[00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Good morning everybody. Hope everybody's having a great morning on this uh crisp, I think it's still fall day outside although it doesn't feel that way. Um, I am uh the chair, Justin Olsen, and I'm calling this meeting of the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau on November 28th, 2023 to order. And uh before we get started, uh would the clerk please do the roll? Has that been done? [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Chairman Olsen? [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Here. [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Director Grula? [00:00] **Director Grula**: Here. [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Director Hansen? [00:00] **Director Hansen**: Here. [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Director Larson? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Here. [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Director LaVine? [00:00] **Director LaVine**: Here. [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Director Olsen? [00:00] **Director Olsen**: Here. [00:00] **Tammy Anderson**: Director... [unintelligible] [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: We're going to need to get used to that "two Director Olsen" thing. Okay, uh would everybody please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. [00:00] **Group**: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you. Item three on our agenda today is actually adoption of the agenda. Do I have a motion to adopt the agenda? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: So moved. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: All right, motion by Director Larson. Do I have a second? [00:00] **Director LaVine**: I'll second. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Second by Director LaVine. Are there any comments or questions? All right, all in favor of the agenda please say I. [00:00] **Group**: I. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Any opposed? Great, the agenda has been adopted and now we are moving forward to approval of the minutes from the June 27th, 2023 Convention and Visitors Bureau meeting. And those who were present for that meeting, I would ask uh for a motion to approve the minutes. [00:00] **Director Hansen**: Moved. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: All right, we have a motion by Director Hansen. Do I have a second? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Second. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Second by Director Larson. All in favor, I. [00:00] **Group**: I. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Any opposed? All right, so the minutes have been approved. Now we're moving on to item five which is our business items for the day and we have a wonderful presentation to get us started this morning. Uh, this is with regard to all of the various holiday events going on in the community and we have Molly from our Park and Rec Department to present. Good morning. [00:00] **Molly Petuski**: Good morning everyone. Molly Petuski with the City of Cottage Grove Parks and Recreation Department. So I have the honor to sit in or direct or lead or liaison to a lot of city events coming up the next few weeks so we just wanted to share those with you today. Um, the first one—we'll backtrack a little bit—was Hail to the Bird was held last Thursday at Hamlet Park on Thanksgiving morning. It's estimated about 800 people participated in that race. All of the proceeds kind of kick off our Holiday Train fundraising to serve the Friends in Need Food Shelf, so hopefully they'll be presenting us this that check this weekend at Fill a Fire Truck and then it goes through um the Holiday Train committee to the Friends of Need. So it was a great race, tons of people, it was a little cold to get started but we were definitely uh warm and sweaty by the end for sure. So um a great annual race just started by local people who live here, nothing crazy, just a just a flat out run, walk, stroll the morning of Thanksgiving. So keep that in mind for next year, start a new family tradition. Also started this week is the Holiday Lights Home Tour. You may have seen it posted as of yesterday that the map is up and ready. You still have plenty of time to add either your own house, your neighbor houses, the family's houses here in Cottage Grove that then create a map. All of the maps start here at City Hall with our our big tree and chair outside which is ready to go and then kind of lead you through the town looking at Christmas lights. So if your house is not already registered and you guys have some lights put up this year, we encourage you to enter your address on the city's website as it then will be regenerated into the map for the next couple weeks still. We'll be updating that. It's another great family tradition, kind of a Friday night thing—make some cocoa, get in the car and take the kids out for a cheap date night. Tomorrow we really kick things off in a crazy way here in town. We have our Hometown Holiday event held here right here at City Hall. The event is 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. There'll be plenty of parking at the Hero Center and the Washington County service building, so come for a great night. Santa and Mrs. Claus, as you can see, will be in the chair for photo opportunities. Uh, we will have live reindeer out back here, plenty of kids games and activities to do. There are food trucks, the Park High School Choir—new this year we have a walk down this uh trail out here with Inflatables, light up something new. Um, we'll also have a warming tent out tomorrow night. Um, some of you got a sneak peek this morning; all of the Christmas lights were on kind of double-checking everything to make sure it's ready. So last year I think we expected about 500 people at this event; um with a nicer weather coming tomorrow, uh we have doubled down on everything and we are ready for even a larger event tomorrow night. Everything is free except for what you choose to purchase from the food truck, so come on out and kind of kick off your holiday events right here in Cottage Grove. As I kind of already alluded to, Fill a Fire Truck is our first big um event for the Holiday Train committee. Uh, the live silent auction is still up on the website, I believe that is open through Thursday this week um 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, so there's plenty of auction items on there that you can bid on, all proceeds going to the Food Shelf. Then you can come on Saturday to Fill a Fire Truck which will be held at Woodridge Park this year—we're moving it from Hamlet to Woodridge—um 10:00 to noon. