Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Special Meeting

Minutes of Special Meeting

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 1:00 P.m. - 3:00 P.m.

437 Old Mammoth Road, Suite Z, Mammoth Lakes

Members Present:

• Chair Pat Foster, 
• Treasurer John Morris, 
• Secretary John Mendel, 
• Board Member John Wentworth, 
• Board Member Tom Parker, 
• Board Member Cristi Quesada-Costa, 
• and Board Member Mary Beth Ericson 

Members Absent:

• Vice Chair Eric Clark 
• and Board Member Kirk Wallace 

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1.

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

Chair Pat Foster called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at 437 Old Mammoth Road, Mammoth Lakes, CA.

2.

BOARD MEMBER REPORTS

Board Member Mary Beth Ericson reported that there had been some confusion in the lodging community with the first month of the two tax types partially due typos on the forms that were sent out to remitters and said that she hoped it would be smoother going forward.

There was discussion among members of the Board.

3.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Public Comments may be sent via email to the Town of Mammoth Lakes Assistant Clerk before or during the meeting at or may be made via Zoom or in person during the meeting in Suite Z. All comments will be limited to a speaking time of three minutes.

There were no comments given at this time.

4.

CONSENT AGENDA

• Moved by Treasurer John Morris
  Seconded by Secretary John Mendel

  Approve the Consent Agenda with the notation that the date of the minutes on the agenda had a typo which erroneously reflected the date of the minutes as January 6, 2024, rather than January 6, 2025.

  For (6)	Chair Pat Foster, Treasurer John Morris, Secretary John Mendel, Board Member John Wentworth, Board Member Tom Parker, and Board Member Mary Beth Ericson
  Absent (3)	Vice Chair Eric Clark, Board Member Cristi Quesada-Costa, and Board Member Kirk Wallace

  Carried (6 to 0)

4.1

Approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 6, 2024

5.

POLICY MATTERS

5.1

MLT Board Meeting Day Resolution - MLT Board to vote on a resolution to move the regular monthly Board meetings to the third Wednesday of each month

President and CEO John Urdi outlined the information in Resolution 2025-01.

Board Member Cristi Quesada-Costa joined the meeting at 1:06 p.m.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

• Moved by Secretary John Mendel
  Seconded by Treasurer John Morris

  Approve Resolution moving the regular monthly Board meetings to the third Wednesday of each month.

  For (7)	Chair Pat Foster, Treasurer John Morris, Secretary John Mendel, Board Member John Wentworth, Board Member Tom Parker, Board Member Mary Beth Ericson, and Board Member Cristi Quesada-Costa
  Absent (2)	Vice Chair Eric Clark, and Board Member Kirk Wallace

  Carried (7 to 0)

5.2

TOML Public Works Update from Haislip Hayes - Brief update on current and upcoming Public Works projects

Town of Mammoth Lakes (TOML) Director of Public Works Haislip Hayes provided an update on the Town's current and upcoming projects.

There was discussion between Mr. Hayes, President and CEO John Urdi, and members of the Board.

5.3

Bluesapalooza Presentation and funding request (10 minutes) - Presentation by Rich Sherman of Bluesapalooza for Board consideration, discussion, and possible vote

Omega Events, Inc. President Rich Sherman outlined the information in the Mammoth Bluesapalooza presentation.

There was discussion between Mr. Sherman, President and CEO John Urdi, and members of the Board.

CONSENSUS: There was consensus from the Board to bring this request back to the March meeting after the Special Events Funding Committee had met again to review all the requests for funding.

5.4

MLT Strategy Session Recap - Board discussion on the MLT strategy session with facilitator Matthew Landkamer

Chair Pat Foster led a debriefing discussion on yesterday's strategy session.

There was discussion between President and CEO John Urdi and members of the Board.

5.5

Winter Air Service Update - Overview of winter 2024-25 service for both MMH and BIH

President and CEO John Urdi outlined the information in the Air Service Update.

Chair Pat Foster announced recent schedule changes that Advanced Air had made to their flight times.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

5.6

Summer Fall 2024 Ad Effectiveness and ROI Research - Presentation on MLT’s summer and fall 2024 advertising efforts

Vice President, Marketing Sarah Winters outlined the information in the 2024 End of Year Advertising Effectiveness Research presentation.

