There appears to be a move to pull Tourism Development out from underneath the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. The daily interviewed the players involved. The IN has the emails.
An August 23 meeting was held at The Fish House among the “Tourism Stakeholder Group.” Here is the reminder from Ellis Bullock, whose firm has the marketing contract for the TDC. You can see how far the group had gotten in forming their own Tourism Agency:
Date: Tuesday August 23rd
Place: Bait Shop at The Fish House
Time: 12 noonDave Cleveland, Bob Cleveland, Nash Patel, Marilyn Hess, Joe McCay, Beverly McCay, Julian MacQueen, Harlan Butler, Robert Rinke, Andrew Rothfeder, Fred Simmons, Rob Babcock, Denis McKinnon, Ed Schroeder and Ellis Bullock.
Let me know if you have questions.
Ellis
Subject: Update/Meeting notice
Tourism Stakeholder Group,
The letter to the State of Florida Attorney General regarding Escambia County tourism development tax matters has been completed and will be forwarded to the AG office this week. A copy of the letter will be forwarded to each of you later this week.
In addition Dr. Rick Harper has provided us with a “white paper” outlining the impact and importance of the tourism industry in Escambia County. The information should be helpful as we address the County Commission and economic development groups in the months ahead.
A copy of the report will be forthcoming.
TDC Chairman Dennis McKinnon would like to convene the Tourism Stakeholder Group for a luncheon meeting to update you and discuss matters unfolding with the County Commission regarding tourism development tax and Convention and Visitor Bureau governance.
We may very well need to step up our level of dialog with the County Commission so your attendance at this meeting is important.
On another note, Admiral Gerry Hoewing, CEO of the National Naval Aviation Museum would like to host the group sometime in October for an update and tour of the National Flight Academy. He would also like to discuss how the Flight Academy can best channel its spill off business to Pensacola area hotels instead of Gulf Shores.
Attendees:
Dave Cleveland, Bob Cleveland, Julian MacQueen, Nash Patel, Marilyn Hess, Joe McKay, Beverly McKay, Robert Rinke, Andrew Rothfeder, Fred Simmons, Rob Babcock, Denis McKinnon, Ed Schroeder and Ellis Bullock.I would be grateful if you would respond to this email at your earliest convenience.
Let me know if you have questions.
Regards,
Ellis
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According to our sources, TDC chairman Denis McKinnon requested in July that Ed Schroeder, the Chamber’ s VP in charge of tourism, to draft a budget for the new entity. Reading the daily newspaper, it appears Schroeder never mentioned it to his boss, Jim Hizer, or the Chamber board. The proposed budget increased the marketing budget from $1.24 million to $2.37 million.
The members of the Escambia Tourism Development Council are Denis McKinnon, Chairman, P.C. Wu
Nan Harper, Grover Robinson, IV, Larry B. Johnson, Shirley Cronley, Nash Patel, Wanda Cross and Nancy Halford.
If both McKinnon and Patel attended the private meetings on withdrawing the management of tourism from the Chamber or exchanged emails, then they may have violated Florida Sunshine laws.
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Is it a good idea to pull tourism away from the Chamber and place under an independent entity? It very well may be, but this discussion should be held out in the open.
