HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-09-TOUR2-minTourism Committee Meeting
Lexington Town Hall, Room 111
May 9, 2005 4 p.m.
Present: Kerry Brandin, Chair; Richard Canale; Bebe Fallick; Chuck
French; Dawn McKenna; John Ott; Paul O' Shaughnessy;
Masha Traber, staff; John Hansen, Director of Sales Quality
Inn & Suites, guest
Absent: Susan Bennett; Mary Jo. Bohart; Bill Scouler; Richard Pagett, -
Selectmen Liaison
The meeting was called to order. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the
minutes of April 4, 2005 were approved with minor typographical
adjustments.
Liberty Ride: The FY06 Liberty Ride budget was approved by Town
Meeting. Kerry will email the approved budget to the Committee members.
Although we had not planned to make a specific report to Town Meeting,
they asked for a report. Kerry delivered the report which was well received
by Town Meeting. The vote was almost unanimous.
In the report presented to Town Meeting we committed to raise the
remaining deficit through a combination of efforts prior to June 30 At that
time we had a projected deficit of $7,575 if everyone who has committed to
sending funds does. Since that time NSTAR has committed to repeat their
$5,000 contribution. Kerry will send a letter to Quality Inn and Dawn and
Kerry will review the fundraising prospects and work towards closing the
gap.
Kerry, Dawn and Masha will be attending the meeting of the Commission on
Disability on June 1 They will ask the Commission to consider allowing
us to use the bus we used the first year. While the current buses have
wheelchair accessibility, the first bus is better for tourists with hearing
issues. Over the last three years we have only had a handful of wheelchair
bound passengers. The only complaints from our survey last year was the
noise from the bus. If the Commission approves our request it will improve
the experience tremendously and we will still provide access for wheelchairs
upon request.
The new contract for Go Boston has been negotiated with a slight increase in
our fee. Linda Vine has the contract and Kerry will send it back when it has
been signed. We are getting calls all the time from Go Boston customers.
In the past several members of the committee have worked with Masha to
hire guides for the Liberty Ride and the Battle Green. She asked the
committee for input as to how to handle the hiring this year. The committee
agreed that Masha had done a good job with hiring and that we did not need
to be involved in the choices this year.
Dick Canale reported that the survey results from last year are just about
ready for to sell to the National Park Service. He will finalize it and have it
ready when needed. The committee also discussed whether or not to
conduct a survey this year. We agreed that it had been a useful tool for us
and that we should consider doing it again. Perhaps doing it one week per
month during the season would give us a broader idea of the differences in
the tourism market. Dick agreed to tweak the survey and bring it to the
committee for review at the next meeting.
It was reported that Desiree was unhappy at the Concord Museum with the
changes we are making in the route. However, the changes have been
approved by the Concord Board of Selectmen and make sense to the
committee so we can not accommodate her needs.
Battle Green Guides: There is enough money left in the account to
schedule the guides full -time from May 28 -June 30 Masha can also hire
guides for the Battle Green without further committee input. At the last
meeting we had discussed paying the guides $6.75 per hour for pre - arranged
tours at $50. However, Masha found our report from last year which was
approved by the Board of Selectmen that indicated we would pay $25 to the
guides for those tours so we will abide by that voted policy.
State Funding: Dick Canale indicated that Tom Stanley had included in the
state budget funding for economic development for the Waltham Tourism
Council. He will check with our state representatives about the possibility of
including Lexington in some funding.
Scenic Byway: Dick updated the committee on the efforts to establish a
scenic bylaw throughout the Battle Road. Lincoln and Concord are now
more open to the idea. MAPC is providing administrative support for the
efforts. They are looking to make it a historical, cultural and scenic byway.
Right now there are only two sites from Lexington included. Dick asked if
we wanted a representative from the committee to be part of the efforts.
Bebe Fallick volunteered to be the representative.
128 Information Booth: John and Dawn acknowledge that they
volunteered to look into the possibility. John was going to work with the
Greater Merrimack Valley for funding and Dawn has the Mass Highway and
McDonald's contacts. They will work on this.
Lexington Center Collaborative: Bebe has been attending the meetings as
our representative. Some of the work groups are making more progress than
others but the group is working hard to bring together all the resources and
history around the Center in anticipation of the community conversation on
June 11
Signage: Kerry reported that that had been no progress on the signage this
month.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 7 th at 4 p.m. room 111
Respectfully submitted,
Dawn McKenna