The Carson City Culture and Tourism Authority Board of Directors meeting.

Today is Monday, January 12th, 2026.

It is four PM, and we are at the Carson City Community Center, Robert Bob Krull Boardroom.

And can we get a roll call?

Andrew Reno.

Here.

Diana LaForge.

Stacey Giomi.

Garrett Le Pierre.

Matt Dodd.

Here.

We have a quorum.

All right.

Can everybody please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Undergone.

Liberty and Justice File.

Thank you.

And with that, we will open it up for public comment.

Hearing none, we will move on to item five, approval of minutes from the December eighth, twenty twenty-five CTA board meeting.

Do we have any additions?

No, I move to approve the December eighth, twenty twenty-five board minutes.

I will second that.

All in favor.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Thank you.

Next, we will move on to the consent agenda that which consists of item six and seven.

Does any member of the public or the board have anything they'd like pulled for further discussion?

Hearing none, can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, we will move on to let's see here.

Discussion and possible action regarding adjusting the salary range of the CTA executive director's position.

And with that, I will turn it over to Chris.

So this is the um item that Andrew asked for for a possible salary range change to the CTA executive director.

The current range is a hundred and ten thousand two seventy-one eighty to the top of the range at one seventy-six, eight fifty-one.

And then we had a three percent cost of living increase in April of twenty-three that was approved for July first.

Then it we had a one percent COLA increase in April of twenty-four, which changed on July first of this year to make the range where it currently is.

Do you want me to describe anything?

Um, we can start out with does everybody know the current salary, the current salary ranges.

And I was looking at the director's salary range with the city, and my thought was to take it up to the two oh seven eight fifty-one twenty.

But I want to leave the minimum down to the 109 or to the where was it?

Yeah, 109.

And the reason for that is I was doing a little bit of research on other directors, executive directors of tourism authorities.

And they're pretty much in that salary range of the 207,851, but most of them are on a bonus program.

And we do not have a bonus program for the executive director in Carson City.

So I don't know where you guys stand, but I'll just open it up for conversation.

Yeah.

Uh I'm not a fan of a bonus program.

I that in my mind doesn't fit in government.

Um I it doesn't fit to me.

I mean, I think the taxpayers whose money this is have a right to understand what their tax money is going to, and the the bonus thing feels squishy to me.

Um I don't like that.

Um I don't have an issue raising it.

I think the position is equal to a department director position um within the city.

I I don't know that it makes sense to not move the whole range up.

Um if we're gonna keep the bottom of the range.

I I I don't think it makes sense to keep the bottom of the range that low, but I I'm not that married to that.

I mean, if you felt like that should be 110, whatever the current bottom is 110, 271 80 to 207.

I know I don't have a I don't have an issue with that in general, but I'm definitely not a fan of bonuses.

I I don't I don't think that fits.

No, I agree with that 100% on the whole bonus issue, but that's kind of why I wanted to go up on the maximum.

Um just just to be just to be clear, we're talking about we're talking about the range irrespective of who's in the range of the current salary, correct?

Right.

We're just talking about the range.

Yes.

That clears up my question.

That clears up your question.

Okay, does anyone else have any comments?

Uh to Stacy's point, um, I think um, you know, when you move a salary range, we should be looking at just moving it in tandem, uh, whether it's the the bottom of the range, top of the range.

So if we're gonna move the top of the range, I feel like the entire range should slide.

And I just I think of that in terms of uh nothing nothing nothing against David, but I think that interpretance of future recruitment down the road somewhere, right?

Uh we want to be looking for someone with the talent that goes with that range, and we want somebody to be in that range even at the minimum uh that has the the talent to to carry off the position.

Okay, I like I like that idea.

What about you?

Any any more comments?

I I I agree with that.

Uh I'm gonna make a motion to uh increase the CTA executive director pay range to a minimum of 129,906 and 99 cents to a maximum of 207, 851 and 20 cents to be in line with Carson City Department Directors.

I will second that motion.

Oh question before we vote.

Yeah, um would it make sense to um tie it more closely to city department directors so that if that changed this would change that would that would make it?

I just had that thought now.

I mean, um I guess the other way to approach it is if it changes at the city, we can always bring it back to this board.

Um as opposed to tying the salary range to the equivalent of department directors.

Um the only consideration for you in that is that the city has uh or at least the unclassified resolution, I believe, with the city has a two percent cola in it, and I don't believe that uh CTA has signed on to colas at the moment.

I I just wanted to bring it up for discussion, but yeah, it's a it's a good point.

Thank you.

So basically at the end of the day, if we do want to increase it again, we could bring it back like we're doing right now.

I think it up in the makes more sense, it makes it to do it that way.

Okay, come back.

So thank you for clarifying that.

Okay, well, with uh yeah, go ahead, Chris.

Can I have an effective date for this new range, please?

In the motion I make the uh effective date to be January uh 13th, 2026.

I will second that motion.

All in favor of approving the new range to 120 from 129-9069 to 207,851 dollars and 20 cents.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none.

That motion passes.

Next, we will move on to item number 10 for possible action, discussion, and possible action regarding the annual perform performance review of David Peterson, Culture and Tourism Authority, Executive Director.

The review of past objectives and adoptions of future objectives for the executive director and approval of an overall rating for his performance over the past year.

And with that, we will turn it over to Chris again.

So this will be for David's annual review from December 17th through of 24 through December 16th of 25.

Then your packet, you have the notification that we were doing his review in a public meeting.

And then David's gonna run through the objectives that were completed during the review year, and he will run through the objectives for the upcoming year.

And then once he does that and you guys talk about it, um, you can give him your recommendation of either below expectations, meet expectations, above expectations, or outstanding.

Okay.

With that, we will turn it over to Mr.

David Peterson.

Uh thank you, Chair for the record, Dave Peterson, executive director with visit Carson City.

Uh first, again, I know you guys are reviewing me, but the team is the one that does this work at the end of the day.

And I'm just happy to work with such a wonderful team.

So I I want to acknowledge Chris and Casey, Lydia, Zach, Eric Stu, who's not here, uh, and these guys are awesome.

So, you know, this is a reflection, not just on me, but it's really the great work that they have all put in over this past year.

Um, so with that, let's jump into the CCT CTA objectives with completion dates.

Uh, if we look at the first one, uh, you guys wanted me to present the updated CTA personnel policy uh for board approval.

And I'm happy to say that we did get the employee policies and procedures manual uh presented to and approved by you all at the November 2025 board meeting.

Uh the second objective for last year was to prepare and provide an update to the CTA board regarding CTA contributions relative to the objectives included within the Carson City Arts and Culture Strategic Plan.

And we did get the we call it the uh implementation monitoring board that was actually completed in August, and then we presented that.

Eric did a superb job of that at the September 2025 board meeting.

Uh the third objective was to execute a media launch, small activation for the two Carson City to Canada Quest participants when they leave Carson City and arrive in Canada.

So I'll I'll just chat through this.

This is just an amazing effort, uh, KBS3 and Lydia and and Zach and these guys.

So we did execute and coordinate the media launches and the return activations uh for both of the Carson City to Canada Quest participants uh with Julianne.

She officially launched from the Nevada State Capitol Steps on June 25th last year, followed by Audrey Payne on July 3rd, uh, with earned media coverage and social uh storytelling marking Carson City as a starting point of the journey.

So I think those went off super well.

And then upon completion, both hikers were welcome back with targeted media outreach and content capture to close that storytelling loop.

Uh Julianne returned on August 26th last year, and Audrey uh was September 26th.

And so we did have great follow-up coverage, evergreen content reinforcing Carson City's uh unique sort of role I put in here, but as a launch pad for bucket list outdoor adventures.

Uh number four was to host or develop uh three new special events in Carson City.

We had a bunch last year.

Um the Rock and Reno tournament uh that was in May, Dark Prison halfway to Halloween haunted house in May.

The arena uh wars fighting series, July was a new date for that.

Um Battle of the Sierras was in August.

We had the watercolor city at Carson City Planair Festival.

So that was an expansion with our involvement thanks to Eric there.

Same thing with Nevada Pride of Capital City Celebration in September.

I just had put some notes in there in terms of expansion of events.

Like KaboomCon it did happen in 24, but when we got involved, we took that from one day to the whole weekend.

So it was a three-day.

And then concluding with the Dark Prison Haunted House, the 17 nights through October, which we heard a couple months ago, or yeah, a month or so ago was just a huge success.

So those were the events that we were a part of in terms of creating new ones or expanding existing ones.

Number five is to host develop one new meeting convention or motor coach or group tour.

And so last year we had the inaugural jackpot jamboree FAM back in May.

So I uh it was 16 or 17 um United States-based tour operators that we did bring into Carson City as a part of the Reno Tahoe territory, which was I think just a really cool opportunity for this whole whole region.

Um trying to get that to come back.

We'll we'll see if we get grant funding moving forward.

Uh then we had the making memories tour for three days.

That was actually from an NTA, um a National Tour Association appointment.

That was back in August of last year.

And then we also uh assisted with sports leisure vacations on a motor coach tour that they brought in in June of 25 as well.

And then I did break out uh group tours down below.

So with ABA just setting things up, right, in terms of development that took place last year.

Obviously, I'll talk about um ABA, which is currently going on right now in January 2026, and then same thing with Bike the Best.

So that's a German Harley group, and that is contracted for next summer, and that was a result of IPW as well.

So, what I want to try to do here is just kind of lay out uh if we have things that we're working on in anticipation of the next year, you all have an idea of that.

So that's kind of that second uh set of bullets.

So top things that happened last year, and then those last two are things that are being developed for the the year moving forward.

It may not always be the next year, sometimes it's a couple years out, right, in terms of the sort of product development timeline.

Uh six, uh this is all about datafy and leveraging our analytics platform, uh, specifically here about the success of the CTA endorsed or sponsored events and then visitor experience as well, and ensuring that the event uh support and the marketing investment is in alignment with the intended visitor experience.

So last year uh our datify dashboards were enhanced.

