A special MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

september 29, 2021

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners met in special session on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 1:00 p.m., at the Tavares Pavilion on the Lake, Tavares, Florida. Commissioners present at the meeting were: Sean Parks, Chairman; Kirby Smith, Vice Chairman; Douglas B. Shields; Leslie Campione; and Josh Blake. Tourist Development Council members present were: Steve Bishop; Bud Beucher; Alex Cooke; Jim Gunderson; and Gigi Lemon. Others present were: Jennifer Barker, Interim County Manager; Melanie Marsh, County Attorney; Kristy Mullane, Chief Financial Officer; and Josh Pearson, Deputy Clerk.

introduction and opening remarks

Commr. Parks welcomed everyone to the meeting stating that he had been looking forward to this discussion for a long time. He also thanked the Tourist Development Council (TDC) members who were present. He indicated that the purpose of this workshop was to have a dialogue between the two boards to discuss the possibility of changing the status quo, capital funding, and events, and that there would be a presentation providing data. He related that after the presentation they would have a dialogue with the help of a moderator to guide them through the discussion and keep track of time. He then thanked the City of Tavares for allowing them to use their pavilion for the workshop.

Commr. Shields said that he was new to the commission and was tasked with becoming the liaison to the TDC, which he was happy to do, and that during his initial briefing he was told about the sports they were pursuing and found out that Tourist Development Tax (TDT) dollars paid for the boat house in the City of Clermont but that they were not marketing it; additionally, he said that he thought there was a disconnect between what they spent money on and what was being marketed. He noted that he then found out that the TDC had $3 million in reserves and wondered why they had so much as the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) had just got their reserves up to 14.4 percent of the budget.; furthermore, he said that he thought what the TDC was spending money on for capital projects seemed a bit arbitrary as he never saw a master plan listing what they planned to use the money for. He pointed out that he then asked the BCC about having a joint meeting. He mentioned that he had some questions that he wanted the BCC to think about during this meeting, such as whether they wanted the TDC to have reserves since the BCC already had reserves, what the amount of reserves should be if they did want the TDC to have reserves, whether they wanted to weigh in on which types of events they should be marketing, whether the BCC wanted to provide direction over the use of any remaining funds that were not marketing funds, and whether they wanted to start setting goals, priorities, and a vision for where they wanted to take tourism.

