The meeting was called to order by Chairman Dwight Lewis at 10:02am. He began the meeting by introducing the Tourist Development Council (TDC) members and then asking the audience members to introduce themselves. The meeting was then turned over to Rick Hamilton, who introduced Frank Gummey, County Attorney, to explain the Sunshine Law.

Frank Gummey explained that the Sunshine Law would apply to the TDC. The Sunshine Law is really two statutes, the first being the Open Meeting Law and the second is the Public Records Law. The Open Meeting Law states that the deliberations and actions of the TDC are to take place in meetings that are open to and accessible to the public after reasonable notice and that a record of the meeting shall be kept. The communication that you as members have with other members of the TDC must take place in the scheduled meetings of the council and you are not to communicate about matters that could come before the council other than in the open meetings. Members should not communicate outside the meeting with each other, in person, by telephone, by e-mail or by fax. Members will not participate with the use of intermediaries, that is having a third person to serve to indirectly communicate among members on subjects that are matters of concern to the council (i.e., lobbyist, staff member, reporter), it is prohibited by law. There are two consequences to the violation of the law, the first is, you place yourself in legal jeopardy by violating the law. The other consequence is to the actions of the board. If violations of the Open Meeting Law occur concerning the subject matter, the actions of the board will be void, that is of no effect. You not only place yourself in jeopardy, you place the actions of the council in jeopardy by violating the law. The only way to communicate with another member outside a regularly scheduled meeting, is to schedule a meeting and give notice to the public and hold it in a public place accessible to the public and have minutes made of that meeting. You literally would have to do the same as scheduling a meeting. There is no exception to this for the council.

The Public Records Law is the other aspect of the Sunshine Law and that is, all records of the council are public records. Rick Hamilton, as your staff liaison will be the custodian of those records. If you receive something that does not go to the rest of the council or to the staff that involves official business of the TDC, that is a public record and the best thing to do is to provide it to Rick. Any member of the public can demand to view that public record. E-mails are considered public records, as well as faxes, letters, etc.

There are two aspects to the mission of this council. The first is to make recommendations to the County Council for the effective operation of the special projects or of the uses of the tourist development tax revenue, the other aspect is to report to County Council and the Florida Dept. of Revenue on authorized expenditures.

You will be receiving expenditure reports on a quarterly basis. You will be asked to potentially make recommendations of further uses of the tourist development tax, however right now they are primarily obligated to the debt service on the Ocean Center.

Rick Hamilton presented a copy of the Feasibility Study to the group. The Feasibility Study recommends that we expand the current Ocean Center facility in three phases:

Phase I. Exhibit Hall expansion – a new facility of approximately 120,000 sq. ft. the actual exhibit space in that facility is 74,500 the rest of it is meeting rooms, public areas, rest rooms, etc.

Phase II. A ballroom phase that is a facility with approximately 70,000 sq. ft. which includes a 30,000 sq. ft ballroom, some meeting rooms, a full service kitchen and again some pre-function and public areas.

Phase III. Is a duplication of Phase I with another 120,000 sq. ft. facility that houses another 74,500 sq. ft. of exhibit space.

The consultants have said that we are currently justified in this market for Phases I & II. The market is here to support those two phases and they feel in 4-5 years with the development that is going on around us, we will be justified for Phase III.

As Mr. Gummey alluded to previously, the primary purpose of the group will be to assist Rick and the County Council in the direction that is taken on the expansion and the funding mechanisms that are used. Rick would like to have the actual design criteria brought back before the TDC and get the groups input on how we design and build the expansion.

The second item of the Feasibility Study is the cost of the expansion. The consultants for Phase I & II came back with a figure of approximately $56,000,000. They used national averages from other facilities across the country in deriving that figure. The new County Manager, Rick Hamilton and Jamie Seaman felt that was a high cost for the Daytona Beach market area. They went out and found a company in Orlando that did some work on the Justice Center and some other projects in Volusia County by the name of W.M. Squared. They put together an independent cost analysis for us, they set down with Rick and asked the types of finishes, the types of space, etc. and came back that Phases I & II would come in at approximately $30,000,000. The faster we get started the cheaper it will be due to inflation and other factors.

Mr. Bazemore requested the financial history of the original bond (interest rate of the bonds, how much was done to reduce debt or interest and how much was used for operating funds). Rick said that a copy of this information would be mailed to each board member before the next meeting.

