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 In Logan County, all but two or three of the local motels are
within the city limits of Lincoln. In 2013, then Mayor Keith Snyder
recommended to aldermen, that the city had the right to take that
tax and should. In doing so, they were also taking on the oversight
of the Tourism Bureau. At that time the bureau was named the Abraham
Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County, and its executive director
was Geoff Ladd.
As the city began takeover of the bureau, the director and
president, Paul Gleason, resigned. The city continued to move
forward in its quest to re-shape the bureau and make it more
productive in promoting Logan County as a destination.
It was quite the shake-up for a lot of people. But when the dust
finally settled, the organization appeared to come out stronger and
better for the effort.
Today, the Tourism Bureau is known as the Logan County Tourism
Bureau. It is under the direction of Maggie McMurtrey, who has
recently celebrated her one-year anniversary.
The 2016 Tourism Council consists of Sal Pollice as chair, Renee
Martin of Mount Pulaski as vice-chair, and Paresh Patel of the
Lincoln Best Western as treasurer. Additional members of the council
are Shawn Taylor of Logan Lanes in Lincoln, Steve Parrott
representing the city of Lincoln, Ron Keller of Lincoln College; and
newly appointed returning director, Gail Sasse, owner of Gail's
Pumpkin Patch near Beason.
The LCA members on Friday expressed their great satisfaction with
McMurtrey saying that she was well organized, presented herself
well, and she knows the goals of the Tourism Bureau.
In 2013, the board of the Tourism Bureau was quite large. After the
reorganization of the board had begun, the size of the board was
reduced to only seven members. The reduction was due to a belief
that a smaller, more qualified board would be more focused and
consequently more successful in accomplishing the goals of the
bureau.
When the bureau began a new year in 2014, the board members included
Andi Hake of the Chamber, Keith Snyder and Tom O’Donohue of the city
of Lincoln, Andy Anderson and Andy Meister of Logan County Board,
Jean Bruner-Jachino with the Hampton Inn in Lincoln, and longtime
member of the original board, Darlene Begolka. That group spent the
year carrying on traditional tourism business, and also reshaping
the bureau into a new entity, the Logan County Tourism Bureau.
At the end of the year, the new tourism bureau became a ‘member’ of
the Alliance. According to Alliance by-laws, LCA council member
Jachino became the chair of the tourism. Jachino was also the only
returning member of the 2014 board. Ron Keller returned to the
council after dropping out at the end of 2013, and new appointees
were Taylor, Patel, and Christy Powell. Later in the year, Steve
Parrott was appointed as the representative for the city; and after
that, Renee Martin also joined the group rounding out the prescribed
seven-member council.
On Friday, the LCA members talked about the Tourism Bureau as an arm
of its organization. How do the Alliance and Tourism interact?
Does the Alliance “own” Tourism, and is Tourism accountable to the
Alliance?
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O’Donohue was part of the ground-floor of the changeover for
tourism. He explained that, yes, the Alliance had obtained the
not-for-profit status for the Tourism Bureau. The Alliance also
hired McMurtrey last year, and her paycheck comes from the LCA.
As prescribed in the by-laws of the Alliance, the chairman of the Tourism
Council is an Alliance Council member.
The Tourism chairman/Alliance member changes annually. In 2015 it was Jachino,
and in 2016, it is Sal Pollice.
By design, the Alliance is responsible for fiduciary responsibility and
governance. But, beyond that, O’Donohue said that the Tourism Bureau acts as a
separate entity and that it must continue to do so as a requirement for grant
funding through the State of Illinois.
He went on to say, “They manage their own budget though we do see it and approve
it.”
How much of the tourism money is given to the Alliance?
Basford said he felt that the word “given” was not accurate. The money that
Tourism pays to the Alliance is for space rent, a percentage of office staff
according to work done specifically relating to tourism, and McMurtrey’s salary.
Also, the Alliance CEO paycheck is allocated over the participating
organizations. As such, Tourism does indeed pay a portion of the CEO’s salary,
as does the Chamber and in 2015 Economic Development arm of the Alliance.
Later in the meeting, Snyder, who is the treasurer of the Alliance Council for
2016, came back with information regarding how the pay was broken down through
cost allocation.
For those who may not understand the allocation of costs, it isn’t all that
difficult. Consider an employee as an empty pie plate. Instead of taking pieces
out of the plate, you’re going to add pieces to the plate until the pie is
complete.
To complete this pie, six pieces are needed
Half of Hake's pay, or half of the pie plate (three pieces) was filled by
Economic development.
Two pieces were to be filled in by the Chamber.
One piece was to be filled in by tourism, thereby creating the full pie.
Snyder also noted that at the end of 2015, the piece of pie from the Tourism
Bureau ended up being smaller than prescribed, according to the work done by
Hake for the Bureau.
[Nila Smith]
Logan County Alliance
speaks publicly to debunk myths and assumptions
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