presentation by the office of visit Lake

Mr. Steven Clenney, Interim Director for the Office of Visit Lake, thanked everyone for being there and supporting tourism. He then gave a presentation, stating that the purpose of the joint workshop that day was to bring together the BCC and the TDC in order to provide both with tourism data and future planning information, as well as to discuss the TDT strategy moving forward as it related to marketing and advertising spending and capital projects. He first gave a tourism overview, explaining that the TDT was created to fund the advancement of tourism and to attract tourists to Lake County; additionally, he said that the TDC was established by Florida Statute to make periodic recommendations to the BCC on uses of the TDT revenue in accordance with the Lake County Tourist Development Plan. He mentioned that the Office of Visit Lake was responsible for promoting and strengthening the local tourism industry and business community, and that tourism operations were funded by resort tax collections and were used to support the core functions of Visit Lake. He related that their core functions included promoting Lake County as a tourism destination through marketing and advertising campaigns by using Madden Media, who was the marketing agency of record and who also led their strategy for marketing, and through social media, niche campaigns, and the website. He indicated that they had event sponsorships and sports event recruitments through the TDC Event Sponsorship Program, the Greater Orlando Sports Commission (GO Sports), and through staff efforts regarding sports business development. He stated that they also offered a co-operative marketing campaign for Lake County tourism businesses, tourism stakeholder support and education, and capital project development. He reported that according to Visit Florida’s 2019 Economic Impact of Tourism report, Lake County’s total visitor spending was $903.4 million, 9.5 percent of Lake County jobs were supported by visitor spending, tourism generated $84.6 million in state and local taxes, and each of the 175,153 households in Lake County paid $483 less in state and local taxes as a result of taxes generated by tourist spending. He then displayed several graphs depicting fiscal year (FY) to date TDT revenue comparisons, occupancy numbers and rates, average daily rates and RevPAR, as well as short term rentals. He indicated that in FY 2018 TDT revenues were close to $3.4 million, in FY 2020 they were around $2.7 million, which he said was low due to COVID-19, and that in June 2021 they were at almost $2.8 million. He noted that they had record numbers for tourism and hotel performance in July 2021 and that they expected to close out the year very strong. He mentioned that for the last five years the average per penny TDT raised was $756,653. He displayed charts showing the TDT revenues by source for the past four fiscal years for the categories of hotel/motel; single family; online platforms; and other, which were apartments, bed and breakfast, campgrounds, condos, multi-family, mobile homes, property managers, recreational vehicle (RV) mobile home parks, timeshares, and unknown. He stated that the online platforms represented collections from Airbnb and the Home Away/VRBO platforms and that those collections started in February 2021; additionally, he said that prior to that the individual property owners were responsible for payment of the TDT and they were either represented in the single family or other categories depending on how they claimed their status with the Lake County Tax Collector’s Office. He then discussed the performance metrics for the hotel/motel industry, noting that for hotel occupancy in Lake County there was a sharp decline in FY 2020 due to COVID-19; however, they had a strong performance during May, June, and July 2021 with record numbers ever recorded through Smith Travel Research (STR). He related that the county had an average of 70 percent occupancy annually. He displayed a graph showing the regional hotel occupancy for Lake County as compared to surrounding counties and pointed out that Orange and Osceola Counties were impacted by COVID-19 more than the others due to their convention and theme park businesses being shut down, whereas rural destinations such as Marion and Lake Counties were not as affected. He indicated that the average daily rate year to date was just over $91, in 2020 it was $83, and in 2019 and 2018 it was approximately $94. He also mentioned that RevPAR was $61.69 year to date. He showed graphs for the short-term rental market since 2014 for Lake County as well as for the State of Florida and noted that over the last few years there had been an increase in occupancy and that the average daily rate per rental for 2021 was about $198.52, which was 30 percent below the state average. He then discussed their budget and showed a slide of their budget allocations. He pointed out that they were estimating a total budget of $3,226,468 for FY 2022 and that there was a 27.23 percent decrease between their FY 2021 and FY 2022 budgets, which was due to the COVID-19 effects on the TDT collections. He stated that the FY 2022 budget did not include projected capital expenses for two capital projects scheduled to be incurred, which were the Hickory Point Beach Capital Improvements for $500,000 approved in May 2021 and the Venetian Gardens Boardwalk and Boat Docks for $600,000 approved in May 2019. He showed a chart depicting the percentage allocations and noted the following: destination marketing was at 53 percent, capital expenses were at 25 percent, personal services were at 16 percent, and operating expenses were at six percent. He related that this was an average of the FY 2018 to FY 2020 actual expenses plus the FY 2021 and 2022 adopted budgets. He added that it did reflect the projected Hickory Point Beach improvements and the Venetian Gardens Boardwalk & Docks. He explained that for personal services they had 13 total positions funded through TDT funds, which included eight full time employees and four direct to tourism function positions. He indicated that their operating expenses included association membership and fees for industry associations such as Destinations International, US Travel, Visit Florida, Sports ETA; travel and registration fees for conferences, professional development, and business development tradeshows; expenses for hosting tourism roundtable events and stakeholder seminars; software licenses and subscriptions for the Destinations International event impact calculator, the Simpleview CRM platform, CrowdRiff and Zartico Insights; the lease for Hickory Point Beach to the Lake County Water Authority (LCWA); and utility services, insurance, repair/maintenance, communications, printing services, and office supplies. He mentioned that destination marketing included the following: a contract with the marketing agency of record, Madden Media; a contract with GO Sports; in-house advertising expenses; TDC Event Sponsorship program, including recruited/contracted events such as professional fishing tournaments and championship events and the room night and day trip programs; Co-Op Marketing Program; promotional items; research such as STR reports; FAM Tours; and sponsorship of the professional bass angler. He displayed a slide showing their destination marketing budget for FY 2021, FY 2022, and the year over year percentage change and noted the expenses incurred as of September 10, 2021 and that they had a total decrease of nine percent going into FY 2022. He indicated that as of September 21, 2021 they had sponsored 200 events and had given out $1.2 million in TDT funding through their event sponsorship program, which generated 390,000 total visitors to Lake County, 54,000 total room nights, $100.7 million in economic impact, and 84.2 times return on investment (ROI). He explained that the ROI was calculated by the economic impact, minus the funding, divided by the funding; therefore, for every dollar of TDT funding that was paid out they received 84.2 dollars back in visitor dollars. He showed a chart with a breakdown of the different sports events that were sponsored, noting that there was a total of 147 events and that 57 of those events were tourism festival events; furthermore, he said that the sailing event through the Lake Eustis Sailing Club brought in the highest ROI at 180.49 and that events at The Big House always brought in incredible ROI. He indicated that they had a total of $4 million in reserves, with $1 million for operations and $3 million of special reserves for capital projects. He added that the capital projects reserves had supported the capital projects funding program and that other mid-year adjustments were also used to support that program. He then discussed their capital projects, stating that the strategy for capital project investment included focusing on niche sports, such as beach volleyball and disc golf, as well as projects submitted through the TDC Capital Project Funding Program. He explained that the BCC approved this policy on December 4, 2012 with the intention to assist an organization with a portion of capital expenditures for an eligible capital project that must be located in Lake County; be publicly owned and operated; be open to the public for recreational activities, cultural events, and performances; and bring substantial numbers of tourists and visitors to Lake County, thereby promoting overnight hotel stays. He added that the tourist development funds could not exceed 50 percent of the total project budget. He mentioned that the program had been in a moratorium of accepting and receiving new applications since March 2020 due to the unknown TDT collections and impacts from COVID-19; however, the reopening of this program was scheduled to be discussed at the October 4, 2021 TDC meeting. He showed a slide listing the various TDT funded capital projects since 2003 and pointed out that those highlighted in yellow were supported through the TDC Capital Project Funding Program. He then stated that a large part of the discussion from both the BCC and TDC had surrounded how much funding to place on both capital and marketing/advertising and that he would be discussing their marketing/strategic plan and options that were available for capital projects. He indicated that Madden Media was Lake County’s contracted marketing agency of record, which was approved by the BCC on May 25, 2021, and that the contracted amount was not to exceed $750,000 of TDT funds. He elaborated that their services included account/media management, content and creative services, media/advertising placement/buy, leisure travel public relations (PR) management, and more. He related that Madden Media assisted them with research and development of the Lake County destination brand and would develop and implement their marketing strategy. He noted that since June 2021, Madden Media had implemented a marketing plan that included Google search engine marketing (SEM), Discovery, digital display ads, and social media platforms; furthermore, he said that Visit Lake & Madden Media were working on the FY 2022 budget development and implementation. He mentioned that Madden Media was currently working with Destinations Analysts to perform research regarding the destination brand perception of Lake County and that the research began in September 2021 and would continue through spring 2022. He also noted that the research would be ongoing and included surveys of leisure travelers in key markets, which included Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and multiple Florida metro areas, as well as owned audiences, which included Visit Lake’s e-newsletter subscribers and social media channels, as well as 12 in-depth interviews with key audiences and Lake County tourism stakeholders. He stated that the interviews would be conducted by Destinations Analysts and would take place in the fall of 2021. He noted that they would recruit participants for this study through the existing research panel of leisure travelers and targeted digital ads, as well as help from Visit Lake in reaching stakeholders and/or residents; additionally, he said that all potential participants would complete an additional screening through phone interviews. He explained that the primary objective of this research was to explore the current perceptions of Lake County as a leisure travel destination, was supported by several other goals and objectives, and was designed to do the following: benchmark awareness, familiarity, appeal, and likelihood to visit Lake County amongst current and potential audiences; understand the Lake County destination brand, including associations, perceptions, and most valued attributes; measure future travel intentions to Lake County; explore both physical and emotional desired travel experiences in Lake County and the emotional and functional drivers that generated traveler interest in these experiences; explore the marketing messaging about Lake County that would most resonate with potential visitors; test current and potential branding for Lake County; understand deterrents for visiting; and determine the media most likely to reach both current and potential audiences. He indicated that the next step for strategic planning consideration was for their office to conduct an organizational strategic plan for tourism that would look at a two and five year time horizon for planning, and would look to review tourist development opportunities for organizational structure, programs, events, capital project development, and more. He noted that the strategic planning process could take between six and 18 months for complete review, and would include multiple workshops and discussions with the BCC, TDC, and stakeholders to maximize collaboration; furthermore, he said that potential vendors would be vetted through the request for proposal (RFP) process and would also work with current contracted partners as well. He related that one of the main points of emphasis and discussion had been how to move forward with both capital funding and marketing/advertising funding and that there were some key questions for consideration. He discussed the question of what the usage of the capital reserve account would look like moving forward, noting that there was no ordinance or statute that dictated that Lake County had a capital grant program like the one it currently implemented or that any reserves were held for capital in any amount, and that capital reserve funds could be utilized however the BCC deemed most appropriate. He then discussed the question of what the dedication of funding would be from the annual budget for capital projects moving forward versus marketing/advertising and recapped that historically they had spent approximately 25 percent of the budget on capital and 50 percent on marketing/advertising, that there had been suggestions from the BCC and TDC surrounding how much of the budget could be dedicated to capital projects and towards marketing initiatives, and that traditionally they had not operated with dedicated amounts going towards capital or marketing; they only ensured that at least one penny went towards marketing funding, as dictated by state statute. He noted that they had historically been able to cover all larger capital expenses with additional funding added into the budget, typically during mid-year adjustments and the end of year reconciliation, and that Visit Lake had been able to refill the capital reserve account each year, although they needed to shift pieces around for the upcoming fiscal year due to COVID-19 impacts. He stated that if a dedicated amount for capital each year was to be budgeted and spent regardless of what project it was for, it would impact the structure and funding of the rest of the budget and programs, and depending on how much would be dedicated to capital, that amount would determine the extent of changes that would be necessary and they would look at bringing that adjusted plan back to the BCC as soon as possible regardless of whether any changes were implemented. He related that the suggestions could be summarized to having up to two pennies, which was 50 percent of the current budget, being dedicated to capital project funding with the remaining funding being split between marketing and operations, and that under any circumstance, Visit Lake would adjust and execute the plan moving forward to continue to showcase Lake County as a premiere destination. He explained that if one penny was dedicated towards capital spending moving forward the projected impacts included the following: budget caps would be placed on all event sponsorship funding and they would potentially need to adjust the program along with the co-op program; they would need to look at future events in the pipeline or ones being worked on to adjust spending accordingly to match new budgets; and they may need to look at operations and some of their new or unique programs to determine if they could continue to carry those. He mentioned that if two pennies were dedicated towards capital spending moving forward the projected impacts included the following: severe restrictions would be placed on all marketing program funding or those programs could be potentially cut completely; contracted events planned over the next two years would need to be assessed and some would need to be taken off the books; and they would need to adjust operationally with staffing and programs depending on how much was reduced within marketing. He then discussed the question of which projects and programs would be the emphasis moving forward when discussing capital, noting that some suggested options included trails, the Fairgrounds multi-purpose building, existing sales tax capital projects, and the Capital Project Grant Program. He pointed out that the trails master plan was adopted by the BCC in September 2018 and that an update was provided on October 13, 2020 by the Public Works Department and the Office of Parks and Trails; furthermore, he said that these two offices evaluated the priorities with respect to the adopted trails master plan to provide a recommendation for select studies over the next five years. He indicated that prioritization criteria for ranking included connectivity, environmental impacts, economic development, and community support and that the top ranked trails totaled 166 miles in length at an estimated construction cost of $113 million. He displayed a map showing the primary trail corridors and the status of those trails, as well as the programmed trail schedule through 2025, noting that it was a total of $14,753,768 to complete. He also showed the different projects on the proposed trail study, design, and right of way schedule through 2025. He explained that Lake County was currently getting ready to start the master planning process for the new site of the Lake County Fairgrounds, which would include the following: a market study to show the financial feasibility of the project and its separate features for potential long term revenue generation based on demand elements; the master plan which would bring together stakeholders through meetings and public workshops to determine options for inclusion at the Fairgrounds site; and would include preliminary engineering calculations for the site to help show an estimate of the comprehensive construction cost of the proposed development with options including sustainability elements for water, energy, and the buildings. He added that the timeline for the master plan was estimated to be between five to seven months with an eligible start date in October 2021. He showed the potential site plan for the Fairgrounds, noting that it would be a 42 acre site with buildings, amenities, and open event space, and pointed out that the existing Fairgrounds site was only 30 acres with 49,700 square feet of under roof event space and that the expo hall was 50,000 square feet; additionally, he said that all of the facilities could be rented for events at $900 per day. He then indicated that their office reviewed the FY 2022 Proposed Infrastructure Sales Tax Project List for capital projects with potential tourism impacts, including the regional sports complexes of the South Lake Regional Park, the East Lake Sports and Community Complex, and the Central Lake Regional Park, as well as trails and eco-tourism parks such as Ferndale Preserve. He stated that further evaluation of potential future tourism impacts would be done to show the true TDT return of these investments as well as the potential for an increase in TDT funds. He then showed a chart listing the proposed FY 2022 infrastructure sales tax projects which highlighted the different projects that were under consideration for the program scheduled over the next few years and also showed the Public Works sales tax projects, noting that the trails project development and environment (PD&E) study was currently not funded. He indicated that for FY 2022 they had $3 million in capital reserves and the potential to dedicate up to two pennies for capital; furthermore, the BCC could elect to potentially utilize the $3 million capital reserve to supplant tourism-oriented sales tax projects such as the $1.5 million dedicated for the South Lake Regional Park or other projects in FY 2022 and FY 2023. He added that the $3 million capital reserves was in the budget; therefore, there would be no volatility concerns if it was dedicated for that purpose, and he noted that there were dedicated tourism uses in the South Lake Regional Park contract with the City of Groveland that outlined tourism uses already, specifying that they could have up to six annual events related to special events and tourism related uses including the collegiate softball event, THE Spring Games. He mentioned that spending the $3 million in capital reserves towards the South Lake Regional Park in this way would free up $3 million in sales tax dollars over FY 2022 and FY 2023 that could be utilized to advance other projects like trail studies to get those projects to either a right of way (ROW) or construction phase, and that over the course of FY 2022 and FY 2023 the BCC could simultaneously elect to accumulate either one or two pennies over that time, and then in FY 2024 they would in theory have multiple trail projects entering into the ROW or construction phase of development that those accumulated funds could be utilized for. He noted that this strategy would also be aided by eliminating the capital project grant program or reducing the amount of available funds for the program and that a reduction in funds would also necessitate adjustments to the program. He then displayed a map showing the South Lake Regional Park site plan, noting that it would include eight multipurpose fields for soccer, football, and lacrosse; eight softball fields; six baseball fields; as well as passive recreation. He also showed the language for the agreement between the County and the City of Groveland for use of the South Lake Regional Park.

