MAMMOTH LAKES TOURISM BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 2, 2019 CALL MEETING TO ORDER 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 Mammoth 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 year 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 Chicago 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 Los Angeles 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.