Duluth City Council Meeting: Tourism Marketing RFP, Visit Duluth Transition, and Finance Items - December 5, 2024
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Duluth City Council Meeting: Tourism Marketing RFP, Visit Duluth Transition, and Finance Items - December 5, 2024
This meeting of the Duluth City Council began at 5:15 PM with a Committee of the Whole session on tourism marketing, followed by a Finance Committee meeting at 6:00 PM, and then the regular agenda session at 6:45 PM. The central topics included the selection of Madden Media as the city's new tourism marketing agency, a presentation from Visit Duluth on its transition back to a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) model, and the review of numerous resolutions and ordinances, including the 2025 budget, the Blatnik Bridge project, and a water infrastructure surcharge.
Consent Calendar
- Multiple resolutions and ordinances were approved as a consent agenda, including:
- Resolution 918: Distribution of estimated 2025 Hotel Motel and Food and Beverage Tourism Taxes.
- Resolution 925: Two-year professional services agreement with Madden Media for tourism marketing services (pulled from consent by Councilor Forsman due to expected public comment).
- Resolution 946: Capital improvement plan and intent to issue GO capital improvement bonds.
- Resolution 947: Intent to issue GO capital equipment notes series 2025 ($3 million).
- Resolution 953-956: Approving 2025 operating budgets for Duluth Transit Authority, Duluth Economic Development Authority, Duluth Airport Authority, and 2025 bonding plan.
- Resolution 934-936: Liquor licenses for Grace Lawn Ballroom, Duluth Whiskey Project, and Duluth ES Hotel Associates.
- Resolution 945, 975: Civil service classification amendments and election to North Shore Sanitary District board.
- Resolution 969: Joint powers agreement with DEED for vocational rehabilitation.
- Resolution 872: Approving state project for Blatnik Bridge replacement (pulled from consent by Councilor Mayle).
- Resolution 942: Renewal of software support agreement with Hexagon.
- Resolutions 922, 944, 949, 950, 959, 960: Various grants and agreements for ATV study, buckthorn removal, land acquisition, boardwalk replacement, Morgan Park community center, and snowmobile trail grant.
- Resolutions 937, 976: Fire Department uniform purchase and Axon body camera/vehicle camera contract.
- Resolutions 880: MOU with St. Louis County for Civic Center Plaza improvements.
- Items 16 and 17 (planning commission appeal for 809 W 4th St) were deferred to Monday, December 9, 2024, for a separate hearing.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comment period was held during the recorded session. Multiple items were pulled from consent for separate discussion, indicating anticipated public interest.
Discussion Items
Tourism Marketing RFP and Madden Media Selection
- Tom Warner (Executive Director of Duluth Airport Authority and chair of the selection committee) summarized the RFP process: a six-person evaluation team conducted a fair and impartial process. Six proposals were received; five firms were invited for a second round (presentation and interview) after a weighted numerical scoring of written proposals. Scoring criteria included agency location (10%), background, qualifications, relevant experience, proposed plan/budget (largest category), service costs, creative development, paid media reporting, website management, and client onboarding (10%). The second round weighted written proposals (50%), presentation (25%), and interview (25%) with seven predetermined questions. The committee recommended Madden Media.
- Dan Janes (CEO of Madden) and Nick Cusick (Destination Strategist) presented Madden's approach: community destination marketing focusing on travel, tourism, workforce attraction, and economic development. They emphasized a 71-day traveler journey, transparency in media reporting, and no conflict of interest (citing low share of voice in travel ads—3% of all ads). They noted that 75% of people travel annually, with six out of ten traveling more than once.
- Councilors questioned local staffing: Janes stated no full-time staff guaranteed in Duluth but pledged to use local content creators and photographers. The city later confirmed a requirement in the contract for local photo journalism.
- On onboarding costs, Janes said Madden uses a flat fixed rate, no hourly billing or percentage of media, and no anticipated large onboarding expenses.
- Councilor Mayle asked about differentiation of Duluth's marketing; Janes replied that differentiation comes from unique stories (e.g., Bent Paddle, Lincoln Park) rather than technology.
- Legal advice from Attorney Lair: Under city purchasing code and Minnesota case law, once a competitive RFP process is used, the council must award to the successful applicant or face potential litigation. The council's vote is essentially to affirm the process.
