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Tourist Development Council Meeting
Minutes
April 3, 2007
Ocean Center Board Room

Call to Order:
Chairman Frank Bruno called the meeting to order at 9:04 a.m.

Approval of Minutes of November 21, 2006:
Motion to approve the minutes was made by Jim Bazemore and seconded by Sharon Hughes.

Quarterly Financial Report:
Jim Maniak, Ocean Center’s Finance Director was introduced by Rick Hamilton. Jim reviewed the Quarterly Financial Report, which was distributed to the TDC Board Members. On the summary statement the beginning fund balance was budgeted at $4.1M, with the actual fund balance closing the year at $4.3M. On the revenue column side, the resort tax monies collected for the first quarter is at $1.2M, as compared to $1.1M for the previous fiscal year, which gave us a $100K increase. Under revenue for rental of the Ocean Center, concessions, etc. the net effect is that we had a positive advantage of approximately $144K of total revenues ($1,529M vs. $1,384M for the previous fiscal year). In looking at the operating expenditures we saved approximately $224K as compared to the previous year. An item of note in there has to do with contracted services; this current year we spent $302K as compared to the previous year of $575K. This has to do with legal fees, court costs and other costs associated with an eminent domain lawsuit we were involved in last year. Under non-operating expenditures; the only item shown there is interest in principal payment that we have paid, all debt is current, which brings us to an ending fund balance for the current fiscal year of $1,514,508 as compared to last year’s $1,420, 501 for a positive impact of $100K. To show you the composition of the fund balance, at the bottom of the report (page 8), the bond sinking fund of $395K is set aside and the balance of the money will be held in reserve for Ocean Center operations which is a $1.1M, which makes up the total of $1.5M.

Big John requested a copy of the parking garage budget. Lori Campbell Baker had a question about the funding of the garage; was it being funded by the bed tax or coming out of the general fund? Rick Hamilton answered that the garage is still owned by the Volusia Redevelopment Parking Corporation and the only funding that comes out of anything related to the Ocean Center is that the TDT funds are a secondary pledge to the garage financing. In the event there is not enough cash flow in the garage to pay the debt service for the year, we can borrow from the TDT funds to pay the difference and then reimburse the TDT account. Jim Bazemore asked if we had to resort to borrowing from the TDT funds. Jim Maniak answered that as of last year we did have to borrow from the TDT, however County Council approved a rate increase that went into effect February 5th, which should give us a positive cash flow during this current fiscal year.

Motion to approve the quarterly financial report was made by Cassandra Reynolds and seconded by Lori Campbell Baker.

Status Report on Expansion:
The expansion process is moving quite rapidly. As of last week 32 of the 36 sub-contracts were executed, 3 were pending signatures and we had one sub-contractor that withdrew due to the fact the he didn’t think he could manufacture some very nice wooden doors. We are looking for one of our existing contractors to pick up that additional work and we will be 100% complete with all of the sub-contracts. The majority of the project is on time and on budget. We fell a little behind on the south side due to some step issues, however we’re catching back up rapidly and we’re way ahead on the exhibit hall portion (located on the west side of this facility). We are within the approved budget of $76M; we’re currently at $75.9M. The good news is we have not touched any of our contingency dollars; with contingencies and FF&E we’ve got about a $4M reserve. Hopefully, we will stay out of those as long as possible, however toward the end of the project we may have to use some of the reserve monies. Most of our expensive items have been committed to (i.e., concrete, steel, drywall, etc.). We’re buying all of these items as direct purchase through the county and saving sales tax and that process is going extremely well. Rick briefly went through the Phase Status Report (page 12); Phase I was the south parking lot, which is complete. Florida Power & Light has relocated all the utilities in that area. Bell South, after a year of waiting, are finally relocating their lines along Wild Olive all the way to Main Street; they’ve taken the sidewalks out and are getting ready to put those underground. Within the next two weeks, we hopefully will move those poles that are still remaining and repave that sidewalk so there will be no obstructions between us and Main Street and everything will be underground. Phase II is totally complete, that’s the sewer, civil site work, everything underground. Phase III is the actual structure; we have 90% of the columns up and poured, 25% of the decks are complete, 85% of the demolition is complete with the only thing remaining being the kitchen area on the northeast corner of the facility, all of that comes out so we can enlarge the kitchen to serve more meals. We’ve been assured by the contractors that the stairs/handrails on the south side of the building will be back in place by graduation time. In order to continue doing graduations, tradeshows, etc. we had to relocate the elephant door from the south side to the A1A side, which is probably going to become the permanent location. The architects are designing a glass wall that actually goes in front of that roll up door, so the roll up door will go up and disappear and will not come back down behind the glass unless there is a storm or hurricane forecasted and then we will use that as a hurricane shutter. When it’s completed, it will look like a glass façade like it used to. The last thing in Phase III to be completed is the signage package (interior and exterior) that the architects are currently designing. They are waiting for Mr. Dinneen’s final approval on logo selection for Volusia County. Hopefully, that will be available for the next meeting. Phase IV is the interior remodel, which the architects are currently in the process of doing the ballroom ceiling on the east side of the building making it much more elaborate (3-4 star hotel quality) than it has been in the past. The last thing is Phase V and that is the A1A renovations and modifications and that will be the last thing that is designed in the project – we’re probably 3-5 months away from that being done.

