Emery County Travel Bureau

MINUTES

June 7, 2017 11:00am

Canyon Conference Room

Castle Dale, Utah

ATTENDANCE:

Board Members: Lamar Guymon, Josh Rowley, Jonathan Hunt, Travis Bacon, Jordan Leonard, Danny Van Wagoner

Staff: Tina Carter, Chelsea Guymon, Jacque Wilde

Excused: Penney Riches, Keith Brady

Guests: Mark H. Williams, Amanda Leonard

Conducting and Welcome: Chairman Lamar Guymon

1. Approval of Minutes: May 3rd: A motion was made by Danny to approve the minutes with a second from Travis. APPROVED

2. Discussion of Financial Report: Tina Carter: TRT and TRCC are both up and look good. Green River’s TRT and Resort Tax are also up.

3. Discuss/Approve/Deny Marketing Match Funding:

a) Ponderosa Grill: Sarah Gordon is now running the restaurant out of Gordon’s Floral in Huntington and is asking for $3,500 to help with purchasing a sign. There was a discussion on the disbursement of funds and the need for those who are asking for these funds to present their projects. Danny motioned to table this grant with a second from Jordan.

4. Discuss/Approve/Deny Guide and Map Distribution: Tina talked about the constant requests that we receive from other County’s wanting to stock our maps and guides to give to their visitors. Tina then talked about having a smaller less expensive piece that we could give to other County’s and also stock in other visitor centers such as Tie Fork, and keep our larger more expensive piece in our County to disburse. Tina presented the smaller piece that HUB has mocked up for us that once unfolded is 8x5 inches. The smaller piece could also be mailed out to those requesting travel information which will help us save on postage and shipping costs. Danny motioned to approve alternate map disbursement with a second from Josh.

5. Discuss/Approve/Deny Utah State Fair: Tina talked about how in the past our County has had a booth at the State Fair and how we have never seen any return from participating in the Fair. The Board discussed the pros and cons of possibly having a booth at the State Fair, but decided against it.

6. Discuss/Approve/Deny Restaurant Bucks: Jordan talked about having restaurant bucks that would be disbursed to visitors and used in the restaurants as a coupon. These coupons could help us to track our ROI, especially if the coupons were color coded according to expo or mailing cycle. Motion by Josh to approve restaurant bucks with a second from Travis.

7. Discuss/Approve/Deny 2017 Coop Grant Applications: Tina and Jordan participated in a webinar which is part of the Cafeteria Program put on by the State. The webinar was mandatory so that we can opt in for grants. After watching the webinar Tina and Jordan thought this project would be something we could push to HUB to help with locations and photos. Travis motioned to go after grants with a second from Jonathan.

8. Ratify Go West Scholarships to Hoteliers: Lamar made the motion to approve Go West Scholarships for our Hoteliers with a second from Jonathan.

9. Update, Discussion on Possible Recommendation of the Following:

a) State Parks: Jonathan said Huntington and Millsite are both up for the year and that Goblin Valley and Green River State Park are both up as well. Commission approved Nielson’s as the contractor for the Millsite Dam Project that will begin this Fall.

b) Trail’s Committee: There will be an onsite visit at the Des Bee Dove Trail to walk the trail with contractors. Bids for the project will open next month. We are still waiting on the Motorized Trail Maps

c) Business Groups: The Chambers Women Rock Business seminar went well and was well attended.

d) Museums: Powell after hours event is currently being held. “The Way we Worked” exhibit will be at the San Rafael Museum throughout the Summer as part of the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit.

e) Expos: Adventure Gear Fest will be June 23-24 and will be held at Snowbird. Josh motioned to approve participating in the Adventure Gear Fest show with a second from Jonathan. The Travel and Adventure Show will be held in March of 2018 in Denver, Colorado. The cost for the Travel and Adventure Show would be split between us and Uintah County. Motion by Josh to approve participating in the Travel and Adventure Show with a second from Travis. Mark talked about Quartzite and he feels that we should participate in this show again. In the past the board was unsure about Quartzite since there was no way to track our ROI. After more discussion the Board all seemed more in favor of participating in the Quartzite Show in the future.

f) HUB: HUB sent design mock ups for magazine racks so we need to choose what style and material we would like. Tina said we should go with either the metal racks or the wood racks since they will last longer and be sturdier. Website design and implementation through HUB would be $55,000-$85,000. We have grants in place to help us pay for the website. Tina said we could release an RFP to see what other business’s cost would be.

g) Event Coordinator: Mounted Shooters will be at the Castle Dale Celebration June 9-10. The public is welcome to come and try shooting at balloons on Friday from 9-1 and the main shooting contest will be on Saturday. Chelsie Hightower, who is a professional dancer, will at the fair judging the dancing contest. The winner of the dancing contest will receive a scholarship to Chelsie’s dance camp. Ryan Schupp and the Rubberband concert will be held in conjunction with the fair and tickets are on sale now. Special Needs Day June 24th will be held in Castle Dale. Sports Mascots will be in attendance. The ATV Jamboree has 35 people registered. The Fall MECCA Bike Festival will be September 22-24. The Bouldering Festival will be in October again.

10. Discussion of Old Business: None.

11. Discussion of New Business: Mark talked about the ATV maps he put together for one day rides in Green River. A man in Price is putting up an electric billboard and wanted to know if we would be interested in advertising on the billboard. It would cost $400 a month for three months and would be about $5,700 for the whole year. The Board didn’t feel that this billboard would be beneficial for us.

12. Adjourn – Thank you for coming!