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be there to accept all paper product donations. So at this event we are not accepting any food donations for the Food Shelf, so it's all paper towel, toilet paper, and then we do have a security cash box on hand. Um, you can also pick up your winning silent auction items. Um, play at the park if you want, it's still nice outside. Uh, we'll have plenty of fire trucks there, so our goal is to collect as many paper products for the Food Shelf as we can. And then it's also a nice opportunity for people to um come out and see Santa and Mrs. Claus and the fire trucks as well. The River Oaks Santa Breakfast is uh December 10th, that is a Sunday. This event is already filled up but I just wanted to briefly mention it, keep it in your back pocket for next year. Um, it is a great breakfast down at River Oaks with sleigh rides through the course but tickets are all sold out for this. So we'll keep moving but it's still on our radar as a great event here in Cottage Grove. Later that night the CPKC Holiday Train will arrive in Cottage Grove for its 20th year. This event um I've been a part of for a long time, it gets bigger and better every year. So this year is our 20th year. So the brightly lit train arrives at 5:00. Because it is a Sunday this year, the road will close at 2:30 and events start at 3:00 p.m. giving people more time to kind of come out; there's not that after-school after-work rush this year. Um, we'll have some activities, entertainment, lots of food trucks and then kind of get yourself ready—you want to be definitely in spot for that train to arrive at 5:00. It does take about 15 minutes for everything to get set up and then the show is about a half hour. There will also be wagon rides for this event from the um park and ride all the way down to the event which is closer in front of Youth Service Bureau. Um, I think we're all over the place but typically I'd say like 9:00 to 10,000 people each year um considering if the weather stays fair and it's on a Sunday, we could have another record year for this event. The goal for the Holiday Train committee still remains at $100,000. We are pretty much the largest um donation part of the Food Shelf each year. The Food Shelf relies on our cash donation a ton, so it's a great opportunity to support our community and for your family to come out. There will be people that night um collecting cash and buckets, they do return that to a secure location. So if you want to make an online donation before you can, if you want to drop cash the night of, you can come out this weekend. It all filters its way back to the Food Shelf through the Holiday Train. The last thing I want to remind people is that Park and Rec um we are busy all winter, there's lots of opportunities to get outside. Remember that our parks are open. Woodridge is a great spot with a solid surface playground. Parks Department does a great job maintaining our trails. As soon as it snows, we try to get out there. We do not salt trails in Cottage Grove but we do plow them to the best of our abilities, so allowing people to stay outside and stay active this winter. Warming houses—as much as we're excited about this nice weather, warming houses are kind of trending like they may take a little bit of a hit already this year. Our goal is to always open them the day after Christmas kind of weather dependent. Um, if we get snow but not cold weather, some of them we may open so that they're accessible for for sledding hills um but until then just keep an eye on social media and the city's website for when those warming houses open for skating rinks and sledding hills. Cross country skiing is going to be—the trails will be groomed again at River Oaks this winter. So keep that in mind as a fun activity if your family has cross country skis, you can get out and use those groomed trails at River Oaks. And snowshoes—again, we reutilize our kayak rental system and we kind of modify the inside and we put snowshoes out in the winter. We are still finalizing some plans as to where those snowshoes are going to be. We thought Oakwood was nice last year, but Oakwood seems like pretty a hilly terrain, it may have been more of like a little advanced for families who just want to get out and enjoy it. So we're looking for a park with maybe broader uh flat landscape this year, so still working on that, which we'll definitely get out on social media. But lots of activities. Um, again I just want to mention the Cottage Grove Ice Arena is really busy. Park hockey is starting this week, home girls hockey is home this week, and East Ridge has their first home game tomorrow. So um the ice rink is busy seven days a week. There were people on the ice by 6:00 a.m. every morning this morning when I got there, so and they're there on the ice when I go to bed at night. So if you're looking for something to do, always check that out—plenty of public skate, cosmic skate, open hockey too. So if you have any questions I can definitely answer them, um otherwise we look forward to celebrating the holidays here in Cottage Grove. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Well thank you Molly. Just a couple of things going on? [00:00] **Molly Petuski**: Yeah, not not a whole lot, no. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Yeah, um I really do appreciate the update and I know that uh you and your team have been exceptionally busy preparing especially for tomorrow night's Hometown Holiday celebration and uh that starts at 5:00, is that right? [00:00] **Molly Petuski**: 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, perfect. Um, I certainly plan on being here and I've had the opportunity to speak with uh Santa and Sparkles the Elf and I know they're very excited as well so it should be a really fun night. Any questions for Molly from anybody on the board? None? Okay well thanks very much. I do want to mention for folks who may not be aware that uh as Molly mentioned the Holiday Train is the number one fundraising opportunity for our friends down at the Friends in Need Food Shelf and this is the last year that Michelle Rageth will will be the director of the Food Shelf. She has put in 25 very, very great years and she's worked really hard. We had a little ceremony for her um last night just to thank her and I know that she would love nothing more than to retire—quote-unquote "retire," I'm guessing she'll never retire, that lady's got more energy than my kids—but um I know she'd love to retire with a really, really nice fundraising year this year. And you mentioned the goal is $100,000; we've been able to beat that as a community um pretty handily over the course of the last few years. So if you haven't had a chance to look at the silent auction items yet, you can do that, those are online. Um, there's a lot of really neat stuff in there including a a home visit from Santa and Sparkles the Elf if you'd like that for your family. And uh she's she's really excited to see a great turnout. A Sunday night 5:00 on the 10th, weather's supposed to be fair and I think it's going to be uh just massive this year. So let's raise a bunch of money for Friends in Need. Did you have anything else for us? [00:00] **Molly Petuski**: I don't. