8.d Tourism Committee draft 8-13-2020 Minutes
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Scandia Tourism Committee
Minutes
August 13, 2020 - 9:00 pm
Meeting Via GoToMeeting.com and Boxcast.com
Members in Attendance: Sarah Porubcansky; Lynne Moratzka, and Kirsten Libby.
Absent: Dana Khu.
Staff in attendance: Mayor Christine Maefsky and Office Assistant Bee Stignani.
Call to Order – Committee Vice Chair Porubcansky called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m.
Approval of the Agenda – Motion by Libby, seconded by Moratzka, to approve the agenda.
Motion carried.
Appointment of Officers - Due to the resignation of outgoing chair, Carrie Mitchell, Moratzka
nominated Porubcansky to Scandia Tourism Committee Chair, seconded by Libby. Motion carried.
Due to the vacation of the Vice Chair position by Porubcansky, Porubcansky nominated Libby to
Scandia Tourism Committee Vice Chair, seconded by Moratzka. Motion carried.
Approval of the July 14, 2020 Meeting Minutes – Motion by Moratzka, seconded by Libby to
approve the minutes. Motion carried.
Settler’s Monument – Cammilleri provided photos. The Committee indicated that moving the
monument to a more visible site to County Road 3 is important. The preferred new location is not
owned by the City of Scandia. Mayor Maefsky will gather a new recommendation, or clarification,
for the Tourism Committee to consider at the next meeting. Motion by Porubcansky to
recommend to City Council that the Settler’s Monument should be moved to a more visible location
in the future, seconded by Libby. Motion carried.
Community Signage Theme and Design – Discussion of how to allow for different categories of
signage thorough all of Scandia that is still cohesive included type font consistency and uniformity of
borders of signs for a general look. Other municipalities use the brick columns. Mayor Maefsky will
ask the Scandia Heritage Alliance for a recommendation for the Tourism Committee to consider as
they are investigating other communities who have addressed this situation for the next TC meeting.
Website Design – Stignani presented the additional interior “Tourism home page” Revize added to
the design concept which the City Council approved. Stignani explained staff requested this
additional page from Revize as an option to meet the potential need of the Tourism Committee
better. However, in the interest of time, it was approved by City Council knowing that the
committee had not been able to discuss this new page nor request any design revisions. Delaying
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the formal approval of the site design diminished the possibility of completing a new revision before
the current contract expires. The Tourism Committee has the option to use this page as designed or
not, with the option to redesign it in four years at no additional fee. The EDA will consider
approving funds at their next meeting to pay the annual subscription for a domain name that would
be linked to this Tourism Home Page. Motion by Libby to use this interior Tourism Home Page,
seconded by Moratzka. Motion carried. Key words across the city’s home page will change.
Eliminate “Government” for “Visitor” or other word chosen to link to the Tourism Home Page,
add a word for “Business” and move “Visitor” closest to the search box. Staff requested
clarification on the extent the TC will be involved on non-tourism related content on the revised city
website. Discussion concluded that TC will be responsible for all tourism content, and the header
on the home page. Staff will be responsible for all else now that the overall design has been
approved. At the next meeting, TC members are asked to bring suggestions for the words to use as
Quick Links and organizations and sites to include as related links. Porubcansky suggested
contacting Suzanna Lindgren Dammen to see if she would provide the copy material to be included
on the Tourism Home Page. Members discussed soliciting copy material and photos from Scandia
Parks & Trails, Scandia Parks and Recreation, Gammelgarden, Scandia Heritage Alliance, Hay Lake
School, Washington County Historical Society and the book Scandia Then & Now, and going through
the Thinking of Scandia Cooperative list. Members are asked to attend the September meeting
prepared to discuss content suggestions on the Tourism Home Page.
Porubcansky inquired direction for increasing the committee back to 5 members, and stated the
importance of potential new members to be stakeholders in the community. Members discussed
considering requesting a new recommendation from Brent Peterson, or contacting members of
groups and businesses operating in Scandia like Cycling Scandia, Friends of Scandia Parks & Trails,
Twisted Roots Winery, and Redeemed Farm. Porubcansky stated this committee has a lot of tasks
to do, and wondered if the committee would be able to go beyond 5 members. Mayor Maefsky
advised members to assist getting the word out to solicit new applicants, and recommended
Porubcansky or Libby attend the City Council meeting that reviews these applications and explain
the need for more than 5 members. Maefsky strongly advised to maintain an odd number of
committee members for voting purposes.
Next Meeting Date – The Committee unanimously agreed to set its next meeting date for
Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 9 a.m.
Agenda Topics - Setting long range and short range goals for the Tourism Committee and
considering what types of tourism events or things to promote in the future.
Adjournment – The Committee adjourned its meeting at 10:14 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Brenda “Bee” Stignani, Office Assistant