Four years after supervisors handed Schoharie County tourism duties—and funding—back to the Chamber of Commerce, they’re demanding a financial audit and issuing a RFP that could end up with a different agency taking over the job.
“It could be that the Chamber continues to handle tourism,” said Sandra Manko of Sharon, who heads supervisors’ Historical Oversight Committee and the Occupancy Tax Board (OTB).
“But we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least consider some options.”
That’s always a good idea, said Chamber President Jamie Casterlin:
Considering your options.
“Our contract’s up at the end of the year and we do the same thing with our own vendors: Weigh our options.”
The Chamber will likely reapply for the tourism job, Ms. Casterlin said.
“We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire,” she said. “There are so many opportunities right now…I think we’re right on the precipice. We’ve been following through on the connections made at the Tourism Summit and we’ve got a lot of great ideas.”
Together, the Historical Oversight Committee and the OTB are the eyes and ears of tourism promotion and spending and charged with holding whoever’s handling it—in this case, the Chamber—accountable, Ms. Manko said.
Two weeks ago, supervisors authorized an audit of the Chamber’s tourism spending—paid for by the Chamber--going back three years.
They also voted to send out a request for proposals for tourism promotion with an end-of-June deadline.
The move came after Nick Tourism Coordinator Castellanos left as the Chamber’s tourism coordinator; among other duties, the job includes regular reports to supervisors and New York State’s I Love NY.
“With the change in tourism coordinator, it seemed like a good time to take look at things,” Ms. Manko said.
Additionally, she said, the county’s two-year agreement with the Chamber is up in December.
Tourism duties have gone back and forth between the county and the Chamber for years.
In 2009, Chamber directors turned tourism and promotion over to the county’s Planning and Development Agency so they could focus more of their attention on the economy.
A few years later, at the request of a coalition of tourism-based organizations and businesses, Planning & Development gave the job back to the Chamber.
Tourism is funded in part by a four percent bed tax, money leveraged through the I Love NY grant program for $185,000-$200,000 available for tourism spending annually, Ms. Manko said.
“These are public funds,” she said. “There are rules and regulations when it comes to keeping track of them. This isn’t personal, but it’s not a casual responsibility. We want to make sure it’s all getting done.”
Supervisors expect to make a decision on the RFP at their July meeting.
For now, Ron Ketelsen, president of the Sharon Springs of Commerce, is acting as interim tourism coordinator. (See related story.)