Lincoln Aldermen may vote to extend Tourism Bureau funding agreement
 

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[August 01, 2016]  LINCOLN - At the Monday evening voting session of the Lincoln City Council tonight, aldermen are expected to entertain a motion pertaining to the Logan County Tourism Bureau. The motion will be a request to extend the funding agreement between the city of Lincoln and the Tourism Bureau to a December 31st expiration date.

On Monday, July 18th, Tourism Director Maggie McMurtrey with Bureau Council members Renee Martin and Gail Sasse met with the city council in an executive session, with no action or explanation offered afterward.

On Tuesday, July 26th, Sasse and Martin returned accompanied by fellow councilman Ron Keller. McMurtrey was on vacation last week, and not present for this meeting.

Each of the three Bureau councilmen addressed the Lincoln City Council, beginning with Martin.

Martin said that after the board had heard the concerns of the city council, and those concerns were being addressed by the Tourism Council. She said that many of the issues between the two councils were due to a lack of communication, and that the Bureau is working to improve those lines of communication with the city.

She said that the Bureau wants to be very transparent. She added, “While we do not want to be taken under the city council’s wing, we do however, want to invite collaborative efforts between the city council and the tourism bureau.” She added that the Bureau has already taken steps to include Logan County. Her comment pertained to a meeting with the Logan County Board held recently, where a motion was made and approved to appoint Logan County Board member Emily Davenport to the Tourism Council.

Martin said, “So please, let’s just all work together.” She also noted that it was very important that the Bureau remain a certified tourism bureau with the state of Illinois. She offered the city a list of benefits to being a certified bureau.

Martin finished saying that the city should now have copies of the fiscal audits of the bureau through the year ending December 31, 2014. She said if the council still wishes to do its own audit on the tourism books they were welcome to do so. She also commented that the state is currently auditing the bureau, as is the state routine. She said once that was over, the bureau would work with the city as needed to do the third audit.

Martin then turned the table over to Keller, who presented the renewal of the funding agreement with the city. He noted this was an extension of the current agreement that would move the expiration date to December 31st of this year. He read the terms and conditions of the contract to the aldermen.

Sasse was the last person to address the city. She spoke about the 'Certified Bureau' status. She said that the bureau has been certified by the state of Illinois for the past 35 years. She noted that the bureau as it is now, does not have enough hotel rooms in the area to qualify, but maintain their status based on their 35 year history. She told the council, if the Tourism Bureau losses that certification, there is no way that they would ever get it back, so it is very important that the Bureau maintain its status.

The floor was then opened to comments and questions from the council.

Todd Morning spoke first, asking about the certification. He said that Martin had mentioned that the Bureau did not want to become a city entity. He asked if being a city entity would impact that certification. Sasse said indeed it would. The Bureau, Sasse said has to be a county bureau in order to keep the certification. She said if it becomes a city bureau the certification will be lost, and grant funding from the state will be lost.


Rick Hoefle asked about the difficulty the Bureau had with the county recently in getting county to approve a resolution declaring the Bureau as the only 501c3 Tourism Bureau in the county.

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Sasse said the issue had been with the language that included the wording “Alliance” rather than the “Bureau.” She said once that correction to the language was made, the county board approved the resolution.

Hoefle then asked if the Tourism Bureau was going to remain a faction of the Logan County Alliance. Sasse said that topic was going to be up for discussion at the August meeting of the Tourism Bureau.

Tracy Welch asked about the language in the renewal agreement addressing digital marketing via an app and website. He wanted further explanation.

Sasse said that the website needs to be improved. She said she personally has studied the website and noted there are areas that are lacking in quality that need to be improved.

Welch agreed completely, and cautioned that before the council gets into the time and expense of formulating a digital application of “App,” it should make sure it has a good website.

Hoefle also commented that Tourism in Logan County focused much on Abraham Lincoln, and he wanted to see greater promotion of Route 66. Keller agreed, and said that the Bureau is involved with Route 66 organizations, and does wish to promote Route 66 as a tourist draw in Logan County.

Hoefle also mentioned better promotion of sporting events in Lincoln. Keller said that the Bureau had a Sports Commission at one point, that did do some good work, but that has gone away. He said yes, something does need to be done to draw attention to the sporting events held locally.

Mourning commented that he agreed that Route 66 was a big draw. He noted 1.8 million people leave Chicago annual with the intent of driving Route 66 through the state and even across the nation. He said he wanted Lincoln to get their share of that number stopping here. Welch commented on that as well saying that the city of Atlanta has done a great job marketing Route 66, and people drive to Atlanta and stop, then drive right by Lincoln.

Keller said that Abraham Lincoln and Route 66 are untied from the tourism aspect, and he certainly wants the Bureau to work to market both.

Mourning also commented that in other areas, there is a great marketing effort for Route 66 merchandise. He said Lincoln and Logan County are lacking in that area, and he would like to see more merchandising at the Tourism Bureau.

Sasse commented there had at one time been a gift shop at the Tourism Bureau.

Sasse said that the Tourism Bureau Council has a lot of work to do, and they will be meeting again on August 15th.

Earlier the city had asked about the Bureau offering funding for specific tourism projects, such as the request a few months ago for money for the Mill on Route 66. When Mayor Marty Neitzel asked if the funding agreement extension could be placed on the Monday agenda, Welch said, yes, under the conditions that language be added to address funding projects.

The item will be on the Monday night voting agenda. However, aldermen have the right to table any motion if they feel they are not prepared to make an informed decision.

[Nila Smith]

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