The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce Consolidated Board of Directors met on Wednesday Morning.
After nearly an hour long executive session to discuss personnel matters early into the agenda, the meeting continued with discussion surrounding the current situation/state of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB).
Most of the concern and discussion surrounded the transient guest tax revenues which are fees incurred by occupants of local hotels. Part of that money was used to pay Sports Complex Project Manager Eddie Reeder who will resign at the end of the month.
Ben Bennett, County Commissioner, was part of the Board of Directors meeting where he agreed that “more education needs to happen on how transient guest tax is paid.” The transient guest tax revenues, which are down, is one of the main reasons that County Commissioners Keith Ascher and Charles Stimatze have voted in favor for a withdrawal from the master agreement.
According to Bennett, six percent or all of the transient guest tax goes to the CVB through the County through a “voucher” of sorts. Bennett said that he felt the other County Commissioners don’t exactly understand the process.
Mick McCallister, City Commissioner, suggested that as funds from the transient guest tax are dispersed from the County to CVB there should be a monthly report that County Commissioners receive on expenditures [to help them better understand and see where money is spent]. The reports are readily available, but not being given to County Commissioners for one reason or another.
Dennis Beson, Chamber of Commerce CEO, said that “the tough questions are not being asked” of all parties involved in the master agreement. During the meeting Beson said that the real issue surrounds his decision to hire Bob Cervera for marketing and that he was told that because he didn’t consult the County before hiring Cevera “that it set off frustration” and the County felt he was “disrespectful not to ask permission.” Beson noted that he has the authority to hire and fire as he pleases, without consulting the County.
Cevera was hired around the time Connie Hall, former CVB Director, retired and Beson said that ‘in his thought process’ he knew he had enough money to pay Cevera since Hall was no longer employed. Cevera’s pay was roughly 1/3 of what Hall was paid, according to Beson. Despite that, Beson said that the money used to pay Cevera and Hall were not from the same source/fund. This is where Beson said that the confusion came into play – since Hall was “technically a County employee” it was misconstrued that the monies available were “off” and Beson directly implicated the current CVB Director saying the “CVB Director ran to the County” with information that “wasn’t totally accurate.” This coupled with the County supposedly feeling “disrespected” by Beson are what he implies led to the County’s decision to pull out of the consolidated master agreement.
Board members approved a motion to hold an August 9th (tentative) City, Chamber and County public meeting to discuss the master agreement under the consolidated Chamber and to “educate” all parties involved on the financials of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau under the Chamber of Commerce.