Community Promotion & Tourism

Village Hall Village of Lombard 255 East Wilson Ave. Lombard, IL 60148 villageoflombard.org Minutes Community Promotion & Tourism Trustee Mike Fugiel, Chairperson, Trustee Bill Johnston, Alternate Chairperson, Jill Payne, Marguerite Micken, Joe Orsolini, Lori Solyom, Nancy Schukat, Phil Dahm, Bill Mrazek and Brad Hanewall Ex-Officio Members: Yvonne Invergo - Lombard Chamber of Commerce; Beth Marchetti - DuPage Convention & Visitors' Bureau; Yorktown Centre - Todd Hiepler; Neil De Guia - Embassy Suites; M. Jimenez - Extended Stay America; Randy Kline - Sure Stay Plus; Max Schultz - Hyatt Place; Karen Borris - Marriott Fairfield Inn; Maria Morales - Extended Stay America; Frank Balisteri - Comfort Suites; Maureen Fleetwood - Sonesta ES Suites; Nick Hefner - Towne Place Suites; Mike Feigenbaum - The Westin Hotel Tuesday, January 16, 2018 7:00 PM Community Room 1.0 Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Mike Fugiel at 6:59 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jill Payne. 2.0 Roll Call Present 6 - Mike Fugiel, Marguerite Micken, Jill Payne, Phil Dahm, William Mrazek, and Brad Hanewall Absent 3 - Joe Orsolini, Lori Solyom, and Nancy Schukat Also present: Yvonne Invergo, Lombard Chamber of Commerce, Sue Horner, Lombard Jr. Women’s Club, Nancy Spartz, Lombard Junior Women’s Club, May Anstee, Lombard Garden Club, Cindy Ward, Lombard Garden Club, Ellyn Murphy, Lilac Parade Committee, Nicole Sittig, Lilac Parade Committee, Laura Sasinka, Lilac Parade Committee, Beth Marchetti, DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau and Nicole Aranas, Committee Liaison. Village of Lombard Page 1 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes January 16, 2018 3.0 Public Participation None. 4.0 Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the minutes of the September 5, 2017, committee meeting was made by Bill Mrazek, seconded by Marguerite Micken. The motion was passed by unanimous vote. 5.0 New Business 180013 Local Tourism Grant Application 2018 - Lilac Princess Program Grant Request from the Lombard Junior Women's Club in the amount of $6,029, from Hotel/Motel funds for expenses supporting the selection of the Lilac Queen and her Court. The grant wll provide participation of the Lilac Queen Court in numerous Lilac Time events as well as $1,000 scholarships to the five members of the court. The process begins in February and culminates in May 2018. Sue Horner and Nancy Spartz represented the Lilac Princess Program Grant application. The majority of the grant is to provide a $1,000 scholarship to each of the Princess candidates. Last year the remainder of the grant request was to cover 50% of the overall program costs. The request this year is for 33% of the overall cost, which includes a reduction of overall expenditures for the program. LJWC is requesting $6,029 this year, a decrease of approximately $600. Yvonne Invergo of the Lombard Chamber of Commerce asked if the Lombard Junior Women’s Club reduced projects with the Princesses? Nancy Spartz replied that yes, LJWC did less projects last year with the princesses including Special Olympics, etc. which resulted in reduced costs. Sue Horner noted that LJWC also saved money by making signage, etc., that will not be used year after year. Other expenditures from prior years also saved on overall costs e.g., paper products which were not needed. The LJWC noted that they use all Lombard vendors and locations and the locations are all the same each year. Nancy stated that all ladies have to be Lombard residents and the only non-Lombard residents are the judges, in order to prevent any bias. A motion was made by Jill Payne, second by Bill Mrazek, to approve the Local Tourism Grant request of $6,029, for the Lilac Princess Program. The grant was approved by unanimous vote. Village of Lombard Page 2 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes January 16, 2018 180014 Local Tourism Grant Application 2018 - Lilac Time Art and Craft Fair Grant Request from the Lombard Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $3,600, from Hotel/Motel funds for expenses associated with the Art and Craft Fair, including barricades and support from the Public Works, Police and Fire Departments. The Fair will take place on May 6, 2018. Yvonne Invergo presented the Local Tourism Grant for the Lombard Chamber of Commerce Arts and Craft Fair. The Lombard Chamber is requesting a grant of $3,600. The Chamber increased the advertising cost last year for this event. Yvonne was asked if the additional advertising helped and she replied yes. Yvonne stated they already have 50 crafters for this year. Expenses for the event will be about the same as in 2017. The area of the fair is landlocked and generally the event remains the same each year. Nicole Aranas stated that upon review, the total cost of barriers and Police and Public Works overtime were not covered by the grant request. Last year, the grant amount should have been approximately $3,600-$4,500 to cover all the costs. Jill Payne inquired about how staffing is set? Chairperson Mike Fugiel stated that coverage is determined by the Police and Public Works departments. Jill asked if $4,500 would be enough to cover the village services? Nicole responded she thought the amount would be appropriate. A motion was made by Phil Dahm, Seconded by Jill Payne, to approve a grant of $3,600, up to $4,500. The Lombard Chamber of Commerce 2018 Local Tourism Grant for up to $4,500 was approved unanimously. 