Thursday, January 22, 2009
3:00 PM
Village of Lombard
Village Hall Community Room
Community Promotion and Tourism
Village President William J. Mueller, Chairperson, |
Trustee Jack O'Brien Alternate Chairperson |
Jill Payne, Edward Murphy, Steve Wilk, Sr., & Marguerite Micken |
Ex-Officio Members: Yvonne Invergo-Lombard Chamber of Commerce, |
Skip Strittmatter-DuPage Convention & Visitors' Bureau, Jim Romano-Yorktown |
Merchants' Association, Mary Eckhoff-Embassy Suites, Amy Kowallis-Extended Stay |
Deluxe,Michael Connellan-Hampton Inn, Jerry Evans-Hyatt Place, Lori Young-Fairfield |
Inn |
Nicole Norwood-Homestead Studio Suites, Frank Balisteri/Rashid Batti-Comfort |
Suites, Cynthia Ivey-Marriott Residence Inn |
Eileen Libb-Towne Place Suites, Brent Menzel-The Westin Hotel |
Meeting Minutes
Community Promotion and Tourism
Meeting Minutes
January 22, 2009
1.0
Call to Order and Roll Call
The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by Chairman, Village President Bill |
Mueller. |
Chair President William J. Mueller, Edward Murphy, Marguerite Micken, Monica |
Brown and Jill Payne |
Present:
Alternate Chairperson, Trustee Jack O'Brien and Steve Wilk, Sr.
Absent:
Also present: Village Manager Dave Hulseberg; Community Development Director Bill |
Heniff; Finance Director Tim Sexton; Rhonda Heabel, Assistant Director of Finance; |
Paul Friedrichs, Executive Director of the Lombard Park District; Gail Clark, Chairperson |
of the Lilac Festival Parade Committee; Mary Mae Meyer, Lombard Garden Club; Skip |
Strittmatter, Executive Director of the DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau; and staff |
liaison Joelyn Kott, Communications & Marketing Coordinator. |
2.0
Public Participation
None
3.0
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the December 18, 2008 meeting were approved with a motion by Ed |
Murphy and a second by Jill Payne. Motion carried unanimously. |
4.0
Unfinished Business
None
5.0
New Business
Hotel/Motel Tax Fund Budget For 2009-2010 |
Discussion of 2009-10 Hotel/Motel budget. |
Village Manager Dave Hulseberg began the budget discussion by going over the two |
budget requests submitted to the committee. First the Lombard Park District requested |
an abatement of the sewer fund in return for free water park passes for the hotels. |
Since the Village policy is to not waive sewer fees, staff came up with the |
recommendation to provide free water park passes to the hotels in exchange for the |
sewer fund fees in the hotel/motel tax fund. Ed Murphy made a motion to agree to this, |
which was seconded by Monica Brown. The motion passed unanimously to support the |
described use of the hotel/motel funds in the upcoming budget. |
Village Manager Hulseberg reviewed the memo regarding the circulator project funding |
request as well. He indicated that the circulator is being funded by several groups but |
that $150,000 is still needed from local funds. The cost on the Village's part is nominal |
when looking at how many people this program will be serving. The circulator will help |
seniors, employers and residents in a valuable way in transporting them around the |
community. |
The trade off will be the 5% hotel advertising payback funding that has been provided to |
the hotels over the past several years. This program will be stopped once the circulator |
funding is needed. At this time, it is not known if the money will be needed this year or |
the next as the program is still being formulated. |
Ed Murphy questioned as to whether or not the hotels agree with this change in the |
funding. Manager Hulseberg replied that all of the hotel representatives have received |
the packet from the meeting stating the intention to change the funding. Many other |
questions were raised regarding the program, many of which could not be answered as |
they have not been decided yet, i.e., hours and days of operation and cost. |
A motion was made by Ed Murphy, seconded by Jill Payne, to support the request of the |
circulator program funding from the hotel/motel fund in the amount of $150,000. Motion |
carried unanimously. |
Manager Hulseberg proceeded to review the hotel/motel budget that was provided to the |
committee (see attached.) One change was noted: $36,500 was moved from the |
capital improvement fund to the hotel/motel fund. This was not reflected in the budgets |
that the committee received with the packet. |
Monica Brown congratulated Dave Hulseberg and staff on the great job of keeping the |
budget fiscally responsible with this budget in these hard, economic times. |