Thank you, Lydia, uh, and the folks at DataFi, uh Aaron and in particular, with more detailed reporting, and that's included in the monthly um detail marketing and PR reports.

Uh customized reporting continued for the Visit Carson City endorsed and sponsored events, uh, advanced spending data and attribution modeling for non-datafy ad platform-driven campaigns was also added to our dashboard, which is really cool.

So now we're able to actually, and Lydia can jump in if I misspeak, but we're actually able to look at not all digital ads, uh, but certain um I guess platforms and types of ads inside DataFi, even if it's not something that we're uh using their actual advertising platform, you know, buying ads for them.

So I think that's a really really cool addition for last year.

And then uh the datafy ad campaign dashboards, those were built uh prior to the launch of our datafy ad campaign in October of 25.

Uh on the next page, uh number seven was to create and implement a pop-up or activation.

And I'm happy that we we did uh get this figured out with the Tahoe Night Monsters game back in January last year because I think we had a great audience and aligned well with the winter travel, our events and outdoor recreation.

Uh the game, you know, as I said in here, provided a really cool captive audience for us, not only locals but visu visitors who already have that leisure mindset.

Um we were able to build some brand awareness, promote winter experiences and upcoming events down here in Carson City, and really engage with people.

I mean, we I don't know how many hundreds of those cowbells we handed out.

Three 300, and we were probably 300 short, to be honest with you, uh, for that particular game.

So that was some great face-to-face interaction, and and again, I think that just helps with our regional visibility, strengthens it, reinforces it, um, gives us that presence, you know, in terms of the broader Tahoe and Reno markets in that peak winter season.

So I think that worked out really well for us.

Uh number eight was to facilitate the CTA serving as the lead organization for the 3D Cultural Corridor Project.

This has been a beauty.

Uh let me tell you right now.

So we we do continue to take the lead, obviously, on all things now, Dust and Wander Trail, um, you know, guiding that vision, the coordination, the stakeholder collaboration.

So in 2025, um, we did hire an executive director uh for that, and that coincided with the creation of the Dust and Wander Trail non nonprofit, the 501c3.

Uh, in addition to naming, research, field visits, we did get the logo design, we have the brand guidelines completed as well, and then on the digital experience platform front, domain was purchased, email was set up.

Uh, we had a strategic brief in place, the functional spec document site map and style sheets were also completed.

And we did get a temporary landing page live, not the full build out by any stretch of the imagination.

Uh, and then the content requirements, we also have those finalized for the platform.

And then I just do want to talk through a couple of these things, clear up any confusion, concerns.

Um, a major implementation milestone for this project is that we did get an RFP out the door uh for up to 40 railroad spike interpretive sculpt sculptures, and they will really function as the public art piece.

So they're the wayfinding element, the story markers that will be along this trail.

That includes us, Carson City.

It is inclusive of Carson Valley as well, so Douglas County, non-lake, uh going up through Silver City.

So we there's a lion county piece in here as well, and then of course, Story County specifically Virginia City.

So it's a way that we're leveraging that that public art infrastructure to tie the trail together.

Um, and you know, as I said in here, it's definitely a long-term investment here in terms of cultural tourism infrastructure.

Um, the hope is is that we will collectively be able to elevate the visitation across our different communities.

And as I said, the multi-stop travel extending length of stay, hopefully, and then really want to just sustain that economic impact beyond a particular um arts and culture or historical related event or location, right?

We want these people to move between the different cities and the different counties.

So that's a a little bit of a recap on everything that happened uh last year or for this for this review period.

And then number nine is to curate four rotating exhibits as a part of the Marie Arts satellite gallery inside of our office.

Um we did expand the cultural programming uh over this this last review period with four site-specific gallery exhibitions in collaboration with the BAC.

Uh, and again, I I this I just can't say enough about uh to Eric.

Um it's really really gone well.

So we installed these things on a three-month uh rotating basis, um, and I do really think that they they have transformed the visitor center into an active cultural venue.

Um they give experiences and unexpected and immersive arts experience, and we're supporting local and regional artists, which to me is sort of a critical mass.

Uh our lineup last year was remembering the Gold Hill News, uh 1974 to 1978.

That was a historical reflection on the legacy of the Gold Hill News.

Uh, plus we had some bold figurative abstractions by Nick Noyace, uh, layered collage works by Candida Webb and then the ceramic creations by Lane Parks.

And we continue uh up and through the last one that ended in December to have sold a piece of art, you know, which I to me is huge, right?

Um so I'm super excited about that.

Uh you know, I can I'll leave the last last little part out, but I do feel that we really are reinforcing arts and culture in Carson City, and we're giving these artists an opportunity to show their works.

Um they're getting a stipend, I think is probably the right way to say that, uh, which is also unique.

I think you know, we're probably the only facility that that's doing that here uh in Carson City or even maybe within the area, and uh these folks have sold some some art each and every quarter, which is to me again huge for us.

So I'll pause if the chair uh would like if there are any questions about last year's uh objectives and and uh the completion dates and what I've said.

Yeah, at this point, we'll just open it up for discussion on Dave's review for the year.

Go ahead.

Dave, I I have a few questions for you.

Yeah, um it's some of this is I'm new here, and I'm just trying to trying to figure my way out on the playing field and what's what.

So yeah, do you get requests for convention space?

Every once in a while, yes.

Okay.

Yeah, we do we will get requests, they'll come in through the doppis uh portion of the website.

So we've got something set up there where those filter into uh what is it like an events and sales at Visit Carson City um email address?

Not a lot, you know, probably could count on one hand if that uh in terms of what comes to us specifically.

Now, the reason for that, you know, looking at Diana and Matt, um, we don't have quote a convention sales team.

So more or less I would say the properties would be receiving those inquiries directly if they do have meeting space, as would private sector smaller meeting space, uh event space locations in Carson City.

So but if we do get them uh coming in, Stu, we reach out, you know, we assess the request, and then we'll pass that along to based on based on the information, the questions that we get, um, we'll share that with if it's you know a casino property or a non-casino property, whatever makes sense based on the requirements.

Um in fact, I will tell you we just actually just had a request come in from a law firm uh, but they're looking for I don't know, four weeks.

If Stu was here, he would probably correct me, but they need a space for four straight weeks, which I guess has been somewhat problematic uh for the properties, right?

To be able to cordon off that space for that many weeks of time, right?

Um that's a highly unusual one, I would say, in terms of the duration, you know, length of time that they are requesting that space.

But but yeah, I mean we do we do get them.

Yep.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Of course.

Um I know in my world data is everything.

Like data is the world in my world.

Um I understand the data fi stuff.

Is there a way to put together a system that is held in-house with Visit Carson City to where the properties report beyond just room nights?

Where are these people coming from?

Why'd they come here?

Do they have family here?

Are they looking for real estate here?

Are they just on vacation?

I think there's a whole deeper set of data that you guys could pull that would allow all of us to make better decisions with having that data.

But I also understand that property A doesn't want property B to have their data.

Yeah.

But I think there's a way to do that to where it's not property A's data, it's not property B's data, it's just the data, if that makes sense.

Sort of aggregated right together.

Um that's it.

That's an excellent question.

Um I would almost look to Diana and Matt to you know, share their thoughts on that.

For us, Garrett, uh, we do have visitor profile data, and I know obviously you just come on, you know, as well.

Uh and that's based on uh Omnitrack data where we actually get domestic visitor profile information that's specific to overnight visitors who some share of their trip was to Carson City, which again is different than DataFi because data fi is your mobile tracking, so it's not a people counter.

Uh so we do leverage you know the omnitrack data as far as what a domestic visitor pro overnight visitor looks like to Carson City.

As far as tapping into casino or hotel specific data, uh obviously Matt can you know probably speak to their casino management system and the amount of information that they would have on their clients.

Um that's it's something I would love to get that.

I don't know that we would get that in a million years.

We also do it for private.

We also gather it from events that we sponsor.

We we require that events that we sponsor gather that information.

So we do have that information.

I don't know how you ask a private company.

You you really can.

I've had I've faced this before.

And it basically comes down to the who's doing the lead distribution.

If it's coming from the C V B, then everybody can have access to it.

But if it's coming from private industry, you're not gonna get it.

I mean, from what I've seen in the past.

The way around that has been, as you said, the events surrounding it.

So they they capture information, and you could go about it that way.

But as far as uh we do, we do.

Yeah, we do.

But as far as the city organization going to the specific properties, it's not gonna happen.

Okay.

I and I understand the challenges with all of that.

Um the power of the MLS is that's where the brain is, and that's where all the information is.

And I think the properties would get a real benefit from having all of that information for their own use, so they can make better decisions at their own board tables rather than um you know keeping it siphoned and siloed just to themselves.

But I understand that's not our task and our in our job here.

So I'll leave it at that.

My last question for you.

In your opinion, Dave, what opportunities are we not fully capitalizing on?

Good good question.

Um of the things that I want to do with the team moving forward is to have a bit of a more robust collective assessment of special events of any kind.

Um arts and culture related event.

I want us to do a little better job internally and then externally, internally communicating with one another and making sure that we are capturing information better on the front end before we're you know we do have a I should back up.

We do have something in place uh where when we're looking at new events, we have something that goes out to the event owner to actually assess this event and does it make sense for Carson City?

What's the event about?

But I think we need to expand that a little bit, you know, and and dig a little bit deeper.

And then once that onboarding process happens, I think the opportunity for us is to make sure that I've got the whole team at the table, right?

Um, because I think sometimes like you know, Lydia might get going on something uh you know, and Stu is over here, right?

And and and we get a little bit out of lockstep, you know, with each other.

And so I I call it a soup to nuts sort of assessment on on uh special events, and this is something that I've talked with Chris about, and she's gonna help uh sort of work on implementing this this year moving forward, because the way I see it is with this events, we need to be out in front of, you know, even before an opportunity comes to us, right?

Uh I want to make sure that our assessment of a particular event is correct because I don't want to do the one and duns, right?

I want to look at sustainability, and this is something I will say uh Eric is has done a good job at on his end of things.