There are two options in design; there is the campus concept, which are freestanding separate structures. The exhibit hall would be in the west paved lot, the ballroom would be west of the Peabody Auditorium bounded by the backs of the businesses on Main Street to the south, to the cemetery on the west, Auditorium Ave. on the north and the Peabody Auditorium on the east. The other option is to make it one continuous facility were there would be one major entry point and all the other areas would feed off that entry point. It would create ballrooms and meeting rooms on the 2nd level with the exhibit hall on the ground level. By expanding this way, it will add to the cost of the project by approximately $14,000,000. A lot more exterior work would have to be done.

There was a question about whether or not local-meeting & convention planners had been surveyed on the design. Rick reported that Evelyn Fine did focus group sessions, also the consultants surveyed meeting planners nationwide. The campus concept was a tough recommendation, however the consultants felt that due to the special event nature of Daytona Beach, this would be the best design. They felt that by making them separate facilities we could host several different types of events. This will be another decision that the TDC will have to make.

Mr. Lewis requested that at the next meeting a presentation be made of the Ocean Center’s present usage.

The next item discussed was funding options. Rick explained that he had spoken with the Hotel Motel Association and had received input from this group and others in the community. One of the mechanisms that we can use to help finance the expansion of this facility would be an increase to the tourist resort tax. We are eligible for an additional one cent. Some hoteliers that Rick has spoken with feel that the increase might be unreasonable and put them in a non-competitive situation on a state-wide basis with other counties and that they would face substantial room tax along with the sales tax on their property. Another option was that the school board is going for a half percent increase in the sales tax, it has been recommended that we strongly look into increasing this to a full penny. Half of the increase could go to the school board and the other half would go to funding the Ocean Center expansion. The increase would pay for the expansion of the facility within approximately two years and that half percent would go away and the expansion would be debt free. The third means would be naming rights and or/sponsorship (i.e., Orlando Arena selling their naming rights to T.D. Waterhouse). The last option suggested was the local option restaurant tax.

Michael Ulrich then explained the Professional Sports Facility Tax. That additional penny can be used for convention development and expansion.

Mr. Lewis then took over the meeting again, saying the important goal of the first meeting was to get everyone their Feasibility Study, mail outs and the information that was given to County Council. Mr. Lewis suggested that this information be taken home and studied. Anyone needing additional information should contact Rick Hamilton and he can provide the information needed prior to the next meeting. There are going to be many issues up for discussion; design of expansion, parking, what dollar figure can be generated by the four options discussed. Mike Ulrich will be working on what our current surplus operational revenues are so you know exactly how much money we are dealing with.

Rick explained that when you look at the Feasibility Study numbers, he and Mike Ulrich asked the consultants to be very conservative on the revenue and very optimistic on the expenditures for the new facility. The purpose in doing it that way is to take the worst case scenario and see if we could pay the debt. It does, in the worst case scenario, say that we would be able to pay the debt.

Mr. Gummey talked about the very broad uses for the first two cents that we get from the tourist development tax, such as services, tourist activities, etc. The additional third cent would be specifically targeted for debt service on bonds to finance the reconstruction or expansion of a convention center, pay the planning and design costs incurred prior to the issuance of such bonds, and third pay the operation and maintenance costs of the convention center for a period of up to 10 years.

Lori Campbell Baker requested the group be furnished with Ocean Center’s Marketing Plan showing which groups are targeted. She also wanted to know what reason prompted the previous TDC to be sunsetted. Rick Hamilton noted that Mr. Staed and Mr. Bazemore are two former TDC members on our current board. Frank Gummey explained that after the building of the Ocean Center project was accomplished, the TDC found there was little role for them to play. The money was going to pay the debt service and the Finance Department just cut the check and there wasn’t too much going on anymore. Now with the contemplation of the expansion of this facility, it was felt necessary to bring this group together for the facility expansion and to draw on the expertise of the group and the resources of the community.

Rick then informed the group that he was also a member of the Ocean Walk Alliance Group and they are planning a Community Awareness Luncheon at the end of June. The purpose of this luncheon/meeting is to bring in some of the community leaders here to let them know the project is on the drawing board and answer any questions the public might have.

Rick suggested that the TDC should probably meet at least once a month for the first few months until things start moving along. He explained that if we move forwar d with the expansion on the exhibit hall portion there is a very limited window to actually do the construction. That window begins at the conclusion of spring break and really ends February the following year do to our current client base without us shutting down the facility and business going away that we might not be able to recover. It will take approximately one year once the process starts to break ground. The next two meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, July 11th and Wednesday, August 15th at 9:00am in the Ocean Center’s Board Room. Thereafter, the group has decided to meet the second Wednesday of every month.

Ms. Travis suggested the minutes of the meeting be posted on the County’s Web Site.

Mr. Nicholson had a concern about the parking being at a premium once the construction in the area begins.

The meeting was then adjourned.

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