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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.