How can we grow these events organically, right?

If we get too ahead of ourselves, right, we almost could shoot ourselves in the foot.

And you know, Mark Dwayne Days was a go from 10 or 12 events to 100 something events.

Well, we learned a lot a lesson, obviously, on that.

Uh so I think we do have an opportunity internally to work with our current event partners, future event partners, but also bringing in beyond hotels, looking at restaurants, looking at attractions, right?

And something that we keep bandying about internally is uh I'll use like a youth sports tournaments as an example.

Okay, you've got 500 kids in town, you got their parents, their grandparents.

Okay, how do we get with restaurants to ensure that you know we got hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, whatever, you know, what makes sense for particular events, right?

And then working with those restaurants to make sure they're open, right?

On the days that we have uh these these tournaments.

And as well, talking about a little bit going forward, we're gonna have some opportunities uh with basketball, it's midweek.

Well, that's where obviously we do have a little bit of an issue because it seems like a ghost down at six o'clock, right, at night.

And and I think we've just I think it's us reaching out to the other uh folks within the the business community, right?

But ties directly in with with tourism to make sure that we're communicating with those folks and restaurants are open if it's a softball thing, okay.

Let's have our bars open, right?

Um, you know, bowling, Matt, you know, we got the bowling open, right?

Are we are we making sure that we're setting up a really good experience for the people that are coming to participate in whatever event it is, you know, the sports tournament or you know, it could be uh an arts and culture related event.

Uh so that's that's I think a huge opportunity.

And I'm not saying we're doing anything wrong.

I just think we can be better um at what we're doing, right?

And and so that that is something that I would like to, well, we will kind of start this um this coming year and and just kind of do a holistic start to finish, and then also the follow-up on the back end.

I think we have a lot of opportunity there because working with those those folks, um, and I'll use as an example um Mike Heikamp, you know, just hearing what he said about we had 80 people here, they were out at the prison with the with the lock picking um event this past September, the growth that the opportunities potential that we have there, uh he wants to do some really cool things.

I'm not exactly sure how we can get to doing some of those really cool things because it's taking us a little bit out of at least for me personally out of our comfort zone uh to accommodate some of the ask that he has, but that's where working with him to understand okay, how do you want to grow this event, right?

But that's where working with him to understand, okay, how do you want to grow this event, right?

And uh he's got some really cool ideas, right?

Uh, and I think it's it's just having that conversation.

Uh and we I started that literally during the event, and then Stu carried that conversation forward after the event, which led obviously to him coming and talking about the the numbers from his September event.

It's just a full circle, I guess is what I would say.

Because we do this for regular marketing, right?

It's kind of full circle, close the loop, you know, when folks are seeing the advertising to coming here and visiting, and that's certainly where DataFi comes in at as well.

And we just need to kind of create that structure, I think, for events.

Um so that I would say is a really big opportunity.

I you know, some other thoughts, depending on how how long you guys want me to chat for, but that to me is a big one because that is something that can impact uh visitation year round, but it also helps us in the shoulder seasons uh for sure, as we're trying to move people, you know, around.

And then I guess if I if I could share, um I'm I'm already we're already seeing this.

The renovations, the synthetic turf at Centennial, holy moly.

Uh we've got folks coming out of the woodwork right now to get onto those fields.

So much so they're wanting the same dates, right?

That so our biggest challenge right now working with parks who's awesome, by the way, Scott and those guys, is can we actually accommodate the requests uh from these tournaments?

So I had I just sent a draft schedule of exhibit A, which are is the endorsed uh event list for from our side to Jen Budge and her team, and we've already had a change just in the last week with I think it's legacy sports.

Stu was on the phone with these folks late on Friday, and they want to come here, right?

So we're already trying to figure out can we shift another, you know, uh uh opportunity to a different time frame because they have specific needs that they have with their own season and how they do their tournaments throughout the West and everything.

So that's another opportunity is j just those fields alone has brought a lot of exposure to Carson City, and it kind of brings us up with like the golden eagle, you know, level of of standards.

So um, and maybe there's some additional partnership opportunities there too, and leveraging fields all around the region, you know, as well.

So yeah.

So there's a couple couple of things that that helps with a response.

Yeah, of course.

Real quick, what are the biggest weaknessing challenges that you're facing right now?

I mean, because I know the region is going through a few things.

Yeah.

What are Carson City's challenges that we're facing is a tourism board.

Well, I uh obviously having the fields go down at the end of August to be renovated killed us for the September revenue.

So it does show dependence on one particular facility, Centennial as it relates to the softball.

Uh another challenge for us until what, three or four weeks ago, we had no snow.

So that overflow piece for Tahoe killed us again, right?

I would say late November uh going into December.

But going back to opportunity, um, remember Dodd mentioned something about golf, right?

And so I said to Lydia, you know, hey, we've got an opportunity, there's snow, no snow on the ground here.

We we're talking hiking, we're talking biking, let's get golf in the mix.

And so obviously it was a very tight turnaround because then all of a sudden we had snow, right?

You know, so that's just sort of the way the way it goes, right?

But we're already trying to get set up for coming out of the winter.

So let's say maybe April, I you know, I don't want to tie it to a specific time frame, uh, to make sure that we we have that golf messaging ready to go.

So we're proactive, we're not reactive, right, in light of the conditions.

But I it's always gonna be a challenge in the winter with snow and the impact um as far as us being overflow, you know, for Tahoe, you know, for the basin, right?

So, and then, you know, obviously, you know, rates become an issue too.

So, you know, Reno Sparks, you guys start dropping, we start dropping.

Now that's gonna in fact affect our our revenue flows, right, on a monthly basis.

So I can't say that I'm not worried about that as well.

Um, but again, you know, we do have a property coming online, fingers crossed, in February, if all goes according to plan.

So, you know, we do have some inventory coming online.

I think that gives us a great opportunity with that particular property, right?

As an extended stay, the luxury upscale property, so it kind of can go both ways.

Um, but I I see those as a couple challenges.

And then just we don't have a lot of marketing dollars, guys.

Um, our budget is uh is it three 10,500 Lydia this uh fiscal year for marketing, advertising, you know, that's paid advertising, right?

And that includes influencers, um, journalists, you know, in terms of how we split things into that budget.

Uh so we always face the challenge that we gotta get out there who we are with limited funds, right?

But this team, I think has done an amazing job and are very creative with with limited uh funding available to get that message out.

You know, we're so gosh darn close to Lake Tahoe.

Uh it it shocks me.

You know, when we were doing those um activations up there at uh Harvey's with the outdoor concert series, if I handed 500 bandanas out, I I think I could honestly feel good about saying 450, 460 of those people.

No idea where Carson City was.

We're 25 minutes just over the hill, right?

It's it's just it boggles my mind.

So that's always gonna be, I think, a challenge for us as a small uh rural destination, again, just given given funding.

But these guys are awesome.

I mean, anything they can do to you know, take a dollar and stretch it into you know five dollars worth of value, ten dollars worth of value of their doing it.

Um, but that's kind of you know, that's what happens with smaller uh rural destinations.

So it's not unique.

I'm not saying this is unique to just us, um, but it is it's always on my mind, right?

And and but these guys are very creative.

We're always trying to come up with ways to leverage messaging to take advantage of when there are large events in the Washer County area or their large large events in Tahoe because they've got way more money than we have, right, to work with millions of dollars in the state has however tens of you know millions of dollars to market with.

Um so I think we again opportunity, and I would say this is what I really appreciate about the Reno Spark Convention and Visitors Authority.

We would never have the money, you guys uh to bring in 10 or 20 tour operators from back east or another country, or the same thing with influencers and journalists.

But these guys have been wonderful when they do bring these folks in.

They say, hey, we'd like them to come down to Carson City.

We'll give you four hours, you know, or three hours or two hours or what whatever we have.

And so we definitely take full advantage of those opportunities when presented.

Um and I am having a transition meeting uh in about a week and a half uh because our Jimenez is leaving and meeting with with John McGuinness, who's gonna assume um his responsibilities uh for the RSCVA, and that's one of the things that we're talking about is DMO collaboration, you know, and again, huge opportunity for us.

Um they're carrying the the the big stick, obviously, and can afford to get these folks into the region.

We just need to capitalize on any opportunity that we're given uh to to make the most of it.

Uh you know, and I have something I'll talk about that's happening Wednesday, Thursday, which is I won't do that now, but it's an exact example, you know, of that with our peers that travel Nevada, right?

So anyway, I I would you know say those are some of the challenges that I see, Chair.

Okay.

Anybody now?

Do we move on to your future before we okay?

You want to move on to ask me, yeah.

Figure out where I'm at here.

Okay, that's the pass.

So Dave, if you could uh explain the future objectives and goals for 2026.

Uh great.

So this, yeah, thank you, Chair.

Um, the last page in the packet has seven uh objectives for the board's consideration, of course.

Uh the first one, this is a biggie.

Uh we are going to decouple visit CarsonCitythe.com from the dot biz.

And again, this is to better serve our our distinct audiences and strengthen organizational clarity here.

Consumer website will remain fully focused on the visitor inspiration and the trip planning, and then the dot biz will function as a dedicated hub for our partners, stakeholders, um, film meetings, business, research, and the organizational transparency.

Uh the separation will improve the user experience, strengthen credibility with our funders, our partners, and support long-term growth.

So now I'm just thinking out loud, you guys, because this is the way my brain thinks this is an opportunity.

I should have pointed it out, but I I don't want to mix things together, but what we're doing by decoupling these two websites is an opportunity for us in terms of content development on dot biz moving forward, and without taking 20 minutes to get into that, um it will help us, you know, in terms of how we're engaging with our partners instead of having everything kind of under dot com, having that dot biz website be its own entity.

I mean, for marketing purposes, as we're going to shows and things of that nature, there's a lot of positive uh that will come from this decoupling of the two sites.

So that is um objective number number one.

Second objective would be to prepare and provide an update uh to the CTA board regarding CTA contributions.

Again, this ties into Carson City Arts and Culture uh strategic plan.