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, well thank you so much, much appreciated. Great update and thank you and your team for all the hard work. Absolutely. And now we will move on to item 5.2 under business items which is the 2023 Food Truck Festival Recap and we have Jamie Mann to present that to us. Hi Jamie. [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Hi, thank you Chairman Olsen, members of the board. Um, I'm going to give you a quick recap on our Food Truck Festival this year. Um, it was our inaugural year; uh we've never done it before and it was a fantastic event. Um, nothing but great feedback. I do have a quick video to play for you. Um, Isaac Pavic, he's one of our Public Works workers, he was at the event—he does photography on the side—and he was able to bring his drone out so I can show you the kind of the scope of the event with this drone footage that he shot for us. Um, and I'm just going to kind of talk through it as we're seeing the video. It's just a quick video but we had 23 food trucks in attendance. Um, one family was there with a cornhole tournament. We had our Recreation Department that um hosted some bounce houses for the kids. The Strawberry Fest Ambassadors um had some carnival games that they were putting on. We had two bands that played over the duration of the event. The Lions Club provided uh alcohol sales during the event and SoWashCo Cares um sold wristbands for alcohol sales. Uh, the feedback we've gotten from all of our food trucks was that they loved the event. Everybody who sent feedback pretty much told us that they'd like to attend next year as well, they want to know when our date is. Um, the volunteer groups that we had working with us all loved the event as well, they want to participate again next year. So um overall it was a great success. We're estimating between 4,000 and 5,000 people that attended. I can tell you the lines at the food trucks were very long; some of them didn't seem to end through the whole seven hours of the event. So um it was a great event. We're looking forward to doing it next next year and I will give you a "Save the Date" for the event next year. We're doing it September 14th, it's a Saturday. Um, I'm not sure if we'll adjust times; um we have learned a few things from hosting this first event. Um, so when our committee starts to meet for next year's event we will kind of put into place some of those things that we are going to look at changing. But overall um it was a successful event and I would be happy to stand for any questions. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you Jamie. Any questions from the board at all? [00:00] **Director Hansen**: I don't have a particular question but I have a comment please. I thought that Jamie and the crew did a fantastic job on the Food Truck Festival. I was shocked when I saw so many people show up. Having worked events for years and years and years—I know I only look 40 but—um it was amazing that that many people showed up given how short we were on the communication side. So uh kudos to Jamie, the community, and everyone who helped spread the word. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Absolutely, and I'll second that. I know uh Jamie sort of picked up the ball at halftime so to speak. Um, she wasn't even involved you know to a large degree in the initial planning phase, but when we had some staff changes she was um very, very gracious in taking this on because it wasn't a small project and it was a phenomenal event. Uh, I've heard nothing but great feedback. Anybody else, any comments or questions? [00:00] **Director Olsen**: I'll piggyback on that. The comments I'm hearing from the public was wonderful. They like the time of year—it's not Halloween, kids are back to school. Um, so that time of year of mid-September, obviously with weather, is most likely favorable. But everyone that I've talked to in the community enjoyed their time or they're spreading the word to others that missed that this is a thing to be at. Uh, did hear some feedback that the lines were long—that's okay, that means you know uh the trucks are happy as well and you want those trucks to be happy from a profitability side. Uh, and the free entry I think is very important. Um, I think we should keep that in mind in the future that there were some comments that the free entry nowadays for family events is nice. So thank you. [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Thank you Director Olsen. I will also say um we had a larger goal for food trucks. Um, we're hoping that we since we now have um comparison information to be able to share with food trucks about participation and attendance that we'll be able to attract more food trucks. So the lines maybe a little shorter for next year and people maybe have some more options for— [00:00] **Director Olsen**: Right, and it does look like square footage wise in your asphalt there is some room for five to eight more trucks. [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Absolutely, yes. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Anyone else with questions or comments for Jamie? I have a couple more myself. Um, one of the things we learned, to your point about the food trucks, is um because there are so many of these food truck festivals uh during the course of the summer months, uh it sounds like they tend to hedge their bets and they might sign up for one, two, three events on the same date and then as the date gets closer they try to figure out which one is going to be the most profitable. And so we actually had a couple of trucks, if I remember correctly, that um backed out on us on the last minute. And um now that we know that that's a thing, we can plan differently and accordingly for that. But uh I agree, a few more trucks out there would be a lot of fun. Uh, the second thing that I'll say—Director Olsen and I both belong to the Cottage Grove Lions Club and our club was uh just incredibly impressed with the organization, with the traffic. Um, we had a really good day in terms of just talking to people and having the opportunity to serve. Uh, we actually still owe the CVB a check for that which uh we will be taking care of here shortly. But um our chair of that event uh right after the event at our next meeting said that she absolutely wants to chair this again because she had so much fun and you know they're already putting their heads together with regard to you know ways that we can enhance our presence as a Lions Club as I'm sure many of the other uh nonprofit groups are going to do. And the last comment I had is um with regard to the music because there was free music for people—uh we had a couple of different folks come in and and provide some live music and I suspect that again, now that we have a date, we can start planning ahead for that and trying to figure out what might be the most attractive. But just all in all, what a great day it was. It was so fun, I really enjoyed it, I know a lot of the public really enjoyed it and uh I think it was a good way to put our Convention and Visitors Bureau on the map so to speak. So thank you for that. Any other questions for Jamie? All right, perfect. Well thank you so much for that Jamie, and I think you're going to stay at the podium because item 5.3 is our 2023 Q2 and Q3 Lodging Tax and other Revenue and I believe we have a document here on the desk that um you know kind of explains what you're going to talk about but take it away. [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Yep, the budget in front of you is actually for the next