South Central Reporter

City of Centralia Tourism Commission met April 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the commission:

I. CALL TO ORDER- Davis, Chair. Meeting called to order 5:03pm

II. ROLL CALL

_x_ Dawn Long

_x_ Barri Allen

_x_ Kelsie Smith

_x_ Mary Davis

___ Rachel Wallace

_x_ Mike Middleton

_x_ Shannon Cooney

_x_ Greg Sutton

_x_ Tom Walsh

Ex-Officio Members

___ William Smith, City Manager

_x_ Marcus Holland, Chamber of Commerce Director

_x_ Advisory Staff -Derek Sherman, Economic Development Director

Others Present:

III. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION -None

IV. MINUTES -

March 19th, 2024- A motion was made to approve the minutes as presented. There was a 1st Sutton, 2nd-Smith. All present voted in favor with none opposing.

V. TREASURER'S REPORT - Davis

1. A motion was made to approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented. 1st- Cooney, 2nd- Long With all in present voting in favor and none opposed.

VI. ONGOING BUSINESS

1. FY'24 Goals & Objectives

i. Marketing- Derek said he feels like he is doing a better job on the calendar, and updating that thanks to the Culture Society, the Museum, and also the Juneteenth committee. Those are the only ones that have submitted events so far through the calendar mechanism. He can submit for everyone onto, Discover Downstate Illinois, so we get on their calendar as well. Derek added. On Monday, here's the whole week the upcoming week post, and then on Thursday, when we have more traffic, like here's this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then just kind of like recycling that post into small bits and pushing it out the second time.

ii. It was asked if there was a possibility of hiring someone to help with posting. Derek said the city is still not interested in hiring anyone at this moment, and the Tourism Board doesn’t have the authority to hire, we could only recommend. Instead, we could consider spending money to boost the monthly post. Then find a good way to track site hits.

iii. Derek gave an update on the tri-fold. And having Christine from Downstate Illinois attend the May Meeting.

iv. We created a subcommittee for marketing so that Derek would be able to send them and the subcommittee could proof and add suggestions.

2. Event Support

i. Cultural Society, Museum, and Juneteenth have submitted info.

ii. We talked about how more should have been done for the Eclipse

iii. Derek mentioned he is looking to other events upcoming to get their info added to the calendar.

VII. NEW BUSINESS -

1. 2024 Celebrate Centralia

i. Event Budget

a. Derek said the budget should be $7500 so we had discussed trying to keep it around the range of $ 3,000 for the band., and $4500 to do other stuff.

b. The Mayor had no suggestion for a band, so it was discussed that we look for someone, not local. We could ask Downstate for help in getting a band. The time for the Band to play is set from 5 pm until 8 pm. We’ll use the same stage from last year.

ii. Vendor Outreach

a. Derek said he already had two vendors reach out about coming back this year. We discussed that the vendor forms are ready to get out to vendors and we discussed ways to get those forms out to vendors.

2. 2024 "Out-Boo Your Neighbor"

i. Potential Community Partner

a. First it was decided to let the Cultural Society take over the Out-Boo contest.

3. 2024 "Out-Sleigh Your Neighbor"

i. Potential Community Partner

a. It was decided to let CHS run the Out Decorate your neighbor in December.

VIII. DISCUSSION- Nothing except that Derek said he is doing some grant writing.

IX. ADJOURNMENT- A motion was made to adjourn the meeting. 1st- Smith 2nd- Allen. All present voted in favor with none opposed.

https://cityofcentralia.org/vertical/sites/%7BFC680FE7-BE5C-4903-A103-67AF5EF51655%7D/uploads/4_-_April_16th_2024_Minutes.pdf