MInutes Five Flags 8 18 03Five Flags Commission Meeting
August 18, 2003
PRESENT: Rod Bakke, Cindy Fuller, Mark Nauman and Gary Dolphin
STAFF PRESENT: Gil Spence, Paula Wolfe
PUBLIC PRESENT: Ted Scherr
The Commission meeting convened at 4:30 p.m. at the Managers Office at Five Flags
Center. Chairperson Rod Bakke presided.
Approval of Minutes: Gary Dolphin moved to approve the July 21,2003 Five Flags
Commission Minutes, seconded by Mark Nauman. No discussion followed. Minutes
were approved.
Manager's Report: Manager Wolfe reported that the month of July was spent
anxiously preparing for a sold-out Willie Nelson Concert. In addition, many events went
on-sale in August, so much time was spent in July setting up events on Ticketmaster,
and ordering tickets for hard ticket shows.
Manager Wolfe met with Five Flags department managers to talk about their
accomplishments over the summer, and to plan for finishing projects prior to the event
season beginning. In Building Operations the new Zamboni was pumhased, delivered
and modified for the building. A buyer for the old Zamboni is still being sought. Annual
service on the ice chiller was performed, along with annual cleaning. In the Theater a
new speaker, amp and power distributor system was installed along with 9 new counter-
weight sets. Also, the cyc was repaired and realigned.
Manager Wolfe attended the IAAM Conference in New Orleans, and continued to
install the CCBreeze scheduling system. Currently, CCBreeze is being used to do all of
the work orders and all of the billing. The contracting is just about finished being
integrated, and calendar usage within the CCBreeze System is the final system to be
fully utilized.
In addition to CCBreeze, a facility fee was implemented in the ticket off'ice,
starting with the new fiscal year. Lode Line, Harlem Globetrotters, and Diamond Rio
went on-sale this month, and the recruitment of more concerts continues. Manager
Wolfe distributed a listing of events. To market events, Manager Wolfe has been
adding new events to the website at www.cityofdubuque.or.q. We are up to three full
pages of event listings at Five Flags, listing events through the end of December.
Events are continually being added on a daily basis. Manager Wolfe also distributed
the Thunderbirds Hockey Schedule.
The Thunderbirds website is linked to the Five Flags website, so people can
quickly access the Thunderbirds schedule online. The Thunderbirds will be starting
their season early this year with exhibition games against the Wisconsin Fire on
September 27 and 28. The season opener is earlier this year, with those games on
October 4 and 5. Gary Dolphin asked how many home games they would be having
this year. Ted Scherr said 22 - 25 home games with playoffs, plus exhibition games to
get the total over 30 games played this year. Gary Dolphin asked about the
Thunderbirds website being linked to our website. Ted Scherr offered to get a link from
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August 18, 2003
Page 2
the Thunderbirds website to the City of Dubuque's. He offered to talk with Shellly
Gesner about linking the sites.
In addition to the Willie Nelson concert on August 23, Presidential Candidate
Dennis Kucinich is coming to Five Flags Theater. Willie Nelson is endorsing Kucinich
for President, and is planning to make an appearance at the rally in the Theater. Extra
security guards are being scheduled for the event at the request of Willie Nelson's Road
Manager. The catering for the concert had to be re-bid because of last minute changes
from Willie's road manager. Events Coordinator, Peggy Degnan is working very hard to
meet the new catering requirements. Due to the strong ticket-on sale in Dubuque, Willie
booked three more concerts in Iowa. Manager Wolfe said the staff has been very
flexible and resilient to the demands of these events.
Manager Wolfe reported on her attendance at the IAAM Conference in July. She
said she networked with a lot of people and learned a lot from seminars. She also
brought back a lot of samples and product vendor information. There were a lot people
at the conference asking Manager Wolfe how she managed to book Willie Nelson.
Manager Wolfe described the seminars that she attended, and highlighted one
specific seminar that was presented by John Kaatz of CSL International, the firm that
performed the Five Flags Feasibility Study. John's seminar focused on small facility
issues and interests. Manager Wolfe shared her notes from this seminar. Gary Dolphin
asked about one of the item notes from the seminar, about "keeping your facility
current." Manager Wolfe said that described the necessity for having an annual
evaluation to get an objective view of needs for updating the aesthetics and
programming of a facility.
Rod Bakke brought up last month's discussion concerning issue with the events
that are being transferred to the new conference center. Rod Bakke said he still thinks
there are far too many people that have the false impression that Five Flags is folding,
or down grading for the new conference center. He said he thinks the more we can do
to get the word out that Five Flags is alive and well is crucial. Rod Bakke recommended
that Manager Wolfe take the opportunity to speak to community groups and tell them
about the transition, and about the future of the Center. Rod said he hears it far too
often, "Gee it's too bad that your Center is going under." Gary Dolphin said he had not
heard any remarks from the public that the Center was closing. Cindy Fuller and Mark
Nauman said they had both heard remarks about Five Flags closing. Mark said that the
general public does not understand the differences of the purpose of the facilities. Gary
Dolphin said, short of a few less conventions, it is business as usual at Five Flags.
Cindy Fuller said that there is actually more going on now. Gary Dolphin asked if we
have ever talked to the T.H. about more publicity. Manager Wolfe said she is in process
of examining the budget to see what the Five Flags can afford. Manager Wolfe said
that many of the Five Flags staff have also said that they have heard that Five Flags is
closing. These comments may be in response to the amount of attention that the new
facility has been getting. It was recommended to find additional ways to promote the
Five Flags.
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August 18, 2003
Page 3
Financial Review: Concessions were higher than last year in July, due to a wedding
reception in the ballroom. Cindy said there was a lot of cleaning going on. Mark
Nauman asked about graduation ceremonies at Five Flags.
New Business: Gil Spence went over the new City Budget implementations for Five
Flags. The City Council implemented all of the recommendations with the exception of
reducing the Building Supervisor position to part-time. Five Flags will increase
revenues through facility fee charges on tickets, increases in labor rates and public
skating fees.
New Business: Gary Dolphin recommended that a permanent iron plaque be mounted
on the side of the Theater, which will tell its history, much like the plaque the Old Jail
has. This recommendation is for the tourists that will be coming for America's River.
Gil Spence recommended that what would be written on the plaque be decided, before
we seek a vendor.
Review of Concession Prices: Manager Wolfe said that herself, Gil Spence and John
Snider met twice to go through the whole concession operation. From that evaluation,
strategies to increase the speed of service, sell more concessions and increase
revenue were identified. Some items were recommended for price increases. The
Commission reviewed the recommended price increases. Discussion ensued about
sizes of pop and coffee. After more discussion, Gary Dolphin moved to approve the
concession prices as proposed. Mark Nauman seconded. Motion carried.
With no further business to discuss, Cindy Fuller moved to adjourn at 5:14, Mark
Nauman seconded, and the motion was approved by all.
Respecffully submitted,
Rod Bakke
Chairperson