2011-01-11 HOT Committee Minutes
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2 MINUTES
3
4 Hotel Occupancy Tax Committee Meeting
5 January 11, 2011
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7 After determining that a quorum was present, the Hotel Occupancy Tax Committee (HOT)
8 convened into an Open Meeting on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 2:34 p.m. in the City Hall
9 Conference Room, City of Denton City Hall, 215 E. McKinney Street, Denton, Texas.
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11 PRESENT: Council Members Pete Kamp, Chris Watts and Dalton Gregory
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13 EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS:
14 Jon Fortune, Assistant City Manager
15 Jerry Drake, Deputy City Attorney
16 Antonio Puente, Jr., Assistant Director of Finance
17 Randee Klingele, Treasury Services Specialist
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19 AGENDA ITEM 1: CONSIDER APPROVAL OF HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX
20 COMMITTEE MINUTES FROM AUGUST 3, 2010.
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22 Minutes were approved as written by Councilmember Dalton Gregory and seconded by
23 Councilmember Chris Watt. Motion passed unanimously.
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25 AGENDA ITEM 2: RECEIVE A REPORT, HOLD A DISCUSSION AND PROVIDE
26 RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING HOTEL REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES FOR
27 THE CI
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29 Emerson Vorel, Cityirector of Parks and Recreation, provided an overview of the Public Art
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31 poems and artwork produced
32 (HOT) budget will be spent to commission a poet, who will write twenty-five poems depicting
33 the city of Denton and its history. Twenty-five artists will then be commissioned and assigned
34 one of the poems to illustrate in their art form of choice. The poems will be mounted and
35 displayed, with all twenty-five art illustrations, at an exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts.
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37 At a later time, Program Year 2012, the Public Art Committee will be requesting their portion of
38 HOT funds to be expended in creating and publishing a book of the aforementioned poems and
39 art. The committee anticipates making this book available for sale to the public.
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41 Margaret Chalfant, Greater Denton Arts Council Executive Director and Public Art Committee
42 member presented the inspiration to their book proposal
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44 years ago, but use of HOT funds to create the book is unknown. The full project is estimated to
45 take approximately three years. Ms. Chalfant read a poem written by Karla Morton, the 2010
46 Texas Poet Laureate.
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48 The HOT committee expressed their support of the project, which should have both a tourism
49 and economic impact on the city. The committee would like to know that
50 would include a good portion of 3-D art that would be installed for easy public viewing. The
51 anticipation that the exhibition and final
52 product (book) would be great marketing tools for the city.
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54 Jerry Drake, Deputy City Attorney, communicated that the use of HOT funds are allowable in
55 the commissioning of the artist and poet, installation and mounting needs along with promotion
56 of the exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts. However, to spend HOT funds to print, bind
57 and create the book itself, the HOT committee would need to recommend to the City Council an
58 ordinance finding that this project constitutes a marketing tool for the city. Mr. Drake advised
59 there are very few cases regarding expending HOT funds due to the difficulty in proving abuse
60 of discretion.
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62 Councilmember Watts spoke supporting the full project with ample avenues to support the use of
63 HOT funds. Mr. Watts motioned to recommend the project as proposed by the Public Art
64 Committee with HOT funds supporting the commissioning of the poet, artists along with all
65 items necessary to exhibit and produce the book. Mr. Gregory seconded the motion. Motion
66 passed unanimously.
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68 AGENDA ITEM 3: NEW BUSINESS
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70 None.
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72 Meeting adjourned 3:10 P.M.