Call to Order: Chairman Frank Bruno called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.   Chairman Bruno made note, for the record, that he did receive confirmation that Dennis Mulder would not be attending the meeting.  A letter will be sent to Mayor Mulder requesting he send a designate to represent Deltona, when he is unable to attend.

Board Members Absent:
Dennis Mulder

Approval of Minutes of October 2, 2007
Motion to approve the minutes was made by Tom Staed and seconded by Jim Bazemore. 

Financial Report
Jim Maniak, Ocean Center Comptroller, reviewed the Financial Report for the last fiscal year (October 1^st, 2006 through September 30^th, 2007 - refer to pages 5-10 in Agenda Packet), which is still un-audited at this time.  We’re far enough along in the audit process, however that we feel this will probably be the final numbers once the auditors give their blessings.  On the revenue side we did better than we anticipated overall.  There is a net positive impact of $194K on the revenue side.  On the expenditure side, we spent less than we anticipated by $623K.   The net impact to the ending fund balance is $389K, so you’ll see the ending balance of $4,731M compared to the beginning balance of $4,342M. 

Jim Maniak distributed a parking garage report.  As of October 1^st, the County of Volusia became the owner of the parking garage.  After some negotiations with the bond holders and lenders, we were able to come to an agreement and work it out to where the County basically took over the parking garage.  There was a fragmented situation before with how the accounting was being done, it was causing somewhat of a nightmare as we took it over.  This report covers the first two months of this fiscal year (October & November, 2007).  The garage is now on the same fiscal year as the County.  The budget was put together almost a year ago based on what we thought was going to be happening.  At that time, not aware of what was going to happen, we just left the budget how it was and did not try to amend it prior to final adoption. 

This year as we prepare the budget we will take into account what the new circumstances are.  This report contains different revenue categories (daily, monthly, validation, etc.).  The total revenue for the garage for the first two months is $324K, compared to last year at this same time it was $40K less.  Unfortunately one of the line items (not shown) that is down is the special events parking.  Biketoberfest was down this year and we can see that in our numbers also. 

Compared to October of last year, special events parking is down $17K.  The report shows there wasn’t much expenditure in the month of October because the costs we incur during that month don’t get invoiced and paid until the following month.  As of October 1^st, we do have one full-time (County) employee, and two other positions that have been approved but not filled. 

One of the things we agreed to with the Volusia Redevelopment Parking Corporation (VRPC) was that there would be certain expenses that would come about that VRPC had no revenues to pay and part of our agreement was that we would pay some of those expenses such as legal costs, audit fees, insurance, etc.  There is a final audit going on by an independent CPA that should be completed in the near future.  That report will be for a nine month period, they were under a calendar year in the past and we cut that short (to switch over to the County fiscal year) ending on September 30^th.  The total expenses are $118K, by requirements we have to put money aside on a monthly basis for principal and interest payments that become due every 6 months. 

We have a positive cash flow of $185K for the first two months of the year.  The parking garage is an enterprise fund and the Ocean Center is a special revenue fund – two different types of funds, two different objectives.  The Resort Tax Collections Report shows that we are down 1.21% for the first two months of this year.  We were up 2.6% for last year’s TDT collections. 

Status Report on Expansion
Rick Hamilton, Ocean Center Director, reported the expansion is going very well; walls are up, windows are in, painting and finish work is happening in the inside.  On the south concourse (Auditorium side of the facility where all the meeting rooms are), AW Baylor is doing the ceiling installations, most of the drywall is up on the walls and the finish framing on the ceiling is about 50% complete.  Carter Electric continues to run conduit and service throughout the facility and they are also about 50% complete.  Meeting rooms are about 90-95% complete.  Moving into the exhibit hall area where there is a tremendous amount of electrical work for tradeshows and floor boxes in the floor every 30 feet, so when exhibitors come in they can plug in to electrical, plumbing, data, etc.  Energy Air is finishing installing duct work in the meeting rooms; they also have begun hanging the main ducts in the exhibit hall.  East Coast Fire Protection is doing the branch sprinkler piping on both levels; the exhibit hall level is almost finished overhead with the sprinkler system. 

Kendall Masonry is working on the restroom walls and has also started on the stonework in the main lobby, especially in the escalator area going up to the second level meeting rooms with the Texas limestone and it looks very nice.  Warren Construction Company has started on the framework at the vestibules and if you remember way back when, each meeting room has a curly maple veneer outside the meeting rooms and the doors are curly maple so they have started installing that framework and doing mock-ups for the rest of the workers on the jobsite to see so they know exactly how a meeting room is going to look.  The first meeting room is almost finished.   

