Plymouth's 400th Anniversary

Minutes of Public Meetings of the Plymouth 2020 Committee: 2010

MINUTES - Meeting of the Plymouth 400th Committee
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 7:00 pm at the offices of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce
Committee members present: Peter Gomes, Chair; Jim Baker; Peg Baker; Peter Balboni; Ben Brewster; Paul Bumpus; Paul Cripps; Ellie Donovan; David Kirkpatrick; Gary Marks; Enzo Monti; Monica Mullin for Therese Murray; Ed Santos; Ken Tavares; Brian Alosi (honorary).
Absent: Kathy Babini (exc.);Tamson Burgess (exc.); Tom Calter; Vinny deMacedo; Rodney Randy Joseph; John Mahoney (exc.); Paula Peters (exc.).

Peter Gomes opened the meeting at 7:00 pm.

Review of September 16th event
A quick review of the unveiling of the logo event led to the conclusion that it was a great success.

Reports of the standing committees organized under 2020 Starts Now Inc.:
Budget Committee/Ed Santos: Ed expects a budget to be formalized shortly.
Fundraising Committee/Ed Santos: This committee awaits the establishing of a budget and a calendar of events and needs.
Lead-Up Events Committee/Peter Balboni: The committee has been meeting and is working on setting up a calendar of events from now 2011 up to 2020. The next event will be in the spring of 2011.
2020 Events Committee/Peter Gomes: Peter would like this committee to meet with the British Consul General; he will coordinate this meeting through Peg Baker.

The committee needs to plan for this meeting with the Consul General. Peter sees August 1 as the primary focus of the 2020 event with the hoped-for visit of the Queen. There are practical issues: how does the Queen get here, where does she stay? Who invites her – the governor? How would a visit to Plymouth interact on a federal level – would there also be a visit to Washington DC? Once she is here, what will she do? And where will she do it? (As a note, the royal visit to the Jamestown Commemoration cost Virginia $1 million.)

Marketing & PR Committee: This committee needs a chair since Paula Peters has stepped down from 2020 Starts Now. Paul Cripps agreed to serve as interim chair, responsible for marketing, but a public relations expert is needed.

History Committee/Jim Baker: The committee is fully formed; its first project will be the brochure to lay out the planned 2020 events.

Logistics Committee/Paul Cripps: Four subcommittees have been formed. Hospitality will become active as 2020 becomes closer. Parking & Transportation is headed up by John Burke of the PGDC and is very active, seeking grants. Public Safety & Security (headed by Ann Berry now but Chief Botieri is expected to take over soon) and Beautification (headed by Denis Hanks) await planning by other committees as far as events.

Native American Committee: This committee also needs a chair since Paula Peters has stepped down from 2020 Starts Now; Ellie Donovan will consult with Paula as to possible leadership.

Liaison Committee/Brian Alosi: The committee is formed, with 12 members in addition to its chair, and ready to go; the committee will be at the next meeting of the board of 2020 Starts Now to consult with the other committees to see what types of data bases, etc., would be most useful for their purposes.

Legacy Projects Committee/Peter Gomes: A strong idea is a new entrance onto Burial Hill from the 1820 Courthouse area. There has been a request from the 1820 Courthouse Committee to make a presentation at a future date; Jim Baker will continue to coordinate. David Kirkpatrick suggested that we revisit the report done for the Town by Carlone & Associates for idea on legacy projects as seen through the ideas of professional outsider with experience in planning.

Merchandising & Retail Committee/Peter Balboni: The T-shirts sold well; there are perhaps 100 remaining. A second limited edition T-shirt was planned but the response from the merchants was not positive due to the approach of the very slow winter season. A new design that is kid-friendly is going to be presented to the 2020 Committee and other ideas are in the works.

Other: Logo flag
Ken Tavares was out of town and unable to present the logo flag at Town Meeting; it will be presented to the Selectmen at a future meeting.

Other: Government involvement, State Commission
Ed Santos asked how we get the state and federal govern involved; we need their assistance for planning, implementation and funding. We absolutely must have these resources; if not, the events of 2020 will have to be significantly downsized. We need to start making enquiries on the federal level after January through our Senators and through our new Congressman.

How do we get the governor moving on the State Commission? Peter Gomes should go to the Governor again; perhaps the British Consult and Senate President should be called in. It was noted that the Governor’s Executive Order establishing the State Commission should be amended to include a representative from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Ellie Donovan suggested that any presentation to the governor should stress the revenue side and the economic benefit to investing in tourism in 2020; timing is becoming critical as planning will start soon for Boston’s 400th anniversary. Ken Tavares reinforced the importance of getting the State Commission going; Jamestown worked because it had the backing of the state.
Peter Gomes agreed to approach the governor in the new future. He noted, however, that even with the commission, we will still need to fundraise.

Other: Branding Committee
The Branding Committee’s work is completed; that committee should now be rolled over into the Marketing and Public Relations Committee. It was MOVED and VOTED to officially disband the Branding Committee. Peter Balboni has been taking merchandising ideas to the Branding Committee and then to the board of 2020 Starts Now; from here on out he will go directly to the 2020 Board.

Other: Immediate next steps
The paperwork for the 501 c3 should be ready to submit in a week to ten days. A calendar of 2020 events is needed to answer the questions “What are we selling?” “What is the program?” Then we need to develop support material so that fundraising can begin.
Brian Alosi suggested that we need one bigger event each year to raise visibility beyond the local community. David Kirkpatrick noted that we need an “impact plan” and will be happy to help develop one.

Peter Gomes said the immediate tasks are to rev up the State Commission and to come up with a scenario and narrative of what we want to happen. Enzo reiterated that we need to decide firmly what we are going to do. Jim Baker pointed out that we have decided and made plans but that it now needs to be put into a written brochure. David Kirkpatrick suggested that we review the minutes and distill a schedule of events from our discussions. Peter Balboni and his Lead-Up Events Committee can help broaden the scenario; there are representatives from the arts and cultural worlds involved in this committee.

Peter Gomes asked if there were something we could do to get Plymouth citizens more aware? Ken Tavares emphasized the importance here of having a 2020 calendar (which Peter Gomes and Jim Baker will work on) and of having Peter Balboni and his Events Committee establish a schedule of lead-up events. Only then can we start both seeking funding and raising visibility through pr. Ken also cautioned that we need to be realistic about funding and perhaps have several tiers of events planned for different eventualities.
The first step is for Peter Gomes and Jim Baker to meet and come up with a narrative on paper; this will be done and distributed to the committee members well in advance of the next meeting of the committee, which will be held on February 28, 2011 at 7:00 pm. The discussion of this planning document will be the chief item on the agenda.

Other
Peter Gomes is going to be presenting a report to the Selectmen at a meeting in January.

Ellie Donovan said that Plimoth Plantation has space available for committee meetings, just email her. She also pointed out that the American Association for State & Local History 2011 conference is in September 2011 in Richmond VA and the theme is “Commemoration.” Plimoth Plantation staff will be attending; Ellie will keep us informed.

Enzo Monti requested that there be a report at the beginning of the meetings of the 400th Committee outlining the activities of 2020 Starts Now.

Brian Alosi suggested that Peter Gomes’ time and talent should be devoted to the “big picture” and that perhaps Ken Tavares could handle operational issues; this will be discussed at the meeting of the 2020 Starts Now Inc. board.

Public Comment: There was none.

Next meeting: The next meeting of the Plymouth 400th Committee will be February 28, 2011, at 7:00 pm at the offices of the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce.

The meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.

Peg Baker, Clerk