Sweetwater County Joint Travel and Tourism Board
February 05, 2015
Western Wyoming Community College, Room 1006
Rock Springs, WY 82901
A. Call to Order
1. Alan called the meeting to order at 5:30pm.
B. Roll Call
1. Members present: Janet Hartford, Allan Wilson, Liisa Anselmi-Dalton, Debbie Alvarez, Erika Koshar, Katie Waldner, Falon Morgan, and Amber Koble.
2. Members absent: Craig Nelson, Greg Bailey, Bridget Renteria
3. Visitors, guests & staff: Jenissa Bartlett, Carol Volsey, Dave Hanks, Chesney Leisch, Rebecca Briesmaster and Lena Warren.
C. Approval of Agenda
1. Liisa moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Amber. Motion passed (6-0).
D. Correspondence
1. Not applicable
E. Quarterly Reports
1. Dave Hanks and Chezney Leisch, with the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce introduced themselves passed out handouts for the board to look at. Chezney gave an update of projects and operations at the RSCC visitor center.
i. Visitor Counts and Ticket Sales
a) The chamber set a new record with a total of 26,476 in visitors in 2014. 6% increase from 2013. Ticket sales were 7,767 totaling $122,799.00.
ii. Facebook and Web Counts:
a) 33,201 unique web visitors on rockspringschamber.com and 668
unique web visitors on their newest website, rock springsbd.com.
Facebook likes is at 1,151.
iii. Sweetwater County Livability
a) 7th volume recently published, current average monthly visits is
1,514, total visits past 12 month 14,684, total page views past 12
months 85,851, average time spent on Rock Springs pages 1:46
minutes, visitors located in 260 different cities, top traffic came
from Denver, Cheyenne, Laramie and Salt Lake City. Total visits
to Livabiltiy.com in last 12 months 4.86 million.
iv. Signage:
a) The gateway portal signage if almost complete. The project is a
joint effort between Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism, the
Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Flaming Gorge Scenic
Byway Group, and WYDOT.
v. Building Update:
a) Hoping to start construction by September 1st of 2015. Once
project is completed the chamber can better serve its visitors
vi. Lodging Tax:
a) Really focused on “vote yes” worked on this throughout the year
by advertising with banners, radio, newspaper ads, billboards
and Chattin with the chamber. The campaign was a success with
78% of the voters supporting the increase
vi. Airport:
a) The airport is now providing jet service. This will allow the airport
to provide better services and make it more convenient for those
traveling to our area.
2. Rebecca Eusek, Director of the Green River Chamber of Commerce introduced herself and gave an update of projects and operations at the GR Visitor Center.
i. The Visitor Center saw 17,524 walk-ins in 2014 up 4%.
ii. 30 brochure racks filled around Green River totaling 25,753.
iii. Gift Certificates sold 12,745 totaling $256,231.94 all of which stays in Sweetwater County.
iv. 244 Members – 6% increase. Retention rate is 92%, which is 7% better than the national average.
v. The GRCC had 15 ribbon cuttings, 7 After Hours, 99 Red Carpet Customer Service Nominations received. The GRCC published an 8 page newsletter monthly
vi. Website hits up 43%, 18,364 Unique visitors, Website upgrade coming in March 2015
vii. GRCC hosted the 1st annual volunteer and membership appreciation.
3. Lena Warren, with the Sweetwater Events Complex introduced herself. She gave an overview of the upcoming events at the SWEC.
i. The SEC will host the last year for the National High School Finals Rodeo and they are working on the ad campaign for this year’s event. They will be mailing out postcards to 500 tradeshow vendors, 200 concession vendors and Sponsor reminders.
ii. In addition to the postcard and posters the ad campaign will be similar to previous years and will reach outlying areas in order to draw spectators for even more overnight stays.
