HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-04-03 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE MEEfING MINUTES
• APRIL 3, 2001
Councilors Attending: Joseph Baldacci, Gerry Palmer, Dan Tremble,
John Rohman
Staff Attending: Edward Barrett, Sallly Brewer, Lisa Bragg, Sally
Burgess, Sgt. Jim Hodges, Norman Heitman�,
Jeff Russell, Rebecca Hupp, Penelope Olson
Others Attending: Charles Wienckosky
Meeting convened at 5:00 p.m.
Due to the lack of a quorum at the beginning of the meeting, the prepared agenda was
taken out of order.
2. Bass Park Report
a. Tournament Concession Report
• b. Event Update
c. Fair Schedule Update
d. Customer Survey Card
Sally Brewer, Bass Park's Hospitality Officer/State Fair Coordinator, listed the scheduled
� entertainment for this year's State Fair. Committee Chair Baldacci asked how this
' compares with last year as to the number of events. Ms. Brewer responded that last
year there were more one-time events, and this year there is more concentration on the
large scale events that are the whole ten days, like the Jurassic Journey. Councilor
Palmer asked if there were financial and attendance goals for this year, and Ed Barrett
responded that it had been discussed and he would forward Mike's projections to him in
terms of revenues and expenditures.
A video of this year's advertisements for the fair was shown to the Committee. It was
also suggested that perhaps some flags could be placed around the downtown area to
direct people to the fair.
Lisa Bragg, Bass Park's Booking Coordinator, reported on the basketball tournament.
She referred to the concession report that was included in the agenda packet. The
sales were compared over the last four years, and the chart shows that the 2001 sales
were up 3% over the same schedule in 1999. Although concession sales for this year
� were the highest, total paid attendance was down by approximately 5,000 from last
year.
The next item to be discussed was the event update. Ms. Bragg listed the total number
of days in each month starting in January with events going on, and then also showed
• the number of days in each month that both the Civic Center and Auditorium were
being used. Councilor Baldacci asked what the events were in April other than the
Garden Show. She responded the Boat Show, the Home Show, and the Circus.
Councilor Baldacci asked about the attendance for the Garden Show due to the storm
and Lisa said that the Garden Show was down about 1,900. Attendance was down
Friday and Saturday, and it was up quite a bit on Sunday but not enough to affect the
overall total.
The final item to be discussed under Bass Park is the Customer Survey Card. The
comment surveys are sent out after each event, and the clients are given the option to
follow up by phone if they prefer. Sally Brewer referred the Committee to page 11 in
the packet which included both the old survey card and the new survey card. A
separate memo explained the changes and the reasons for them. 'In order to give
clients a wider range for rating, `�poor"was dropped and "very good"was added, to
now make the selections, '�excellent, very good, good, average, and fair." The Facility
has never received a ��poor" grade. Instead of asking for overall service, it was changed
to overall impression because the service before the event and after the event was
covered already. Also, more room was made on the card for comments. Committee
Chair Baldacci asked for an example of some of the comments or suggestions that have
been received. Ms. Brewer responded that usually it's not suggestions, it's comments
on a specific worker or the maintenance staff that really helped them out. Councilor
• Tremble asked if the surveys went to the people that attended the functions, and Ms.
Brewer said that they were working on that as they would have to get the permission of
the person renting the facility. She said they have also given thought to some kind of a
questionnaire at banquets as to the service of the caterers, and the feedback can be
shared with the client.
1. French Street Parkina Regulations and Enforcement— Charles Wienckoskv
Norman Heitmann referred the Committee to his memo in the agenda packet for
background information. This matter concerns that portion of French Street adjacent to
the Bangor Hydro, between State and York Streets, which is currently two-hour parking.
