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FINAL CASE Committee Meeting Minutes 9-19-24CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 IN PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 19 SEPTEMBER 2024 PAGE 1 | 3 1. ROLL CALL Present: Committee Chair Justin Chesney, Committee Member Thomas Walsh and Town Council Member Lindsay Hardy Staff: Culture, Arts & Special Events Manager Danita Dempsey, General Government Fellow Arnell Wade, Town Manager Eric Heil, and Special Events Coordinator Chelsea Van Winkle Absent: Committee Member Lisa Mattis, Danielle McNair, Pedro Campos, Calyn Rieger, Kerri Thelen, and Town Council Member Ruth Stanley The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m. 2. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comments were made. 3. MINUTES Committee Chair Justin Chesney motioned to approve the minutes from August 15, 2024. Committee Member Thomas Walsh seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. 4. STAFF UPDATE CASE Manager Dempsey went through a brief recap of the 2024 event season. She reviewed the opening comments of the packet, explaining that the 2025 budget will be flat or below 2024 and that the team will have similar focus in addition to doing peer community research and visits and planning for the 351 Development. Detailed budget information is included in the committee packet (available at Avon.org). 351 Development Concepts / Planning and Zoning Commission and Health and Recreation Committee CASE Manager Dempsey explained that we have brought the 351 Development Concepts to Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Planning and Zoning Commission and Health and Recreation Committee and everyone was on board and very supportive. Town Manager Heil stated that the DDA’s goal is redevelopment of the Town of Avon so they felt that this project fits and would be beneficial to our core area. There were some comments about how we could make money off the building, and he explained, he thinks we could recoup some of the costs but most likely not make money off the activation in the building. CASE Manager Dempsey wanted to bring the 351 development concepts back to the CASE Committee to get the final thoughts and thumbs up on moving forward. The Committee commented/inquired: A. The architect in me, was like there are “endless possibilities”. There are so many opportunities for the space, and we should be able to recoup some revenue. B. Jack Hunn who did the architecture for the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre and the Vilar Performing Arts Cetner said he may be willing to do free architecture work at 351 but it may need to be focused on theatre groups. CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 IN PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 19 SEPTEMBER 2024 PAGE 2 | 3 C. I would like to ask that we explore a black box theatre. I am passion about it, but I think there is also significant gain with big donor costs. D. I don’t want to see that space overrun by one organization. I want it to be a Town of Avon building not just a Vail Valley Art Guild building. E. I am fully in support and love that it could be many things to many different people. It will be interesting to see how much work needs to go in for it to be open to the public. F. Is the Skate Plaza going through? Town Manager Heil shared that he is a real fan of theatre, and he does agree that it would be appropriate for Avon. He then shared that he is not sure it fits in the Old Fire Station but thinks it would be great to have a real facility somewhere else in town. He stated every concept will have different needs and we will have to figure out what works in the budget. We will come up with a bunch of different uses and then figure out what they each cost to do in that space. He continued saying anything on the second floor that would be open to the public would need an elevator. Town Manager Heil said that the Skate Plaza is on hold due to not receiving the grant and the estimated cost doubling. The council’s direction was to get the bathrooms and plaza done first, which is ready to go for spring 2025. We are going to look for additional funding, but we have to wait until our current grant application is complete. Best case scenario is the Skate Plaza would be moving forward in 2027 and 2028. CASE Manager Dempsey let the committee know that the modular bathrooms for Harry A. Nottingham Park go to Council on September 24th to get approved to break ground in Spring 2025. 2025 Proposed Budget & Calendar CASE Manager Dempsey went through the 2025 proposed budget and said that there was a 2.13% net decrease from 2024. New for 2025, Cars in the Park and Avon Turkey Trot will now fully fall into the CASE budget. Both are a great fit for Avon and our events calendar. Then she continued, based off numbers, we have decided to let go Vail Valley Brew ’Au. Since we have lost a few events over the years, there is potential that we eventually go back to RFP for Third Party Producers. On the 2025 calendar, we also have a hold on the calendar for a Bravo! Performance and a ticketed music performance. CASE Manager Dempsey then quickly went through the rest of the 2025 budget numbers and the impacts which are included in the committee packet (available at Avon.org). She explained that we were down in gross revenue at AvonLIVE! and that was due to bad weather in August but Salute to the USA was slightly up. With revenue, we still did well despite the weather impacts due to vendor fees and revamping our vendors. CASE Manager Dempsey explained that the Arts and Culture budget is up 62% but a good portion of that is for the National Endowment of the Art grant match. Provided in the packet are the details of the breakdown for the Arts and Culture budget. CASE Manager Dempsey said for the large format mural budgeted for 2025, we have a couple of location options and next time we have the group together we can discuss more about what location we see as the best one. She also let the group know that by the end of September some of the bronzes on Main Street Mall will be off-town property as we do not own them so there will be new space for new opportunities. Town Manager Heil expressed that we have opportunities for a ticketed event, but he does not see in the future that we will have the money we used to have to throw at Third Party Producer events for an additional RFP. The Committee commented/inquired: CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 IN PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 19 SEPTEMBER 2024 PAGE 3 | 3 A. I loved Cars in the Park; I think it was such a great fit and I look forward to it coming back. B. I met someone who was bragging about how great the concerts were this summer despite the weather. C. I like the Seasons building for the mural. D. For the Eagle River Water Sanitation, there is chain link fencing so I am not sure it would be the best location for a mural. E. Multiple members stated they love the Lasso sculpture and think it is a staple of Avon and is iconic. Town Manager Heil said that we do have funds left in the CIP budget and maybe we can relook at purchasing Lasso. He asked staff to look at when filling the bronze vacancy to contact all the Front Range cities to see if they had art that they would like to sell. 2024 Event Recap Senior Special Events Coordinator Van Winkle presented the 2024 end of season PowerPoint summary. The Committee commented/inquired: A. Delay brat and beer at Town Clean Up so people must help clean up before they eat and drink. B. I talked to a lot of people, and everyone said this summer was top notch from fireworks to production to everything. C. Can I ask that we try and keep Pat Milbery for Salute to the USA? His activation was really cool and impactful. D. I was really happy with the Dancing in the Park programming this year. E. How much loss would we have if we did not have Private Rentals in 2025? F. If the construction is going to deter private rentals, will it impact our events? CASE Manager Dempsey said roughly around $6,000.00 is revenue generated from Private Rentals. She explained that yes, the construction for the modular restrooms will impact our load and how we access the stage. We will have weekly construction updates, and it will help our team plan for events each week. Town Manager Heil further explained that for the construction in the park, they will close construction for the week of Salute to the USA. There will be around 3-4 weeks when there will be no access through the parking lot, and we will have to use the Rec Path for access to events. CLOSING COMMENTS Committee Member Thomas Walsh brought to the attention of the committee that he would still like to see a Welcome to Avon sign and/or signs. He asked the committee and staff to explore activating a local artist to create a Welcome to Avon sign. He stated, there are not any signs that say you are in Avon and even EagleVail has a sign. Town Manager Heil commented that we are putting in the budget to redesign roundabout one and that there could be some options that we could look at for roundabout one. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 1:39 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Chelsea Van Winkle Senior Specials Events Coordinator