F. Approval of Minutes, December 10, 2014 and January 14, 2015.
1. Janet moved to approve the minutes and Liisa seconded. Motion passed (8-0).
G. Secretary-Signing of Minutes
1. Katie signed the December and January minutes.
H. Payment of Bills
1. The board voted to ratify the January 14th email vote for check #2736 through #2755 including the electronic payment to EFTPS for a total of $54,786.44. Erika made a motion to approve paying of the bills and was seconded by Amber. Motion passed (8-0).
1. Liisa moved to approve checks #2756 through #2770 and an electronic payment of, $2,294.04 to EFTPS for federal taxes and payroll liabilities, in the total amount of $33,878.37; Janet seconded Motion passed (8-0).
I. Chairperson’s Report
1. None
J. Vice Chairperson’s Report
1. Allan introduced Debbie Alvarez as the new Sweetwater County board member. The board introduced themselves to her.
K. Treasurer’s Report
1. Liisa reported that a deposit of $87,163.40 was made and she moved 54,786.44 for January bills.
L. Director’s Report
1. Jenissa reported on the meetings that she attended in the last month. These included meetings for SWC Directors Meeting, WTIC Board Meeting, Lodging Tax Board Executives Meeting and Sweetwater County Lodging Association Meeting.
2. Jenissa will be attending the Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality & Tourism Conference on February 8-11 with Liisa Anselmi-Dalton, Falon Morgan, Rebecca Eusek, Dave Hanks and Chezney Leisch attending.
3. Jenissa had board orientation with the two new board members, Falon Morgan on 12/15/14 and Debbie Alvarez on 12/16/14.
4. Jenissa is on the Airport board and they are currently working on having the newspaper ads recreated to reflect just Denver service.
5. The 2014 Annual report is completed and at the printers. Jenissa passed around a copy for the board to look at.
6. Jenissa completed the Rocket Miner Progress Addition earlier this month.
7. Jenissa did an 8th grade career fair in December.
8. Jenissa participated in a lodging tax webinar January 8th. Very good information on how the increased lodging tax will work.
9. Jenissa did an interview with the Rocket Miner January 12th talking about the benefit of lower age residents.
10. The Audit results were very clean and will be detailed in New Business.
11. The travel guide reprint is at the printer right now. It is being printed in Nashville and Michael from Signature is flying down there to do a press check on color. Should have the travel guide in had within a few weeks.
12. The website is being revamped to reflect the new ad campaign. Jenissa handed out a timeline of when this should go live.
13. Public relations, we did a Crystal Classic blog post a Wild West news release and are currently planning a summer press trip. Jenissa is trying to schedule all writers at the same time instead of 7 different trips. The reason being we are so small staffed we just do not have the time to orchestrate all of them.
14. Jenissa handed out the January and February e-newsletter.
15. The SWC Lodging Association – they are looking at making it a breakfast meeting due to low attendance.
16. Event Recruitment – Looked at State High School Football 2016 through 2019. The Athletic director from the high school did not get back with Jenissa in time to submit bid.
17. Website statistics for the month showed over 15,000 Facebook likes. Chad Banks has been added as Administrator.
18. Lodging tax is exactly on par from last year.
19. Funds were used towards the Springhill Press Map ad $750.00, $250.00 for photograph from Kevin Harper and $650.00 for Annual Report 2014 printing.
20. Janet made a motion to approve the director’s report Erika seconded, motion passed (8-0).
M. Old Business
1. Ratify January Audit Vote:
i. Erika made a motion to ratify the January Audit vote, Liisa seconded. Motion passed (8-0).
2. Oath of Office:
i. The attending board members read through the oath of office and signed
them, Janet notarizing them.
N. New Business
1. Depository of public funds
i. A motion was made by Falon that we are using Commerce Bank in Rock Springs Wyoming as the Depository of funds. Katie seconded. Motion passed (8-0).
O. Adjournment
1. Allan motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:22 pm.
_______________________________________________ _______________
Secretary’s signature Date
Minutes submitted by Carol Volsey