section. Okay, but I'm happy to report Chairman Olsen um that we had great numbers for Quarter Two and Quarter Three for our lodging tax and other revenue. Um, so as you can see in front of you, um Quarter Two we came in uh at just over $19,000 for lodging tax revenue. We do have other revenue in there as well which uh is all Food Truck Festival related on the revenue line or on the other revenue line, putting us at 99.6% over our budget projections for revenue for a Quarter Two. Uh, Quarter Three was even better. You can see our lodging tax revenue came in at $22,000. The other revenue line includes a $14,000 grant that we had been awarded from Explore Minnesota previously; uh that got paid out to us in August because all of our uh marketing activities had taken place and we submitted for payment. Um, so that $14,000 was paid out in August. The rest under the other revenue line is uh Food Truck Festival revenue, either sponsorships or food trucks paying their entry fee, uh bringing our total revenue for Quarter Three to just over $40,000 and that puts us at 24% over our projected Quarter Three revenue. So year to date we are 6.7% over our projected revenue as you can see on the last line where the total is. We are um just over $10,000 away from hitting our full year projected revenue. And with that I'd be happy to stand for any questions. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Well thank you, that sounds like a good number. I like that. Uh, any questions or comments on that item for Jamie? Okay great, well um thank you again for all of your help and uh your guidance and uh elbow grease in terms of generating that kind of revenue. It it doesn't happen by accident, it takes a lot of work. So we definitely appreciate everything that um you and the rest of the staff have done to help us achieve that goal. And I think you know as we talk about what we want to do with that revenue, uh there's going to be some really great ideas coming forth. It's a lot easier to have great ideas when you can actually pay for them. So thank you again and uh we will move on to 5.4 which puts Jamie at the podium one more time and this is our 2024 budget approval. [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Thank you Chairman Dennis—Olsen. Now in front of you is a large budget document so you can kind of follow along as I'm talking through some of the budget items, but I'll kind of have the overview on the screen for you as well. Um, so when looking at our revenue, we're basically using um kind of 2023 as a guide for projecting 2024. Most of this was in front of the board that was here at the June meeting um when we did our preliminary budget with you. Um, our lodging tax projections—so previously we've done a 60% occupancy rate for our um lodging tax revenue and we are trending about 65% on average the past couple years for lodging tax. So we wanted to bump up from 60 because we feel we were a little bit low on our projections for lodging tax. So this year, or for '24, we're basing our occupancy rate on a 63% occupancy which brings us to just over $6,000 a month in revenue from lodging tax. Now obviously that fluctuates from month to month—February is a little slower, July's a little busier—um but over the course of the year that would equal out to just over $72,000 for lodging tax projections. Visitors Guide ad sales—we are using the number that we collected in '23 for our visitors guide ads. Um, that will be um coming to you uh in February to review the visitors guide, um but for our projections we're basing our ad sales on '23 numbers. Um, ARPA funds—um that's something new that we're showing you on the budget although it's kind of lived on the backside of the budget for the past couple of years. Um, that covers the salary and benefits of our communication specialist positions. Um, only a portion of it; a portion is covered by the city as well. Um, that does run out in '24, so that number is a bit lower than we've gotten in previous years. Um, so moving forward we will um manage those on the back end. Uh, new is the Food Truck Festival revenue. Um, we're basing our number again on '23 numbers hoping to grow it into '24, um but we like to be conservative in our projections so we're basing our food truck revenue on '23 total. So we brought in just over $11,000 in revenue from our Food Truck Festival. Um, new before you—um in July after our June meeting, we got notification that there was an Explore Minnesota Tourism Recovery Grant available for visitors bureaus across the state. Um, it is a non-matching grant so we don't have to provide any funds for them to give us funds in return. Um, with that we didn't have to bring it in front of the board and we thought we will always take free money from the state when we can get it. So um we applied for the recovery or Tourism Recovery Grant through Explore Minnesota and were awarded a $10,000 grant. So we have now added that into our revenue um for '24 bringing our total projected revenue to $153,500. Our expenses—as of early '24, we are done paying back the EDA in the city for starting um up the Visitors Bureau, so that will drop off as of next year. So that's why you show a zero on your screen and on your budget form. Um, so we won't be reporting on that any further. Um, operating expenses include things like covering um like I mentioned on the ARPA funds um the salary and benefits for our two communication specialists, office equipment, postage for mailing visitors guides, um any continuing education we do through either Explore Minnesota or the Minnesota area um Convention and Visitors Bureau Association which we're a part of. Also that includes our 5% administrative fee and our um 25% payback to the City of Cottage Grove for managing the Visitors Bureau um bringing our total operating expenses to just over $107,000. Uh, marketing, which is one of our larger expenses and really where we kind of focus all of our energy—um because we are a visitors bureau we're trying to draw people in and the only way to do that is to get the word out to people that we're here and we have great things happening in our city. Um, so under marketing we have things like website hosting, um printing our visitors guides, marketing local events, hosting our Food Truck Festival, um social media—we will be switching up how we do social media in 2024. Previously we've worked with a marketing company; um we have recently found out that um they're charging us about a 40% fee to handle our paid social media advertising and since we've reconfigured our Communications Department and we now have an in-house social media specialist who is comfortable doing paid advertising, we will be bringing that in house. So we'll be able to take the 40% of those funds and reinvest it into actual marketing instead of paying an administrative fee to a marketing company. So that will give us kind of more bang for our buck on our social media line. Um, and then any advertising we do in publications. So overall uh you can see before you our total revenue and expense projections with being awarded that $10,000 Explore Minnesota grant. I know in June we were previously projecting a loss; now with that grant we're projecting a profit of just over $5,100. So before you is a recommendation but I would be happy to stand for any questions. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Well thank you. That was a very comprehensive recap and uh a lot of good information included in there. It's always nice to see the bottom line in the black and it sounds like um bringing uh some of that communications work back to City Hall as opposed to paying a 40% markup is really going to help us moving forward as well. Are there any questions on the budget for Jamie? [00:00] **Director Grula**: Uh, one question is—do you know if that Explore Minnesota Grant is renewable or if it's a one-time offering? [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Thank you Chairman—Director Grula. Um, that is a one-time offer. So usually every year they'll come out with some type of grant; this one is called a Tourism Recovery Grant, last year's was called something else. So we will apply for any grant that we see is available. Um, if there's a match we will bring it before you for approval. Since this one didn't have a match we were able to apply for it um because we didn't have to provide any additional funds for that. So um we always look for Explore Minnesota grants or any other grants that we can use to supplement our revenue. Thank you. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you very much. And on that note I just want to uh make sure that all of our directors understand um in many cases when you apply for these sorts of funds or grants, they are matching funds, which means you need to put money forward and then um whomever it is that is providing the grant will typically match what you put forward. So as you mentioned earlier, the Explore Minnesota grant did not require that; uh that is not super common but it is absolutely a gift. Uh, because when you don't have to provide those matching funds obviously um you don't have to dip into into your own pocket to try to um create some of that uh financial health so to speak that those grants provide. And I know that our staff does an awesome job of consistently looking for and applying for relevant grants regardless of the department; um that's something that uh they do very, very well. So uh good news on that and I expect that there'll be more good news with respect to grant funding next year. Any other questions at all? [00:00] **Director LaVine**: I have a question. Um, do we know what month um is projected for that new uh Discover Cottage Grove guide to come out? [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Thank you Director LaVine. Yes, we are looking at um sending out advertising information now to previous um the companies who previously advertised in the guide. We're opening that up to other people in January. Um, the guide will come before you in February and then it'll be ready for distribution in March. Thanks. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Excellent question from Director LaVine, thank you. Anyone else? Jamie, I have two things uh you know kind of relevant to your presentation. So um the first thing is our two communication specialists that you've mentioned a couple times—um do they happen to be in the room today? [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Chairman Olsen, they are in the room. Would you like me to introduce them? [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: I would love it if they would introduce themselves perhaps and just let everybody know who they are because we're really lucky to have them on board. So if you don't mind coming up to the podium—don't mean to put you on the spot. You do, but you are, but I will. Yeah. [00:00] **Liz Dyan**: Morning, thank you for the invitation. I'm Liz Dyan, Communication Specialist with focus in social media. [00:00] **Courtney Hannah**: Good morning. I'm Courtney Hannah and so I'm on the communications team and I'll be focusing on graphic design and working on the visitors guide too. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Good. Great and we're very lucky to have you on board. So is it fair to say Liz, you're the one who gets the 40% commission on the advertising? Okay, wonderful. Yep, that that's really nice for you and and for Courtney—sorry. Yep. Um, the other question that I had, excuse me, has to do with the Food Truck Festival and the food truck revenue. Uh, now that we have a little bit of um I guess background on what that festival generated in terms of traffic, revenue, so on and so forth, are we going to be looking at uh any changes in our fee structure potentially in terms of who we invite and the fees for for being here for that? I know that we kind of used a flat fee this year um but we definitely had some pretty happy food trucks; they uh they had plenty of traffic and they had a very good event in terms of their financial health. So is that something that we're planning to review? [00:00] **Jaime Mann**: Thank you Chairman Olsen. Yes, once we get the committee back together that is something we'll talk about. Um, we did actually get feedback from one of the food trucks that our fee was too small. So um if we bump it up, it will probably be a small bump the first year sure. Um, and then we'll kind of gauge based on attendance of um people coming in to eat at the food trucks and how long the lines are um if we can add more trucks. Um, adding more trucks obviously adds more revenue to us as well. So um we'll look at all those things when the committee reconvenes in probably January. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Perfect, thank you. And the reason I asked is I had a chance to visit with our friend Matt Miller from Northwood Smokehouse; um he provided some Thanksgiving meals for our first responders this year which was really nice and he made mention of that too. Uh, he said in terms of just his experiences—and that's he's just one person but—um he said that our fee was uh pretty low. And not that that's a good thing or a bad thing, it certainly helped us to attract a large number of food trucks, but I just thought it might bear some review and then we can determine what to do from there. I think it all depends on what your strategy is and how you want to go about achieving that strategy. Any other questions for Jamie at all? Okay, I think we're going to let you sit down now. So thank you so much for all of the various updates. And we are moving on to 5.5 under business items which is the Dowdle Commissioned Art Program and Director L—oh, I'm sorry, you need a vote don't you? My fault, my fault. Thank you, um and thank you Director LaVine for reminding me. So uh on the uh screens in front of us we have a recommendation for a motion. I would seek a uh first on that. Anybody want to make the motion? [00:00] **Director Hansen**: Moved. Would you read it please? [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Oh... "Approve the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitor Bureau 2024 budget." [00:00] **Director Hansen**: I'll move to approve the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitor Bureau 2024 budget. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: All right so we have a motion. Do I have a second? [00:00] **Director LaVine**: I'll second. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Director LaVine second. Any further discussion on this item? Anyone? All right, all in favor please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Group**: I. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Any opposed? All right, unanimous consent. Now you can sit down. Thank you. First time chairing the meeting so please bear with me. All right, now I think we can move on to Director Larson on the Dowdle Commissioned Art Program. Gretchen, take it away. [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Sir you bet, you're doing a great job, thank you very much. Good morning everyone. So we're going to just do a quick review about the Dowdle Commissioned Art Program Agreement. You don't actually have the agreement before you and you did not have it in your packet because we're still working on modifications and final details related to it. Um, but what it is generally is the Dowdle marketing team reached out to us um in the city about a "Land That I Love" for the tour of the 250th anniversary of the city—um excuse me, of the country. And Eric Dowdle is a well-known folk artist who does commissioned paintings and from those commissioned paintings he actually produce—he has his team produce puzzles that they then sell, which tells the story of your city. So whatever city you're in, and they tell the story of the country. And if you visit their website they have just an enormous amount of puzzles; he's really made quite a business out of this. We recognized in speaking with them—the City Administrator, Commissioner Olsen, Mayor Bailey, all and the team met and talked about what is this, why would we want to participate, what makes it impactful? And I think we realized that in those discussions that this project has potential short-term and long-term to be an economic development and tourism promotional item. Right? It's a part of our strategic plan. The strategic plan is you're in the CVB, you want to grow, you want people to know, you want people to come visit, you want people to come stay, and then you want them to go home—because that's the best kind of money. So in exploring that and after the meeting with Chairman Olsen and Mayor Bailey, it was determined that we should just encourage the Economic Development Authority to continue to move this project forward. So that's what we're doing here today is talking with you about it about the impacts of tourism. So cost for the projects—the CVB is not paying those costs, however the EDA would be if they agree to it and then the city confirms it. The total cost for the project is $150,000—and this is on the screen to help also inform the public and people watching. Um, the original commission is $75,000 for the actual painting that Eric does. Included in that is another $75,000 because part of it is you purchase the puzzles which then you hope to then sell to the community and others who are interested in our community, and that helps offset the actual costs. Right? So that's kind of the big picture. Um, if everything went as planned and the um CVB approves of it, encourages the EDA to support it, Council approves it, we would have we would commission the painting and then approximately late May early June the painting would be finished and then would ensue an unveiling party where the people who participated in the puzzle—meaning the people in the community and other projects like Holiday Train or the Chamber Showcase or um the Food Truck Festival—right, you're coming to visit us. Right? So anybody who participates then would be in that unveiling party. And then the uh Dowdle folks do offer some marketing support—we're going to actually take possession of the puzzles that we would purchase, but they can also support via the website and send people to us. So it's it's two-pronged effort. Um, if you'll notice on here, um we do just talk about again about the retail aspects of it and recovering the money. And then we just kind of did a quick kind of matrix for you all just to understand—this is not set in stone either—but all the wholesale price of the puzzles is $12.50 you could order and so we just did this doing the math so you could come to almost $150,000. So 300 pieces, 500 pieces, 1,000 pieces what we would order and what we would sell them for. So again that's something else that still needs to be kind of fine-tuned at the end of the agreement. So it's 75, 75, hopefully recovering 150, and we have an entire year to recover that. So if we unveil in roughly May/June then we would have an entire year to sell all the puzzles and recoup our monies. So it's not an exact science but it will get you there. And then with that, happy to answer any questions, but there is a recommendation before you. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: All right, thank you very much for that, Gretchen. Do we have any questions on this project for Gretchen or staff? [00:00] **Director Hansen**: I have a question. What would be the goal besides recouping the funds? Would you then put in another order to try to profit off of this? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: That is a great question. Um, yes the City Administrator and I have only briefly talked about, and the rest of the team hasn't even been involved in the conversation except for Alexa. Um, the idea would be is: what is Eric's plan? Because we all know that we we're all mature and eventually you have to pass off to someone else the project. So we're talking about generational um discussions about well what's Eric's plan? Does he have an apprentice that will do paintings after he decides he doesn't want to paint anymore? Or how will that all work? So those are all unanswered questions right now, but we kind of see it as um multi-phase. So when you're in marketing and or in economic development, we say this is a great place to work, live and play, right? And "invest." Invest is important. So we could have different puzzles and different themes for different reasons, right? So our idea would make it would be able to suggest to you all in the EDA and the Council that it be kind of a generational, really cool project where right now it may focus on tourism because that may be an easier quick pitch to get this all finished before the end of the year, but then maybe it's an industry one. Um, there are people like Costco and other folks that have in have um participated in those types of things where they want their five largest businesses who actually paid for the puzzle, right? And then it was just a profit because we ordered the puzzles, paid for the puzzles through sponsorship. So that's a great question, thank you. [00:00] **Director Olsen**: I have a question as well. Review the timing—I believe it was 2025, '26 on the literature. What is the timing of the project? