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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-21 EPPBID Regular Meeting MinutesCITY OF PALM DESERT EL PASEO PARKING & BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT BOARD MINUTES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2019 — 8:00 A.M. ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE ROOM 73-510 FRED WARING DRIVE, PALM DESERT, CA 92260 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Klein called the meeting to order at 8:05 am. II. ROLL CALL Present: Christine Stein David Fletcher Elyssa Goldberg Patrick Klein Sonia Campbell Susan Stauber City of Palm Desert Staff Present: Thomas Soule, Tourism and Marketing Manager Deborah Schwartz Glickman, Business Advocate Heather Chernicki, Recording Secretary Also Present: Councilmember Jan Harnik, City of Palm Desert Jim Doyle, Palm Spring Life Paulina Larson, Palm Springs Life Amy Smith, Chartwell Properties Jaclyn Scarlett, FG Creative Stephanie Greene, FG Creative Abby Sturgeon, PDACC Lynn Fraschetti, PDACC Todd Rhoden, PDACC Dawn McCoy, Dawn McCoy Media Nick Yedinak, Dawn McCoy Media Gil Reyes, Hotel Paseo Dennis Flaig, Saks Fifth Avenue Page 1 of 8 Also Present: (Cont.) Sarah Bryant, Desert Cancer Foundation Deborah McGarrey, Desert Cancer Foundation Sat, Coventure Coworking III. CONSENT ITEMS A. Approval of the Minutes of the El Paseo Parking & Business Improvement District Meeting of January 17, 2019. Rec: Approved Mr. Klein asked for a motion to approve the Minutes from the January 17, 2019 Board Meeting. A motion was made by Campbell and seconded by Goldberg to accept and approve. Motion passed with a 6-0-0 vote; with Stein, Fletcher, Goldberg, Klein, Campbell and Stauber voting in favor. None abstained. None absent. B. Approval of the Financial Statements ending January 31, 2019. Rec: Approved Mr. Klein noted that the Board Financials were ahead by fees and assessments, however, this was offset by the expense overage related to Palm Springs Life licensing fees. Therefore YTD is at a slight deficit. With that so noted, Mr. Klein asked for a motion to approve the Financial Statements ending January 31, 2019. A motion was made by Campbell and seconded by Goldberg to accept and approve. Motion passed with a 6-0- 0 vote; with Stein, Fletcher, Goldberg, Klein, Campbell and Stauber voting in favor. None abstained. None absent. C. Official Recognition of Resignation of Paul Hietter from the Board. Rec: Acknowledged Mr. Klein asked for a motion to regretfully recognize the formal resignation of Board Member Paul Heitter. A motion was made by Campbell and seconded by Goldberg to accept and approve. Motion passed with a 6-0-0 vote; with Stein, Fletcher, Goldberg, Klein, Campbell and Stauber voting in favor. None abstained. None absent. IV. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER None Page2of8 V. GUEST PRESENTATION A. Paint El Paseo Pink Recap. Presented by Sarah Bryant, Desert Cancer Foundation. Ms. Bryant thanked the Board and all of the merchants of El Paseo for the incredible support they showed to the Paint El Paseo Pink event of 2018. This year's event was the largest yet with over 1,800 attendees on the street and over 50 merchants participating. Ms. Bryant introduced her colleague Deborah McGarrey, the Chair for the 2018 Paint El Paseo Pink event. Ms. McGarrey also thanked the Board and all those who supported the event as well as sharing event impressions and the importance of the support that the Desert Cancer Foundation provides in the Coachella Valley as a whole. Ms. Bryant added that the first Paint El Paseo Pink 2019 kick off meeting will take place next Tuesday, the 26th, at the Desert Cancer Foundation offices and that all were invited to attend. No official date has been set for the 2019 event, but it is customarily the second Sunday in October and with the Boards concurrence would also be planned for such this year. Fashion Week El Paseo/Palm Desert Food & Wine Update. Presented by Paulina Larson, Palm Springs Life. Ms. Larson reminded the Board that Fashion Week and the Food & Wine events are fast approaching. Palm Springs Life will have a booth set up at the Gardens on March 15th to sell tickets and field inquires. Ms. Larson informed the Board that ticket sales of Fashion Week are already 20% ahead of last year and Food & Wine ticket sales are 100% ahead of last year with the James Beard Luncheon reserved seating completely sold out at a little over 300 seats. Also, there have been 36 Hotel Packages already sold, a great increase over the 6 packages sold in 2018. Marketing for the events will be geared toward generating excitement for the 2020 events. Ms. Larson handed over the floor to her colleague Jim Doyle who proceeded with a print update. Mr. Doyle informed the Board that the February issue of Palm Springs Life carrying