Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2020-10-19 255 South Airport Boulevard | South San Francisco | California | 94080 t: 650-877-8787 ssfconf.com MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF THE SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE CENTER AUTHORITY South San Francisco Conference Center 255 South Airport Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080 October 19, 2020 Meeting was called to order at 5:16 p.m. by Authority Chairperson Garbarino Via Zoom Meetings. Authority Members Present: Francois Camou, Buenaflor Nicolas, Richard Garbarino., Vanessa McGovern, B.J. Patel, Tony Clifford, Liza Normandy, Reena Maharaj, and Jim McGuire Authority Members Absent: Jeff MacDonald Staff Present: Steve Mattas, Katie Leung, and Dean Grubl Authority Chairperson Garbarino requested a roll call and the members listed above were present. Public Comment: There was no public comment. Action Items: 1. Review/Approval of Minutes from the October 17, 2020 Regular Meeting. Authority Member Clifford moved to approve the minutes and Authority Member Maharaj seconded the motion. The Authority, by roll call vote, agreed unanimously. 2. Review/Approval of Minutes from the August 25, 2020 Special Meeting. Authority Member Nicolas moved to approve the minutes and Authority Member Patel seconded the motion. The Authority, by roll call vote, agreed unanimously. 3. Report Regarding Authorizing the Executive Director to execute a banking services agreement with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank N.A. 255 South Airport Boulevard | South San Francisco | California | 94080 t: 650-877-8787 ssfconf.com Authority Minutes October 19, 2020 Page Two Executive Director Grubl presented a slide presentation of the responses to the Request for Proposals received by the Conference Center and the rationale why the bank account will be moving from Tri- County Bank to J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. He mentioned the biggest issue they have is international wire transfers and banking fees with Tri-County Bank. He mentioned that it took over a month to do a wire transfer back to Japan for a group that cancelled in August to refund their money. Also, the City of South San Francisco moved to J.P. Chase Bank in 2017 as their financial institution. Grubl also mentioned J.P. Morgan Chase bank has a better on-line banking and it will be a lot easier to do ACH payments to our clients and vendors a like. Authority Member Maharaj moved to approve authorizing the Executive Director to execute a banking service agreement with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank N.A. and Authority Member Patel seconded the motion. The Authority, by roll call vote, agreed unanimously. Discussion Item/s 1. Review of July and August Preliminary P&L for Fiscal Year 2020-2021. Chief Financial Officer, Katie Leung reviewed a consolidated July and August preliminary statement to the Authority. Leung stated that Operating Gross Revenue was at 67% of budget for July and 48% of budget for August. This is due in part to two groups that cancelled over this period due to COVID-19. The Total Operating Expenditures were approximately 96% of budgeted amount for the month July and 89% for the amount of August. The Conference Center tax was 183% of budget for July and 107% for the month of August. She mentioned net income is approximately at 77%, year to date to budget; however, Conference Center Tax revenues are not fully included in this amount. 2. SSF Conference Center Capacity. Executive Director Grubl informed the Authority that since San Mateo County moved into the “Red” Tier from the State of California regarding the local fight against the coronavirus as indoor restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and places of worship may now open with restrictions in San Mateo County. The Conference Center will hold at 50 or less individuals within the building. Also, all individuals coming into the Conference Center must wear a mask, social distancing, etc. Authority members asked the General Counsel to review the ability of the Conference Center to allow religious services inside the conference 255 South Airport Boulevard | South San Francisco | California | 94080 t: 650-877-8787 ssfconf.com Authority Minutes October 19, 2020 Page Three center facility pursuant to the current shelter in place order and to provide an update to the Authority Board. Authority Announcements, Referrals and Future Agenda Items: Grubl mentioned that Sheldon Chavan of Chavan and Associates, will be presenting the Fiscal Year 2019- 2020 Annual Audit presentation to the Authority Board during its December regular meeting. Executive Director’s Report: 1. Update on the FY2020-2021 Capital Improvement Projects Grubl informed the Authority that the Conference Center’s Operations staff has completed the purchase of the Halo Disinfection System and the Network Upgrade is almost complete; both are parts of the Capital Improvement projects for this fiscal year. The Network Upgrade should be completed by the end of the month. He mentioned the replacement of PTZ Cameras, and the replacement of the water heater booster will take place in the third or fourth quarter of this fiscal year. Grubl informed the Authority that the Conference Center website’s traffic is increasing over the past 30 days. He mentioned the traffic to the website is up 55% over the last 30 days and visitors are spending 7% more time on the website. From September 16th to October 15th, the Conference Center traffic is 12% higher that it was in the whole month of January 2020 (pre-COVID-19). The meetings page remains the most popular page, with the home page and celebrations as the 2nd and 3rd most popular page. Visitors from California are up 72%, with Virginia, Texas and Oregon following. Grubl did mention that the Sales and Catering staff have designed a “value added” packages that includes: Drive-In Hybrid Meeting Package, Virtual Meeting Package, a Social Package, a Government Package, and a Tradeshow Package. Also, these packages have been added to the Conference Center’s website and will be promoted in follow up emails to clients from the Sales and Catering’s telemarketing campaign. Grubl mentioned that the Conference Center’s Director of Sales was interviewed by Unique Venues for the creation of the Drive-in Hybrid meeting and it will be published in their upcoming magazine. Also, the Conference Center has been nominated for “Best Catering” and “Best Website Design” by Unique Venues, along with being picked as the “Top Pick” venue in Northern California. 255 South Airport Boulevard | South San Francisco | California | 94080 t: 650-877-8787 ssfconf.com Authority Minutes October 19, 2020 Page Four Sales continues to do ongoing telemarketing and wellness check-in with the Conference Centre’s database to discuss the packages they have developed and to see when they might be returning to planning meetings. Sales has attended and participated in several webinars and virtual events and tradeshows that included: Cvent Connect Virtual conference, California Society of Associations Executive’s Annual virtual meeting, and couch chats, Enhanced Cleaning Guidelines for Convention and Conference Centers, Fun with Food at Virtual Events, Wedding Pro, Snapshot into the Future, Re-thinking Food Service Options, just to name a few. Chairperson Garbarino announced the next Regular Authority Board Meeting will be on Monday, December 14, 2020 at 5:15 p.m. via Zoom Meetings. The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 p.m. _____________________ ___________________ Richard Garbarino Dean Grubl Authority Chairperson Executive Director