So that's something that uh member geomia has asked to be included on it on an annual basis.

And then number three, same thing, facilitate uh CTA serving as a lead organization.

So obviously, because of the timing of this one, uh it'll be on this review per uh the direction of the board and then and then one more time because it does oh no no, this will be the last time, sorry.

This will be the last time it would be on there because our grant expires on the 8th of October, right?

Uh with Travel Nevada, so that's that EDA grant.

Um and then I've got a number four, host develop and expand for special events uh in Carson City, and then number five is to host and develop two meetings, conventions, or group motor coach tours.

So on these, I I wanted to get that development or that expansion in there because I think it's important.

We're not always going to be able to bring in new events, right?

At the at the consistency, I believe um we've been doing this.

Plus, I I'm worried about burning the team out, just to be honest with you.

But if we can expand existing um events, I think that's equally as important too.

If we can take it from a one day, you know, an afternoon and make that into a whole weekend, I think that's a good thing uh for Carson City uh as well.

So that's where I've got the host develop, because again, we're always we're looking at stuff in the pipeline, and I think it's important for me to be able to report to you.

Not that we don't do this through the regular meetings, but trying to tie this back to my review and the way that this whole process sort of functions.

I want to make sure that we're covering that development as well, you know, each each January.

So that's why the develop is in there on four and five, and then of course the expansion in there on number four.

And then number six, uh, this is one that you all had requested to be included each year, and that has everything to do with the data fi, uh, the analytics platform, and again, what we're doing with the events and then specific um visitor experience uh guidance on that.

And again, uh to your point, Garrett, you know, this really does help us not only with events, but it it also is a guiding force.

I'm not saying it's the end all be all for what Lydia does uh with marketing and PR, but she is definitely leveraging you know this information all year round, right?

And so that's in there, and then I and then seven is of course with the four rotating exhibits inside our office in concert with the BAC.

So I'll pause.

Yeah.

Any questions for David?

Uh just uh you mentioned that event coordination.

Is there a way to craft uh objective out of that or what do you think about that, Chris?

Um I'm trying to think of how we could how to do that.

Um I I hate to, I mean, I've called it soup to nuts.

I have a different term for it, but for the life of me, I can't remember.

And I apologize.

What yes, I mean communication.

What is it how about events communication improvement or plan of some sort?

Yeah, maybe something along those lines.

Instead of soup to nuts.

Yeah.

Unless it's chicken needle soup to nuts, but something of that sort.

Yeah.

Ummunication development.

If I may a plan, event communication.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Event coordination plan, eventually.

I like developing something.

Plan to blah blah blah.

Yep.

Well, it and if if I might suggest, Stacy, maybe uh is if the if the board would be comfortable, um we'll have that as an eighth, but then maybe I can work that out with the chair for like specific what the sentence would say.

But yeah, and then all I would ask is um for the board's consideration, it may go into you know, like the next review period.

So I just I wouldn't want it uh be in a position where we had to have this completed by middle of December because it very well may take us a little bit longer if if you all would be okay with that.

So you know I would be okay with saying uh initiate uh an event initiate an event coordination plan um to um improve collaboration among like tourism industry partner stakeholders.

Yeah, okay.

Yep.

You get that you go.

Yeah, okay.

You don't need to be.

I think it's perfect, yeah.

No, I don't know why.

Did you I don't know why the chair didn't come up with that himself.

No, I wow I'll tell you right now I depend on Stacey.

He's uh he's a knowledgeable one up here.

Okay, that I think it's all smoking mirrors.

No, that sounds good.

So we'll add add that as an eight.

Would would you like a motion to approve those?

Well let's see here.

Do we have to do an explanation of the impact first, right?

No?

No.

Yeah, we can make a motion.

Do we have to give it a uh rating?

Yeah, we do have to go through the rating process before we do anything.

Could we not separate it in your mind?

Could we do two motions?

One motion for the rating and one motion for the objectives for next.

We can do that.

Yeah.

If you want to move on, let's do this.

Let's do a motion for the yeah, we can go ahead and move on and do a motion for I'll move to um approve the CCTA objectives for the executive director um as uh presented uh with the addition of number eight as written the record.

I will second that motion.

Yeah.

Brilliantly captured, I guess.

All in favor of the motion?

Aye.

Any opposed with that the motion passes.

Now we will move on to the executive directors.

Current annual salary is 1753 55.

The merit increase percentage are as followed.

Below expectations, 0% increase.

Meets expectation, 0% increase.

Above expectations, 3.5% increase, and outstanding at 5% increase.

And right now we could go through and uh give our own thoughts on what he did this year, and I'm I'm gonna go ahead and start because there's one thing that is not on this evaluation that I've noticed over the last year.

David's been creating a group of people in his office.

His staff have become well, he we all know he's a leader in the destination, but his staff has been following that pattern.

Chris has been on the board of been is now on the board of directors for the Reno Tahoe Territory.

We've got Lydia who's on the board of directors for the Cordillera Film Festival.

So everybody's starting to move out, and I think that starts with David, just being involved in everything regionally, and to your point, I think that's gonna help us get more information down the road.

And it's not in the in his review, but I think it's something that has to be noticed.

Um you've met all your expectations.

So with that, I am gonna say I'm all for an outstanding rating.

Next, I think that's so well said, and I I just like to add every time I go over to the office, um, you know, it's just bustling, and there's so much excitement in the air with everything that's happening week by week.

And I've really been uh glad to be a part of everything that um they bring to the table.

And um I definitely vote for the outstanding increase of five percent.

Um I'll um I just realized I'm the longest serving member on this board, which is odd.

Um anyway, um my comment has nothing to do with that.

Um except that except to say that it it I you know I have the perspective of time um and the the perspective of uh the ability to appreciate uh the effort that uh David puts into the role that he has, and uh and I think uh the key for me uh is that when you're in an executive director position like this, you um you're looked at as an expert and um and I think from from my perspective as a city supervisor and a representative of the community of the citizens of the community.

Um I've I've never failed to get um engagement from David when it comes to a topic related to uh convention and tourism.

Um so I can ask him questions about what's happening in the market and in in his world, in your world.

And um, and he's quick to respond, whether that's to me or whether I pass along a citizen comment to him.

And I think that's critical when we're in a public servant role.

Um, and and he epitomizes that, and I really do appreciate that, David.

Um, and and I also appreciate, and I think this is probably the most important component is um the ability to collaborate across a wide field, um, all related within the tourist tourism bubble, but but it touches on so many things.

And uh I really appreciate your uh approachableness and your willingness to, as you even talked about it today, event coordination, um, and recognize the importance of collaboration.

Um and uh so that so that's uh to me the most important and and the biggest contribution you make, but I also would uh recommend an outstanding uh rating.

I would concur with everything that was said before me and add in that not only um does David listen to all my asinine questions and comments and ideas, and he listens to them with with an open ear, and I appreciate that.

Uh he has he has he has a love for Carson City, and I completely agree the team that he's built around him is an awesome team, and they do a great job and have brought a lot of really good things to Carson City, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

For me, it's a five.

Okay.

Are you ready?

Um not having been on this board for the period that's under review.

I'll abstain from uh a formal rating, but I will say that in the short time I've been in Carson City and the few months that I've had the opportunity and the pleasure to know David and speak with him about things, tourism uh and regarding hotels in the in the area.

He's been incredibly knowledgeable.

Um I'm looking forward to this next year and the objectives that are on the list.

That's all.

Okay, with that.

I move to approve the performance evaluation and objectives for David Peterson and set his rating as outstanding with a five percent increase as discussed on the record, effective January 12th 2026.

Can I get a second?

I'll second that.

All in favor.

Uh before before you vote.

Yep.

Yep.

If I may, Mr.

Chair.

Yes, sir.

You uh may want to make it I'm I'm concerned about the coordination between the previous item and this item.

Gotcha.

And I simply wish to determine what the board's intent is to do.

So if you give him the raise effective today, his salary range is the salary range that the old is the old salary range.

If you give him the raise effective tomorrow, uh because that's when you approved the salary range adjustment, then the adjustment will be made under the new salary range.

So I simply wish to alert the board of that so that the board can uh uh do whatever it pleases as far as his uh salary is concerned.

With that, I move to approve the performance evaluation and objectives for David Peterson and said his rating is outstanding as discussed on the record, effective January 13th, 2026.

All in favor?

Oh, I need a second.

There you go.

Can I get a second?

I'll second that amended motion.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, we will move on to item 11, non-action items and presentations and discussions.

And with that, I will turn it over to David.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh just want to say thank you to all of you on the board.

I appreciate your kind comments, and it's a pleasure to work with such honestly wonderful people.

So I thank you for giving me some latitude with the team to implement a I think a great tourism effort on behalf of Carson City.

So my thanks to all of you.

Um with that, let's go ahead and move on to 11A.

That's our first of the monthly non-action items.

Uh it's my executive director update.

I just have one thing, and and I don't want to steal Stu's thunder about ABA.

So I just gonna hit the highlights though, because I was I was in there and and it's just the team did an amazing job.

Um Saturday was our pre-conference sightseeing tour.

It was specific to just Carson City.

We did not have to share uh with another uh community, which which was great.

Uh Chris was got the breakfast.

You know, I want to thank Kat at LA Bakery.

Uh 50 people right were on on our tour.

Uh we went to the museum first, I should mention another partner of ours, Mary Bennett was our step-on guide, which she was awesome.

Uh people were asking for her business card, wanting her to be a part of a future motor coach tours, right?

To do what she does best.

Um so again, we we had a lot of partners involved uh in this, and Jen and Kelly Jim, the whole team, the volunteers at the state museum were awesome, um, split the group into two.

First half went to the Coin Press.

Everybody got a coin, um, which was I think our surprise number one, I would say, at the State Museum.

Uh, then we moved on to the Nevada State Railroad Museum, and there Daphne, Adam, the team uh were amazing.

Our surprise number two was Mark Twain himself, Mr.

McAvoy Lane, who greeted the group.