Commr. Parks thanked Mr. Clenney for his presentation and stated that they would transition to the discussion between the two boards; however, he wanted to first allow some of the generators that were in audience to have a chance to provide some perspective as well.

Ms. Alison Strange with THE Spring Games stated that there was a full house of business owners and people in the tourism industry in the audience that day, and expressed that she wanted to talk about the value of their collective voice as a vision through the tourism of Lake County. She indicated that her request was for them to establish a vision with qualitative and quantitative goals rather than figuring out how to spend the capital funds or the $3 million in reserves; furthermore, she said that the TDC was supposed to establish a plan that incorporated that vision and goals and that it should be value based. She then gave a presentation, opining that the three pillars of tourism were economic impact, economic development, and community and youth development. She indicated that most of the conversation around economic impact was about return on investment and that they measured their programs by room nights. She related that the economic impact was the total organizational spending in another community, which meant that outside dollars were being poured into the community and that economic development meant that those dollars were staying in the community and going into businesses so that businesses could hire employees and increase the tax base; additionally, she said that it was very dollar driven as they were looking at local creation and wealth. She mentioned that sometimes it was difficult to figure out how community development worked together with economic development; however, she said it did work together because once wealth was brought to the community then the businesses could reengage in the community and bring about community development. She then stated that Lake County’s secret weapon was their voice, noting that most of the people in the room that day had already invested in the county by buying businesses and hiring employees, and that they continued to donate to local non-profits and charities; furthermore, she said that they represented the future of Lake County tourism. She related that the voice of the county was sports people, Olympians, and training national championship teams and that they would see the room nights and tax base increase if they figured out what those people were selling and who their target market was. She showed a picture of a man wakeboarding and pointed out that his name was Colin Harrington and that he was a professional wakeboarder who came to Lake County to wakeboard on the lakes, she also noted that the man driving the boat was Parks Bonifay who lived in Lake County and that this photo, which was not professional and they did not pay for, reached over 105,000 people on Instagram with over 25,000 “likes.” She opined that they were missing these things as they currently only focused on room nights, since there was no financial incentive for day trippers even though they brought outside dollars into the county. She indicated that the TDT statute recognized both day trippers and overnight stays as tourists; however, their programs did not allow them to communicate with the county how many day trippers they brought in as they either had to choose the room night program or the day tripper program; additionally, she said that if they chose the day tripper program they were required to spend their own money on traditional media, such as newspaper advertisements, and could not use social media. She then mentioned that they focused a lot on price; however, she thought they should focus on the value they received and to look at a value measuring methodology as that touched all three pillars of economic development. She also noted that they should be measuring whether businesses supported non-profits or whether they did things to add value to the community. She then discussed her plan and explained that the TDT statute already had a plan for this and although it said the plan should take 24 months, she recommended that this plan be three years. She specified that she wanted them to adopt a qualitative and quantitative vision and to proceed confidently and swiftly forward with a value based, specific, and measurable plan formulated in partnership with the voices of their tourism related businesses in the community and ensure not only economic impact, but economic development of their community. She then thanked the Board for this opportunity to speak.

