VisitRainier Board Minutes: January 2009

Ashford
Attendance: Board Members: Steven Cadematori, Dee Patterson, Jeremy Foust, Maree Lerchen, Andrea Brannon, Pam Newlun, PC Dickinson; Consultants: Mary Kay Nelson, Carol Zahorsky; Guests: Adam Angel, Rehne Copeland-Vanek, Randy King, Sarah Scott.

The meeting was called to order at 10:10am. Jeremy noted that it was good to have 100% attendance by the board at the annual meeting. He welcomed the guests and encouraged them to come regularly to the meetings.

Minutes: Notes from the October 2008 retreat were reviewed (this was not an official board meeting), July Minutes were distributed. Maree moved and Steven seconded approval of the minutes and notes. The notes and minutes were accepted and approved as distributed.

Financials: Dec 31, 2008 Financial Year End Report was distributed. Mary Kay noted that although the end of the year balance sheet shows $73,109.96, the actual carry over will be approximately $33,000 which allows us to pay the remaining invoices to Brainkinetics for the website development and the Washington State Travel Planner for the cooperative full page ad, and to keep $22,000 in our reserve account.

The audit report is being done at this time and will be sent in to Pierce County along with the signed contract for 2009 in the amount of $189,000. The audit will cost approximately $3,000 this year, but is not likely to be required annually. The 990's will be done for years 2005, 06, and 07 at a cost of $250 each. This may precipitate a letter from the IRS that we will need to respond to for clarification that the 501c6 was done in 2008. The 2008 - 990 report is due in May.

Executive Director Report

City of Enumclaw participation
The board discussed the request by the city of Enumclaw to participate in the Visit Rainier program. They have committed $3,000 towards their $10,000 fee for full participation (based on population and lodging tax collections) The partial investment would allow them a weblink on the website, posting their top 3 events, a community description and inclusion on the driving itineraries. When full investment is achieved in future years, they will be allowed to post their lodging properties on the website, participate in cooperative advertising campaigns and hold a seat on the Visit Rainier board of directors. Dee moved and Andrea seconded to accept the investment by the city of Enumclaw. Motion carried. (Steven abstained due to his involvement with the Enumclaw Chamber and Lodging Tax committee)

New Business:
Election of Board Members/Officers: After some discussion about the number of board positions available, Maree made a motion to add Rehne and Adam to the board of directors. Andrea seconded. Motion carried. It was noted that in order to keep the balance we should look for more representation from the Ashford/Elbe area.

2009 Officers of the Board: The following slate of officers was presented:
Jeremy - President
Dee - Vice President
PC - Secretary
Maree - Treasurer
Maree made a motion to accept the slate of officers as presented. Steven seconded. It was unanimously approved.

Bylaws adoption- Changes to the bylaws were presented at the October 2008 Retreat. A revised set of bylaws was emailed to all board members. After review, the board unanimously adopted the new changes regarding the service area definition.

Carol Zahorsky PR Editorial Calendar - The board reviewed the calendar presented by Carol and asked her to help prioritize what was possible within the budget this year. The editorial calendar will be posted on the website so everyone will know what items she is looking for and what the timeline is for those items.

Regional updates-
Mt. Rainier National Park: Randy King, Interim Superintendent, reported on the one lane closure of the road to Paradise. It will open for weekends and holidays for sure, but won't be repaired till May. Discussion about promoting other areas that ARE open, i.e. Westside Road, Kautz Creek, Longmire area, MTTA, Skate Creek, Johnson Creek and Greenwater and Crystal Mt. area.

It will be March before they have information about interpretive programs, but expect them to be close to what they have offered before. There is a workshop on the NPS Interpretive Plan on Jan 27, 28, & 29, and VR has been invited to attend.

The board members discussed the need for a more streamlined phone message regarding road conditions on the NPS hotline.

Randy mentioned that they are working with the Ken Burns special on PBS for National Parks. They are looking for ideas for compelling stories. The National Geographic Geotourism Project may help give them ideas. Lee Taylor is taking the lead on these projects. If we can get a "trailer" for the video, we can post it online to help promote the series.

The board asked Randy to help us position the www.VisitRainier.com website as a companion website for their media press releases. It would be valuable to promote the VR website as a companion to the NPS.gov site for consumer lodging and travel needs.

Enumclaw is having a Wine and Chocolate Festival Feb 6th.

Crystal Ski area is having a free lift ticket special if you bring a new learner to lesssons till the end of January. Crystal Mountain will be featured in a new Warren Miller movie in October.

Naches Tavern is offering guided snowmobile rides, they even pick up at the door. They also offer a Valentines Package. (Specific info on this is needed for us to promote on the website) There will be a festival in Greenwater in May.

Nisqually Valley: There will be a shuttle service again this summer (mid June) sponsored by the NPS. They hope to coordinate with the Lewis Mountain Transit to provide service from Tacoma to Paradise on weekends. Visit Rainier sent a letter of support for the Lewis Mountain Transit for their grant. Bryan Bowden is working with the community to set this up and make the schedule work for everyone possible.

Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad has the go ahead on repairing the bridge washed out in the December 2007 flood. They expect to be operating out of Elbe again this fall.

Jeremy updated the group on the Mt Tahoma Trails Association. Some discussion was held about the snowplowing issues and access from the south side at the new access point.

The 2009 Budget was reviewed. With over $30,000 carryover, MK asked the board what their priorities are for spending the remaining dollars. The board advised not to be in a hurry to spend this. Some of it can be used for the newly proposed e-newsletter. It was recommended that we consider spending it on a case by case basis and consider print advertising, however internet advertising is probably more effective.

Website Review: The board reviewed the progress made on the website during the past 14 months and was pleased at the accomplishment. They agreed to continue enhancing website with new content and re - apply for the CTED grant to add video components. New website features will be added within the contract with Brainkinetics this coming year. The board approved the maintenance agreement and the fee for services beyond the maintenance contract within the budget that was approved. It was noted that we want to ensure that the cost per month rolled over into next month if they were unspent and that we receive data on the analytics for tracking where web traffic goes after they click on a property. The also asked to have the number of hours per project "tightened" if possible.

Note: MRVA and VR are planning a Fam Tour of Nisqually Valley area in April to with plans to invite Pierce and Lewis County LTAC, Pierce Co. Council, NPS, WST, Scenic Byway Coordinator, Portland Visitor Association, Visitor Center reps, Seattle Concierge Service etc.

The meeting was adjourned
Next Meetings: (10am - 2pm)
March 4 - Ashford, Whittakers Mountaineering
April 29 - Greenwater, Alta Crystal Resort
July 15 - Ashford, Whittakers Mountaineering
October 14/15 - Retreat in Packwood, TBA