Charles Wienckosky, who is employed at Bangor Hydro, introduced himself and
indicated that he was there on behalf of a group of people who park on French Street,
namely Hydro employees. Their main request is to have the signs taken down because
they don't interfere with any businesses downtown, and the employees are going to
park there anyway. By eliminating the signs it would put a stop to employees going out
a couple times a day and moving their vehicles. Mr. Wienckosky stated that the Hydro
spends $54,000 for parking permits in the various lots which will not change. Those
people will still be parking there. This portion of French Street is on a first-come, first-
serve basis. He went on to say that his employees frequent the downtown businesses
and buy their lunches, and would like to see the City help them in return. There was a
� further comment about the addition to the Parking Garage, but Mr. Wienckosky
responded that he sees the Parking Garage more relevant to the center of downtown,
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and people wouldn't park as far away as French Street to shop and carry their
purchases.
� Committee Chair Baldacci had to leave the meeting for a short time.
Councilor Palmer wanted to hear more from other businesses in the area, i.e., Frati's,
Diva's (Mr. Wienckosky interrupted that Diva's uses their parking lot in the back of the
corporate office). Councilor Tremble asked if other properly owners were notified of
this meeting. Edward Barrett said not at this point. He wanted to see if there was any
interest in making any change down there, and that other City staff was present who
wanted to give their opinion. Committee Chair Baldacci suggested that other property
owners be notified also.
Sally Burgess stated that downtown parking issues are addressed in a comprehensive
manner and price increases or time limit changes have not been implemented on a
block by block or space by space basis which has resulted in a fair-minded and well
thought out policy that considers the needs of all constituencies. Ms. Burgess views
this as a price issue as well as a time issue. Staff recommendation is that Mr.
Wienckosky's recommendation that French Street be without time limitations, or even a
change to 4-hour, should be considered when prices are looked at again this summer.
She said that the Council did endorse last summer's Downtown Advisory Committee to
re-evaluate these things on an annual basis. This process allows the entire downtown
to be looked at and not on a piece-meal basis.
� Councilor Baldacci said he sympathized with Mr. Wienckosky but what Sally says makes
a lot of sense in terms of an overall parking review. Councilor Palmer asked what time
the Hydro employees come to work, and Mr. Wienckosky responded that he personally
starts at 6 or 6:15 because his wife drops him off. That street is usually filled by 7:15
or 7:30, and the people have to go back out there anytime between 8 and 10 o'clock to
check to see if their tires are marked. If the tires are marked, then they have to move
their vehicles. His point is that Bangor Hydro is a fairly large employer, and York Street
as well as French Street are mainly parking for Hydro employees. Other businesses in
the area, like the Frame Shop, have their own parking. Councilor Palmer had a concern
that if the signs were taken down, it would leave an opportunity for other early birds to
get there before the Hydro people. Councilor Rohman indicated that for every Hydro
employee he could come up with the same scenario. His office opens at 7 in the
morning. He has 15 employees, and they would like nothing better than to have free
parking on French Street because he can guarantee they would be there before the
Hydro employees. Councilor Rohman said if you come to the Bagel Shop at 6 o'clock
every light in his office is on with people that are working overtime in the morning and
they would love it if French Street was all day parking. It's not juSt the Hydro and
WBRC. Mayor Rohman said there is a whole list of offices which have a tremendous
number of day workers that are not in the retail sector that would benefit from this.
Ed Barrett said that the City pays full rate for its employees, and most of the City's
� employees park in Lower Abbott. Mr. Wienckosky said that Hydro employees have to
pay for a portion of their parking. In addition, the Hydro pays taxes in the amount of
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$640,000 a year. He feels that some consideration should be given to this approach
because there are no other businesses because they have their own parking areas.
• Mr. Wienckosky stated that this was not something done in haste, it has been years of
having to move vehicles. He said if you looked at the Hydro building you'd see a
constant flow of people walking in and out to park, and you don't see that in the
business district. There was noted disagreement and Mayor Rohman responded that
every single building downtown above the second floor is filled with offices and that is
what all of those offices do, every vehicle in a 2-hour parking zone.
After considerable discussion, it was decided that Sally's committee review the problem
in conjunction with its annual review of the downtown and come back with suggested
changes. The Committee would seek input from those in the area, and then the
Committee would make a recommendation.
