Electronic City Council Meeting - ARCHIVED

SOUTH JORDAN CITY CITY COUNCIL MEETING May 16, 2023 Present: Council Member Patrick Harris, Council Member Tamara Zander, Council Member Brad Marlor, Council Member Jason McGuire, Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis, City Attorney Ryan Loose, Director of Recreation Janell Payne, Communications Manager Rachael Van Cleave, CFO Sunil Naidu, Director of Strategy & Budget Don Tingey, Director of Commerce Brian Preece, Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen, Director of Administrative Services Melinda Seager, GIS Coordinator Matt Jarman, Senior IS Tech Phill Brown, IS Technician Michael Erickson, IT Director Jon Day, Director of Planning Steven Schaefermeyer, City Engineer Brad Klavano, Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Lessner, Police Chief Jeff Carr, City Recorder Anna Crookston, Deputy City Recorder Cindy Valdez, Meeting Transcriptionist Diana Baun, Arts & Culture Program Supervisor Emily Stephens Absent: Mayor Dawn Ramsey, City Manager Gary Whatcott Others: Guenther Popp, Mitchell Sadowski, Mylee Wong, Grace Sadowski, Varsha Gullikonda, Marcia Ferrer, Madeline Hope, Gavin Beyley, Shaden Colemore, Aditya Narayanan, Narayanan Jayaraman, Bronson Mason, Bridger Mason, Garon Mason, Sarah Mason, Clay Partain, Adam Hinselman, Satish Guttikonda, Siddharth Guttikonda, Antana Nekkanti, Lynette Bagley, Chris Bagley, Kezia Wilson, Karyl Baun, Tami Pyfer, Payton Bullock, Cooper McDermaid, Susanna Bruening, Whitney Dawson, Abby Dawson, Bart Blaisdell 6:38 P.M. REGULAR MEETING A. Welcome, Roll Call, and Introduction to Electronic Meeting - By Mayor Tempore Don Shelton Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton welcomed everyone and introduced the meeting. He excused Mayor Dawn Ramsey and City Manager Gary Whatcott who were unable to attend tonight. Council Member Marlor motioned to amend the agenda, adding an Item K. for an Executive Closed Session to discuss the purchase or sale of real property. Council Member McGuire seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. B. Invocation – By Resident Kerrie Branch Kerrie Branch was not present and Council Member Zander offered to give the invocation. C. Pledge of Allegiance – By Council Member Brad Marlor South Jordan City 2 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 Council Member Marlor led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. D. Minute Approval D.1. May 2, 2023 City Council Study Meeting Minutes D.2. May 2, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes Council Member McGuire motioned to approve the April 18, 2023 City Council Study Meeting Minutes and the April 18, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes as published. Council Member Zander seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. E. Mayor and Council Reports Council Member Patrick Harris attended the art and quilt shows put on by our city. He enjoyed the idea of voting for the art with fake money, and felt it was a very creative way to generate feedback; we have many amazing artists in our city. He attended a birthday party in the park, and he wanted to share that he feels the city does such a great job with the facilities and allowing residents to rent those out for private functions. He is currently in Austin, TX and he was able to go to the Capitol, where a senate session was in progress. Austin is a growing city in Texas, and it was interesting to hear that they are dealing with many of the same issues we are here. Council Member Jason McGuire attended the Arts on the Towne events as well, it was nice to have the quilt show back. He had an Art’s Council meeting where they reviewed the Arts Master Plan currently being created, and today he had an Art’s Master Plan Steering Committee meeting as well. He was able to take a tour of the Zipline facility with the Mayor and Council Member Shelton, which uses drones in the southwest end of the valley to deliver medical supplies. It launches from the Trans Jordan Landfill because there are no obstacles for the drones, and it was a wonderful experience to see in person. Council Member Tamara Zander met with the South Valley Mosquito Abatement District on May 8 for a board meeting. She saw two of their employees out collecting samples from ponds in the Daybreak area, near Oquirrh Lake. They are in full force due to a very wet season and things are going well there. On May 6 she also attended the Art on the Towne, thoroughly enjoying it. The quilt show was delightful and she was able to actually speak to some of those artists, from whom she learned a lot. Later that day she attended the soapbox derby in Daybreak where people could enter to race their own soapbox cars. Her office built a soapbox to race and they won the Freestyle event. On May 11 she held her second cottage meeting with some different residents in District 4, where they discussed the upcoming annexation potential, and some of the growth going on in the west side of the city. She has had a couple of those cottage meetings in the last month and it has been such a treat to sit down with residents of the community and hear them talk about their concerns and what they love about our city. Today was the South Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Business Accelerator Graduation, it is a great service for any other small businesses out there looking for an opportunity to network with other small businesses and learn. On Saturday May 13 she and her husband rode their bikes up Butterfield Canyon. She