Interfering Pesky Citizens

Oh those pesky citizens who are asking questions about how the tourism dollars are being spent.

Below is an excerpt from the CEO, North Mason Chamber of Commerce - Frank Kinney's desperate email to all of his associates.

"The North Mason Chamber and the Shelton-Mason Chamber (functioning as the Joint Chamber Tourism Advisory Council) have been managing tourism promotion for Mason County since 2007 with funding from the dedicated lodging tax on lodging guests. There is a movement underfoot to interfere with this effort to bring tourism money into the county."

Now we're not just pesky but we're interfering also. It must be the questions we've asked about how this money is being spent.

Tomorrow, February 16 at 9 am , the Board of County Commissioners has the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee recommendations on the agenda under "other business". In his email Mr Kinney implored his business buddies and associates to write letters and emails or make calls to the commissioners in support of his pet projects which help to keep his salary fully funded. Yes, the lodging tax dollars help to pay Mr Kinney's salary - about 25% of it to be exact.

The commissioners optimistically expect to have this all wrapped up by 10 am so they can move on to the briefings they missed because Monday was a holiday. Maybe, just maybe they'll come to their senses and fund all the events (including Harmony Hill) since it's been a purely subjective process thus far with no clear and consistent criteria for evaluating each request. If so, the meeting could be wrapped up quickly.

Check back for the next posting. I'll let you know how it goes.