Mr. Clenney explained that they would move forward with the discussion and that each TDC and BCC member would be allowed to make any initial remarks for up to 10 minutes, an open discussion and question and answers regarding the strategy moving forward between the boards would follow, the final comments would be by the BCC, and the remarks and discussion would be led by Mr. Howard Marsee, the facilitator. He pointed out that Mr. Marsee began practicing law in 1971 as a trial attorney and that during his career as a trial attorney, he represented both plaintiffs and defendants on a wide variety of complex litigation. He elaborated that since 1996 he had served thousands of hours as a mediator, arbitrator, and special master, and was also a Florida Licensed Community Association Manager who regularly mediated condominium and homeowners’ association cases. He noted that Mr. Marsee was a board certified civil trial lawyer for 20 years and was certified by the Florida Supreme Court to receive circuit civil mediation appointments. He stated that he was certified by the U.S. District Court for the Middle of Florida to receive mediation appointments in cases pending before that Court, and that he was approved by the Florida 5th District Court of Appeal as an appellate mediator.

recess and reassembly

The Chairman called a recess at 2:06 p.m. for five minutes.

bcc and tdc discussion

Mr. Marsee expressed that his relationship with Lake County went back 50 years when he was a young attorney and had tried one of his first cases in the old courthouse in the City of Tavares. He noted that he was also the county attorney for Seminole County and participated in some of the feuds between Seminole and Lake Counties over the three rivers project. He opined that Lake County was a county to be proud of and that he thought they had been successful in directing growth in a positive direction. He then explained that his role that day was to moderate the discussion with the goal of obtaining as much information as they could in a short period of time so that the TDC and BCC could make the best decisions they could in terms of directing the money and resources of the county to promote tourism. He said that due to the limited amount of time, they would only be hearing from each member of the TDC and BCC and would be limited to 10 minutes per person; however, after the discussion, the BCC could decide whether to allow additional comments or comments from the audience. He noted that he would call upon each individual to speak, and called Commissioner Shields first.

Mr. Clenney commented that three members of the TDC were absent that day, which included Mr. Michael Pederson with the City of Leesburg, Councilmember Ebo Entsuah with the City of Clermont, and Mr. Kevin Jowett.

Commr. Shields said that he spoke earlier and that he just wanted to get input from everyone and try to figure out how to move forward as he wanted to do the best he could for the BCC and the county.

Mr. Bud Beucher mentioned that he thought the meeting that day was to discuss the 25 percent increase that the BCC entertained in order to support capital projects and not about comparability between counties. He said that 52 percent of all Florida counties did not charge the maximum tax and that currently Lake County generated $900 million as a direct result of tourism, which was from Airbnb’s and hotels, as well as the spend that came along with that. He related that they were the engine that drove this economic development that helped the county to not have to pay taxes. He noted that Seminole County did not use any TDC money to build trails or even maintain them, which was information he received from Seminole County’s Office of Economic Development and Tourism, and that Orange County did not either as the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association (CFHLA) confirmed that Orange County trails were built with Orange County money and not TDC money; furthermore, he said that Orange County received $42 million from their trail system. He further noted that Mr. John Rees, Mayor of the City of Winter Garden, was quoted saying “few people came and stayed in hotels to ride their trails.” He explained that his family owned business, which was on the hospitality side, would have to spend an additional $2.5 million every year to account for the mandated $15 an hour minimum wage increase over the next five years, and that this was compounded by the unprecedented inflation they were seeing. He pointed out that in 2020 their business suffered, reporting that their room nights were down 36 percent from 2019, room revenue was down 38 percent, food revenue was down 44 percent, RevPAR was down 39 percent, and gross revenues were down 29 percent. He indicated that for 2021 they were down 11 percent in room nights and 35 percent in just the month of September 2021 as they were getting multiple cancellations for group events daily. He also reported that room revenue was down at least 10 percent, food revenue continued to decrease by 23 percent, RevPAR was down 31 percent, and gross revenues were down at least nine percent. He expressed that did he did not think that raising the tax on guests 25 percent to support a trails system was necessary at that time as the amount of money the county would receive by doing that was estimated to be equivalent to $5.98 based on the number of homes in Lake County. He indicated that based on estimations by Mr. David Jordan, Lake County Tax Collector, the county would receive approximately between $1 million and $1.2 million in new incremental revenue due to the collections from the online platforms of Airbnb and Home Away/VRBO because the property managers were finally paying their taxes, which he said would be more money than if they raised the tax 25 percent. He said that the booklet they were given showed abysmal performance based on the capital funding and opined that the groups and organizations who came asking for capital funds, which were government entities, were not held to the same standards as the rest of the county because it was free money. He mentioned that if Ms. Strange asked for money for an event that was tied to room nights and she failed to generate those room nights, then the amount of money she would get from the TDC would go down. He related that he was in favor of funding important, legitimate projects; however, they needed to be tourism related so they were not wasting money. He also mentioned that the chart included in the booklet showed that a significant number of people who stayed in Lake County hotels were Lake County citizens. He commented that Commissioner Shields wanted the TDC to create a capital projects list, which was the first time they had ever been asked that; however, he said that cities, municipalities, and government entities typically just came to the TDC and made a request, and they would then vet them and try to tie them into room night generation and into economic development. He added that the TDC was responsible for tourist development and not responsible for helping the cities improve their downtowns. He opined that if they took TDC revenues and earmarked certain amounts for capital funding, they would choke the engine that drove them, which was promotion, marketing, and advertising. He expressed that they should focus on getting their administrative and general (A&G) right and on what drove room nights since those tourists spent their money in the county which in turn drove up restaurant and attractions revenue; additionally, he said that they were the ones who helped keep the taxes low. He opined that if they started changing their ability to market and advertise then they would be making a mistake and would harm the industry that brought them this opportunity.

Mr. Alex Cooke expressed his concerns about the tendency of the TDT dollars becoming a grab bag for special interests where people fought over the money for their own projects, which he said was a concern of his dating back to when he worked in Orange and Osceola Counties. He questioned what kind of variables and framework they would use to qualify those projects and whether they could create their own or had to use state regulations. He suggested limiting capital projects to a certain percentage each year as he thought that would help create less of a special interest process. He mentioned that sometimes they start to lose sight of the original function of the TDT which was for marketing and advertising to bring people to the county to stay in accommodations, which he opined was the definition of a tourist according to state law. He related that the hotels, Airbnb’s, and online marketing were all functional parts of this and also determined how they spent the TDT dollars in the first place. He remarked that he did not think it was necessary to raise the tax 25 percent in order to achieve their means and achieve what they considered to be their obligations to improve the economic development of the county.

Mr. Jim Gunderson explained that he had been a member of the TDC for about eight years and from the very beginning his position had been clear on the distribution of the funds, which was that he believed that nothing or only a minimal amount of money should come out of the TDT funds for capital projects, especially since Lake County had a broad assortment of small towns with endless lists of projects, such as boat ramps, conference/wedding facilities, rowing facilities, softball fields, bike trails, etc. He indicated that they all had a tendency to suggest that all of those things were the answer to the big question of what drove tourism, which he said that after being in the hotel industry for his entire career that they had not solved the equation of how to get business into Lake County on a weekday, such as a Tuesday. He stated that he believed the most equitable way of ensuring that the entire county benefitted from TDT dollars was to use the majority of those funds for the purposes of advertising and promoting the different events throughout the county so they could help each city bring visitors into their area. He related that oftentimes those visitors were just day trippers but that there were also vendors generating room nights. He pointed out that the purpose of the TDC had always been about generating tax revenues that could be utilized to support and promote tourism and he said that it bothered him greatly when the discussion started to sway and revert into discussions of capital projects and potentially increasing the tax to fund things like bike trails; furthermore, he said that he was not opposed to bike trails, but that he had yet to hear an argument that trails generated a windfall of bed tax revenue into any destination. He related that they possibly generated people and activity for the destination at the end of the trail as they might want to go to a restaurant for lunch or spend time shopping; however, the money generated was not how trails were paid for. He mentioned that six days a week and at different times of the day he drove past 15 miles of bike trails in Pasco County that connected to Fernando and Pinellas Counties and that he could tell that the only people using the trails were local people as they were jogging, rollerblading, and pushing strollers. He related that the people in that area most likely enjoyed the bike trail; however, he opined that it was not generating any tax dollars into the bed tax for Pasco County. He expressed that they should be looking at promoting all of Lake County and not so much about which capital projects they should be funding, and he pointed out that the City of Mount Dora benefitted from receiving advertising and promotional support from the TDC for their events and had not received any support from the capital projects program other than a bit of support. He added that the City of Mount Dora could have probably solicited for money towards boat ramps as the City of Tavares had and the TDC paid for; however, he was unsure whether or not that was fair. He also related that having a fairgrounds was great for those who liked the fairgrounds; however, he did not think it would generate a tremendous amount of bed tax as compared to what it would cost to build it.