Visit Duluth Transition to DMO
- Danielle Via (Executive Director of Visit Duluth) reported 2024 results: 108 events (18 more than 2023) generating 27,500 room nights, $4.5 million in economic impact (based on room rates), with a study from UND indicating total impact may exceed $20 million. 160 leads were sent, consistent with 2023. 108 future events already booked (46% new to Duluth), with 45 for 2025 and 4 for 2026. Visitor center traffic exceeded 19,000 (on track for 20,000 record).
- Lynn Williams (Board member) outlined the transition plan: conducting an executive search for a DMO leader, changing board governance to 11 members (4 industry, 7 at-large), exploring industry associations (e.g., Hospitality Minnesota) to separate advocacy. The current budget is $650,000; the board passed a more realistic budget at $950,000 and requested an additional $200,000 to fund the executive search and new leadership. The timeline aims to have the new leader in place within months, not two years.
- City administration (Mr. Montgomery) confirmed support for the DMO model but noted no additional funds have been identified; $650,000 is currently allocated. The 2025 tourism budget includes $1.8 million for the marketing contract and $1.48 million for tourism events support general fund transfer.
Blatnik Bridge Replacement (Resolution 872)
- John Kershak (MnDOT project manager) described the project: two lanes each direction, 12-foot lanes, full shoulders, shared-use path on the east side, and a spur trail to the boat landing. The bridge will use design-build, reaching 30% design before selection. Construction expected to start in summer 2027 with substantial completion in 2031 and final in 2032. Traffic management plans are being developed for the Bong Bridge.
- Councilors discussed aesthetics (two design options: similar to Bong Bridge or cable-stay), maintenance of the shared-use path (MnDOT likely taking responsibility, costs estimated at $12-13k/year for snow removal), and that the path is a federal requirement from the INFRA grant.
Water Infrastructure Surcharge (Ordinance 55)
- Director Benning explained the ordinance authorizes a water infrastructure surcharge to fund EPA-mandated improvements. The PUC is considering two options: consumption-based or tiered by customer category. The clean water surcharge (currently $4.90) will sunset at the same time. Monthly impact could be around $9 flat or $0.80-0.90 per unit of water (average household uses 5-6 units), making it nearly a wash for residential customers (92% of customer base). Public education and a vote expected in February, implementation around March 2025.
Other Items
- ATV route study (Resolution 922): $200,000 state grant for a study of potential ATV routes in far western Duluth, following existing roadways and trails to connect to county system. No city funds required; future construction costs could come to council.
- Axon body camera contract (Resolution 976): Early renewal of 2021 contract through 2031, saving $1.2 million. Includes body cameras, vehicle cameras, interview room cameras, drones, and community video submission. Video stored in Axon cloud; auto-deleted after 60 days unless used in a case.
- Fire Department Class A uniforms (Resolution 937): PFAS-free polyester wool blend dress uniforms, separate from fire turnout gear. The department offers PFAS-free daily wear uniforms as a choice, and most employees are moving toward them.
- Budget (Ordinance 71): No substantive changes from earlier presentations except settlement of the CDSA supervisory contract, actual payroll costs added. A question about the Duluth Outreach Worker's funding clarified it will come from the Greater Downtown Council line (increased to $301,000 from $236,000).
Key Outcomes
- Madden Media Selection: The council will vote on Resolution 925 (two-year professional services agreement) on Monday, December 9, 2024, after public comment. The item was pulled from the consent agenda.
- Visit Duluth Transition: The council and administration agreed to work toward finding an additional $200,000 for the DMO executive search and transition. The city will provide budget comparison data (historical DMO funding) and legal clarification on contracting with Visit Duluth without an RFP.
- Blatnik Bridge: Municipal consent resolution (872) was pulled for separate vote. Councilors expressed support for the project; no formal vote during this session.
- Water Infrastructure Surcharge: Ordinance 55 will likely be tabled until the full EPA administrative order is presented to council (expected December 16).
- Other Decisions: Nominations for council president and vice president will be opened and closed on December 9, with a vote on January 13, 2025. Items pulled from consent (918, 925, 872, and items 16/17 for the planning commission appeal) will be voted on separately on Monday.
