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CASE Committee Minutes 21-03-18 DRAFTCASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 VIRTUAL ZOOM MEETING CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 18 MARCH 2021 PAGE 1 | 3 1. ROLL CALL Present- Committee Members: Pedro Campos, Chris Cofelice, Justin Chesney, Ruth Stanley, Lisa Mattis, and Thomas Walsh Town Council: Amy Phillips Town Staff: Cultural, Arts and Special Events Manager Danita Dempsey, Town Manager Eric Heil, General Government Manager Ineke de Jong and General Government Intern Emily Myler Members of the Public: Ryan Silvers Absent- Town Council: Lindsay Hardy Late: Committee Member Kathy Ryan joined at 12:40 General Government Manager Ineke de Jong asked the record to reflect the meeting was called to order at 12:34 p.m. Lisa Mattis welcomed the 2 new committee members and suggested before The Committee started, to take a virtual lap around the room where all committee members and staff were invited to give a brief introduction about themselves. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Committee Member Stanley moved to approve the CASE meeting minutes from January 21, 2021. Committee Member Cofelice seconded the motion and Committee Chair Mattis took a vote. The motion passed unanimously. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT No Public Comments were made. Member of the public Ryan Silvers joined the meeting to watch and learn. Committee Chair Mattis let her know she was welcome to contribute at any time. 4. CURRENT ACTIVITY Culture, Arts and Special Events Manager Dempsey presented the current activity of her department including the Recreation Center Mural Project and the 2021 Events Calendar The Committee commented/inquired: A. The number of events is very exciting compared to the lack of events last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic B. Will the Town be able to host the Salute to the USA event this year? C. Will Salute to the USA allow open containers in the park? D. Is there a date where the Town must decide if they will do fireworks this year? E. Why is the fire department collecting funds for fireworks? F. What are other communities doing for events this year? G. What does the Weekly Art Expo involve? H. What are the most important concerns right now? I. Why and how will the Town sell alcohol at events? How does this work with current alcohol allowances due to the COVID-19 pandemic? J. What is the Town’s marketing strategy to promote or not promote events? Will arts be marketed separately from events? K. What is the budget for AvonLIVE! And SunsetLIVE!? L. What does the term “local” mean for talent? CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 VIRTUAL ZOOM MEETING CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 18 MARCH 2021 PAGE 2 | 3 M. Could the Committee get a writeup on each of these events to familiarize themselves with the details? N. Are private rentals included on the Events Calendar? Committee Member Cofelice dropped off at 1:33 p.m. Culture, Arts and Special Events Manager Dempsey said the decision to do fireworks needs to be made by May 1 to order supplies. The decision to host the event itself will hopefully be made by the next Council meeting on March 23. Other communities are deciding to cancel events and Avon will be leading the area in events this summer. The Art Expo will place art vendors on the Main Street Mall to drive activation of that area. A concern is field maintenance and making sure Public Works is taking care of the venues. There are 30 days where alcohol will be sold at Town events for revenue to offset event costs. She is very experienced in providing alcohol at events and feels confident the Town can pull it off. There is a budget and plan for marketing through every channel available to the Town and the art programs have their own specific marketing. She plans to increase the AvonLIVE! budget to draw more recognizable talent. Both AvonLIVE! And SunsetLIVE! are on their way to becoming a “signature” event in Avon and deserve more budget allocation. Private rentals are included on the internal events calendar but not the form shared with the Committee. Private rentals are increasing this year due to lowered costs and more accessibility. Town Manager Heil said that public health orders and drought conditions will affect whether the Town hosts Salute to the USA and are not easy to predict. The Town is optimistic that it can host some version of the event, whether it is full-scale or scaled back. If the Town is allowed to host events, the community is hungry to get out and celebrate and the events will happen. A portion of funds from the American Recovery Act will likely go towards events to support vendors, performers and artists who are struggling during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Hopefully the biggest challenge this year will be instituting alcohol sales by the Town. People will not be allowed to bring alcohol from home in the area where the Town is selling alcohol so there will need to be enforcement and education. Eric said “signature” event doesn’t refer to size of event but notoriety in the community. It is important to promote bands in Eagle County specifically and it would be great to get more LatinX representation but the Town might have to cast a wider net to find them. Mayor Pro Tem Phillips said when deciding to do Salute to the USA, the focus should be on whether attendance can be limited in short notice without a large increase in cost for staff and infrastructure. Communication for events with alcohol sales needs to be clear. Marketing for events this summer should be provided in 10-day segments to accommodations and lodging to target tourists. Committee Chair Mattis suggested the committee go through each event description during the April meeting. 5. PLANNING Committee Chair Mattis suggested the Committee talk about long-term planning and overall approach at the next meeting. Culture, Arts and Special Events Manager Dempsey said she is ready to have that conversation. Town Manager Heil said the Town has put together a rough events plan for the next 10 years. For this summer, the program is fairly full and appropriate, but in the rest of the year there will be room to add more items to the calendar especially in arts and culture. More discussion for 2022 and future vision can happen in meetings at the end of 2021. CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 VIRTUAL ZOOM MEETING CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 18 MARCH 2021 PAGE 3 | 3 Mayor Pro Tem Phillips said in the future she would like the Committee to provide information to Council on capital improvements based on how to produce better and more consistent events. Committee Member Kathy Ryan expressed she is feeling like her only role on the Committee is to make it look like the public is included and she doesn’t have any actual planning influence besides approving events that are already planned. Committee Chair Mattis said she would like to have a discussion about this during next meeting. She referred to the Brand Ambassador worksheet to define roles and responsibilities of Committee members. She agreed that the Committee’s role has changed recently to move away from vetting to approval. Town Manager Heil said events in Avon used to be mostly produced by third parties. In 2017, the Town became more involved in producing the events themselves, which changed the purpose of the CASE Committee. However, he does expect some the Committee to vet more producers in the future. The Committee will also be asked to review events at the end of the summer. 5. CLOSING COMMENTS Culture, Arts and Special Events Manager Dempsey said she has Committee meetings planned for April, May, September, October and December but not June, July, August or November so she can focus on events and budgeting. She would like to discuss 2021 Community Survey questions and elect Chair and Vice Chair during the April meeting. 6. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 2:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Emily Myler General Government Intern