thanked Salt Lake County for using our tax dollars to finally connect and fix them up. South Jordan City 3 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 Council Member Brad Marlor has not had any Architectural Review Committee meetings since the last council meeting. This last Saturday his four year old granddaughter was playing soccer at one of our city parks and he wanted to share who wonderful it was to see families and so many others enjoying themselves there. He thanked the city staff that keeps up those parks and allows the residents to recreate in a safe and beautiful environment. That morning the city also hosted a disposal and shredding event, and he was able to shred many boxes of personal and business material. It was very organized and there were a lot of people there taking advantage of those free services. Last night his youngest son and granddaughter came to his house and planted giant pumpkins in a section of his garden in preparation for the Pumpkin Regatta in the Fall, and he encouraged others to try it. Mayor Pro Tempore Don Shelton welcomed the Youth Council members, their leaders and families. Since the last meeting he met with the Jordan River Commission Executive Committee and attended an Association of Municipal Councils meeting. Salt Lake County Parks & Rec Staff attended the meeting as well, and they were sharing some of the things they have going on which included a bunch of grant opportunities. He noted those opportunities and while other council members from other cities in attendance were asking questions about those grants, he was thinking to himself that South Jordan Staff were probably already on top of it. Later that day he spoke with Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis about those grants and he was told the city had already acquired grants of close to $1 million, and many were the grants discussed at the meeting. He discussed the Zipline facility tour and how much he enjoyed seeing the facility and the process involved in launching a drone, sending it for delivery, and then having it come back to the base and land. F. Public Comment Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton opened the public comment portion of the meeting. Gunther Popp (Senior Advisory Committee Member) – We have a Kennecott tour on Thursday May 18. Everyone is invited for the Memorial Luncheon coming up on May 26 at 11:30 a.m. There will be a Summerfest Bingo Bonanza at 5:30 p.m., over in the pavilion by the Pickleball courts on Friday June 2. Saturday June 3 at 9:00 a.m. we will be throwing out candy to the kids during the parade. June 7 we have a Bees baseball game at noon, and with the ticket you get a hotdog and a drink. On June 15 there is a Saratoga Springs open house at 9:45 a.m. The big event is on Friday, June 23, when we are having a Senior Prom. There is a Father’s Day breakfast coming up on Friday June 16, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and we encourage everyone to be there. I want to thank Council Member Don Shelton for always giving us reports. Once a month we meet at the center and we appreciate you being there and telling us what is and isn’t happening, even though you can’t tell us some things. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton closed the public comments portion of the meeting. G. Presentation Item G.1. Proclamation in recognition of National Public Works Week May 21-27, 2023 (By Mayor Pro Tempore Don Shelton) South Jordan City 4 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen gave a brief overview of what National Public Works Week means, and shared a video from three years ago titled “The Rhythm of Public Works” that can be found at the following link: https://youtu.be/gcf51cL9PNk. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton read the Proclamation in recognition of National Public Works Week. H. Swearing in Ceremony H.1. Introduction of South Jordan City Youth Council members (By Director of Recreation Janell Payne). Director of Recreation Janell Payne thanked Arts & Culture Program Supervisor Emily Stephens, who is the advisor for the Youth Council; she has done an amazing job this last year. Participating as an employee, doing some of the trainings this last year and really investing more into the program was a highlight for her year. She has been very impressed with the youths’ knowledge and interest in giving back to the community. She invited the upcoming year’s Youth Council participants to come up front to be sworn in for the 2023-2024 year. H.2. Swearing in ceremony for the South Jordan Youth City Council (By Deputy City Recorder Cindy Valdez). Deputy City Recorder Cindy Valdez administered the Oath of Office for the 2023-2024 Youth Council Members. I. Public Hearing Item I.1. Resolution R2023-19, Consenting to inclusion in Salt Lake County’s proposed Convention and Tourism Business Assessment Area (CTAA), applicant Salt Lake Sports, Clay Partain (By Director of City Commerce Brian Preece). Director Preece reviewed background information from the Council Report and mentioned a letter sent by Visit Salt Lake’s CEO, Kaitlin Eskelson (Attachment A). Public hearing opened then closed, no comments Clay Partain is the Executive Director of Sports Salt Lake, which is a division underneath Visit Salt Lake. He met with the council at the last study session and they are very excited about this potential CTAA program. He discussed the benefits to joining the CTAA and that South Jordan would be part of a collective called the South Valley Region. Sandy City already