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

5.7

Financial Reports

Receive an update regarding the financial health of the Mammoth Lakes Tourism and the results of the previous month for Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) and current account balances 

President and CEO John Urdi outlined the information in the Financial Reports.

There was discussion between Mr. Urdi and members of the Board.

6.

DEPARTMENT UPDATES

A brief recap of past, current, and future efforts of each department.

6.1

Community Engagement

Receive an update on community engagement efforts from Vice President, Community Engagement Betsy Truax.

Vice President, Community Engagement Betsy Truax gave an update on recent community engagement activities. Ms. Truax reported that the Special Events Committee had met with several event producers and said that there was $514,000 in funding requests spread amongst twenty seven applicants. She said that the Resident Sentiment Survey received over four hundred responses, announced that the next free community skate night was scheduled to be held on March 5th, the next Community Coffee would take place on February 27th with presentations from representatives of the Town and Mammoth Disposal with a focus on sustainability, and that the March Community Coffee would feature Mammoth Hospital CEO Tom Parker with an update on the hospital.

There was discussion between Ms. Truax and members of the Board.

6.2

International

Receive an update on international sales and PR efforts from Vice President, Global Tourism, Michael Vanderhurst.

Vice President, Global Tourism Michael Vanderhurst gave an update on international sales activities. Mr. Vanderhurst reported that MLT had participated in a sales mission in India with Brand USA last month, and said they had two travel trade Familiarization (FAM) visits coming up, one from Australia  and the other from Germany, both in partnership with Alterra and Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (MMSA). He said MLT would participate in a Visit California sales mission in March visiting multiple European markets, and would also attend Visit California's Annual Outlook Forum. He reported that a Brazilian Social Media Influencer would be hosted by Alterra next week and MLT would partner with them in a support role. He said that MLT had recently hosted a Westways writer, and her teenage children, who was doing a piece on skiing Mammoth with teenagers, said that they would host a writer from the Boston Globe in March, and provided an update on The Crib.

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

6.3

Marketing

Receive an update on marketing efforts from Vice President, Marketing, Sarah Winters.

Vice President, Marketing Sarah Winters gave an update on marketing events and activities. 

There was discussion between Ms. Winters and members of the Board.

6.4

Digital Marketing

Receive an update regarding digital marketing efforts from Digital Marketing Manager Samantha Lindberg.

Digital Marketing Manager Samantha Lindberg provided an update on digital marketing efforts and social media activity. Ms. Lindberg reported that MLT had integrated Wander Maps into their website and would also integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their website and social media in the form of a Chatbot and said that the Winter Ready Guide was up on the website now.

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

6.5

Content Marketing

Receive an update regarding content marketing efforts from Content Marketing Manager Laura Wattles.

Content Marketing Manager Laura Wattles provided an update regarding content marketing efforts. 

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

6.6

Communications and PR

Receive an update regarding communications and PR efforts from Public Relations Manager Ally Watson.

Vice President, Global Tourism Michael Vanderhurst introduced new Public Relations Manager Ally Watson. Ms. Watson spoke about what her new role with MLT would look like and provided information about her background in the industry. 

There was discussion between staff and members of the Board.

7.

OTHER STANDING UPDATES

7.1

Mammoth Resorts Update - Eric Clark

Brief update on Mammoth Mountain news, activity, and operations. 

There was no Mammoth Resorts report given.

7.2

Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce Update – Tom Parker

Brief update on Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce news, activity, and operations. 

There was no Chamber report given.

7.3

Town Council Update – John Wentworth

Brief update on Town Council news, activity, and operations. 

Board Member John Wentworth provided an update on the items that would be presented at tonight's Town Council meeting.

Board Member John Morris requested that a discussion about a possible new event site be added to a future agenda.

There was discussion between President and CEO John Urdi and members of the Board.

8.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting will be adjourned to the next regular meeting scheduled to be held on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:04 p.m. to the next regular meeting scheduled to be held on March 19, 2025.