Cassandra Reynolds asked if during the construction phase, there is clear signage for elevators and handicap accessibility. We do have signage (banners, barricades) that is moved around depending on the event. Lori Campbell Baker asked if the June 2008 date was still on target for completion of the expansion. Rick answered that the project will probably be totally complete by August 2008. In all of our advertising we list completion date as summer 2008. Frank Bruno would like to say August, with the possibility of June. During the construction, the Ocean Center will continuously stay open. Rick has asked the Ocean Center Sales Staff not to book any new business (short term, concerts, sporting events, etc.) in this current fiscal year and beginning of the next. After this summer, if a large concert was booked there could be a real safety issue, having an emergency egress to get patrons out. We have in our plans right now to get through the London Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert and graduations. The emergency egress plans have been laid out for both of these events. Lori asked about large trucks loading in from the A1A side. There are 8 loading docks in the new facility and Rick believes that most of that traffic will go to the new loading docks on Earl Street, however A1A will still be an option for load-ins. Lori asked if there was a part of the renovation that looks at the appearance of the concrete in the arena. There is nothing in the budget for updating the concrete. Sharon Hughes wanted to know what was behind the elephant doors when they are rolled up. It’s the pre-function space located in the east lobby of the conference center. The glass doors we’re looking at actually open up to let trucks in/out and close back up and then we’re going to landscape on both sides of the dock. The glass will match the glass that’s on the concourse now – it will be insulated and it has a slight tint.

