Puyallup LTAC Committee Meeting - March 12, 2026
Puyallup Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) Meeting - March 12, 2026
Note: The agenda listed the meeting date as March 10, 2026, but the user instructions specify using March 12, 2026. This summary is based on the actual meeting content of the March 10, 2026 meeting, as reflected in the transcript.
The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) met to develop a scoring matrix for allocating lodging tax funds. The meeting included introductions, discussion of sample rubrics from other cities, debate over the relative weight of room-night generation versus community vitality, and a plan to test proposed criteria against past applicants.
Consent Calendar
- None. No consent calendar items were presented.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were read or presented during the meeting. Written comments had been accepted via email prior to the meeting but were not brought up.
Discussion Items
- Introductions: Committee members introduced themselves, including hotel representatives (Tani Cashow – Hampton Inn, Jason Seuss – Fairfield/Hollander Hospitality), event organizers (Kim Field – all things fun sports, Scott – firefighter and parade director), and county tourism leader (Dean Burke – Visit Tacoma Pierce County).
- Scoring Matrix Development: The committee reviewed sample rubrics from the cities of Everett, Lacey, Port Townsend, and Renton. Mayor Winning (Ned) stated the objective is to create a consistent evaluation framework, noting that 55% of funds are allocated by the city council and 45% by this committee. He also expressed frustration that the council sometimes uses LTAC funds for projects with weak tourism ties (e.g., arches over Meridian).
- Heads in Beds vs. Community Vitality: Hotel representatives (Jason, Tani) argued for prioritizing room-night generation. Others, including Kim Field and Mayor Winning, argued that community vitality events (e.g., Daffodil Parade, farmers market) are also important, even if they do not directly fill hotel rooms. Dean Burke noted that rubrics vary; some weight hard metrics (room nights) heavily, others include soft metrics (community value, sentiment).
- Definitions and Metrics: Renee (city staff) clarified that state law (RCW 67.28.080) defines tourism broadly, including sales of overnight lodging, meals, tours, gifts, or souvenirs. The 50-mile radius is used for state reporting but is not a hard rule for eligibility. The committee discussed challenges in tracking visitor zip codes and hotel impacts, especially for day events.
- Evaluation of Past Applicants: The committee listed the nine organizations that applied for LTAC funds in the last cycle (e.g., All Things Fun Sports, Arts Downtown, Daffodil Parade, Meeker Mansion, etc.). Mayor Winning suggested applying the proposed scoring criteria to these past applicants to see how they score and whether the outcomes align with committee goals.
- Legacy vs. New Events: Discussion arose about creating a “legacy” bucket for long-standing community events that may never be self-sustaining, versus funding new events with a path to self-sufficiency. The hoteliers expressed that some events claim hotel occupancy that may not be attributable to them.
- Next Steps and Homework: The committee agreed to a “homework assignment” rather than finalizing a rubric immediately. Scott volunteered to consolidate the four city rubrics into a single sheet of comparable criteria. Dan (city staff) will provide the committee with the detailed application packets from last year so they can score each applicant against the unified criteria.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous agreement to proceed with a two-step process: (1) Scott will create a unified scoring sheet merging common elements from the Everett, Lacey, Port Townsend, and Renton rubrics, and (2) Dan will distribute last year’s application packets to committee members for review.
- Deadline: Scott aims to complete the consolidated rubric by the end of the week (he noted travel plans to Houston). Dan will send the application packets later that day or the next morning.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for March 24, 2026, where the committee will review the scoring sheet and apply it to past applicants to test its suitability.
- No formal votes were taken; all decisions were by consensus.
Discrepancy note: The meeting agenda and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at 1:00 PM. The user instructions override this date to March 12, 2026. The summary above reflects the content of the March 10 meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Does everybody know everybody? Everybody. Okay, let's let's just start off by going around the circle. We'll skip Dan because I think everybody knows Dan. Scott, you want to start off? Yeah, uh, go by Scott. Name's Marshall, my dad and I got the same name. So go by my middle name. Um currently I've been a firefighter for 27, 28 years now. Elton, uh the Kent area, but I live in Lakewood. Um did 32 years in the military, Adam Accord. Uh I'm the parade director this year for the Daffodil parade. I've been involved with Affidel Festival for lots and lots of years when my daughter was a uh princess long time ago. Um I frequent Pewallop a lot as uh I'm part of the Bag Pipes and Drums band for the firefighters, and we practice at the Union Hall. Central Pictures Union Hall and every Monday, and so we're always picking a different place to eat at or meet up for drinks, like the coaster is one of our favorites beforehand, and so I spent a lot of time in in Puallop, uh, work with the main street association a lot. Uh gonna miscarry Anasac. That's a good good man. And um yeah, I'm very uh excited to help with uh generating getting people into Puallop and promoting PUALUP and what Puallop is. Okay, Kim. I'm Kim Field. I'm the executive director of all things fun sports. We hosts 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, trail runs, pub runs, um, scavenger style runs. We target probably about anywhere between 34 to 53 different zip codes per race um that we put on. We're all inclusive, we are environmentally friendly, we believe in the philosophy of your race or pace. We are ranked number one as race day experience. And like I said, we're down here all the time. We just had celebrate women on Sunday. We have the fire mine brewing. We incorporate lodging, we incorporate local businesses, and our goal is to bring people to this community. Oh, I'm Tani Cashow. Um, I have I'm a hotel year. I work for the Hampton and in Suites of the Hill and Pew O Allo. Um I've been part of the LTEC committee for about three three years. I think this is my third year. Um, but I've actually been with the company for about nine years to count. This is Renee. Hi, Renee. Yeah, Jason A. Seuss with the Fairfield here in PewAllop, uh representing the Hollander Hospitality Group. Um been with the I actually opened Fairfield 15 years ago. Um, been with Hollander for about 10, 10 years. So the so you but you opened it up, so you were with Hollander. I was with Hollander. That was my first hotel I ever opened, but I've been in the industry for going on 25 plus years. So you were with Hollander and then you I left to go to downtown Seattle, then I came back. Yeah, got it. And shout out to them. They hosted our family for all the celebration of life. They made sure our town family members had rooms, and I am very grateful for that. Our pleasure.
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