MCLA Board of Directors
Baechtel Creek Inn, Willits, Ca
July 11, 2007

The President, Jo Bradley, called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM. Present were Scott Schneider, Jeff Stanford, Richard Strom, Rich Carpenito, Kevin Gallagher, Pam Amante, Mike Bradbrook, Stuart Marcus, Jan Rodriguez, Dushyant Pathak (by phone). Kathy Carpenito, Denny Shaw & Chris Knoerdel, guests.

Privilege of the Floor: Welcome Denny Shaw, member of the Advisory Board and interested in being on the MCLA Board as an Inland At Large representative. Ted Kidwell has resigned from the board. Chris Knoerdel was present as a lodging owner from Fort Bragg who is interested in being on the board.

Approval of Minutes: Steven moves to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Jeff seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

Treasure’s Report: Scott Schneider said that currently 9 properties have not paid their BID monies.

Savings Account - $107.73
Checking Account - $37.67

Jeff Stanford made a motion to approve the treasure’s report. Richard seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

Marketing Committee:
• Arts Report: Anna Kvinsland of the Arts Council of Mendocino County went over the progress of deliverables that MCLA requested at the start of our partnership in March. They have increased their membership, an Arts Events Calendar will be on gomendo.com, they have adopted the Mendocino Logo, and Hal Wagonet, a former supervisor, is now on their board. They are still pursuing looking into funding from the county, as well as the cities. The marketing committee approved renewing $800 per month thru June 2008. It was also agreed that extra funding for special projects would be brought to the board on a project by project basis. Quarterly reports will be provided.
• Ozone Report: Tom Kelleher & David McGraine of Ozone did a brief presentation on upcoming campaign. Scott will work with them on a budget for next year. We also will explore a fee based contract.
• Hype House: Mark Sejvar presented accomplishments and ideas for next year. We will pay Hype House a minimum of $10,000/month for the next contract year. 3.22 articles per month since beginning of the campaign (does not include event listings.)
• Horizon Air Advertising: Horizon Air has just added a 3rd flight to LA and one flight to Portland, OR. This amounts to 10 flights per day coming and going from Santa Rosa, an increase of 40%. Advertising in an in-flight magazine is very costly and we are going to explore getting an article written and produce packages to be used for passengers.
• Website Advertising: A budget of between $2000-$4000 to promote gomendo.com on various websites. Web sites are being researched for effectiveness.

Jeff Stanford made a motion to approve the Marketing Committees report. Stuart Marcus seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

MCPA Report:
Richard Strom reported that Bill Crawford has resigned as the Chair of MCPA. MCPA is still looking into a Visitor’s Center and office space in Hopland.

The Green initiative is still moving forward. Lodging establishments need to submit more information on gomendo.com.

Administration Report:

Jeff moves to print the upcoming newsletter on 100% recycled paper. In the upcoming ballot, we will ask if they would like the newsletter in electronic format only. Steven seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

Richard moves that Jeff Stanford be empowered to make initial effort to solve the problem of the vineyard shot in the fulfillment piece. If the negotiation fails, an attorney can be hired to respond to Tom Liden’s letter. Pam Amante seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.

Internet Sub-Committee Report:
• 65 lodging listings to date. Kevin made a motion that MCLA submit listings for all those that have returned lodging surveys. Jeff seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.
• Webervations: After much discussion: Kevin made a motion to return the availability function thru webervations until something else is decided on. Notation that lodging that chooses to participate does so at their own expense. It becomes part of the data base. Jeff seconded the motion. Motion passes.
• “Discover nearby” is to be addressed at the next internet committee meeting.
• Make sure driving routes have no specific lodging listed.
• “Visit Website” needs to be more prominent.
• Check SEM titles for website – some say “official website” and others say “MCA”
• The above suggestions and the question of Webervations shall be brought back to the sub-committees next meeting.

Old Business:
• Annual meeting – have business meeting and presentations regarding Dobay Design, Hype House, Nature Tourism and “Go Arts”.
• Mendocino.com – possible letter asking for discount for lodging members. Jo reported of conversation to Skip Taube. It was decided not to send the letter.
• Nominations & Elections – no responses received thus far – send out on listserve.

New Business:
• Draft contract with the county to be presented at next Board meeting for approval.
• By-Laws revision tabled until new board installed.

Next Meeting:
• The next board meeting will be held on the South Coast on August 1, 2007.

Adjournment: Jeff made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:55 pm. Rich seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved.