TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
George Gabriel, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of Approving the Proposed Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Chamber of Commerce Work Plan Contract in the Amount of $49,500 (City Manager Moe).
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 19-0006
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council consider adopting Resolution No. 19-0006 approving the proposed Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Chamber of Commerce work plan contract in the amount of $49,500.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018-2019 budget, funds totaling $71,000 were appropriated for Economic Development partnerships and sponsorship of Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) events. Therefore, sufficient funds are budgeted to accommodate the Chamber of Commerce’s proposed work plan contract.
BACKGROUND:
At the September 5, 2017, City Council meeting, City Council adopted Resolution No. 17-0115 approving the Chamber work plan contract for an amount not-to-exceed $57,250 for FY 2017-2018. Consistent with the conditions set forth in the agreement, the Chamber completed six of the seven tasks set forth in FY 2017-2018 work plan contract. Below is a summarization of the tasks, the funding provided, completion level, and the deliverable associated with the task.
Local Marketing Programs
• Visitor Business Map ($12,750) - Completed
o Printed 35,000 copies of the map and distributed throughout community.
• Online Visitor Resource ($25,000) - Incomplete
o The Chamber has not completed this task but has started to create the visitor website. Due to higher costs than anticipated, the Chamber believes it is unable to complete the task with the current funding allocated and disbursed. The Chamber anticipates completing this task but requests additional funding to complete the online visitor website. The request for additional funding will be explained further in the discussion section of the report.
• LAX Hotel Outreach ($5,000) - Complete
o The Chamber has had meetings with the general managers of hotels along Century Boulevard to promote Manhattan Beach. The visitor business map described above is being distributed to hotels, as well.
• Hospitality Committee ($5,000) - Complete
o The Hospitality Committee has been created and is comprised of restaurants and hotels throughout the City. The group is inclined to consider marketing ideas for the City. Additionally, the Chamber has brought large groups of people visiting hotels from around the South Bay to further promote downtown Manhattan Beach.
Business Education and Engagement
• Small Business Education Seminars ($6,000) - Complete
o The Chamber hosted eight educational seminars on topics that included: business and employee matters, “Do it Yourself (DIY)” videos, active shooter situations, business tax reform, social media marketing, Instagram tips, employee happiness, and sexual harassment.
• Collaborative Town Hall Forum ($3,000) - Complete
o Town Hall Forum was held in January 2018 and allowed for engagement between businesses and city officials.
• Young Entrepreneurs Academy ($500) - Complete
o The Chamber has created the Young Entrepreneurs Academy program for City of Manhattan Beach students in grades six through twelve. Chamber held an event where students were required to present their business ideas to a panel. One student went on to compete at the national level.
Additionally, the City sponsored Chamber events totaling $11,000 which are not accounted for in the prior contract but approved by the City Council in the FY 2017-2018 budget process. These included:
• Best of Manhattan Beach Awards ($5,000)
• State of the City ($2,000)
• Economic Forum ($4,000)
At the August 21, 2018, meeting, City Council considered approving the proposed Chamber of Commerce work plan contract for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 in the amount of $84,350. Following discussion, City Council directed staff to work with Chamber and return to the City Council with a more refined plan, but provide no funding in the interim to the Chamber. Specifically, City Council requested budget information, metrics on business attraction/retention, and data/program information on services the Chamber provides.
DISCUSSION:
Following leadership changes at the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce prepared a new work plan contract for City Council consideration in consultation with staff. Compared to the previous agreement, the Chamber of Commerce reduced the proposed work plan contract amount from $84,350 to $49,500.
As before, the Chamber Work Plan contract (Attachment) lists several programs and services intended to improve the local economy. These can be broadly divided into services that: 1) look to improve the hospitality climate in Manhattan Beach through production of better marketing materials and more strategic outreach; 2) provide programs to improve local business engagement and education; and 3) continue sponsorship of events hosted by the Chamber.
With half the fiscal year complete, the Chamber of Commerce scaled down the request to the City to $49,500. Therefore, most cost amounts requested are less than the proposed work plan contract from August. Staff has highlighted cost increases and item changes in the work plan section of the contract for City Council discussion and consideration. These changes include:
• The Chamber requests an additional $6,000 to complete the online visitor resource task from the prior FY 2017-2018 contract. Chamber has indicated that the additional funds are needed to complete the project proposed by the previous leadership. This amount is $4,000 less from the amount requested in the proposed contract in August.
• The Chamber requests $2,500 for “Digital Intelligence and Retargeting.” As stated in the contract, the work plan item would be “a method of strategically assessing, targeting, and marketing to increase awareness” to Manhattan Beach businesses. It should be noted that these services are currently being conducted at the Downtown Manhattan Businesses Professional Association.
• The Chamber requests $10,000 for “Business Community Concierge Program Development.” The contract states, “The goal of this program is to provide a concierge type of service to potential and existing business owners and landowners that will allow the manner of exploring new or conducting business in Manhattan Beach easier. The Chamber will act as a Business Concierge connecting the user to appropriate city staff, procedures, committees, regulations and a “how to open” and how to conduct business” type of road map.”
• The Chamber requests an additional $500 to host a Collaborative Town Hall Forum that “provide an opportunity for residents and business owners to meet and greet their elected local and regional officials, to voice their ideas and concerns and to explore the priority issues that are of timely concern.”
• The Chamber requests $1,500 for “Legislative Advocacy & Stakeholder Meetings.” The goal of the meetings are to “learn of and communicate about local, regional and state initiatives that may have a positive or negative impact on the business community.”
• The Chamber requests an additional $1,500 from the prior contract for instruction/teaching services towards the “Young Entrepreneurs Academy.”
Additionally, City staff requests to include the sponsorship of events the Chamber hosts that the City regularly sponsors. This amounts to $10,500 for three events. These include:
o Heroes of Manhattan ($3,500)
o Economic Forum ($3,500)
o State of the City ($3,500)
It should be noted that the Heroes of Manhattan Beach event and State of the City have been invoiced to the City, but consistent with City Council direction, staff has withheld payments contingent upon resolution of the Chamber of Commerce work plan contract.
In an effort to provide organizational information on Chamber activities, the Chamber has provided the City with a five-year financial summary and five year membership summary. With new leadership, the Chamber hopes to provide metrics on business attraction/retention, and data/program information on services the Chamber provides, going forward.
Staff recommends that the City Council consider adopting Resolution No. 19-0006 approving the proposed Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Chamber of Commerce work plan contract in the amount of $49,500.
PUBLIC OUTREACH/INTEREST:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. 19-0006
2. Agreement - Chamber of Commerce
3. Agreement - Chamber of Commerce (FY 2017-2018)
3. Chamber of Commerce Cover Letter
4. Five Year Financial Summary
5. Five Year Membership Summary