Tourism Marketing and the Music Center Management. Meeting notes from the July 17, 2024, Joint Session of Commissioners and Council.

This post at Brown County Matters.

An interesting discussion on management and oversight of the revenue received from the innkeepers tax to include marketing.  Included the argument for keeping the venue vs selling, and distribution of revenue.

AUDIO JWS 2 CVC/CVB Discussion. (50:28).  Discussion started by Councilman Rudd

Link in the comments to a Summary of the issues, roles, responsibilities, and a way-ahead.

Summary

The revenue from the innkeepers’ tax is passed through the Convention Visitors Commission (CVC) – a five-member board, to the Convention Visitors Bureau – CVB (a 501c3), to market tourism. The CVB also operates the Visitors Center. The discussion was held on the issue of accountability, marketing responsibilities, and the future of the CVB.

Elected officials – commissioners and council, have historically had a “hands-off” policy when it came to providing oversight on the management of the revenue from the innkeepers tax. They appoint members to the CVC.  In 2023, the tax brought in approximately 1.4 million. Prior to the Brown County Music Center (BCMC), revenue from the tax was around 700k.

Without Vision….The commissioners have never developed a vision for tourism that would include the types of tourism that were desired by Nashville and the county.  A vision would help provide some guidance on funding priorities and outcomes. A vision could be included in the County Comprehensive Plan.

The council asks few if any questions on how the revenue from the innkeepers tax is going to be spent (by law, they are to review and approve the CVC budget). The CVC budget generally just shows the transfer to the CVB and now the BCMC.  How the money was spent by the CVB and what was accomplished was not published or expected from the elected officials.  Accountability is delegated to the CVC.

Historic Change. The revenue from the innkeepers tax was used as collateral to borrow the 12.5 million to build the brown County Music Center (BCMC).  (The original proposed name for the venue was Maple Leaf.

The Maple Leag Building Corp (3-member board appointed by the commissioners) owns the building. The Maple Leaf Management Group (a 7-member board with a commissioner and council rep) provides oversight on the management and operations of the BCMC.

The BCMC Management Group includes members who are also on the CVC.  The CVC wants to discontinue the relationship with the CVB and transfer the responsibility for marketing tourism to the Maple Leaf Management Group. A significant change that prompted the discussion.

The BCMC Management group through an Admin Agreement, determines the distribution of the excess revenue from the BCMC. The original distribution was 75% to the Community Foundation and 25% to the County. it was recently changed to 50/50.

Future of the BCMC?

On the future of the BCMC, I am running for commissioner, District 3.  My position is to hold public forums to get input from the community regarding the future of the Music Center which would result in community support and understanding regarding the best options.

Commissioner  Sanders identified the option of selling the Music Center in his campaign. This position is supported by those who believe that owning and operating a music venue is not the responsibility of the government.

I am not aware of any other commissioner or council member who does not support keeping the venue. Discussions have emerged as to who should be making the decision on the distribution of excess revenue from the Music Center.

Citizens. “We the people” are top management, responsible for providing oversight on the performance of elected and appointed officials.

The Forums would include presentations that would include the following:

• • The Convention Visitors Commission. (CVC).
  • The Convention Visitors Bureau. (CVB).
  • Commissioners
  • Council
  • Maple Leaf Bldg Corp
  • Maple Leaf Management Group.