Mendocino County Lodging Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Cliff House Restaurant, Fort Bragg, CA

The meeting was called to order by President Jan Rodriguez at 11:15am. Present were Scott Schneider (ED), Jo Bradley, Jeff Stanford, Chris Knoerdel, Pam Amante, Josie Perla, Cally Dym, Christina Affinito, Renata Dorn, Richard Strom, Kevin Gallagher, Louis Bohannan (guest), Arline Bloom (guest), Cindy Reinhart (guest), Tom Kravis (guest), Gail Brodkey (guest),. Phone:

Privilege of the Floor
• Several versions of the CA Visitor’s Guide Ad. The consensus around the table was to use the “sunset version” for the full page ad.

Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes
Cally moved to approve September minutes. Jeff seconded. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report
• Jo reported 2 properties that are being taken to court on behalf of non-payment. Jo contacted our attorney to discuss non-payment. We will start with a phone call to properties that do not pay. A letter will follow-up. We did receive payment from one property through these efforts. We will be following this procedure with a second property in the coming weeks. The County is getting more aggressive in collecting past due TOT and BID collection.
Savings Account - $15,761.86
Checking Account - $2,806.09
Jeff moved to approve treasurer’s report. Renata seconded. Motion Passed.

Report from Evisions – GoMendo SEM – SEM increased Month 2 from Month 1 and increased new visitation almost 300% from old SEM campaign. Recommends staying consistent with the campaign. A large drop off has already been seen since Sept. 22 when the campaign ended.

MCPA Report
• Agri-tourism conference November 12, 2008
• Hired part-time event coordinator in collaboration with MCLA & MWWC – Joyce Beard
• Working on establishing a 501(c)3 to apply for grants
• Working on Confusion Hill bridge dedication and possible visitor center
• Redwood Coast Chamber visitor center opened 3 days per week
• Agreed to fund part-time staff to assist me for next fiscal year
• Signed lease option for Welcome Center. Option lasts 90 days.
• Nature Tourism Coalition hired a new coordinator – Karen Bowers, part-time

Marketing Committee Report
• Joint Marketing:
• Presentations are October 27th at the Hill House and October 28th at Redwood Empire Fairgrounds. Both presentations are from 4-6pm. Joint Marketing will be holding a meeting on the 23rd to go over the presentation.
• SEM Campaign – How to Proceed – Cally motions to continue the SEM campaign at $4,500 per month for 4 months. Richard seconds. Motion Passes.
• Approval of September Marketing Committee minutes – tabled to November meeting
• VIA magazine proposal – Table the proposals presented. Scott to look into a 2” or 3” ad for the Jan/Feb to feature winter festivals.
• SFCVB Advertising Opportunity – Kevin motions to do a full page panel in the LGBT SFCVB guide. Stuart seconds. Thought is to feature coast, redwood & wine with an underlying romantic theme.
• Arts Council Update – Anna reported on activities of the Council and thanked MCLA for their continued support. For every $1.00 received from MCLA they have been able to match it with $9.00. MCLA’s partnership provides key leverage to the ACMC.
• Dissolution of Marketing Committee – Idea is to have a 5 person committee to explore and analyze marketing opportunities, press release development, advertisement development, etc. By-Laws to be changed to reflect the needed changes. Draft will be presented at next meeting.

Administration Report
• Annual Meeting – 48) people showed up. People seemed to enjoy the presentations, the wine and opportunity to socialize and network. Still would like more member participation - send out a survey to membership regarding best time of year to hold the meeting.
• Sent response to Tom Kravis with feedback from Board members
• Attended “Beyond the Gateways” conference – social media very important – should have it on gomendo.com as well as all membership websites. This is where both consumers and press are getting their information.
• Scott prepared a presentation he was requested to put it together for newer Board members and the general membership. Board asked to present it next month.
• Attended Seattle Times Travel Show. Passed out approx. 1,200 bags of information. Would not recommend going again if the show is held in September (weather too nice)
• Working on 2-year audit. Hope to have it complete by end of 2008.
• Webervations is a problem in that it does not include all properties and cannot include all properties. Richard and Kevin to look into how to make the “Book A Room” function more inclusive of all members.

Old Business
• By-Law Changes – with regards to associate memberships – we cannot accept associate membership’s money to be used in conjunction with BID funds. Board wants to drop the associate membership idea. Changes tabled to November.
• MCPA Alternates – tabled to November

New Business
• Subcontractor Contract Protocol – Jeff motions that all subcontractor contracts are to be held confidential to the Board. The Board can share the contracts with members by a majority vote. Cally seconds. Motion Passes.
o Kevin motions we share the contract with Tom Kravis as requested if HypeHouse permits. Richard seconds. Motion Passes.
• Partnership Protocol – Cally & Jo volunteer to form an ad-hoc subcommittee to look at how we do partnerships.
• Annual Plan – Scott presented a draft of the 2008-2009 annual plan. Seeks feedback from the Board through October 22 in order to submit to County by the October 24th deadline. Richard motions Scott submit the Annual Plan on-time including all edits acceptable to Scott. Jo seconds. Motion Passes.

Next Meeting
Scheduled for November 5, Baechtel Creek Inn, Willits.

Adjournment - Jo motioned to adjourn. Pam seconded. 4:00pm