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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Town Board Joint Study Session 2024-09-09RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Town ofEstes Park, Larimer County, Colorado September 9, 2024 Minutes of a Joint Study Session meeting of the ESTES PARK TOWN BOARD and LARIMER COUNTS COMMISSION of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held at Town Hall in the Board Room in said Town of Estes Park on the 9th day of September, 2024. Board: Mayor Hall, Mayor Pro Tem Cenac, Trustees Brown, Hazelton, Igel, Lancaster, and Younglund County Commission: Chair Kefalas, Commissioners Stephens and Shadduck- McNally Attending: Mayor Hall, Mayor Pro Tem Cenac, Trustees Brown, Hazelton, Igel, Lancaster, and Younglund Also Attending: Member of the Visit Estes Park Board and Staff, Town Administrator Machalek, Deputy Town Administrator Damweber, Town Attorney Kramer, and Deputy Town Clerk Beers Absent: None Mayor Hall called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. VISIT ESTES PARK (VEP) OPERATING PLAN VEP Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Cindy Mackin presented organizational updates and 2025 Visit Estes Park Operating Plan. Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zumbaugh and Board Chair Jurgens were available for questions and clarifications. Highlights of the presentation included: marketing efforts to support businesses affected by construction, construction resources for guests and content created for navigating downtown; ads promoting businesses impacted by construction; the Extended Locals Campaign - Staycation ads; Estes Inspired Storytelling initiative; efforts to encourage guests to shop local; the Thank You initiative; Destination Stewardship Plan; Outdoorist Oath event sponsorship; Colorado Tourism Office photoshoot; media coverage highlights; social media highlight with Lily Yu; regional partnerships with Explore Noco; and extending the season with the 36-foot LED light infused pine tree and new Skijor event scheduled for January 2025. The 2025 Operating Plan and highlights included: building a better future; the importance of the Destination Stewardship program; mission, vision and values; organizational stewardship imperatives; partners; and brand attributes which are community oriented, sustainable, educational, inclusive, accessible, and data and tech driven. She reviewed thoughtful messaging for an evolving Travel Landscape and deciding factors. Target audiences and demographies were reviewed for overall interests and varied seasonal visitation. She reviewed the geographic focus to identified where VEP advertises with 70% out of state, 50% primary, and 20% secondary. She further reviewed measurements for success and stated VEP continues to identify ways to measure tax revenue along with occupancy specifically related to the advertising. She reviewed marketing focuses for advertising, public relations, social media, website, national publication spots and the use of an artificial intelligence (Al) travel planner. VEP continues exploring options for extending the season, goals and opportunities to create other ancillary events to support and join existing marketing efforts. She spoke regarding the key organizational goals for marketing for marketing impressions, website views, bookings with lodging partners, expanding travel planner engagements and integrate messaging which includes sustainability, inclusion and efforts to preserve community character at all levels of guest communications. Next steps would be to incorporate Commissioner and Board feedback into the plan and present an updated plan to the Board of Trustees and County Commissioners at future meetings for approval. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Town Board & County Commissioners Joint Study Session - September 9,2024 - Page 2 Commissioner and Board comments and questions have been summarized: questioned the use of the 10% of 6E funds which go directly to VEP; what brought on the construction marketing initiative efforts; importance of supporting local businesses outside of the main downtown corridor and what marketing strategies are used to provided exposure to those businesses; VEP was commended on their sustainability efforts; questioned the difference between primary and secondary advertising outlined in the plan; what key performance indicators are used for inclusivity and accessibility and do they show success in the outreach related to diversity and inclusivity; transit marketing promotions; how VEP ensures the community at large knows how their funds are being used to market the Town, areas for improvement and the importance of being intentional in these efforts; it was recommended the plan clearly identify 6E funds are considered pass through and VEP continues to operate off an approximate $4.4 million budget; target audience efforts for different demographics; research opportunities to identify heads in beds which may be more valuable than impressions; including marketing and sponsorship efforts for all local events into the plan; coordination efforts with both local newspapers should be included in the plan; whether there are any efforts related to turning vacant property downtown into