ACTION BY COUNCIL QUESTIONED BY BOARD

Some members of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board questioned the city council's approval Monday of a sports and recreation facility to be financed with excess tourism funds.

Board member Walt Wildman said Wednesday the council's action has "handcuffed" the board and taken away the scope of its responsibilities.

At Monday's meeting the city council voted 5-2 to spend excess tourism funds on a proposal that would expand sports and recreation facilities in Shawnee Park and a proposed new park at the intersection of Mt. Auburn Road and Kingshighway.

The CVB board asked Monday that the council delay action on the proposal until the board had an opportunity to review and "sign off" on the project. The council instead voted to approve the plan.

Included in the recreation project was a proposal that the CVB shift its emphasis toward recreation in the city and the development of that aspect of tourism.

"The term advisory implies advice to be given, and was that going on here is what I'm concerned about," Wildman said. "What I saw was a right turn in our direction."

He said that the council's action seems to restrict the CVB's advisory function primarily to marketing recreation in the city.

"When the options are limited, the decisions are pretty easy," Wildman said.

Board member David Ross also said he thought the recreation proposal "came across as an exclusion" of the CVB's current function, which largely consists of promoting the city for tourism and conventions.

But others board members said they didn't consider the proposal a change in the CVB's function, but rather an addition to its scope.

"I don't think anybody wants to stop the good work we've done," said board member Juan Crites. "I think we're opening up a new avenue not changing."

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said that although a shift in the CVB's marketing influence was included in the proposal, the project would do little to diminish current CVB efforts. He said the proposal still is subject to changes.

Fischer said he thought Wildman was "getting carried away" by assuming that each component of the recreation proposal was "cut and dried."

"The CVB is an expert in marketing this community, and you've got the staff and ability to market recreation in addition to your other work," he said. "I think they hung a big part of their proposal on your expertise to market the community.

"They just added to your focus the recreation theme."

But Ross said the proposal also is based on the assumption that the CVB budget will remain at current funding levels about $300,000 annually which means the bureau now is expected to do more with less money.

Fischer said the bureau would be able to vie for future excess tourism funds which come from a quarter-cent tax on motel and restaurant receipts if they exceed levels assumed in the financing plan for the recreation project.

He said growth in the fund has been about 5.5 percent annually, and the recreation project assumed only a 3 percent annual growth.

Board chairman Robert Hoppmann said he didn't think the bureau's function was going to change appreciably.

"We're still overseeing the function of the bureau," he said. "That function hasn't changed. I don't think the CVB is going to be taking a right turn in our direction toward recreation."

The recreation project includes construction of softball and soccer fields at Shawnee Park; acquisition of a 90-acre tract of land at the corner of Mt. Auburn and Kingshighway for a general-use community park; and completion of a fitness trail through Arena Park and the new park site.

In other business, the board heard reports on the activities of Lyn Muzzy, director of the CVB, and convention and tour activity since the board met last month.