On the exhibit hall itself; Kendall Masonry is nearing completion on the north exhibit hall walls.  The loading dock is complete, the ceilings are in and the roof deck is on.  Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, etc. all continues in the exhibit hall. 

Hartford South Roofing continues to install the roof on the exhibit hall and are about 95% finished.  Weston Coating has started painting the tilt panels; it’s actually a stain not paint for a longer life on the stain work itself. 

Foote Steel is installing the final steel supports on the east wall of the exhibit hall and they are also doing, what has become known as the pop-up across from the Peabody Auditorium, which is the large glass atrium, it’s about 25% complete and next week it will be 100% complete.  The connector concourse, that’s our new lobby that runs from the north to the south, was fireproofed yesterday, masonry was put in up to ceiling height and they are beginning the finish work in that area also. 

The new kitchen exterior is finished and as of last week it went under roof so they will begin to start finish work in the kitchen. 

The expansion is on time, actually about 4-5 weeks ahead of schedule and we are currently still under budget.  It’s getting exciting and hopefully within the next few weeks we will be able to schedule hard hat tours.  We are getting a great deal of interest from the meeting & trade magazines.

Marketing and Sales Report
Rick Hamilton presented this report for Lori Hunter, who was out with a family emergency.  Refer to the Marketing Activities Report – page 12.  Rick began with the recap at the top of the page; the first item designates 2 events that were contracted during the first quarter of this year.  These contracted events are only those that have associated room nights with them.  The number of attendees for those events were 5,000; tradeshows attended by the Ocean Center Staff was 2; the projected area income from these events is approximately $3,750M and the anticipated TDT income is $225K.  This report is a little sparse and it normally happens that way every year because when we get into the holiday season people quit booking events; however it will start picking up again shortly. 

The Ocean Center Tradeshow & Travel Schedule is also included in this report.  The Ocean Center Sales Staff attended the following tradeshows:  TEAMS Annual Conference and Expo (sports events industry) was held in Louisville, KY, October 23-27, 2007 and was attended by Tim Buckley.  We are trying to stay very active in this market segment, both for sporting events and also for what has become known as the competitive arts (gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, etc.).  These types of events are an ideal match for this community.  Even though they are not conventions, they fill hotels up and down the beachside, put people in restaurants, shops, etc. which is one of the main reasons we are here. 

Rejuvenate was held in Houston, TX, November 12-13, 2007 and was attended by Joey Yelvington.  This conference is geared toward the faith based meeting planner.  It’s an appointment based show where you are actually given three minutes to sit down one on one with the meeting planner.  The Daytona Beach Area CVB will be attending the show next year with the Ocean Center.   Joey Yelvington also attended the International Association of Exhibits and Events (IAEE) Expo! Expo, held in Las Vegas, NV, December 10-12, 2007.  The Daytona Beach Area CVB’s Tara Hamburger attended this show with the Ocean Center.

Upcoming tradeshows the Ocean Center will participate in:  Florida Firefighter’s Association “Fire Rescue East” in Jacksonville, FL, January 25-27, 2008.  Rick Hamilton and Lori Hunter have a booth at this show to talk to their exhibitors and answer any questions they may have about coming here in 2009.  They will be at the Ocean Center in 2009, 2010 & 2011 with an option for 2012, 2013 and 2014.  We are extremely excited to host this very large convention. 

Joey Yelvington will be attending the Religious Conference Management Association’s Annual Convention (RCMA) in Orlando, FL, February 5-8, 2008.  The Ocean Center and DBACVB will be sponsoring one of the luncheons.  They have also put together a familiarization tour, prior to the conference, for those folks to come over from Orlando and visit Daytona Beach.  RCMA represents approximately 90% of all religious meetings in the U.S. and it’s huge if you can get these meeting planners to come to your community and show them first hand what we have to offer. 

Joey Yelvington will also be attending the International Franchise Association (IFA) in Orlando, FL, February 9-12, 2008.   These are franchise organizations (Subways, Quiznos, etc.) that come to the community, have a meeting for their current franchisees, they let those people entertain potentials and stay in town for a week; again filling hotel rooms, restaurants, shops, etc.   We think this is another huge market to pursue.

