Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Flush with nearly $40,000 of money unused from the previous fiscal year or unspent from festivals canceled because of COVID-19, the Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board used much of its meeting Wednesday discussing how to spend those funds for new billboards that would publicize the city.
The board will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. Sept. 24 to make final recommendations to the city commission. The board long had planned to send a revised budget to the city in September after the fiscal effects of the pandemic were more fully known.
In addition to billboards, the board may allocate money for additional print advertising and more decorations for Very Merry Tucumcari holiday events.
City finance director Rachelle Arias presented motel tax revenue reports from July and August. Both months each showed a shortfall between $10,000 and $12,000 from the usual amounts because of the pandemic. She projected motel tax revenue would decline to $290,000 in the current fiscal year, compared to the originally forecast $360,000.
Arias said the board had $18,700 in unspent promotional money because of canceled festivals and $21,138 from the previous fiscal year. She said that money could be used without draining the board’s cash reserve.
The board talked to account executives from Sun Vista Outdoor Advertising and Lamar of New Mexico on possibly renting more billboards to entice travelers to town.
David Raybould of Sun Vista, from which the city rents five billboards west of town, said Choice Media billboards might be available east of Amarillo on Interstate 40 and along U.S. 287 out of Dallas-Fort Worth. Raybould said his company is a member of IBOUSA, a network of independent billboard operators that can facilitate contracts with other firms. He said Choice also owns traditional billboards near San Jon and Clovis and digital billboards in Lubbock and Amarillo.
Raybould said three billboards also were available about 250 miles west of Tucumcari near Milan, plus others in Albuquerque and Moriarty.
He said available billboards could be held until Jan. 1 if the city wanted them.
Raybould said it also would be possible to replace images on the city’s current billboards west of Tucumcari with a new three-year contract and a buyout of the current pact that expires in 2022. A three-year deal would include production costs and a warranty. Those billboards used designs by the city’s former tourism marketer, Sunny505. Board members long had expressed dissatisfaction with those designs except for the “Tucumcari Tonite” one.
Rebecca Cook of Lamar said her company had billboards available near Colorado Springs in Colorado, plus each side of Amarillo. She said the city could negotiate rates or score a favorable deal, citing a buy-one-get-one-free special Lamar offered earlier in the year.
Board member Al Patel said he wanted to use $20,000 of the available money for new billboards. Board Chairman Larry Smith said he was intrigued by the U.S. 287 billboard, noting it was a corridor the city hasn’t exploited.
Tucumcari MainStreet executive director Connie Loveland said results of the city’s rebranding efforts would be better known by mid-month once she sits down with two graphic designers who would design three items for free. Tucumcari MainStreet held virtual surveys to gauge residents’ preferences. The rebranding likely would be used with new billboard designs.
City manager Mark Martinez said he would consult with the city attorney to see whether local businesses can share costs with the city on billboards. He expressed doubt that could be done without running afoul of state law.
In other business:
• Loveland said she received estimates for 40 new Christmas decorations for the city’s lampposts that ranged from $16,000 to $46,000.
“I was actually quite shocked (at the price),” Loveland said. “They’re not cheap.”
She and Martinez said another complication is Xcel Energy, which owns the light poles, is requesting approval before installing decorations on them.
Patel, who requested the estimates for holiday decorations, said he still was open to spending $10,000 for new decor during the Christmas season.
• Martinez said the city likely would refurbish the “outdated” entryway, dance floor and other interior parts of the Tucumcari Convention Center, especially with the city due to pay off its loan for the facility in 2021.
He also showed a photograph of the refurbished Route 66 monument in front the facility. Martinez said it was power-washed, repainted and its chrome polished.
Martinez said also passed along complaints about the closed convention center’s unkempt appearance during the pandemic. He said workers there had been consigned to part-time status but impressed upon them the importance of keeping the facility neat. He said those problems should be resolved this week.
• Martinez reported the livestream of the Rockin’ Route 66 shows from its promoter in Georgia garnered more than 14,000 views from many states and several foreign countries. COVID-19 canceled this year’s festival; next year’s is scheduled for June.
• Carmen Runyan, executive director of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce, said her organization recently landed free ads to two magazines and was moving most of its advertising to social media and online.