an additional visitor center since it was not included in the plan; how stakeholder engagement is quantified; importance of including effectiveness of previous year efforts in the plan; and marketing toward the consumer who continues to return to Estes Park year after year. The Board and County Commissioners were directed to send any additional comments on the 2025 VEP Operating Plan. PROPOSED 6E FUNDING PLAN. Manager Bangs presented the 2025 Workforce Housing and Childcare Funding Plan which outlines how the Workforce and Childcare Lodging Tax funds (6E) would be passed through the Local Marketing District (VEP). The 6E Funding Plan would be presented formally to both the Town Board and the County Commissioners for consideration and final inclusion in the 2025 VEP budget considerations. She stated the most significant change in the plan reflects an 80/20 split between childcare at $1.1 million and housing at $4.4 million. The 2023 Housing Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan and the 2024 Childcare Needs Assessment provided landscape data to guide the 2025 changes. She stated the population continues to increase in age with retirees moving to Town and less families moving and staying in the area. Childcare items included tuition assistance, facilities and capital funding grants, and out of school programming. With the freeze of the county wide childcare assistance program, Estes Park was one of the few communities able to continue to support eligible families which was commended by the Board and County Commissioners. The Town received a $50,000 grant from the Buell Foundation to help understand the future needs of tuition assistance and identify opportunities to reframe the childcare structure in the community. She stated the Town was currently under contract to purchase a building currently utilized as a childcare facility in order to continue to use the site for childcare. She provided the 2025 and 2027 targets for childcare afterschool and summer spots with focus on: addressing workforce challenges through continuing the annual childcare workforce subsidy; developing a funding program for family childcare home providers (FCCH); creating collaborative programs including mortgage and rental assistance; healthcare for childcare providers (in partnership with Salud); and early childhood education career path. She reviewed goals for 2025 for childcare staff, home providers, infant, toddler and preschool classrooms. 2023 workforce housing property acquisition efforts included: 775 Riverside, 0 Mary's Lake Rd, 507 Grand Estates (16 unit multi- family), and a purchase agreement was executed for 1700/1738 Highway 66 (20 unit multi-family). The Estes Park Housing Authority (EPHA) was in agreement to purchase Fall River Village which would provide additional housing in the near future and has retained a planning firm to pursue securing $2 million in ARPA funds towards the Fish Hatchery project. Staff are drafting opportunities for a deed restriction purchase program/down payment assistance program to support families with low to moderate household income and childcare staffing and capacity building. Additional EPHA staffing was anticipated for 2025 in finance, accounting and operations. She stated although these existing positions are typically funded through operating revenue, due to the RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Town Board & County Commissioners Joint Study Session - September 9,2024 - Page 3 volume of units being created through housing efforts, additional positions may be considered with the temporary use of 6E funds. Board comments and questions have been summarized: whether efforts included culturally responsive childcare and housing for teachers, nurses, police officers and other types of workforce so those essentials workers have opportunities to live in the community they serve; options for engaging our community providers; the importance of forming workforce positions which would not need to be eliminated in the future; a status report was requested for the use of ARPA fund; identifying needs for various income levels; and the importance of regular reports to both the Board and County Commissioners. COMMISSIONER & TRUSTEE COMMENTS & QUESTIONS. Trustee Hazelton raised concerns regarding VEP board governance, where VEP Board strategic direction was originating, the culture on the executive board, contract review without performance evaluations, business being discussed outside of public meetings, emails removed from the public email forum which should not have been removed, and comments from staff about local businesses who have provided feedback on the work of VEP. She further questioned the residency requirements of the Chief Executive Officer position and the use ofVEP funds for out of state travel. She stated a number of individuals have stated concern with the direction VEP has taken; the importance of transparency and oversight of a taxing district who are held to state statutes; and the importance of VEP operating in a manner that benefits the community. She requested time to address concerns and the plan at a future meeting. There being no further business, Mayor Hall adjourned the meeting at 7:10 p.m. :^S—^ V^ ^^—ykrfo^ia Beers, Deputy T^n Clerk