Bookings Report:
Rick Hamilton presented this report (refer to Marketing Activities Report - page 13). This is a totally new format we are trying and Rick asked the committee to e-mail him with any comments, changes or suggestions. Rick would like to get information to the committee that is useful, including some of the suggestions Chuck Bray made at the last meeting, in this report. A recap has been incorporated at the top of this report. We have contracted, for the first quarter of the year, an additional 29 events. The number of attendees represented in those events is 396,410. The Ocean Center Sales Staff has attended 4 tradeshows this quarter. Based on the delegates, (conventions have been separated from entertainment and spectator events – see page 22) Rick is projecting $31,717,500 as area income. Tourist Development Tax Revenue is anticipated at $753,608 booked in the first quarter of this year. Lori Hunter, Ocean Center Director of Sales, represented the Ocean Center at the following tradeshows: International Association of Exposition Management (IAEM) in San Diego, CA, November 28-30, 2006; Franchise Expo South (FES) in Miami, FL, January 19-21, 2007; Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA) in Louisville, KY, January 30-February 2, 2007 and Destinations Showcase in Washington, DC on March 1, 2007. Prior to Destinations Showcase, Lori attended the DMAI Sales Academy for training in destination marketing. Many of the events we attend are with the CVB and area hotels. Daytona Beach was very well received by RCMA attendees. The 2008 RCMA Conference & Tradeshow will be held in Orlando, FL. The Ocean Center and Daytona Beach CVB will be sponsoring a luncheon at this conference. We are also working with the CVB on a FAM trip prior to the RCMA Conference. Upcoming tradeshows the Ocean Center will be attending include Meetings Market in Tampa, FL on May 22, 2007; Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association (HCEA) in Philadelphia, PA, June 9-12, 2007 (Ocean Center and Volusia County Economic Development are working together on contacts of health care industries to bring into the county for jobs); National Association of Consumer Shows (NACS) in Milwaukee, WI, June 27-29, 2007 and Florida Society of Association Executives in Panama City, July 18-21, 2007. On February 3, 2007, Ocean Center hosted a luncheon for the Hilton National Sales Directors that was extremely well received. Rick planned on making a 30 minute presentation, and ended up talking for an hour and a half – the folks had a lot of questions, they loved the luncheon we had here and they also visited other properties in the area. Through the Ocean Walk Village Alliance, we’ve had Dora Katz with Family Circle Magazine and Liz White with Atlanta Parent. This is not directly related to conventions and meetings, but Rick firmly believes in this destination and the more people we have aware of this destination, the more people we will have come here for conventions and meetings. Ocean Center and the CVB are working on a Surf & Turf FAM on May 20-22, 2007. We have done editorial interviews with Successful Meetings, should have a pretty good spread in that publication. The Ocean Center just finished a direct mail campaign where a 4-page, 4-color brochure and personal letter (describing expanded facility and opening date) were sent to 5,000 potential meeting planners. One hundred miniature construction sites are being sent to both qualified potential meeting planners and existing clients to create awareness of the ongoing construction and new exhibit space. The base site consists of sand (that has been glued in), then every 3 months we are sending them a new piece of equipment with a letter giving them an update and an aerial photo showing the progress of the facility. When they receive all of the pieces, they stack the boxes on the construction site and it shows the finished building. We have received a very good response. A new exhibition booth is being developed to highlight completed expansion and the new destination. A new marketing kit is also in the development stages. We’ve also been asked for editorial information from Black Meetings & Tourism, Florida Golf Central and Rick just finished one with USAE, they’ve asked for photographs and are doing a center spread in their publication with meetings nationally. The long awaited computerized booking system is installed and working. We are in the process of transferring data, which is quite time consuming, but so far is working well. It also talks to the new signage system in the facility so that when the sales staff books an event, the hours go to the event coordinator, then the computerized booking system also sends out the times that go on the electronic displays and directories of the times and locations of where specific meetings are taking place. We have booked our first meeting in the new space, and the group will be utilizing all the space in January 2009. The Florida Fire Chief’s Association has signed a three year contract with the Ocean Center, with a 3 year option. Once again, Rick requested input from the committee members about the new format of the report. Sharon Mock asked if the Ocean Center Booking Policy was the same or had it changed. The Ocean Center Booking Policy is the same and any changes made to the policy must be approved by County Council.

Update From Partners:

• Hotel/Motel Partners – No Report
• DBACVB - Convention Planner has been updated and reprinted
• Ad Authority – No Report

Old Business:
No old business to report.

New Business:
No new business to report.

Public Participation:
Big John asked about the new Ocean Center employees. Jim Maniak is the Ocean Center’s Finance Director and Kris Beatty is the Assistant Director of Operations. Jim Maniak retired as the Finance Director for the City of Daytona Beach. Kris Beatty originally built this facility, worked on the electrical crew and was the Operations Manager before leaving for the Orlando Arena (now known as the Amway Arena), also has worked for the Silver Spurs Arena and Orange County Convention Center. Debby Misita, Ocean Center’s Assistant Director is working diligently with staff in providing training. We are going to have the type of facility that the community is going to be very proud of. We are up scaling everything because we are going to be a full-service facility, with hotel quality and top quality finishes. Gilly Aguiar thanked the County for really stepping up and getting the project going. Frank Bruno thanked Jim Dinneen for getting the project back on track and moving forward.

Immediately following this meeting is the Volusia Tourism Consortium Organizational Meeting. This meeting is being held to collaborate between all the different tourism agencies. The county has no desire to turn that into something and come out with anything specific. It’s an opportunity for everyone to come together and talk to one another so that we all know what’s going on as far as tourism throughout this entire county. This meeting will begin at 10:00am in 201-A, with Dave Byron as the Facilitator.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:32am.

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