The second issue Mr. Wienckosky also wanted to address the issue of how the parking
tickets are issued, specifically, how a car can be ticketed twice and sometimes three
times for the same infraction. Sgt. Hodges indicated he saw no problem with issuing
two tickets, but three tickets would be hard because they only work 6 hours. There
was a brief discussion on how the ordinance read and the confusion between warnings
and tickets. Mr. Wienckosky feels it is double ticketing. Councilor Palmer referred to
the courtesy ticket, which was not always in place.
3. Airport Report
� a. Pan Am/Boston & Maine Airways Service to Canada
b. Presentation to Delta — Boston R7 Service
c. Proposal to Update Air Cargo Study
d. Marketing Expenditure Report
Rebecca Hupp, Assistant Airport Director, appeared before the Committee. a) Ms.
Hupp stated that the Memo in the agenda packet explained the service, but wanted the
Committee to know that things are still in process and when things happen here it will
happen quickly. Ed Barrett added that they might get their approval today and the
Airport will receive notice at the same time the press gets notice, which makes it hard
for the Council to have advance notice.
b) Rebecca Hupp stated that on April 17th they will be presenting to Delta a proposal
for additional service from Bangor to Boston using the Delta Comair carrier. She
highlighted certain pages from the presentation: 5 daily nonstop round trips departing
Bangor as early as 06:00 hours and departing as late as 18:40 hours, and then
departing Boston and arriving back in Bangor starting at 09:30 through 20:00 which
would be 8 o'clock. Therefore, all day service back and forth to Boston via the Comair
regional jet would be an excellent service and an excellent addition to our current
service. In the written presentation is some general information on the type of aircraft
they will be using, the number of seats, frequency, mileage and other factors. She then
� referred to the annual income statement and pointed out the contributory revenue
beyond, which means revenue generated by continuing passengers from Boston into
the Delta system as being $4,330 and the PDEW stands for Per Day Each Way. Annual
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income would be $3.16 million. She then just read from the remaining two pages on
the Bangor-Boston proposal. This service will give Bangor passengers new access to
• Delta routes; it will stimulate the local market by bringing new jet service; and enable
Delta to capture a sizeable portion of the Bangor/Boston market. In the past, Delta has
been our number one carrier. Currently our number one carrier is American Eagle.
U.S. Airways and Delta are very close, and in fact U.S. Airways has defeated Delta in
the Bangor market.
Councilor Palmer turned the meeting back over to Committee Chair Baldacci upon his
return.
Councilor Tremble asked when you look at load factors on adding that service, do you
look how it would affect current load factors from American. She responded that in the
complete presentation it shows particular cities that will allow passengers to connect to
easily from Bangor, and there are a couple cities on Delta where they won't be able to
connect as easily as American. Certainly this should be a preferable product for Bangor
passengers to fly on a jet. But of course this will be tempered by price, availability and
destination. This will add to our capacity but she doesn't think there will be an excess
of capacity, but it will force American Eagle to take more competitive steps in our
market which will be good for BIA in turn.
Mayor Rohman asked what the market was like for the RJs and Ms. Hupp responded
that there is a demand for pilots and she thinks the demand is higher now than it has
• been in the recent past. However, to fly a regional jet for a lot of pilots is still going to
be an increase and a step up in their career.
c) Ms. Hupp referred to the memo in the agenda packet, and indicated that at a
previous meeting it had been discussed how we were going to proceed with cargo
development at the Airport. Doing a study first will identify what the actual cargo
market is, and there are several companies capable of doing this service. In the packet
she included samples of the types of cargo development consulting services available.
