Minutes: Tourism: Feb 29, 2012

City of Evansville Economic Development Committee Subcommittee on Tourism Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 9 AM Creekside Place, 102 Maple St., Evansville, WI MINUTES 1. Call to order at 9:05 a.m. 2. Roll call. Present: Sue Berg, Susan Farnsworth, Ed Francois, Sandy Larson, Mary Rajek, Dave VanDerHaegen, Paul Warren; Ex Officio Sandy Decker, Jim Brooks. Guest: John Decker. Absent: Kyle Allen, Greg Ardisson, Todd Culbertson, Jeff Richards. 3. Motion to approve agenda. Rajek/Warren. Unanimous. 4. Motion to waive the reading of the minutes of the February 22, 2012, meeting and approve them as printed. Rajek/VanDerHaegen. 5. Citizen appearances. None. 6. David Spiegelberg, Regional Tourism Specialist, Department of Tourism. Reviewed top assets, ranked opportunities within each asset/category, then ranked each category. The categories in order of priority are Civil War, History, Arts, Agri-Tourism and Nature. Ranked threats and weaknesses. Visioning exercise, describing an ideal Evansville as a tourism destination. Then determined difficulty level of each opportunity, threat and weakness as easy, medium or difficult, and a timeline of 1, 1-2, 1-3, 3-5 and ongoing years to address each item. The top three “easy” items are underway: marketing to school groups attending the Civil War event; Walking Tour, both printed and app, with primary responsibility resting with the Historic Preservation Commission and The Grove Society, and oversight from the Tourism Committee. History packaging and marketing, with primary responsibility resting with the Tourism Committee, with an understanding that the committee represented, by membership, collaboration among city, chamber and culture groups. Arts champion, with primary responsibility resting with the Tourism Committee. Phantom Galleries development, with primary responsibility resting with the Tourism Committee, the Chamber of Commerce, and building owners. Weaknesses: Restaurants and dining: Tourism & Creekside Place Shopping / Cooperative Marketing / Local Shopping / Business Hours : Economic Development Committee work groups Customer Service: Tourism and Chamber co-sponsoring the Wis Dept of Tourism new program via David Spiegelberg RV Parking: City Hall 7. Next meeting is 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, at Creekside Place. 8. Meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m. VanDerHaegen/Rajek.