Ms. Gigi Lemon thanked the BCC for having this meeting as she saw it as a visioning meeting and a rare opportunity to be able to talk with the BCC. She then stated that she was the co-owner of The Big House, which had been open for nine years as of January 2021, and that she had been a resident of Lake County for the past 25 years. She indicated that the main thing that came to mind when thinking about Lake County and tourism was really understanding who they were and how they marketed themselves. She mentioned that when one came into the City of Tavares there were signs everywhere stating that it was the Seaplane City, and she noted that they needed to figure out what Lake County was to be able to market themselves. She stated that sports was one of the top economic drivers for the county, noting that The Big House had an economic impact of over $26 million and over 16,000 room nights; however, they were never included on any FAM tours, marketing advertisements, or videos. She related that they also needed to figure out what method they would use to measure what was working and what was not, adding that she was unsure of what Madden Media used as measurables and that sometimes they needed to realize that it was not just about emails and how many clicks they received, but really finding out where the people were coming from so they knew where they were spending their advertising dollars. She indicated that if she were asked about the vision of the TDC in the future, she said that she would see a group of people that included a different person working on each different type of event, such as someone working on indoor sports, someone working on outdoor sports, someone working on festivals, and someone working on weddings. She added that there were 13 employees in the Office of Visit Lake; however, she only saw one employee as a sports manager, and noted that they needed to start thinking outside the box as the University of Central Florida (UCF) had a sports management program where a lot of the majors could receive college credit for working at the tourist office. She mentioned that the USA Table Tennis National Championships would be held in December 2021; however, the qualifier was held in the City of Fort Lauderdale at an 18,000 square foot facility with 25 ping pong tables set up. She added that The Big House was a 162,000 square foot facility, and although they could not chase every lead that came up, they could have had the qualifier right here in Lake County which would have increased hotel and restaurant revenues. She indicated that she also wanted to do some joint marketing, especially with the Leesburg Bike Fest and suggested that the TDC could determine a fundraiser for a certain cause where the bikers would play poker by riding to various locations in Lake County, pick up a card at each location, and play their hand at the last location. She related that The Big House could be a location and that they could do that for other sports as well, such as cycling or marathons. She stated that once they figured out their identity they would be able to identify their strategic plan and how to spend the money for capital projects. She mentioned that if they wanted a convention center they could try holding events at The Big House and as those events grew, the county could then build a convention center and move those events into that facility. She said that there were ways to work on things, but that she thought they needed a subcommittee and an understanding where their value was, which she opined was the people of Lake County as they were the ones who made the machine run and made investments in the county. She remarked that she had made an investment into the county, that she loved living there, and that she wanted to see everyone working together on a vision.

Mr. Steve Bishop thanked the BCC for giving them the opportunity to have an open discussion and expressed that perhaps the TDC did not have a good understanding or good direction on where the BCC wanted them to go with their efforts as they thought they had been doing the right thing. He pointed out that he had been a property owner in Lake County for 32 years and a resident for 26 years and that he was also the President of the Florida Region of USA Volleyball. He remarked that the TDC served at the BCC’s pleasure as they were bold enough to appoint them to serve in this role; additionally, he said that he hoped they would consider their feedback to be both valuable and well thought. He noted that he was hopeful that they would be able to synchronize their thoughts on where to go next as he believed there were some great opportunities to grow tourism across the county. He explained that the Florida Region of USA Volleyball had been a success in Lake County and that he was very appreciative of the BCC investing in a sand volleyball complex in the middle of the county, which was also in the middle of the State surrounded by beaches. He related that it was now known as a beach volleyball destination across the entire United States and as a result it was going to be named the USA Volleyball Beach ParaVolley National Training Center; additionally, he said that in the coming years there would be both national and international events there on a regular basis. He mentioned that as they worked towards making beach ParaVolley an official Paralympics sport heading into the 2028 Olympics, they would most likely see qualifiers and world tour stops making their way into Lake County. He reported that since the complex opened in 2014 they have had visitors come to Lake County from 100 cities in Florida, over 25 states, and 15 countries for beach volleyball; furthermore, he said that at the end of 2021 the county would have invested $2.8 million in this project and have generated $11 million in economic impact back to the county and surrounding businesses. He expressed that they were very proud to be able to deliver back to the county on the investment that they made and that he sent those thoughts from his board of directors, which were members from all across the State of Florida. He indicated that his colleagues in the hotel business felt strongly about the increase and that his point of view was that it would be helpful for them and everyone if they had a solid plan on how an extra penny would be used going forward. He related that there were some unknowns and not having a plan did not seem to be a prudent way to move forward. He remarked that he was hopeful that if the BCC ended up making this decision there would be more data; however, he said that he did stand with his colleagues asking for a strong consideration of this request. He then brought up some questions for the county commissioners, asking what they could do to replicate successful projects as those were the benchmarks they should be going after. He also asked what the penny increase would be used for, which kind of events they wanted to attract, whether they wanted to go after something specific or just build a space and then wait and see who showed up, which events and programs they wanted to be known for in the region and the state, which markets they wanted to go after, which guests they wanted in the communities, and how they could move forward together to benefit the county they all lived in, represented, and loved. He expressed that he would like to see more long term planning, strategy, and vision setting on how Lake County could position themselves among the neighboring counties as a desirable destination and a place where people voluntarily wanted to spend their free time, their money, and to have fun.

Commr. Parks stated that he appreciated everyone’s comments and wanted to highlight one of the slides from the presentation regarding how each of the 175,000 households in Lake County paid $483 less in state and local taxes; additionally, he said that the wonderful part of living in Florida was that they did not have an income tax. He explained that this commission made a commitment to not raise property taxes and to keep that in balance so they could continue enjoying what they believed were relatively low property tax rates. He expressed that he respectfully disagreed about the use of the TDT dollars and the way they were spent, because although he did believe that part of the use was for marketing the county, he knew that there were projects around Lake County that had benefitted both visitors and the residents. He specified that the use of the funds to help build boat ramps in the Cities of Tavares, Leesburg, and Clermont had been beneficial as there were people who came to the City of Clermont’s boat ramp from around Central Florida and when they came they spent money in Lake County by buying gas and going to restaurants. He indicated that even though the day visitors were not producing heads in beds tax, they were still paying sales tax; furthermore, he said that he was still a strong proponent of the use of TDT dollars for capital projects. He then pointed out that their identity was “Real Florida, Real Close” and that there were still a lot of residents who did not even know that was the county’s slogan. He related that they capitalized on people visiting the City of Orlando and Central Florida since many times they came to Lake County for the day and sometimes overnight. He then discussed trails, noting that thousands of people came there to use the trails, stayed overnight, and supported businesses. He mentioned that he thought trails were worthy expenditures and that he wanted to be clear that he was not expecting to spend TDT dollars to fund the $113 million of trails; additionally, he said that if they were to move forward with using the capital funds for the trails then he thought there were some key segments that would have to be studied first. He stated that he was a proponent of using two percent for capital expenditures and that they could plan to work on that years down the road. He also thought that the idea of using the reserves towards the South Lake Regional Park was a great idea as they were in an agreement with the City of Groveland to run that operation, which he opined was a huge expense. He remarked that doing that would be a huge savings for everyone as it would free up money since they had a commitment to the Central Park facility as well, and that they could make sure those facilities were bringing in actual events. He expressed that Mr. Bishop was a great example of the wonderful return on investment they received when they invested money into something; additionally, he said that they had been growing and that people came from the north to attend various sporting events in the county. He said that he thought it was important to incorporate all of the generators as part of the visioning session to determine which venues they wanted to zero in on, such as the Fairgrounds/Expo Center. He opined that the full effect from the increase in the revenues through the Tax Collector’s Office for Airbnb’s and VRBO would not happen for another year, which was what he was told as it still needed some evaluation.

