Mendocino County Lodging Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Boonville, CA

The meeting was called to order by President Jan Rodriguez at 11:04am. Present were Scott Schneider (ED), Jo Bradley, Jeff Stanford, Cally Dym, Renata Dorn, Christina Affinito, Richard Strom, Pam Amante, Jitu Ishwar, Deny Shah, Stuart Marcus, Josie Perla, Louis Bohannan (guest), Aimee Hanson (guest), Charles Reinhart (guest). Phone:

President’s Report – Closed Session

Privilege of the Floor
• Introductions were held
• Richard strongly recommends Board Members to fill out Geotourism Nomination Forms and to distribute them widely.

Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes
Jitu moved to approve January minutes. Renata seconded. Motion passed.

Vice President Elections
• Renata & Cally were nominated. Cally was voted in as Vice President

Treasurer’s Report
Savings Account - $79, 623.69
Checking Account - $1202.66
2006 & 2007 audit has been completed. We are in great shape. Some suggestions were given which will be implemented as appropriate. The audit will be posted on www.mcla.info.
Scott requests $100 as a petty cash fund for miscellaneous purchases. Receipts and a tally will be kept current.
Jeff motions to keep the current checking account at Savings Bank and to do a new signature card will all officers and Scott on the card. Jitu seconds. Motion Passes.
Jitu motions to obtain a credit card under MCLA’s credit. Jeff seconds. Motion Passes. Scott to look into possibilities and report back to the Board.
Jo moved to approve treasurer’s report. Jeff seconds. Motion Passed.

MCPA Report
• Crab & Wine guides are being distributed

Administration Report
• Bay Area Travel Show – Richard reported on the show. It was a great success with more than 1,500 people coming by our booth. It is recommended we do the show again next year. Other industry leaders helped staff the booth which proved to be very successful.
• Aimee reported on using Craig’s List to help promote the County. Board felt it a great idea to pursue this as it is free. A summary will be sent to the Board and put in the next newsletter.
• Media tour surrounding the Crab & Wine Days was very successful. 6 media came to judge the events and tour the County. Publications include Via Magazine, SF Chronicle, Coastal Living Magazine, AAA Northwestern Magazine. It is recommended to do another tour surrounding these events again next year.
• LA Times Travel Show is this weekend. We are expecting 2,500 – 3,000 to come by our booth. We are partnering with the North Coast Tourism Council with this effort.
• Attended the CA Cultural & Heritage Symposium. Explored ways to benefit from Preserve America program. Attended presentations on selling “Happiness”, putting a “purpose” behind your product, selling your cultural & heritage aspects of the destination and had successful networking with other professionals throughout the State. As a result, Scott suggests donating a small percentage of promotional dollars to offset our carbon footprint putting this message on certain ads, etc.
• Scott would like to re-do the room bank with MCLA members. He requests a couple of Board Members to work with him on developing policy and implementing the room bank.
• Scott requests using the $25K in administrative assistance be used not only for assistance, but also for office space. He would like to make Aimee full-time and possibly provide some funds for a health insurance for Aimee from March – June.
• North Coast Tourism Council – developing a 100th Anniversary Redwood Highway Map, paying to be on discoveramerica.com, translating the website into German as well as further enhancing PR materials.
• Striker Media has been hired to do the 2009 Visitor Guide. Goal is to have it at the printers by end of April. They will be here at end of February to sell ads & meet with stakeholders.

Marketing Committee Report
• Media Plan update – Updated plan was presented. Jeff motions to accept the Comcast.net program. Richard seconds. Motion Passes. Jeff motions we advertise in “101 Things To Do” for $1350 ¼ page or more for both books. Richard seconds. Motion Passes. Jeff motions to approve the Facebook package. Pam seconds. Motion Passes. Cally approves the “Yahoo” package. Richard seconds. Motion Passes. Jeff motions we approve funds for photography, plan implementation and graphic design. Cally seconds. Motion Passes.
• Partnership Requests
o No requests received.

Old Business
• By-Law Changes – re-allocation of seats, formation of the Visit Mendocino Committee, changing the structure of the marketing committee, changing the role of the Executive Committee, allowing for electronic voting in extraordinary circumstances instead of calling emergency meetings (i.e. if there is a sudden advertising deadline), allowing for MCPA alternates were all discussed as By-Law changes. Jeff motions to accept the changes for the allocation of seats as follows: Fort Bragg (2), Mendocino (2), Little River (2), North Coast At-Large (2), Point Arena (1), South Coast At-Large (2), Inland At-Large (3), Ukiah (2), Willits (1). Pam seconds. Motion Passes. Jeff motions to accept all other by-law changes as discussed. Cally seconds. Motion Passes.
• Partnership Protocol – Partnership request application and policy were edited to help the process become more streamlined. Jeff motions to accept the changes of the partnership fund documents. Jo seconds. Motion Passes.

New Business
• 2009-2010 Annual Report – Jeff motions to approve the Annual Report. Josie seconds. Motion Passes.
• Marketing Material Approval Process – Scott suggests taking 4 samples of designer’s work to the LA Times Travel Show and do focus groups having our target market decide which design and message works best. Our ads will be developed using the designer chosen by the focus groups as well as the messaging and requirements as stated in the Mendocino County Travel Research Study. Cally motions to use focus groups to choose Ad designer for all ads in Spring 2009 Media Plan. Scott to work with chosen designer on ads and is given authority to submit to publications. Deny seconds. Motion Passes.
• “Visit Mendocino” update –
o Committee voted to be called “Visit Mendocino, Inc.” and to become incorporated. Plan is to hire staff by July 1 and become official in March or April
o 2009 Visitor Guide planning taking place. Striker Media was hired and we are now working on a table of contents.
o By-Laws and proposed contracts are being worked on. Contract will be presented to MCLA Board for discussion and approval at the April meeting
o 2009-2010 marketing plan is in beginning stages and will be presented to MCLA Board in May for approval.
o Next meeting is March 10 in Willits at Baechtel Creek Inn at 1pm. Board members and members of MCLA are encouraged to attend.
o A “locals first” policy is in development for all special projects needing completion

Next Meeting
Scheduled for March 4 @ 11am, Stanford Inn By The Sea, Mendocino, Ca

Adjournment - Cally motioned to adjourn. Josie seconded. 3:35pm