By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A majority of city council members have approved an agreement to pay part of the cost of the contract that will allow the city, county and two chambers of commerce to glean information about the movement of visitors to the city.
The council on a 5-1 vote passed a resolution to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city, Val Verde County, the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for payment of a subscription to Placer.ai services in an annual pro rata amount of $4,856.25.
The city took the action at its most recent meeting on April 22. Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus was the only council member to vote against the measure.
Chamber of commerce representatives told council members in a recent presentation the Placer.ai services will allow the city, county and chambers to analyze attendance at certain local events and determine where visitors are staying and the businesses they patronize while they are here.
Mayor Al Arreola called for a motion and second on the resolution. Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. made the motion to approve the resolution, and Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina” Martinez gave the second.
Arreola asked if there were any questions or concerns, then City Secretary Mari Acosta asked Martinez if she was a member of the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber.
“It’s not a conflict,” City Attorney Ana Markowski Smith told the city secretary.
“I just wanted to make sure,” Acosta said.
Arreola again asked if there were any comments or questions.
Lopez asked if the payment is something the city would be making annually.
“No, this is a one-time contractual arrangement if we were to join in the cost of Placer.ai services,” City Manager Shawna Burkhart replied.
“And just for transparency, what is it?” Lopez asked.
Burkhart asked Assistant City Manager Manuel Chavez to explain the program.
Chavez told the council, “A few meetings ago, the chamber did provide a presentation regarding the Placer.ai software system. It pretty much tracks visits into a particular area. It picks up cell phone (data), and they used a particular rodeo event (as an example), and they were able to track how many visits were made at that event.”
Chavez noted the program is used by cities to track visitor data and help cities decide how to allocate hotel occupancy tax (HOT) funds.
“It doesn’t tell you that they actually stayed at a hotel, but it at least tells you a particular individual from outside the city visited your particular area,” Chavez said.
“Basically it’s more for events and visitors to Del Rio, to find out how many people come to Del Rio for the events, so I guess, like you say, help you out on HOT funds,” Lopez said.
“That’s one way of utilizing this software,” Chavez replied.
Burkhart added the amount being requested from the city is an annual pro-rata amount, and Markowski pointed out the chamber is signing a contract for one year of the program.
DeReus also commented about the request.
DeReus said, “The chamber wants us to pay almost $5,000 to get access to the data, and what is the city going to get from this data? What are we going to use it for? You said HOT funds. I’ll come back to that. Anything else?”
“That I’m aware of,” Chavez said, shaking his head ‘no.’
DeReus went on: “The reason that we would need it for HOT funds is because we have concerns about the veracity of the applications and after-action reports that we get from various groups on how many people actually come to Del Rio. I’ve talked about that a number of times, how I think we need to completely revamp how we do HOT funds. There’s a number of other cities that do it completely different, where you have to prove how many people you brought into town in order to get funds versus (just saying), ‘oh, we’re going to get this many.’
“So there’s no other uses we’re going to have for this app, except to show that these groups are fudging the numbers a little bit?” DeReus asked.
“For economic development,” Smith said.
“Okay, how is the city going to use this data for economic development?” DeReus asked.
He added, “The chamber using it, and that makes a lot of sense to me, but what is the use that the city is going to have, to spend this money and get access to this data? Other than verifying HOT funds?”
Smith replied, “It’s also to gauge traffic so the police department is aware of where there’s high traffic, and it’s information the streets department can use for the same reason because they need to know how the streets are used. We need that information for grants. Sometimes they ask you about visits, about people using certain areas like the skate garden. We would know how many people went to the skate garden. That was part of the presentation that Mrs. Larson put on.”
“I know; I was here,” DeReus said.
“Okay, but you’re asking, so,” Smith said.
“I know, but honestly, I think that’s a little bit of a stretch,” DeReus replied.
He also asked where the money for the city’s share of the program would come from, and Chavez told him it would be paid out of the city’s HOT funds as an eligible expense under advertising and tourism.
Smith added, “What you do with the advertising is you recognize what areas people are coming from to visit Del Rio so you promote your events there.”
After Arreola observed the expense was being made in conjunction with both chambers of commerce, DeReus said, “I’m sorry, but none of this makes any sense to me.”
“Any other questions or concerns?” Arreola asked.
The mayor then recognized Peter Ojeda, the city’s communications director, who told the council he had sat in on a meeting with the Convention and Visitors Bureau board.
As he continued speaking, DeReus interrupted, saying, “You said you sat in on the CVB meeting. CVB? Or chamber of commerce board?”
When Ojeda confirmed it was a CVB meeting, DeReus said, “So is the CVB doing this or is the chamber doing this? Because if the CVB is doing it, we’ve already given them HOT funds. We can’t double-dip, giving the chamber HOT funds also if the CVB is the one doing it. And this goes to that intermingling, which makes it very difficult at times to figure out is it the chamber or the CVB or both?”
Smith said the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce is the entity signing the contract, and DeReus said, “I understand, but (Ojeda) said the CVB is doing this.”
Ojeda said Placer.ai data will also show which stores in regional cities are drawing Del Rio customers.
“No offense, I don’t need Placer.ai to be able to figure out what stores people go to in San Antonio, Eagle Pass, San Angelo, wherever. It’s pretty obvious, because people talk about it all the time,” DeReus said.
“Would that generate dollars back in return?” Arreola asked.
Ojeda replied it would help local retailers design marketing campaigns and would assist the city’s economic development efforts.
Arreola asked if Placer.ai would provide data about visitors from Mexico, and Ojeda said it would not.
After some additional comments, Arreola called for a vote, and the motion passed on a 5-1 vote.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
