PTFF members present: Mike Henderson, Dennis Lyford, Roger Merchant, Patrick Myers, John Simko, Sophie Wilson

The majority of the meeting surrounded the Advisory Board meeting scheduled for May 3rd, 6:30pm, at the Down Home B&B in Milo.

The Advisory Board has been contacted and Lisa Herzog with the PCEDC will be following up with phone calls to confirm attendance and figure out specifics.

Roger Merchant presented the draft agenda for the Advisory Board meeting that had been discussed via e-mail over the previous week. There was an active conversation about the agenda with discussion centering on the following topics:

• The need for participation by the Advisory Board is critical
• A goal of the meeting will be to bring out important tourism-related issues
• We should not try to fit too much into this one meeting
• There should be multiple avenues for Advisory Board participation
• The role and tasks of the Advisory Board should be reviewed
• It will be important to frame the role of the PTTF in the context of a county-wide implementation plan
• The input of the largely private-sector Advisory Board needs to guide and direct the creation of the Task Force's implementation blueprint in order to create a partnership between the public and private sectors.
• The tourism studies should be made available to the Advisory Board so they can dig into them if they choose along with the summaries produced by the Task Force.
• The different methods of communication between the Advisory Board and the Task Force need to be presented.

Out of this fruitful discussion, a new agenda was developed for the May 3rd meeting, as follows:

• 1. (10-Roger Merchant) Welcome. Frame meeting purpose, agenda, and Task Force.
• 2. (10-Sophie Wilson) Introductions of both Task Force and Advisory Board
  • Who are you and how are you connected with tourism?
• 3. (15-John Simko) Framing the purpose and need for the Advisory Board.
• 4. (10-Patrick Myers) Brief overview of the 5 key tourism studies
• 5. (10) Question-Clarifications
• 6. (40-Roger Merchant & Donna Fichtner) Open Forum
  • Discussions about moving tourism development forward
  • From your perspective, what's been holding us back?
  • From your perspective, what needs to be done that will overcome this barrier?
  • From you perspective, what opportunities should we be focusing on in tourism development for Piscataquis County?
• 7. (5-Mike Henderson) Input that the Task Force needs from the Advisory Board.
• 8. (5-Patrick) Access to Information. Informational packets, Task Force Website, Contact Information
• 9. (5-Roger) Meeting Closure-Next Steps-Verbal Evaluation

The Task Force agreed to review this proposed agenda over the next few days and make any further recommendations before the May 3rd meeting.

Patrick will collect the Tourism Studies and Summaries and get them posted onto the website in preparation for the meeting along with checking on the implementation of the input form.

Meeting Concluded at 11:30 am