voted to join the collective, Draper votes tonight and he believes they are possibly going to vote for it. They are already working with venues and have some great business ideas and concepts for these potential funds. Hotel support is very high, they only needed 60% support as part of the legislation and they are now at 80% overall. They continue to work with the hotels that haven’t responded, and this past week they had a meeting with Extended Stay America who has several locations around the county. In South Jordan they have support from the larger hotels, specifically the Holiday Inn, Embassy Suites, Sleep Inn, and the Springhill Suites. South Jordan City 5 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 Council Member Marlor noted that in the letter from Ms. Eskelson (Attachment A) there was a three year presenting sponsorship of approximately $100,000 in total to the AJGA, and he asked to confirm that this means they are contributing to that effort and that Glenmoor Golf Course benefits from that contribution. Mr. Partain responded yes, they are very proud and happy about the AJGA Championships being hosted at the Glenmoor Golf Club. It is something they have been working on for a year, and once they found Darcy at Glenmoor Golf Course they have been able to do so much more and she was the one to push the choice to hold the championship here but Sports Salt Lake did step up with some pretty large financial contributions. The $100,000 total is over the course of three years, and they are excited to support this from their regular TRT (Transient Room Tax) Funds which are being used for this program. That is a great example of something they could actually use the CTAA finds for, as this was a stretch for them to pull this together. Council Member Zander noted that they are committed to $100,000 over three years, which works out to about $33,000 a year, and asked what their budget is for 2023. Mr. Partain responded that there is a pocket of their budget set aside, called Cooperative Marketing Contribution Funds, and those are the funds used for things like the AJGA. He can only speak from the Sports Sale Lake end, and in Sports Salt Lake they started the year with about $175,000 in that fund bucket. They have to stretch those funds over all the events they are trying to bring throughout the entire county. Last year they helped to promote or attract just under 60 events to Utah, as well as gave sponsorships. That money gets used up and when divided up between all those events, the average they are able to offer as an incentive to get a group is pretty low. They are up against stiff competition nationally, there are other cities with big indoor spaces and event centers they are competing against for indoor sports. In regards to outdoor sports, they know there are certain cities with large complexes they are competing against. Communities are accustomed to offering financial packages, and that’s how the game is played financially. They do bid on a lot of things they don’t win, and fairly often there is a financial reason for that. There are also events that they simply aren’t capable of bidding on because they would take the entire bucket of money budgeted. They have to pick and choose these business opportunities wisely and they have to look at what it’s bringing back to the community, hotels, restaurants and shops. Council Member Zander appreciated the email sent (Attachment A) and discussed the tax increase of 2%. It is a tax increase, being couched as if our residents aren’t the ones paying it; ideally it’s visitors paying the tax, but regardless it is an increased tax. With those tax dollars, who is the elected body or who sits on the Visit Salt Lake Board that might be an elected official. Mr. Partain noted there are some difference with the CTAA assessment versus a tax. It’s up to the hotels to pay the fee, and the hotel can choose to pass it on to the guest but ultimately it is up to the hotels to pay. The hotels will also be involved and dictating where those funds are spent, which makes sense since these hotels are very much geared towards finding business that best suits what they need. Those partnerships with the hotels are Visit Salt Lake’s blood, along with the venues. They have had many conversations with other municipalities regarding the CTAA, and this isn’t the first time they have been asked this question. Draper was also asking similar South Jordan City 6 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 questions, and they decided to make a concession that they believe might make it easier for municipalities to agree with. As the governance of this CTAA is set up, there will be an overarching committee comprised of hoteliers, and they will allow a municipality to have a representative on this committee. They can’t be a voting representative, but they are invited to sit-in on the meetings. The municipality representative can also dictate whether they want a particular business at a city park if they feel the park is too busy on those days, or it’s the wrong kind of opportunity for the park; the city will have sole discretion to pass on the business. Bart Blaisdell – They also have the overall governance of Visit Salt Lake. Since they receive government funds through the TRT and the CTAA will be collected through the county, the county also oversees them as an entity and they have a contract with them. Part of that contract requires an annual audit. They are nonprofit so they do report to the IRS, and their financial information is available online