Uh people were talking about this the next day because uh Stu had folks coming up to him saying, Hey, that guy that was Mark Twain.

How do we uh get his information?

You know, what does he charge, right?

To to be a part of an event or a group or a motor coach.

Um so that I think was was fantastic.

Uh we ended, we didn't have as much time as I would have liked to have had.

Oh, I should say they took the motor, the McKean car out.

They never do that.

Uh but we were able to talk to them.

Uh so the McKean car was rolling around, which was what allowed us to kind of split the group in two there as well, so they could do inside, get a history.

They also took them in the shop in the back, which was fantastic.

I saw them when I was when I was over there as well, so they can kind of see how all of this comes to life, you know, at the at the railroad museum.

Uh, and then we didn't have as much time as we would have liked at the hot springs.

Uh, but I do want to thank Keith and Jeff and Myra out there, Jamie Saspras did all the lunches, uh, the regular lunches, that is, and then we worked with Lori at Melavita for the special dietary uh needs.

Normally you get a bus of 50 people, you might have one or two.

We had 12 on on the bus uh on the original registration uh that had special dietary needs.

So this was you know just a great kind of collaborative effort uh with some of our partners to to pull this thing together, and it was being talked about on Sunday.

Um people just had the best time ever.

And so much so a couple people, Stu told me, and I do not remember who they were with uh for the life of me, that didn't get on our bus.

They ended up driving down here and they went to the railroad museum, they went out to Stuart.

I wish we could have done Stuart.

We should have done the prison as well.

But again, when you're on a very tight timeline and you have to have these people back before the ribbon cutting, uh, you know, we're where there's only so much that we can do.

And so this was again huge opportunity.

ABA, first time past Salt Lake City in the hundred-year history of this organization.

It was in Salt Lake City, I think 20 years ago or something like that, maybe in Nebraska, who knows, 40 years, but it's always been east of the Mississippi.

So the fact that Reno won the bid uh over Las Vegas or or the other cities, I should say.

That the first place that it came to was Reno in Nevada, huge.

So this really I think is is awesome.

Um, you know, Andrew can talk all day long about it.

Uh, but we're not done yet.

So, you know, Stu had great appointments uh yesterday, and we're very fortunate that we have a post-ABA FAM through Travel Nevada.

So that's state tourism uh partner, Matt, for for you, uh, just so you know, and Garrett.

That starts on Wednesday.

Uh we've got 13 to 15 select uh tour operators.

They're actually staying at the State Bridge, so they put a like a I guess a request for quote out the state did uh State Bridge won that.

I'm I'm just excited that we actually have the group staying overnight Carson City.

Um so that is awesome.

They'll have a site tour there, so thank you, Ben and Quentin.

Uh they have a site tour and a dinner that's gonna be hosted by Cold Us West.

Thank you, Matt and Irma, uh, for that.

And then the following morning, they will be over at Diana's property at the federal.

Uh so thank you uh for for a site-specific tour.

So this is great.

They're touching three of our properties, um, which is huge uh for for us.

And then we we did pivot a little bit off the Kit Carson Trail because of time.

Obviously, that's about a two, two and a half hour walk.

Uh, we don't have that kind of time.

Uh so our partner, Spike at the Bree Arts Center has stepped up, and Eric and the team, uh, so they're gonna tour them around the BAC on Thursday morning before they then head to Carson Valley.

So this has been really uh a wonderful week, I would say, you know, having ABA here and the direct impact on uh on Carson City.

So I I had great conversations uh with folks when I was there checking people in on uh Friday afternoon and evening, and there were some people that were just genuinely excited uh to see uh that we have trains, they can get on a train, you know.

And uh yeah, so anyway, that's that's all I want to say because Stu will kill me if if I talk any more about this.

He's gonna do a full uh recap, you know, at the February meeting, and he's there now.

He's actually uh doing, I can't call them appointments, but he's meeting with people who he was not able to get an appointment with uh this morning and this afternoon, right?

And he had some folks and holiday uh holiday travel, holiday tours reached out and another another uh tour operator as well that wanted to meet with Stu.

So that's my my update for you all this month.

And Stu will of course tear it up at the February meeting with a with a full recap.

So if any questions, you know, any anything I can add on on the ABA front, uh happy to happy to do so.

Um okay.

Uh if not, let's move on to 11B.

That's the big sheet in the packet.

Um we we've talked about, you know, obviously up until this point uh where we were at uh for September.

We came back a little bit, you know, just we're talking tenth of a percentage point, you know, in terms of uh revenue.

November, uh it's looking like we're gonna be down about seven percent.

I took us down in December as well.

My hope is we'll outperform that number, but I don't have a lot to go on, and again, we were still in that weird dilemma with with no snow, right?

Until deeper, deeper into December.

So I'm hoping fingers crossed with what came in, you know, maybe that last 10-12 days of the month that we'll pick up a little bit, you know, on the tail end of December.

So we will be better than that negative 7%.

Obviously, I'll have to look at January because uh with the home two suites not coming online until February.

Our original projection uh from last, I guess, March for the for the tentative included uh an estimate for home to suites coming on board 1st of January, right?

So I'll make some adjustments uh if if I can get any kind of a data before the next meeting, you know, on the January front as well.

So right now, if you go all the way over to the right, um we're looking at uh being down about 3.42% against budget, but we're just a tenth of a percent ahead of last fiscal year.

So against FY25 at this point.

So there's a lot of stuff going on out there, is all I will say in the world.

So uh you got people nervous about spending, discretionary spending.

I've been talking with my peers, of course, at the different DMOs and just getting feedback from them in terms of what they're seeing, who's on the ground, spend wise.

Um, so you know, this is this is kind of where we're at right now, I would say.

So I'm happy to to entertain any questions, you know, on this particular report if there are any.

Okay.

Um hearing none.

Uh well, let's go ahead and move on to 11C, which is our hotel motel RB Park Transient Lodging Report.

So this gives us a snapshot, just as a as a reminder, Chris, you can correct me if I misspeak.

Um ideally, we're you know, it takes everything we can do to get all of this data, and the goal is to try and have it, you know, done in the third quarter of the month following for that board meeting.

But the reality is um Chris does have to sometimes go back with properties and uh get some corrected information beyond just the taxable revenue.

So so some of the room nights related stuff and and things of that nature.

Um so that's why you know I'm bringing this forward to you all at the January meeting.

But this is looking at the first quarter, and so uh just to walk everybody through this.

Uh Garrett and Matt, I think probably the first time you guys are seeing this.

So that that first in the blue uh up top, that's July, August, September of 25, and then in the yellow or I guess semi-orange color, there is July, August, September of 24, and then the variance is down below uh with regard to the statistics that we currently are able to get.

Well, some of these are derived calculations, but based on the information that we collect on the remittance reports on a monthly basis.

So you can see it was a tale of two worlds, right?

You know, July off, then we come back in August, which was a record, right?

That was the highest taxable revenue month uh for the for the month of August in the history of the organization, and then September, you know, falls off.

Again, I had heard a lot of feedback from properties as far as what we lost from the softball perspective with the centennial fields being down.

But I feel like that was a small price to pay, right?

To now come back with the synthetic turf field.

So we should be picking that up moving forward.

Good Lord willing, we'll you know, come online late, late April um May.

And then on the backside, uh again, this is just we're only looking at the three properties.

So as uh previously discussed and in consult with Todd, um, we're just showing the quarterly information uh for RV parks and what that looked like for July, August, September.

And that's you know, obviously it's a bit of a different situation because a couple of our parks are are primarily, you know, the folks live there, right?

Not a lot of uh spaces, you know, that are that are being rented out.

So these numbers go all over the place.

Um that's that's uh RV for the quarter ending September 2025.

And I'm happy to entertain any questions.

Should the board have any on this particular report?

I do.

Real quick.

Do you see us making up any ground when the fields open on occupancy and transient lodging tax?

I yes, I've got to believe in light of the the requests that are coming in.

Um, yes.

I mean, we have people who have been asking to literally get on those fields in April, but we've had to say, well, uh no.

Uh and this is I should say we parks uh because of the timing right when we think the fields are going to be completed, you know, in April, maybe early May.

Um so the demand, it's it's crazy.

So there's a good possibility we'll make up any losses that we feel at the beginning of the year.

Yeah, yeah, especially then you know, going into next fall.

Because the beauty, as we've all discussed, um, I'm sure Stacey, you know, on the board of supervisor side, we heard about the ability to I'm not saying maybe play year round, but definitely to extend the playability deeper into October or November, even this year.

My gosh, we could have been probably playing through the middle part of December on the synthetic field.

So I feel like yes, um not only just with the tournaments coming back, because we did lose NAFA to Bullhead City and a couple of others.

I don't remember where they went, but we did lose NAFA last September because they still wanted to have their tournaments, but the fields were shut down.

They are coming back, right?

So that'll be on the exhibit A schedule.

Uh hopefully bring that forward at the at the February meeting.

Um, but I'm looking forward to I realize they want to play okay, May, June, July, August, September.

I want to make sure again that we're chatting with these folks after they have those tournaments to see can we fill some of those later October or those November you know uh time frames, right, for us as a community.

So again, that'll be part of the new objective, you know, with the communication collaboration uh to hopefully pick off some additional weekends, you know, deeper deeper into the year.

So I'm I'm looking forward to that.

But yeah, the short answer to your question, Chris would have said just yes.

Um yes.

Okay, uh, thank you all on on that one.

Let's go ahead and move on to 11D, which is the arts and culture update.

Mr.

Brooks, take it away.

Thank you, Eric Brooks, for the record.

The front picture here, we're just gonna do a mural every month.

Uh so this is done at the Friendly High School uh by Eric Burke.

He did that in two days.

So moving forward, we're gonna talk the it's the east-facing side of Fernley High School in their courtyard.

A little jealous, that's in Fernley, not here.

I I love that.

Well, we can't have it all, but we're trying to.

Yes, we can that's a bad attitude.

We can have it all, and we're gonna start with what we had in December and what is coming shortly.

