It’s been a notably bumpy few years for Southeastern Minnesota Historic Bluff Country (HBC), but the tourism entity isn’t giving up yet. New Director Brian Krenz followed up on his January appearance before the council by attending the Monday, February 26 meeting.
“I was given an assignment and hopefully, it meets your approval,” said Krenz. At the January meeting, several on the council expressed concern that HBC didn’t have specified paths to meeting new goals. Membership in the entity waned greatly from 31 cities in the region to just six in recent years, partly due to what was Krenz noted was a lack of communication and responsiveness and mismanagement of funds by previous directors.
Several of the HBC goals are “extremely short term,” such as their recent push on social media. The entity is working the social media angle through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Google+. It hopes the activity by followers will have an exponential effect, drawing in interest from those outside the region. Krenz noted the social media campaign is largely targeted to women, but will reach other groups as well.
Another marketing goal will be the addition of several radio campaigns. Limited and largely “shoutouts” by the DJ, Krenz noted these haven’t been fully defined. The radio spots may be on a variety of station types, including during sports programming. “Our target is families and men with big boy toys,” added Krenz. “You should not hear a single one,” he stressed, explaining that the spots will be in the Wisconsin I-90 corridor, near Madison and Milwaukee, and potentially some in Iowa.
Restructuring of the website has also been underway. Increased photos and descriptions of the communities and their offerings, as well as enhanced listings for business members, are planned. Councilor Terri Benson noted some concern in this area as a recent glance of the site showed a heavily favored presence to one community; one which had not been a paying member during recent years. “I appreciate the new website, but right now, that’s not our target community or one target business. When I see a community that hasn’t supported is getting the same as a city that has, that’s where I’m concerned. The ones that aren’t targeted are getting the same exposure.”
Krenz justified the action indicating that HBC is attempting to show cities the benefit, but noted the site can be corrected.
An increase in membership is another goal Krenz has repeatedly discussed. “I wanted to be at 10 members by March 15, but was told that might be tough. We’ve moved the date back to May 1 to bring our initiative. Historic Bluff Country is not just going to fade away,” said Krenz. “You gave us a challenge and we wanted to meet that. These are not just goals we can accomplish, but goals that will help accomplish other goals down the line.”
HBC holds the designation for the area’s Highway 16 National Scenic Byway with the goal of getting travelers off of Interstate 90 and onto the byway, frequenting the towns along its route. “I 100% support the byway, but I’m not getting what your focus is,” noted Benson.
“You’re reaching out to the communities; what are you asking for, other than money? One of the first things you talk about in obstacles is the trust factor. To invite them [the communities] back, what ways are you trying to entice them?”
“We have to promote our members. It’s something we didn’t actively do. It’s going to take time,” noted Krenz. “We are different. We are not the same organization that did those things.” There are incentive options that have been discussed by the HBC board, but at present, no welcome back rate has been proposed. A new pay structure for members is in place. The HBC request to the City of Rushford was a $1,500 investment.
In the end, the council approved the request for a one-year membership, in a 4:1 vote with Councilor Benson opposed. “Treat your members with great respect,” cautioned Benson.
The council also discussed adoption of a resolution requesting a variance from the state in regards to the development of the new canoe launch area east of Highway 43 and north of the Root River. The park road, while meeting the majority of standards for a city road, does not meet the standard for a 30 mph road, due to the rise and fall over the levee. The variance will allow the city to minimize the amount of fill needed to build up the new road.
“We’re asking for a variance from the standard to slow them down to 10 mph,” noted City Administrator Tony Chladek. “We’re asking for a reasonable variance to get from point A to point B. It’s a safety factor from our standpoint.”
The variance will need to be approved by the county, Minnesota Department of Transportation, and the Army Corps of Engineers, who controls approval of and modifications to the levee system. The road will be paid for by $90,000 of state funding. It will take at least a year for all necessary reviews.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Monday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m., at cityhall. The public is encouraged to attend.
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