the Fashion Week and Food & Wine advertisement was a complete sellout. Palm Springs Life printed 2,000 extra copies for Modernism Week and 1st Weekend, which were sold out as well, with restock requests at many vendors. Mr. Doyle presented the Board with the latest website summary detailing sessions up by 61 %, users up 62% and page views up over 300% compared to last year's platform. Mr. Doyle opened the floor for any question. Discussion ensued. Page3of8 Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce Update. Presented by Abby Sturgeon, Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Sturgeon introduced herself to the Board, she is the new Director of Marketing and Communications at the Chamber. Ms. Sturgeon also introduced her colleague, Lynn Fraschetti, the new Director of Programs and Events at the Chamber. Ms. Sturgeon informed the Board that the Chamber has 5 re -occurring programs each month and 6 signature events in the next 6 months. Ms. Sturgeon assured the Board that the Chamber is present, happy to help and very willing to connect to the community. The Chamber is working to enhance the Golf Cart Parade for 2019 and is collaborating with FG Marketing on networking events, materials and ideas going forward into the future. The Chamber is also looking to bring back the Putt -Putt on El Paseo event of years past due to popular demand on the scheduled date of May 3rd, 2019. VI. OLD BUSINESS None VII. NEW BUSINESS A. FG Creative, Marketing Update. Presented by Stephanie Greene, FG Creative. January Marketing & Instagram Reports — Ms. Greene presented the marketing and Instagram report that had been sent out to the members prior to this meeting. Ms. Greene opened discussion for any questions from the Board. Question from Mr. Fletcher to Dawn McCoy of Dawn McCoy Media, "Can El Paseo Instagram and social media channels be geo-fenced?". Ms. McCoy and Ms. Greene explained how the Instagram platform and those like it unfortunately are not able to perform on this level. No further questions were forthcoming. February Status Update — Ms. Greene presented the February status update that had been sent out to the members prior to this meeting. Fashion Week Tickets Usage. Presented by Stephanie Greene, FG Creative. Discussed and approved with option 1 in below Item E. Proposals for Additional Budget. Fashion Week Ticket Usage passed and approved with a vote of 6-0-0; with Stein, Fletcher, Goldberg, Klein, Campbell and Stauber voting in favor. None abstained. None absent. Page 4 of 8 Instagram Update. Presented by Dawn McCoy, Dawn McCoy Media. Ms. McCoy began by thanking all merchants on El Paseo who are actively participating in the Instagram content. This participation drives impression and maximizes the impact of the content that Ms. McCoy creates, making the overall experience greater for the public. The only downside would be that the merchants who are participating are also garnering the spotlight, perhaps overshadowing those who are not. Ms. McCoy encouraged the Members to reach out to merchants on El Paseo to enable more diversity in the campaign as it progresses. Specifically EL Paseo is being tagged in more and more content along with Visit Palm Desert as the two entities are generating engagement together. The Modernism Week shows generated a lot of content and activations across entities and Ms. McCoy is looking forward to seeing similar successful results for future events. Ms. McCoy also informed the Board of the Influencer Trips occurring February 14th to 17th and 21st to 24th which will create content for EL Paseo and Palm Desert as a whole. Board Member Stein also reiterated the need for engagement across the entirety of El Paseo merchants. Discussion ensued. Social Media Seminar No. 2. Presented by Stephanie Greene, FG Creative. Discussed and approved with option 2 in below Item E. Proposals for Additional Budget. Seminar passed and approved with a vote of 6-0-0; with Stein, Fletcher, Goldberg, Klein, Campbell and Stauber voting in favor. None abstained. None absent. Proposals for Additional Budget. Presented by Stephanie Greene, FG Creative. Ms. Greene presented the following to the Board as possible ideas for allocation of the end of year reserves of approx. $10,000: 1. Fashion Week: VIP Comp Tickets - $1,000 Allocation of the 8 tickets/event for Fashion Week that the EPPBID Board receives per the Sponsorship Agreement with Palm Springs Life for utilization as promotion for El Paseo at large by distributing as follows: • (2) Tickets to be awarded to a merchant each night who has stepped up to assist in the new marketing efforts. • (2) Tickets/night to be allocated to a Board Member to use to promote their store as they see fit. • (2) Tickets/night to be allocated for a Facebook promotion. • (2) Tickets/night for an Instagram promotion. Page5of8 2. Social Media Seminar: Seminar #2 - $1,500 FG Creative to coordinate a joint seminar for merchants in partnership with Dawn McCoy to present ideas for summer marketing. 