Lori Hunter will be attending Destinations Showcase, Washington, DC on February 7, 2008.  Tara Hamburger with the DBACVB will be attending this show with the Ocean Center.  Destinations Showcase is one of those industry standards that we’ve stayed a part of for all of these years.  Prior to Destinations Showcase, Lori will be attending the Association for Convention Marketing Executives (ACME), February 5-6, 2008.

The Ocean Center, along with participation from Ocean Waters Properties and the Hilton did a new tri-fold brochure and we are doing direct mail drops, as well as magazine inserts that you’ll see in all the major meeting and trade publications across the country.

The Booking Report shows everything the Ocean Center has contracted on the books through the end of September 2009.  After the normal Booking Report, you are going to see some data sheets that are broken down by group type and then broken down by events and the names of the groups; this is in response to Chuck Bray’s comments at the last meeting.  The Ocean Center Sales Staff are entering all of our past information and upcoming information into this data base, so that when it’s needed we can give it to you readily.  We are getting real close to having it in our booking software to where we can provide that data easily. 

Following the recap, you will find a list of events contracted this quarter, which include conventions & meeting as well as public events. 

Update from Partners

Hotel/Motel Partners

• Bob Davis reported that January 26^th is the annual golf tournament to raise funds for hospitality students at Bethune Cookman and Daytona Beach College. 

   CVB/Ad Authority

• CVB has updated their softwared to Destination 3000. Training for staff will be Jan. 21.

• Lori Campbell-Baker reported the Ad Authority has changed advertising agencies.  The agency of record now is Doe-Anderson out of Louisville, KY.  They are working on a whole new campaign with new print and new television – very exciting!  The campaign is still focused on the beach, still focused on families but you’ll see a fresh new look for us.

• Sally Gardiner passed around the co-op advertising that Arvo put together.

Sharon Hughes reported that in West Volusia they have gone through a couple of the phases for the Heritage Corridor and that’s well on track.    

Old Business

• No old business to report.

New Business:

• No new business to report.

Public Participation
Gilly Aguiar asked, with the projections being down for the upcoming year, would the project financially be okay?  Rick Hamilton said we should be fine; a couple of things – you are not going to see any concerts or any type of events with a large audience participation due to the fact that we can not get them in/out of the facility (for safety reasons).  We anticipated that and have revenues there through some fund balance issues and through some TDT collections we have kept in reserve.  Realizing that there will be some down time, we are trying to keep everyone happy that we can when saying to clients “we can’t do your event this year” and hopefully they will come back after we finish construction.  We are on target and on budget for completion, provided we have another good weather season this year. 

The high school graduations will be held at the Ocean Center this year.  The School Board has worked with us and has their staff assisting us, we’ve changed locations and we’re literally running them through little hallways and corridors we’ve created to get the graduates through the building.  Hopefully, the parents and families will understand that we are working within a construction zone.

One other issue that came up at the last meeting was how we were cooperating with Daytona Beach on the surrounding area?  Chairman Bruno requested an update on Rick Hamilton’s meetings with the city.  Per Rick Hamilton, we’re working very closely with Code Enforcement and Traffic Engineering and moving traffic throughout the area.  We’ve also had three meetings with city staff members for streetscape trying to match landscaping, street lights and street signs in this area to what our architects are proposing.  There is also an effort by the city, through Mr. Jim Dinneen, with our architects as consultants to the city to upgrade cleaning up the façade of the Peabody Auditorium to make this area a pedestrian friendly corridor not only to the beachside but going both north and south to try to unify this area and give our visitors a good impression. 

Gilly Aguiar asked if there was any communication with the city on the RFP as far as the property across the street.  The City and County Managers are working together and Frank Bruno will be getting a report to bring to the next meeting.

Cassandra Reynolds briefly spoke about Motor Sports Daytona Beach and informed the group there would be a Community Kick-Off on February 2^nd with a parade and festival.  Sponsorship opportunities were still available.  Their website is www.motorsportsdaytonabeach.com.

 Rick Hamilton, Cassandra Reynolds, Rick D’Louhy (representing the CVB) and some other folks went over to the new Car Show in Orlando that’s done by Motor Trend Magazine with local car dealers with national and international corporate support.  It looks very good that we will be having one of those shows in Daytona in 2009.  It’s not only a local event but it actually draws people from out of the area into our community.