Wednesday, July 18, 2012

July 17 City Council Meeting

Was busy with other stuff earlier in the evening so didn't tune into last night's city council meeting until the discussion on what to do about tourism.

Representatives of two organizations, ILLINOISouth and Southermost Illinois, were on hand making presentations (the Williamson County Tourism Bureau had said it was not interested in partnering with Carbondale and the proposal regarding working with the Carbondale Park District has gone by the wayside).  Should Carbondale partner with either one, the city would be an outlier in the organization, lying at the far Southern end of the region covered by ILLINOISouth and at the northern end of that covered by Southernmost Illinois.

Of the two organizations, Southernmost Illinois is the better fit, as its main office is located in Anna and the organization promotes tourism in the seven counties to the south of us, which is where Carbondale would focus if it wants to develop itself as a tourism hub.  Ed Benyas, representing the Jackson County Board, spoke to the council in favor of Southernmost Illinois, indicating that the county had opted to partner with the organization to promote Jackson County tourism. 

Southernmost Illinois also indicated, if I understood correctly, they would give Carbondale three members on the organization's board as well as open an office in Carbondale, while ILLINOISouth only indicated they would dedicate a staff member to the community, with no guarantee to open an office.  Southernmost Illinois appeared much more willing to accommodate the city, as the amount of money Carbondale would bring to the organization exceeds its total current budget.

Council's major concern, and the reason city staff proposes bringing the tourism function in-house, is the lack of control the city would have by outsourcing tourism functions and the fear that tourist activities within the city would not get appropriate attention.    Both City Manager Kevin Baity and Mayor Fritzler noted the city would lose $60,000 in state funding for this year by turning over tourism functions to another organization, however to retain the funding would require the city to re-establish the now defunct Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau as a city organization and assume responsibility for its debts, totaling about $34,000.  Councilwoman Corene McDaniels prefers this option as well, while Councilman Chris Wissmann appeared to lean towards joining with Southernmost Illinois.

In the end, after a short recess, the city took no action, instead deciding to study the situation and various proposals further, though it appears that either partnering with Southernmost Illinois or re-establishing a CCTB under city control are the preferred options.

In citizen comments, a pair of John A. Logan students asked the city for help in re-establishing mass transit from Carbondale to John A. Logan College.  Since SIUC moved its automotive technology facilities from Carterville to the new facilities at the Southern Illinois Airport, SIUC has discontinued the Saluki Express route from the SIUC campus that many JALC students residing in Carbondale used to get to the campus.  Councilman Monty suggested Jackson County Mass Transit while Wissmann recommended looking at Williamson County RIDES program.  Lance Jack said the city should investigate some way to provide transportation for JALC students in Carbondale to the campus and the mayor asked the students to give their names to city staff with a promise to look further into the matter to see what could be done.  The city does provide over $14,000 in funding annually to keep Saluki Express buses running when school is out of session so perhaps some additional funds could be directed to re-establishing a JALC route.

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