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: The '26 is the 250th anniversary, correct, of the country. So we're—so what they're doing is they're lining up everybody who will eventually participate in ultimately that. Now we don't know what that will look like either, but the idea is is that they specifically want—so they came to Minnesota, they want at least two towns in Minnesota to cities, towns to participate and they want that for all all of the states, right? They want at least two people to participate in that. And then how all all the rest of that plays out we don't know yet because I don't think they even know yet. They know what they're working towards, how we all fit into that plan we'll still have to hash that all up. [00:00] **Director Olsen**: And then my last thought was budget wise. It's 75,000, 75,000 for the 150. Uh, on a tourism thought, has there been thought or discussion on small sponsorships from some of the businesses in town—hotels, restaurants—to minimize that that cost? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Well so the the puzzle—selling of the puzzle could mitigate the whole costs, correct? It'll come out of the economic development trust fund so that's covered. Um, but yes we will absolutely talk to businesses and other entities about participating in the puzzle because you also have to have humans on the unveiling who tell the story of the puzzle of course. [00:00] **Director Olsen**: But from a finance point, yep, uh every $5,000 matters. So I would think there'd be certain businesses in town that would be interested—Renewal by Andersen, Up North Plastics, 3M, or even some of the more successful restaurants or hotels. Just a food for thought. [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Oh yes absolutely, and the City Administrator and the team and I have talked about that and that's kind of where we come with the separating the puzzles related to the long-term strategy of how this would all work because you're right, coffee shops and um hair stylists and IB are different than Renewal and 3M and all the rest. [00:00] **Director Olsen**: Plus if you did it early especially with the larger businesses—Renewal, 3M, Up North Plastics—um you might be able to take their temperature for future if they're interested in the future as well. [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Yes. So okay absolutely. There are a lot of conversations to still be had. [00:00] **Director Olsen**: Fair enough. Thank you very much. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you very much Director Olsen. Any other questions? Gretchen, I have a couple of things I'd like to just follow up on and I'm I'm going to involve our City Administrator, Jennifer Levitt, in this conversation as well. Absolutely. So uh for the rest of the directors here, when Mayor Bailey and I and uh Jennifer were on the um I don't know if it was a Zoom call or whatever the case might be uh with the folks who represent Eric Dowdle, there were some things that uh we thought were pretty interesting and I just want to give everybody a brief snapshot so that they completely understand what we're talking about here. So uh Eric again uh renowned artist, uh has done this for several years so this this isn't a new thing that hasn't been tried or tested; it's actually— [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Decades, yeah. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: It's it's been quite some time. I know you're only 30 so didn't want to use that. Yep. Um, but what he does is he actually comes to town and he spends time in town; uh and part of the time that he spends, he spends with folks who have story ideas to incorporate into this puzzle. And Jennifer, how many did they say they could put in there, do you recall? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: We have to provide a list of of 50 um items and then there are kind of the "must-haves" and then the the "wish list." And then there's also 20 people that you would recognize in the the puzzle as well. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: So as you're talking about sponsorships, Director Olsen, it's possible that there could be some synergy there in terms of you know "I'm looking to contribute to this project because the project will feature my business" or whatever the case might be. Um, but I thought it was really neat that uh we give him a list of ideas, he comes to town and he talks to people and he looks around and he connects with folks here at City Hall and then he also spends some time alone and he just travels the community looking for inspiration. So we're certainly uh if we do move forward with this, we're going to give him a list of ideas of things that we may want to feature that are unique to our community and kind of speak to our community's culture and personality, but he will also seek out things on his own. So I thought that was kind of neat. Um, we also talked a little bit about you know he he does a painting and that painting is ultimately what becomes the puzzle. And Jennifer, we take ownership of the painting at some point do we not? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Mr. Chair, members of the board, yes. At the unveiling event he would bring the actual commissioned painting um and it's revealed at that time. And what's really neat is—Gretchen referenced on the unveiling there's these large puzzle pieces and people who are part of the story get to tell the story of Cottage Grove and how the puzzle got to be and so it's a really neat event uh to be able to celebrate our community and and kind of our heritage. And so staff has been really excited as we've been brainstorming uh historical items within the community and people and places and businesses and things like that that we can highlight. So uh you'll probably be watching your inbox uh for some communication about this as we seek your vote. Right? [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Um and and I appreciate that you brought that forward about the big puzzle pieces, I had forgotten that part. But the fact of the matter is you know we have a great story to tell as a community and this is just another way to tell our story. And once that painting is completed, he then um formulates that into the puzzles and we take ownership of the puzzles and then we can uh you know feature those at events like Strawberry Fest or the Food Truck Festival or whatever the case might be. And from what they told us on the call, and again Jennifer I'm going to ask you—is at that unveiling they tend to sell a boatload of puzzles, right? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Well Mr. Chair that is our hope um that that is the case. And so staff will also be working on a very detailed marketing plan as well um because as you indicated you know uh that we have to identify how many puzzles uh the quantities and what count, and so we need to be really strategic in how we do that and really develop a key marketing strategy. So um the people sitting in the audience are the ones that are going to be developing that plan so you'll probably be hearing more from them in the coming meetings. So thank you. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you. And then the last thing I want to mention, Eric—in response to your question about funding—um as we discussed this a little bit after the Zoom and and as Gretchen said we're just the tip of the iceberg here, we have not taken a deep dive yet. But it was suggested that um this would be paid for out of the Economic Development Authority or the EDA's trust fund. Jennifer, will you explain for everybody the difference between the EDA trust and then just the EDA funding, please? