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MAMMOTH LAKES TOURISM BOARD

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING

OCTOBER 2, 2019

CALL MEETING TO

Chair John Morris called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Chair John Morris, Vice Chair Scott McGuire, Secretary Jeremy Goico, and Board Members Matt Hammer, Mayor Pro Tem Lynda Salcido and Eric Clark were present. Treasurer Rhonda Duggan, and Board Members Kirk Schaubmayer and Michael Ledesma were absent.

BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

Secretary Jeremy Goico announced that Lakes Repertory Theatre's production of the Glass Menagerie opened on September 26 and would run through October 6th.

Mayor Pro Tem Lynda Salcido said that the events emails she had received from MLT were great and thanked the staff for their efforts.

Board Member Matt Hammer said that he had a fantastic time at Manxes in Mammoth Dune Buggy Event.

Chair John Morris announced that there would be a Woodsite hearing on November 1 at 9:30 a.m. and said it would be an amended motion and settlement conference. Mr. Morris said that he enjoyed the various Mammoth music festivals in September and said he that attended the Millpond Music Festival in Bishop for the first time and it was great. He reported that the Snowcreek Golf Course had closed for the season and that he was looking forward to it opening again next June and thanked everyone that supported them. He also spoke about the holes along the roadsides throughout Town and said that they were part of the wayfinding signage project and that Phase 1 would be done in November.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Chamber of Commerce Workforce Housing Coordinator Curtis Shapiro gave an update on the Chamber's new Workforce Housing Website which matches renters, roommates, employers, homeowners and property managers together. Mr. Shapiro said the site went live on October 1, and at this point they have had 60 people had sign up.

There was discussion between Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Minutes October 2, 2019 Page 2 of 6

Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access (MLTPA) Project Management Specialist and Project Manager for the Sustainable Recreation and Tourism Initiative Kristy Williams gave an update on the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Grant. Ms. Williams encouraged everyone to sign up to receive MLTPA emails and invited them to attend their meetings. She announced that the Sustainable Recreation and Tourism Initiative had its first kickoff workshop on September 26 and the second kickoff would be on October 17 at the Tallman Pavilion, Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop. Ms. Williams said there would be a regional discussion in Mammoth in 2020.

There was discussion between Ms. Williams, Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

Karen Pesko presented a public comment letter to the Board on behalf of the Oetiker Partners, LP, LHB Asset Management, LLC and EMB Asset Management, LLC regarding the Woodsite (MLT vs. Dirk Winters) litigation and their opposition to MLT's interference with the sale of the two parcels on the Woodsite property.

1. MINUTES – Approval of board meeting minutes from regular meeting on September 4th Attachment #1 – September 4th Regular Meeting Minutes

ACTION: It was moved by Mayor Pro Tem Lynda Salcido, seconded by Secretary Jeremy Goico, with Treasurer Rhonda Duggan and Board Members Kirk Schaubmayer and Michael Ledesma absent, and carried by a 6-0 voice vote to approve the Board meeting minutes from the regular meeting on September 4, 2019.

2. NEW BUSINESS a. MLT Committee Updates – 5 minutes

1. MLT & TOML 2019-20 Contract - Scott (lead), Eric & Rhonda

Vice Chair Scott McGuire gave an update on the progress of the MLT & TOML 2019-2020 Contract.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

2. Bylaws Committee – Jeremy (lead), Scott & Lynda

Secretary Jeremy Goico reported that the committee had met, made revisions to the draft and sent an amended draft to Executive Director John Urdi as well as MLT's legal counsel for review with a request to respond to the committee in time for the revised bylaws to be added to the November agenda for approval.

There was discussion between members of the Board.

b. Executive Director Annual Performance Review and Bonus 2018-19 – John Morris – 20 Minutes

1. Fiscal 2018-19 annual performance review of MLT Executive Director – John Morris – 20 Minutes - Attachment #2 – 18.19 ED Review JU, Attachment #3 – 18.19 ED Review from BOD, Attachment #4 – Urdi 2018-19 Accomplishments

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Minutes October 2, 2019 Page 3 of 6

Chair John Morris discussed the Board's scoring and comments submitted for Mr. Urdi's evaluation, and also presented Mr. Urdi's self-evaluation to the Board.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

Chair Morris suggested that the Executive Director Evaluation form be revised going forward to make it more of an Executive Director review rather than an Executive Director and MLT Board combined evaluation form.

