The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has preliminarily approved a 10-year contract to send $5 million annually to a newly merged Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau formed by combining the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area bureaus. Some commissioners and the former director of the Ann Arbor bureau expressed concerns about the length of the contract and locking funds for 10 years. No changes were made to the contract at this meeting, but there was some discussion of using excess tax funds for a potential future convention center. The board passed the contract by a narrow vote as critics argue the merger leaves the door open for Ann Arbor to have majority representation on the new bureau's board.

1. Event Planning
By: Paige Solo

2. The New Washtenaw County Bureau's (WCCVB)
The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has preliminarily approved a contract with
the new Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
The debate and negotiations preceding the merger lasted through much of the spring,
summer and fall.
"I think we have an obligation, and I'm sure not all of you will agree with me on this, but I
think we need to do this and let them get started. We need to give them their legs and let
them go."
“We put the two bureaus in a position where they realized they had to come together and
they did that. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn't quick, but they did it and they've agreed to this
contract that's in front of us,"Ruth Ann Jamnick, D-Ypsilanti Township, said.

3. The Contract:
The 10-year contract would send approximately $5 million annually to the
organization, which was recently formed by combining the Ann Arbor and
Ypsilanti-area convention and visitors bureaus.
Conan Smith(director AACVB) had many issues with the contract including its
length. Both Smith and Jamnick said they were concerned 10 years was a long
time to lock the county into this kind of a commitment.
Smith then realized that the entire board could be replaced within two years and
the funds, collected under the accommodations ordinance, could be used for other
means.

4. Smith brought up the idea of a convention center when discussing how the county
could use the remainder of the 10 percent of the collected tax now used for
administration purposes. While the county collects 10 percent to administer the tax
and its distribution, it only uses a small portion of those funds. The remainder are
eventually turned back over to the bureaus.
Smith floated the idea of having those funds stay with the county, which could use
them for allowable expenditures—including the convention center
Ideas and changes

5. Ideas and Changes continue...
No changes were made to the contract, but Smith’s idea gained some support
from other board members. Director Mary Kerr from AACVB, who will be the
inaugural director of the WCCVB, said taking those funds ($350,000 per year)
back from the bureau’s would mean there would be less money available for
marketing.
One change to the contract during this meeting that was a clarification put forward
by Yousef Rabhi, that Community Tourism Action Plan (CTAP) grants should not
be taken from the 25 percent of the funding designated for activity within the
Ypsilanti Community.

6. The board passed the contract by a vote of five to three with commissioners
Jamnick, Conan Smith and Alicia Ping voting against it.
The board is expected to give the contract final approval at its next meeting Dec.
2.
December 2, 2016

7. Ypsilanti’s concerns. The board.
As it's now outlined in the tentative merger plans, at least 25 percent of the members of the new CVB
board would be people who either live or work in the Ypsilanti area, including the city of Ypsilanti and
Superior and Ypsilanti townships.
Similarly, at least 25 percent of the board members would be people who either live or work in Ann Arbor.
Lastly, at least 25 percent would be people who either live or work in other Washtenaw County
communities such as Saline, Chelsea, Dexter and Milan
Critics of the plan, some of whom see it as a takeover of the Ypsilanti brand by outside interests, argue
that leaves the door open for Ann Arbor to potentially have as much as 50 percent of the representation
on the new board.

8. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
Overall with the merge i think everyone’s goal and expectations are geared
towards Peters and Watermen’s eight themes.
1. A bias for action- react quickly and do not spend excess time planning and
analyzing.
People within both of the organizations are getting frustrated spending and
wasting time on the controversy and arguments at hand. Situations needs to be
discussed and resolved fairly.

9. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
2.) Close relations to the customer- gear decisions and actions to the needs of
customers.
AACVB and YACVB are both putting up a fight against each other because they
feel like merging might affect their personal connection with customers within each
city. Although, AACVB has the upper hand and might gain customers they didn’t
know before coming from YACVB. YACVB might be lost within this merge
because they might not have as many visitors attending ypsilanti, being
overshadowed by AACVB.

10. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
3.) Autonomy and entrepreneurship- encourage employees to take risks in the
development of new ideas.
This entire merge is asking all employees to be adjustable and accepting to
become one large bureau. Including accepting new positions and cooperation with
selecting the new board.

11. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
4.) Productivity through people- encourage positive and respectful relationships
among management and employees.
In order to remain productive, the commissioners have to be cautious on who they
select for each position and making sure Ann Arbor does not take majority of the
board and decision making. Ypsilanti has made sure their concern is recognized
and as long as that is respected, and the workers are treated equality, all will be
productive.

12. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
5.) Hands-on, value-driven-employees and managers who share the same core
value of productivity and performance.
This could be great for WCCVB because before at least one person was assigned
to each job within the organization and now combining both bureaus their will be
multiple people for each position and could bounce ideas off each other and learn
new ways for producing the job.

13. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
6.) Stick to the knitting- stay focused on what they do best and avoid radical
diversification.
Some say combining bureaus could cause some employees job loss. I disagree,
the bureaus have the budget to consume multiple people for certain positions and
could produce a better product with combining thoughts from people that know
and are great at their jobs. Repositioning people to different jobs could be
confusing and not a polished product.

14. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
7.) Simple form, lean staff- avoid complex structures and divisions of labor.
This could be good to train multiple people on different positions because there
might be a day where there are multiple events going on and the bureau will need
others to fit into that position in order to still run smoothly.

15. Peters and Waterman’s themes for excellent
organizations
8.) Simultaneous loose-tight properties-exhibit both unity of purpose and the
diversity necessary for innovation.
Each event planner has their own way to producing a product/event. This product
may have been made/seen differently but the end execution is a great success.
Each event planner is unified differently but all know they have the same end goal.

16. Questions????
Is merging actually a great benefit to both bureaus?
Will ypsilanti be visited more or less after the merge?
On December 2 will there be any other changes to the contract?
If so will they benefit Ypsilanti?
Will the board be completely conformed by December 2?

17. Questions????
Will there be job cuts in order for it to become a lean staff company?
Or will they have multiple people from both bureaus fit into a position?
What is going to be the budget for each city tourism tours?
Will all people within the bureaus accept the change and continue their jobs or will
people be so upset, that they will leave?

18. Questions????
Are both bureau's ok with the decision of giving up both names and becoming
WCCVB?
Will this name change affect the business/customers searching online?
Will all of this negative controversy affect people's views of using the bureau?

19. Questions???
What does the future hold?
Will business be better? More efficient?
Will spending less time fighting against eachother result in spending more time
productively?
Will this new bureau product a new overall culture?

20. Work cited page
What will CVB merger mean for Ypsilanti? Officials explain latest plans:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-
arbor/index.ssf/2015/10/what_will_cvb_merger_mean_for.html
New Washtenaw County convention bureau contract passes first reading:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-
arbor/index.ssf/2015/11/new_county_cvb_contract_passes.html