for everyone to see. Mr. Partain noted that they commit to not run any leisure or marketing campaigns promoting any of the city venues or assets without the expressed approval of South Jordan. Council Member Zander asked if the concession to have an elected official in their meetings is new, and hasn’t been done before. Mr. Blaisdell said this is new, but Mayor Wilson or her representative has sat in on meetings in the past. Council Member McGuire asked if the city was to pass on the CTAA tonight, do they have an opportunity in the future to participate. Mr. Blaisdell responded that this will be for the first five years, then there will be a review and they could definitely add more municipalities at that time. Council Member Harris asked how much of these funds can go to paying salaries of the employees within the organization. Mr. Blaisdell said there is a restriction that only 10% can go to administration. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton gave a brief overview of his understanding of this proposal, that the Salt Lake County Council already receives the TRT Funds, and now they are proposing that the Salt Lake County Council receive the CTAA funds and they will continue to have governance over all those funds. Also, that these CTAA funds are dedicated to increasing tourism in Salt Lake County. He then asked the applicants if that was all correct. Mr. Blaisdell responded yes, but the purpose of the separate areas for the CTAAs is to allow each group to benefit from the money collected in their area. They can’t take funds collected from South Jordan Hotels to benefit the Downtown District. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton continued, noting that his understanding is that Salt Lake County receives these funds, then they contract with a nonprofit called Visit Salt Lake to implement the South Jordan City 7 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 promotion of tourism in Salt Lake. With the CTAA funds they would be marketing tourism in specific cities or areas. He asked if any members of the county council are on their board. Mr. Blaisdell said there is also a county council member on the board, and that council chooses who that member is. Mayor Pro Tempore noted that the hoteliers have to agree in a majority to allow this fee/tax to be imposed, and it is up to them whether they pass that on to those staying in their hotels. It was said that 80% of the hotels in Salt Lake County have asked for this be imposed, and he asked if they had those numbers for South Jordan. Mr. Blaisdell said South Jordan is currently at 63%, which is over the 60% threshold. They have the major hotels, but haven’t been able to get responses from La Quinta, Super 8, or Home2. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton asked if the CTAA is imposed, does it go on all the hotels. Mr. Blaisdell responded yes, on all the hotels in the municipality per the state legislation if ratified. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton asked to discuss Social Offset and referred to the email from CEO Eskelson (Attachment A), where she noted that the investment was for the purpose of studying the “weaponization of tourism.” Mr. Blaisdell gave the example of the State of California, where a rule was made that they will not allow government officials to come to Utah on government dime. This is also happening with group whose beliefs don’t match those of the places they are looking to go, and those groups will choose to stay away from those locations. It is something they have lost groups for and been taking out of the running for groups to come here, so to be able to get groups coming here to spend their money they were looking at different avenues to address those people and concerns; Social Offset was one of those things they looked at. They have never used it, but they were collecting information on the weaponization of travel, and that was something that really interested Visit Salt Lake was to be able to see what they were collecting and what they could do to get around that and maximize potential for the county’s economy. Mayor Pro Tempore asked for the results of the study they helped fund. Mr. Blaisdell responded that he would have to meet with the CEO to get that information, and even see if they got any results. It was fairly quick when they put the investment in, and the investment of $5000 into that was maybe .01% of their normal spending. They just felt like it might give them some good information, but he is happy to check on that and see if they have any info. Council Member McGuire asked how they plan to measure the program’s success after the first five years. Mr. Partain noted they have many metrics that measure their success, whether counting sales conventions booked or other events. They are also starting to, through their marketing programs, South Jordan City 8 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 do evaluations of their marketing’s impact. They will be reviewing those, and they share them with their members, which would include anybody coming into the CTAA, to be able to see how effective things are. If the hotels don’t feel it’s effective they can reverse their decision and back off the CTAA with another 60% majority vote. Council Member McGuire asked if those reports would be detailed enough to see how South Jordan specifically has been affected. Mr. Partain responded that they can pull reports by municipality, but from a hotel’s point of view, they don’t see the municipality lines. Between South