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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRestaurant Association BID Minutes 11/14/2012Newport Beach Restaurant Association Business Improvement District Board of Directors November 14, 2012 Meeting Minutes 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Jim Walker The Bungalow Ali Zadeh The Port Dave Salisbury Newport Landing Tom Giulioni Back Bay Bistro Ron Schwartz Muldoons Ex Officio: Peggy Fort CMC, Inc. Guests: Nancy Gardner Newport Beach Mayor Jim Mosher City Resident Dan Purcell City Resident Tara Finnigan City of Newport Beach Dan Matusiewicz City of Newport Beach Joe Stapleton Signature Resources / Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS There were no public comments on agenda items. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of the minutes from the NBRA BID’s September 27 was postponed. A draft of the minutes had not been received in time for the Board’s review and approval. 5. CURRENT BUSINESS A. PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Jim Walker Scott Palmer has resigned as BID Administrator. The City is temporarily assisting with the BID’s bookkeeping and administration. No financials or the minutes from the previous meeting were received. The Board will postpone its review and approval of those items until its next meeting. BID discussion with City. Balboa Village and Marine Avenue may elect to become merchants associations and disband their BIDs. NBRA and the Corona del Mar BID are still evaluating options to converting to a 1994 Act BID and ways to give the BIDs more autonomy and lessen the administrative support needed by the City. The NBRA BID has been considering retaining consultant Don Anderson to develop a strategic plan for the organization. Anderson’s proposed cost is $7500. The effort was temporarily put on hold with BID potentially changing its structure and Scott resigning. Mr. Walker recommended that the BID wait and start the effort in late January - after the holidays and after Restaurant Week. In response to a question about the BID’s ability to spend money while it is considering changing its structure, Ms. Finnigan said the BID can continue to function as it has. The Board has the authority to consider expenditures and City staff can help prepare agreements. CMC, Inc’s agreement with the BID to handle its marketing expires at the end of November. The agreement will be continued, on a month-to-month basis, through January 2013. City staff will help with the amendment. B. CITY COUNCIL REPORT – Mayor Nancy Gardner Mayor Gardner said the City has been looking at alternatives to the current BID structure for about a year. This is the second proposal. The first plan was not well received by the BIDs. Mr. Walker indicated that the NBRA BID is leaning away from converting to a 1994 Act BID, but has not ruled it out. The BID wants to look into alternatives before deciding. Ms. Finnigan offered to set up a meeting with the Board and one of the City’s attorneys and provide the same 1989 Act vs. 1994 Act presentation that the City provided to the Corona del Mar BID Board. Ms. Finnigan said the Civic Center project should be substantially completed by the end of 2012. City staff will move to the new City Hall sometime during the first quarter of 2013. C. ADMINISTRATION & FINANCIAL REPORT - Jim Walker Dan Matusiewicz, the City’s Finance Director, discussed Scott Palmer’s resignation and what has been done to transition the bookkeeping responsibilities to a new consultant. He said Mr. Palmer has been helpful through the transition. Whittaker & Associates is the accounting firm now responsible for handling the BID’s bookkeeping. Matthew Lenton, CPA, will be the primary contact. He has been busy reviewing all of the BID’s financial records and has also been working on an online approval system to help expedite invoice approvals and bill paying, and to enable BID members to pay their assessments online. He is updating the BID financial statements to conform to the “GAP” accounting style. Mr. Salisbury recommended that the BID’s financial statements reflect a cash vs. an accrual basis. Mr. Giulioni noted that Mr. Lenton’s CPA expertise could be beneficial to the BID during its strategic planning effort. Mr. Purcell asked if there was any intention to audit the BID’s financial records. Mr. Matusiewicz said not at this time, but the City would conduct an audit if the need arises. Ms. Fort asked about credit card payments for special event attendees. Mr. Matusiewicz and Mr. Giulioni will work with Whittaker & Co. on a way to do so. The Board expressed interest in saying a list of unpaid assessments. Mayor Gardner suggested breaking down the list of “late pays” by type of restaurant. Mr. Walker announced that during the last quarter, restaurants provided the most sales tax to the City. D. NBRA BID MARKETING REPORT - Peggy Fort Ms. Fort shared the comps for the dining guide. She indicated the guide would go to print soon and the cost would come in under budget. She discussed the newly revamped Food for Thought e-newsletter and suggested it be used as a way to gather feedback on the BID’s strategic planning efforts. E. NEWPORT BEACH RESTAURANT WEEK REPORT - Peggy Fort Ms. Fort said that new restaurants are signing up to be a part of Restaurant Week. She also recently received a $10,000 sponsorship commitment from American Express. The company can conduct an analysis and report on the economic impact of the Restaurant Week campaign, but the cost is $25,000. Ms. Fort is trying to have that report included as part of the American Express event sponsorship. She then discussed the sponsors already committed or expected to commit soon including Wolf / Subzero, Nestle Water and Spreebird. Participating restaurant “early bird” sign-ups end in two weeks. About 50 restaurants have signed up and she hopes to get to 75 by the end of the two-week period. Participating restaurants must send in their menus by November 30 and a second orientation will be held early in the new year. The VIP Gala / Launch event is planned for January 9, 2013. Ms. Fort is contacting Visit Newport Beach, Visit California and California Restaurant Week to discuss cross-promotion opportunities. Mr. Giulioni discussed the improvements to the dining guide. The cost estimated in the budget was $17,000 but the actual cost will come in around $12,000 this year. Ms. Fort added that 125,000 copies of the guide go to all tourism and some corporate distribution points. Mr. Stapleton asked if there was an “app” associated. Ms. Fort said no, but the NBRA website has mobile capabilities. Visit Newport Beach has an app. There was discussion about the importance of maintaining a good database. Ms. Fort said that Food for Thought includes tutorials and one helps restaurant owners to update their information in the database. Laura Cantarini, Nestle Waters, joined the meeting. She discussed the ways that she, through her company, can support Newport Beach restaurants and restaurant week. 6. NBRA BID ANNOUNCEMENTS OR MATTERS WHICH MEMBERS WOULD LIKE PLACED ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR DISCUSSION, ACTION OR REPORT (NON-DISCUSSION ITEMS) There were no announcements or suggestions of items for future agendas. 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.