Education & Conf. Ctr NameMEMORANDUM
September 10, 2002
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
Naming Process for the Education and Conference Center
Assistant City Manager Cindy Steinhauser is recommending that the City Council
appoint two representatives, in addition to the Mayor, to serve on the naming focus
group that will determine a permanent name for the new education and conference
center.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request that the Mayor and City
Council make the appointments.
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
MEMORANDUM
September 10, 2002
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Naming process for the Education and Conference Center
Discussion
On July 15, 2002, the City Council approved a process to determine a permanent name
for the new education and conference center. This included developing a naming focus
group with representatives from the America's River partnership and City Council. As
indicated on the attached memo, City Council representation would include the Mayor
and two City Council appointees. Now that all bid packages for the education and
conference center have been approved and theAmedca's River marketing committee
has hired an ad agency to assist us in the promotion of the America's River project, we
are ready to move forward with the naming process. Based upon the process outlined, I
would expect that this process would consist of approximately five meetings over the
course of 2-3 months.
Request
The requested action is for City Council to appoint two representatives, in addition to the
Mayor, to serve on the naming focus group.
MEMORANDUM
July 2, 2002
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Naming of Education and Conference Center
Discussion
Ted Goodman, Sue Czeshinski and I continue to discuss the issue of naming
opportunities for the education and conference center. It appears as if the City will have
more success pursuing naming opportunities inside the facility versus naming the entire
facility such as has been done with the HyVee Center in Des Moines, the Midwest
Express Center in Milwaukee or the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. This is based
largely upon discussions Ted Goodman has had with their fund-raising consultant and
with large foundations that have indicated that the new education and conference center
is not the type of facility that would garner a national sponsor to name the building after.
Currently our facility has been referred to as the Mississippi River National Education
and Conference Center. I would recommend that we obtain direction from the Mayor
and City Council that 1) this is the name that would like to retain on the building; or 2)
that they would like to pursue selection of a new name.
Should the Mayor and City Council recommend that we pursue a different name for the
facility, I would like to suggest that we use the following process:
1)
Develop a naming focus group to include the following representatives:
· City staff- Susan Gwiasda & Tammy Gehling
· MayorTerry Duggan
· 2 City Council representative
· Platinum Hospitality representatives - David Hockenberry, Gary Inks
and Sue Moran
· DCHS representative - Jeff Holmes, Ted Goodman and board
member
· CVB representative - Sue Czeshinski and board member
This group will hold a focus session with key members from the public,
specifically media professional, to develop a list of potential names. This is
similar to what was done last fall by the DCHS in developing a name for the
Museum and Aquarium building. I would suggest that the following individuals
from the public be invited to participate: Connie Gibbs (TH), Joe Hearn (DuPaco),
Peg Hudson (American Trust), Chris Apel (Loras College), Mike Cyze (Clarke
College), Peter Smith (University of Dubuque), Tom Culbertson (Get Smart),
Bryce Park (Dubuque365) and Jack McCullough (McCullough Graphics), Jeff
MacFarlane and Randy Gehl (Dubuque Ad club).
2)
3)
4)
5)
Review the list of potential names with the Port of Dubuque workgroup and
narrow to a list of 10.
Review the list of 10 names with an ad agency to analyze each of these
names and the artwork
Bring the artwork back to the Port of Dubuque workgroup for recommendation
Take Port of Dubuque workgroup recommendations to City Council for
approval.
The sooner we confirm the name of the facility, the more opportunities we will have to
incorporate this into all of the America's River marketing efforts.
Action
I would like to test this process with you and the Vision Iowa workgroup at our next
meeting on July 3. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.
Cc: Pauline Joyce, Administrative Services Manager
Susan Gwiasda, Public Information Officer