Jordan and Sandy there are hotels that sit less than ¼ mile apart that are competing for the same business, so it gets a little tricky to try and say which city exclusively is being directly benefitted. Council Member McGuire noted that he is aware this is not a direct tax on our residents, that it is on those utilizing the hotels; however, those could still be family members coming into visit or residents. Mr. Partain noted that during the AJGA Championship, it would be nice to just use South Jordan hotels but they have to work collectively together and there might be some hotels in Sandy being used. However, the city gets a lot more of their piece of the pie back because all the events at Mountain America Expo and other venues all spill over into South Jordan. He discussed some upcoming events they are bidding on, and that despite the initial costs in the hundred thousands, the returns would be in the millions. Council Member McGuire noted that, as with any other tax increases we have done, he weighs the quality of life and how it benefits the residents of South Jordan. In the last meeting they spoke about the arts in South Jordan, noting that it too came down to quality of life. Mr. Partain is a resident of South Jordan, and he definitely thinks that quality of life is important as well. He feels like the biggest thing they provide is direct economic impact to not just the hotels, but also the businesses around those hotels and the city. Council Member McGuire shared that over the weekend he was involved in a conversation with someone in the grocery store who was in town for a regional wrestling competition and asked if Sports Salt Lake had anything to do with that. Mr. Partain said he doesn’t believe that was something they were involved in. These youth sports tournaments create opportunities for local money spending as well since the whole family goes and they want to make it special, almost like a vacation. Council Member Zander asked to clarify that the county collects the money, and the goal is for the money collected from South Jordan City to come back to South Jordan. The applicant did say it was hard to define those values, but she asked how focused they are on that. Mr. Blaisdell said it’s not necessarily specific to South Jordan, but it’s specific to the South Valley District and those districts are mostly based on the chamber footprints. South Jordan City 9 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 Council Member Marlor motioned to approve Resolution R2023-19, Consenting to inclusion in Salt Lake County’s proposed Convention and Tourism Business Assessment Area. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton seconded the motion. Council Member Marlor commented that next week he is going to his National Business Brokerage Conference, which is in Orlando, Florida. He can guarantee he is paying a transient fee while there. Every time he travels those fees are present, and he is more than willing to pay those. He doesn’t worry about them and feels he is helping that local economy; he thinks the same in reverse when people come here and doesn’t have an issue with them paying a transient fee to help us promote and pay for the events taking place. When his parents come and visit him, they stay in the La Quinta and will be paying a transient fee; he has no problem with that. Council Member Harris noted that there are different types of people looking at hotels, some want to stay at certain types of places regardless of the cost, whereas others look to book a hotel based on the best deal and the total out-the-door price. People stay at hotels for many reasons, tourism is one part, but then there are people coming here for non-tourism reasons like visiting family members or for business. He sees this as a tax increase, an assessment tax, and he takes those things very seriously. When the city raises taxes, a significant amount of time is spent on the budget, they hold Truth in Taxation with a public hearing, and there is a lot more oversight than this CTAA. He realizes that while Visit Salt Lake is willing to make concessions and allow a non-voting member in the committee/board or group, he doesn’t feel 100% comfortable with what he’s hearing. Mayor Pro Tempore Shelton said our very conservative legislature created the possibility for this to happen, and if anyone is tax-wise, it is them. They obviously saw the potential for some value in this. The most compelling thing to him is that 80% of the people who will actually be writing the checks to Salt Lake County want it; they see there is value in the marketing expected with this. For him, it would be inappropriate to vote no when 80% of them want it, and he will be supporting this. Council Member Zander feels she has more clarity tonight than the last time the applicant was here, and she appreciates them being prepared, as well as the letter (Attachment A) sent by the CEO. She has thought a lot about this, and there are pros and cons in her mind. She sees the value of the marketing, and she loves supporting and promoting our local businesses. She is not however comfortable with any sentiment that would be encouraging and prioritizing any business, who wants to disrupt the culture that she holds dear in Utah. Social Offset, even though Visit Salt Lake has tried to distance themselves from them, was involved at one point and that group might as well be called “Disrupt Utah.” Whether Visit Salt Lake shares beliefs with Social Offset or they don’t, at one point because of their CEO they were tied to them. At some