PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/12/09
St. Johns County commissioners on Tuesday voted to remove the eight members of the Tourist Development Council's board of directors, effective Aug. 25, promising that replacements would be chosen within two weeks.
The commission made no bones about considering this option, so it was no surprise to anyone.
Commission Chairwoman Cyndi Stevenson said 20 people had already submitted applications and that the last date to apply was Aug. 7. A new deadline was set for Friday.
"We'll be looking at geographic balance," Stevenson said.
County Attorney Patrick McCormack noted that state law prohibits firing the board members, but said the commission may "sunset" them, meaning end their terms of service.
Commissioner Ken Bryan moved for a "top-down" clearing of board members to "set the stage for restructuring the TDC."
The vote to approve was 3-2, with Stevenson and Vice Chairman Ron Sanchez dissenting.
Stevenson said the removed board members could apply again and that the removal was not about individuals.
Sanchez said he didn't have a problem with any board members.
"I don't think we're sending a real good signal," Sanchez said.
But Commissioner Mark Miner looked at the sunsetting as a positive move.
"Relieving the board is not an indictment of its (members)," Miner said. "It's a signal to the county that we're going to start fresh."
One TDC board member in the audience, Frank Usina, said the commission had the authority to do what it did and was just exercising its prerogative.
"I'm too old to get upset," he said. "But I didn't like the way (the news about the board's removal) was bandied about."
His four-year term ended months ago, Usina said, but he decided to stay until the county found a replacement. He said his wife Betty had served on the TDC board and he had served his first term in the 1980s.
Usina, founding chairman of the Visitor and Convention Bureau, said he was "born into tourism; my father, too."
About the money
The TDC brings in $5.5 million a year and is split somewhat unevenly between tourism advertising and cultural and artistic events.
The County Commission's "to-do" list on the TDC reorganization contained items, such as adding a fourth cent to the three cent tax, that were only lightly touched.
Still, some commissioners and some members of the public liked the idea of the fourth cent.
Scott Singleton, owner of Saltwater Cowboys restaurant in St. Augustine Beach, said the additional $1.8 million collected by the extra penny could be used for "developing greater quality events (between September and January) when the beaches are no longer a draw."
Bryan said the county should implement the fourth cent now and escrow that money until the TDC restructuring is completed.
"We need an outside auditor," Bryan said. "We don't really know what we've been doing the last 10 of 15 years that's been successful."
On the list was a clarification of the word "cultural," because, as Stevenson pointed out, "Many things supported by Category II (cultural and artistic events) funding don't seem to fit into the cultural category, such as fishing and fireworks."
Tourism industry professionals and hoteliers want to keep the third bed tax penny, added in 1991 solely for advertising, kept as it is. McCormack said the third penny was added legally, but without input or permission by voters.
Bryant said, "In 1991, trust in government was violated."
Commissioner Phil Mays spoke up for advertising. To his fellow commissioners, he said, "You can hold all the events you want, but if nobody comes to them...."
Arts and numbers
County Administrator Mike Wanchick said the County Commission had directed staff to improve the TDC's "transparency" by televising meetings and making it easier for residents to obtain or examine records.
"Sixty of Florida's 67 counties have bed taxes, and they range from 2 percent to 6 percent," Wanchick said. "Thirteen counties use a percentage of their bed tax for cultural tourism."
The TDC, he said, will delay work on its massive Destination Master Plan until Dec. 31, when the re-organization will be long completed.
Jay Dick, director of state and local government affairs for Americans For The Arts, of Washington, D.C., said the arts are a $166.2 billion a year industry which produces $30 billion a year in tax revenues.
"The arts receive government funding of about $4 billion a year, so you see the arts are a great investment," Dick said. "In St. Johns County, it is an $18.7 million industry that brings in $577,000 in tax revenues."
St. Johns has 564 arts jobs employing 1,645 people.
"People don't realize how many people are out there who get their paycheck from the arts," Dick said. "A little bit of money invested in the arts goes a long way."
Scott Bartosch of the St. Johns County Cultural Coalition said there's been no review of the TDC since 1994.
"The reason St. Johns County is a cultural destination is that everything a family or person wants to do is in close proximity," Bartosch said. "(But) immediate action is necessary. Escrow the fourth penny until the TDC changes are complete."
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