SEQUIM — It’s up in the air who will be manager of Sequim’s 4 percent “heads in beds” tax.
That’s also known as the hotel-motel tax, which last year totaled $172,583.
For 10 years the head of the lodging-tax advisory group known as the Sequim Marketing Action Committee — SMAC — has been Patricia McCauley, owner of InsideOut Solutions, a marketing firm on Sequim Avenue.
As SMAC’s tourism coordinator, McCauley holds the $11,000 annual contract to promote visits, especially overnight stays in hotels and motels here.
But last week McCauley, 55, announced to the Sequim City Council that she’s retiring April 30. In an interview she said the job of tourism marketer is no longer fun since the City Council spoke last year of putting her contract out to bid at some point in the future.
“I felt like I was waiting to be kicked out,” McCauley added.
Though she bowed out of the Sequim contract, McCauley still counts among InsideOut’s clients the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce and several tourism bureaus around the country; she said she’ll continue running her company here.
During their monthly meeting on Monday, SMAC’s members discussed how to promote Sequim’s attractions after McCauley’s departure — and eyes quickly fell on another woman.
Vickie Maples, executive director of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, “is exceptional,” said SMAC member Sherry Schubert.
“Why spend money on advertising,” a request for qualifications, she asked, when Maples is quite capable of taking on tourism promotion?
“I’ve seen her do just amazing things,” added Schubert, who runs A Catered Affair in Sequim.
