Sedalia Area Tourism Commission Meeting Minutes Noted

The Sedalia Area Tourism Commission met Monday at 1:15 p.m., in the Katy Depot Conference Room.

The following were in attendance:

Sedalia Area Tourism Commission:
Chairman Kyle Herrick, Vice Chairman Bill Taylor, Treasurer Erica Eisenmenger, At large (Pettis county) Tom Adermann, City appointee Kelvin Shaw, CVB Advisory Carolyn Crooker, CVB/TC Liaison Jill White, Past CVB/TC Liaison Debbie Biermann

Sedalia Convention & Visitors Bureau Officers:
Chairman Kyle Herrick, Treasurer Rick Yeager, Past President Kevin Daniel

On motion by Kelvin Shaw, seconded by Bill Taylor, with all in favor, the summary of action taken during June 8 was approved.

Kyle Herrick reviewed the Financial Report as presented by Jill White.

As of October 30, there is $1,093,427.46 accumulated from the lodgings fund and divided in the following manner:

$360,032.26-deposit only bank account
$510,085.55-investment in treasuries
$223,309.65-checking bank account

A question was raised by Kelvin Shaw regarding whether any bank funds were collateralized. A follow-up inquiry by Kyle Herrick was made with Central Bank. The following actions were taken. Funds in excess of FDIC-insured amount of $250,000 have been transferred to U.S. treasuries that are federally insured. Brett Hudson with LPL Financial through Central Bank is handling the account. The checking and deposit-only accounts will continue to be monitored and further funds will be removed as needed and invested similarly to keep accounts near the $250,000 FDIC-insured threshold.

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On motion by Kelvin Shaw, seconded by Rick Yeager, with all being in favor, the Financial Report was approved.
Under new business:

Carolyn Crooker presented a detailed explanation of the CVB’s Marketing and Administrative components and goals. A series of 30-second Youtube video ads highlighting Sedalia’s Leisure Travel and Marketing Campaign promoting area shopping, parks, hotels and museums was shown to the group. She also shared each Tourism Coalition organization’s visitation numbers and their various event details/successes during the year.

The comprehensive CVB Request for Funding is as follows:
Sedalia Destination Marketing and Administration $358,415.14
Daum Museum Destination Marketing $21,430
Scott Joplin Destination Marketing $37,400
Sedalia Katy Depot Destination Marketing $16,100
Liberty Center Association for the Arts Destination Mktg $23,674.24
Missouri State Fair Off-Season Destination Marketing $84,225

Total CVB Request: $541,244.38

Sedalia’s sports marketing will receive a boost with the future ability to book baseball tournaments regardless of weather. This is due to the city receiving a large matching tourism grant that came through the Sedalia CVB in conjunction with area tourism partners. The plan is to install synthetic turf as well as make other improvements at Dey Field at Liberty Park Stadium. This is the sort of outcome the CVB is striving for and helps in the promotion of Sedalia as a sports market.

The drive to better understand visitorship and the general public’s travel/consumer patterns through analytics was discussed. Increased funding in this area can yield more targeted advertising to reach potential visitors and has been requested in this budget.

There was discussion and clarification that discretionary spending for unanticipated projects rested within the CVB’s general budget and not within each organization’s funding from the SATC. If any of the organizations wished to re-orient their budgets or if more funds are desired, they would need to seek approval of the CVB board for that dedicated funding.

Related topics regarding ongoing issues of hotel late payments, tax collection difficulties outside of city limits, as well as the proliferation of B&B businesses were discussed. Difficulties in regulating B&BS particularly has become an issue across the state and is not limited to Sedalia area alone.

An inquiry was made as to the date the lodgings tax was first collected. Debbie Biermann thought it might have been 2005.

After consulting the SATC records, it was found that the first vote to establish the lodgings tax was taken in 1992 and became effective January 1, 1993. Collections for 1993 came to $76,415.

Following discussion, and on motion by Kelvin Shaw, seconded by Rick Yeager, with all being in favor, the following 2024 Requests for Funding was approved:

Tourism Coalition Destination Marketing $182,829.24
CVB Destination Marketing $214,000.00
CVB Administration $144,415.14
TOTAL: $541,244.38

Following discussion, and on motion by Tom Adermann, seconded by Kelvin Shaw, with all being in favor, approval was granted to add County Commissioner Bill Taylor to the SATC bank account and remove previous County Commissioner David Dick’s name.

The board was informed that the previous webhost company for the SATC website has gone out of business and the new webhost is Vista Wix.

Following discussion, and on motion by Rick Yeager, seconded by Kevin Daniel, with all being in favor, the appointment of 2024 officers was approved:
Kyle Herrick, re-appointment as Chair
Bill Taylor, appointment as Vice Chair
Erica Eisenmenger re-appointment as Treasurer
Kelvin Shaw, appointment as Liaison to CVB Board as ex-officio member

The next date for a joint SATC/CVB Board meeting is scheduled for the month of May of 2024 with the exact date to be confirmed later.

Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m. Motion made by Erica Eisenmenger, seconded by Bill Taylor with all in favor.

Submitted by: Jill White