Commr. Smith thanked the TDC for being there so they could have a dialogue; additionally, he said that he was glad they were doing this and wanted to continue to do this as he believed it was important for both boards to know what their goals were. He stated that they had a very good mix on the TDC that were there that day as there were two who were successful in sports entertainment and three who were successful hoteliers, and that he appreciated having their knowledge and experience. He indicated that there were a few things in the presentation that bothered him with the first one being that they were spending $750,000 on marketing, which was a 45 percent increase, and he was unsure where the money was going, how it was being targeted, and who they were targeting with it. He remarked that Ms. Lemon brought up a good point about her owning the largest indoor facility in Lake County; however, no one was marketing it and he wondered why. He mentioned that the second thing that bothered him was that they were reducing their promotion by 60 percent; however, he thought they needed to start promoting themselves better. He pointed out that the City of Tavares had a promotion where they handed out a bottle of water at every event they held and the people were supposed to put that bottle on a sign in another city and take a picture. He questioned why the county could not do the same. He expressed that he disagreed with the thought process of needing to increase their promotion and decrease their capital, and explained that he did not think their promotion was working very well; however, he did know that their capital investments had paid off. He stated that Mr. Bishop was a good example, because if it had not been for the TDC, Hickory Point Beach Volleyball Complex would not exist and it would not have generated $11 million. He also noted that Ms. Lemon was another example as she promoted events at her facility and have had some major basketball and volleyball tournaments which generated room nights. He pointed out that they had fantastic fishing in Lake County and if they did not have quality boat ramps then people would not come back; furthermore, if they did not have quality softball fields people would not come there either. He noted that they have held basketball and softball tournaments in Lake County that were broadcasted on ESPN; however, there was no sign or any type of branding to promote Lake County, which he believed was an issue. He also mentioned that there was a professional in just about every sport living in Lake County and they were not capitalizing on that; additionally, he said that they needed to expand their brand and start putting money towards capital projects to help drive their room nights. He indicated that many times day trippers turned into overnight stays. He then addressed the comment about not seeing many people on trails during the week, and noted that if one went to Hickory Point on a Tuesday there most likely would not be anyone playing there; however, when it was marketed and tournaments were held, tons of people were there. He opined that there were a lot of things they could do with their trails and with the Expo Center if they had the capital funds to help move those forward.

Mr. Clenney stated that Madden Media had prepared a presentation showing the breakdown of their strategic plan if the Board would like to see that.

Commr. Parks mentioned that he could send out the presentation by email to the Board members, and if there was time later they could possibly present their presentation.

Commr. Campione expressed her appreciation for the opportunity for both boards to be in the same room together. She stated that she was impressed with the moderator’s qualifications and thought that staff had done a good job with bringing him in as he was a board certified mediator and could resolve conflicts, which she thought was appropriate in light of the last few months leading up to this meeting considering there had been mail pieces distributed throughout the county to voters and residents portraying the BCC as big tax increasers and that this was all this meeting was about. She mentioned that they had received a lot of good information, that she was impressed with Ms. Strange’s presentation, and that she thought everything would turn out fine despite all of the negativity leading up to this meeting. She elaborated that she thought this meeting would be positive since it was forcing them to roll up their sleeves and dig in to look at things they never looked at before. She added that although they tried to market and brand themselves better they kept going through the same motions and now they were able to rethink how they promoted Lake County. She related that they needed to be who they said they were and needed to market themselves to be “Real Florida, Real Close” and make sure that their boat ramps, ball fields, and downtown districts were what they portrayed them so Lake County would be a wonderful place for people to visit. She added that it was the capital side of all of this and was how they could use this to actually achieve being who they said they were. She indicated that she was not in favor of raising taxes and was also not a proponent of increasing the penny on the hotel tax; however, she thought it felt as though they were leaving money on the table as compared to the surrounding counties of Orange, Osceola, Polk, and Seminole, as well as Metro Orlando. She stated that those areas all had a healthier and more diverse tax base with industrial and commercial uses, whereas Lake County had a more heavily residential tax base. She related that they wanted to keep property taxes low; therefore, it was hard to understand why they would leave a penny on the hotel tax that could actually be used to achieve capital projects by allowing them to shift some of their sales tax projects. She then mentioned that Lake County was right in the middle of the State of Florida when it came to coast to coast trails, noting that the City of Clermont had a “Meet Me in the Middle” campaign and that she wanted to see if the City would allow the County to use that campaign as well since the county was in the middle and was where people would tend to stay the night when using the trail system. She related that not only did capital projects bring in visitors and room nights, but that the residents also benefitted as they could use them too. She opined that this was a win-win as they received a better value from their investments. She also expressed that Lake County was wonderful to live in as it was like an all-American small town that liked the Fairgrounds because that was where the 4-H and Future Farmers of America came to show off their livestock; additionally, she said the Fairgrounds was part of their history. She noted that they also loved sports and that there were tons of successful athletes that had moved from high school to college to professional sports and they were proud of that; furthermore, she said that those were part of their brand. She stated that she thought they were missing out on overnight stays with travel sports and that maybe they needed to look at the time of year when hotel room nights were at the lowest and focus on promoting the travel team sports during that time to get more visitors into Lake County. She mentioned that it seemed as though both boards had been working hard on their own responsibilities and duties and were not effectively communicating each other’s visions and goals; however, she said that was what this meeting was for and she knew they could get there. She also stated that she appreciated the TDC members’ service.

Commr. Blake stated that he wanted to discuss a few questions that he had with the first question being whether they should increase the tax. He related that he thought they should not increase it, noting that the previous day the BCC passed an unrelated resolution showing economic data on how much the pandemic had negatively affected hospitality and tourism industries. He opined that they were still recovering from it and that although the tax was not for the residents of Lake County, they would all eventually suffer. He expressed that now of all times was not the right time to increase the tax. He then questioned whether the BCC should micromanage the TDC, and he believed that they should not as he thought that the historical mission of the TDC was represented well. He also opined that trails should not be an expense for the TDC and that just because he enjoyed having shooting facilities in Lake County, he would never advocate that other taxpayers build and maintain a county shooting facility. He mentioned that the ROI on trails as what was presented was amazing; however, he did not think the ROI was anywhere near what the projections said and that if they were then they would have private capital flowing into the ROI from big industries. He then thanked everyone for being there that day and noted that their main issue was to discuss whether or not the increase to the tax was appropriate at this time, and he did not believe it was.

Mr. Marsee commented that this had been a great brainstorming session and that he thought they all did very well in exchanging views without any acrimony. He noted that he also learned a lot about Lake County.

Mr. Clenney mentioned that they still had some time left in the meeting and asked if the BCC wanted to have Madden Media or GO Sports give presentations on their marketing strategies.

Commr. Parks remarked that he thought it would be a good time for an update from GO Sports since that went towards the marketing side; additionally, he said that he believed it had been a good investment through the years. He noted that they could email out both presentations as well to all of the members.