There was discussion among members of the Board. c. Air Service Update – John Urdi - 15 minutes Update on future air service and Bishop airport progress based on recent meetings with Inyo County and the FAA

Executive Director John Urdi reported that he and Director of Marketing Matt Gebo and Board Member Eric Clark along with two air planners from Colorado attended a meeting in with representatives from United Airlines. Mr. Urdi said that he had met with Inyo County, the Town of Mammoth Lakes (TOML) and the new Mono County Chief Administrative Officer Stephen Barwick regarding future air subsidy and air service to Bishop, and the need for intercept surveys with passengers arriving at the Bishop Airport. Mr. Urdi said that the (TOML) would not participate in the air subsidy. He discussed the benefit to locals being able to fly out of Bishop rather than having to drive to Reno for flights that cannot be handled at Mammoth. Mr. Urdi said he had met with representatives from TOML, the City of Bishop, Inyo County, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Director of the San Francisco Airport District and Airport District and discussed a possible Part 139 Certificate being issued to the Bishop Airport in May or June and the ability to start commercial flights to and from Bishop as early as October or November of 2020. He said he was told that if they could get a Letter of Commitment from United Airlines discussing the routes and types of aircraft to be used, the FAA would potentially front the money for the required fire truck at the airport. He said that JetSuiteX would continue to fly charter flights out of the Mammoth Yosemite Airport and mentioned the possibility of Taos Airlines flying in and out of the Mammoth Yosemite Airport in the future.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board. d. Destination Management Strategy 2.0 – John Urdi - 15 minutes

1. TOML has contracted with facilitator Carl Ribaudo to begin the process of destination evaluation for Mammoth Lakes.

Executive Director John Urdi reported that he had met with Strategic Marketing Group (SMG) Consulting President and Chief Strategist Carl Ribaudo regarding the Town of Mammoth Lakes' (TOML) focus on visitations to Mammoth going forward. Mr. Urdi said that one of the topics discussed was whether TOML should focus their marketing strategies on more visitors with less money coming to town or less visitors with more money. He stated that Mr. Ribaudo would meet with TOML staff as well as local business members and other community members in Town.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Minutes October 2, 2019 Page 4 of 6

2. MLT Executive Director to give an update on process and timeline based on his meeting with Carl on Friday 9/27 e. Sustainability Work Group – John Urdi - 10 minutes A brief report of progress from the sustainability working group with regards to best practices for restaurants and special events including a review of most used items, bulk buying of sustainable products and the potential elimination of single use plastic water bottles.

Executive Director John Urdi gave an update on the progress being made in Mammoth, and the programs in place to help Mammoth businesses become more green. Mr. Urdi spoke about a company called Pathwater that he had been working with regarding the elimination of single use plastic water bottles at local businesses and special events, and also adding additional water filling stations. He said that Pathwater would give businesses their first filling station for free and the businesses would pay for the installation. He said that Bleu Market & Kitchen would be the first business to install a Pathwater filling station and would be used as a model for other businesses to observe. He said that local businesses could purchase Pathwater's reusable bottles for $1.15 and MLT would add the Town logo to them and would absorb the additional cost of $.35 per bottle.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

3. DEPARTMENT UPDATES – A brief recap of past, current and future efforts of each department – 5 minutes each

1. Marketing – Matt Gebo

Director of Marketing Matt Gebo discussed refillable growlers and mugs from DrinkTanks and said MLT would try a pilot program and hand out about 500 reusable coffee cups with the Town of Mammoth Lakes and DrinkTanks logos on them for people to use at Community Coffee Events to celebrate the start of the ski season on Friday, November 8th, the day before opening day, at 7:30 a.m. at Black Velvet Coffee, Looney Bean, Starbucks on Main Street, and Stellar Brew while supplies last. Mr. Gebo gave an update on MLT's fall marketing events and mentioned the unusual change in colors this season and the updates the community could find on MLTs Fall Colors webpage. He said that the Annual Instameet would take place on October 4 and 5 at Pokonobe Marina and would include a photo scavenger hunt throughout the weekend and a trash pickup event around Lake Mary on Saturday. He announced that the Winter Ad campaign started this week.