Okay.

So a fun fact from Oklahoma, which will tie in with some things we're doing, the second annual tamale festival.

Recap the printmakers conspiracy, Carson City Lights, and the Dustin Wonder Trail update.

So Chickasaw, small town, 16,000 people.

Look at this piece of public art they installed.

So the leg lamp, which uh was completed in 2020, 50 feet tall.

Of course, this came from a Christmas story, love beloved by all.

Uh designed for their new community foundation downtown park.

They got their funding from a bunch of different sources, which is the best way to do it.

So far, they've been able to get dozens of news stories, including USA Today, the New York Post, and the Cleveland scene.

Here's the big number in 12 months since opening.

Uh the foot traffic has increased 26.8%, and the retail sales for a town of 16,000 has grown by over 27 million.

So public art does make an immediate difference into our mom and pop shops and to our local culture.

The second annual Tamale Festival.

If you weren't able to make it, you missed out first of all on a very long line that wrapped the block across around the performance hall.

We had over a hundred people in line at 11:30.

We opened at 12.

Uh, had over 1,100 people throughout the day coming in.

We had 12 different restaurants and food trucks, including several from Reno this year.

So that was a big difference.

And I think we're really going to be able to start growing this into the region.

This year we had a much better logistic layout at the brewery art center, including the exhibition hall, the Maisie Theater, and the parking lot.

So the photo here is from the sound booth looking down into the black box theater.

They removed all of the seating and had all of the majority of the Tamali vendors inside with food trucks and two other vendors being outside.

The best tamali, which was picked by a panel of judges.

They took over an hour to make this decision, which was really fun to watch.

And also the People's Choice.

We're both the same people.

This year we had, like I mentioned, Reno, the Stonehouse Cafe, Los Arcos in Midland of Guatemala.

And next year we're going to see how we can expand this larger.

We want to have a QR code set up so people can fill out a survey while they were there.

Possibly have handhelds we can be talking with people as they leave the event to fill out that survey.

And big picture 10 years, we want to have vendors from all over the country, especially the West Coast into New Mexico and Arizona, and have this be what you would see like a rib vest at the nugget.

We want this to be a big deal.

Eric, may I just say, yeah, I am a professional taco judge that has experience.

So if you ever need help with a TMALLI judge, I am not I'm good.

I'm proficient in that arena as well.

Great.

And then next page, just a couple more photos.

Uh, another one from the and we had music up in that sound booth, so Will Hawk from the KNVC.

If you didn't know yet, KNVC has moved into the performance hall permanently.

Carson now also takes up their offices at the Brewery Art Center and the performance hall.

Then the middle picture, you can see some of that line going down.

And then we also had kids' events inside the exhibition hall.

Anna Freeman there working on some Tamalee ornaments that were a lot of fun to make.

Dave, we should have brought yours in.

Well, I yeah, I just I'm I made an ornament.

How come I'm not in the picture with the children?

I know.

I mean moving on.

The printmakers conspiracy is the new and current exhibition at the BAC satellite gallery within our office.

This is a dynamic group dedicated to cultivating a thriving printmaking community in Reno and its surrounded area.

So they were able to use a montage printmaking using a gel to matrix, which if you want to learn more about, you can come talk to the artists during the reception.

Uh the artists in this show, it's every time we say it's the best show we've had.

This is a stellar, stellar show.

Uh Austin Pratt, who runs the gallery system at UNR, Candace Scarlock, who we'll talk more about.

She's an incredible multi-indisciplinary artist author.

Caroline Ricketts, who's based out of the UK but spends a lot of time in the US.

Hayley Diero, Elaine Parks, Lynn Schmidt, Nolan Priest, who has work at the Smithsonian as well.

Uh Rebecca Eklund and Tina Draculich.

So this opened on January 2nd.

It's going to run through the end of March.

And Friday, March 27th, mark your calendars.

We'll have our reception, which this time we're going to include another art vendor, it looks like music and Minden Mill will be there as well, is what we're looking at.

So we're working on some of those details.

So next page you can just see kind of a long form photo.

Most artists had three pieces each.

Work starts at $75, and the most expensive piece is 300.

So a great opportunity to expand your collection.

Carson City Lights.

Since this is posted, we've gone through some ups and downs as happens with new events.

That February 14th, we're going to call it February 15th.

Carson City Lights, we teased it last year with that last slide.

This is a new event bringing a draw during the shoulder season, which we've been talking about for the past couple of years, and a wide demographic for a curious and conservative and I shouldn't say conservative, curious and oh no, conservative travelers.

So this is something where you know a lot of these arts events, they lean left, they're really crazy, it's gonna be loud, it's gonna be this, it's gonna be late.

Well, this you can be a very conservative traveler, you can be an older demographic.

This is gonna start at 6 p.m.

Go tell 10 p.m.

So you can have your early bird dinner, you can come look at these lights for an hour and then head to your hotel.

So it's friendly all ages, but that conservative traveler, I think is something that's really fun to touch on when we're talking about an arts and culture event.

Brewery Arts is presenting this event with Visit Carson City being the destination sponsor.

We've been slowly planning this over the past two years.

Uh, David was able to go to the Napa Light Festival.

I've been able to go to a couple over the past two years, as well as Spike McGuire, do some research, talk to the cities that have been doing these, see how we can get our toes into this pond.

Uh murals, which you've seen have helped benefit our city.

Murals have been going on for more than a decade.

They're the hot thing.

They have been the hottest thing, and these light festivals are taking that those reins.

This is the new wave of the future.

Murals are still going to be great.

You'll still have mural festivals popping up all over the place.

But these light festivals are an absolute key for moving forward.

The Blink in Cincinnati, I think is one of the primary ones, which I was able to visit through Visit Carson City year and a half ago.

They bring two million people to town over four days.

So imagine the economic economic impact that they have with that.

So like I said, we're just barely, you know, new days, early days, baby steps.

We're sticking our toes into the water.

This is going to be a teaser year.

We will do a last set of murals in September, and then moving into calendar year 27.

This light festival is going to be our big push, especially shoulder season and looking at for it to be an anchor event.

Spike McGuire at Brewery Arts Center in 10 years wants this to be a premier event from the West for all of the West Coast to utilize the entire entirety of Mills Park.

So I think Dragon Lights on Steroids Times Three here at Hills Park.

Yeah, can you talk about what for someone who's never heard of this, what it would look like for me.

Yeah, we'll get into that a little bit.

But if you're are you familiar with the Van Gogh exhibition that was traveling they had at the convention center last year.

I did not get a chance to.

But kind of the general idea.

It's yeah, these big walls they're projecting his paintings on and little bits interactive.

So it's along those lines.

Okay.

Several different artists have created videos.

The structure itself is a hundred feet by 50 feet.

So imagine more or less an infinity going around, still girders.

Almost like ribbon.

Yeah.

And then with that infinity, there's a natural circle in the center.

So that will be like a lobby area.

There'll be a bar, there'll be some uh entertainment and sympathy on.

And then within the rest of that, it'll be vinyl wrapped skin inside, chandeliers hanging with projectors, and then projecting these different things.

So you can visibly walk through the whole arena with different viewing different projections, and then there'll also be a soundtrack that's been compiled from a gentleman who walked across the United States and recorded recorded the entire time.

It's been edited down.

So it'll be excerpts of that.

So very surreal.

Um, be great for kids just with the visuals.

And it'll be where?

It'll be the Oxby area of Mills Park.

Okay.

So it's an outdoor event.

It's an outdoor event.

The structure does not have a roof, so you'll be able to see the stars.

So we're it's a little bit playing with fire this time of year to do these events, but you need the darkness.

This is when these events happen.

Uh, the one in Reno will be the weekend after uh their second year.

So that's the general gist of it.

And this is this is gonna be fun as an experimental first-time event.

This and I'll well let's move on because it talks about some of these these um the group and some of the other details.

Uh so February 6th is when it's gonna begin.

February 5th, we'll have a media night.

You'll all be invited to.

Uh sound, light, movement, all ages.

Sorry, the media night was what?

February 5th.

Yep, six o'clock.

Um, so this this when we compile this, there were special events being planned throughout the week, including a silent disco, candlelight concert, and live music.

Uh, food truck and vendors, some of that may pivot.

Um, some of that we might not be doing all the group presenting, might not be doing all of those things now.

Um we'll just see how it goes.

It's a little bit fluid.

So, yeah, the 100 by 50.

Uh, the 18 lighted soft sculptures have pivoted to not happening for this year.

Uh, potentialism.

So, the potentialist workshop is a group of artists led by Pan Pantoja.

Their workshop is a 20,000 square foot space on East 2nd Street in Reno.

They have built this in Sparks in Reno, the same structure in Sparks in Reno, and I was part of the project when we brought this to Miami for Art Basil.

We had a city park uh where it was constructed and a little bit, we didn't have the projections like we're doing this year.

We had 12 interactive immersive art experiences, which I was one of those.

Um, it's a really impressive structure.

I think having the projection lighting is going to be really, really interesting, and I think people are gonna love it.

We've only released this as a Friday with a little bit of social media, no big, and that's just through Brewery Arts.

Uh Monday is a free day, the 19th, so they've sold over a hundred, or they've registered over 150 people for the free day, and they've sold close to 50 tickets.

So, even people seem to be into this.

Uh, it's gonna be on a time slot, so you can reserve your half hour on the hour.

Just my very much like Holly did with the haunted house, so people are used to how this time slots work.

So about what Pan and that group that's presenting this that's building this space.

Uh, potentialism is the melding of boundaries between play, poem, sculpture, painting, and music.

The lines that separate the arts become slow blurred, it becomes impossible to see one where one medium ends and another begins.

So this is a large group of artists that Pan has worked with.

Uh that people come and go, he's been the stabilizing force, and the group that's doing this most recently built Under the Mountain, which is currently on display at the Potentialist Workshop.

It's 20,000 square feet, over 50 artists, an immersive interactive, very much like a Meow Wolf if you're familiar with that experience, which started in Santa Fe, now has one in Denver, has one in Vegas.