Manager Hulseberg also indicated that the hotel/motel fund has a 25% reserve that it is |
required to keep. The fund has allocated more than 25% in the past and staff is |
considering changing the percentage to reflect more accurately what has been allocated |
in the past and to continue that in the future. He also indicated that the Village will be |
receiving one percent of the PEG fee from |
AT&T for its U-Verse product, that is now being offered in the Village. |
Grant Application from the Lombard Garden Club |
Request for $6,000 from Hotel/Motel funds for costs associated with the 2009 Lilac |
Bush Program. This amount reflects no change from the previous years |
request/approval ($6,000/2008). |
The Lombard Garden Club requested a grant in the amount of $6,000 to support the |
annual free lilac bush giveaway program. Mary Mae Meyer was on hand from the |
Lombard Garden Club to answer any questions the committee might have. She |
explained that the grant is very important to the club as this is the club's largest |
fundraiser, the Lilac Bush sale. Meyer also spoke of the International Lilac Association |
convention that she is lobbying for Lombard to host in the near future. |
President Mueller echoed that the amount of community spirit that is present the day of |
the lilac bush sale is tremendous and that residents appreciate this program. |
Marguerite Micken motioned to approve the grant in the amount of $6,000 for the free |
lilac bush program. The motion was seconded by Jill Payne. The motion carried |
unanimously. The item will be placed on the February 5, 2009 Board of Trustees |
meeting. |
It was moved by Micken, seconded by Payne, that this matter be recommend to |
the Board of Trustees for Approval. The motion carried by a voice vote |
Grant Application from the Lombard Parade Committee |
Request for $35,000 from Hotel/Motel funds for costs associated with the 2009 Lilac |
Parade. This reflects an increase of $5,000 from last year's request/approval. |
($30,000/2008). |
The chairperson of the 2009 Lilac Parade Committee, Gail Clark, presented the grant |
application on behalf of the parade committee for a grant of $35,000. She indicated that |
the increase of $5,000 is to increase publicity and banners for the parade in hopes to get |
more people to attend the parade, both residents and non-residents. Also, the increase |
would be used for additional honorariums for new ethnic groups that would be added to |
this year's parade. |
President Mueller asked if the committee was seeking sponsors again this year and |
Clark responded that they are conducting their annual mailing again but are not counting |
on any funds from that effort. Ed Murphy indicated that the focus on the budget given |
the economic conditions is to “fund for needs, not fund for wants.” Murphy indicated that |
the increase did not seem needed but was wanted by the committee and that he |
understands the situation of the committee but everyone, including the Village, is in the |
same situation financially. |
Marguerite Micken said that she did not agree that this was not needed. She indicated |
that she would agree to the increase because it might help the committee make up for |
the lack of business sponsors due to the bad economy. |
A motion was made by Marguerite Micken to approve the grant request for $35,000. |
There was no second to the motion. A new motion was made by Ed Murphy to approve |
the Lilac Parade grant in the amount of $30,000. It was seconded by Monica Brown and |
the motion carried unanimously. The item will be placed on the February 5, 2009 Village |
Board meeting agenda. |
President Mueller and Manager Hulseberg indicated that Clark could contact Joelyn Kott |
to arrange for banners through the Village's Public Works Department. |
It was moved by Murphy, seconded by Brown, that this matter be recommend to |
the Board of Trustees for Approval. The motion carried by a voice vote |
6.0
Other Business
None
7.0
Information Only
Skip Strittmatter shared some information with the committee about the hotel industry. |
She submitted a report to President Mueller and Manager Hulseberg about trends and |
numbers in the market during the bad economic times. She also announced that the |
PGA for 2011 will be held in DuPage and they are actively working on hotel rooms to |
help drive the tourism industry in a positive manner. |
The next meeting is scheduled for April 16, 2009. |
8.0
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 p.m. with a motion by Ed Murphy and a second by |
Jill Payne. Motion carried. |