Ms. Lemon asked Mr. Clenney the reason for why the TDC event sponsorship amount was reduced from $1,250,656 to $900,000.

Mr. Clenney explained that the event sponsorship program had a few other programs fall under the promotional activities budget, which was budgeted at $1.8 million for FY 2022 and that there were reductions across the board, such as with the co-op marketing program and the in-house advertising. He elaborated that the promotional activities line included the marketing agency of record, which was Madden Media and was previously listed under professional services, the professional bass angler sponsorship, the co-op marketing program, event sponsorships, promotional items, research, and miscellaneous.

Ms. Lemon asked if the event sponsorship program would change.

Mr. Clenney answered that their office had been looking at the event sponsorship program for the last nine months to see how it could be improved and that the discussion of that was on the agenda for the TDC meeting on October 4, 2021.

Mr. Beucher asked if they could have a discussion after GO Sports made their presentation if there was enough time left.

Commr. Parks answered that they were allowing questions now and that they could have more after the presentation. He then referred to the slide regarding the agreement with the City of Groveland for the South Lake Regional Park and pointed out that it allowed other events and tournaments besides softball, noting that cricket was even permitted there.

Commr. Campione asked if that would complete everything that was seen on the slide.

Commr. Parks commented that he did not think the $3 million would cover everything.

Mr. Clenney confirmed this, stating that the total cost of the project was still to be determined; however, it could be close to $30 million to complete it through all three phases. He noted that it was currently programmed within the sales tax projects at $1.5 million between FY 2022 through FY 2026, except $1.4 million in FY 2023.

Commr. Campione commented that she thought that what was being proposed meant they could go out there, get it done, and it would be ready.

Commr. Parks mentioned that the $3 million would cover one of the phases.

Commr. Campione stated that she was kind of surprised to see that in the presentation and that if they were considering taking money out of quality of life/infrastructure sales tax projects and shift some things around then they needed to have that discussion during a workshop on another day.

Commr. Parks indicated that they had discussions over the years about using TDT funds for creating venues that gave them the most bang for their buck where everyone got to use it, and that was the reason the South Lake Regional Park was listed as an option as it was the most active right now on the facility side for parks and trails.

Mr. Gunderson commented that the reason there was $3 million sitting in reserves was because they paused the capital projects for a period of time and also because there had not been any viable projects coming forward that met the criteria of qualifying for TDT funds. He recalled that when the City of Leesburg was building their facility the TDC recommended $190,000 which was staff’s recommendation; however, the BCC ended up granting them $600,000. He related that he questioned whether the facility would regenerate tax dollars and what the City was doing to generate tourists and it seemed as though the facility was not doing what the requirements were of the TDT funds, which he said was the big issue with capital projects. He noted that there was a formula for capital projects and that most projects had not been able to meet the criteria.

Commr. Campione expressed that she did not want to review that project; however, she stated that she remembered there being boats, facilities, docks, and planting and that it was tied in with bass fishing tournaments and the use of the City of Leesburg’s lakefront. She added that there were many things that the BCC looked at that was related to the promotion of the county’s brand and the lakes for bass fishing. She indicated that she would rather focus on the present and what their vision was for the future as they needed to decide which capital projects were appropriate uses for the TDT dollars. She opined that sports and sports complexes could bring in overnight visits and that they were lacking in that area. She also noted that the current Fairgrounds/Expo Center was not big enough, there was not enough parking, and it was not air conditioned, and that she thought they could do better with that as there were a lot of events that would fit into the requirements under the statutes. She related that she was not saying that they should build all of the trails with the TDT dollars; however, she thought some of the funds could be used for trail components and some missing gaps that would actually allow them to market themselves as the middle point on the Florida Coast to Coast trail. She reiterated that they should focus on things that were most impactful to bring into their vision.

Commr. Smith explained that the BCC had invested a significant amount of capital dollars on the trails and that the TDT funds would only be a small percentage towards them rather than 100 percent funded.

Commr. Campione mentioned that funding for the Expo Center would only be a small percentage as well.

Commr. Smith stated that he thought there were ways to get around the tax increase, specifying that they could shift to capital dollars, move some of the promotional dollars, and make sure the money was used for what it was supposed to be used for. He noted that he also agreed that they did not know where their priorities currently were; however, he said that they could look at that at a later date once they targeted certain areas.

greater orlando sports commission presentation

Mr. Jason Siegel, President and CEO for GO Sports, explained that GO Sports, which was formerly known as the Central Florida Sports Commission, was established in 1993 and partnered with Lake County in 1996. He indicated that they strategically solicited, created, and supported sports related events and businesses that enhanced the community’s economy. He stated that their target markets included marquee, collegiate, Olympic/international, youth/amateur, and Esports. He pointed out that staff would be going to London, England the following week to work with a number of international and United States Olympic committees to discuss the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics that would be held in Los Angeles, California. He related that the existing five year contract with GO Sports and Visit Lake extended through September 30, 2025. He displayed a slide showing the economic impact for events since Fiscal Year (FY) 2015/2016, noting that for FY 2020/2021 they were projecting to have 10,390 room nights and $8 million in economic impact. He mentioned that over the past two or three years they had seen a significant ROI and that they were expecting FY 2021/2022 to be equally significant. He then displayed slides showing the notable events they had hosted, their press release, their regional collaboration with their partners in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties, the various affiliations and memberships they were part of, as well as their marketing and promotion of the destination. He gave an update on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), noting that this region had been awarded more national championships than any others in the country. He then mentioned that they were one of 17 cities bidding for opportunities to host the 2026 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup and that they were expecting an $800 million opportunity for the region, which did not include all of the opportunities leading up to it. He related that this tournament was watched by over 3.5 billion households, which was more than half of the world’s population, and that they expected a decision to be made in quarter 1 or quarter 2 of FY 2022. He noted that they have had great conversations with the City of Montverde for the potential to host fan fests, have training site locations, and also base camps which would drive millions of dollars into Lake County. He then discussed the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, noting that the games would be coming to the Greater Orlando area which meant that the special Olympic athletes in Lake County would not have to drive far to compete. He pointed out that he wanted to make sure they took the opportunity to celebrate those athletes as they lead into the games, which were happening June 4 through 12, 2022. He also noted that once the athletes were in the community that they did not have to pay for anything, such as room and board and competition, as there were many organizations who supported the games.

Ms. Lemon commented that she wanted her facility to be a part of the Special Olympics; however, she was told that her location was farther than where the athletes wanted to travel, and asked if Mr. Siegel could speak to that.

Mr. Siegel stated that they continued to add competitions as they increase their fundraising; therefore, he believed there was still time to see about additional opportunities and that he would be glad to make a phone call. He noted that the original 4,000 competitors had increased to 6,000.

bcc and tdc discussion

Mr. Beucher commented that he was a little disturbed at what he had been hearing. He pointed out that well intentioned people have been on the BCC and that they were under immense pressure by so many people who came to them asking for things the County could not afford. He noted that the vast majority of the projects listed on a prior slide had been bypassing the TDC board and were being funded through internal operating expenses, of which he believed the classroom at the Agricultural Center was an example. He opined that just because someone said that something could be done that it did not make it the right thing to do and that they should hold themselves to a very high standard. He remarked that the TDC was technically the generators of the TDT tax since they collected it for the county and that about 25 percent of the revenues went towards A&G, 25 percent went towards events promotion, and 50 percent went towards capital projects, which he thought was way too much. He gave the example that when the City of Clermont’s Waterfront Park was going to be built the TDC board recommended $248,000; however, they were given $750,000 and he noted that in one year they had only generated 250 room nights. He stressed the importance of holding themselves to the same standards as everyone else who was requesting TDT money and that he opined that not having a clawback provision would result in the municipalities asking for excessive money, which he said had been proven through history. He mentioned that the TDC had helped build fields, concession stands, and install lights at Hickory Point and that for three years Mission Inn rented the fields for events generating over 800 room nights; additionally, he said that one day they were told they were not welcome at Hickory Point anymore and that Seminole County now received that economic benefit. He opined that this was something they needed to learn from as he believed that when the tourist industry who built a certain asset for a community should be allowed access to it. He asked that if they were planning on moving forward with the recommended suggestions that they should at least be sensitive to the things that the TDC thought were important, otherwise they could repeat the same mistakes from the past as he thought there were very few capital projects they had built that legitimately helped drive TDT dollars.