It is a storyline where you enter the story, and now you're part of the story.

Really, really interesting for RTT.

We're gonna try to have a meeting there this year.

Um, I highly recommend everyone goes and checks it out, and that'll be for the rest of the year.

It's a year-long uh exhibition there, but that'll give you a good idea of what they're doing and and how we're gonna be able to build this event moving forward.

And then that last uh put your hands up, tongue out and join the circus.

So get ready, everybody.

Uh, there have been some ups and downs.

We're finalizing the the last of the official paperwork with the city.

We've had some big pivots over the past month and the past week and the past day, uh, but everything is looking very good, and we're excited to do this teaser year with these projections and really be able to start building this out into a major event uh moving forward.

The Dust and Wonder Trail update.

So the big news from December, as Dave mentioned, we released the RFP for up to 40 railroad spike interpretive sculptures.

So we're getting the nine.

Uh those are in under construction right now from Jeff Schaumburg, who built the Believe sign and the home sign at the Reno ACE Stadium in downtown Reno, the downtown Reno and the ACE Stadium.

Um we're working with representatives from Carson City, including city representatives and public works, Carson Valley in Virginia City and Silver City, uh, and our executive director at Dust and Wonder with the tedious process of establishing where these are gonna go, getting the permissions to do them, and then the our budget with 3D does not include installations, so we're working with those venues for those costs to get covered or to be covered otherwise.

Um, we're also discussing the big picture of the public art.

So we have 295,000 as a line item for public art in this budget, as you recall, I may not recall.

Those up to 40, smaller sculptures, 53 inches will be part of that, and then we're looking at doing some a few other possible things.

Um, if you turn the page, one of those possibilities is the Dowdle.

We talked about this two years ago in a board meeting.

This is a gentleman that draws a city or an area with these great details and makes them into puzzles.

Um, as of today, in some discussions with board members, this probably isn't going to happen.

There's some benefits to it financially for the Dust and Wonder Trail, but the amount of work that would go into managing 6,000 puzzles for sale, I think might be a little bit too much.

Uh, but this was a really good idea, and I think this is something that we're gonna try to come back to in the next 10 years to do one of these for Carson City.

I really like the idea of having a puzzle for Carson City that would be sold nationally.

Uh so we won't go into great detail on that.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me later this week or go through the information in the packet.

The second one though, I'm really interested in it's walls.

Do we link?

Did we end up linking?

Okay.

So this was an idea.

The gentleman who came, Raphael Blanco, who did the Carson City Vibes mural, the dark-skinned woman over on the Frontier Motel facing south.

He was doing a giant mural in Connecticut.

Someone started filming him.

They got up a conversation.

This gentleman teaches.

He also uh works for PBS.

So they they made a little docuseries on his piece there in Connecticut.

Uh became really good friends, their kids, young kids are the same age.

And in their discussions, they said, why isn't there one of these reality TV shows that shows muralist painting?

And that's a great question because it's fascinating to watch.

And so this is their presentation.

We won't go through all of it, but they want to start a docuseries, which will be partnering with PBS stations across the country.

They wanted to do one in Reno with very little convincing.

They pivoted to Carson City.

And then in talking with them, uh, we really need a bigger wall than we have in Carson, and to tuck this into the 3D project, the Dust and Wonder Trail.

Um there's some really good silos in Carson Valley that would work.

If you go to go one more.

Yeah, so they reached out to the top 10 muralists in the world.

Uh Cobra is one of them, who's someone I've been in communication with to bring to Carson.

His team wants to wait to see how the first season goes before he signs on.

Uh Shepard Ferry, who goes by O'Bay didn't get back to them, and a couple others didn't get back to them.

But these did.

Uh so Raphael's in there.

So he wouldn't, since he's already painted here, we'll just remove him from the possibility.

So we have these other six artists.

Really, really incredible.

All of these artists would be way beyond any of our financial abilities, but within the scope of what this project is.

They're interested, they say they want to do it.

One on the far right, weedle that Halton, based out of Italy.

He is the number one silo muralist in the world.

He does site-specific photo realistic pieces.

I highly recommend you go on YouTube and look at some of his videos.

He's got some really good interviews on there that show him working.

He would be really fun.

So we've reached out to some of the silo owners in Carson Valley, had a lot of interest there, and we're kind of running it up to the owners to see how that's gonna pan out.

But I would really like to see the $70,000 budget for a mural uh in Carson Valley be part of the Dust and Wonder Trail.

Our board meets on Friday, so we'll have some more information.

But I just want to give you kind of a mild update of where we're moving for these bigger pieces.

Uh also in the the prospect would be a large-scale sculpture in Virginia City, one in Silver City, and one in Carson Valley.

Another possibility with we have like six different plans with how this money can flow.

Uh, another one would be a large-scale railroad spike here in Carson City, which could possibly be the largest in the world.

Uh and you can imagine the benefits 40 to 200,000 people annually attend these types of monuments uh from the research that Lydia kindly did.

So lots of possibilities.

So I just wanted to throw all that up on you so you can kind of digest it, and when we come back with a clearer plan, it won't be brand new to you at that point.

I'm happy to entertain any questions, comments, ideas.

Sounds like Dr.

Oscar Guerrero would be a good guy to do a uh episode on murals and talk to him about a documentary on Nevada Day.

Yeah, definitely.

And uh that price that's on there, that wasn't it's dirt cheap.

Yeah.

I mean, I that that wasn't what I thought it was gonna be.

That was a lot cheaper than what I thought it was gonna be.

So yeah.

Yeah, this is a passion project for them.

They really want to make this happen.

That's the the maybe the best part of this job is working with people who want to do this because they want to do it.

Uh the money factor, which David has seen in several occasions, isn't a priority by any means for any of us.

Right.

And I'll have something forthcoming on the Nevada day front.

If just you'd be patient here for maybe end of the week, we're waiting on a proposal uh from Chris DeFranco.

Uh as you know, does um wild nevada, and then he just did the Christmas tree across the country, right?

So yeah, you just be patient and try trying, yeah.

We're Lydia's been yeah, yeah.

I know I I I'll I can work with you on patience, like I'm working with Chris.

Um if you would like, it's just gonna split my time into two people.

But yeah, um and and this is a unique project, right?

So it's a little bit different.

I would just add Garrett versus uh the scope of what Nevada Day would be.

So uh don't freak out uh when you potentially see uh a uh probably a larger number, you know, in terms of cost, uh, right, just with scope and everything as well.

So um, but without getting I don't want to get into because I have I would need to kind of eyeball this stuff and see what uh what he comes back with on that end.

But Lydia's been great.

Um she's been doing some outreach, she's had stuff going through KPS3 as well.

Uh those costs are hundreds of thousands, you know, uh, in terms of what they were coming back with theoretically.

So um she has a great relationship with Mr.

DeFranco in light of what Lydia's been on camera, I think with the Wild Nevada here in Carson City.

So I uh l if you just you know allow us to to get something back from him and and um kind of see what that all all looks like.

So you betcha, and while you're talking about wild nevada, they just did an episode, their latest episode just came out and it was Carson City centric, and it was an awesome episode.

It was really, really well done.

That's that's great.

Okay.

No, um you're in that, yeah.

No, yeah.

Oh, a couple years ago.

Oh, okay.

But they re-aired a lot.

Every now and then I've got to be a little bit more.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Okay, because I was gonna say, did you do a new one?

Uh uh, yeah.

I think that was in 2021, but they've come back a few different times, and so there is a distinction between the one in Vegas and then the one in Reno.

So we get covered by both um very true throughout a few of those seasons, which is really nice.

Yeah.

But uh Chris Orr uh is amazing and from BBS Reno, and then Christa Franco is kind of the Chris Orr version in uh down on the scale.

Um, so before we uh jump uh to marketing update, any other questions for Eric.

Okay, uh great.

With that, let's move on to 11e marketing and PR.

Lydia, take it away.

You've still got 26 minutes to work with.

Mine's fairly short.

Um, we have just had some basic updates from December, and then in January, I'm hoping to gather some more information about some of our flagship events like that a day um from DataFi and also kind of give a recap of some of the highlights throughout the year and where we saw that visitor profile being for the calendar year, which I think is always important to look at too.

So we're gonna dive uh straight into the digital growth update.

Of course, we've always have our numbers.

What do they mean?

Uh in December, we had an interesting month.

So year over year, the demand indicators were really strong.

So our lodging referrals were up 26% year over year.

So I think that shows that our campaign is continually working.

Um, just and that was despite expected seasonal softness with kind of the month over month data that we saw in December.

Excuse me.

And then our paid media continued to deliver traffic and lodging referrals in Meta, which is our Facebook and uh in Instagram advertising and our paid search, so really solid engagement in those numbers.

And then our marketing performance trends don't mirror the lodging revenue declines that Dave had mentioned, obviously, when he went through those numbers.

So it's kind of suggesting to us that it's more external or supply-side factors that may be influencing some of those bookings.

But overall, the 26% year over year up for lodging referrals is really promising for us to see.

Very excited about that.

Any questions there?

All right.

We also had a really great PR month in December.

We had an awesome feature in a publication in the Bay Area called 7x7, and we were featured as an uh one of the nine quaint and quirky town, quirky western towns to live out your Hallmark movie fantasies.

Um, and so I can't believe since we've launched this winter charm campaign, how much that hallmark vacation has been thrown around and really blossomed over the last two years.

Not saying we are the driving force of that, but I am happy to be early in that trend instead of late to that trend.

Um so we are gonna continue to ride that wave as long as uh our visitors will let us.

And then inviting um travelers to Savor the Season, Adventurous magazine featured us um in an entire feature of Carson City's 12 best restaurants, and it was a really, really wonderful write-up, and they were spot on.

Um the Carson City Mint, as you will see after we go through the rest of the PR, uh, has been quite the buzz.

We uh were featured in national outlets, including Yahoo Finance and Associated Press about the 155th anniversary of the commemorative coins that were struck for the anniversary.

