A proposed reorganization of the North Olympic Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau. will shift its focus to promoting only Clallam County.
In addition, an existing partnership known as the Joint Marketing Cooperative will become a more structured organization for combining collected tax dollars for advertising and promotion of both incorporated and unincorporated areas of Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The move is seen by its organizers as a cost-saving measure for local chambers of commerce, businesses and other tourist organizations.
But others, such as Sequim’s Mayor Bill Thomas, are critical of the proposed changes.
“It seems like we are taking a big step backward with this,” Thomas said.
Under the proposal:
* The bureau would be transformed into an organization with one mission — promoting Clallam County as a tourist and visitor destination.
Since the mid-1980s the bureau has been the marketing organization for the entire Peninsula — both counties and all the cities from Brinnon and Quilcene to Port Townsend to Neah Bay.
* The bureau’s board of directors would decrease from 25 members to just 10. The new board members, who would be from unincorporated areas of Clallam County, would be selected by the county commissioners.
* The bureau’s funding would no longer come from a membership base and money from cities in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Instead, its funding would come entirely from the 4 percent hotel-motel bed tax collected by Clallam County.
* Each chamber of commerce would be responsible for applying for and using tourism-marketing dollars collected in room tax money by their respective cities, plus a portion of Jefferson and Clallam counties’ room tax funds.
The bureau’s executive director, Rick Hert said the present bureau staffing would likely be reduced, although a final decision has yet to be made.
The full report appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News, on sale throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties. Click on “Subscribe” to get your PDN delivered to your home or office.
