HomeMy WebLinkAboutVisitor Services and Information Advisory Committee Minutes October 21, 2009_201402041408034884Minutes of Visitor Services Advisory Committee
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Land Bank Conference Room
The meeting was called to order at 3:00pm by Gene Mahon. In attendance: Kate
Hamilton, Director, Kevin Dugan, Assistant Administrator, James Blunt, Diane Reis-
Flaherty, Gene Mahon, and Linda Williams.
Kate started off the meeting by bringing up a discussion of the recently passed
room occupancy tax increase. Linda advised the Committee that a vote needs to be taken
to have Kate receive permission from Libby to access Town Counsel. Kate called for a
vote from the committee as a quorum was present and the vote was unanimous. At this
point Linda noted that as far as she knows, a Home Rule petition is necessary in order to
expand the room occupancy tax to private home rentals. Kate stated that she thought that
was brought up and tabled at the last Annual Town Meeting.
Kevin was then asked to update the Committee on lodging. He stated that
business has obviously quieted down and that several inns had closed right after
Columbus Day. He also noted that the Summer House has closed all of their properties
for the season with the exception of the Pineapple Inn which will close on November 1st.
He also mentioned that we currently have 17 Inns available for Thanksgiving, 20 for
Christmas Stroll and 9 for Christmas. Kate then added that as of today there are 6
restaurants that will be open for Thanksgiving. At this time there are currently no
restaurants planning to be open for Christmas. David will remain on top of this and stay
in contact with the various restaurants.
Kate then brought up the budget and notified the Committee that she has been
instructed to make some cuts. She has currently been working with some
recommendations that would trim $8,000 to $10,000 from the current budget. These
savings would be accomplished by starting the beach cleaning later in the year and
stopping it earlier than has been done in previous years. Kate also suggested that possibly
there should be an additional charge in the permit fee for special events that are held on
the beaches in order to offset some of the expense of maintaining the beaches. Also she
currently is planning to only keep the Straight Wharf kiosk open on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday which she estimates will save approximately $2,000.
Kate then brought up the Travel & Lodging brochure. She advised the Committee
that we have only 10 cases remaining of the 2009 edition. She also noted that the
Steamship Authority in Hyannis has been giving a lot of them out to people on their way
to Nantucket. Linda praised the office regarding how much money we have saved the
Town by doing all of the delivery ourselves. Kate also informed the Committee that the
work on the 2010 T&L is proceeding along on schedule.
Kate advised the Committee that she has sent several e-mails to Town
Administration regarding the fireworks. As of today she has not received any official
confirmation as to whether or not the Town will be funding them. Kate then brought up
the Ad Hoc Fiscal Committee and noted that their summary report was presented to the
Board of Selectman at their last meeting. At this point we are awaiting further details as
to what the Board may or may not do with the information and suggestions from the
AHFC. Gene then stated that the only way that the Town could remove themselves from
the Visitor Service Department would be to have the Chamber of Commerce take over
NVS and he felt very strongly that that could not be accomplished.
Kate then discussed the Sconset restrooms and informed the Committee that the
bid specs have been written and advertised. It is planned that they will be renovated and
ready to be opened by Daffodil Weekend.
Kate brought up Cranberry Festival and the fact that we would love to have buses
available for that weekend as there were a lot of people who were unhappy that they
would have to provide their own transportation in order to get out to the bogs. She did
note that we did try to have bus service but the Conservation Commission was unable to
comply with our request. We will try again for next year.
Linda asked about Nantucket Restaurant Week. Gene stated that he had heard
mixed reports and he feels that we need to have a more competitive price point in order to
make it successful. Kevin mentioned that several NVS visitor during the week assumed
that the price of $40.00 was for 2 people.
Kate then inquired about the food tent at the Stroll. Gene said he will check on the
Chamber of Commerce plan for this year as he was not sure. Discussion continued
regarding Stroll and the fact that the Chamber will not be having a special “Stroll
Calendar of Events” program available in hard copy format and that it will be only
available online for downloading. Both Gene and Kate agreed that they will attempt to
convince the Chamber to reconsider this decision.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:05pm.