Minutes - Council Work Session - 02/08/2010 - Strategic Planning

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the artwork to which Ms. Berg replied as soon as it's paid for, the City owns the artwork. She added that as soon as everything is paid for that comes out of her firm, the City owns it. Councilmember Elvig stated we will want to continue marketing and he thought we need to look at an annual marketing budget. Once the area is developed, then we have to market on how to get people to come. Councilmember Dehen stated we have a limited HRA budget. This is coming in at $58,000 and we are not done yet so we will have more. He stated he is not against marketing but we need to think about how we are going to pay for this. We need to figure out our priorities. He stated he would not advocate to committing now — we need to talk about this. Councilmember Elvig stated he looks at this as a bigger property — we need to get the word out. Mr. Ulrich asked about guidance on corporate benchmark. Ms. Berg stated usually about two to five percent of revenue annually — it can be as high as five to 10 percent. She added this is not a Cadillac plan — it's reasonable — thoughtful — but it's not the cheapest either. Councilmember Dehen stated to Ms. Berg that she talked about brochures and what does she suggest we give them that costs this much — a brochure of what? Ms. Berg stated this is a tactical tool. She explained the logo and talked about collateral systems. A brochure is a key piece but not the only piece. She added that she thinks the website is more key. Councilmember Look stated that we are talking about a couple of different things — a shopping cart and direction/policy. When do you decide exit strategy — where it's going. If we have the appetite for Town Center — we need a policy /direction for how to go. We need to know exactly where we are going. Mayor Ramsey suggested we will have to have more branding conversations later. Councilmember Dehen stated these are all good points but he did not know if the government should be involved in development. We have to advertise the fact that we own the property. Someone will take over and they will want their own brand. He felt he did not know enough about marketing and yet he is making a decision on something he has no expertise on. Director of Public Works Olson stated these are great points but don't you build value and interest in the project. You are trying to build interest from all different clients. Then you are building value into the Town Center and it's not wasted. Councilmember Elvig stated if you had a buyer that would buy all our property then we could hold off on this but he did not think that would happen. We still have to market this City. He City Council/Staff Strategic Planning Session / February 8, 2010 Page 3 of 7