially in light of the economic vitality initiative. This is the right thing to do. The Town receives help in other areas as often as we help. As Mr. Ritger pointed out, the business model is somewhat flawed and we are in a situation that no matter how hard we work at this and Lord knows that is an understatement. It is a drain on the Town Manager and it is drain on the staff and there is a tremendous amount of volunteerism involved in this event because of the complexity of this event. Ironically, the complexity of this event is more complex than Candy Dance. In order for this to be sustainable and scalable and, speaking as a Board Member, to justify moving this forward we have to take a look, using Mr. Ritger s word, of reengineering the business model, a different approach. As an example we enjoy the great job that Dan Aynesworth does with the Heritage Club and we see that the revenue coming in from the Heritage Club continues to grow and the Heritage Club members have been beyond generous. I believe it was in excess of $42,000 revenue this year. Chair Whitgob has every reason to believe that is foundational and it will probably get better next year. Everyone had a wonderful time at the Heritage Club. We also did a respectable job of selling out or coming close to selling out the Friday and Saturday night concerts. Friday night to be sure and Saturday night was approximately 90 percent. So the wild card, also known as the solution, is sponsorships. One of the things that we have not approached, I think, in the right fashion is sponsorships in terms of our timing, and in terms of putting someone at the helm that is very qualified in getting people interested in sponsoring. Brian Williams and I had lunch with Phil and we, among ourselves, felt that unless we could enjoy a $50,000 contribution for this event, we have to really question whether or not we should continue to put this kind of a resource drain on the community and on our staff and Town manager. We think that this is doable. If we started early with sponsorships and if we were able to identify those sponsors that are interested in sponsoring a Friday night show, a Saturday night show and maybe a day event and if we could raise $40,000 to $50,000 in sponsorships, which I know is out there, then we would have a working budget that we could feel comfortable with moving forward. We would have to judiciously spend that money, without going crazy, not spending dollar for dollar for expensive talent and maybe the talent pool that we have now is sufficient. Chair Whitgob concluded with saying that he thinks that we should provide a revised proposed strategic and tactical approach, also known as a new business model, at the next meeting for the Board s consideration. If the Board is comfortable with this, since we have five years behind us and we are doing some things right, that will be the year that determines whether or not this will be a big part of our future. Discussion continued among the Board and the Town Manager. Under Public Comment Dan Aynesworth agreed that a new business is absolutely necessary. He also felt that we should make the Genoa Cowboy Festival a Valley event. Chair Whitgob made a motion to approve the update. Motion seconded by Member Tholen and passed unanimously. Page 3
6. Discussion to direct staff to initiate financial assessment of a shared benefit Christmas Concert with the Douglas High School Madrigal Singers and Jazz Ensemble as either a replacement event or additional event to Christmas in the Sierra with public comment prior to Board Action. The Board, as well as those in the audience, had discussion regarding possible options to our Christmas program this coming year. Chair Whitgob moved to approve the staff to research the potential for a shared benefit Christmas concert with Douglas High School music department to determine financial feasibility of the event as a recreation revenue source. Motion seconded by Member Aten and passed unanimously. 7. Discussion and possible action to approve a contract with A & A Construction, Inc. for the Town Road Maintenance project to not exceed $15,000 with work to be completed in July 2014 with public comment prior to Board Action. Mr. Ritger explained to the Board and the audience that the annual street maintenance on the dirt roads within the Town boundaries. The work includes clean-up and minor grading of the existing dirt roadways and the application of magnesium chloride. A & A Construction has been contracted in recent years at the recommendation of the Town Engineer, Tim Russell, with Resource Concepts, Inc. Staff recommends that they be directed to negotiate a contract with A & A Construction not to exceed $13,109, which is their bid, or find a suitable alternative contractor that can complete the scope of the work for a competitive cost, with the stipulation that all of the road maintenance work be completed in the July 2014 timeframe. He also added that he is approaching Douglas County Road Maintenance to do the grading for the Town with some savings to the Town and A & A applying just the magnesium chloride. Member Tholen made a motion to approve that staff be directed to negotiate a contract not to exceed $13,109.00 with A & A Construction, Inc. or a suitable alternate contractor for the Town of Genoa s 2014 road maintenance work. Member Williams seconded the motion and passed unanimously. 3. Discussion and possible action on Douglas County Resolution No. 2014R046 to augment the Town of Genoa 2013-14 fiscal year budget with public comment prior to Board Action Mr. Ritger explained the background information and there was no public comment made. Chair Whitgob motioned that the Douglas County Resolution No. 2014R046. seconded by Greg Pace and passed unanimously. Motion 4. Discussion and possible action on Point-of-Sale transaction fees to be assessed by the Town of Genoa for Credit Card, Debit Card and ACH payments with public comment prior to Board Action. Staff recommended the Town assess the transaction fee of up to 2.50% with a $2.00 minimum on credit card payments, a flat transaction fee of $3.00 for debit card payments, and a flat transaction fee of $1.50 for ACH (electric transfer) payments, which is consistent with the County Treasurer s current policy. Page 4
Member Williams motioned to approve. Motion seconded by Member Pace and passed unanimously. ADJOURNMENT Member Pace moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:55 p.m. Motion seconded by Member Tholen and passed unanimously. Respectfully submitted Betsy Case-Falcke Page 5