The notes from Wednesday’s DLM Meeting, at which CVB Director, Brad VanDommelen, presented, follow.
CLICK HERE to view Brad’s presentation.
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Summary of May 24th Department Leadership Meeting
- Dave Hansen opened the meeting with a plea for support of the American Red Cross Blood Drive and the 20th Annual Mayor’s Cup Challenge
- City’s operating budget passed two weeks ago which included our raises. Dave indicated the CIP Budget “looks for a balanced solution”, especially with regard to storm water management. He said, “Climate change is real. Storms are more intense. Sea level rise is happening. The engineered systems we have will someday be overcome.”
- Dave gave credit for Tom Nichols work on developing 7 options for the replacement of City Hall Building 1. There will be a number of public meetings over the next few months.
- Acting Chief Dave Hutcheson announced that 90 firefighters representing 40 teams competed in the Fire Fighter Challenge at Mt. Trashmore last week.
- Police representative showed a video clip from the documentary “Fallen” about police officers killed in the line of duty. Virginia Beach will be the third City showing this film. Friday May 26, VA Aquarium theater. 5:30 & 7:30 showings.
- EMS Chief Ed Brazle noted that this is EMS week and hoped everyone has seen television commercials and mailings and other ads.
- Deputy Chief thanked several agencies for their assistance in cleaning up the fuel spill from Oceana’s fuel farm. The collection phase should be complete this week followed by the remediation phase next week. Note – VBCC long time RV Show promotor Susie Dodd was featured in this morning’s Pilot. Property around her island home was severely impacted.
- Donna Mickley – Member Survey Coordinator discussed a number of action items as a result of the member survey, including,
- Inclusion and Diversity training will be required of new hires and 5 year updates for everyone
- Consider pay increases for employees in the early part of the budget planning, not the end
- Deputy City Managers and Directors are conducting sensing sessions annually to see what’s working in their departments and what’s not.
- Re-evaluate 360 degree evaluations of managers
- Emphasize we are a learning organization – be innovated, learn from mistakes
- Investigate internal postings for jobs
- Further develop citywide mentorship program
- Be honest & transparent – Explain the “why” behind decisions. Then think about how we deliver the message.
- Brad presented CVB 101 – What his department does
- Explained what a destination marketing organization (DMO) is, and does
- Defined travel industry as an export industry, sustainable and renewable (people can’t take the beach with them, so the product doesn’t diminish), and that it needs community support
- 4 million visitors to VB annually
- $1.4 billion in visitor related spending
- $122 million collected in state and local taxes
- 12,900 jobs
- Showed the following videos: Advocacy, French Canadian visitor commercial, and other commercials.