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Yes. The EDA trust fund is actually uh generates revenue from a local business that contributes money into it. So there's no taxpayer dollars associated uh with that fund. So the nice thing too with the EDA trust is it's uh has an easier mechanism to allow uh expenditures to flow out and revenue to flow back in. So in the selling of the puzzles, that's the best mechanism for us to have the financial expenditure and then have the revenue return come back into that fund uh for the city. So that's the best way to do it. And also just to stress, there is no taxpayer dollars associated with that EDA trust. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Yeah, the EDA trust is funded annually uh through gifts and and we receive uh generous gifts from at least one local business each year to help support our economic development activities. And that EDA trust fund, uh as Jennifer said, does not contain any taxpayer dollars. And that's one of the reasons that um when we do projects like this, we like to go through the EDA if we can. Similarly to the way that we set up the Convention and Visitors Bureau is we go through the EDA and then uh the EDA can be reimbursed through the proceeds of the sale or whatever the case might be. So thank you for the explanations. And uh with that I'll ask if there are any other questions. [00:00] **Director LaVine**: I just have one quick question just because I'm curious. Do we know what the other city in Minnesota is that they're looking at? [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: No idea. [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Perhaps. Yeah. Okay yep okay. Yeah, we can't let that cat out of the—unfortunately. [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Well they're still negotiating, they're negotiating. You can just guess it's somebody larger than us. [00:00] **Director LaVine**: Thank you. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: And we'll leave it at that. So uh anyone else? [00:00] **Director Olsen**: Yeah, I have a question. Um, do we know if there's going to be for people who don't want the actual puzzle itself, to have an opportunity to purchase the print replica in the future? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Mr. Chair, members of the commission, um the nice thing is is we get the rights to the actual um print itself. So if you wanted to make t-shirts, if you wanted to buy a replica of that, we could uh provide those options in the future um as well. And so I kind of get excited because you know we have city banners around town, you know maybe it's something like that that we could incorporate into it or it could be a mural, it could be a mural wall. There's a lot of different options. So we're really excited that we get the ownership of it. They just have to approve the use of it to ensure that it follows the proper integrity of the actual original print itself which is which is really kind of a neat opportunity that we don't typically get when we finished with the— [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Um, when we finished with the Zoom meeting, one of the questions I asked was uh to Jennifer's point, you know do we want to perhaps use this as a mural? And my understanding is you can actually take that painting and you can print it on uh a really large surface of some sort and then um you can use that to create a mural at one of the park buildings or whatever the case might be. So the sky's the limit in terms of ideas on how to use this should we decide to actually take the plunge. But uh I'm guessing as you said earlier, uh staff has got just tons and tons of ideas about how we might utilize that. Were there other questions at all? All right, so uh Gretchen thank you so much, really appreciate it. [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Thank you, yes. And we have a recommendation for a motion in front of us. Would somebody like to uh take that? You want me to read it? [00:00] **Director Olsen**: Go ahead. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: I'd like to make a motion to "support the project by encouraging the Economic Development Authority to pursue it for consideration and approval as both an economic development and a tourism strategic initiative." Great, and do we have a second? [00:00] **Director Grula**: Second. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: All right, we have a second. Any further discussion at all, anyone? Great, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. [00:00] **Group**: I. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Any opposed? Wonderful, motion carries. So Jennifer, where does it go from here? Does it go to the EDA then? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Yes. So currently it's scheduled to be at the next uh EDA meeting on the 12th uh to take action on it. Uh, they would then enter into the legal contract that we're continuing to negotiate with them. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, and then once that contract is uh actually signed, it will come before Council for approval? Is that right? [00:00] **Jennifer Levitt**: Uh, technically the EDA is the funding source uh so it wouldn't necessarily need to make another stop. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: I I see. Great. Yeah, that's another unique thing about the EDA is it's its own entity, um it has uh certain powers and bylaws and things so they can sometimes do things just you know on their own as an EDA and the council approval isn't required but it's kind of a dotted line just to keep us in the loop. So uh again thank you for that Gretchen, it's pretty exciting. [00:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Um, yes we get to be a piece of to the puzzle. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Oh, she's been waiting to say that all week I can guarantee you there. Of course I have. All right, on that stinky note, we will move forward to item six which is public hearings. We have none today. On item seven which is other business, I'm going to ask if there are any uh director comments or requests. Anyone? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to item eight which is a workshop. We have no workshop today. Item nine, any presentation? I think we've had as many as we can stand so far today, so we'll move on to item 10 and I will seek a motion to adjourn. [00:00] **Director Hansen**: So moved. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: All right, we have a motion on the table. Do we have a second? [00:00] **Director LaVine**: Second. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Motion and a second. Any further discussion on adjournment? Great, all in favor signify by saying I. [00:00] **Group**: I. [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Any opposed? That motion carries and we are adjourned. Thank you everyone.