They also got a report on the Tourism Fund’s financial picture after October, considered a new contract for a billboard next to I-30 and heard a report on the artificial ice rink, which opened November 16, and read the results of a performance evaluation on some of Hope’s web-based advertising.
Parks Superintendent Summer Chambers told the commissioners that the amount already allocated for use to help organize and advertise activities prior to and during the April 8th eclipse would likely need increasing. “You all have already approved $15,000. I can say from the numbers provided we are already in the hole if we go through with this event,” she said, then named the various expenses that have led to that conclusion, including port-a-potties, inflatables, special glasses and the concert the Sunday before.
Chambers also mentioned that marketing the event would also incur additional costs. Chambers said she had spoken with Bren Yocom, General Manager of the media company SWARK.Today and learned the company spends $20,000 a year to market the Watermelon Festival. The state advertising and tourism consortium Arkansas’ Great Southwest plans to contribute half the cost of marketing the event once a budget is sent to the consortium, but Chambers said more funds from the city would be needed than the initial $15,000 approved by the board of commissioners previously.
The commissioners, in discussing the request, mentioned that marketing should primarily target north Louisiana. Commissioner Charlton Luker, manager of local hotels, said 60 percent of his bookings were from that area. (He also mentioned his two hotels are about 75 to 80 percent booked for that weekend while two Texarkana hotels are already fully booked.)
Commissioner Steve Montgomery said he would like to keep the event sponsored by Hope Tourism and Promotions. Chambers had said earlier that in her opinion the local businesses were feeling the pressure from sponsoring so many events.
Hope City Manager J.R. Wilson, in attendance of the meeting, said representatives of the FAA had said the Hope Municipal Airport cannot be closed without explicit permission and that the FAA would not likely permit the entire closure of the airport in the future. Wilson said the penalties for closing the airport without FAA approval would be the removal of discretionary funds from the airport’s budget. He said having to keep one runway open at the airport would complicate the planning for the eclipse event but would likely not be a dealbreaker for having the city’s eclipse events there.
Summer Chambers said Mae Estes, a Hope native country-rock singer-songwriter, had been booked for the concert.
The commission voted unanimously on Chair Sharon Caldwell’s motion to allot $10,000 to eclipse preparation with the instruction to advertise most in South Louisiana. Mayor Still said if there was greater need, the now $25,000 allotment may have to be increased eventually.
The commissioners also approved a $130,000 addition to the 2024 budget to put in parking lots at Jack Williams Field and the Soccer complex. This was a unanimous vote in favor.
In other business, Chambers reported the ice rink attendance has been on par with last year, with 71 attending over the November 16-18 period. The rink is being operated by two people hired at $11 an hour. She explained that at the last minute it was found that the pieces of the rink would not snap together. But the company that sold Hope the rink, once alerted to the situation, was able to ship replacement pieces by the morning of the rink’s opening.
An evaluation of the performance of the website put together by the Little Rock firm CJRW was performed by the firm’s representative Ashley Moore. The report was provided to the commissioners. Chamber said now that CJRW had hired a full-time employee to administer its websites, the city’s websites should receive more clicks.
The commissioners opted to table a consideration of buying signs to denote public parking behind the Klipsch Heritage Museum pending measurements of the place where the sign would be. Whatley provided a $5,5850 quote for the total cost of the project and a design for both signs.
The commissioners discussed the replacement of a billboard advertising the town on I-30, which is fading after three years of use. Chambers was asked to negotiate a three-year deal with the billboard company Lindmark to try to get two replacements if needed during that time if the billboard’s paint should fade or its materials peel.
Also under discussion at the end of the meeting was the need to refurbish the materials displayed in the Hope Visitor Center and Museum. Just before adjournment Chambers agreed to look into how this could be done.