Home for Tourism Council brings more questions to committee
A lengthy discussion of the Tourism Council at the Monday, Feb. 13, meeting of the Operations Committee of the Anderson County Commission resulted in more questions than answers.
Committee members discussed questions dealing with the location of the tourism center operated by the council.
A few months ago, commissioners agreed to sell the Tourism Council’s welcome center located in a log building on Charles Seivers Boulevard near I-75. The plan was for the council to buy space from the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce in the facility the chamber is building in downtown Clinton.
That deal fell through when commissioners declined to ratify the auction of the log building.
That raised a lot of questions about what the tourism council was going to do next.
Commissioner Tim Isbel asked if the welcome center needs to be at its present location. Stephanie Wells, director of the tourism council, replied that it does not need to be.
“At this point I don’t know what a suitable location would be,” Wells said.
She said the building has suffered water damage and mold. She assured the commissioners that the mold presented no health hazard and it will be dealt with. However, some commissioners urged erring on the side of caution and moving out the building until the mold could be dealt with.
She said the roof was leaking and work needs to be done on the sign in front of the building.
There was discussion of enlarging the building to include a meeting space. Wells had stated previously that one of the reasons they wanted to buy space from the chamber was the availability of group meeting space.
The present log building does not have room for large meetings. She noted that putting an addition on to a log building is different from an addition on a frame structure. And, she noted, a large room is needed.
“What we are looking at is the potential to recruit tourism events.” Wells said.
Commissioner Denise Palmer noted that there would soon be office space available in the courthouse that could be used for tourism.
Mayor Terry Frank suggested a limited study to determine the actual needs of the tourism council.
Commissioner Phil Yager asked who owns the welcome center and who would get the proceeds from the sale.
Jay Yeager, the county’s law director, said he had sought advice on the issue and was not yet ready to offer a legal opinion. He said there were three possibilities.
He said the profit could go to the tourism council. The tourism council is financed primarily from the hotel/motel tax. That funding source was used to pay for the log building. Another possibility is that all the proceeds could go into the county’s general fund. A third possibility is that the tourism council could be reimbursed for original cost of the building and the reminder of the proceeds go into the county’s general fund.
Yeager said that several months ago the commission voted to surplus the welcome center and that at some point they would have to rescind that action.
Commissioner Tyler Mayes had earlier wondered if tourism should be a government agency or a stand-alone agency. He said he had decided that current structure is probably the best way.
Mayes thought it would be best for the tourism council to lease space.
Wells favored owning a building.
She said that while leased property from a private owner would bring in property tax, the lease payments might be more than the tax advantage.
Mayes said he was not in favor of putting a lot of money into the present building if it were going to be sold.
“What is the commission’s role in the oversight of the building?” asked Palmer.
From the results of the meeting there seemed to be no clear cut answer
At their meeting next month the operations committee will again consider the tourism council and hopefully come up with some definite answers.