180015 Local Tourism Grant Application 2018 - Lilac Sale 2018 Grant Request from the Lombard Garden Club, Inc. in the amount of $2,000, from Hotel/Motel funds supporting the Annual Lilac Sale. The funds will be used for the purchase of Lilacs, which will be sold during the 3 day Lilac Time Event, May 10-12, 2018. May Anstee and Cindy Ward, President of Lombard Garden Club presented the grant application. Last year The Garden Club sold out of lilacs before the end of the sale. The club usually presents lilacs to the Princesses and they didn’t even have enough. This year the club ordered more lilacs, but is asking for the same amount of $2,000. The money we make is spent on scholarships and other programs, including landscaping the library. The club also takes responsibility for other projects, as they see a need, such as the plantings around the Park District log cabin, the Butterfly Garden, etc., as well as programs for the club which includes speakers, and a luncheon in April with a floriculture teacher. These events are all advertised in the Lombardian and are free to everyone in the community. Chairperson Mike Fugiel Village of Lombard Page 3 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes January 16, 2018 asked how many lilac bushes were ordered last year. The club orders 400 per year, however, they come from Minnesota and due to poor weather in 2017, they did not get the entire order. This year the club is ordering 450 plants. Chairperson Mike Fugiel noted the club used to be limited on the fundraising level. May Anstee responded that the club used to give money to high school students and now they support Lombard COD students. A motion by was made by Bill Mrazek, second by Phil Dahm, to approved a grant of $2,000 to the Lombard Garden Club. The motion was approved by all. 180016 Local Tourism Grant Application 2018 - Lombard Lilac Festival Parade Grant Request from the Lombard Lilac Festival Parade Committee, in the amount of $18,000, from Hotel/Motel funds for expenses supporting the Lombard Lilac Parade. Funds will be used for honorariums paid to parade participants, advertising, and recongnition expenses. The parade will take place on May 20, 2018. The Lilac Festival Parade Grant application was presented by Ellyn Murphy, Lilac Parade Committee Chair, Nicole Sittig, Committee Co-Chair and Laura Sasinka, Fundraising chair. This year the parade committee is requesting a grant of $18,000 to pay for honorariums. The request does not include the village expenses. The overall budget of the parade is $36,000. The committee is asking for the same amount as last year. They are planning two wine walk fundraising events, in the spring and in October (haunted). An adult flashlight Easter Egg Hunt has been really fun and successful. This year, the parade committee is selling cheesecakes for Easter. Marguerite Micken asked if the committee should make sure to include hotel stays. The committee responded that they thought 10 rooms would be adequate. Yvonne Invergo asked about groups that do not show up? Ellyn responded the South Shore drill team didn’t show and then they didn’t get paid. The Honorarium was less than requested and the committee is looking to include new units. Phil Dahm asked where the extra dollars were spent if there were no-shows. The committee responded that last year they incurred additional expenditures for signs and banners. They also had an additional 50-60 volunteers which increased the cost for the volunteers breakfast and the critique meeting following the parade. Yvonne Invergo, Lombard Chamber noted that the Chamber is not included in the list of the donations on the application. Ellyn responded, this may have been overlooked. A motion to approve a grant of $18,000 to the Lombard Lilac Parade Committee was made by Marguerite Micken and seconded by Jill Payne. The Village of Lombard Page 4 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes January 16, 2018 motion was passed by unanimous vote. 6.0 Old Business 170208 Firebird Soccer Club 2017 Local Tourism Grant Reimbursement Discussion of a revision of the Firebird Soccer Club grant reimbursement. Nicole explained that the Firebirds Soccer Club was unable to reach the goals of their 2017 Grant Request, therefore the committee needs to revisit the grant reimbursement. Chairperson Mike Fugiel said they learned from their experiences this year and they are still working towards leveraging other groups. They are looking for reciprocal attendance from those groups whose tournaments that they attend. He feels the committee shouldn’t penalize them too much because tournaments fill hotels so we don’t want to discourage groups from attempting to organize events. He feels the committee can come up with some alternatives. One option is to reimburse the group proportionally to the expenses that were incurred to the overall grant amount. The event is awesome opportunity for the community. Those tournaments can get big and can lead to overnight stays. The committee needs to lay out some options on how this could be funded, which would need to go back to the Village Board. Marguerite Micken asked if there were enough soccer fields. Chairperson Mike Fugiel replied that yes, the amount of fields were adequate, although they are not all on one site. However, a tournament can use multiple sites by placing various age groups at multiple remote sites. Most of the games this year were at Four Seasons or Sunset Knoll. 7.0 Other Business None. 8.0 Information Only Beth Marchetti, Executive Director of DCVB spoke to the committee with a recent announcement by DuPage County Visitor’s Bureau. DCVB just booked the 2019 Weightlifting Tournament. This was a result of last May’s powerlifting event hosted in Lombard last year. The Road to the Olympics is coming to Lombard. The kids competing here will be in the Olympics in two years. DCVB is expecting 850 room nights from this event. Village of Lombard Page 5 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes January 16, 2018 DCVB is doing a study with a consultant to see if it is feasible to host county wide tournaments. An inventory of fields is being done to insure there is availability throughout the county. They are inquiring whether mega huge tournaments are feasible. Other locations and communities around the country have spent a lot of money on bid fees. The question becomes how to get funding for bid fees in Illinois. DCVB has been able to book 11,000 room nights with at a cost of $50K, which has been a huge success story. There is a sports constituent meeting in Oak Brook coming up. Chairperson Mike Fugiel commented he thought this is nice that they can have this at a hotel vs. needing courts. Local gyms would have promotions. 2,000 additional rooms throughout the county is hearing impaired hockey tournament. Ticket selling does help to boost attendance. Start to track the attendance/tickets. 9.0 Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Phil Dahm, second by Jill Payne, to adjourn the meeting at 7:43 p.m. The motion passed with all in favor. Village of Lombard Page 6