The Crookston Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) met on Thursday at the Irishman’s Shanty and discussed a recent meeting with the city of Crookston, which included possible changes that will affect the board and organization.
The Chairman of the CVB, Bob Magsam, met with Crookston City representatives earlier this week and received word that the city may be looking to merge the CVB with the new marketing coordinator position that the city has not filled yet. “This is not necessarily termination of the CVB but more of a merger under the new marketing director,” said Magsam. “They are hoping to hire in the near future. The merger in this discussion was similar to having a park board or other boards already in play in the city, and this would include approximately five members working on a board under that director.”
After further discussion, the city indicated that they were no longer interested in partnering with the CVB and changing the organization’s structure. The current board members on the CVB include Cory Dallager, Laurie Stahlecker, Jess Bengston, Andy Gregg, Ellie Koepp, Dean Adams, Kristie Jerde, Henry Fischer, Ethan Christopherson, and John Bridgeford. If the city were to proceed with dissolving the CVB, a new board would need to be appointed. “What this would mean is this board would be dissolved,” said Magsam. “There are still a lot of questions out there and a lot of discussions that have to be had if any action is going to be taken.”
The current contract agreement between Crookston and CVB includes that the CVB be considered a non-profit organization in which the city collects lodging tax. Those tax lodging dollars ultimately get deposited in the CVB account. Magsam said that after discussion, they had indicated they were disinterested in renewing this contract.
“There was a request to transfer those funds (from the city) to support this new marketing position,” said Magsam. “Our board had a discussion today that those funds are under the CVB (Non-profit), which is still in existence, and we’re going to keep moving forward with our marketing plan and our proposed budget that was approved by this board.”
City Administrator Corky Reynolds said there is a discussion within the city about the possibility of the city taking over the functions of the CVB. However, the idea is still preliminary. “Nothing has been decided or determined,” said Reynolds, “No action has been taken, but the discussion is the money that the CVB has could come back to the city. Could this serve as a source of revenue for the operational budget of the marketing coordinator with the city?”
The city currently has $60,000 budgeted for the marketing coordinator’s salary. The city had previously decided to pull $70,000 out of the reserves fund balance to allocate toward the operational budget for the coordinator. The thought behind transferring the CVB fund balance to the city is it could then be used for the operational budget, and the city wouldn’t need money from reserves.
The CVB is a legally existing entity and may still operate without city contributions if the organization operates consistently with the lodging tax requirements of the convention and tourism enhancement.
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