2. Communications/PR – Lara Kaylor

Director of Communications and Public Relations Lara Kaylor outlined the information in the September Public Relations report. Ms. Kaylor spoke about the fall colors in Mammoth Lakes and said that Digital Marketing Coordinator Dakota Snider's photos had been promoted in publications such as the New York Times, the , USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle. She discussed potential Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPSs) and said they were compiling a list of businesses that could stay open during power shutdowns so MLT would have that information available to visitors. Ms. Kaylor said that the Mono County webpage had very good information regarding the Southern California Edison (SCE) PSPS information and said that SCE anticipated less issues once there was more snow on the ground. She reported that the Sheet had published a positive article regarding Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and said that MLT had a workshop last week with Mering, community members and athletes regarding future use of the crib and Mammoth as a high-altitude training location.

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Minutes October 2, 2019 Page 5 of 6

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi, Ms. Kaylor and members of the Board.

3. Events – Caroline Casey

Director of Special Events Caroline Casey gave an update on upcoming events. Ms. Casey discussed permit requirements and timelines for special events and noted that the funding season would start the week of October 7. She said that information would be online October 11 and there would be application workshops later in the month. The application period would be open from November 1 through November 27. Ms. Casey spoke about doing green certifications of events in Town for 2020 and possibly utilizing students from San Diego State University's Sustainable Tourism Program as interns to administer the program next summer and announced that three mobile water units provided by Mammoth Community Water District would be available at upcoming events starting in March.

4. International/Sales – Michael Vanderhurst

Director of Sales and International Marketing Michael Vanderhurst gave an update on the current international advertising campaign. Mr. Vanderhurst spoke about international media companies that had come to the Town of Mammoth Lakes and said that he currently had visitors in town from Italy and would have visitors from the United Kingdom arriving on October 3. He said he was in Brazil with Alterra on an IKON Roadshow with Aspen Resorts, Deer Valley, Jackson Hole and Vale, and said there was a good opportunity for Mammoth to attract Brazilian ski travelers since they were very loyal to Aspen which was also an IKON pass destination. He reported that while he was in Brazil, he did a Mammoth Lakes summer visitation presentation with the Visit California Team and trained the Visit California Brazilian team on MLT's messaging. Mr. Vanderhurst said that Visit California's international initiative right now is the California Road Trip Republic which has the goal of getting visitors to out of the gateway destinations and into other areas, such as Mammoth, in the State. He gave an update on the visitor guide ad sales campaign.

4. Financial Reports – An update regarding the financial health of the Mammoth Lakes Tourism and the results of the previous month for Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) – 10 Minutes - Attachment #5 - MLT Financial Report 10-2-19 Attachment #6 - TOT Comparison Thru August 2019 Attachment #7 - TBID YOY Comparison thru August 2019

Executive Director John Urdi outlined the information in the financial reports. He reported that third bullet point on the TBID spreadsheet should be corrected from $30,691, which was the number for August, to $79,575 which represented the fiscal year to date collections.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

5. Mammoth Resorts Update – Eric Clark – 5 minutes - Brief update on Mammoth Mountain news, activity and operations

Board Member Eric Clark gave an update on Mammoth Resorts and said that the Starbucks in the Village would be closing on November 2 for remodeling and would re-open around Thanksgiving under the name Sierra Grind serving Starbucks coffee and Mammoth Mountain baked goods and said that the Eagle tent would have a new food concept called Fowl Language. Mr. Clark said that the Mountain was working with Aspen Ski Corporation at a location next to the Westin and said they would put in a Limelight there which would have s few residential units in addition to a hotel.

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Minutes October 2, 2019 Page 6 of 6

There was discussion between members of the Board and Mr. Urdi.

6. Possible Closed Session if Needed (not anticipated)

1. Closed Session – MLT Legal Counsel Tim Sanford to attend if necessary CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL—EXISTING LITIGATION (Paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9) Name of Case: Mammoth Lakes Tourism vs. The Woods at Mammoth Lakes LLC, Dirk Winter Case number: CV180094

2. Closed Session – MLT Legal Counsel Michael Colantuono or Ryan Dunn to attend by phone if necessary CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL—EXISTING LITIGATION (Paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9) Name of Case: Main Street Taxpayers Association vs. Town of Mammoth Lakes Case number: CV190092

3. Chairman to report out on closed session if needed

There were no closed sessions held at this time.

7. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 2:56 p.m. to the next regular meeting on November 6, 2019.

Respectfully submitted,

Angela Plaisted Asst. Clerk Town of Mammoth Lakes