Tourism and Redistricting discussed at Globe Council Meeting, Jan 25th

Council’s January 25 meeting highlights Globe tourism marketing campaign and redistricting

Members of the Globe City Council: Mayor Al Gameros, Vice Mayor Mike Stapleton (District 4), and Council members Freddy Rios (District 1), Mike Pastor (District 2), Jesse Leetham (District 3), Mariano Gonzalez (District 5), and Fernando Shipley (District 6). All members were in attendance at this meeting except Councilman Rios and Councilman Leetham.

Globe promoting in-state tourism with Phoenix New Times marketing campaign

Last year, the City of Globe began working with the Valley newspaper Phoenix New Times to promote tourism in the city. Community and Economic Development Director Linda Oddonetto explained that her department has been working on developing this campaign for two years, but had to pause it during the pandemic. The campaign finally got under way last February.

Melissa Steele, the department’s Economic Development Specialist, is spearheading the project and producing content for the campaign. She said that during the pandemic, the City lost 10% of its hospitality jobs. 

But at the same time, Arizonans around the state were looking for places to go for weekend trips – and this highlighted Globe as an in-state destination. So they decided to push forward with the marketing campaign to start bringing people in. The City chose Phoenix New Times as its partner.

Matthew Gibbons is Globe’s account executive at Phoenix New Times. Gibbons presented information about the Phoenix New Times company, the goals and strategies of the marketing campaign, and results from last year’s advertising and promotions.

The Phoenix New Times has been published weekly on Thursdays since 1970 and distributes tens of thousands of copies around the greater Phoenix area.

“‘Arizona to the Core’ is one of the most ingenious brands I’ve seen in a long time.” Matthew Gibbons, Phoenix New Times

Gibbons said the marketing campaign specifically targets Phoenix locals, college students in the Valley, visitors to the state, and snowbirds. The strategies focus on Globe’s cuisine, the community’s historical origins, and local recreation and events – such as the Poppy Festival, Apache Jii Day, Festival of Lights, and First Fridays.

The campaign promotes Globe through advertising in the Phoenix New Times print issues, website, email newsletters, and social media. It utilizes what is called programmatic advertising, which uses digital tactics and data analysis to target and track potential visitors.

Ads promoting Globe appeared in the Phoenix New Times Spring Training Guide and Summer Guide last year. These issues had close to 2 million readers each. 

There was also an ad in the Back to College special issue, and 35,000 targeted emails were sent out to college students. And there were specific campaigns to promote Apache Jii Day and the Festival of Lights.

Phoenix New Times also set up accounts for the City on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The City started with only 40 fans on Facebook, 101 on Instagram, and one on Twitter, but now has 627 fans on Facebook, 311 followers on Instagram, and 17 on Twitter. 

Gibbons said these rates of increase are similar to what Bisbee and Flagstaff saw when they started on social media.

Gibbons pointed out that during 2020, the state of Arizona lost over 40% of its tourism dollars – but Globe has fared much better than most of the rest of the state thanks to the efforts of the Economic Development Department. 

He emphasized that not only is Globe seeing good tourism numbers, but visitors are even complaining about not being able to find parking on Broad Street.

He urged shop owners to stay open on evenings and weekends and also suggested distributing a visitors map/guide and continuing to invest in downtown development.

Globe undertakes redistricting based on 2020 Census numbers

Council discussed the need for redistricting, which came up during consideration of a letter of engagement with a consultant providing redistricting services. The need for redistricting results from the current Gila County Population Analysis, which was based on 2020 Census information.

Shelly Salazar explained that because of shifts in population within the City, District 5 had a deviation from the ideal population for a district. She said the City plans to go forward by working with consultant Bruce Adelson, with Federal Compliance Consulting.

According to Paul Jepson, Districts 1 and 2 are too large and need to be reduced in size, Districts 3 and 5 are too small, District 4 is about right, and District 6 also needs to be reduced.

Adelson appeared via Zoom and said the law requires districts to have approximately equal populations across districts, within 10%. He said currently District 5 is too small by 18%. 

Adelson provided Council with three different draft maps for consideration. He explained that although the main focus was solving the problem with District 5, adding population to that district created ripple effects on other districts. As a result, all districts are being affected in the redistricting.

Jepson said most of the changes are happening in the area where Districts 3, 4, and 5 come together.

The motion that Council approved at this meeting pertains to paying the consultant for the work, not approving the actual redistricting. Council set a public hearing for February 8, and the redistricting plan will come back to Council for discussion and approval after the public hearing.

Motions approved

Council also approved motions for the following:

• Accounts payable in the amount of $251,230.59.
• Contracts with RFI Consultants, Kino Interiors and Floors, and Florence Berrier, all in amounts under $25,000.
• A contract with CDX Contracting LLC for the Police Department Remodel Phase II project, in the amount of $24,888.54 plus an owner’s contingency of $22,000. City Engineer Jerry Barnes explained that the City had intended to use one of its four on-call electricians for this job, but none of them were available. As a result, the contractor, CDX, will be using their own electrician, so the contingency will cover that.
• Transfer of funds of $20,000 to enable the City to hire a contractor to provide quality assurance inspection services on the Hagen Water Tanks project. This is a housekeeping item related to a contract that was approved earlier.

To view this meeting online, visit this link.

To view documents related to this meeting, click here. 

Full minutes can be found by going to the City Hall website at https://www.globeaz.gov/government and clicking on Agendas/Minutes in the bottom left-hand corner.

The Globe City Council meets every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. The meetings are currently open to the public at 50% capacity. Members of the public are requested to wear a mask except when seated. Seating is limited to allow for social distancing.

Members of the public can also participate in City of Globe public meetings by viewing the meeting live on YouTube. To view the Council meeting live stream, go to the City of Globe’s YouTube channel (search for City of Globe Arizona). Or click on the “Live Stream on YouTube” link at the top of www.globeaz.gov.

To speak to agenda items before or during the meeting, you can call or text (928) 200-0154 or send an email to council@globeaz.gov. If you desire to speak to the Council during an agenda item.