General Information

Government Type

County

Entity

Emery County

Public Body

Emery County Travel Bureau

Notice Information

Add Notice to Calendar

Notice Title

January 2024 Travel Minutes

Notice Tags

Tourism

Notice Type(s)

Meeting

Event Start Date & Time

January 9, 2024 03:30 PM

Event End Date & Time

January 9, 2024 05:30 PM

Event Deadline Date & Time

01/09/24 06:00 PM

Description/Agenda

Meeting Minutes Emery County Travel Bureau January 9, 2024 3:30 PM Castle Dale, Utah Attendance: Danny VanWagoner, Laci Hardman, Amanda Leonard, Belinda Peacock, AnnDee Mead, Keven Jensen, Terri Bennett, Larry Johansen, Brad Walker, Camie Bell, Janet Smoak, Travis Bacon, Ren Hatt, Nathan Martinez, Drew Sprafke, Mike Thurston Conducting and Welcome: Chairman Keven Jensen 1. Approval of Minutes: November 2023 minutes motion to approve by Larry, seconded by Danny, Approved. 2. Discuss/Approve/Deny: Selecting Vice Chair for 2024. Nomination for Danny, no other discussion or nominations. Approved. 3. Ratification: Motion to approve up to $10,000 for the purchase of a cab enclosure and winch for the trail crew side by side to complete the open FIG Grant. Move to ratify made by Danny, seconded by seconded by Laci. Approved. 4. Ratification: Motion to ratify purchasing booth space for advertisement at SLOREX. Motion made to approve by Larry, seconded by Brad. Approved. 5. Discuss/Approve/Deny: Funding 2024 Trails Grant Funding of $30,000. This is the same amount as last year. We'll carry on with the same policies and can see if we need to adjust the amount for next year. Please spread the word when possible and encourage applicants to put together a well done application. This is a one to one match that can be in kind or in grants. Discussion on the 2 year timeline and extensions that have occurred. Motion made to accept by Terri, seconded by Laci. Approved. 6. Discuss/Approve/Deny: Domain change for Emery County Travel website as part of rebrand. The website visitemerycounty.com has already been purchased. Discussion on whether or not to purchase lifeenergized.com. The cost to buy lifeenergized is $2500, purchasing it would safeguard the rebrand efforts and ensure potential future use. visitemerycounty.com will still function to get people to the new website, the swell website will be forwarded to the new website for at least a couple years. While purchasing lifeenergized.com, other minor domain extensions should also be purchased. Motion made to approve purchasing lifeenergized including multiple domain extensions (org, com, net) made by Danny, seconded by Terri. Approved. 7. Discussion: 2023 Events Report. Amanda put together a year end report with new events and recurring events from 2023 including estimates showing the revenue brought in as a result of these events. Emery County Events coordinated 4 events this year which brought $300,000 revenue into the area, as well as supported 35 events throughout the county. 8. Discuss Reports of the Following: a. Event Coordinator: Unfortunately due to lack of ice, Millsite on Ice has been rescheduled for April and will be dubbed 'Millsite off Ice', but it has shown how important these bigger events are to local businesses that depend on them. Thanks from Amanda for the support of the travel board. She has been reapplying for her contract as well as working on a new event calendar. Looking to simplify the application process for some events in which our position to support, what will be needed, and how much it will cost is already established. Budget and more precise details will still be needed for new events and events needing cash. Also working to retain a permit from the BLM for OHV rides in Emery County Events. Final grant report for the UOT grant has been submitted. An RFQ for the event coordinator went out, not a lot of interest was shown. Official submissions will be opened in commission. Registration is open for the dirt bike rally, and the Green River Rocks planners have been meeting and preparing for that event. b. Marketing: Originally the board had discussed and planned on using Hub again for the upcoming rebrand. After guidance from council it was determined an RFP would be needed. We will keep the board updated on this process as it moves forward. The John Wesley Powell Museum billboard has been approved, still waiting on the other billboard proof to come back for approval. As soon as we receive a mock-up that we approve of,YESCO will get billboards printed and put up. Hoping to have them up in January but February is expected. . c. Trail's: The requisition for the new mini excavator has been approved in commission meeting. That will be purchased soon along with a new trailer. These purchases are through an OHVR grant with the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation. This will give the trails committee two machines which should double their productivity. The trails committee is going to be moving back to being part of the Travel Bureau (mostly in terms of procedure). They are very closely related, and not a lot will actually change in terms of people involved and objectives. d. Grants: Both FIG grants have been closed out, one for a cab enclosure, trailer, winch, and the other for trail counters out on The Swell. Events closed out their UOT grant and the in-office UOT grant for marking as well. The in-house grants that are currently in place are wrapping up and are on track. e. Financials: Attached to the agenda are some TRT graphs showing the comparison of the last couple years of incoming money flow, as well as some state charts showing the income of the county and state for November and December 2024. One thing not shown is that TRCC is much higher than it has been in the past and higher than our estimations. It's hard to know exactly why, but exciting that our local restaurants are doing well. It would seem that events have something to do with the increase. Our estimated budget for this year has been approved. Discussion on using TRT funds from the travel bureau for the aquatic center.Continue discussion on funding going to the aquatic center. f. Museums: Numbers from the Museum of the San Rafael are up this December from last year. Later this month a grand re-opening of the Pioneer Museum will take place. The John Wesley Powell River History museum has been closed for a month and is soon opening back up to the public. This was a time to do a lot of touching up, safety checks, and other cosmetic/facility updates. December visitor numbers were down compared to last year, and the year as a whole showed visitor numbers almost identical to last year. Income, however, was up this year was higher than the last two years. Janet speculates that a Christmas promotion of the store to the locals helped boost sales at the gift store. Looking forward to a full calendar year planned with activities. Discussion about the local libraries wanting to be involved in museum/community happenings. g. State Parks: Remodels underway at the Huntington office and are just finishing up, will be working on an office at Millsite next week. Still working on inventory and cleaning up dead trees. USU has a program specializing in native plants and trees and knowing what trees should be planted where to maximize natural function. Also applying for some grants for smart irrigation systems. Collectively between the three parks, last year saw about 100,000 people, numbers being down in Huntington, up in Scofield, and average at Millsite. During the slow winter months, Green River State Park was also able to complete some updates to their showers and bathrooms, as well as still working on the new campground and the four tiny homes. Working on getting a tournament set up every month besides July and August. So far planned are: March- Ray's Cavern Tournament, April- Disk Golf Tournament, September- Melon Days Tournament. h. Board Member Discussion/Questions: Adjourn - Thank you for coming! For more information about this and future Travel Board meetings please contact travel@emery.utah.gov

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NOTICE OF SPECIAL ACCOMMODATION DURING PUBLIC MEETINGS In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) during this meeting should notify (435) 381-2600.

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Meeting Information

Meeting Location

75 East Main Street
Castle Dale, Ut, UT 84513
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Contact Name

Tina Carter

Contact Email

travel@emery.utah.gov

Contact Phone

(435)381-2600

Notice Posting Details

Notice Posted On

February 14, 2024 10:43 PM

Notice Last Edited On

February 14, 2024 10:43 PM

Deadline Date

January 9, 2024 06:00 PM

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