Tourism tax requests funded

The Alva Tourism Tax Committee heard three funding requests Wednesday, and each had a different outcome. A request for $110,711 for shade structures at the recreation complex was awarded only a token amount. The mud run request was trimmed by the fire department before being presented and approved. A new obstacle course event was funded.

Bryce Benson was the only absent committee member. It was announced that the Woods County Free Fair request would not be heard because they found other funding.

ARC Shade Structure

The Alva Recreation Complex, commonly called the ARC or the rec park, has been discussing installing shade structures around the outdoor sports pods to make spectator seating more comfortable. Alva Business Manager Joe Don Dunham presented the rec park board's request for $110,711. That's the amount of the low bid that exceeds the ARC budget.

Dunham said the board believes the lack of shade keeps them from scheduling more tournaments. The eastern part of the state hosts nearly all the regional and state tournaments. The ARC board believes they could attract some of these and hold more local tournaments if the pods were improved with shade structures.

Explaining the tourism value, Dunham said each out-of-town team in a tournament would bring 12 people for the team and an estimated 18 additional as spectators and parents. Each tournament includes 30 to 50 teams over a two and one-half day event. His estimates show each tournament would bring in about $23,000 spent on food, gas, motels and incidentals in Alva.

The ARC has $175,000 budgeted for the shade structures including about $75,000 from last year and $100,000 this year. That leaves them $110,711 short of the bid total.

Committee member Dr. Charles Tucker asked how many additional tournaments could be hosted in the summer with shade structures. Dunham said three or four.

Committee member Terri Parsons, who described herself as a 12-year parent veteran of traveling ball teams, said shade at games was "really, really nice" but it was not a factor in determining where they wanted to play. She said veteran parents pack tents and ice chests. She described hiking as much as a half mile from her vehicle carting all the supplies needed to keep cool while watching games. Parsons said shade had never determined where they played. They were much more interested in what prizes were offered in addition to trophies.

Committee Chairman Norville Ritter said tourism tax revenue has been declining. He asked how much the ARC has in their bank account. Dunham said that money on hand including reserves was $721,000. However, with sales tax (which provides much of their income) decreasing, they anticipate the rec park will have to take $200,000 from their reserves this year to cover their budget.

Committee member Jaunita Dotson asked if they have considered doing half of the nine structures this year and the rest as they can afford it. Dunham said the ARC board discussed splitting the project into two phases, but they now would like to move ahead with the entire project. They instructed Dunham to seek additional funding.

Tucker explained, "What you are asking is approximately our annual budget." He recommended they build the shade in phases and consider doing fundraising for the rest.

Parsons said she also liked the idea of doing the project in phases.

Tucker said he believes the tourism committee should hold much of their accumulated money in reserve for the Alva arena plans. He made a motion to approve $10,000 in funding for the shade structures. Dotson seconded. The motion passed 4-2 with Parsons voting against it.

Mud Slingers Shootout

Alva Fire Marshal and Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Miller appeared next. He spoke on behalf of the 13th Annual Mud Slingers Shootout sponsored by the Alva Fire Department.

Last year Miller did not have answers when the tourism committee asked about attendance and how many participants stayed overnight. This time he came prepared. He said 240 people went through the gate at last year's event which is held in conjunction with the Woods County Fair in September. He said 15 of the participants stayed overnight in motels. Asked how he obtained the latter figure, Miller said he asked the motels.

Miller surprised the group when he said the fire department did not need $5,000 after all. He said they were only asking for $4,000 due to a change in their association membership. Previously they paid $100 in dues but had to purchase event insurance (about $600) and audio/visual coverage separately. This year the association dues are $700 but they include insurance and the audio/visual system. Thus their expenses will be down $1,000.

Miller is hopeful of more entries this year. He said a big time event, Bunker Hill in Kansas, follows the Alva event and Alva is "on the way" there. Last year Alva and Bunker Hill were the same date.

Ritter asked if they've talked about making the mud run a two day event to encourage more people to stay overnight. Miller said he spoke to people in the association who said a two-day event usually includes two different pits with two different kinds of races. Alva's mud run pit is built for the "speed" trucks. He said the other type of pit includes hills under the mud and is run by "boggers." He said those are two different types of trucks. Although Alva has enough space for two pits, Miller said he didn't think they could get enough of the second type of trucks here for a good race.

Instead of prizes and advertising, Ritter suggested the fire department ask for the money to cover portable restrooms, advertising and the sanctioning fee. The tourism committee likes to pay on invoices, and those would be easier to document than prizes. Miller agreed.

Miller said any proceeds from the event will be used to benefit the volunteer firemen. They have been using those funds to help build their new practice facility for training.

Parsons made a motion to provide up to $4,000 in funding, seconded by Dotson. The motion passed unanimously.

Obstacle Course

Curtis Robinson, a personal trainer and nutrition specialist, is interested in combating Oklahoma's obesity and health problems. He says obstacle course racing is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, citing TV programs like America's Ninja Warriors.

He believes that an obstacle course race geared to ages 14 and up for the average citizen could interest more people in becoming physically fit. Alva's Annual Impossible Obstacle Course and Fitness Festival will also include a fitness fair with other contests such as determining the push-up champion of Alva. His location of choice is Hatfield Park with a date set late in September.

Robinson says the closest such events are Wichita, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. He said Edmond is hosting an inflatables obstacle race. He believes the race would attract participants from a wide area. He asked the committee for $6,000 to pay for advertising. His ad plans include the Enid News (to cover Vance Air Force Base), the Newsgram, KNID/KXLS and social media.

Robinson estimates expenses for the rest of the event at $29,283. This includes such things as a website to take online entries and handle motel bookings, portable restrooms and a lot of construction materials. He hopes to have many of the prizes contributed by sponsors of the event.

He's planning to use a lot of sand bags and hay bales to help build the course and include the Hatfield Park fitness trail equipment in the 2.5K event. He expects to charge $55 for early entries scaling up to $65 and then $75 as the date nears. He believes he can expect 250 entries "on a bad day" but hopes for many more.

Robinson said if the event raises enough money, he'd like to use some of the proceeds to contribute to the Hatfield fitness trail upkeep and improvements. He said he's also investigated getting a loan if entries don't come in fast enough to cover expenses.

Ritter commented, "This is the sort of event this committee is set up to do." The others agreed.

Tucker made a motion to approve the $6,620 request and it was approved unanimously.

Financials

At the beginning of the meeting, the committee went over the financial report presented by Alex Mantz. At that point, the committee had $526,617.87 in the bank available for requests. Regarding a question last month about no tax payments received from Hotel 5, Mantz said the hotel had paid but it came in after last month's financial report had been printed.

Ritter asked about the $1,000 granted but not paid to repair the downtown message sign which he noticed is still not working. Mantz said the part needed for the repair was received but it did not fix the problem.