A proposal to combine the Jennings County Visitors and Recreation Commission and the Jennings County Chamber of Commerce caused sparks to fly at Tuesday's Jennings County Council meeting.
"If these two groups merged it would be a train wreck, based on what I've seen tonight," said Councilor Dave Woodall (R-at large).
"It's a real shame these two groups don't get along," added Councilor Jerry Lamb (R-District 4). "I have a soft spot for the Chamber and I believe in promoting tourism."
Chamber of Commerce Director Marie Shepherd presented the proposal to merge that organization with the Visitors and Recreation Commission, unofficially known as the tourism board, saying it would be highly logical for the two to share resources and expenses and avoid duplicating efforts.
"We have two organizations with small budgets and many similarities in their missions," she said. "In fact, tourism was started by the Chamber. It just makes sense all the way around to merge the two."
Judy Ross, Visitors and Recreation Commission director, bluntly disagreed.
"We don't want to merge," she said. "We support the businesses here for nothing, they don't."
The tourism board operates on revenue from the county's innskeeper tax, a 5 percent tax charged for rentals at Jennings County's motels and lodges. Those include the Comfort Inn and the White Front bed and breakfast rooms in North Vernon and the White Oak Lodge on the Jennings-Decatur county line.
The county council passed an ordinance for the innskeeper tax in 1994, which was collected starting the following year. The revenue ranges up to $42,000 annually and last year amounted to $30,000.
According to Ross and tourism board members Judith Kinder-Smith and Joanna Vance, who were at the meeting, the funds are used to promote tourism. That includes brochures that are distributed at numerous places around the county, magazine advertisements, a billboard on I-65, a website and a promotional video that will soon be aired on PBS television stations statewide.
Ross, who is contracted as director, receives a $12,000 salary and $50 a month for the use of her coffee shop, A Perfect Day Café in downtown North Vernon, where the tourism office is located. She also is provided a phone with that number, 812-592-8087, listed in Jennings County tourism ads.
"We don't want to pay for rent, utilities and a computer system," Ross said. "We want all the money we get to go for tourism. We have brochures that we put out all over town and the county, at the Comfort Inn, Stream Cliff Farms, the county park and antique shops, wherever we think tourists might be. People walk into my store every day to get them. I get frequent calls from people who see our ads or brochures and want to visit Jennings County."
Shepherd said people come to the Chamber office when they want information about the community, plus its location on North State Street offers high visibility. She said a merger could be handled like it is in Daviess County, where the tourism operates via contract under that county's Chamber of Commerce.
"This merger will allow both organizations to align common missions, combine resources and reduce administration costs," Shepherd said.
"Consolidating the chamber and tourism will allow us as a county to ensure we are working together to combine our marketing efforts - attracting visitors and companies to the county and creating new jobs for our residents."
More sparks came when Shepherd and Brenda Habenicht, the Chamber's board president, questioned the Visitors and Recreation Commission's legality and accountability.
"The tourism board operates under the county's federal ID number, but to my knowledge from the research I've done that was never approved by the county council or commissioners," Shepherd said.
"I have a problem with a nonprofit group receiving tax money and not having accountability," Habenicht added. "This should be transparent."
Gary Driver, a tourism board member who serves as treasurer, told the Plain Dealer earlier this week that the group's finances, taxes and document filings are being handled properly.
"Everything is legitimate and accounted for," he said. "We have absolutely nothing to hide."
The Visitors and Recreation Commission was formed after the Jennings County Tourism Bureau Inc., created in 1991, was disbanded in 2010 after the bureau's director then, Susan Walters Crussel, allegedly failed to file and pay the bureau's state corporate reports and fees for five years.
The new Visitors and Recreation Commission formed the following year and named Ross tourism director on Dec. 17, 2011.
"How can this board be legal if it wasn't approved by the council and commissioners?" asked Larry Maschino (D-District 2).
According to Auditor Janice Ramey, the commissioners and council discussed the matter in 2011 but took no official action except to appoint members to the new board.
"No one acted," Ramey said. "It just sat there."
County attorney Ellie Bright said the Visitors and Recreation Commission must have a budget that is OK'd by the council just like any other entity receiving county tax revenue.
As far as other arrangements between the council and tourism board, "it's up to the fiscal body (the council) how that happens," she said.
The council requested that the board present its 2015 budget by the Aug. 5 budget session, which Ross, Kinder-Smith and Vance agreed to do.
"We need to be legal and operate like other counties," said Council
President Howard Malcomb (R-at large). "We have a good board here."
"We need to review everything and make certain we are running as we should," said Kinder-Smith, Visitors and Recreation Commission president.
© 2024 North Vernon Plain Dealer and Sun