Tax board recommends money for ads, guide

The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board during a special meeting Wednesday recommended allocating $25,000 to pay for magazine advertisements and a visitors guide for the city.

The board also recommended spending $15,000 in executive funds to help Santa Fe musician and actor Carlos Medina produce a scripted video travelogue in Tucumcari, up to nearly $800 to restore a “Motel” neon sign and $3,000 by the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce to purchase additional Tucumcari-branded souvenirs.

Most of the recommendations require final approval from the Tucumcari City Commission, which next meets April 22.

Board members wanted to allocate the $25,000 so City Manager Mark Martinez or the city’s branding committee could act quickly on purchases instead of having to wait for the board’s next meeting. The board convened a special meeting Wednesday primarily because it faced a deadline this week for an ad buy in Phoenix magazine.

For advertising, the board recommended a one-year ad buy for $9,000 for the quarterly ROUTE magazine, a $252 for the quarterly publication by the New Mexico Route 66 Association and up to $2,000 for a two-thirds page ad in Phoenix magazine, which would include an editorial about Tucumcari.

Alamogordo-based Leighton Moon, which designed the city’s new logo, is designing the ads.

Regarding the visitors guide, Tucumcari MainStreet Executive Director Connie Loveland said the branding committee was planning to print 5,000 copies of the publication by June. The committee then would gauge the guide’s usage before another print run in 2022.

Loveland said the visitors guide would be 32 pages of magazine-stock page and a fold-out, detachable map. She said she didn’t have a final cost of the guide because they still were talking to Arizona-based Route 66 author Jim Hinckley about his fee to write its content, plus gathering images from photographers.

Loveland said the committee would consider advertisements for the 2022 visitors guide. She said time constraints prevented ads in the initial print run.

Martinez said the board should consider a marketing firm to coordinate social media and digital ads, especially with matching funds available from the state’s tourism department or coronavirus relief.

He acknowledged one of the options that may leave “a bad taste” is Albuquerque-based Sunny505, the city’s previous marketing firm. The board declined to renew its contract with Sunny505 after expressing dissatisfaction with its performance.

Smith said hiring Sunny505 for social media and digital ads “was worth looking into.”

Board member Matt Bednorz agreed, saying, “We trust Mr. Martinez more than the past administration to get our concerns heard” — referring to previous city manager Britt Lusk, with which the board had a stormy relationship about Sunny505.

The board initially had money for billboards on its agenda. However, Martinez said the city would renew its deal in July for three years with several New Mexico billboards owned by Sun Vista. The company would produce and install a new design at no charge.

Martinez said the city also would renew leases with several Lamar billboards in Texas, and new designs on them shouldn’t include a charge.

In other business:

• The board recommended the $15,000 in executive funds to Medina to help produce a pilot episode of his proposed “El Barrio” video travelogue series that will be shot in Tucumcari this summer.

All of the board members in attendance expressed their support for Medina’s production.

Noting Medina’s request represented 2.6% of the executive fund, board member Matt Bednorz said, “It’s nothing compared to what he’ll be doing. … I think we should jump on it.”

“I’m excited,” board member Al Patel said. “This is something we can support.”

Medina’s bilingual scripted show, “El Barrio,” which co-stars Albuquerque actress Lauren Poole, would consist of two or three episodes, including the 47-minute pilot.

Medina said via phone during the meeting he was willing to give the city dual rights to the videos.

Medina made his initial request for funding during the board’s regular meeting April 7, but Smith said the proposal needed to be in writing before it would be considered. Medina submitted the written plan several days before the special meeting.

• The board recommended spending from $437.12 to $797.12 to restore a “Motel” neon sign Loveland said eventually would be installed downtown at a proposed neon-sign park.

The sign, procured by Tucumcari MainStreet and used during recent production of the “Bands of Enchantment” music television series, once hung at the now-gone Tucumcari Motel downtown, the Trav-O-Tel motel along U.S. 54 that now is a dog grooming and boarding business and another closed motel along Route 66 in Tucumcari.

Loveland said former New Mexico Route 66 Association president Johnnie Meier will restore the sign. The varying cost estimate is because it’s unknown whether three or all the sign’s letters will be restored.

• The board recommended spending $3,000 to buy merchandise that is affixed with Tucumcari’s new logo.

Martinez said some of the swag, which includes keychains, pint glasses and stickers, would be given away to residents but also sold to tourists who want to buy them. Martinez said he’s received feedback from people all over the country wanting to buy those souvenirs. He said he would recommend a discussion at next month’s meeting on future distribution of the items.

“We’ve definitely created demand” for the items, Smith said.