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Middleton tourism staff seeks edits to Destination Madison agreement, delays vote to June
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a revised Destination Madison partnership draft May 20, raising concerns about term length, reporting detail and whether marketing language should explicitly prioritize Middleton. Staff will gather edits and return a revised agreement for a June vote.
Middleton — Tourism commission staff reviewed a revised partnership agreement with Destination Madison on May 20 and asked commissioners for edits before moving to a formal vote in June.
Staff told the commission that Destination Madison had pared back language in the draft and that the commission’s staff intends to reinsert several items from the prior contract, including a payment breakdown listing 17% total with 10% toward sports tourism and 7% toward marketing. “We want to put [sports tourism] back in,” staff said, adding the original contract wording will be reinstated before the agreement is submitted for legal review.
Commissioners also pressed for clearer reporting. Staff said Destination Madison will provide an annual “overview” using Xartico analytics but indicated DM cannot report hotel-room-block fills. “If they aren’t going to report back on filled room blocks, we need to come up with another way of figuring out how that money is spent,” staff said, noting a measurement approach will be drafted and shared with the commission.
Several commissioners raised a second major point: the marketing language in the new draft refers generally to Middleton, Dane County and the metropolitan area, while several commissioners said state statute requires that hotel-tax-funded marketing explicitly promote the city. Staff agreed to restore language that makes Middleton the express beneficiary of marketing funded by local hotel tax dollars.
Rob Guard of Destination Madison attended the meeting and confirmed DM streamlined some language to make the contract easier to review; he acknowledged staff’s request to restore particular clauses. Staff said any final agreement will be reviewed by the city attorney and that votes at the commission and city council will follow once the edits are agreed.
No formal motion or vote on the Destination Madison agreement occurred May 20. Staff said she will collect commissioners’ requested edits, forward questions to Maureen Martin, vice president of partnerships at Destination Madison, and return a revised draft for a June vote.
What’s next: staff will assemble the edit list, send it to Destination Madison for response, and forward the updated draft to the city attorney before the commission’s June meeting.
