Sep 26, 2012 Advisory Council – Cascade

by | Sep 28, 2012 | Meetings & Minutes

Time and Attendance

Meeting start and finish: 1:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Members Present (alphabetical order): Don Bailey (City of McCall), Dick Carter (City of Cascade), Scotty Davenport (Cascade Chamber), Ken Minshall (City of Donnelly), Ray Moore (unincorporated Valley County).

Members absent: David Carey (McCall Chamber), Julie Steinberg (Donnelly Chamber)

Non-members present (all or part of the time): Kara Arnold, Rick Certano, Cynda Herrick, Michelle Groenevelt, Todd Hatfield, Delta James, Dwight Jividen, David Papier.

Facilitator (no voting rights): Willem Braak, UI Extension, Valley County

Decisions and notable points from the 9/26 meeting

(1) Agenda

Proposed agenda changes were adopted and reflected in the outline below.

(2)  Projects

Place Branding

  • At the last meeting the question was posed if the University of Idaho business school would be willing to assist in a place branding effort by using students to do some of the research work. The answer is a tentative “yes” if (1) this could be done in the 2013 spring semester, and (2) contingent to potential conflicts of interest with design firms.
  • Delta James updated the council on efforts and scope of the Payette River Scenic Byway Advisory Council (www.payetteRiverScenicByway.com/about.php) which is a formalized marketing effort of the counties and communities (Ada thru Adams, Eagle thru New Meadows) along the Payette River and part of a nationwide network of 126 byways in 44 states. Delta represents the City of McCall, Dwight Jividen represents the City of Cascade and Cynda Herrick represents Valley County on this advisory council. In a branding effort, this council could be an opportunity for information exchange and easy access to all communities in the region. The council plans to update its Corridor Management Plan in the next one or two years. NOTE: this council represents a community partnership in regional marketing and is not related to the Scenic-Byway-Overlay-District-Ordinance, which was purely a Valley County regulatory effort.
  • Cynda Herrick & Dwight Jividen distributed an updated project overview (Comprehensive County Wide Recreation Enhancement Plan – one of the projects presented at the spring ED symposium). This project has an overlap with place branding efforts (attached).
  • Rick Certano reiterated that place branding of our region will only be successful if it is supported by the branding of individual businesses, organizations and communities in the region. He cautioned to keep earlier (failed) efforts in mind, notably the effort around the “Payette River Mountains” concept – a substantial branding effort led by Tamarack Resort in 2007/2008.
  • David Papiez mentioned that the Payette River Mountains initiative, failure as it may be, still stands as the best example of a regional branding effort to date and may provide some lessons and insights. He has some historic collateral, including the 2008 Official Visitor Guide, which can provide to help visualize the effort.

Willem Braak will prepare a concise project summary for the next meeting to clarify definition and scope of a place branding effort, and will coordinate with Cynda nd Dwight to assure that mutual efforts are compatible and supportive.

Winter Recreation Tourism Survey

  • Rick Certano presented a project representing a partnership of a large number of hospitality organizations, winter sport clubs and all major winter-sport sectors. The survey project intends to develop information to more effectively promote the area; assist local businesses and sectors to grow their business; and make the region better in recruiting briefcase employment or affect business relocation. The project budget is around $25K and has already $10,000 in funding from the department of tourism; the project hopes for additional funding from cities and county.

Annual Forum/Social event

  • The council asked Michelle Groenevelt and Kara Arnold to consider spearheading the organization of such a region-wide event. Michelle and Kara would provide an answer before the next meeting.

(3)  Council member round table

  • Council members agreed to ask a substitute to represent their organization in case of (planned and foreseen) absenteeism.
  • The principal role of this advisory council is to be a conduit for initiatives, proposals and resources; most of the work should limit itself to a monthly or quarterly meeting. The council realizes, however, that certain roles, notably the role of chair or secretary, will include involvement and preparation outside of the regular meeting. In soliciting “members-at-large” the council will therefore specifically look for passionate individuals that can take on the role of chair and provide overall leadership to the council.

(4) Meeting adjourned at 2:45 PM

Next meeting: October 24, 1:00 PM in Donnelly.