Mendocino County Lodging Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday February 6, 2008 Victorian Gardens, Manchester, CA

The meeting was called to order by President Jo Bradley at 1:20 pm. Present were Steven Musser, Scott Schneider (ED), Jeff Stanford, Renata Dorn, Richard Strom, Phil Walker, Pam Amante, Cally Dym, Kevin Gallagher, Stuart Marcus, Josie Perla, Alydia Atkins (guest). Phone: Deny Shaw.

Privilege of the Floor/Public Comment
Richard discussed individual inns doing PR and doing their own familiarization tours. This is a problem if multiple businesses pitch the same writers. Writers tend to be turned off when they are pitched from multiple PR professionals.
Stuart motions to have web page on mcla.info to discuss cooperative PR efforts as well as have an article in the upcoming newsletter. Mark to write content for web page and newsletter. Steven seconds. Motion Passes.

Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes
Jeff makes a motion to approve January minutes. Steven seconds. Motion passes.

Treasurer’s Report
Savings Account - $156.03
Checking Account - $290.72
Jeff makes a motion to accept treasurer’s report. Kevin seconds. Motion Passes.

MCPA Report
Letter received by MCPA discussing support efforts. Letter summarized by Scott.

MCPA supported Arts Council in front of County Supervisors. Meeting went very well.

MCPA internal newsletter in the works; MCPA.org online: event calendar to be created and maintained.

MCPA is working on forming an Agritourism workshop to develop a program throughout the County.

Re-evaluating gomendo.com as it is 6 months old. Home page being redesigned. Traffic, however, is increasing.

Marketing Committee Report
Currently 9 members on the Marketing Committee.
Support Agritourism workshop that is being worked on. No dollar amount noted, just general support.
Agree to supplement redesign of film location event guide. We will contribute up to $1000.00.
No PR leads will be given to members.
Agreed to partnership request received from Botanical Gardens with the condition they link prominently to gomendo, use our branding and market the Gardens as “Mendocino County’s…”
Agreed to develop partnership with Horizon Air to explore obtaining maximizing results of air service. Plan to change ad @ airport to # 1ad choice.
Steven moves to accept Marketing Committee Report. Pam Seconds. Motion Passes.
Joint Marketing hiring a photographer to obtain photographs to be used for promotion.
RFP being written for marketing survey & plan.
WOW! Event Productions is bringing strong recommendation regarding future of festivals in the County.


Administrator’s Report
Workshop to be held on March 11th to discuss County-wide promotion, specifically Mendocino County.

Newsletter late this month, but should be out by mid-February

Secured 2-page article in 2008 CA Visitor’s Guide

Letter recommended to support re-formation of Redwood Coast Chamber

Jeff motions up to $2500 be budgeted from “Other Marketing Budget” for the March workshop with Berkeley Young. We also go to Joint Marketing to assist financially matching MCLA’s payment, if necessary. Pam Seconds. Motion Passes.

Jeff motions we provide a letter to the Redwood Coast Chamber showing our support in their re-formation. Pam seconds. Motion Passes.

Old Business
Annual Report: Jeff motions we approve the annual report as amended by the Advisory Board. Richard seconds. Motion Passes. BOS expected to accept Annual Report on March 18th.

New Business
Tracking our Progress – Jeff motions we have a committee to review ROI possibilities and to come up with a recommended plan how to move forward. Richard seconds. Motion Passes. Committee consists of: Renata Dorn, Richard Strom, Jeff Stanford/Kevin Gallagher & Pam Amante.

State Park Closure – Manchester Beach State Park is scheduled to be closed by the budget constraints of the State of California. Kevin motions we write a letter regarding the economic impact of closing the park on behalf of the MCLA. Richard seconds. Motion Passes. Scott to look into a letter coming from the NCTC on behalf of the region.

MCLA Office – Should we have an office for MCLA/Visitor Center in the village of Mendocino? Feeling it is not necessary at this time and the discussion is tabled.

Fulfillment Piece Frustrations – Should we reprint our current piece to fix the map? Steven motions we explore an updated fulfillment piece. Options should include a possible insert as well as a complete update. Options and updated content to be communicated to the Board and approved via email. Jeff seconds. Motion Passes.

Recession and the BID – How can we communicate BID effectiveness to members?

Executive Communications – Should Scott report more often on specific activities, whereabouts and who the work is being done for? The thought is we should receive updates 1-2 times per month. Scott should provide a monthly “rough schedule” of upcoming meetings in order to encourage Board participation. Idea is to have a blog on mcla.info (security enabled). Jeff motions for Scott to set up a Blog on www.mcla.info (password protected). Scott to set up Calendar with a monthly schedule to be posted (password protected). This also to be one of the deliverables in the next contract. Richard seconds. Motion Passes.


Next meeting set
Wednesday, March 5th – Boonville

Adjournment
Stuart motions to adjourn. Renata seconds. Meeting adjourned at 3:40 pm