The focus would be what commodities are produced in Bangor that need to be shipped
out by air, and what commodities can be shipped in by air. We would be looking at
which would be the best options. Ed Barrett added that it is simply a market study in
terms of what the market is before we start making investment decisions. The
Committee accepted staff's recommendation that a proposal be put together.
d) Edward Barrett wanted to start the discussion about the question that was raised at
the last meeting about the proposed marketing strategy and where we were in terms of
budget expenditure, and there was also a question about the $800,000. Mr. Barrett
indicated he had a copy of the contract with the State and the $800,000 was a one-
time appropriation, and the State's position is that it's to be spent this year. Therefore,
the Airport has been working under that understanding.
Ms. Hupp wanted to recognize Penelope Olson, the Finance Manager, and Jeff Russell,
� for putting together a very detailed summary in a fairly short time, so that the Council
would have this to review prior to the meeting. The primary goal is to make the
Committee aware of 1) what can be done with $800,000 and 2) the importance of
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continuing the program, hopefully at the $800,000 funding level that we had this year.
However, we want to make it clear what we could do with $800,000 versus what we
• could do with a lesser amount. But she feels it is important to continue the marketing
effort. Ms. Hupp said that when she does do her budget presentation, there is
$400,000 budgeted for marketing and she will outline very clearly what will be able to
be accomplished with that money.
Committee Chair Baldacci stated that the marketing efFort that Adrian (Adrian Fox, BFf
International) has done has been excellent. He feels a little concerned because he had
gotten the impression that this was going to be likely a 3-year annual appropriation.
This was a common misperception. Edward Barrett gave a little background. Originally,
this was supposed to be a three party effort to work at the Airport. We had asked for
$1 million over four years from the State. We were committed to putting in $250,000 a
year for a four year period, and were hopeful that the Federal government would create
another $2 milllion. So, in total, we were looking at trying to package up a $4 million
program at $1 million a year. What happened was that the first program was
legislatively authorized but unfunded by the Federal Government, so that money was
lost. We put our $250,000 in the budget and most of it has not been spent. The State
gave us $800,000 instead of the $1 million.
Councilor Baldacci said it wasn't very clear, but he only asked the question because this
has been a successful campaign and to keep our focus on strengthening the Airport we
need to follow through with a consistent marketing breakdown, and whatever the
� numbers are, we need to figure out where we're going to go because we don't want
these passenger numbers to slide the other way. Councilor Baldacci said this was his
concern.
Ed Barrett said he was confused because he thought the $800,000 was over four years,
which would have meant $200,000 a year which would have left $450,000 to spent this
year. The actual contract is very clear that the State wants the money spent this year,
and if it wasn't spent this year we wouldn't get any more. The $400,000 that's asked
for in the budget will allow us to carry through on some of the consistency that's been
recommended, and provide additional money if another airline is interested in coming in
or some other new campaign.
There was a brief discussion on the advertising campaign and when the campaign was
done for PanAm there was an immediate increase in the bookings. However, a lot of
money can be spent on doing market research to see how effective it is. There are
some passenger indicators and reservation numbers in place at BIA, but in order to do
a more sophisticated analysis you have to go out and do surveys. At this point, )eff
Russell cited an example that in the month of January there was no major campaign yet
there were 11,130 requests from the website. On March 2nd a campaign was started
and in March there were 538,065 requests from the website.
� Ms. Hupp commented that in addition to the effectiveness of the campaign when you
see these kinds of hits on the website, there is a benefit from not only having the
passenger service, but there is a $3 per passenger facility charge for planing and
deplaning in Bangor that can be used for capital projects. Another benefit is that this
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affects the Airport's eligibility for Federal grants, and the AIP Program is based on the
number of enplanements.
� It was suggested that perhaps Adrian could come back and go over his presentation
again. Committee Chair Baldacci said his concern is maintaining the consistency, and
we should know what the payback is so this information can be passed on to the
Legislature to figure out what has been earned. He added further that regardless of
whether it was Pan Am, American or Delta or whatever, it is an important program and
it's important to stablilize the market for these carriers so they're willing to provide
quality service. Ed Barrett thought it was important also to make thorough
presentations to interested airlines and be willing to make a commitment to assist them
with marketing.
4. Executive Session — Land Acquisition
A motion was made to go into executive session.
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