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 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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