And we had a ton of regional outlets that picked up the brewery art center tamali festival, the Santa Train, and the Polar Express.

So we are really pacing really well toward our PR goals for the year and hitting some of those featured tiers.

And uh, I will recover kind of where we're at and our goals and in next um in our next meeting, so you can see where we're pacing, which is really nicely.

Uh the team at KPS3 has been uh working really hard and doing a wonderful job.

So we're really grateful to Jenna and Nicole over there.

So speaking of the Carson City mint, we had a really cool win when it came to our content.

Oh coin, this is where it's at.

Sorry for the poor.

This is volume.

The top three, I'm told collections of Carson City coins in the world.

I'm only missing the 1873 dime, which is only one known to exist.

And I'm missing the 1873 quarter of which they've said only eight of them exist.

So sweet Woody, we miss him immediately.

Um last year, Zach gathered a ton of content from Woody touring us through the museum, and we feel like he would love for the his memory and history knowledge to live on.

And uh a lot of other people agree.

Uh as of this morning, almost 600,000 people have viewed this video across our platforms.

Uh, I think 450,000 of that was on Facebook alone, and uh the comments are pretty spectacular.

So, and that was just about the pointing part.

So, we also did another one on the mint itself, uh, that our local content creator that we work with, Shelby Holty did, uh, and that got over 900,000 views.

So the mint is um is iconic and a huge part of our history that we will continue to put more information about out.

And we've been talking with the museum as well, and it sounds like they've got some really fun content ideas in the works.

Um, there's a really fun printing press in Sacramento that um I can't remember the man's name, but they have turned him into a TikTok celebrity, and he is an older gentleman who has been operating that press at a museum there for a very long time, and people online love him.

And he is an older gentleman who has been operating that press at a museum there for a very long time.

And people online love him.

And so I think the museum has some really uh great goals of utilizing all of their wonderful staff members to hopefully do the same and bring more awareness to the amazing things that the Nevada State Museum has within its walls.

And so this is just an example of people are looking for that kind of content, and um I'm glad that we're able to help deliver it.

And then speaking of more content, we are now in act three of our winter's charm.

So one and two were really uh awareness building, and then second act was really focused around the holidays.

The third is extending this campaign throughout what there is to do in Carson City throughout the rest of the winter.

And so we shot in November some pickup scenes to refresh Act Three because it was kind of centered around Valentine's Day, and so we wanted to make sure this was a little more evergreen.

So we wanted to show you.

Oh, hey, did you guys just get off the soap too?

There's nothing like a good soak in a natural hot spring after a day full of winter adventures.

Besides skiing in Lake Tahoe, you can also snowshoe in the Carsempo Hills.

Oh, and I almost forgot about mountain biking and cross-country.

There's so much to do here that I decided to book myself a winter staycation.

I just love cozying up in Carson City, especially with the delicious cocoa, or treating yourself at the day spa or dining mine outdoor fire pit.

I just know you'll love it.

Enjoy your stay in Carson City.

So we shot one at the hot springs, which is really, really fun.

Uh in the five days that this was running, it had already delivered 1200 landing page views.

So uh people are are enjoying it, and this will be running through March.

And then we did a second pickup at the museum to extend that campaign as well.

Oh, Danielle, you scared me.

Isn't this place so cool?

There is a lot to see.

I know, right?

I love the Nevada State Museum.

Did you see the mammoth?

Pretty hard to miss.

If you're impressed by that, then you've got to check out our other arts and culture attractions.

Oh, there's Balkan Paul, the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center Museum, and you've got to check out the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Not to mention all the murals around town and all the events we have going on throughout the year.

I think you should give me a tour.

I've been waiting for someone to ask.

Goodbye, little guy.

How lucky is that box?

So, Matt and Garrett, if you hadn't seen our short holiday film, please watch it for more context.

Um, it is supposed to be delightfully cheesy in that fashion.

Um, and so uh the response has been really great so far.

So we're excited to see that.

And I'll help be able to provide more stats too, especially with the data fi campaign that is running this when we wrap that up in the middle of February.

Do you can I ask Lydia?

Do you think there's enough of a connection that people get that it's an extension of that?

I do.

I mean, because that obviously just looking at that out of context, and it just looks silly, right?

But it does the whole thing is silly.

So it is.

I think there's two parts to that.

So it makes you curious enough to be like, what is this?

Yeah, click on it, and then it brings you to our winter charm landing page.

So that gives you the context.

So we're hoping that the click-throughs will help with that.

And then what's great is that it breeds enough curiosity for comments that people don't understand where we can step in and adjust them to go to the landing page.

So there are multiple parts that help, but there's definitely always gonna be people who are like, what is this cheese ball that is on my screen right now?

Um, but more than not, people understand.

Um, and a lot of this is also remarketing, so it's already going to people that have gotten our other ads too.

So that helps.

Let me add a little context to that, Stacey, because this this blew my mind in my world in my day job.

There's a gentleman down south, young kid, who started uh a new home tour to show off his listings, and what he did is called a speed tour.

So he walks in the house and he goes, speed tour, we're gonna look at the house.

And he literally runs through the house.

He's in socks, so on hardwood floors, he's sliding through.

And usually he crashes at least once, sometimes twice, and it's just part of the virtual tour.

And he has over he has millions of followers.

He has a new business model.

He doesn't sell real estate anymore.

People like Garrett call him and say, I have a new listing in my town.

Will you come shoot a video in my town and put that out on your social media to help promote my listing?

So the silliness catches people's attention and they click through.

Oh, thanks for sharing that.

That's that's a fun tidbit.

Yeah, it is incredible what captures attention online, and I think that breaking through that noise is uh is more important than ever.

Um we've actually been asked to speak on our campaign at the uh it's called Martech Summit.

So it's a digital marketing summit with uh is for DMOs on the western side of the United States.

So it's it's caught some attention, which I think uh we're really grateful for and really grateful that we have an awesome marketing agency that helps bring things like this to life too.

So um they're gonna help uh present with me, present with me as well on the creative side of things.

So thank you very much.

I find this stuff hilarious to be honest with you.

So I I yeah, what you didn't get to say.

I'm glad her hat for follows her as she's underwater when you see it on the big TV, right?

Yeah, that was kind of on the the mobile, but you know, it trailed off the screen, but it that was actually that was a last minute fun uh ad to decide to have her go under the water while we were there.

Um so it's just fun to see the creative process happening in real time.

But when she does that in the water, the hat just moves away.

That was so good.

Yeah, that was great.

Not on purpose if we didn't have it attached to a string or anything like that.

So yeah, it's literally stuck in her head.

That was pretty cool.

Happy accident on the first take.

Yeah, no, nice nice work.

Uh this is this is exciting, you guys, and I think this is gonna help us again through March.

If we still have snow, we can talk about going into April as well, right, to carry that forward, depending on what Snowpack looks like and resorts being open, and so we are going to be able to pivot there a little bit, right?

We've got it in the cans, you know, ready to ready to roll.

So and if there's anything that you would like to know more about with so many of you being newer to the board, um please let me know or reach out to Andrew to add to the agenda.

I would I would love to compile information that you really find valuable.

This is just what I think you might find valuable in the many things that we're doing every day.

But if you have suggestions, we'd love to have them.

And I think that's a great idea to ask Lydia.

That's perfect.

Keeps me out of hot water.

Um awesome.

Any questions for Lydia?

Okay.

Superb.

Uh thank you.

Thank you.

Lydia, thank you, um, Mr.

Brooks.

Let's move on to 11F, future agenda items.

Anyone want anything?

I I just have a question.

Are we um are we gonna look at moving the May meeting?

Did we already decide to do that?

Perhaps so we can just have the one meeting, because we have to have the budget meeting.

Uh yeah, I think Chris.

Yes, so it's it'll be the week later, I think.

So the 8th instead of the 11th.

It um we'll do the budget hearing and the meeting combined.

Yeah.

Okay.

Did was that or is that already on our calendars?

Oh, well, there you go.

Yes.

You were just confirming what you knew.

Well, it wasn't on my calendar.

Oh, I I am apparently admitting it.

Good.

Okay.

Okay.

Um great.

Uh upcoming meetings.

11 G right here, February 9th at 4 p.m.

And with uh okay, just to confirm May 18th.

Yeah, so we shifted back one week just to be able to do both at the same time.

And Chris, Matt, and Garrett will handle that budget hearing to keep it under 10 minutes.

Um all right.

So you'll appreciate that very much.

Um yeah, so next meeting uh right here, same same place, February 9th, 4 p.m.

And with that, I'll turn it back over to the chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Peterson.

Uh do we have any board comments or announcements or requests for information?

Yeah, I just uh wanted to um mention that um there's uh uh the city's advertising for an open position on the culture and tourism um authority.

Uh not authority, culture and tourism committee.

Carson City Cultural Commission.

Yeah, I was gonna say we have a new position.

This is great.

Thank you.

Not this body.

Carson City Cultural Commission uh was the word I was looking for.

So anyway, that's open right now.

So if you know anybody in that world that's a resident of Carson.

Um, please put in.

And the city is working on a VRBO or a vacation rental uh ordinance.

You may know that, but we don't have one in Carson.

And um, you know, there's a fair number of them.

Uh so the board has provided direction to the district attorney's office.

I'm sure Todd's uh involved in but maybe you aren't working on that.

Um I'm not I'm not gonna ask you for a report, don't worry.

No anyway, uh the we should have a presentation uh at our workshop in February.

Uh, but we're providing direction to staff and and asking for all from the DA's office to draft an ordinance basically to start licensing those, create a separate licensing category.

Um specific to them, so we can start regulating that a little bit.

And we may have some impact, obviously, to CTA, uh, because we would be collecting uh short-term, uh, which we're now not collecting.

We do if right, they are submitting, but but I know where you're going.

I would guess eighty or ninety percent of them are not.

Agreed.

Yeah, yeah.

And Chris has taken the lead on our end, Stacey, just so you know, working with hope and Mr.

I just wanted to throw that out there for the whole board to realize that what's going on.

That's it.