[OMS_MANAGERS] TLT Project Allowances

[Executive Director, NDC]

This is all massively helpful, thank you for the responses! We'll keep you
all updated with how the conversations go around here. If nothing else,
we're hoping to provide some extra promotion of our events and community
building downtown activities. And of course, I'll appreciate any additional
context if anyone has it! Feel free to reach out individually as well.

Worth noting: we do have a DMO in our town. However, they're seemingly
solely focused on advertising a few verticals—namely wine country—and we've
noticed the impact downtown when they're largely advertising for people to
come stay at our nicest hotel (about a mile outside of downtown), then go
further out into the county to the vineyards, and then back to the hotel.
We're hoping to allocate that money to provide some assets that our DMO can
use to promote Newberg as whole (we have much more to offer than just wine
country). It's a little dicey, but with our organization nearing insolvency
each quarter, we're seeking a level of stability that will allow us to be a
much more effective organization. We did approach the DMO first to see if
they could portion some of their allotment to our downtown activities, and
they declined.

More to come on this, I'm sure.

*Branden Andersen*
*Executive Director, Newberg Downtown Coalition*
newbergdowntown.org


On Wed, Feb 5, 2025 at 10:13 AM Ariel M. Reker <bakercitydowntown at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Always interesting to hear how it works in other places - thank you Megan!
> I very much agree with you that Main Street should be closely following
> these shifts within the state and leading some of these pushes to expand
> the use and efficacy of TLT dollars. I believe BCD securing our contract is
> a big step, not just for our organization, but could be used as a model
> across the state.
>
> I am most curious how ORLA responds to these expansions, since they seem
> to be taking the most narrowly conservative interpretations of the law
> currently. I genuinely hope these definitions can be opened up to help
> provide additional support to more Main Street organizations and beyond. I
> see the potential for these dollars to be put to use in a variety of ways
> beyond their current utilization.
>
> Ariel M. Reker
> Executive Director,
> Baker City Downtown
>
> 541.283.6963
> Room 203, 1655 1st St,
> Baker City, OR  97814
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM Megan Dompe <coburgmainstreet at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Thank you Ariel!
>>
>> That's a good correction - I should have absolutely mentioned that there
>> is NO competition for use of TLT in Coburg. We serve as the leaders in
>> economic development in Coburg. Our contract is extremely black and white
>> for that reason. Ours is built into our Contract/MOU with the City of
>> Coburg and passed by our city council. We collaboratively work with the
>> City of Coburg on use of those funds with no one in between. I know in
>> other communities with established DMOs there is a lot of competition for
>> TLT usage and therefore a more intensive process, I just don't have first
>> hand experience of this. A lot of rural cities don't have the capacity to
>> be doing tourism promotion themselves and there are no other agencies
>> available to utilize the funds. In that case, Main Street programs are kind
>> of ideal for using that TLT funding.
>>
>> I still think it is going to be really important for Main Street
>> board/ED's to pay attention and reach out to those agencies about shifts
>> within Tourism in Oregon. These are state mandated changes to how tourism
>> promotion is defined and by law the changes have to be adopted by ORLA. One
>> example is emergency preparedness education will now be defined by the
>> State of Oregon as tourism promotion which means police, fire, and
>> emergency services will be eligible for TLT for use of community
>> programming. That is one of a long list.
>>
>>
>> Megan Dompe
>> Director of Coburg Main Street
>> PO Box 2875
>> Coburg, Oregon 97408
>> (541)913-6570
>>
>> "Start where you are,
>> Use what you have,
>> Do what you can."
>> - Arthur Ashe
>> [image: Outlook-oqfl5f5k.png]
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 1:08 PM Ariel M. Reker <
>> bakercitydowntown at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> BCD secured a Professional Services contract with our county TLTC in
>>> November 2024. Attached is the RFP, our proposal, and the final contract
>>> for some guidance.
>>>
>>> A note, Baker County is taking a very conservative approach to the use
>>> of these funds, which may differ from Coburg as Megan shared. What BCD
>>> secured is a one-year contract modeled off the existing contracts with our
>>> local county marketing director and the county Chamber of Commerce who owns
>>> and operates the Visitor Center in town. There are a lot of internal
>>> politics involved, but this should give a starting point for anyone looking
>>> to make the same arrangement. The big thing to remember is that ORLA
>>> watches what the funds are used on incredibly closely. We can use the funds
>>> for event promotion, marketing and advertising of downtown as a tourism
>>> destination, and operating support to produce the aforementioned activities
>>> and products. However, the funds cannot be used for public infrastructure
>>> (benches, planters, sidewalks, etc.), beautification (flower baskets,
>>> banners, etc.), or for things that will have less than a 10-year usable
>>> life (interpretive signage, etc.).
>>>
>>> So far, BCD has used the funds for the purchase of an information kiosk
>>> (comes with a 10-year warranty and provides space for outdoor public event
>>> promotion, wayfinding information, etc.), videos to market our events, and
>>> general event marketing both locally and over 50 miles away.
>>>
>>> If you have questions, feel free to email directly or give me a call too.
>>>
>>> Ariel M. Reker
>>> Executive Director,
>>> Baker City Downtown
>>>
>>> 541.283.6963
>>> Room 203, 1655 1st St,
>>> Baker City, OR  97814
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 10:48 AM City Club Forest Grove <
>>> cityclubofforestgrove at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I too am interested in knowing the answer to this question. We are
>>>> struggling to get support from our council at all.
>>>>
>>>> *Thank you,*
>>>> *Donna Gustafson, President*
>>>> *The City Club of Forest Grove*
>>>> *Check out our new Community Calendar
>>>> <https://www.cityclubfg.com/events>*
>>>> *Become a MEMBER <https://www.cityclubfg.com/services-7> to support
>>>> downtown improvements, events, enhancements, preservation and take
>>>> advantage of membership perks. Let's Grow Together. *
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 10:38 AM Executive Director, NDC <
>>>> exec at newbergdowntown.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi OMS partners,
>>>>>
>>>>> The Newberg Downtown Coalition has struggled with consistent
>>>>> financing since the COVID-19 pandemic. We've been exploring unique ways to
>>>>> source consistent funding, and the idea of Transient Lodging Tax (TLT)
>>>>> dollars came up. It seems like we have a majority of city councilors who
>>>>> would be in favor of us securing some of those dollars, given we can make a
>>>>> case for those dollars promoting tourism in our town. The opposition is
>>>>> saying that tourism dollars need to be spent getting people to come visit
>>>>> externally (they're mostly spending on external advertising), but we're
>>>>> arguing that we need to spend a small portion in town to help improve our
>>>>> district and make it a more desirable place to visit.
>>>>>
>>>>> I wanted to see if anyone out there is receiving TLT dollars and, if
>>>>> so, how they're spending it or reporting the expenses that align with the
>>>>> purpose of the fund.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any help, advice, or insight is appreciated!
>>>>>
>>>>> *Branden Andersen*
>>>>> *Executive Director, Newberg Downtown Coalition*
>>>>> newbergdowntown.org
>>>>>
>>>>
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