Visit Anaheim CEO Mike Waterman reiterated apologies to the Anaheim City Council on Tuesday for comments he made two months prior suggesting a new city advisory board tasked with monitoring millions in tourism dollars is redundant and should be disbanded.

The Anaheim Tourism Advisory Board was created this year by the City Council after a state audit said Anaheim didn’t keep a close enough eye on the more than $30 million annually that flows through the city’s tourism district.

Councilmembers said Tuesday that the comments were harmful given what Anaheim has been through over the last few years. Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava called in Waterman to explain his views on the board and what Visit Anaheim is now doing under his leadership to bring in more tourists.

Visit Anaheim has a contract to market the city and book the convention center. It’s largely funded by getting three-quarters of the proceeds from a 2% extra assessment on nightly hotel rates to spend on attracting more tourists – the remaining money collected goes toward a transit service.

Waterman at the inaugural meeting of the advisory board in October, of which he is a member, said, “Selfishly, my belief is over time, maybe after the second or third or fourth meeting … we will all decide this is not necessarily the most effective use of our time and we will disband it.”

Waterman walked back those comments soon after and apologized. He continued that message Tuesday as he was grilled by Rubalcava.

“I was out of line and definitely did not use the appropriate words,” Waterman said.

He added that he was trying to articulate that boards in other cities like the one Anaheim created were later disbanded.

“Some of those cities found it redundant,” Watermand said, “because, like Anaheim, there are two city employees that actually sit on my executive committee and board. So you have access to that information.”

Waterman said he wasn’t entirely aware that the meeting’s audio was being recorded and he cannot disband the advisory board. The board has not held a second meeting yet.

Mike Waterman, the new president and CEO of Visit Anaheim, sits in the organization’s Anaheim office on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rubalcava also asked about the status of funds the city had requested back from Visit Anaheim a year ago after questions arose over how some pandemic grant money had been spent.

City-hired investigators last year in a report alleged that $1.5 million of grant money from the city was surreptitiously diverted to a nonprofit operated by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. The city demanded the money back, but Visit Anaheim officials said there would be no return.

Lawyers for Visit Anaheim told state auditors, who were tasked to examine how that money was spent, that the nonprofit had originally marked the $1.5 million as coming from the coronavirus recovery funds the city granted it, but they were later re-accounted. State auditors said the issue raised questions about how the nonprofit was spending public funds and told Anaheim leaders the city should be more active with oversight.

Waterman told Rubalcava that Visit Anaheim is having conversations with city staffers to determine how to rectify the issue.

City Attorney Robert Fabela interjected and said the discussion during the council meeting needed to stay focused on the advisory board. Rubalcava then said it’s something she wants the advisory board to look at.

Waterman took over Visit Anaheim in April and said he has moved to add more salespeople and try to bring in more international travelers because they tend to stay at hotels longer. The city’s budget is bolstered by significant revenues it gets from taxes on hotel stays.

“The better we do, the better we all do,” Waterman said.

Rubalcava wants Visit Anaheim to show metrics on how the tourism bureau is providing a return on investment to generate more conventions.

“Ultimately that’s what fills the 94 hotels,” she said. “And it can’t be limited to the Disney hotels, the bigger hotels. We need to make sure we are helping our smaller businesses. That’s a concern for me.”

Councilmember Carlos Leon said he shared concerns that were brought up.

“We did a tremendous amount of work to bring back public trust,” Leon said. “I want to make sure you understand the gravity of making comments like that given everything we’ve been through as a city.”

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