- Tourism Tax Allocations: $1.136 million of tourism tax fund balance will be used, including $800,000 for the Aerial Lift Bridge capital project. Future discretionary funding will decrease due to increased debt service.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna do it. Good evening, everyone. We'll go ahead and get started. It is 5 15. Tonight we start out with a committee of the whole talking about our tourism marketing. So I'd like to invite up three individuals. First, Tom Warner, we know him as the executive director of the Duluth Airport, and also the chair of this selection committee. He'll be walking us through the RFP selection process. And then also followed by Madden's CEO Dan Janes and Nick Cusick, the destination strategist for Madden, they'll also join to talk more about their organization. So we'll start by welcoming Tom Warner. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you. I'll just start with a quick summary of the RFP process. As you know, uh this was a request for proposal process. Uh we selected a uh team, actually, city administration selected a team uh from not only uh city staff but also uh volunteers through uh throughout the uh the community. So we had a evaluation team of six. Basically, our mandate uh was to have a fair and impartial process, and I'm happy to report that that's exactly uh what we did. Uh the evaluation process, again, an overview consisted of a written proposal interviewer. We uh uh was received uh submitted proposals. Uh they were evaluated, and that uh was also followed by a presentation and interview uh process as a second round of scoring for the top scores. The uh written proposals uh were evaluated uh based on a scoring criteria uh and a um uh a numeric scoring system that was weighted. Uh and then those uh scores were then uh tallied and decision made about how many uh firms to actually interview. Uh the natural cutoff uh and and uh you know, in terms of uh the scores, uh uh certain firms in terms of those scores uh differentiated themselves, and we ended up uh interviewing and and receiving presentations from five firms for the second round. Uh that round was also uh uh scored numerically on a weighted uh basis uh as well, both for the uh written, or I'm sorry, the uh presentation portion where they were given uh each the same topic to present on, uh as well as the interview portion where there were seven uh predetermined uh questions that we had for the five uh firms. Uh they received those questions ahead of time, so they had plenty of time to uh repair uh prepare those responses. And uh that was then evaluated at that time, and again, uh those numerical scores were then uh tabulated and resulted in the uh committee's recommendation. So I'm happy to uh talk in in greater detail about uh some of this, but uh that's the overview of the process. Thank you, Mr. Werner. We'll go ahead and open it up to council questions. Who has the first question on the RFP process? Seeing no questions at this point, uh, we'll go ahead and we'll welcome up uh Dan Janes and Nick Cusick from Madden. Thank you, Mr. Werner. Good evening, uh counsel, chair. Uh nice to be able to spend some time with you all and get to introduce you a little bit to Madden. Uh first wanted to say a big thank you to the city staff, the selection counts committee, and the folks that are out there, the professionalism that they've had and the process that they've had has been fantastic, and you know, very much appreciated what what has happened and has gone through throughout the this process here. For those of you uh uh that haven't had a chance to I don't know how much the proposals got uh shared or anything, but a little bit about us from Madden is that uh we're at we have about 200 folks and uh in the agency, and we do just destination marketing. And when we think about destination marketing, we think about what that means for travel and tourism and workforce attraction and economic development as being the core things that we focus on. And it's a very unique part of how we think about advertising, how we think about marketing to those audiences, and get as a helped us to build a differentiator of what we provide to our clients as an agency in that space. As we think about this, it has to go down. We we do this because it comes down to how we think about uh our foundational philosophy of what community destination marketing is, and that's really about how do you build collective impact for communities. When we think about building collective impact for communities, it it's two different parts, and if you can think of uh an infinity diagram, if you will. But the other side of it is how do we communicate to business stakeholders and other partners? And that's about having a good place to have a business, having strong innovation, having a strong education background, and then having the ability to attract new businesses to a community. And what we've seen is because of destination marketing helps to build new businesses and growth in a community, because the number one priority that most new businesses have is can I get the workforce for my business to move there? And as we think about that, we think about tourism and destination marketing as lead generation for the future of communities and what that means for travel and what it went for the future residents as well as the future businesses that sit there. And across our agency, about 15% of our staff have come from a destination marketing organization. People like Nick, who just who just came from Cook County and has been with St.
openpublica.com