3. Courtesy Cart: Campaign Expansion - $3,000 Production of additional rack cards (4"x4") and street decals utilizing newly available more resilient and slip -proof material. 4. Merchant Relations: Campaign Expansion - $6,000 FG Creative recommends that additional budget be allocated to allow for continued efforts including Facebook campaign, monthly e-newsletter and additional e-blasts, in-store visits and phone calls and distribution of Courtesy Cart collateral. 5. New Program: VIP Gift Bags - $10,000 Working with input from Dawn McCoy, FG Creative would explore and oversee the creation of (100) VIP Gift Bags that would be allocated to selected area resorts to be given to the most affluent, hand-picked guests. Discussion ensued as to the merits of each of the five options above. Conesus was reached and a motion made to proceed with the above options in the combination as follows: 1, 2 & 4. A motion was made by Klein and seconded by Fletcher to accept and approve. Motion passed with a 6-0-0 vote; with Stein, Fletcher, Goldberg, Klein, Campbell and Stauber voting in favor. None abstained. None absent. Courtesy Cart Update. Presented by Deborah Schwartz Glickman, Business Advocate, City of Palm Desert. Ms. Glickman is putting together the recommendations to Council for the Courtesy Cart program going forward into the next Fiscal Year (FY 19-20). Ms. Glickman presented to the Board three option of how the program could evolve in the new Fiscal Year. Ms. Glickman then asked for the Board's endorsement to tailor her report to Council on their recommendation of one of the options as stated below: Option 1: Keep the program exactly the same with added signage on top of the carts. The cost of this option is: $57,000. Page6of8 Option 2: This would include Option 1 with the addition of the development of an application to allow users to track the carts as they progress in their circuit on El Paseo. In this way the public would be more able to find and use the Courtesy Carts. An additional potential in this option, with an additional cost, would be to program the application with the ability to hail the carts. The cost of the basic application is: $15,000. The cost of the application with the option to hail the carts is: $30,000 + an annual fee. Option 3: Employ an independent vendor to completely run the Courtesy Cart program. This would mean that the District could not control the type of advertising this independent contractor would display, however an application would already have been developed by the contractor and would not necessitate additional resources from the EPPBID and would be immediately accessible. This option would necessitate a bidding process so the exact cost is unknown. Discussion ensued as to the merits of each of the three options above. Conesus was reached and a recommendation by the Board made to Council to proceed with Option 2 without the addition of the ability to hail the carts from in application. VIII. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS A. Gil Reyes, Hotel Paseo — Hotel Paseo will be hosting a Summit in May or possibly April to share marketing ideas on how to increase summer business. Interest was forthcoming regarding collaboration with Mr. Reyes on developing the Summit. Hotel Paseo is also hoping to collaborate with the Board on possibly developing VIP Gift Bags for select guests. The first Airstream Palooza was very successful and Hotel Paseo logged over 2,000 participants in the event. They will be repeating the event in 2019. B. Board Member Klein — Thanked Dennis Flaig of Saks Fifth Avenue for attending the meeting. Mr. Flaig has expressed interest in becoming a member of the Board. IX. REMARKS A. City of Palm Desert. Councilmember Jan Harnik— Informed the Board that the E-Scooters pilot programs was voted down by Council. Councilmember Harnik wished to note that Council was not against a pilot program in the Coachella Valley but would like to learn by observing how such program is accomplished in other municipalities. She also noted that Presidents Plaza was on Council radar as a project in need of attention. Page7of8 Thomas Soule, Tourism & Marketing Manager— Informed the Board that crosswalk painting will be done on El Paseo and San Pablo between now and the beginning of Fashion Week. Mr. Soule will invite a Public Works representative to next meeting for further discussion on upcoming improvements. B. Board Members None. X. NEXT MEETING: Confirm March 21, 2019 Board Members confirmed that the next meeting will be held on March 21, 2019, 8:00 am at City Hall. XI. ADJOURNMENT With board member concurrence, the meeting was adjourned at 10:01 am. Heather Chernicki, Recording Secretary Page8of8