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County Board Discusses Funding for
Logan County Tourism Bureau
[June 16, 2025]
On Thursday, June 12th, the
Logan County Board met for their monthly Workshop meeting. This
meeting was held in the second floor courtroom of the Logan County
Courthouse starting at 6:00 p.m. All members of the board were
present except for Chairman JR Glenn. This included Vice Chairman
Dale Nelson, Lance Conahan, Michael DeRoss, Hannah Fitzpatrick,
Kevin Knauer, Joseph Kuhlman, Keenan Leesman, Bob Sanders, Kathy
Schmidt, Gil Turner, and Jim Wessbecher.
Among other issues discussed at this meeting was funding for the
Logan County Tourism Bureau (LCTB). To read about the Viper Mine
grant or the summary of the rest of the meeting, please see LDN’s
other two articles on this meeting.
Finance Chairman Schmidt made a motion to approve $30,000 in funding
from the county board to the LCTB. This issue has been developing
for several months, and was talked about in detail when the County
Board met with the Lincoln City Council to discuss this matter. To
read LDN’s article covering that meeting and discussing how the LCTB
got into the situation it is currently in, please read
this article.
DeRoss asked several questions, such as what exactly the county is
spending this $30,000 on, if the city is going to match, who owns
properties such as The Mill, what qualifies someone as a visitor,
and what the return on investment for the county will be. During his
questions, he stated that he will vote no if the city does not match
the county’s $30,000 contribution. DeRoss then stated that he saw
the LCTB lined up 2,400 visitors, but had almost $200,000 worth of
funding from the city. He then stated that he was not sure the
investment would be worth it. “I can see what was obtained for
$200,000, and it didn’t sound like anything that was worth 200, let
alone 30.” He finished by saying that he believes the board should
do a deeper dive into this issue before they agree to fund the LCTB.
Molly Pickering, president of the LCTB, was then called on and stood
up to answer the questions posed by DeRoss. She stated that the city
has not yet voted on funding for the LCTB, but stated that they
would match what the county contributes. Pickering continued, saying
that she was not sure who would own the bureau’s assets. Even with
the proposed funding from the board and the city, the LCTB would not
have enough funding to keep them. Pickering stated that this issue
can be worked out between the three bodies at a later time.
Pickering continued, saying that the almost $200,000 in funding
accounted for all of the city funding to the LCTB, but the 2,400
visitors DeRoss mentioned only accounted for visitors to the Mill.
She continued, arguing that they do not have a way to keep track of
how many of those visitors went to local events and businesses, or
how much money was spent if they did.
Next, Wessbecher asked if this agreement was only for one year.
Conahan clarified that the Finance committee discussed this being an
agreement for two years of funding, at $30,000 each year. Wessbecher
then asked about the LCTB funding city events. Pickering explained
that in the budget, there is $10,000 directed to be used for funding
events, $5,000 from the city and $5,000 from the county. Wessbecher
then asked about how the funding is going to continue down the line.
The way it is set up now, if the LCTB gets lots of people to stay at
hotels and motels, all of the money generated from the hotel/motel
taxes will go to Lincoln, not to the county. All of the hotels and
motels within Logan County reside within Lincoln, and there is no
county tax for these hotels and motels. Pickering stated that they
would try to continue this agreement with the city and the county.
She continued, clarifying that in the past, they had gotten all of
their funding from the city’s hotel/motel tax without any direct
funding from the county.
Conahan then spoke on this issue,
himself clarifying what the county has brought to the table in
regards to funding. He stated that many county projects, such as the
wind farm projects, have brought people to the hotels and motels.
Conahan and Wessbecher explained that many of the workers who have
been constructing these energy projects stay at hotels and motels
throughout the week. While this has not been money directly from the
county to the LCTB, it has increased the amount generated from the
hotel/motel tax, and therefore how much the LCTB was receiving from
Lincoln. He called the notion that the county has not contributed
anything to the LCTB “appalling.” Note: Conahan later amended his
statement, clarifying that his use of the word “appalling” was
directed at the idea that the county has not provided the LCTB with
funding, something he claims to have heard often, not directly to
Pickering herself.
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DeRoss then asked
how events like Logan County Pride, something the LCTB has
helped fund in the past, puts “heads in beds.” Pickering stated
that the LCTB is currently working on restructuring. During this
restructuring, they are looking for as much input as possible.
DeRoss responded by stating that he has seen many Route 66
Facebook pages online, but has never come across any posts from
the LCTB. He stated that social media is free advertising.
Pickering responded that she has only recently become LCTB
president and is pushing for a more strategic plan. She also
thanked DeRoss for his input.
Turner then addressed DeRoss, bringing
up the point that there is more to tourism than just Lincoln. He
brought up Atlanta as an example, calling it the “land of giants.”
He also mentioned that the geographical center of Illinois is in
Chestnut, and brought up the Mt. Pulaski courthouse.
Kuhlman then pointed out that he
believes the LCTB has a good group of volunteers. Knauer voiced his
support for the motion, but brought up a concern of whether or not
the city would commit for two years if the county did.
Bobbie Taylor, who was present at the meeting, then raised her hand
to speak. She stated that she is the president of the Christmas on
Vinegar Hill event that is hosted in Mt. Pulaski each year. She
stated that they get a grant from the LCTB and that they bring in
over 30,000 people.
Next, Pickering brought up their need for a new tourism director.
She stated that their current director will be leaving at the end of
the month and that they will have until the end of July to find a
new director. If they do not in that time, they will lose their
status as an official CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau), and that
will cost them about $40,000 a year in funding from the state. Gail
Apel-Sasse, vice president of the LCTB, emphasized their need to
continue to be a CVB. It should also be noted that, should the LCTB
lose its CVB status, they would not be able to re-acquire it. They
have been grandfathered in over the years that the requirements for
CVB status have changed, and Logan County no longer meets all of the
requirements to keep that status on its own.
Sanders then brought up what the city of Lincoln is expecting to get
from the LCTB since they are potentially agreeing to fund it in
part. Conahan explained that Lincoln will benefit if the county
benefits. He also stated that part of it is just being a good
neighbor. According to Conahan, it would be a “win-win” if a new
LCTB director and current Lincoln tourism department director Scott
McCoy were to work together.
Wessbecher then mentioned that it could get confusing for visitors
if they came to Lincoln and there were two tourism locations. He
also stated that the city was not concerned with being a good
neighbor when they pulled 100 percent of the funding from the
hotel/motel tax from the LCTB.
Nelson then voiced interest in seeing what changes the LCTB would
make. Pickering responded that they could create a 100 day plan, but
that she is really wanting input from both the board and the
community before they move forward with any new plan. Nelson then
brought up the idea of passing the motion for funding upon the
contingency that the LCTB agree to meet with people and garner ideas
and information.
Conahan mentioned that he liked the idea of a 100 day plan and would
like the LCTB’s meetings to be public. He also mentioned that any
new director should be presenting to the county board periodically.
Zoning Officer Al Green then invited Pickering to come to a Regional
Planning meeting and get involved/work together. Pickering was
receptive to the idea.
With no other discussion to be had on the matter, the motion was
sent to Tuesday night’s regular board meeting for a formal vote.
DeRoss then brought up his next item, which was the matter of the
Viper Mine grant.
[Matt Boutcher] |
