COLUMBUS CIVIC CENTER ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
January 15, 2009
Board Members Present: Sam Wetzel, Brian McCluskey, Robert Anderson, Jim Irvin,
Wanda Jenkins, Sharon Pierce,
Board Members Absent: Mildred King, Patrick Sleem, Julius Arrington, Wane
Hailes,
Kevin Shirley
Others Present:
Civic Center Director: Dale Hester
Others: Jennifer McKay, Alfonzo Moore, Brian Giffin, Randy Krautter,
Rae McConnell
Absent: Robin Walker, Lisa Thomas- Cutts
Meeting called to order at 10:35 am
Review of minutes
Sam asked for questions on minutes. Sam will ask his questions as we move to
different departments.
Noted- Wanda Jenkins excused from December 2008 meeting
December 2008 Minutes approved as presented.
Open Remarks: Sam
Welcomed and thanked everyone for coming.
There are a number of people that have not been here for several meetings.
Finance: Jennifer
Everyone has the building utilization report for December. You can see we have
had several public skating and CHA dates. Brian and Robin have been trying to
book as many public skate dates as possible. We generate extra revenue with CHA
and Public Skating.
I have provided you with reports but until we get the end of physical year 09
they are not going to wash out and be accurate. I have asked finance to let me
know where we are but I haven?t heard back from them. I am still waiting on
physical year 08 final numbers because we still have trust money in 08.
Robert- what is CHA? Jennifer- our adult hockey league.
Advisory board minutes continued 01/15/09
Sam- I read in the paper we are going to have professional football team at
Memorial stadium are we involved in tickets for that? Dale- no one has
contacted us yet. The first time I knew of this football team was last Saturday
when I read it in the newspaper. I have asked questions since then and haven?t
gotten any answers yet. Aramark has not been contacted as far as concessions
are concerned and we have not been contacted as far as tickets are concerned. I
hope we have answers by days end or tomorrow. Robert- for the major ball games
do we get anything from the parking? Dale- we get 1.00 per car.
Sam- the Ice rental on here is pretty good, forty thousand dollars. Dale- Al,
go ahead and tell us what we have done so far on public skating. Al- just
during the holiday we have done over thirty-six thousand and that is more than
what we did last year thru the entire public skating season. Dale- I am going
to present the numbers again to try to get the ice rink opened. We have had to
turn away people from some sessions because we did not have enough skates.
Sam- are we still having problems with utilities? Jennifer- they are still high
but we continue to watch things, like cutting lights off when not needed.
Marketing: Dale
Everyone reviewed the Upcoming event sheet.
We are working on 4 or 5 more events: George Jones, Merle Haggard, Willie
Nelson and I am working on scheduling a date for an Ultimate fight.
They are putting the new sign on top of marquee. It will have the date, time
and temperature when they finish today. We are very proud of it.
Robin is working real heavy on Disney. Sam- when do we have Disney? Dale- April
23 thru April 26.
Operations: Brian
We are getting the bugs worked out of the marquee and the scoreboard. We have
Janice coming in from daktronics to train a few more of our staff members.
We are running system checks on the heating and air system.
MCSD has an exceptional student program. These are students that are ready to
graduate but because of different disabilities they will not receive a diploma
only a certificate of completion. This program allows the students to gain
experience working in custodian areas and general labor work force.
The ice floor is doing exceptionally well. I spoke to Jerome and he said he has
never had better ice since he has been here. We are able to control the ice
from multiple computers now.
After the meeting I invite you to go out and look at the arena. Dirt is going
down for PBR. Sam- what kind of turn out are we going to get for that? Alfonzo-
sales have picked up this past week. This is a walk-up show.
Wanda- I encourage you to contact Goodwill Industry, they have a good
rehabilitation program and they probably can provide you with some training
resources for the students you have coming in. They have a vocational training
and vocational rehabilitation program for the disabled population or people
that are somewhat challenged.
Box Office: Alfonzo
The Cottonmouths numbers are down a little this year but they are trying
different thing to promote and continue to sell season tickets. The numbers are
picking up.
Public ice-skating is doing very well.
Alfonzo went over ticket sales for upcoming events.
We are working with the Lions to get there season together. There first game is
in March. Sam- so you guys are busy? Alfonzo- yes sir very.
Advisory board minutes continued 01/15/09
Aramark: Randy
For those of you that could make it in December I was glad to see you. I was
sorry to see a lot of your friends were not there visiting at the party on the
16th of December. Dale and I talked about this afterwards I think maybe both of
us were a little disappointed with the attendance. We certainly want to do it
again but do it a little differently on how we go about getting people here.
The thing that we got from it was the number of people that make decisions were
amazed at the space. Isaiah was amazed at the space. Now it our job to market
that space.
The events that are coming up: numbers are down for cottonmouths. We are hoping
to do well on Military Hockey night and PBR.
Last month I told you we hired a designer to come in and mock up some new
concession ideas for us. Randy presented posters
Tommy is working on getting hawkers into the stands. We will try this at PBR.
Friday night is always a huge challenge for us. It is military night. We are
letting the Girl Scouts come in and sell cookies this year. We have also
lowered the prices for the troops.
Tommy- the recycling stations for the concourse got here yesterday. The kick
off is the 31st. Brian- the city will be here for the kick-off signing people
up for bins. We have two dates with the Cottonmouths and two dates with the
lions to do a celebration about going green. Randy- I met with Coke last week
regarding their contract with the building. Part of their contract is that we
serve coke in a white styrofoam cup. We have long past the styrofoam cup and I
don?t think it is going to be a problem with them so at this point we will
continue using the cornstarch cup that you all have seen. Sam- you have the
city people coming to the kick off what about the Phenix City people that are
coming to the games? We have a lot Alabama coming to the game. You need to have
the Phenix City people out here too.
Director: Dale
The staff is doing an excellent job.
The going green is very big for us.
The mentoring program that we are involved in is very big I am very excited
about it. I am proud that we were chosen to help with the students. You never
know how you can influence the kids and we are all excited about the program.
Dale announced to the board his plans to retire the end of October. Sam-
(speaking to Dale) we wish you well and we will keep you and your wife in our
thoughts and prayers. Dale- I would like to thank the board for your interest
in the Civic Center and what you do for us. Wanda- will you be involved in the
plans for the change or do you have an idea for successor? Dale- yes
Sam
Complements the entire team.
Great events coming in we just need to fill the seats.
Meeting Adjourned 11:30am
Minutes Prepared by: Rae McConnell
Next Meeting: February 19, 2009
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