point, it seems to her like they were hired to help figure out ways to bring people in that don’t agree or feel comfortable with Utah culture, and that is a shame. She would like to see everyone bring in people that want to be here, as there are plenty who want to be in Utah and appreciate what we have here. As much as she appreciates the good in this, she thinks there is much to be observed and determined. She personally is going to vote no, she would like to see how this plays out. She would love to revisit it and see how the budgeting goes, including the collaboration with the city. South Jordan City 10 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting May 16, 2023 Council Member McGuire thanked the applicants for their clarifications tonight, that there is some sort of oversight from the county and the concession that the cities will have veto power. Council Member Marlor looked over his Courtyard Marriot bill from St. George and one of the items for every night he stayed was a transient room tax. Roll Call vote was 2-3, motion failed; Council Members Zander, McGuire and Harris with the no votes. J. Staff Reports and Calendaring Items Deputy City Manager Lewis noted that it is Police Week this week and encouraged everyone to stop and show their appreciation. He also discussed one of his art projects coming up that will be displayed at City Hall in June that involves city staff. Council Member Zander motioned to recess the City Council Meeting and go into an Executive Closed Session. Council Member McGuire seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. K. Executive Closed Session K.1. Executive Closed Session to discuss the purchase, lease or sale of real property. Council Member McGuire motioned to adjourn the Executive Closed Session and return to the City Council Meeting. Council Member Zander seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor Council Member Marlor motioned to adjourn the City Council meeting. Council Member Harris seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. ADJOURNMENT The May 16, 2023 City Council Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. This is a true and correct copy of the May 16, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes, which were approved on June 6, 2023. South Jordan City Recorder Mayor Ramsey, Thank you for allowing Clay Partain to present in the study session Tuesday evening! We believe the CTAA will have a major impact on enhancing the visitor economy in South Jordan. We are already supporting the American Junior Golf Association Championship coming to Glenmoor Golf Club via a 3- year presenting sponsorship of approximately $100,000 in total. Visit Salt Lake also has a multi-year partnership in place with USA BMX for the Great Salt Lake Nationals held each year at Rad Canyon, and an ongoing partnership with USSSA on the Rocky Mountain Nationals baseball tournament. We have a vested interest in growing the visitor economy in South Jordan, especially sports tourism. I wanted to quickly get back on a few of the concerns that you raised, as well as from Councilmember Zander, on the Social Offset questions. What is the SocialOffset.org? And how much did Visit Salt Lake spend towards that site? Is it an annual commitment? Unfortunately, travel boycotts have become popular in recent years, and while these boycotts are not unique to Utah, we have seen an alarming increase in the politicization of travel. Bans and boycotts impact innocent bystanders, including residents and small businesses who rely on revenue from meetings and events. 1 in 12.5 jobs in Salt Lake County is in tourism and hospitality. When major events cancel, a huge revenue deficit is left behind. Last year, Visit Salt Lake had five conventions cite political reasons for cancelling their event in Salt Lake or why Salt Lake would be barred from consideration in future years. These groups account for a projected loss of $60,762,950 in direct spending to Salt Lake County. SocialOffset.org is an independent, private company that was introduced to Visit Salt Lake Fall 2022 at an Industry Conference. We did contribute a one-time $5,000 sponsorship to help fund research on why “weaponization of travel” (or boycotting destinations) is not effective. Of note, the $5,000 contribution was spent from Visit Salt Lake’s private sector (a separate, privately funded branch of our organization) funds. SocialOffset.org works directly with event organizers to select causes and charity, create a campaign, and share it with attendees to make donations. Visit Salt Lake does not solicit participation or identify the organizations and no donations flow through Visit Salt Lake’s budget. Moving forward, will Visit Salt Lake commit to moving away from SocialOffset.org? Visit Salt Lake does not have any current affiliation with SocialOffset.org and is not funding this non- profit. All reference to Visit Salt Lake has been removed from SocialOffset.org. Visit Salt Lake does not get involved in private sector business’ ability to generate revenue, so we believe putting stipulations on benefitting lodging properties is not in our jurisdiction. I would love to meet and discuss the future of South Jordan whether you choose to pass this CTAA resolution or not. We remain a county-wide organization and we are so excited about promotion and booking the venues in South Jordan. Thank you for your thought, consideration and listening! With gratitude, Kaitlin Kaitlin Eskelson she/hers President & CEO keskelson@visitsaltlake.com O: 801-534-4911 | C: 435-602-0636