Commr. Parks commented that although the TDC was the tax generator, there were a lot of very big generators around there. He opined that there were many benefits in using TDT funds as opposed to using the sales tax fund, such as the economic benefit to the residents and the intangible benefit of people wanting to move to Lake County because they believed it was a great place to start a career and had venues that were of interest to them. He opined that there were more measurements than just room nights.

Commr. Campione mentioned that there were most likely other events that were not collecting and reporting data because they did not apply for promotional money; therefore, she believed they were only working with part of the data to determine what did or did not generate room nights, which she thought was something they could work on. She stated that the projects they were talking about now were different than the projects that had been approved in the past as they were looking at creating fields and facilities that would actually generate room nights; furthermore, she said that they wanted to narrow down the types of things that they thought would qualify.

Mr. Beucher agreed, stating that if an event organizer had not asked for money then the TDC would not necessarily know that room nights were generated; furthermore, he said that if the City of Clermont had received capital project funds that it would be their responsibility to generate that data regardless of whether rights holders had asked for the money. He opined that it seemed as though they were letting all of the capital fund money go unchecked which was why he was asking the BCC to help them protect the money so that they still had money to fund good projects and were not funding projects that did not warrant help.

Commr. Smith mentioned that he thought they were taking steps in the right direction; however, he thought they needed to understand that economic development was not just about overnight stays and that it was also about day trips as those people went to restaurants and retail stores which in turn helped keep property taxes down. He opined that they needed to have a blend of 60/40 to help their property taxes stay level and that they should support everyone, whether they came for the day or to stay the night.

Mr. Bishop suggested that they should enjoy the bump from adding the online platforms as they had received approximately $393,000 year to date; furthermore, he said that he believed that revenue would continue to grow and that it would be a big benefit for when things started to stabilize as they could use that to help fund some of the things they had been discussing. He stated that they should also review their current approach on spending to see what they might be able to do better. He opined that they should not use TDT dollars for things that would not replenish the fund because he believed that would become a slippery slope and that eventually they would find themselves upside down. He indicated that they should create a vision on how to move Lake County forward together as he believed they were better together and that he did not want to find themselves at odds with each other due to different points of view; additionally, he said that the TDC all volunteered to be on the board because they wanted the county to benefit. He then expressed that they should wait until the market stabilized to revisit any increases to the TDT.

Mr. Cooke commented that there had been a lot of talk about having a vision and noted that Madden Media was hired to help with the visioning process. He also suggested that staff be included in that process. He then mentioned that there were many stakeholders in the audience who had their own venues generating lots of room night revenue, and suggested that Madden Media help those stakeholders promote their venues.

Mr. Clenney indicated that this was included in their media plan, specifying that they wanted to retain their sports media buys and the sports trade publications to target niche sports and see where the need was, such as with summer events and during shoulder seasons. He elaborated that their PR marketing was also included and that they were looking at the leisure traveler market through Destinations Analyst to see how the brand would be perceived and how to encourage more visitors. He added that they would be coming forward within the next few months with more information.

Mr. Cooke stated that Commissioner Smith had mentioned the importance of including day trips, and opined that the kind of economic impact generated from day trips was very difficult to measure as he was unsure what kind of metric would be used. He noted that room nights were easy to measure and they matched the definition under the state statute for a tourist.

Commr. Parks recapped what had been discussed that day, noting that he wanted to have a presentation from Madden Media at another workshop with the TDC so they could ask questions. He mentioned that the big question for the commission was whether they wanted to allocate more towards capital as it was his impression from the discussions that day that there was enough interest on the board to do that; furthermore, he said that he was unsure of the amount, but that it was something worth thinking about. He said that it was his understanding that they wanted to make sure that they were being very careful on projects that were selected, that they wanted to get other generators involved, that they all should be part of the visioning session to help narrow down the specifics on the additional capital expenditures, and that they wanted to become more efficient and effective in their marketing. He also mentioned that he would like staff to talk with them individually.

Mr. Clenney stated that he would be happy to email out the presentations from that day for everyone to review and that he could set up the future workshop as well as the one on one meetings with the commissioners.

Ms. Lemon pointed out that she was told by event organizers that they had a maximum cap of $50,000 per year when applying for event sponsorships and that in order to go over that cap it was recommended that they ask the host to apply for a sponsorship, and then if the host did not want to apply then she could apply through a third party board. She noted that it had been really attractive with organizations because that put them directly in contact with the tourism office.

Commr. Shields thanked everyone for coming and then asked how they would work on their vision and whether they would meet with staff, form a subcommittee, or have the TDC do it.

Commr. Parks answered that they could have another workshop like this with a presentation from Madden Media. He related that they would also talk about the vision, expenditures, capital projects, metrics, and figure out a way to get some more input from generators. He expressed that he thought they had made a couple key steps that day and that there had been some good realization of the things they needed to work on.

Mr. Bishop suggested that for their next workshop county staff issue a set of targeted questions to all of the key stakeholders so that they would have good data on projects they thought would be a great place to start with or those that may be an area of concern so that they had a starting point for their discussion.

Commr. Parks stated that this was a good idea since most of this was based on opinion as each commissioner had different priorities for projects and the generators could give some insight on these capital expenditures.

Mr. Bishop related that each commissioner could generate a question or staff could generate a series of questions that they approved and then the TDC could the provide data and comments before the next workshop.

Commr. Parks said that they would work with staff on that.

Mr. Gunderson opined that they needed to at least define the vision and what they were hoping to accomplish, because it seemed as though the discussion was more about an increase in capital expenditures and that it would happen whether they liked it or not, which he opined was not much of a vision. He said that they should be discussing the ongoing operational costs for those expenditures and how they would generate tourism, which was measured by an increase in bed tax. He remarked that they could talk about people coming to restaurants or shopping in shops; however, there was no real definition of whether those people were actually generating tourism. He explained that those in the hotel industry were big employers, specifying that Lakeside Inn in the City of Mount Dora had over 90 employees with the majority being Lake County residents; therefore, quality of life for their employees was very important to them. He related that one of the great economic developers was ensuring that they were providing a quality of life that was appealing to those people that might consider bringing in a business into the area. He added that they also needed to make sure that as they invested in things that there was indeed a return.

Commr. Parks expressed that he thought the majority of them felt like based on data they could do more with their capital and that there would be a return on investment; furthermore, he said that they were not proposing to spend more money without a plan as they wanted to do visioning and that they were asking to be a part of that. He noted that they would look for metrics, which he believed that there were other metrics besides room nights to look at, and would put together a capital plan that looked at overall return on investment.

Mr. Marsee suggested that after hearing a lot of diverse views that day the TDC could create their own vision to present at the next workshop. He added that the BCC could as well and then they could see where they agreed and disagreed.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 4:22 p.m.

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SEAN PARKS, chairman

ATTEST:

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GARY J COONEY, CLERK