Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Strategic Plan And Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Visitors Bureau tables subcommittees, schedules extended May meeting to respond to strategic review
Summary
Advisory board members voted unanimously to delay forming subcommittees after debating governance, funding models and how to respond to a strategic-plan review; an extended May meeting at the Carolina Inn was scheduled to set direction and a workgroup timeframe.
The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Advisory Board voted March 18 to postpone creating subcommittees and to hold an extended meeting in May to develop a plan to respond to a recent strategic-review by Magellan Strategies.
Vice Chair Creston Woods opened the discussion after board members said they felt the February meeting’s presentation and subsequent committee assignments were rushed. Laurie Paolicelli, the bureau’s executive director, summarized Magellan Strategies’ outreach to 27 area stakeholders and the firm’s recommendations on the bureau’s structure, budgeting and roles.
Paolicelli told the board the consultant compared the bureau’s budget and organization with peer destination-management organizations and noted that some peers operate as Tourism Development Authorities (TDAs) that are authorized by the state General Assembly and typically fund marketing through occupancy taxes or tourism-district assessments. “Part of the lure of this job for me was the fact that government funding secure the Visitors Bureau; it wasn’t a TDA and that structure is hard to maintain in a small government driven community,” Paolicelli said.
Board members expressed differing views on next steps. Matt Hughes said revising the advisory board’s mission and bylaws — possibly through the General Assembly in the long term — should follow a clear discussion of the board’s role. “There are too many people to discuss within 90 minutes once a month,” Hughes said, urging a smaller work group to produce recommendations by June 30.
Commissioner Sally Greene and Vice Chair Creston Woods argued for using the May session to allow extended discussion rather than immediate subcommittee formation. David Putnum moved to table the formation of subcommittees and schedule an extended May meeting (tentatively at the Carolina Inn); Sally Greene seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Laurie Paolicelli also warned that the bureau’s fund balance had been used to secure the Savannah Bananas event and that the bureau lacks the reserves to make similar high-dollar commitments without additional funding or a different structure. Theo Nollert said the fund balance is often perceived as money not spent rather than a short-term liquidity resource, and recommended clear communication to commissioners about how fund-balance use supports sales-tax generation.
The board set a tentative timeframe for a small work group to meet and report back; members agreed further discussion was needed on bylaws, potential funding models (occupancy tax, TID/TMD fees) and how the bureau demonstrates tourism’s economic impact to county commissioners. The board also preserved time at the May extended meeting to respond fully to Magellan Strategies’ recommendations.
The meeting proceeded to community updates and adjourned at 9:33 a.m.
